Piracy And Other Malfeasance

[Reynard]

Yeesh, gonna steer clear of this topic directly. I’ll never know why some folks find slavery in their RPGs so irresistible.

That wasn't a thing that happened in an RPG, it was a thing that happened in real life, and serves as an illustration of how a person can be "evil" but still not be okay with every evil thing.

 

[Reynard]

Clearly, he changed his alignment, in D&D terms.

Did he? He remained a pirate and "explorer" (with all that implies for those being "explored").

 

[KYRON45]

This thread makes me not want to play games anymore.

 

[Thomas Shey]

So, your experience is clearly different than mine, is all.

As one of that "lot of people", I answered the question.

You're not part of that "lot of people". That was the point. I'm not referring to people in the abstract, but people I either met or had referenced by third parties at the time.

 

[Reynard]

This thread makes me not want to play games anymore.

Why?

 

[KYRON45]

Why?

There was a time when you just grabbed your Mountain Dew and some Cheetos and crawled into the hole and smashed monsters and bad guys. Now it seems it's all moral conundrums and your definition of things vs. every one else's definition of things. Pirates are bad guys unless they have a Disney logo on them; but don't get your Disney on my D&D.

The equivocation and pedantry...every one always sounds angry, but doesnt mean to sound angry and so on and so on. When in the end we all know its 4e's fault and WOTC is bad because because they make stuff and we buy it, and then they run their business like a business and we all lose our minds because......Well that's just great...I forgot what my point was.

 

[Voadam]

Did he? He remained a pirate and "explorer" (with all that implies for those being "explored").

All of these are judgment calls that can vary.

I would normally feel that going from active slaver to developing a moral repugnance to slavery to going to actively being against slavery is a moral shift towards goodness on the good evil alignment axis.

I don't know enough about the bad parts of his specific pirating and exploring but I would not assume that just the implications of his being a pirate and explorer negates the moral shift of going from slaver to actively against slavery.

 

[Reynard]

There was a time when you just grabbed your Mountain Dew and some Cheetos and crawled into the hole and smashed monsters and bad guys. Now it seems it's all moral conundrums and your definition of things vs. every one else's definition of things. Pirates are bad guys unless they have a Disney logo on them; but don't get your Disney on my D&D.

The equivocation and pedantry...every one always sounds angry, but doesnt mean to sound angry and so on and so on. When in the end we all know its 4e's fault and WOTC is bad because because they make stuff and we buy it, and then they run their business like a business and we all lose our minds because......Well that's just great...I forgot what my point was.

It's not like this thread represents any broadly held philosophies on RPGing. It only represents the people in the thread talking specifically about the subject. It isn't "all moral conundrums" -- this thread is intentionally about moral conundrums. It's like a selection bias elemental.

So relax and go bask in the positivity of the PHB wizard art thread...

 

[Reynard]

All of these are judgment calls that can vary.

I would normally feel that going from active slaver to developing a moral repugnance to slavery to going to actively being against slavery is a moral shift towards goodness on the good evil alignment axis.

I don't know enough about the bad parts of his specific pirating and exploring but I would not assume that just the implications of his being a pirate and explorer negates the moral shift of going from slaver to actively against slavery.

Right but do you call someone in D&D "evil" if they make their living robbing and murdering others? Alignment is a terrible mechanic for many reasons, not least because it isn't nuanced enough to have an answer for the murderous pirate that hates sllavery.

 

[payn]

Right but do you call someone in D&D "evil" if they make their living robbing and murdering others? Alignment is a terrible mechanic for many reasons, not least because it isn't nuanced enough to have an answer for the murderous pirate that hates sllavery.

Actually, it does. A person of evil alignment doesnt have to support every possible evil action. Being against an evil action alone, doesnt make one good, or neutral.