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<blockquote data-quote="CleverNickName" data-source="post: 8532897" data-attributes="member: 50987">I used to game with a group of folks who absolutely detested the concept of alignment...didn't want to have anything to do with it whatsoever, would write vulgar expletives in the Alignment blank on their character sheets (this was back in the 3E days).&nbsp; However, I depended on alignment as a tool for running the hundreds of other monsters and NPCs in the game.&nbsp; I needed that mechanic to help differentiate friends from foes.So I tried to keep track of which factions and monsters would get along with others, and then make adjustments as the story progressed.&nbsp; That quickly became a mess, so I finally just assigned a single alignment to the party as a whole, in my notes.&nbsp;&nbsp; They were basically Neutral Good, but their alignment would drift from Neutral to Good and back, or between Lawful and Neutral and Chaotic, depending on the deeds they accomplished and the friends they made.&nbsp; The players insisted they didn't have an alignment, but I knew that as a group they behaved Neutral Good.I never shared those notes or reported their &quot;party alignment&quot; to the players; they were pretty adamant about not wanting to have anything to do with it.&nbsp; (And besides:&nbsp; I knew that they would fight and disagree with whatever alignment I gave.)&nbsp; It was just a tool that I used to help me decide which NPCs would be friendly and which ones would be standoffish, what kind of reputation they had in certain parts of town, that sort of thing.&nbsp; It really made tracking the social tier a lot easier.&nbsp; Looking back on it, I guess you could say I was using a rudimentary &quot;Renown&quot; system for the group...except it used the LC/GE axis instead of a numerical score.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="CleverNickName, post: 8532897, member: 50987"] I used to game with a group of folks who absolutely detested the concept of alignment...didn't want to have anything to do with it whatsoever, would write vulgar expletives in the Alignment blank on their character sheets (this was back in the 3E days). However, I depended on alignment as a tool for running the hundreds of other monsters and NPCs in the game. I needed that mechanic to help differentiate friends from foes. So I tried to keep track of which factions and monsters would get along with others, and then make adjustments as the story progressed. That quickly became a mess, so I finally just assigned a single alignment to the party as a whole, in my notes. They were basically Neutral Good, but their alignment would drift from Neutral to Good and back, or between Lawful and Neutral and Chaotic, depending on the deeds they accomplished and the friends they made. The players insisted they didn't have an alignment, but I knew that as a group they behaved Neutral Good. I never shared those notes or reported their "party alignment" to the players; they were pretty adamant about not wanting to have anything to do with it. (And besides: I knew that they would fight and disagree with whatever alignment I gave.) It was just a tool that I used to help me decide which NPCs would be friendly and which ones would be standoffish, what kind of reputation they had in certain parts of town, that sort of thing. It really made tracking the social tier a lot easier. Looking back on it, I guess you could say I was using a rudimentary "Renown" system for the group...except it used the LC/GE axis instead of a numerical score. [/QUOTE]

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