Michael Morris
First Post
On the 8th post I move to the new treatment of the Halfling and Eldarin - this first post discusses revisions on Dusk's alignment system for 4e.
Based on the news reports of late 4e is going to a 5 alignment system. From what little has leaked it seems to be an exceptionally poorly done system, but I'll have to read it before being conclusive on that assertion - all the same it has been the cause of quite a firestorm.
On 4e in general and D&D in particular I've been rather quiet of late. Part of this has been work, part of it has been coding on the site, but honestly it feels odd to work on the site without actually posting and enjoying the site by sharing thoughts and ideas - so I'm going to abandon my lengthy hiatus and discuss at length some of my 4e plans particularly with respect to alignment - although part of this has to do with the greater framework of the Dusk setting and it's revival and reimagining. If you've never heard of the setting before don't worry - in this post and others I'm starting anew from the beginning and assuming that nothing is known to anyone.
In the last version of the setting I had replaced the 9-point alignment system with the 5-color wheel set based on Magic: The Gathering. After two years of play this alignment system has been lots of fun, but also shown some flaws - not the least of which was being so similar to the card game as to effectively preclude the setting's publication. Still, after the considerable work done on it I didn't want to redo it just to get it to market - besides the world has a lot of campaign settings as is.
But I digress. This will be the third time I've heavily revised my setting to make sure it meshes with an edition of D&D. 4e promises to present a lot more problems to solve than 3e presented, but at the same time there's promise in the new mechanics and directions to flesh them out that are very exciting. Dusk's alignment system is one such area - for now instead of being relegated solely to the magic users it can be expressed within all the classes and allow the setting to express and embrace alignment in ways not previously possible.
Ironically this is the opposite tact from 4e which seeks to downplay alignment to the status of non-importance (or at least that's the impression I get from the materials I've read).
The current alignment system of Dusk has problems inherited from Magic the Gathering most of which didn't really become apparent until after a long bought of play. One of them, plainly, is that no matter how much Mark Rosewater protests to the contrary - Black is evil and White is good. Trying to disguise this with the terms amorality and morality doesn't work and the more I and my players worked with it the more it became apparent the black couldn't be the hero. White could be 'evil' - but whenever I introduced such a character it felt forced and awkward.
The reason this is a problem is the same as the root problem of the traditional 9 alignment system of D&D, a problem that will only increase in magnitude with 4e's system.
It's actually a simple problem - Good and Evil aren't values - they are judgments.
Ask any 10 people what it means to be good and evil and you'll get different answers - and if those questions are drawn from groups with different political and social backgrounds those answers can not only be different but even contradictory.
The solution is to remove good and evil from the alignment system entirely. Magic nearly got it right in the five colors of its setting - but not entirely. Black and white are still tied to their roles and will remain so.
Rethinking those roles is what I've done for two reasons. One, bluntly, is legal, and increasing the separation between my setting and its influence only strengthens it. The second reason and goal is to give every color the opportunity to be the hero, and to be the villain. In clear and unambiguous terms. Part of that process also involved switching black and white to silver and gold - colors which have no association with evil or good which allows me to define them more cleanly.
While I'm still working on these changes here is the first draft of the five color alignment system for Dusk in the 4th edition of the D&D game.
[imager]http://www.enworld.org/images/valra.jpg[/imager]Valra
The alignment of Valra is dedicated primarily to communities and those things which hold communities together and allow them to prosper - law, peace, order, tradition. An individual of this alignment believes that the community is worth more than all other considerations, particular the individuals that make up that community.
Valra believes it is good because it is compassionate and cares for the needs of others. It is a protector of the weak and guardian of even the least of its number. Valra imposes law and order upon a chaotic world in order to bring peace and happiness to the community and minimize the strife within it.
The enemies of Valra believe it is evil because it stifles free will and free determination in the name of the community. Valra they say will provide everything for you by taking everything from you. While having noble intentions, it is a path to tyranny and oppression.
Valra is the ally of Abora and Balcra and the enemy to Sodra and Shunra.
