This is a sort of "posting of notes" or "working out the words to a tune in my head" type of post. If these ideas seem rambling, or not finished, that is probably true. I just want to get some of them out and onto "paper," probably mostly because of the online game that I am going to be running soon. Warning: Metaphor heavy posting follows the jump.
One of the fundamentals of D&D, and many of its offsprings in fantasy gaming, is the struggle between Law and Chaos (as shown by Alignment). This concept was inspired by a combination of the writings of Michael Moorcock and Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions. Originally, this was a fairly pure concept in gaming: Law on one side, and Chaos on the other. Yes, Law was typically put forth as the "good guys," in a move probably inspired by August Derlth's attempts to turn the Outer Gods of The Cthulhu Mythos into good guys and bad. Later on, this axis of Good and Evil was further quantified by actually adding Good and Evil to alignment. To me, this is where things got a bit murky.
Call me a wacky purist, but I like the idea of fantasy worlds driven by an unending conflict between two "forces" that can never truly reconcile, or even actually win. Even truce is not possible, because that would mean that neither side can truly exist in their pure forms any longer. Balance is nothing more than the two sides blending and losing themselves in the process. One of the things that I have focused a lot of my thought on, since returning to an interest in fantasy gaming over the last few years, has been alignment and the endless struggle between the two sides.
Probably because of my being a fan of Moorcock's work for such a long time, I think I read my first Elric stories when I was in middle school, something close to his interpretation looms large in my thoughts. First, two things that I get rid of in alignment: 1) the good and evil access; there is no morality in this conflict just disagreement and war, 2) a step further from removing good and evil is the concept that neither Law nor Chaos are the good guys, or the bad guys (outside of propaganda, of course). (Now we start veering into terminology and names that I use in my games.) The Stargods who are the Lords of Law are really no better than the brutes and charismatics who are the Chaos Lords. Ultimately, neither side cares if they are they good guys...they only care that they are the ones who ultimately win. Once one side has dominated, of course, they can then get to the more important task of who on their side are the right one(s) to ultimately rule all of creation. For the mortal races of the universe this puts them square in the middle of two big bastards that care only about who's the bigger fellow.
The universe is like a cat toy, batted back and forth between two cats who do little more than toy with it. The conflict of Law and Chaos may not directly touch everyone in the universe, but it is there...a low bass line that can be heard by the right people and causes them to dance to the tune of war. Because of this, many people pay lip service to either sides without belief. Sadly, at some point the conflict will end up touching these people as well, and they will find themselves dragged onto sides that they never thought actually existed.
The counterpoint to this is that, really, Law and Chaos doesn't actually care about the majority of the people in the universe. They're cannon fodder, sure, but they are no more than pawns on some cosmic chessboard. For either side to really want an individual, they have to have something to bring to the conflict. Law and Chaos doesn't want pawns, they want rooks and bishops. This leads to one of the few purely mechanical mentions of this post. Except for Clerics, you don't pick your character's Alignment until 3rd level (or some equivalent thereof, I guess). First level characters don't always have much to contribute to themselves, let alone an eternal cosmic conflict that rages across all of creation. Once a character has reached third level, they are putting themselves onto the path where they will have something to contribute to the conflict. Consider the fantasy adventurer's equivalent of coming of age. Clerics, obviously, have to pick from the get-go. They are the representative of a religion, and in this setting the religions come down to Law or Chaos. Law is all about organization, so they have one Church that reaches throughout the universe: The Universal Church of Truth. They do have an elaborate hierarchy of the various Stargods of Law, but most are worshiped on a more or less equal footing. Chaos, however, is splintered into a multitude of Chaos Cults that worship either groups of or individual Chaos Lords. Each of the Cults are jockeying for power, and for an important place in the struggle between Law and Chaos.
This leads to a corollary, one that should be easily noticed but might need an explicit statement. There are no mixed alignment parties in this universe. Law and Chaos is in conflict, and eventually that will reach the player character group. This is a conflict that does not care if you are friends. Law is Law and Chaos is Chaos, and the two sides do not play well. Sometimes, there can be brief truces (in the face of a greater danger), but once that danger has passed the conflict is back into place. An important part of this is that there cannot be multiple Clerics of opposing sides in a party. They are enemies in this universe. Period. The odds of a group having more than one Cleric is probably slim, but it is good to make sure that everything is stated.
By the way, the name of Law's church is an intentional reference.
