Concisely describe the 9 alignments in your campaign

[Timeboxer]

So one of my friends who lurks on these boards has devised a description of the D&D alignments applied to the schoolyard, as follows:

Lawful Good: Billy gives Jimmy a noogie. Mr. Dawson pulls Billy away from Jimmy, and takes him to the principal's office. Mr. Dawson is Lawful Good.

Neutral Good: Billy gives Jimmy a noogie. Gina goes and tells a teacher. Gina is Neutral Good.

Chaotic Good: Billy gives Jimmy a noogie. Dave says, "That's not a noogie. This is a noogie!", and gives Billy a noogie. Dave is Chaotic Good.

Lawful Neutral: Billy gives Jimmy a noogie. Jason punches Billy in the face, and then goes and tells a teacher. Everything. Jason is Lawful Neutral.

True Neutral: Billy gives Jimmy a noogie. Marsha looks up, then goes back to her book. Marsha is True Neutral.

Chaotic Neutral: Billy gives Jimmy a noogie. Hector pours several gallons of applesauce on both Billy and Jimmy. Hector is Chaotic Neutral.

Lawful Evil: Billy gives Jimmy a noogie. June tells a teacher that Billy and Jimmy are having a fight, thus getting them both hauled to the principal's office. June is Lawful Evil.

Neutral Evil: Billy gives Jimmy a noogie. Billy says, "Look what I did!" Billy is Neutral Evil.

Chaotic Evil: Billy gives Jimmy a noogie. Jimmy comes back around and sets Billy's pants on fire. Jimmy is Chaotic Evil.​

What do you think, sirs?

 

[swrushing]

1. Play your character and dont worry much about alignment.

2. alignment is derived from character actions and should not drive character actions.

3. if you are a religious type, lets disucss your church/faith and its dogma. When/if it needs to be done, you will get mention from me that "this action would normally be against chrcuh doctrine. Are you sure you want to do this?" and if such things go on, your character will recieve warnings in game, from either church people or, if warranted, higher sources.

I find this concise description has solved most all alignment issues by stopping them before they come up.

of yeah, when combined with removing all non-religious alignment restrictions.

 

[swrushing]

Also, this is sort of a cart before horse thing.

What WE think about alignment is about as useful in prevention of alignment issues as cream of wheat is at preventing rainstorms.

Alingment issues will crop up when you, deliberately or inadvertantly, provide moral conflicts to your players. So the first and mostly the only useful place to start looking for questions and answers is *your upcoming game*>

What type of campaign do you want it to be? What moral dillemas do you want them to have to overcome? Figure those out and put them in you "nine alignment" examples.

Often, if you are not careful, they will sneak up on you.

Common Example: The party has stopped the orc raiders from killing the caravan and even have one or two alive. What happens next? Is it an alignment issue if they now kill the helpless and tied up orcs? Does "killing helpless" = evil act? Whatever the answer is in the alignment issue, whats the normal customs? Also, if they now need to track back to the lair and eliminate the orcs to prevent them sending more, is torturing the orcs for info an alignment conflict?

 

[random user]

I don't really play with alignment.

IMC, alignment is what you make of it.

One person may consider themselves evil while others consider them good.

One can have an internally consistent set of values which others don't understand and view as chaotic.

 

[Psion]

random user inspires me to add:

Alignment has nothing to do with what you THINK you are.
And self consistant or disciplined is not necessarily lawful.

 

[Stormborn]

Current Game: None
Homebrewing in Progress:

LG: "I use a set of rules that exist outside myself to guide my behavior. My behavior is generally characterized by a concern for the well being of others."

LN: " I use a set of rules that exist outside myself to guide my behavior. My behavior is not especially characterized by a concern for others, but neither is it characterized by a tendency to use or harm others for personal gain."

LE: " I use a set of rules that exists outside myself to guide my behavior. I am generally characterized by a tendency to focus on my own well being to the point that I will use or harm others for personal gain."

CG: "I am primarilly guided by my own internal drives, desires, and principles. My behavior is generally characterized by a concern for the well being of others."

CN:"I am primarilly guided by my own internal drives, desires, and principles. My behavior is not especially characterized by a concern for others, but neither is it characterized by a tendency to use or harm others for personal gain."

CE:"I am primarilly guided by my own internal drives, desires, and principles.My behavior is generally characterized by a tendency to seek my own well being to the point that I will use or harm others for personal gain."

NG: "I am guided by both my internal drives,desires, and motives as well as the dictates of a set of rules outside my self. My behavior is generally characterized by a concern for the well being of others."

N: "I am guided by both my internal drives,desires, and motives as well as the dictates of a set of rules outside my self. My behavior is not especially characterized by a concern for others, but neither is it characterized by a tendency to use or harm others for personal gain."

NE: "I am guided by both my internal drives,desires, and motives as well as the dictates of a set of rules outside my self. My behavior is generally characterized by a tendecy to seek my own well being to the point that I will use or harm others for personal gain."