[imager]http://www.enworld.org/images/balcra.jpg[/imager]Balcra
Balcra is the alignment of thought and knowledge and its adherents hold that learning is more important than all other concerns. Curiosity drives this alignment of inquiring minds who need to know, whatever the cost.
Balcra believes it is good because it sets the individual on the path to enlightenment and knowledge and instills within one the values of foresight and patience. There is no secret that, once unveiled, does not better the world they say.
The enemies of this alignment hold the opposite view - some things aren't meant to be known. Sometimes the act of discovery destroys that which is discovered or, at the least changes it forever and not always for the better. They are also often critical of Balcra's tendancy to plan endlessly without actually doing anything. Balcra becomes truly evil in their eyes when it resorts to theft or destruction to sate its endless curiousity.
Balcra is the ally of Valra and Sodra and the enemy of Shunra and Abora.
[imager]http://www.enworld.org/images/sodra.jpg[/imager]Sodra
The individual is the chief concern of Sodra. Individual rights, responsibility, accountability, strength and power are the most important things in the world to them. Sodra sees itself as the champion of individual rights and seeks to limit the encroachment of groups and states upon those rights.
Sodra views itself as good because it understands that, ultimately, the world is composed of individuals and for prosperity to occur for all then all must be free. Sodra resents traditions, laws and codes that restrict individual rights. To Sodra there is no evil in allowing greed to run its course since the pursuit of wealth by individuals creates more wealth for all.
Sodra is viewed as evil because it is selfish, acquisitive and all to often not concerned with problems that do not affect the individual. Valra in particular does not abide by the Sodran doctrine that individuals are of more worth than the communities they create.
Sodra is the ally of Shunra and Balcra and the enemy of Abora and Valra.
[imager]http://www.enworld.org/images/shunra.jpg[/imager]Shunra
Freedom, Passion, Emotion, and the fire within - this is Shunra. This is the 'in the moment' alignment, the alignment that sees no value in long term plans or goals. The mind will lead you astray - think with your heart, not your head. Shunra doesn't think, it feels.
Shunra believes it is good because it is freedom. It does not control anyone or anything - including and perhaps especially itself. Shunra's adherents are fickle and flighty - but passionate in all things they do. They are the poets and dreamers of the world.
The enemies of Shunra see it as a disruption and a distraction. Lack of self control brings with it strife and the darker emotions of anger and hate. Tis better to be rid of all of these nonsensical things and stick to logic and truth. They call Shunra evil because they feel it will not temper itself to protect anything.
Shunra is the ally of Abora and Sodra and the enemy of Valra and Balcra.
[imager]http://www.enworld.org/images/abora.jpg[/imager]Abora
Last is Abora, the alignment associated with life itself and the natural world. The world, as it is in all it's glory and beauty is the most important thing, and care must be taken to preserve and protect it.
Abora believes itself to be good because it cares about all of the world - not just parts of it as the other alignments do. No one part of the world is more important than any other.
The enemies of Abora see it as an obstacle to progress and, sometimes, a harm to the needs of those things they value more than the world as a whole. Abora becomes truly evil in their eyes when it destroys the property of others in the name of natural preservation.
Abora is the ally of Valra and Shunra and the enemy of Balcra and Sodra.
"Allies" and "Enemies" among alignments is somewhat inaccurate - it is more accurate to say that allies are "sympathetic" and enemies are "antithetic" to each other. This said the enemy alignments can get along, they just have a harder time doing it - and the allied alignments do fight against each other - it just doesn't occur as often. Indeed all the alignments have been known to fight amongst themselves, though Sodra is most notorious for this trait.
These alignments are not exclusive - an individual can have multiple alignments - even all five. Think of this alignment as a value system defining where the character stands in key conflicts. What the character is willing to do to defend his beliefs marks her as good or evil. Also note that each alignment tends to label the beliefs of its enemies as "evil" and it's own beliefs as "good."
This is a long read so I'll leave off for now. Hope everyone likes the new symbols for the alignments, I'll discuss them in a future post in the thread.
