This is pretty much a love-in for some of the D&D meta-setting. I'm of the opinion that the generic D&D setting introduces certain assumptions about the world that, in the past, people have said, "It's totally unrealistic!" and complained about.

And, you know, I do too. I wouldn't ever use D&D for generic fantasy RP. Blue Rose's mechanics, maybe, sure. GURPS, my own Dream home-brew, many other systems, but not D&D. And that's because of its implicit meta-setting. A setting with exploding HP. Fire & Forget Magic. Objective Mutherfucking Alignment. Classes, Feats, and killing shit to be better at Skills.

So, after a while, I realized that it's not like real life at all. It's not accurate. True, some things about the setting are surprisingly accurate. For example, Gold-Silver-Copper economic and conversion rates are internally consistent with Profession skill checks on average level Commoner/Expert/Aristocrat NPCs. Which is nothing short of amazing. But, really, it's not realistic in the every day sense.

Which is why I started this. Assuming a kind of generic meta-narrative, what kinds of stuff do you do in your games? I'm assuming 3.5 (but it doesn't have to be), but what kind of world do your PCs and NPCs live in? What's your home-brews internal rules? How do you explain Alignment? I imagine it's kind of like those Exalted+ threads on RPG.net, except it's D&D and I want to hear your fluff and justifications. I use the Exalted threads as a resource I can contribute to, so I want to do the same here. I'll add some of my D&D stuff when I take breaks from my essay writing...

I had a short break. Here's what I'm talking about.

The Alignment War

There's a common understanding amongst learned scholers of magic and The Planes that there is a war between the Evil-Aligned Planes where demons and devils fight each other to determine the face of Evil in the cosmos. Most sages, even the evil ones, typically draw a sigh of relief to hear this, because as long as they continue to fight each other, they ignore the Material Planes where they and others reside.  They are happy enough to maintain this way of life, but most stop here, before the uncover the true origins of Alignments themselves.

Alignments are so pervasive that everyone takes them for granted. Everyone has an Alignment. It can be verified conclusively and objectively. Moreover, it is a good thing to be of a Good alignment, and an Evil one is something to keep hidden. Most individuals are simply of a Neutral alignment; which is nothing to write home about either way, but most people view it as a small (but livable) personal failing and go about their way.

Which isn't quite true. There is a greater war in the cosmos. A war for the face of existence, which even now is not quite determined. Alignment, which people take as a fairly minor thing is, in fact, the most powerful force in existence. It is the very definition of what drives the Planes. Far back in the past, before even the hoariest Daemon or the most exalted Archon, there was no Alignment. Ideas and entities floated without measure or drive, and it was resolved that existence was not complete without the Planes themselves to give shape to ideology.

It was decided that materials would be needed, and the Inner Planes were created to focus that agenda. Fire, Earth, Air, and Water were what was decided existence would need to thrive. But these planes did nothing without prodding. The great entities mused as to what would provide the motivation behind creation. They argued back and forth for countless eons until they fell into camps. Some argued that only adherance to a great and total Law would provide the type of focus creation needed to continue to exist. Other argued that only pure will to survive at the cost of any other would create a strong enough world, and still others thought that only total selflessness would be enough to overcome obstacles.  These arguments, in and of themselves created the Outer Planes of Alignments.

Without these powers ever noticing, the Prime sprang up where the Inner Planes and Outer Planes met, each entity with though aquiring their own alignments by virtue of the arguments set forth. These arguments are the philosophies of the individuals, fighting over the best way for creation as a whole to succeed. The truth is that Good is good because that's the default adjective explaining the Upper Planes's philosophy. It is 'good' because the gods said it was. However, the Prime's linguistics wasn't total, because the Lower Planes argue that their philosophy of Evil is the strongest and best one for society as a whole. That only Evil (and Chaos or Law, or even Neutrality) is the 'right' ideology. Neutrality is also upheld.

Their is a good ideology, and an evil one. There is a neutral one, and a lawful one. But there isn't a 'right' one. Yet. There won't be a 'correct' ideology until one side wins. Then it will be objective and true.

Quote from: Thanatos02Which is why I started this. Assuming a kind of generic meta-narrative, what kinds of stuff do you do in your games? I'm assuming 3.5 (but it doesn't have to be), but what kind of world do your PCs and NPCs live in?

A modified Wilderlands of High Fantasy based on the original publications back in 1980.

Quote from: Thanatos02What's your home-brews internal rules?

I use just the base three books with prestige classes unique to my world. I use this as a starting point for my own stuff. I also used some unique feat for cultures inspired by what I found in the Forgotten Realms 3.0 edition book and later the Player's Guide to the Wilderlands

http://www.lythia.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Downloads&file=index&req=getit&lid=127

Quote from: Thanatos02How do you explain Alignment?

As a team label, not as a description of an individual morals or personality. With a emphasis on the good versus evil axis. Morality is based on the culture, organization, personal history of the character. The only time I hammer PCs over the actual mechanic of alignment is when they are clerics, druids, monks, and paladins.

Even then they are part of X organization where its code broadly can be summarized as one of the nine alignments. So the player with a one of the alignment is important classes has a better guideline to follow than the vague outline that is in the PHB.

