Jander Sunstar, CE?
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Rotipher of the FoS
- Thieving Crow
- Posts: 4683
- Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2003 4:18 pm
FWIW, I tend to treat the Law/Chaos axis as a secondary factor myself. It does have its uses, but IME the alignment system works better if you only consider one of the two axes to be objective, while the other is more a matter of subjective opinion. IMC, for instance, Good and Evil are true absolutes that transcend any person's, culture's, or deity's viewpoint, whereas what constitutes "Lawful" behavior depends on what manner of conduct is endorsed by the society/faith/traditions/etc which an individual Lawful character regards as their guiding authority.
It's possible (though not to my tastes) to go the other way, and say that what's Good or Evil is subjectively determined by what society (= Lawful) says it is. In such a Law/Chaos-dominated system, anyone who objects to the prevailing interpretation of "proper conduct" is tagged Chaotic Evil by default ... a harsh system, but one that appeals to Moorcock fans and to players who are less interested in realism than in working out their IRL rebellious impulses through their PCs. But trying to run a campaign in which both the Good/Evil and Law/Chaos axes are equally objective and inflexible is doomed to failure, IMO: personalities, as noted above for Strahd and Azalin, don't realistically fall into nine little boxes of behavior-patterns 24-7, especially under stress.
It's possible (though not to my tastes) to go the other way, and say that what's Good or Evil is subjectively determined by what society (= Lawful) says it is. In such a Law/Chaos-dominated system, anyone who objects to the prevailing interpretation of "proper conduct" is tagged Chaotic Evil by default ... a harsh system, but one that appeals to Moorcock fans and to players who are less interested in realism than in working out their IRL rebellious impulses through their PCs. But trying to run a campaign in which both the Good/Evil and Law/Chaos axes are equally objective and inflexible is doomed to failure, IMO: personalities, as noted above for Strahd and Azalin, don't realistically fall into nine little boxes of behavior-patterns 24-7, especially under stress.