Based on the news reports of late 4e is going to a 5 alignment system. From what little has leaked it seems to be an exceptionally poorly done system, but I'll have to read it before being conclusive on that assertion - all the same it has been the cause of quite a firestorm.
On 4e in general and D&D in particular I've been rather quiet of late. Part of this has been work, part of it has been coding on the site, but honestly it feels odd to work on the site without actually posting and enjoying the site by sharing thoughts and ideas - so I'm going to abandon my lengthy hiatus and discuss at length some of my 4e plans particularly with respect to alignment - although part of this has to do with the greater framework of the Dusk setting and it's revival and reimagining. If you've never heard of the setting before don't worry - in this post and others I'm starting anew from the beginning and assuming that nothing is known to anyone.
In the last version of the setting I had replaced the 9-point alignment system with the 5-color wheel set based on Magic: The Gathering. After two years of play this alignment system has been lots of fun, but also shown some flaws - not the least of which was being so similar to the card game as to effectively preclude the setting's publication. Still, after the considerable work done on it I didn't want to redo it just to get it to market - besides the world has a lot of campaign settings as is.
But I digress. This will be the third time I've heavily revised my setting to make sure it meshes with an edition of D&D. 4e promises to present a lot more problems to solve than 3e presented, but at the same time there's promise in the new mechanics and directions to flesh them out that are very exciting. Dusk's alignment system is one such area - for now instead of being relegated solely to the magic users it can be expressed within all the classes and allow the setting to express and embrace alignment in ways not previously possible.
Ironically this is the opposite tact from 4e which seeks to downplay alignment to the status of non-importance (or at least that's the impression I get from the materials I've read).
The current alignment system of Dusk has problems inherited from Magic the Gathering most of which didn't really become apparent until after a long bought of play. One of them, plainly, is that no matter how much Mark Rosewater protests to the contrary - Black is evil and White is good. Trying to disguise this with the terms amorality and morality doesn't work and the more I and my players worked with it the more it became apparent the black couldn't be the hero. White could be 'evil' - but whenever I introduced such a character it felt forced and awkward.
The reason this is a problem is the same as the root problem of the traditional 9 alignment system of D&D, a problem that will only increase in magnitude with 4e's system.
It's actually a simple problem - Good and Evil aren't values - they are judgments.
Ask any 10 people what it means to be good and evil and you'll get different answers - and if those questions are drawn from groups with different political and social backgrounds those answers can not only be different but even contradictory.
The solution is to remove good and evil from the alignment system entirely. Magic nearly got it right in the five colors of its setting - but not entirely. Black and white are still tied to their roles and will remain so.
Rethinking those roles is what I've done for two reasons. One, bluntly, is legal, and increasing the separation between my setting and its influence only strengthens it. The second reason and goal is to give every color the opportunity to be the hero, and to be the villain. In clear and unambiguous terms. Part of that process also involved switching black and white to silver and gold - colors which have no association with evil or good which allows me to define them more cleanly.
While I'm still working on these changes here is the first draft of the five color alignment system for Dusk in the 4th edition of the D&D game.
[imager]http://www.enworld.org/images/valra.jpg[/imager]Valra
The alignment of Valra is dedicated primarily to communities and those things which hold communities together and allow them to prosper - law, peace, order, tradition. An individual of this alignment believes that the community is worth more than all other considerations, particular the individuals that make up that community.
Valra believes it is good because it is compassionate and cares for the needs of others. It is a protector of the weak and guardian of even the least of its number. Valra imposes law and order upon a chaotic world in order to bring peace and happiness to the community and minimize the strife within it.
The enemies of Valra believe it is evil because it stifles free will and free determination in the name of the community. Valra they say will provide everything for you by taking everything from you. While having noble intentions, it is a path to tyranny and oppression.
Valra is the ally of Abora and Balcra and the enemy to Sodra and Shunra.
