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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 1051 Views
Hm. It depends on what you mean by "rewarded." - 20/09/2011 04:15:18 PM 764 Views
No, not quite - 20/09/2011 04:29:42 PM 690 Views
I don't think I know anything that matches what you want. - 20/09/2011 04:39:22 PM 660 Views
You are a horrible human being. *NM* - 20/09/2011 08:24:05 PM 285 Views
- 28/09/2011 12:58:11 AM 691 Views
I thnk Fallout 3 gave you bonuses for being neutral. - 20/09/2011 04:52:11 PM 648 Views
That was the first that came to my mind, too. *NM* - 21/09/2011 09:46:11 AM 279 Views
P.S. re: "thine" - 20/09/2011 04:57:27 PM 601 Views
Damn, I knew it! - 20/09/2011 05:11:25 PM 662 Views
"Netural" isn't about picking "good and evil" choices. - 20/09/2011 04:59:42 PM 650 Views
It'd be pretty difficult to specifically reward you for being a 'gray' character. (Two games) - 20/09/2011 05:02:28 PM 797 Views
Take Knights of the Old Republic, for example - 20/09/2011 05:08:04 PM 706 Views
That's not so much an alignment as just metagaming the system. - 20/09/2011 09:27:49 PM 655 Views
thank you for phrasing that better than me *NM* - 20/09/2011 11:11:54 PM 288 Views
Maybe I didn't explain right - 20/09/2011 11:19:51 PM 603 Views
I'd say that's evil. - 21/09/2011 03:00:32 AM 773 Views
of course, then you get into question of whether actions like that example are evil - 21/09/2011 04:03:03 AM 655 Views
Questions of morality are the great fun of philosophy . - 21/09/2011 05:24:50 AM 614 Views
Re: I'd say that's evil. - 21/09/2011 06:23:11 PM 756 Views
Re: I'd say that's evil. - 21/09/2011 10:21:17 PM 764 Views
That's actually a pretty narrow view of Neutral when it comes to Alignment or Morality. - 21/09/2011 02:19:34 PM 653 Views
I thought I had allowed for what you said. - 21/09/2011 04:33:30 PM 587 Views
It's not a neutral outlook - 21/09/2011 06:27:27 PM 714 Views
See, what you're talking about IS in fact considered EVIL. - 21/09/2011 08:33:30 PM 651 Views
You might want to try The Witcher series. - 21/09/2011 05:16:05 AM 629 Views
I just played the first one... - 21/09/2011 02:14:13 PM 684 Views
Grey decisions are good but... - 21/09/2011 06:19:04 PM 729 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 611 Views
Well that's just stupid. Tired of picking the 2 sides over and over *NM* - 21/09/2011 08:02:11 PM 324 Views
Neutrality is often boring or selfish. Good stories seldom have truly neutral protagonists. *NM* - 22/09/2011 06:27:05 PM 302 Views
Are you kidding? - 22/09/2011 06:54:19 PM 683 Views
That's chaotic good, not neutral. *NM* - 22/09/2011 10:36:28 PM 313 Views
I have an on-topic comment as well as a general rant on game morality systems. - 21/09/2011 06:43:21 PM 814 Views
if they wanted to make the conversation mechanics more complicated... - 21/09/2011 07:14:21 PM 731 Views
I don't care if it's complicated so long as it's clear. - 22/09/2011 08:27:46 PM 615 Views
I agree with this, actually. *NM* - 22/09/2011 09:17:23 PM 314 Views
I agree with that, too. *NM* - 22/09/2011 10:38:15 PM 300 Views

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