An entire generation of roll players has suffered because roll playing was conceived by war gamers and not by cultural anthropologists."
Part of the problem comes when we make false associations with alignments, and make the boundaries tighter than they need to be: good=nice, lawful=unbending prude, etc.
There's another group, however, who don't come to me directly, but whine about such-and-such to mutual friends. Now, I don't have any problem with people coming to me with issues. None at all. But I can't FIX those problems if they don't come to me.And that's the root of all the big problems that get blown out of proportion.
No one is rebutting the power gaming part of my post, which is good. Mostly power gaming has nothing to do with how you level. ... I think of power gaming mostly when players power build their characters to be the most absolutely devastating characters with fewest weakness that the game mechanics allows.
I think it would be a great benefit to our role playing community if we were required to write disadvantages and personality quirks into our character bios. Aeon Blues
The tactic, we need to explore is educated and help players build characters that fit the description and biography.
By educating players and helping them build characters that match their ideals we will empower them. Thus an open discussion on power-builds will be healthy for the community.
I could not agree more. Sadly after writing a huge biography and getting all the little kinks out as per the requests of the character approvers this is usually the last thing on one's mind. For example: For all I wrote for my new character Yaa'sar (I actually filled out a HUGE Biography), I never once considered the connection between those things and how to portray those things.
No one is rebutting the power gaming part of my post, which is good. Mostly power gaming has nothing to do with how you level. I level fairly on the quick side, but I am very active playing in one or two DM events a week and monster bashing when ever I can find a good party. When players level to 14 in two weeks, it gets kind of ridiculous. I mean, what is the point of having an epic character that has no history, and little development. I think of power gaming mostly when players power build their characters to be the most absolutely devastating characters with fewest weakness that the game mechanics allows. Yah, I am reading these responses over and over, but I still am not seeing any good reason as to why we need or should use alignments. As far as alignments are considered I am just reading how alignments work, or should work, or when they work, and oh yes, even playing out side of these alignments can be good RP.*Points his finger at Darkstorme* You say that lawful does not mean following a code of the land but "Follows a careful personal code, moralistic or behavioral"You know what, all clerics of all alignments have dogma that they must follow. A CG cleric of Az'atta is forbidden to use poison on weapons. Does that mean those clerics are acting lawful because they follow a strict dogma that exists with in their church? No. Following personal and religious codes of ethics has absolutely nothing to do with any alignment. It has to do with beliefs, and beliefs supersede any alignment.As Stephen says, alignment is just a guide line. The responses I am reading clearly emphasize the versatility of the alignment system, but not a necessity.Excuse me if I sound like I'm ranting, but if the alignment system is so great, then how come so many great role playing systems don't use it? Ha HA!! As far as I know, D&D and Palladium are the only ones that do. GURPS has an incredible character generation system, and does not use alignments. What GURPS uses is advantages, disadvantages, and personality quirks. I think it would be a great benefit to our role playing community if we were required to write disadvantages and personality quirks into our character bios. The impact would be experientially better for our RP then ensuring character bios match chosen alignments. The fact that so many bios must be changed due to alignment not matching or not explaining chosen alignments only demonstrates that alignments distract players from the true personalities of their characters.I know I know, this is D&D and D&D uses the alignment system. The game mechanics and spell system are so woven with the alignment system, that it would be impossible to break away. So why don't I play GURPS? The answer is that I think the GURPS dice system is slow and it's spell system is boring. I love the game mechanics and speed of the D20 system. Diceless role playing is the ultimate crowning perfection of form in the role playing world, but it takes a better GM then me to run a diceless game.Aeon Blues
I know I know, this is D&D and D&D uses the alignment system. The game mechanics and spell system are so woven with the alignment system, that it would be impossible to break away.