[imager]http://www.enworld.org/images/balcra.jpg[/imager]Balcra
Balcra is the alignment of thought and knowledge and its adherents hold that learning is more important than all other concerns. Curiosity drives this alignment of inquiring minds who need to know, whatever the cost.
Balcra believes it is good because it sets the individual on the path to enlightenment and knowledge and instills within one the values of foresight and patience. There is no secret that, once unveiled, does not better the world they say.
The enemies of this alignment hold the opposite view - some things aren't meant to be known. Sometimes the act of discovery destroys that which is discovered or, at the least changes it forever and not always for the better. They are also often critical of Balcra's tendancy to plan endlessly without actually doing anything. Balcra becomes truly evil in their eyes when it resorts to theft or destruction to sate its endless curiousity.
Balcra is the ally of Valra and Sodra and the enemy of Shunra and Abora.
[imager]http://www.enworld.org/images/sodra.jpg[/imager]Sodra
The individual is the chief concern of Sodra. Individual rights, responsibility, accountability, strength and power are the most important things in the world to them. Sodra sees itself as the champion of individual rights and seeks to limit the encroachment of groups and states upon those rights.
Sodra views itself as good because it understands that, ultimately, the world is composed of individuals and for prosperity to occur for all then all must be free. Sodra resents traditions, laws and codes that restrict individual rights. To Sodra there is no evil in allowing greed to run its course since the pursuit of wealth by individuals creates more wealth for all.
Sodra is viewed as evil because it is selfish, acquisitive and all to often not concerned with problems that do not affect the individual. Valra in particular does not abide by the Sodran doctrine that individuals are of more worth than the communities they create.
Sodra is the ally of Shunra and Balcra and the enemy of Abora and Valra.
[imager]http://www.enworld.org/images/shunra.jpg[/imager]Shunra
Freedom, Passion, Emotion, and the fire within - this is Shunra. This is the 'in the moment' alignment, the alignment that sees no value in long term plans or goals. The mind will lead you astray - think with your heart, not your head. Shunra doesn't think, it feels.
Shunra believes it is good because it is freedom. It does not control anyone or anything - including and perhaps especially itself. Shunra's adherents are fickle and flighty - but passionate in all things they do. They are the poets and dreamers of the world.
The enemies of Shunra see it as a disruption and a distraction. Lack of self control brings with it strife and the darker emotions of anger and hate. Tis better to be rid of all of these nonsensical things and stick to logic and truth. They call Shunra evil because they feel it will not temper itself to protect anything.
Shunra is the ally of Abora and Sodra and the enemy of Valra and Balcra.
[imager]http://www.enworld.org/images/abora.jpg[/imager]Abora
Last is Abora, the alignment associated with life itself and the natural world. The world, as it is in all it's glory and beauty is the most important thing, and care must be taken to preserve and protect it.
Abora believes itself to be good because it cares about all of the world - not just parts of it as the other alignments do. No one part of the world is more important than any other.
The enemies of Abora see it as an obstacle to progress and, sometimes, a harm to the needs of those things they value more than the world as a whole. Abora becomes truly evil in their eyes when it destroys the property of others in the name of natural preservation.
Abora is the ally of Valra and Shunra and the enemy of Balcra and Sodra.
"Allies" and "Enemies" among alignments is somewhat inaccurate - it is more accurate to say that allies are "sympathetic" and enemies are "antithetic" to each other. This said the enemy alignments can get along, they just have a harder time doing it - and the allied alignments do fight against each other - it just doesn't occur as often. Indeed all the alignments have been known to fight amongst themselves, though Sodra is most notorious for this trait.
These alignments are not exclusive - an individual can have multiple alignments - even all five. Think of this alignment as a value system defining where the character stands in key conflicts. What the character is willing to do to defend his beliefs marks her as good or evil. Also note that each alignment tends to label the beliefs of its enemies as "evil" and it's own beliefs as "good."
This is a long read so I'll leave off for now. Hope everyone likes the new symbols for the alignments, I'll discuss them in a future post in the thread.
Last edited:
(Sha'dar Kai anyone?)
