jrrt@hogpd.UUCP (R.MITCHELL) (10/11/83)
To rabbit!jj: I respectfully suggest you are wrong when you say that killing is wrong for good characters. Good-aligned characters, especially paladins and lawful-good clerics, are honor-bound to destroy evil wherever it exists. Only in the most tenuous definition of self-defense could the following be considered as an act of self-preservation: A red dragon is terrorizing a village, devouring children, slaying the townsfolk, and in general being a horrible nuisance. Sir Pureatheart rides into town, hears of the situation, and promptly rides off to fight for justice. By my understanding of your comments, this noble knight is risking his alignment because he intends to slay the beast. Sure, it would be nice if Sir Pureatheart could convert the dragon to Lawful Goodness (through magic or eloquence), but that doesn't seem likely, and even if Our Hero was successful, any dragon that susceptible to an alignment change would be susceptible to one more. In this situation, I say, "Slay the critter." Equivalently for the Orcus puzzle: if you can make him Lawful Good, someone else can undo your work. Bringing a Demon Prince back into existence after it was destroyed on its own plane, is a bit harder. Two final notes: Good is *my* preferred alignment, so the light tone in my example is not meant to be sarcasm. Whether or not you view this kind of killing as wrong, should be consistent with your opinions on capital punishment. That's really what we're discussing, true? (Please, though, let's not argue *that* issue in this newsgroup). Rob Mitchell hogpd!jrrt
jj@rabbit.UUCP (10/12/83)
No, Rob, I think you missed the point. If you are riding off to mung a Red Dragon, without the choice of all the magic in the world, you do what you can. <Killing is a good idea.> You are promoting the greatest saving of life. What you are faced with in the Kill Orcus campaign is something completely different, you have the choice of the world's greatest magics to take with you, and you should (and I think MUST) do better. After all, it's not good to kill, if you don't HAVE to. Good means that you value life. ALL life. Certainly Orcus has life<in D&D terms>. You are then, if possible, bound to preserve it. I think I've posted a way to do it. -- O o From the pyrolagnic keyboard of ~ rabbit!jj -v-v- \^_^/
jj@rabbit.UUCP (10/18/83)
Well, some of us play FRP games for the fun of it. In that case, playing whatever alignment you like is good enough excuse. In any case, I like to play chaotic good characters. I find the combination of chaotic action coupled with good intent the most interesting. After all, its all too easy to just go forth and destroy. That's boring! -- O o From the pyrolagnic keyboard of ~ rabbit!jj -v-v- \^_^/
andree@uokvax.UUCP (10/23/83)
#R:hogpd:-17700:uokvax:2400001:000:276 uokvax!andree Oct 14 10:19:00 1983 I don't understand: What does my alignment/belief(s) have to do with those of any characters I run? I thought the point of frp was to play a role - to be someone other than who you are. This seems to be somewhat self-defeating if the role you play is essentially you. <mike