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<blockquote data-quote="Bae'zel" data-source="post: 9738630" data-attributes="member: 7048197">So video game RPGs have inspired me to ditch &quot;alignment&quot; in my games entirely in favor of &quot;faction relationships&quot;. By factions I mean a combination of actual living organizations (eg the Harpers, the Zhentarim) or mythological forces (eg &quot;Hope&quot;, &quot;Despair&quot;) or, for Wrath and Glory (40K), ideologies (Heretical, Iconoclast and Dogmatic). Moving along any axis in a campaign offers bonuses or penalties with the factions in the setting. Eventually gaining favors or boons from like-minded factions or problems (help out the Harpers too much, the Zhentarim will flag you as an opponent and take action).Works just fine and it gets interesting when different party members have conflicting allegiances.As an aside, I regularly encounter players, in just about any RPG, who seem to LOVE to intimidate and threaten NPCs, even in subtle investigations. I don't &quot;punish&quot; them for this, but it definitely has consequences (eg, peasants fear the PCs and wince in fear when they arrive). When the world reacts to cruel bully PCs, it's interesting to see the look on the players' faces when they realize that they're acting like villains, not loveable rogues (&quot;why are the farmers acting so afraid of us?&quot; well, because you threatened to burn down their homes and torture them when you were interogating them last session, remember?)</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Bae'zel, post: 9738630, member: 7048197"] So video game RPGs have inspired me to ditch "alignment" in my games entirely in favor of "faction relationships". By factions I mean a combination of actual living organizations (eg the Harpers, the Zhentarim) or mythological forces (eg "Hope", "Despair") or, for Wrath and Glory (40K), ideologies (Heretical, Iconoclast and Dogmatic). Moving along any axis in a campaign offers bonuses or penalties with the factions in the setting. Eventually gaining favors or boons from like-minded factions or problems (help out the Harpers too much, the Zhentarim will flag you as an opponent and take action). Works just fine and it gets interesting when different party members have conflicting allegiances. As an aside, I regularly encounter players, in just about any RPG, who seem to LOVE to intimidate and threaten NPCs, even in subtle investigations. I don't "punish" them for this, but it definitely has consequences (eg, peasants fear the PCs and wince in fear when they arrive). When the world reacts to cruel bully PCs, it's interesting to see the look on the players' faces when they realize that they're acting like villains, not loveable rogues ("why are the farmers acting so afraid of us?" well, because you threatened to burn down their homes and torture them when you were interogating them last session, remember?) [/QUOTE]

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