RPGnet Forums

[Anonymus Fluhre]

Or you could just have the characters in your story/game be people who could act in different ways depending on the circumstances and weren't arbitrarily restricted to doing certain things based on what they were assigned at birth.

But that would require not being autistic.

Reason why there was alignments was mostly for the different planes that existed and for spells. AD&D 2nd Edition brought out further mixed alignments because not everyone would fit into a set alignment all of the time.

 

[Pointless Pedant]

Reason why there was alignments was mostly for the different planes that existed and for spells. AD&D 2nd Edition brought out further mixed alignments because not everyone would fit into a set alignment all of the time.

Sticking people into arbitrary boxes based on how "lawful" and "chaotic" they are still sounds stupid. I guess wizards might have to choose which kinds of magic they studied, but that's still a choice they make. It's a much better story if they have to choose between light and dark.

 

[Replicant Sasquatch]

I take it none of these people have actually encountered a skinhead, from personal experiance I can assure you that punching a skinhead is a very bad idea for a number of reasons, not in the least because even if you win all you've really done is implicitly re-affirmed their beliefs meaning you've achieved less than nothing while risking a great deal.

The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral,
begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy.
Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it.
Through violence you may murder the liar,
but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth.
Through violence you may murder the hater,
but you do not murder hate.
In fact, violence merely increases hate.
So it goes.
Returning violence for violence multiplies violence,
adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness:
only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

If MLK were around today most of the antifa crowd would call him a house slave or something.

 

[Meowthkip]

Most people on those forums haven't seen the sun in years, others can only get around on mobility scooters. Not much to fear when you have a Cheetos covered fat kid screaming uselessly into the wind.

Also they'd probably get they asses beat.

 

[Anonymus Fluhre]

Sticking people into arbitrary boxes based on how "lawful" and "chaotic" they are still sounds stupid. I guess wizards might have to choose which kinds of magic they studied, but that's still a choice they make. It's a much better story if they have to choose between light and dark.

Only spells arcane users had for alignments were magical circles and protection. You saw more alignment spells with divine magic. If you want a simple system, Play some Star Wars. Dark side is considered to be a "alignment"

 

[Pointless Pedant]

Only spells arcane users had for alignments were magical circles and protection. You saw more alignment spells with divine magic. If you want a simple system, Play some Star Wars. Dark side is considered to be a "alignment"

I don't understand what any of that means.

 

[Lackadaisy]

I don't understand what any of that means.

He's saying that most magic classes only had a few moral alignment-based spells, mostly ones that protected against enemies of a specific alignment, and that clerics - who serve a morally-aligned god - were usually the only ones restricted to certain alignments because of that. (He was assuming you had experience with D&D systems.)

 

[Pointless Pedant]

He's saying that most magic classes only had a few moral alignment-based spells, mostly ones that protected against enemies of a specific alignment, and that clerics - who serve a morally-aligned god - were usually the only ones restricted to certain alignments because of that. (He was assuming you had experience with D&D systems.)

Don't most clerics assume their god is aligned with good, though? There aren't many religions devoted to worshipping chaos and evil. The reason why religious and ideological killers exist is that they think they're right.

 

[Lackadaisy]

Don't most clerics assume their god is aligned with good, though? There aren't many religions devoted to worshipping chaos and evil. The reason why religious and ideological killers exist is that they think they're right.

D&D is a little different. Multiple gods exist, and everyone knows that they exist and can grant power to their worshippers. Their alignment is usually based on their domains/motives, so most evil Gods tend to just be upfront about being evil. Evil gods, for the most part, tend to give their devotees more help on the mortal plane so ambitious or not necessarily evil people follow them for power or knowledge. But you're right in that it doesn't make much sense in the real world. You can always roleplay a character who serves an evil God without knowing that said God or their commands are evil. Most alignment stuff is bull anyways.

 

[Pointless Pedant]

D&D is a little different. Multiple gods exist, and everyone knows that they exist and can grant power to their worshippers. Their alignment is usually based on their domains/motives, so most evil Gods tend to just be upfront about being evil. Evil gods, for the most part, tend to give their devotees more help on the mortal plane so ambitious or not necessarily evil people follow them for power or knowledge. But you're right in that it doesn't make much sense in the real world. You can always roleplay a character who serves an evil God without knowing that said God or their commands are evil. Most alignment stuff is bull anyways.

Even in fantasy, a well written villain shouldn't be evil just because. There's always some kind of motivation, whether ideology or just plain greed. An evil god might just want to torment people for his sadistic desires like a serial killer, but that's still a motivation of sorts.

If you look at the Greek myths, for example, the gods and titans fought for control of the world, but neither thought they were evil.

