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"Netural" isn't about picking "good and evil" choices. LadyLorraine Send a noteboard - 20/09/2011 04:59:42 PM
It's about picking alignment-neutral choices that are neither good nor evil, but maybe attest to some other goal or are simply "normal decisions" that your average peasant would make.

There's no reason to reward the latter. It's normal. It's boring. It's not the point of an RPG. The former could be rewarded and in some gaming systems it is. In one of the older editions of DnD, Neutral Clerics could do either turn or control undead (good/evil respectively), and could ask for free healing spells OR free harming spells.

Then of course, you have those who pick "neutral" as a moral ground and will consciously always pick the side that is neither good nor evil. This would also be worth rewarding because it takes a lot more effort than doing either good or evil, really.

However, none of that is picking good and evil choices because it entertains you I don't think, in an RPG, there's a justification for rewarding it because it's poor role-playing. The only alignment that really suits such behavior are particular ways of playing a chaotic-neutral-type character...and why should only that role be rewarded as opposed to people who pick every OTHER un-rewarded permutation of good and evil? And of course that's assuming that's what you're DOING instead of just wanting to randomly be evil.


I do agree with you about needing some more options, though. I want to be able to be an evil baron who APPEARS to be good...but does all the good things for the wrong reasons. Or, in your example, someone who takes the "evil" option for the greater good.

I can't think of any games that explicitly do this, but it'd take a lot of grouping and anticipation on the part of the developers so I'm not sure it will ever be delved into. You'd have to pick dialogue options like "I kill this peasant (for the greater good)" or "I kill this peasant (Because it amuses me) or "I kill this peasant for resisting the law", etc...etc... which would kind of put a cramp in the flow of conversation mechanics.


Still Empress of the Poofy Purple Pillow Pile Palace!!
Continued Love of my Aussie <3
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My companions! Lend me thine vast expertise - 20/09/2011 03:56:19 PM 1031 Views
Hm. It depends on what you mean by "rewarded." - 20/09/2011 04:15:18 PM 741 Views
No, not quite - 20/09/2011 04:29:42 PM 669 Views
I don't think I know anything that matches what you want. - 20/09/2011 04:39:22 PM 640 Views
You are a horrible human being. *NM* - 20/09/2011 08:24:05 PM 276 Views
- 28/09/2011 12:58:11 AM 663 Views
I thnk Fallout 3 gave you bonuses for being neutral. - 20/09/2011 04:52:11 PM 625 Views
That was the first that came to my mind, too. *NM* - 21/09/2011 09:46:11 AM 270 Views
P.S. re: "thine" - 20/09/2011 04:57:27 PM 579 Views
Damn, I knew it! - 20/09/2011 05:11:25 PM 642 Views
"Netural" isn't about picking "good and evil" choices. - 20/09/2011 04:59:42 PM 630 Views
It'd be pretty difficult to specifically reward you for being a 'gray' character. (Two games) - 20/09/2011 05:02:28 PM 764 Views
Take Knights of the Old Republic, for example - 20/09/2011 05:08:04 PM 688 Views
That's not so much an alignment as just metagaming the system. - 20/09/2011 09:27:49 PM 636 Views
thank you for phrasing that better than me *NM* - 20/09/2011 11:11:54 PM 279 Views
Maybe I didn't explain right - 20/09/2011 11:19:51 PM 584 Views
I'd say that's evil. - 21/09/2011 03:00:32 AM 748 Views
of course, then you get into question of whether actions like that example are evil - 21/09/2011 04:03:03 AM 633 Views
Questions of morality are the great fun of philosophy . - 21/09/2011 05:24:50 AM 591 Views
Re: I'd say that's evil. - 21/09/2011 06:23:11 PM 732 Views
Re: I'd say that's evil. - 21/09/2011 10:21:17 PM 743 Views
That's actually a pretty narrow view of Neutral when it comes to Alignment or Morality. - 21/09/2011 02:19:34 PM 628 Views
I thought I had allowed for what you said. - 21/09/2011 04:33:30 PM 565 Views
It's not a neutral outlook - 21/09/2011 06:27:27 PM 691 Views
See, what you're talking about IS in fact considered EVIL. - 21/09/2011 08:33:30 PM 622 Views
You might want to try The Witcher series. - 21/09/2011 05:16:05 AM 608 Views
I just played the first one... - 21/09/2011 02:14:13 PM 664 Views
Grey decisions are good but... - 21/09/2011 06:19:04 PM 708 Views
they don't reward it because, for the most part, they don't want you taking a middle ground. - 21/09/2011 07:10:48 PM 587 Views
Well that's just stupid. Tired of picking the 2 sides over and over *NM* - 21/09/2011 08:02:11 PM 312 Views
Neutrality is often boring or selfish. Good stories seldom have truly neutral protagonists. *NM* - 22/09/2011 06:27:05 PM 294 Views
Are you kidding? - 22/09/2011 06:54:19 PM 658 Views
That's chaotic good, not neutral. *NM* - 22/09/2011 10:36:28 PM 303 Views
I have an on-topic comment as well as a general rant on game morality systems. - 21/09/2011 06:43:21 PM 790 Views
if they wanted to make the conversation mechanics more complicated... - 21/09/2011 07:14:21 PM 706 Views
I don't care if it's complicated so long as it's clear. - 22/09/2011 08:27:46 PM 594 Views
I agree with this, actually. *NM* - 22/09/2011 09:17:23 PM 305 Views
I agree with that, too. *NM* - 22/09/2011 10:38:15 PM 290 Views

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