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Is character alignment essential to the D&D experience?
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<blockquote data-quote="Henry" data-source="post: 132190" data-attributes="member: 158"><p>All right, time to board the "Alignment Defense" Train:</p><p></p><ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The original Question was: "Is Alignment essential to the D&D experience?" (When talking about alignment, ALL alignment issue must be considered, because it is not just to use one standard for the characters on this issue, and one with the NPC's.) I believe the answer is "Yes," because alignment is very useful to both new roleplayers who wish to understand how to act within a given code, rather than just do what is correct from a 'metagaming' standpoint. It would also remove the component of "good vs. evil" that makes the game quite clear-cut. It can be played in a more morally ambiguous fashion, but it was very clearly established in chapter 6 of the new game that this was a staunch part of the direction that the designers wished it to go: It is a game that is meant to be a little more clear-cut, and therefore more escapist version, than real life. From this standpoint, it has been a part of the D&D "mission statement" as it were, from the time alignments were introduced, onward.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Many people have often prescribed alignment as being both limiting and too unrealistic. This argument sees aligment as something more like a municipal building code than a descriptor.<br /> Imagine your tax return tells the IRS that "you make $50,000 a year." Does this mean that you fail as a person if you cease to make this amount of money? No, this statement would change as soon as you lost your job, or gained a newer, better-paying job, or were layed off and got temporary unemployment. It is not a prescriptive statement, but a descriptive one.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Alignments can exist in a number of ways, the 1E Dragonlance way being one of my favorite. The "Triangle" of Good, Neutrality, and Evil played a major part in that story, and without alignment, the story of the Dragonlance saga would have been fundamamentally altered. For that matter, Vampire:the Masquerade has alignments, Star wars has alignments, Feng Shui has alignments (though not easily recognized), and even Planescape has an internal system of alignments without even using law, evil, chaos, good, and neutrality! They are just known as different things, after all. <br /> [/list=1]<br /> <br /> In closing, I have to question one other thing: Why would any DM who would feel fine with rewarding individual experience have qualms about keeping track of a player's alignment? How is keeping track of alignment any different from Dark Side Points in SW, Experience points in d20, Humanity scores in Vampire, or quirks in GURPS? They all serve very similar functions: Are you with <span style="color: blue">US</span>, or are you with <span style="color: crimson">THEM?</span><br /> <br /> Oops, train's stopping... gotta go now...<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> "Now departing for Anaheim, Azuza, and KOOK-a-munga..." <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></li> </ol></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Henry, post: 132190, member: 158"] All right, time to board the "Alignment Defense" Train: [list=1] [*]The original Question was: "Is Alignment essential to the D&D experience?" (When talking about alignment, ALL alignment issue must be considered, because it is not just to use one standard for the characters on this issue, and one with the NPC's.) I believe the answer is "Yes," because alignment is very useful to both new roleplayers who wish to understand how to act within a given code, rather than just do what is correct from a 'metagaming' standpoint. It would also remove the component of "good vs. evil" that makes the game quite clear-cut. It can be played in a more morally ambiguous fashion, but it was very clearly established in chapter 6 of the new game that this was a staunch part of the direction that the designers wished it to go: It is a game that is meant to be a little more clear-cut, and therefore more escapist version, than real life. From this standpoint, it has been a part of the D&D "mission statement" as it were, from the time alignments were introduced, onward. [*]Many people have often prescribed alignment as being both limiting and too unrealistic. This argument sees aligment as something more like a municipal building code than a descriptor. Imagine your tax return tells the IRS that "you make $50,000 a year." Does this mean that you fail as a person if you cease to make this amount of money? No, this statement would change as soon as you lost your job, or gained a newer, better-paying job, or were layed off and got temporary unemployment. It is not a prescriptive statement, but a descriptive one. [*]Alignments can exist in a number of ways, the 1E Dragonlance way being one of my favorite. The "Triangle" of Good, Neutrality, and Evil played a major part in that story, and without alignment, the story of the Dragonlance saga would have been fundamamentally altered. For that matter, Vampire:the Masquerade has alignments, Star wars has alignments, Feng Shui has alignments (though not easily recognized), and even Planescape has an internal system of alignments without even using law, evil, chaos, good, and neutrality! They are just known as different things, after all. [/list=1] In closing, I have to question one other thing: Why would any DM who would feel fine with rewarding individual experience have qualms about keeping track of a player's alignment? How is keeping track of alignment any different from Dark Side Points in SW, Experience points in d20, Humanity scores in Vampire, or quirks in GURPS? They all serve very similar functions: Are you with [COLOR=blue]US[/COLOR], or are you with [COLOR=crimson]THEM?[/COLOR] Oops, train's stopping... gotta go now... "Now departing for Anaheim, Azuza, and KOOK-a-munga..." :)[/list] [/QUOTE]
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