I kind of like the idea of alignment planes. In particular, I adore Mechanus.

Modrons are amusing in their way. They look a bit like the Patapon guys.

I like the concept of bytopia- 2 different infinite planes above/facing each other, with a point between them that gravity flips

Alignment planes are overkill for me

Small ghettos in the Astral Plane are fine :)

So that you can ensure that everything important in them is close enough together

Well yes, the merciful part is that no one forces me to use planes I don't like :)

And well, I'm fine with each individual plane. It's the alignment theming itself that feels off to me.

@kviiri Alignment really is something that post-AD&D editions shouldn't have. It made sense when it was literally which side you were working for (wittingly or not) in the Cosmic War — hence the name “alignment” — but now it's just an anachronism that gets misused.

@SevenSidedDie I guess. Particularly on the "misuse" part.

Everyone probably saw the My Guy who killed their coworkers as a Chaotic Evil character? workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/84746/…

@SevenSidedDie Alignment has place in Tactics Ogre (where it determines a lot of stuff like available classes and unit loyalty) and Bioware games (where it looks cool as hell)

But not really in any RPG

@UristMcDorf It really depends on execution. It works in old D&D editions well. It also works in Dungeon World pretty well, because its cause-effect relationship has been reversed, which makes all alignment discussions moot.

To be honest I'd blame that one on the party. A new player should be given The Talk about My Guy Syndrome and expectations of the game before starting.

I think the Dungeon World alignment system is reasonably well-executed because it specifies more clearly what the appropriate alignment means for a given character. Whereas in DnD 5e I'd really have trouble pinning my current character on the 3x3 field.

In hindsight, yes they should've had the talk. But sometimes you just want to sit down and play with people. As much as I appreciate session zero and good communication before the game starts, if you meet a bunch of new people and are like "hey! let's play some dnd!" you aren't going to want to spend a day or two talking about playing. You want to get right into the fun.

@kviiri Yeah, 5e really doesn't need it. For myself, it's never been an issue because in the (non-TSR D&D) groups I've been in, we mostly pick an alignment and then don't pay much attention to it. It effectively ends up being a bit of a background detail to inspire character creation and personality rather than something important in itself.

@SevenSidedDie Same here.

@UristMcDorf (side note: I'm really sad the Ogre Battle series seems to basically be dead.)

Our current DnD 5e campaign is actually the first one where we had a dedicated, premeditated session zero. Was very nice.

@Adam And most of the problem seems to be not the party-killing, but mishandling the misunderstanding. Being completely clueless that “they seemed disgusted with me” is a sign that an error in judgement has been made and means it's time to repair the work relationships.

@Adam Well I usually give new players this much talk anyway: "this is a co-operative game of adventures in high fantasy land. Your characters must be reasonably loyal to the party and eager to adventure". Usually followed up with "no evil characters unless everyone wants to be evil together".

Also throw in "...and smash monster skulls" in there if it's a combat-heavy game and pacifists wouldn't fit :)

This weeds out some common newbie problem characters: 1) the edgy mercenary who needs to be coaxed to do anything 2) the chaotic evil/neutral who will backstab the party or steal from them at all times 3) the pacifist who spends a disproportionate time trying to stop any combat from happening despite everyone else being pumped to fight

@CTWind Well, I had a lot of fun with LUCT while it lasted for me.

And there are plenty other tactics games.

Yeah, giving the talk is something one tends to learn the hard way :)

And hidden in there somewhere I was going for a "don't be too hard on them for not doing everything in their power to avoid conflict before hand, because they just wanted to start a game with some friends" vibe

Apologies, I can't seem to get the thought out in words very well :/

@Adam I actually expressed a similar sentiment during the first discussion.

So you're not alone!

@UristMcDorf Yeah, but I haven't seen something like OB64 in a long time, which I loved.

@CTWind Ogre Battle was one of favorite games growing up. Also one of my first uses of the internet was looking up how to recruit all the special characters.

@CTWind I actually only played LUCT and half-read an OB64 LP.

I can only play Wakfu and Fire Emblem instead :)

Speaking of Fire Emblem

The mobile one is pretty decent.

Backers of the Fate Core Kickstarter now have early access to the Dresden Files Accelerated RPG.

Yeah, cool news. Maybe I'll play Dresden Files at some point.

It's really great that I'm still getting stuff from that KS even years later.

(or maybe it's terrible that it's taking years to get all of its stuff :) )

I'll settle for "terribly great."

@SevenSidedDie This. This, a thousand times this. Alignment is a social matter, not a personal one! </rant 3 of the last 24 hours>

@nitsua60 I agree as well, it doesn't take into account the things it should when trying to pin someone down as "good" or "evil"

it just sorta sits there and is a thing

and turns into an excuse for silly behaviour

Trogdor says: "Alignment is an excuse for silly behaviour."

[holds out microphone] Mister Trogdor, would you say your alignment is Pedantic Burninate?

@BESW That seems to be a pretty solid candidate for a cosmic side to align with.

I assume their battlecry is "ACTUALLY!"

@BESW ACTUALLY that's absolutely correct.

The intel briefings are awful, though.

hey now

I contract out those Intel breifings

whoops, gave it away

hey there @CTWind and @Karelzarath

Hey!

how're things going?

Going alright, getting some dinner ready before settling down for the night.

Also writing a meta question.

ah.

Ah, hello. Popped in to see what was shaking.

ah, not much

@CTWind I fixed some (depressing) numbers for you.

Hahaha, I was wondering about that.

So I missed one of them :-P

Yeah...I think that particular misconception is popular because it really should work that way.

The primary limitation on warlock spellcasting is their miniscule spell slots, not spells known, so having their "domain" spells known automatically just makes sense.

Especially when it works that way for everyone else.

Yeah. I guess I kind of view them as "3/4 casters"- they have full spell level progression, but far less spells per day as a trade off for basically being a martial character in terms of their constant, every-turn throughput via eldritch blast.