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General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
An Ontology of D&D Alignment
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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7866481" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>Not only does the OP state this already, but it's worth noting that there are plenty of people on the board who make the claim that since in reality morality is subjective, that either the alignment system being objective is unrealistic and useless, or else that in practice alignment is subjective and therefore either the lack of attention to the system is a positive or they play as if alignment is subjective and therefore prefer little or no mechanical implications to alignment. Or in short, the OP is simply saying that if you choose to make alignment subjective, that's one way to take it out of the game.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>A lot of your objections are based on 'one true wayism'. It's not at all clear that the system must imply mortals have free will (and in fact it's not at all clear even in reality that free will exists). It's entirely possible that the perception of free will that characters have in the game is an illusion and they are actually controlled by cosmic forces and are just fancy Chinese Rooms that take inputs and output results and are deceived into believing that they are choosing to act while they observe the process. Moreover, the OP wants us to consider the opportunity to consciously play in setting where mortals don't have free will and are simply pawns of these cosmic forces.</p><p></p><p>And we could continue with your 'objections' in much the same manner. What your objections really are is, "I've always interpreted the alignment system this way." And that's fine, and your choices are pretty common ones. But the point is that nothing about the alignment system really forces those choices on you, and at least in some cases tables have made other choices.</p><p></p><p>I'm going to post my own take on the system, and I think you'll find it interesting how mine both agrees with and yet at time departs subtly from your understanding of the 'one right way'.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 7866481, member: 4937"] Not only does the OP state this already, but it's worth noting that there are plenty of people on the board who make the claim that since in reality morality is subjective, that either the alignment system being objective is unrealistic and useless, or else that in practice alignment is subjective and therefore either the lack of attention to the system is a positive or they play as if alignment is subjective and therefore prefer little or no mechanical implications to alignment. Or in short, the OP is simply saying that if you choose to make alignment subjective, that's one way to take it out of the game. A lot of your objections are based on 'one true wayism'. It's not at all clear that the system must imply mortals have free will (and in fact it's not at all clear even in reality that free will exists). It's entirely possible that the perception of free will that characters have in the game is an illusion and they are actually controlled by cosmic forces and are just fancy Chinese Rooms that take inputs and output results and are deceived into believing that they are choosing to act while they observe the process. Moreover, the OP wants us to consider the opportunity to consciously play in setting where mortals don't have free will and are simply pawns of these cosmic forces. And we could continue with your 'objections' in much the same manner. What your objections really are is, "I've always interpreted the alignment system this way." And that's fine, and your choices are pretty common ones. But the point is that nothing about the alignment system really forces those choices on you, and at least in some cases tables have made other choices. I'm going to post my own take on the system, and I think you'll find it interesting how mine both agrees with and yet at time departs subtly from your understanding of the 'one right way'. [/QUOTE]
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