Post/Author/DateTime	Post
BlackZed 01-09-07, 06:23 PM	My husband and I have recently begun playing with two newbies to the game, and they're having a bit of a difficult time getting the hang of alignments, being baised by culture and society. I've been able to come up with a few examples for alignment, but would like a wider variety to present them with as examples for behavior. Neither of them are big readers really, but huge movie buffs. Basically, I've given them examples like Darth Vader for Lawful Evil and Robin Hood for Chaotic Good. Any input or further ideas would be appreciated. They're having the most trouble with lawful alignments and good alignments. Also, if anyone has any suggestions about how to challenge them in regards to keeping in their own alignment, that would be much appreciated as well. Currently there are three games going (due to scheduling, we kind of have to shuffle games). They chose their own alignments, which is a part of their difficulty. PC1 is kind of a CG personality, PC2 more of a true neutral w/good tendencies personality. Plus, they're still in the glittery-eyes stage where the absurd has a huge appeal. Well, here. The characters. Game 1: Myself, Ikanu, NG pixie wu-jen. PC1: Trakkure, LG silver dragon. PC2: Elam, LN Illumian Cleric/Monk/Osteomancer. NPC: Devin Wolfbane, CG Wood Elf Ranger Game 2: Myself, Corand, LN tauric monk. PC1: Zindael, CN human warmage. PC2: LG/CG Half-gold dragon, half dwarven (the-good-kind-from-FR) werewolf fighter (he was so proud of the idea and set on it that we couldn't bear to break his little heart, though it continually threatens to unbalance the game. Thank heavens for a good DM). NPC: Ugioh, NE human ninja. NPC: Faash, true neutral lizardman cleric. Game 3: Myself, Torvish, NE whisper gnome rogue, headed to Assassin PrC. PC1, not in game. PC2: Marrik, LE human Paladin of Tyranny, headed for Blackguard PrC. NPC: Zerg, LE human samauri. I've attempted to cater to the setting of the game with my own alignments, while still varying just enough that I can insert a few quirks that might not be completely acceptable to their own alignments. Thanks in advance, everyone. I really want to kind of force these newbies to grow and to actually think about their characters, rather than letting them fall into a mental rut about "I kill it. I loot the body." DMing suggestions also welcome, as my hubby is also wanting to challenge them to grow as roleplayers. So, a bit more info, if that'll help any at all. Game 1: Set in a wooded area, full of elves and fey. Transported to Ravenloft, though the PCs aren't yet aware of that (being married to the DM does have it's perks, when he knows I don't use out of player info in-game). Vampires and werewolves and other nasties abound, as the wall hasn't gone up around the land yet and they're all somewhat drawn to it, as there's an abundance of good critters (i.e. food). He hasn't revealed the rest of the plot to me as of yet, keeping me guessing as well. Trakkure's parents were not in the area when it was plunked into Ravenloft, so to him they just mysteriously vanished. Ikanu, my pixie (we reduced size to Tiny based on weight and height), has a sort of nature-sense for ease of gameplay, and felt them "vanish." Being good, she decided to check it out and find out what sort of foul play might be afoot. She's afire to prove herself, due to her background, and hunted down the baby silver dragon, Trakkure, in hopes he'd know something. We all met along the adventure. Silver dragon doesn't have much of a background, apart from being sent out into the world to grow up. Fledged, as it were. Elam follows the order of the phoenix, or something like that, renewal and rebirth. Also hasn't developed too much of a backstory, apart from being somewhat fire-obsessed and having iron plates set into his chest that he can heat up to burning for rituals yadda-yadda. Ikanu was captured at a very young age, before all of her abilities manifested and before she learned language. She was carted east in a cage, eventually reaching more aisian-based lands. She sold to a private buyer for a menagerie of odd creatures, and as her previous captor had been careful to prevent her from learning speech, she was thought to be merely an oddity. An unintelligent imitation of a sentient humanoid. She reached maturity learning only the language of the birds, leaving their company only when a contracted druid inspected the menagerie to ensure no creatures were being mistreated. She was kept out of his sight, in the fears that he would attempt to remove her from the cage. She had been placed in a far too-small cage once her invisibility manifested, so that her position in the cage could be easily determined with a poke of stick or finger. The druid rescued her, as the animals chattered away about her once he cast Speak with Animals. Quickly he learned that she was frighteningly intelligent despite having only one language, as she picked up any she came into contact with very quickly. He made a deal with her, that he would see she got some tutelage in the arcane arts if she would agree to go with him to a wood more suited to her race, where she would feel more at home and be less likely to be recaptured. All of her experience is book-learned, and so her first battle left her shaken and trembling, realizing that captivity is not the only evil that can befall her or her companions. She's incredibly shy of her background, fearing that if her companions learn that she grew up in a cage, it'll adversely affect their opinion of her. She hungers for companionship, and as the encounters grow darker, she longs to be comforted, but hasn't had enough interaction with the party or with others in general to feel entirely comfortable turning to any of them. (I may think about my characters way too much) Devin Wolfbane comes from a line of lycanthrope hunters. Those of evil mien must die, but those afflicted that mean no harm he will attempt to cure. The males through 4 generations have trained under their father to become a lycanthrope