Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Is it possible to have a Chaotic society?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Utrecht" data-source="post: 1164280" data-attributes="member: 1411"><p>In addition to all of the discussions above - I think that it is important to look at why societies formed.</p><p></p><p>Granted this will be a very humanocentric analysis but since this is the only real history we have to look at - I will go with it (and yes, I acknowledge that there are exceptions to each of the below) - more information about this can also be found in Jared Diamonds book "Guns, Germs and Steel" - a good read IMO.</p><p></p><p>Fundamentally homo sapiens is a social creature and as such has a very strong desire to congregate into groups. However, we also tend to be a fairly territorial/agressive species as well - consequently it became necessary for first a set of traditions and then formalized laws to be created allowing both sides of our natures to co-exist. Thus, even the most chaotic of societies will have some measure of law - this typically includes such things as don't kill your neighbor, etc. (Which means IMO that humans are inherently LN)</p><p></p><p>For the first part of our history - mankind was a very tribal based - forming tribes along extended families. These tend to be very chaotic societies - ruled by some sort of patriach/matriarch - who rules tend to be fluid depending on circumstance and whim (with some laws/traditions constant - again don't kill your parents). These families tended to be hunter-gathers living from day to day - with all members of the society working towards gathering food.</p><p></p><p>Once manking discovered agriculture - we were able create long-term settlements - thereby leading to food surplus - allowing individuals to focus on non-food producing activities - and the generation and formation of the concept of wealth. Obviously those that obtained wealth then wanted to manner of protecting this wealth - thus necessitating the formation of formalized laws - and the social constructs to enforce them</p><p></p><p>Over time, these cities became city-states, kingdoms, proto-empires and full empires - with each step along the way introducing more laws defining the social constructs of the organization. Again, most of these laws were designed to:</p><p></p><p>1) Define power (what it meant, who held it, what their responsabilites to the masses were</p><p>2) Protect wealth (whether nation wealth, personal wealth or social wealth (things like rape, abuse, etc)</p><p></p><p>Therefore, when I look at chaotic societies - I would expect to see very little in the way of formally defining power - and very little done to protect wealth. Thus, as the more people congregate, the more inherently lawful a society will become....</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Utrecht, post: 1164280, member: 1411"] In addition to all of the discussions above - I think that it is important to look at why societies formed. Granted this will be a very humanocentric analysis but since this is the only real history we have to look at - I will go with it (and yes, I acknowledge that there are exceptions to each of the below) - more information about this can also be found in Jared Diamonds book "Guns, Germs and Steel" - a good read IMO. Fundamentally homo sapiens is a social creature and as such has a very strong desire to congregate into groups. However, we also tend to be a fairly territorial/agressive species as well - consequently it became necessary for first a set of traditions and then formalized laws to be created allowing both sides of our natures to co-exist. Thus, even the most chaotic of societies will have some measure of law - this typically includes such things as don't kill your neighbor, etc. (Which means IMO that humans are inherently LN) For the first part of our history - mankind was a very tribal based - forming tribes along extended families. These tend to be very chaotic societies - ruled by some sort of patriach/matriarch - who rules tend to be fluid depending on circumstance and whim (with some laws/traditions constant - again don't kill your parents). These families tended to be hunter-gathers living from day to day - with all members of the society working towards gathering food. Once manking discovered agriculture - we were able create long-term settlements - thereby leading to food surplus - allowing individuals to focus on non-food producing activities - and the generation and formation of the concept of wealth. Obviously those that obtained wealth then wanted to manner of protecting this wealth - thus necessitating the formation of formalized laws - and the social constructs to enforce them Over time, these cities became city-states, kingdoms, proto-empires and full empires - with each step along the way introducing more laws defining the social constructs of the organization. Again, most of these laws were designed to: 1) Define power (what it meant, who held it, what their responsabilites to the masses were 2) Protect wealth (whether nation wealth, personal wealth or social wealth (things like rape, abuse, etc) Therefore, when I look at chaotic societies - I would expect to see very little in the way of formally defining power - and very little done to protect wealth. Thus, as the more people congregate, the more inherently lawful a society will become.... [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Is it possible to have a Chaotic society?
Top