Thursday, October 9, 2008

Works for Me

In contemplating the set-up I'm imagining for my campaign setting, it occurs to me that Jeff's Threefold Apocalyptic Alignment System is the closest to what I want to do. As I envisage it, all the gods -- even the evil ones -- are Lawful, because they stand on the side of continued existence of the universe, even if they differ on just what they'd do with the portion of the universe over which they have dominion. Chaos represents those who would destroy the universe, such as the demons and those who serve them. Neutrality is for those who wish neither the outright destruction of the universe nor attempts to master it, believing instead that reality (i.e. Nature) has its own logic that is aloof from the plans of both mortal and god alike.

(As an aside, I should note that D&D's devils, which I plan to use in some form, are solidly on the side of Law, being fallen servants of the gods who wish to rule the universe under their iron fists, unlike demons, who, through various means, both subtle and explicit, wish to destroy the very fabric of reality and cast the universe into the Abyss from whence they come)

7 comments:

  1. You mean you are planning on using the demon/devil dynamic from 4th edition? Or are you just talking about how it is now in 4e? Cause thats the way it is in 4e.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You mean you are planning on using the demon/devil dynamic from 4th edition? Or are you just talking about how it is now in 4e? Cause thats the way it is in 4e.

    It certainly is the way 4e shows them, but the devil/demon split has been around from much longer than that. At least 2nd ed and I do believe earlier too.

    I think it's meant to be one of those "evil turns on its own" kinda things.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think it's fairer to say that 4e and I are drawing on the same source, namely the original conception of the demon/devil split that's been around since AD&D (at least).

    ReplyDelete
  4. IF you've read any of EGG's Gord the Rogue books, it becomes apparent how that breakdown works, as the demons cause chaos in their evil and the devils are more regimented into LE.
    Of course then there were the NE nycaloaths and other pseudo demons and devils that filled out the 3x3 alignment chart.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The problem with this scheme is that you end up with too many people on the same side for it to have any meaning. It's elegant, but if an alignment scheme doesn't distinguish between paladins and devils, I don't think it does its job any more.

    ReplyDelete
  6. It's elegant, but if an alignment scheme doesn't distinguish between paladins and devils, I don't think it does its job any more.

    I agree, which is why I think it's necessary to add a Good/Evil/Neutral axis to the Lawful side of the equation.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I was starting to post something about then needing good beings that are for the destruction of the universe when suddenly it started sounding like one of those When Bad Things Happens church sermon topics.

    ReplyDelete