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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 5437150" data-attributes="member: 42582">I don't dissent from any of this, but would like to add.I think another thing that alignment used to do was not just to legitimate PCs killing NPCs/monsters, but to explain relationships between the PCs and friendly NPCs/settlements. Why does this city let these mass murderers hang around without being worried about them going nut? Because they're all lawful good! Or, at least, some version of good.Alignment also helped to explain relationships among the PCs. What are a human knight errant, a dwarven clanwarrior, an elven ranger and a student of black magic doing hanging out together in an abandoned ruin? Because they're all lawful good! Or, at least, some version of good.In other words, alignment was a convenient shorthand device for adding a veneer of verisimilitude to the otherwise unlikely alliances among the PCs, and between the PCs and their home bases and supporting cast.Just as a more sophisticated gameworld makes alignment redundant for the reasons you gave, it also makes alignment redundant for this reason - because a sophisticated gameworld will give rise to more nuanced reasons for the PCs hanging out together (assuming that they are), and for their relationships to the supporting cast.4e tries to handle this issue not via alignment but via the notion of the civilised races of Nerath (they all still get along), and points of light (any one of the civilised races is welcome).My answer to (2) is "yes, it would make it less arbitrary" but I still wouldn't be a big fan - because I feel ambiguities and disputes are still quite likely going to arise, and in these disputes (as in real life legal disputes) arguments would likely turn to the "purpose" or the "spirit" of the commandments, at which point the moral-disagreement-time-bomb has started ticking agin.My answer to (B) is yes I have played with enforced alignment (including enforcing it as a GM) and no it didn't enhance play. In fact, a bad experience playing the alignment rules by the book (the 1st ed DMG - this was back in 1985, I think) was what first turned me away from alignment.</blockquote>

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