The Moral Compass and when it goes Wrong: found on pages 80-81
The Moral Compass and when it goes wrong...
If you've ever played Dungeons and Dragons, in any of its
incarnations, iterations and editions, you'll of course know what i'm
talking about.
Alignment!
The old tabletop game had nine distinct alignments, based on Law,
Chaos, Goodness, Evil and Neutrality.
Law and Chaos opposed each other, so you had to be one or the
other, much the same as Goodness and Evil.
Neutrality sat as a buffer between them all.
Law/Chaos would define how you reacted in general to the Laws of
the land, whether you upheld them or would go out of your way to
oppose and seek to over throw them.
Goodness/Evil determined how kind hearted you were or how vile a
person you might be when pushed.
Neutrality between either Law and Chaos meant that you didn't go
out of your way to topple governments or to stop brigands and
criminals from committing their deeds..
Whilst Neutrality between Good and Evil meant that you wasn't
going to overly go out of your way to help little old grannies to
cross the road or go around robbing from the rich (or anyone else for
that matter!) and giving it to yourself.
Over the years i've seen some very loose interpretations of what
alignments allow, and i've been horrified by some players actions who
turned round and said “But my alignment says it's ok to do it..”.
Interestingly i've seen more bad stuff done by people claiming to
be Goodly or Lawful than I ever have witness by those playing Evil or
Chaotic alignments..
And there somes a time when you have to wonder about whether the
Alignment system really works, or if there should be some new
alignments thrown in to the mix..
Chaotic Stupid?
There are those players who insist that by being Chaotic Neutral
gives them reason to do suicidal and utterly stupid things. A Chaotic
Stupid person might for example kill all of the NPC's in the game
just because the frog told him to, and no one crosses Mr Froggy
Wibble!
CN players seem to assume that they can play almost comedy
characters, which in a great many games can be destructive for the
players to the point of grinding the game to a halt and potentially
ruining the game.
They dont try to understand that the character could be driven to
acts of kindness just as much as they can to destruction, that they
seek to be unconfined by the society as a wholes perhaps rather
strict and confining methodology or caste system..
Lawful Nazi!
To play certain characters, such as a Paladin or Holy Avenger, you
need to be a person who understands the system, who knows it may not
be the fairest thing in the world but over all it does society right
in the end.
But invariably you get those LG players who become baby killers
just because, and their reasoning is “the king/god told me to do it
so I have to...”.
They forget all about the GOOD side of their alignment, they don't
seem to get that you can do something like in the film Schindlers
List, ferry people out of the corrupt and clearly evil state and off
to a better life.
Just because their god has decreed that everyone with a certain
hair colour is evil theres nothing to stop them from falling in love
with some one who's apparently evil, and helps them find precious
roots to dye their hair because they know the god is wrong..
Neutral Meh..
For some people choosing Neutrality isnt about their character not
having motivations or goals but because they think if they do a good
act at some point they're allowed to commit some evil attrocity later
down the line, or vice-versa.
I've witnessed this in a game of DnD a few years back, the player
gave an old woman an apple as a random act of kindness and then
whilst the rest of the party were sleeping butchered one of the other
characters.
Apparently giving the old lady an apple meant he was compelled to
do some great and evil thing..
Neutral is a much confused alignment, it's entirely possible to be
whats known as True Neutral, where a character is Neutral in regards
to Law and Chaos and Neutral when it comes to Good and evil.
You'll get those players who select True Neutral (NN) as a reason
for their character to not get involved with any fights, ignore
characters who need aid, walk by people drowning in streams and have
no regard for local laws such as city entrance fees or a minutes
silence on a holy day..
These players tend to turn round and say “Yeah but i'm True
Neutral so I don't really care..”.
Dealing with these people
I'm sure if you look hard enough at any tabletop or even perhaps a
larp group you'll find these sort of people.
The best way to deal with them isn't to just ignore them, however
tempting that might be!
Instead get to know them a little better, see if you can find out
why they're playing that way.
It might be that they seem to think that's how the alignment is
meant to be played, in which case regale them with a tale or two from
your gaming past of how you've played people with those alignments.
If need be dig out the rule book, high light a few key phrases for
them, help them to understand that what they're doing is not only bad
gaming but that it is really easy to correct.
Teach them to be a better player, after all we all were new to the
hobby once!
Other Alignment Systems
DnD isn't the only game with this sort of alignment system in it,
there are a few LARPs which also use them, as well as other roleplay
games which use it or something very much like it.
Alignments are not a bad thing, they give a player a rough outline
for how they can act and play when in character, but they're not the
be all and end all of the character.
Some systems like World of Darkness (oWoD)has something a little
similar, Virtues & Humanity.
However in the WoD system they represent not only the lowest
depths that you will sink to when pushed but also a dicepool to
resist sinking that low and become just that bit more evil, cold or
emotionless!
The newer version of World of Darkness (nWoD) also has Vices &
Virtues, things that you struggle to resist or find it easy to do for
yourself and others.
Regardless of the system however they should be used as a guide as
to how your character can act, in their best moments and in their
worst.
After all, if we all played the same alignments regardless of race
or class (which throws in other complications) then it'd get very
boring very quickly...
Article written by Nick Sands, who's the Ref of Camarilla
Invictus, formerly known as Kent by Night and is desperately
searching for a decent slice of Battenburg and mug of tea...
No comments:
Post a Comment