Beyond Alignment: Can Good Characters Commit Murder?

[Warden]

http://www.emeraldpress.net/alignment.html

As a preview of an upcoming product called Campaign Options: Alignment, we've posted the first of a series of articles titled "Beyond Alignment," discussing various mature and expanded aspects of the alignment that we'd like everyone's opinion on. The first article deals with the thought of good-aligned characters committing murder. Have a look and tell us if you agree, disagree, or even if you find such a topic to be irrelevant in a fantasy game like D&D.

 

[Henry]

Moved to d20 Publishers forum.

 

[Umbran]

For me, it is less a matter of agreement or disagreement as it is questioning the wisdom in the presentation.

"...can a good character be accused of murdering another person, even if that person should be considered evil?"

Alignment is the long-term average of past actions and motivations. The actions dictate alignment of the character. The alignment of the character says nothing about the moral status of present or future actions. To ask "can a Good character commit murder?" is rather like asking, "Can a person who is generally a nice guy ever be rude?"

By asking the question, the author seems to assume the reader has a fundamental misunderstanding of alignment. This assumption will turn off large parts of your audience. Repeating that which they already know is okay - the folks who know it already can view it as a primer intended for others, and will skim it until they hit discussion of topics less clear to them. But, asking as the article does fails to imply that deeper discussion will follow. It will make a more sophisticated reader think, "Hm. Any idiot knows that. If that's the level this is written for, I shouldn't bother with it." And you quickly lose sales.

As a separate point - I'm also not a fan of equating the Law-Chaos axis with society as a whole. As far as I'm concerned, a person who prefers orderliness can be lawful without any reference to the will of the majority. But that's just me.

 

[trancejeremy]

Ugh. You really don't do the topic (or yourself) justice by having a discussion on whether or not fur is murder.

 

[Warden]

By asking the question, the author seems to assume the reader has a fundamental misunderstanding of alignment.

Actually, this article comes straight from a sidebar of the first draft, and so its actual intent may have been missed. "Can Good Characters Commit Murder?" is located after a discussion on intent, whether or not a character intents to commit a good act while it may be construed as evil in the eyes of others. Theoretically, you could say that the actions of war by the US are good-aligned because they intend good things by them, even though they are viewed as an evil superpower by other countries or civilizations.

These article previews are designed to invoke a response (as well as interest in the project), and so there may always be portions that seem missing, unexplained, or irrelevant, but they are attached to a larger project. For those who have been roleplaying for some time (and likely went to college or university's debate team), some of these topics may seem rather obvious, while they can become a basis for discussion within a group for others.

 

[PlotDevice]

These article previews are designed to invoke a response (as well as interest in the project), and so there may always be portions that seem missing, unexplained, or irrelevant, but they are attached to a larger project. For those who have been roleplaying for some time (and likely went to college or university's debate team), some of these topics may seem rather obvious, while they can become a basis for discussion within a group for others.

Hmm... :\

Is a study on the nature of the dualities of good and evil or law and chaos a viable D20 suppliment? Probably. Does it look from this article that you are addressing this keeping in mind the complexities of the issues involved and your target audience? I don't think so.

For whatever my opinion is worth, the argument here does seem a bit murky, and not focused on the main point that you outline in your sidebar of "asking the right questions". Insead this focuses on behaviour of good and aspects of the definition of murder, which to me seems like more of a Law vs Chaos than Good vs Evil issue. I think you are confusing your own point by your example.

One would hope that in a work of this scope you would address the fundamental disparity between philosophical poles of the alignment graph and the psychological traits that are related to those alignments. I see no evidence of that in this extract.

Based upon this extract, not for me to buy, but I am inspired to do a bit of work on this topic myself, so for that, my thanks.

Evan