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Message: <blockquote data-quote="D+1" data-source="post: 2166463" data-attributes="member: 13654">Not a list of Do's and Don'ts - that's actually at cross-purposes for having alignment in the game.  Alignment is not there to dictate actions of PC's it's there to act as a guide for when players make decisions FOR their PC's - it's a reference for helping play a character that is reasonably consistent in behavior.  I DO include a couple of pages of exposition on how _I_ interpret alignments and what that is going to mean for characters (paladins in particular) that are tightly alignment restricted.  It goes along with listing all the other house rules I might have.As a rule the point is not to even begin to dictate how a player will run a character (do's and dont's) but to put all participants on the same page.  It's about making them aware of consequences based on MY interpretations of alignment.  They might disagree with how I interpret alignments but they can't disagree with having had things noted in general terms up front.  For specific instances in-game, well that's why I warn them more than once as soon as I find alignment becoming an issue.  I don't want to argue with my players about what's the right/wrong thing for their character to do because it's THEIR choice.  My job is to just lay out the consequences so that they are fully aware of all the fallout of their choices.I don't thing that's a good analogy, but I can reiterate that the point of making players aware of YOUR approach to alignment issues right from the start is to prevent game/friendship-ending disasters such as you ran into.One of the unwritten pitfalls of roleplaying games is that you WILL be dealing with real-world people-related issues right there at the gaming table.  A DM needs to not only get better at running the game with experience but to get better at handling people IRL too.  It may show up in the form of religious or political hot-buttons of certain players, or in that once you spend a lot of time with some people you find that they are simply not what you may have first thought about them.  You may find players that you initally don't think much of but come to find are just outstanding human beings (even if you never are much impressed with their ability to roleplay).  You may find players that over time you just come to dislike because of their RL attitude, opinions, and conduct.Now that you are more aware of the particular pitfall of alignment-related game and meta-game issues it's easiest to prevent anything like a repeat by simply communicating early and often with players on the subject.  Give 'em a bit of your wisdom up front and then when it rears its ugly head start talking to them again about it - find out THEIR perspective as well as communicating your own.  You don't have to ACCEPT their perspective, but the sooner you find out that your two perspectives are going to clash the better off you all are because you can prevent it from becoming "an issue" before it starts.</blockquote>

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