hunter, and then carry on the fight for about 8 or 9 centuries before settling down to raise the next generation of hunters. Game 2: Set in Faerun, Waterdeep area. DM plans to have this be a "save the world" campaign. Corand completed his training and set out with a strange dwarf (for the life of me his name escapes me) that had wandered into the monestary on a quest to find his mother, a gold dragon. The road was infested with goblins, and we came across a slightly bloodied cart with two humans, the NPC and Zindael. Grouping together for numbers, we headed to Waterdeep, Zindael's hometown. Gained Faash along the way. Killed monster threatening waterdeep. Zindael was raised by an adoptive father, a merchant in Waterdeep. He left to become a warmage in order to bring honor to his father, not caring that he was not his son by blood. Graduated from the college and was traveling back home. Dwarf/dragon/wolfie was raised by his mother, not knowing who his father might be. One day he came back to the den to find her gone without a trace, and she did not return. He wandered for a time, coming to rest in a wooded area. He developed a legend of the woods, that it was haunted, frightening of townfolk to keep his privacy as he started becoming a hermit. The people banded together after a few years of this, attempting to purify the woods and succeeding in chasing him out. Since then he has continued wandering, searching for his mother or word of her, and trying to find out who his father is. Corand. Probably one of my most involved backgrounds ever so I'll try to paraphrase. Started out LG as a child, was being groomed to be a paladin. Little sister was disturbed mentally and sent to a corrective center run by the church the family attended. Years passed, Corand was let into the secrets of the church, learning that his sister was in a child molestation house that all the clergy frequented. Protested, tried to fight, got beaten nearly to death and passed over to wizards of same evil god (church had the false front of LG, of course) to play with. They were trying to build living weapons, and magically fused his torso with that of a fleshrender. He managed to escape, as no one bothered to tell his guards that he was now poisonous. Alignment shifted to LN as a result of the disillusionment, and upon finding the Monks of the Old Order, he came to realize he was only trying to be LG out of a sense of obligation. Ugioh I don't know about. Except he's a liar and a thief, determined to make sure the dwarf/dragon/wolfie dies because he's offended that he can't hurt it, but amiable until then. Faash we battled as part of a raiding/initiation party. A bunch of young lizardmen with two shamans overseeing them. Kicked much butt, he surrendered to Corand and Corand accepted his oath. Game 3 we actually have under pretty good control for challenging the PC. Landed but not rich uncle died, Marrik inherited. My gnome is an extremely fast talker and managed to convince Marrik and Zerg to let him out of the dungeon because he'd be useful and hadn't really done anything wrong (and in fact was acting in their best interest), twisting their lawfulness to his own best advantage. Of course, having an enormous bluff doesn't hurt. Oh and he's totally as lawful as they are, completely, he'd never ever lie to them and of course he'd have no problem swearing an oath to serve Marrik and not betray him in any way. And in no way is he a thief. Heavens no! He may be sneaky, yes, but that's just so he can better do his job as a pro-active sentry (it's even in the house ledger, honestly) and catch miscreants attempting to steal the household's valuables! I think I may die happy if I can pull this one off without getting myself killed.
RorixBladewing 01-09-07, 11:33 PM	Just some brief examples and hints for them: Good doesn't mean you give everything you own away. It does entail helping people whenever it's reasonably convenient (or just for the heck of it) and avoiding doing cruel things to people, unless you firmly believe they absolutely deserve it. You act like a pleasant person as a whole, even when people are rude. Lawful people firmly uphold the laws of the land, plus they're own moral code. A Lawful good character will not attack his sworn enemy in a city if it is illegal in said city. As a lawful person, you believe that chaos is the bane of society, and you oftentimes think things through. You have a strict sense of personal honor i.e., a lawful evil person can, and likely will, interact pleasantly with the good PCs who have invaded his home if that is his code. Lawful evil people sometimes refuse to attack people from behind, or insist on taking on the PCs singlehandedly. Lawful people view the world as a whole, and will do things to help 'the greater good/evil.' Hopefully that can help out a bit. First and foremost, the DM has to determine alignment. If you want to challenge your character's alignment, try some little temptations. Have your lawful good character find someone's dropped purse. Have the neutral person be put in the middle of a good/evil confrontation. Little things like that.
BlackZed 01-10-07, 02:17 PM	Thank you, all the help I can get is much appreciated. This is my first experience gaming with genuine, bona fide new players, and I know that I get a lot more enjoyment from the game and love my characters a lot more when I have a really good grasp on what they would and wouldn't do. Which usually involves massive backstories. They're not quite to that point yet, and I'm trying to lead by example, but everyone can use a little help now and then. Another problem is they haven't quite gotten over trusting the DM too much yet. You have to have a certain amount of trust in your DM, but.. they're still really naive. We've scheduled a bit of a... tutoring session for next game. They're kind of still having trouble with getting all the rules down, but they're roommates and one of them bought the core set so hopefully they'll actually spend some time reading the books. I'm tired of being the group librarian. :D