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<blockquote data-quote="jgsugden" data-source="post: 8919126" data-attributes="member: 2629">I use the 9, but I don't.&nbsp; In early AD&amp;D, when I was not even a teenager yet, I decided that alignment is weird.&nbsp; People argued about whether some was this alignment or that, nobody could agree on anything, and it seemed weird that we tried to reduce everyone to just 9 different buckets.&nbsp; So, I eliminated it.&nbsp; I realized Magic was the only place where the mechanic of alignment mattered, and for the most part it was clerical magic.&nbsp; So, I decided that evil was going to be what the God that granted the magic thought was wrong, and good was what that God thought was right.&nbsp; And it functioned incredibly well in AD&amp;D, 2E and 3E ... once you got used to it.The problem was new players that had played in other games took a bit to drink the Kool-Aid.&nbsp; I had the same conversations over and over and over and over and over and over and over .... until people had played with me for a bit and understood.&nbsp; I just got tired of that conversation, so when 4E came back with their simplified buckets of alignment I put it back into my game.Except I didn't.&nbsp; I told players it was back into the game.&nbsp; I asked them to select an alignment when they made their characters.&nbsp; I told them their recent actions may have been in contrast to their stated alignment and asked them if they wanted to change alignment.&nbsp; I did all of that type of stuff - but for the most part we stopped seeing it have any mechanical impact on the game at all.&nbsp; I didn't select abilities for NPCs that relied upon it. The game itself phased it out with abilities like Protection from Good and Evil looking at monster type, not alignment.&nbsp; The only time I remember it actually being relevant was when a long time player set a Glyph of Warding triggering on alignment just to needle me.&nbsp; Alignment is the single most irrelevant element of the game mechanically ... but it does give you a nice shorthand to start thinking about classifying enemies and assisting you in starting to craft their approach and philosophies.&nbsp; To that end, I prefer the 9 - but I honestly don't think my game would change at all if I went back to eliminating it from the rules.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="jgsugden, post: 8919126, member: 2629"] I use the 9, but I don't. In early AD&D, when I was not even a teenager yet, I decided that alignment is weird. People argued about whether some was this alignment or that, nobody could agree on anything, and it seemed weird that we tried to reduce everyone to just 9 different buckets. So, I eliminated it. I realized Magic was the only place where the mechanic of alignment mattered, and for the most part it was clerical magic. So, I decided that evil was going to be what the God that granted the magic thought was wrong, and good was what that God thought was right. And it functioned incredibly well in AD&D, 2E and 3E ... once you got used to it. The problem was new players that had played in other games took a bit to drink the Kool-Aid. I had the same conversations over and over and over and over and over and over and over .... until people had played with me for a bit and understood. I just got tired of that conversation, so when 4E came back with their simplified buckets of alignment I put it back into my game. Except I didn't. I told players it was back into the game. I asked them to select an alignment when they made their characters. I told them their recent actions may have been in contrast to their stated alignment and asked them if they wanted to change alignment. I did all of that type of stuff - but for the most part we stopped seeing it have any mechanical impact on the game at all. I didn't select abilities for NPCs that relied upon it. The game itself phased it out with abilities like Protection from Good and Evil looking at monster type, not alignment. The only time I remember it actually being relevant was when a long time player set a Glyph of Warding triggering on alignment just to needle me. Alignment is the single most irrelevant element of the game mechanically ... but it does give you a nice shorthand to start thinking about classifying enemies and assisting you in starting to craft their approach and philosophies. To that end, I prefer the 9 - but I honestly don't think my game would change at all if I went back to eliminating it from the rules. [/QUOTE]

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