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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mortonia" data-source="post: 4174045" data-attributes="member: 48747">I don't tend to let the D&D alignment system get in the way of a good role play, which is generally all it really does.  That being said, try and keep in mind that the alignments are set from the viewpoint of a heroic style campaign.  After all, I doubt the orcs really see themselves as being evil.  Fact of the matter is, nearly all organized societies define good vs evil as "us vs. them".Which brings us back to Vampires.  Let's face it, if you attack me, drink my blood, and (in the D&D version of things) turn me in a horrific undead monster doomed to forever walk in the darkness feasting on the blood of my fellow humans, I'll probably treat as if you are evil, even if you aren't.  It's safer for me to toss you on the bonfire first and ask questions later.  Does that mean you *are* evil?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  Evil, like beauty, is mostly in the eyes of the beholder.That doesn't even begin to touch on the different sects of Vampires in WoD, which, like religious sects, tend to be divided more along their ideals.  They all still believe and want many of the same things... "Humans are tasty treats.  We should pick up a couple on the way home."  Where they differ is in the way they get what they want.  Some vampires prefer to work from within the system, while others frankly don't care about the system, and they take what they want, from whomever has it at the moment.  But is either group really more or less evil than the other?  That probably depends on who you ask.One of the unfortunate side effects of the D&D alignment system is this attempt to try and clump intelligent beings into these neat little packages we know as the nine basic alignments.    There were even attempts to account for the exceptions of behaviors (who remembers "Lawful Evil with Chaotic tendencies").  The problem is, the alignment system creates moral dichotomies that fail to resolve even very simple problems, so as a DM and a player, I tend to ignore it.So instead of playing an "evil" character, I play a "selfish, self-serving, ego-maniacal" character.  Does she do some bad stuff?  You bet.  But she will also do altruistic things, as long as those actions fit in with the overall scheme of serving her own best interests in the long run.  Frankly, ditching the alignment system allowed my characters to be more consistent than trying to play them within it ever did.</blockquote>

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