D&D General D&D doesn't need Evil

[Krachek]

No need for evil, just normal person like in Game of Thrones.

 

[Scribe]

Absolutes don't serve well in these discussions. It is hard to argue that it is completely without worth, when the game has used it for decades, and likely dozens of folks here who are willing to say it worked just find for them. It has some value, but that value is mitigated by the vague nature of the thing.

Fair enough, but I have to wonder for those who get some value, if they are not subconscious or consciously filling out more what Evil is, or means within either their game, or setting.

I'm talking big E, Evil as game construct, vs evil as behavior or perspective on behavior.

Big E Evil, in all the threads we have had on this has no universally accepted definition.

At least not when I've asked.

 

[Lyxen]

No need for evil, just normal person like in Game of Thrones.

You mean like the White Walkers ?

 

[Scribe]

Sure. However, there's a huge difference between deducing that the word is apt based on evidence, and using the word as a prescriptive definition.

This is what I mean.

 

[Lyxen]

Big E Evil, in all the threads we have had on this has no universally accepted definition.

Whether it's accepted or not is another matter, but every single edition of the game that had evil as an alignment has had a definition for it. It might have been fuzzy, and some people might have disliked or refused it, but every single edition made an attempt at defining it.

 

[Krachek]

You mean like the White Walkers ?

I admit those play evil with a flavored style. Just the others!

 

[Lyxen]

I admit those play evil with a flavored style. Just the others!

I know, I was teasing you a bit there, but I find it interesting that, with GRRM trying his best to break as many conventions of the genre as possible, and creating very deep characters with complex motivations, he still added Evil (with a very big E) to his world as main adversaries.

 

[Maxperson]

No need for evil, just normal person like in Game of Thrones.

I'm fairly certain that normal people don't sleep with their sisters and toss little boys off of towers to their deaths.

 

[TheAlkaizer]

I'm fairly certain that normal people don't sleep with their sisters and toss little boys off of towers to their deaths.

Well, it's an interesting case. Because I know that my love for Game of Thrones is mostly because of its gray characters. Characters that do bad things, yet are shown to be doing it for reasons that makes sense for them. People that have good hearts, but do terrible things as they deem them necessary.

You can't really watch the show, or read the books and say that Jaime Lannister is an evil character. And for the history period/setting? He's not so far from what you'd consider normal.

 

[Maxperson]

Well, it's an interesting case. Because I know that my love for Game of Thrones is mostly because of its gray characters. Characters that do bad things, yet are shown to be doing it for reasons that makes sense for them. People that have good hearts, but do terrible things as they deem them necessary.

You can't really watch the show, or read the books and say that Jaime Lannister is an evil character. And for the history period/setting? He's not so far from what you'd consider normal.

He changed after he lost his hand, but before that he was a right evil bastard. Not a whole lot of redeeming anything going on up until that point.