dungeon crawl or done to death

[DM of Doom]

Originally posted by Usideann

Originally posted by DM of Doom
As a DM, I personally disallow evil PCs.
Two reasons:

1) I like to run a campaign where the PCs are heroes. There\'s enough evil shit in the real world to occupy my mind, that I don\'t want to have to deal with it in fantasy land as well. Besides, I never saw what fun it is to burn villages and kill the locals when it\'s the bad guys hiding in the hills that have all the good treasure and XP value anyway.

I disagree on this point... evil does not mean that they gp burning down vilalges killing babies... Evil just means that it is against societies Ideals of that good is... MOST people put into the belief that the idea of good is from the anglo-saxon belief system that is in place today... but rember it use to be \"GOOD\" to do a sacrafice of a living creature although today that would be wrong or \"Evil\" when in those belief system they where absolutly ok with it...

Now with that in mind is there really a differnce of evil or good rather than how you look at people from differnt societies...

maybe I look at Roleplaying as a way to take a look at things from differnt perspectives...
Usi

I understand your perspective there. Morality is relative to the society and culture you are in.

I run my campaigns in a setting with beliefs that are, in general, similar to the aforementioned Anglo-Saxon beliefs of today. And based on that concept of good and evil, I say no evil PCs.

If they show up somewhere that their \"Lawful Good\"ness is contrary to the local beliefs, the natives might very well consider them evil. I\'m not going to take their characters away, though.

 

[Zora]

See, when I ran 2nd ed AD&D, I made sure the players knew my outlook on good/evil in the gaming realm.

Good people can do evil, and evil people can do good things. The only things \"inherently\" evil were things like devils, demons, etc.

The paladin that goes forward and slays the orc because as a society orcs have evil tendencies will be considered evil by most.

I just wanted to get away from the black/white of D&D where the paladin detected evil and slew the creature outright.

One of the reasons why I didn\'t mind a \"questionable\" character in the group.

 

[Hieronymus]

Originally posted by DM of Doom


I understand your perspective there. Morality is relative to the society and culture you are in.

But, but.. I wanna rant, too!

A culture will have its own morality that will allow it to justify nearly anything as long as it acts as a group. Examples that come to mind are Aztec cannibalism and genocide in the 20th century. If actions take place that are harmful to people without regard to their lives, rights and/or dignity, for whatever purpose, I see them as evil.

In the world we live in, perceiving and interpreting morality is not as simple as black and white. There are shades of grey and colors, too. There are so many religions with differing values, each of which can be interpreted differently. In the various D&D universes, it\'s printed in the Player\'s handbook and Dungeon Master\'s Guide, \"One True Way\" if you will, but that\'s also subject to interpretation. I see evil in games as being motivated by self interest as opposed to good being motivated by trying to make the world a kinder and better place.

What would be the alignment of a character that would do anything for fellow party members or for the overall benefit of the party, but would cut the finger off of a widow\'s hand to get her wedding ring? Assuming that the proceeds from the ring will be shared with the party.)
Evil can work as a group: I\'m from Chicago and we have a rich tradition of organized crime.

Check out Arthur Machen\'s IThe White People for an interesting discussion on evil.

 

[DM of Doom]

Originally posted by Hieronymus
Evil can work as a group: I\'m from Chicago and we have a rich tradition of organized crime.

I stand corrected.