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How do you handle evil?
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<blockquote data-quote="Tantavalist" data-source="post: 8557782" data-attributes="member: 7030056"><p>The most telling part of this question is that the poll uses Alignment to frame it. It genuinely doesn't give the option that non-D&D gamers would use by default, that the idea of having a notation attached to every character be it PC or NPC saying if they're Good or Evil is absurd. </p><p></p><p>In my games, my players just play Characters. They don't have Good, Neutral or Evil written anywhere on their sheets. How they act is entirely up to the player in any given situation.</p><p></p><p>Generally this results in PCs leaning toward the selfish side of Amoral but I've also noticed something over the decades of running RPGs. If PCs don't have a section on their sheet saying they're evil then they can on occasion also show flashes of mercy or charity, even from characters who've been playing more like classic Murder Hobos. It's almost as if taking away the Alignment concept leads to characters being less two-dimensional, because it means that players are going with "What would this person do?" rather than "What would someone of Alignment XXXX XXXX do?"</p><p></p><p>In an association with the TTRPG hobby that dates back to the late 80s I have never once come across a convincing account of someone saying how the D&D Alignment rules made a game session better. Usually it's someone pulling the classic "My character is XXXX and so you can't blame me for playing that". Imagine the same situation with no Alignment rules to hide behind.</p><p></p><p>In short- doesn't this debate belong in the D20 forum rather than the TTRPG General one?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Tantavalist, post: 8557782, member: 7030056"] The most telling part of this question is that the poll uses Alignment to frame it. It genuinely doesn't give the option that non-D&D gamers would use by default, that the idea of having a notation attached to every character be it PC or NPC saying if they're Good or Evil is absurd. In my games, my players just play Characters. They don't have Good, Neutral or Evil written anywhere on their sheets. How they act is entirely up to the player in any given situation. Generally this results in PCs leaning toward the selfish side of Amoral but I've also noticed something over the decades of running RPGs. If PCs don't have a section on their sheet saying they're evil then they can on occasion also show flashes of mercy or charity, even from characters who've been playing more like classic Murder Hobos. It's almost as if taking away the Alignment concept leads to characters being less two-dimensional, because it means that players are going with "What would this person do?" rather than "What would someone of Alignment XXXX XXXX do?" In an association with the TTRPG hobby that dates back to the late 80s I have never once come across a convincing account of someone saying how the D&D Alignment rules made a game session better. Usually it's someone pulling the classic "My character is XXXX and so you can't blame me for playing that". Imagine the same situation with no Alignment rules to hide behind. In short- doesn't this debate belong in the D20 forum rather than the TTRPG General one? [/QUOTE]
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