 

[Replicant Sasquatch]

D&D Alignments are a metaphysical concept which don't have much narrative purpose or precedent outside of D&D. Objective Good and Evil are actual physical energies and the cosmology reflects that. Yes this is stupid and Alignments are the crux of a lit of autistic arguments in the tabletop community.

I imagine those arguments are only exacerbated in communities like RPG.net where Good is synonymous with 21st Century progressive identity politics.

 

[Lackadaisy]

D&D Alignments are a metaphysical concept which don't have much narrative purpose or precedent outside of D&D. Objective Good and Evil are actual physical energies and the cosmology reflects that. Yes this is stupid and Alignments are the crux of a lit of autistic arguments in the tabletop community.

I imagine those arguments are only exacerbated in communities like RPG.net where Good is synonymous with 21st Century progressive identity politics.

I think a lot of the alignment stuff comes out of D&D's Sword & Sorcery/Conan roots. I almost never bother with alignments in my games, instead rewarding players for roleplaying specific character traits or concepts. Of course, RPGNet gets super salty about alignment and, yes, does tend to judge them on contemporary politics.

I once got banned for arguing that a society that had slavery/indentured servants was at the very least Lawful Neutral instead of inherently Evil.

 

[Replicant Sasquatch]

I think a lot of the alignment stuff comes out of D&D's Sword & Sorcery/Conan roots. I almost never bother with alignments in my games, instead rewarding players for roleplaying specific character traits or concepts. Of course, RPGNet gets super salty about alignment and, yes, does tend to judge them on contemporary politics.

I once got banned for arguing that a society that had slavery/indentured servants was at the very least Lawful Neutral instead of inherently Evil.

If you'd brought up how well the Islams treated their slaves you probably would've been golden.

 

[Syaoran Li]

The fact that RPG.Net's userbase supports Antifa does not surprise me, but only confirms my view that RPG.Net is a cesspit.

At least on theRPGsite, Pundit keeps his autism contained within his own small sub-forum. The gaming sub-forums on there are relatively free of political bullshit.

 

[Wallace]

For a long time now, the World Fantasy Awards have awarded a trophy with the likeness of H.P. Lovecraft. Some people have a problem with this, because he was pretty darn racist.

Come to the Kiwi side, 0Megabyte! It's a lot more fun here!

 

[Lackadaisy]

For a long time now, the World Fantasy Awards have awarded a trophy with the likeness of H.P. Lovecraft. Some people have a problem with this, because he was pretty darn racist.

View attachment 206686 View attachment 206687 View attachment 206688

Come to the Kiwi side, 0Megabyte! It's a lot more fun here!

Elven Princess has always been a straight up cunt, which is funny because she's a tranny. She's a mod favorite too, so many users have been banned for arguing with her asinine views. Even in threads where most everyone can speak their mind, all balanced discussion has to stop the second she posts otherwise the ban hammer smacks ya.

 

[Replicant Sasquatch]

Elven Princess has always been a straight up cunt, which is funny because she's a tranny. She's a mod favorite too, so many users have been banned for arguing with her asinine views. Even in threads where most everyone can speak their mind, all balanced discussion has to stop the second she posts otherwise the ban hammer smacks ya.

>she

There's nothing feminine about ElfPrincess. He's a hairy fatass who wears fake handlebar mustaches with dresses and writes garbage fantasy short stories about self-insert ninja waifus.

 

[Lackadaisy]

>she

There's nothing feminine about ElfPrincess. He's a hairy fatass who wears fake handlebar mustaches with dresses and writes garbage fantasy short stories about self-insert ninja waifus.

Forums Stockholm Syndrome, man. Sorry. And what's this about ninja waifus?

 

[Replicant Sasquatch]

Not as fun as you'd think. Like many amateur fantasy writers, EP really likes the broody assassin girl archetype.

 

[Randall Fragg]

Lol, found Elven Princess's Patron, or Rev. Beck Nathaniel Elfprincess as he likes to be called. (Tried to Archive it but it didn't seem to work)
Here's his writing site (archive)

Spoiler: Picture

Biography of

James Turnbull

Reverend Rebecca Nathaniel Elfprincess (just “the Reverend,” if you would) is a genderfluid, half-Mexican geek who grew up in small-town Texas. It was exactly as wonderful as you think it was. Thanks to his life, she became interested in performance very early on. It evolved into a love of storytelling, which by now has grown into a full-blown desire to analyze absolutely everything that ever happens as if it’s an ongoing narrative. This has led to her thinking very deep thoughts about every single last one of his hobbies, from video games to sword-and-sorcery fantasy lit to sci-fi shows and movies. Deep thoughts such as, “Exactly when is it acceptable to change the gender or ethnicity of a character?” and, “How many licks does it really take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?”

Twin Cities Geek profile (Archive)
His book