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Message: <blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 6686782" data-attributes="member: 6790260">Something else that I think really should be addressed, here, because it's an incredibly important and yet frequently unstated thing:All characters need to earn the respect of their colleagues. Unfortunately, some character archetypes give people the notion that they deserve respect, which leads to conflict. The Paladin is especially vulnerable to this notion.It seems fairly clear to me that the CN characters in this group have no respect for the LG characters. Chaotic (and even some Neutral, on the L/C axis) characters generally do not give a flip about official authority or powers vested in someone by an organization. Thus, if they do not respect or care for (as Machiavelli would put it, "fear" or "love") an LG person, they won't give two figs about what the LG person thinks is "right" or whatever. This will lead to inter-party strife. Similarly, the LG characters (and the Paladin in particular) will try to appeal to rules of good conduct/common decency, as well as their own moral authority e.g. "I'm a good person who plays by the rules, and so should you," and when others snub them specifically for doing that, they will become upset and fail to respect those people. This, too, will lead to inter-party strife.In my Dungeon World group, one of the characters is more-or-less Chaotic Neutral (many moments of good, but occasional moments of some pretty despicable/selfish/wicked things, too--more of a scoundrel than Han Solo, but not a lot more). The other (a Fighter) was, originally, also Chaotic Neutral in the more "might makes me right, I will push through ANY obstacles that get in my way" kind of thing. My Paladin is, of course, Lawful Good, with the emphasis on the Good even though some temporary party members have called him a "law-doer" before. The key reason our group works, though, is that my Paladin has legitimately worked, patiently and without (much) complaint, to earn the others' trust and respect. He treats them fairly, defends them as best he's able, trusts their judgment, and most of all he makes no bones about how much he'd endure to make sure they're safe. His selfless attitude, in fact, actually managed to inspire the CN Fighter to become CG--which is ironic, since the Fighter's original perspective on my Paladin was "he is soft; I will make him hard like me," that he would teach me not to be so naive and that the world is a hard place where people must make hard choices and do terrible things to accomplish their goals. The whole group is now extremely close; they recognize that they don't see eye to eye on every issue, but they trust and respect each other, and will listen when someone makes an impassioned plea.So, that's another line along which your group can try to repair this rift in-fiction: both sides caring enough to try to earn the other's respect. For the CNs, it could be "these idealists are going to get themselves killed one day--we gotta teach them how it really works." For the LGs, especially the Paladin, it would be like my character above. But the whole point about "teaching" someone is that you have to 'speak their language,' you have to think about things in terms of what they want, and showing how there is a way to do that better than the way they currently use.Thus, for the CNs, they need to look at it as: what do our goody-two-shoes friends care about? Punishing crime and evil, maintaining a good image, always keeping their promises, defending the weak. Well, we don't really care about any of those things, really, but we think they're mistaken for holding all of them. So: how can we show that these goals cannot all be met? By accomplishing the ones that seem most important (say, punishing evil and defending the weak) are mutually exclusive with some of the others (say, the good image and always keeping promises). We need to find ways to show them that telling lies can save lives, that doing something people will hate you for might be the only way to punish evil.For the LGs, the situation is flipped--same idea ("speak their language") but now they need to consider what the CNs value and care about. Are they all about the money? Show them that ill-gotten goods actually do fail to produce happiness. Do they specifically enjoy the idea of double-crossing people? Show them how breaking your word is worse in the long run. Etc. It's harder to structure this simply, since the conflicting goals of the LG group are pretty obvious but the potentially-conflicting goals of the CN group are not, but I'm sure there are ways.Earn a person's respect, show them (DON'T just tell them) your philosophy works, show how your philosophy accomplishes their goals, and respect their ability to make decisions about what to do.</blockquote>

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