Like I said, this is a starting point. I have a lot of ideas on this that I still need to work out, but this post gets the basics out there. I think that some of these ideas will work out in play, and others will just pop out of their own accord.
One of the fundamentals of D&D, and many of its offsprings in fantasy gaming, is the struggle between Law and Chaos (as shown by Alignment). This concept was inspired by a combination of the writings of Michael Moorcock and Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions. Originally, this was a fairly pure concept in gaming: Law on one side, and Chaos on the other. Yes, Law was typically put forth as the "good guys," in a move probably inspired by August Derlth's attempts to turn the Outer Gods of The Cthulhu Mythos into good guys and bad. Later on, this axis of Good and Evil was further quantified by actually adding Good and Evil to alignment. To me, this is where things got a bit murky.
Call me a wacky purist, but I like the idea of fantasy worlds driven by an unending conflict between two "forces" that can never truly reconcile, or even actually win. Even truce is not possible, because that would mean that neither side can truly exist in their pure forms any longer. Balance is nothing more than the two sides blending and losing themselves in the process. One of the things that I have focused a lot of my thought on, since returning to an interest in fantasy gaming over the last few years, has been alignment and the endless struggle between the two sides.
Probably because of my being a fan of Moorcock's work for such a long time, I think I read my first Elric stories when I was in middle school, something close to his interpretation looms large in my thoughts. First, two things that I get rid of in alignment: 1) the good and evil access; there is no morality in this conflict just disagreement and war, 2) a step further from removing good and evil is the concept that neither Law nor Chaos are the good guys, or the bad guys (outside of propaganda, of course). (Now we start veering into terminology and names that I use in my games.) The Stargods who are the Lords of Law are really no better than the brutes and charismatics who are the Chaos Lords. Ultimately, neither side cares if they are they good guys...they only care that they are the ones who ultimately win. Once one side has dominated, of course, they can then get to the more important task of who on their side are the right one(s) to ultimately rule all of creation. For the mortal races of the universe this puts them square in the middle of two big bastards that care only about who's the bigger fellow.
The universe is like a cat toy, batted back and forth between two cats who do little more than toy with it. The conflict of Law and Chaos may not directly touch everyone in the universe, but it is there...a low bass line that can be heard by the right people and causes them to dance to the tune of war. Because of this, many people pay lip service to either sides without belief. Sadly, at some point the conflict will end up touching these people as well, and they will find themselves dragged onto sides that they never thought actually existed.
The counterpoint to this is that, really, Law and Chaos doesn't actually care about the majority of the people in the universe. They're cannon fodder, sure, but they are no more than pawns on some cosmic chessboard. For either side to really want an individual, they have to have something to bring to the conflict. Law and Chaos doesn't want pawns, they want rooks and bishops. This leads to one of the few purely mechanical mentions of this post. Except for Clerics, you don't pick your character's Alignment until 3rd level (or some equivalent thereof, I guess). First level characters don't always have much to contribute to themselves, let alone an eternal cosmic conflict that rages across all of creation. Once a character has reached third level, they are putting themselves onto the path where they will have something to contribute to the conflict. Consider the fantasy adventurer's equivalent of coming of age. Clerics, obviously, have to pick from the get-go. They are the representative of a religion, and in this setting the religions come down to Law or Chaos. Law is all about organization, so they have one Church that reaches throughout the universe: The Universal Church of Truth. They do have an elaborate hierarchy of the various Stargods of Law, but most are worshiped on a more or less equal footing. Chaos, however, is splintered into a multitude of Chaos Cults that worship either groups of or individual Chaos Lords. Each of the Cults are jockeying for power, and for an important place in the struggle between Law and Chaos.
This leads to a corollary, one that should be easily noticed but might need an explicit statement. There are no mixed alignment parties in this universe. Law and Chaos is in conflict, and eventually that will reach the player character group. This is a conflict that does not care if you are friends. Law is Law and Chaos is Chaos, and the two sides do not play well. Sometimes, there can be brief truces (in the face of a greater danger), but once that danger has passed the conflict is back into place. An important part of this is that there cannot be multiple Clerics of opposing sides in a party. They are enemies in this universe. Period. The odds of a group having more than one Cleric is probably slim, but it is good to make sure that everything is stated.
By the way, the name of Law's church is an intentional reference.
Like I said, this is a starting point. I have a lot of ideas on this that I still need to work out, but this post gets the basics out there. I think that some of these ideas will work out in play, and others will just pop out of their own accord.