Alignment acting

[LordCove]

Okay....posting this cause I just got my butt kicked off Pamela, and quite rightly so.

Situation:

Jonny....has a friend called Sara.....Sara did something very stupid and naughty......and because of it....someone got hurt and died ( albeit came back to life )
Now Jonny is CG....
...so....as Jonny....when he heard what happened.....he told Sara off....said it was stupid and silly...frowned at her in that dissapointed way.....and then quite promptly forgot all about it and continued laughing and joking and having chats with Sara.

Now....I'd figured being "Chaotic"....that would be okay. It was second hand information and the hurt person was okay afterwards....and Jonny himself used to do "naughty" things too.

But....after some slight arguements with the GF and good points from DMOE....this shouldn't have been the case.
Really....being a "Good" guy....Jonny should have been mad as hell at Sara. But...a lot of time has passed since the incident, with Jonny and Sara being friends still.

I'm just looking for a bit advice of how to fix this.....or whether to just leave it and learn for next time.

And of course....remember your alignment and RP it....for good or bad  



( All characters used here are totally fictional and have no bearing or resemblence to characters in film, real-life or Layonara )  

[Interia_Discordius]

*snickers*

I'd personally think the situation would have been some anger, not necessarily walk off and never talk to you again or I have to rethink our friendship anger, but more like scold, be upset, and leave to make -them- think about it some more.

Although with character pasts and such being in case, it really does depend. I have a troublesome time seeing things from a "good" point of view because I don't think I'm very "good" aligned in real life I try though, I really do.

Correct me anywhere I'm wrong, but I'd always imagined it'd be upset and disappointed, but nothing to the extreme. As you said, "Johnny" had second-hand information and the hurt person was okay...Though this sort of confused goodie views is exactly why I'm trying to avoid playing good.

*sigh* I'm just not cut out for this.

[DMOE]

I'd gently like to point out that when your talking about the hurt person being ok...If they have been raised then no....they are not ok as such...they are alive and have been through (as I understand it) a VERY traumatic experience.

Now..obviously us adventures are hardy types and get used to the emotional shock of being raised or 'brought back' by the bindstones.

If on the other hand it was a 'normal' person or even a child then it is quite possible that they could be emotionally scared for life by being killed and raised.  At the very least they are not going to simply laugh it off.

This is something that should be taken into consideration when deciding "It's alright, the person concerned is alive ok"

My advice is to look at the alignment guide and have a thought for what you'd do RL...

LORE: Alignments

If person A kills person B in a dumb and stupid manner and you have good in your alignment would you in RL laugh it off?  If you wouldn't laugh it off RL...then why, when RPing your character would you laugh it off?

Obviously the dumb and stupid matter is relevant....There are tragic accidents...possibly caused by dumb and stupid actions....Then there are things were you'd actually have to be well...of *extremely* low intelligence to not work out something bad was going to happen from your actions.

Now...as to what to do in this circumstance...If it's been a while and you have RP'ed as laughing it off then it is a little difficult to suddenly turn round and go "Hey....I just realised that thing you did a year ago was worse than I thought" so I would say to live and learn.

[ycleption]

I think there are a number of possible reactions that might fit perfectly within the CG alignment. Since Jonny is friends with Sara, he may be more inclined to forgive, considering long-term friendship more important than a single act, however stupid it may have been (especially since you make it sound as if there was no malicious intent on Sara's part).
Maybe he doesn't hold Sara at fault, but makes reparations on her behalf to the person who got killed.
Maybe, being CG, he gets her drunk enough to sign a magically binding oath to the effect that she will never repeat her folly.
Being chaotic, I think how close he is to Sara is important,  as is whether he knows the person who got killed, or has any relationship with this person.

[Stephen_Zuckerman]

My piece will be short. (Edit. Okay, maybe not so short.)

Always remember that the alignment of your character is a description of their personality - it does not define their personality. Their personality defines it.

This is one of the harder things to keep a handle on, as, well, personalities don't always fit into narrow little boxes.

But... I think that the situation as stated could certainly work for a character who could be described as Chaotic Good. If Beli got Sall killed, zwip, Sall's back at the Bindstones and Pyyran's just shaking his head over it. Mistakes happen, and adventurers used to zipping along on the Bindstones will, for the most part, understand that just as much as an athlete will understand that injuries happen. (Basically what DMOE said.)

I've never seen alignments being terribly restrictive. They're descriptions, after all, and even if someone is described as X, it doesn't mean that they're X about everything, all the time.

That said, they usually are. *Shrug.*

Think about what the character would have done, and there you go. But think hard and deep about how the character would view the situation, etc.

Then you'll have your answer.

[lonnarin]

This is one of the harder things to keep a handle on, as, well, personalities don't always fit into narrow little boxes....

Think about what the character would have done, and there you go. But think hard and deep about how the character would view the situation, etc.

Then you'll have your answer.

VERY good points.  Alignments are nebulous sweeping generalizations more akin to Type A vs. Type B Personality schemas in theoretical psychology.  Sure there's a litmus-checklist of things a G, E, L or C would do or not do, but it's very rare that one acts truly as a paragon to their morals.  Even priests snap some days and flip off people in traffic, and cold blooded killers could find some joy in nurturing a lost puppy.  A complex and well RPed character seldom fits a cookie cutter mold, and may act out in unpredictable ways.  So while your reaction, bringing mirth to a solemn subject of death, might not be typical of your alignment, it by no means indicates an overall shift.  When such coldness to others' misery becomes so common that it is predictable, then the alignment may begin to change as you have adopted a new set of habits.

[Pseudonym]

Don't know the specifics of this incident but speaking generally ... I agree with lonnarin, ycleption and Stephen there.

I think it is not a big stretch to say that Johnny, being CG, considered the apparent lack of mens rea behind the incident and thought, well given our friendship and Sara's actions being a foolish anomoly I am comfortable not dwelling on this incident much beyond my original frowning and scolding ... especially given my flighty and fickle personality.

If person A kills person B in a dumb and stupid manner and you have good in your alignment would you in RL laugh it off? If you wouldn't laugh it off RL...then why, when RPing your character would you laugh it off?

As to RL comparisons? In RL I probably wouldn't laugh it off ... but I suppose i'd think it was really, really cool when they were brought back to life!! Sometimes RL comparisons are appropriate, sometimes I don't see them fitting quite so neatly.

And, as DMOE said, have a look at the Alignment guide and have a good think about it ... what more can be asked of us as RPers? Your thinking might yield a different answer than my thinking ... doesn't mean either of us is right or wrong.

PS. Sall is such a wimp .. emotional crises, pfft. Oh, that's right, it was a hypothetical! :-)