(Perhaps I have read to many personality tests.)

 

[Anabstercorian]

Law and Chaos Axis

Law and chaos are primarily centered around the creatures relationship to authority and tradition, whether in the form of formal hierarchy and procedure or informal family and tradition.

AXIOMATIC: You are defined by the laws you have chosen as your own. You inhabit a hierarchy of authority, and not only expect your commands to be obeyed without question, you will obey commands from higher up without question as well. You never attempt something new when a tried and true practice is available.
Axiomatic characters have the [Lawful] subtype.
LAWFUL: You have tendencies towards hierarchy and tradition, feel uncomfortable with rocking the boat, and like to stick with what you've done before when it comes to solving problems.
NEUTRAL: You have no real inclinations, and generally just try to get by. If you're in a hierarchy, you do what you're told and try not to get caught when you don't. If you're not in a hierarchy, you go with the flow.
CHAOTIC: You are uncomfortable in a hierarchy, and don't like being constrained by established notions. You're most comfortable when you can determine your path by yourself with only a minimum of outside guidance.
ANARCHIC: You are hostile to the very notion of law. You cannot be convinced to enter a hierarchy, and attempts to command you elicit your hostility. You have no concept of 'fealty' except to those you consider personal friends.
Anarchic characters have the [Chaotic] subtype.

EXALTED: You are defined by your virtue. You believe that redemption is possible for virtually all creatures, and you will struggle to bring this about. Similarly, you will risk everything to fight irredeemable evil, to save innocents from harm, and generally prevent bad things from happening needlessly.
Exalted characters have the [Good] subtype.
GOOD: You have an inclination towards virtue and a desire to do good, to heal the hurt, to protect the innocent, to punish malevolence, and to generally be helpful for people.
NEUTRAL: You have no real inclinations, and generally just try to get by. You will protect those close to you, but won't take any real risks to help those near to you. Barring unusual situations, you won't do anything really harmful to other people.
EVIL: You do not have significant emotional barriers to hurting people. Seeing other people suffering or in pain causes you very little unhappiness, and possibly even gives you a thrill. You only care about people who are very close to you.
VILE: You have no emotional barriers whatsoever to hurting people. Seeing other people suffering or in pain causes you no discomfort whatsoever and probably gives you a thrill. Even close personal friends or lovers can be discarded or killed at a moment's notice if it's convenient.
Vile characters have the [Evil] subtype.

For the purposes of magical effects, you need the subtype to be affected. Order's Wrath, for example, treats Lawful, Neutral, and Chaotic characters as Neutral, treats Axiomatics as Lawful, and treats Anarchic characters as Chaotic.

 

[Wombat]

No alignments

No problems

(kicks back with a nice drink, some cool music, and a fist full 'o dice)

 

[noeuphoria]

Simply put, I always felt:

Good - Good is unselfish. It means helping others, sometimes at your own expense, because you believe that if everyone did this the world would be a perfect place.

Neutral - Neutral means you are not motivated by a great desire to help or harm others. You are motivated by personal ties and loyalties. You would advance yourself, but usually not at the expense of others.

Evil - Evil means you look out for yourself and will harm others if it helps you. You are selfish.

Lawful - You believe that laws allow people to coexist and need to be followed for the sake of soceity.

Neutral - You don't have any particular commitment to the law, but you won't break it unless there is a good reason (i.e. you won't get caught, your best friend is going to be executed tomorrow).

Chaotic - You think laws are weak, developed because people couldn't be bothered to figure out right and wrong on their own. Only fear of repraisal keeps you from breaking the law.

I think this makes sense because it pegs most people at neutral; which they are.

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

They don't exist IMC.

But if they did...

LG: Does the right thing, because it's the Right Thing, and says Right Thing in capital letters. And that is not a typo.
NG: Does the right thing, because it's the right thing, and looks meaningfully at those who don't. And says, "You know who you are, you awful people/things!"
CG: Does the right thing, because it's the right thing. And skydives. And says, "Dude, that's not right!"

LN: Does the right thing, usually, because it's the Law. And does the wrong thing if it's the Law, too. And thinks he's right. And may well be.
TN: Preserves the balance. And gets killed by a proper 3e character, because "preserving the balance" as a fervent ideology just silly.
N: Goes with the flow. Does the right thing, becuase it's usually easier that way. And says, "I don't worry about it."
CN: Does whatever leaps to mind. And what leaps to mind isn't too nasty, or at least not outside the hands of a player. Gets banned from campaigns. Often. And says, "I'm playing my alignment!"

LE: Does the right thing, sometimes, because it's the Law. And does the wrong thing whenever it benefits him. And knows he's right. And isn't.
NE: Does whatever leaps to mind. And what leaps to mind is, "I'll destroy your life, suck your soul, shatter your sanity... and I'll make you think it's All. Your. Fault."
CE: Does whatever leaps to mind. And what leaps to mind is, "I'll rip your feeble body to shreds with my bare hands, and no one's gonna stop me. Because I feel like it!"