For example Priests of Mitra a LG warrior deity has clerics that are LG, LN, NG.  LN clerics Mitra are like the fundamentalists of the church insisting on following the letter of Mitra's code. NG clerics that you follow the spirit of the code. While the LG clerics balance the two approaches.

In addition Detect Evil can be use for intent to do an evil act as well as absolute alignment detection. Detect Evil for paladins and clerics is a hot line to their diety that allows to detect things that are hostile to their deities interest.

Finally my opinion is that Alignment is interwoven enough with the D&D system that jettisoning it cause more problems than keeping it.

I stress that having a well developed background for my world with organization for the PCs to join or have as patrons allowed me to ignore the problems other DMs have with alignment. Without then the only morality players have is the PHB descriptions and it will break down quickly if you try to reason from it.

That's cool. But peeps don't need to answer those specific questions, or anything. It's more of a 'spirit of the rules' kind of discussion. Like, 'tell me about your game' or 'what cool stuff do you have' or, maybe 'what's your neat interpretation of the rules'.

When you prepare spells, what does that mean? What is a spell anyway?

It's a creature. It's a spidery, imperceptible pattern of energy that skitters along the pathways between the Ethereal and the Prime. To prepare a spell is to invite this creature to live inside your mind. Now, they don't have any will as such, so there's no worry of possession (except among the whispers of the common folk, and who cares what they think). That's what makes the process work; they sleep in the mind of a wizard until he channels his will through them with focus, chants and gestures; the power of that will ejects them from the mind and into the world, where their life (such as it is) is burned out by the transition from potential to reality. Thus is the wizard's desire fulfilled, and the cleric's, and the druid's, they each open themselves to different spellcritters, but the process is the same.

An Archmage's mind is teeming with these little buggers. Can he be trusted?

Quote from: ghost ratWhen you prepare spells, what does that mean? What is a spell anyway?

It's a creature. It's a spidery, imperceptible pattern of energy that skitters along the pathways between the Ethereal and the Prime. To prepare a spell is to invite this creature to live inside your mind. Now, they don't have any will as such, so there's no worry of possession (except among the whispers of the common folk, and who cares what they think). That's what makes the process work; they sleep in the mind of a wizard until he channels his will through them with focus, chants and gestures; the power of that will ejects them from the mind and into the world, where their life (such as it is) is burned out by the transition from potential to reality. Thus is the wizard's desire fulfilled, and the cleric's, and the druid's, they each open themselves to different spellcritters, but the process is the same.

An Archmage's mind is teeming with these little buggers. Can he be trusted?

I've done something similar in my own campaigns.

To learn a spell is to bind a spirit to oneself. The arcane spellbook is little but a recounting of the binding pacts that determines the potency and scope of service, a "contract" with the unseen world. But spirits are querelous things, not given to blind obedience. For every spell he wishes to cast a wizard must return to the written word and remind the recalcitrant entity of his mastery. On doing so the spirit will be bound anew, ready to be unleashed at the command of the magus. More powerful spirits require greater time to bind, for theirs is the power to reshape the earth. Others require sacrifice, in the form of material components that appeal to some fundamental aspect of their nature. And there are some who would drain the life and memories of the wizard himself. Whatever the case, once their service is discharged they retreat from the world, forcing the caster to begin the process anew. Thus the practitioner of arcane magic is half beggar and half lord-- always beseeching, yet always seeking to dominate through subtlety, craft will.

Man, that shit is awesome you guys.

IMC, those with PC classes are members of hero-cults, each dedicated to and drawing power from the legacy of one of the legendary heroes of old.  (There are more than one hero of most classes, and several heroes are multi-class.  For example, there are four fighter-heroes, one of which, Enkidu, is a fighter-ranger-druid hero.  Members of the cult of Enkidu can be fighters, rangers, druids, or multiclassed among the three.   In principle, you can belong to multiple cults, but no PC ever has.)  Antagonists are usually members of the  monster cults, that are homebrew anti-heroic classes (e.g., evil fighters are Ogre class).  You undergo specific rituals to advance in the cult, once you are deemed worthy by performing deeds in the hero's spirit.  In return, you get the ability to reproduce some of the hero's abilities and echo their legendary feats.  In the age of heroes, magic was more freeform, but now wizards and clerics are using spells that immitate the magic used by the heroes, so have a limited ability to lock into and echo the magic spells cast in previous ages.

Alignment is a mystic alliance between a person and the supernatural forces dedicated to furthering the alignment's purposes.   Most of the heroes had such alignments, and you inherit that alignment as a cult member.  So followers of Enkidu are Chaotic, because he was, although other fighters can choose heroes with other supernatural ties.  (Neutral just means no alignment of that category.)  Creatures marked as ``always'' a certain alignment are born part of the supernatural forces.  Creatures marked as ``usually'' a certain alignment have a coming-of-age ritual that dedicates them to that power, or have a certain cult that almost all leaders belong to.  

  Alignment is some obligation to fulfill your side of the bargain, but doesn't dictate a character's deeds or values.  In principle, I could dock xp for gross alignment violations (for not living up to the hero's spirit), but I never have.  Players seem to like having role models, and usually are quite zealous in acting out the alignments even when they aren't enforced.  

The hero cults are also institutions that together rule the civilized world.  The most advanced members of each cult in an area form the council that rules the area, with the council leader being from the local hero's cult.  The cults have different roles, but tend to work reasonably well together.  

Russell