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General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
The Nature of "Lawful"
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<blockquote data-quote="Izerath" data-source="post: 1785090" data-attributes="member: 6743"><p><strong>Oh I've followed along....</strong></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I think Thanee summed it up quite nicely. Rose colored glasses taint the view.</p><p></p><p>It all comes down to free will vs. order imposed for any reason. It could be control, agression, safety, or even isolation.</p><p></p><p>"Internal" lawfulness is PERSONAL, centered on the individual, making it free will, and thus chaotic. </p><p></p><p>When you try to understand my point, look at it from the "big picture" view as if you were playing Populous, Civ, Age of Empires, etc. If your sims did nothing but what they thought was right all the time you tried to play, could you ever win the game? </p><p></p><p>You say go right, the sim goes left? or stops? </p><p>You say chop wood, he goes swimming? or burns the forest down? </p><p></p><p>How would you classify the sims behaviour then? Is that sim lawful because he's following his own laws? No. He's chaotic because he is not following the imposed order you have laid out as the master of society.</p><p></p><p>In that same vain, the lawful fighter from one country who walks into another country which outlaws murder and who then commits that act would be committing a chaotic act, because it goes against the laws set down by the society he is in. He behaved contrary to the laws of the general populace.</p><p></p><p>Here's another way to think of it. Is a terrorist lawful? </p><p></p><p>Is he organized? Yes. </p><p>Does that make him lawful? No. </p><p>Would he call himself lawful? Probably. Most do. Just listen to the rhetoric they spew. They believe every word of it.</p><p></p><p>My point is that the determination of how behavior is classified is done from ONE viewpoint, not multiple viewpoints. Do we consider them lawful? No way. Causing chaos is their trade, no matter what shield of organization they hide behind and certainly no matter what they say about themselves. </p><p></p><p>The bottom line is that alignment is designed to be black and white, interpreted from the dominant society's viewpoint, and macro in nature. </p><p></p><p>Many people simply pick their color of shades and wear them, applying one view to the entire setting they play in. Doing anything else only makes matters more confusing for them. </p><p></p><p>On the other hand, for those that can handle it, adding complexity by making alignments reliant on the societies where the PCs are can certainly be fun. A Paladin from Country A travels to country B and is considered and outlaw because he is from A, even though he is lawful.....</p><p></p><p>Honestly, if I did that, I would throw out alignment rather than try to stick to it. Its just easier that way. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":-)" title="Smile :-)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":-)" /> </p><p></p><p>Hey, this one's a no brainer.....everyone is right! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":-)" title="Smile :-)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":-)" /></p><p></p><p>Cheers!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Izerath, post: 1785090, member: 6743"] [b]Oh I've followed along....[/b] I think Thanee summed it up quite nicely. Rose colored glasses taint the view. It all comes down to free will vs. order imposed for any reason. It could be control, agression, safety, or even isolation. "Internal" lawfulness is PERSONAL, centered on the individual, making it free will, and thus chaotic. When you try to understand my point, look at it from the "big picture" view as if you were playing Populous, Civ, Age of Empires, etc. If your sims did nothing but what they thought was right all the time you tried to play, could you ever win the game? You say go right, the sim goes left? or stops? You say chop wood, he goes swimming? or burns the forest down? How would you classify the sims behaviour then? Is that sim lawful because he's following his own laws? No. He's chaotic because he is not following the imposed order you have laid out as the master of society. In that same vain, the lawful fighter from one country who walks into another country which outlaws murder and who then commits that act would be committing a chaotic act, because it goes against the laws set down by the society he is in. He behaved contrary to the laws of the general populace. Here's another way to think of it. Is a terrorist lawful? Is he organized? Yes. Does that make him lawful? No. Would he call himself lawful? Probably. Most do. Just listen to the rhetoric they spew. They believe every word of it. My point is that the determination of how behavior is classified is done from ONE viewpoint, not multiple viewpoints. Do we consider them lawful? No way. Causing chaos is their trade, no matter what shield of organization they hide behind and certainly no matter what they say about themselves. The bottom line is that alignment is designed to be black and white, interpreted from the dominant society's viewpoint, and macro in nature. Many people simply pick their color of shades and wear them, applying one view to the entire setting they play in. Doing anything else only makes matters more confusing for them. On the other hand, for those that can handle it, adding complexity by making alignments reliant on the societies where the PCs are can certainly be fun. A Paladin from Country A travels to country B and is considered and outlaw because he is from A, even though he is lawful..... Honestly, if I did that, I would throw out alignment rather than try to stick to it. Its just easier that way. :-) Hey, this one's a no brainer.....everyone is right! :-) Cheers! [/QUOTE]
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