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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Journeymanmage" data-source="post: 5158405" data-attributes="member: 63814">Exactly.  The alignment system is/was a tool for players to get into role-playing when role-playing games were "new".  (basic dnd, 1st ed., TMNT, Robotech, etc.)  It helped someone stay 'in character'.To borrow from Ares:The issue people have of alignment, can be expanded from that statement.Differences in opinion of what makes X or Y part of an alignment or what action M or N would cause you to be outside of that alignment ... or even what are the repercussions for doing A or B.1. Are the alignments Absolutes or Situational.  Absolute: Stealing is never right.  Situational: Stealing isn't right, but if the need is great it's not wrong.  (Your family is starving to death).2. Add in the different opinions of what the repercussions of those actions should be .... What is a "fair"?3.  Add in that people forget that > 1 < action should not necessarily define a person/character.  4.  Add in genre.  Four-color comics (Superman is always the (LG) Hero), Dark/Gritty (Batman is The "Good-guy" in a very bad/broken world), ... Marvel Universe: Kind of "realistic" + supers (Legality of secret identities, mutant registration, privacy issues). Do all the people playing a specific campaign agree with all of points?  Do all the players know about all the points? The web-comic "Order of the Stick", Roy is considered (in that universe) to be LG.  The powers that be say, >Hey not all your actions are what we want to see, but you try to the best of your 'limited' abilities" and most importantly you try<From comments/opinions on various forums, some of the acts Roy takes could push the character into almost any category Good, Chaotic Good ... (some strict ones would say) "not good" (hey he bailed on a team-mate and blah blah blah).  Or take the "Paladin" in the background/sub-plot in the Goblins web-comic >If you are evil or associate with evil or even know what evil is ... I will kill you in a harsh and brutal manner ...<  It's that type of "Paladin" that creates one of the reasons people don't like alignment systems.  He follows an Absolute view and a very broken Absolute (imo).Or we have the "looking for group" comic, where Krunch and Cale bring up "good and evil" ... Krunch sees the world in shades of grey.  (oops killed more of the local legal authority ... who were not your friends).Cale to Benny (about Krunch) "Is he Evil too?"  Krunch "That's a loaded question Pinky.  We all do as we must to make our way in this world and unfortuantely, sometimes we have to do things others may qualify as 'Evil'".Summary:Alignment Systems can help you keep your character ... "In character" it's a guild.  If you use an alignment system, you need to know what type of world you / the gm / the other players are playing in.  What's the genre, are the world's / deities' / cosmological views: Absolutes / Situational / Combination.  What are the repercussions for opposing those views.(Side Opinion):Superman: LGBatman: NG (he works for the betterment of society (removes the Bad People), tries to work with the Law, but doesn't follow the rules (or many of the Laws)King Arthur: (King of the Britons, king of the who?) ... Lawful with Good tenancies.  He's trying to make a fair and just world.  The Law is the Law ... oops, wife was having an affair (of the heart or physically) with one of his Knights ...</blockquote>

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