Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6191081" data-attributes="member: 4937">Well, I guess now we need a specific definition of personality.&nbsp;&nbsp; What do you and I mean by saying 'a character's personality'?In my experience, at most tables, very rarely.&nbsp;&nbsp; For a D&amp;D character, very rarely are there ever any serious conflicts between the players metagoals and the end game story.&nbsp; In general, the fundamental story of D&amp;D assumes that what is good for the player character is also good for the world.&nbsp;&nbsp; PC's are rarely called on to make sacrifices or to sincerely choose between 'being good' and doing what makes the PC (or player) happy in the short term.&nbsp;&nbsp; And, if the PC's fail to be truly good on occasion, or even many occasions, then surely that is mitigated by the fact that they are saving the world, right?&nbsp;&nbsp; What's that to the occasional murder along the way?&nbsp; D&amp;D stories rarely ask these questions, and the players seldom wrestle with them as important.&nbsp; I'm not going to quibble with whether they are specific or not in the real world.&nbsp;&nbsp; For the purposes of the game, the definitions are specific.&nbsp;&nbsp; If they are not specific, then there is no point in having them.&nbsp; Why?&nbsp; Fundamentally, those actions make a statement about what you believe.&nbsp; If the truth is that all truth is relative to the person, and there is no specific answers - just your own answers, then you've sided with a particular alignment view point.&nbsp;&nbsp; Essentially you are telling your players, &quot;Forget this malarkey about nine alignments.&nbsp; There is one fundamental truth, and that truth is that there is no truth.&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp; If that is the case, when could ever the chips be down?&nbsp;&nbsp; When could it ever matter what the character was doing, if at best the player is the only judge of his own actions?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 6191081, member: 4937"] Well, I guess now we need a specific definition of personality. What do you and I mean by saying 'a character's personality'? In my experience, at most tables, very rarely. For a D&D character, very rarely are there ever any serious conflicts between the players metagoals and the end game story. In general, the fundamental story of D&D assumes that what is good for the player character is also good for the world. PC's are rarely called on to make sacrifices or to sincerely choose between 'being good' and doing what makes the PC (or player) happy in the short term. And, if the PC's fail to be truly good on occasion, or even many occasions, then surely that is mitigated by the fact that they are saving the world, right? What's that to the occasional murder along the way? D&D stories rarely ask these questions, and the players seldom wrestle with them as important. I'm not going to quibble with whether they are specific or not in the real world. For the purposes of the game, the definitions are specific. If they are not specific, then there is no point in having them. Why? Fundamentally, those actions make a statement about what you believe. If the truth is that all truth is relative to the person, and there is no specific answers - just your own answers, then you've sided with a particular alignment view point. Essentially you are telling your players, "Forget this malarkey about nine alignments. There is one fundamental truth, and that truth is that there is no truth." If that is the case, when could ever the chips be down? When could it ever matter what the character was doing, if at best the player is the only judge of his own actions? [/QUOTE]

Verification