Dungeons and Dragons, "Celestial Warlock Mythos"

            LAST TIME, I wrote about the Celestial Warlock build that was introduced in “Xanathar’s Guide to Everything”.  Not one word was spoken about the mechanics of the class, just that I heartily dislike it from a story standpoint.  To that end I issued myself a challenge, “Fix it”.

            To do this I have to first look at some inspirations in pop culture and mythology.  I need to find angels and other celestial beings that are on the side of GOOD, but are not necessarily nice, and certainly fit the flavor of the Warlock class, being a small participant in a pact with powers beyond one’s keen.

Fixing the Celestial Warlock

            Contrary to popular belief thru most of human history gods, even the good ones, were pretty fickle.  Most of this had to do with how people saw the natural world.  To pre-science humans the weather was a chaotic and cruel mistress who would level a town, flash a flood, or bake your crops to uselessness… unless you lived in ancient Egypt, the Nile provided such consistent crop output that they perceived of all but a handful of their 100+ gods as good guys.

            But, let’s make like Phillip II of France and ignore Egypt’s importance, instead let’s construct a vision of Celestial that is more akin to the terrifying but still “good” beings of the ancient world.

Book of Ezekiel

While Jesus was a rather chill guy, the Old Testament is full of visions of an incredibly powerful, unyielding, and TERRIFYING vision of YAWEH.  His angels are not just sexy people with wings but multi-dimensional lovecraftian horrors.

 

"WHAT EVEN!?"

“Then there came a voice from above the vault over their heads as they stood with lowered wings.  Above the vault over their heads was what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man.  I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him.  Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him.

“This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking.”

-Ezekiel 1, 25-28

“And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words.  Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions.  Do not be afraid of what they say or be terrified by them, though they are a rebellious people.  You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious. But you, son of man, listen to what I say to you.  Do not rebel like that rebellious people; open your mouth and eat what I give you.”

“Then I looked, and I saw a hand stretched out to me.  In it was a scroll, which he unrolled before me. On both sides of it were written words of lament and mourning and woe.”

-Ezekiel 2, 6-10

            The Warlock who is participating with this celestial force is not so much asked or bargained with, but dictated to.  “Do not be afraid,” is repeated multiple times.  The scope of this being’s goals are massive, the resettlement of entire nations, the creation of new testaments, the defense of nations, and the breaking of its Dark Adversaries like Dagon, Bal, Moloch, and Mammon.

While the mortal races are important to this being’s view of the universe, loved like children, there is a larger picture whose scope shatters the minds of mortals, a cosmic view whose fate hangs in the balance.  A “deal” handed down by a bring like YAWEH would see the Warlock only as useful as it was obedient and much like the mana from heaven in Exodus, not trusting absolutely in YAWEH will result in not only his favor revoking, but his wrath coming down like stone tablets soon after.

Nabu and the Helm of Doctor Fate

            The DC Universe (more so than Marvel) has a magical quality to it and invests its most powerful beings with the mystique of Magic.  One of the best examples is Nabu, a Lord of Order and the supernatural entity which empowers the Helm of Fate.

            While the exact nature of the Helm of Fate changes based on which continuity it takes place I think the best is in “Young Justice”.  In that continuity the Helm is NABU, when worn it suppresses the personality of the wearer and Doctor Fate becomes the dominate personality.

Multiple times Fate is bargained with before ultimately taking on a permanent wearer, as the spirit was tired of being relegated away, only to be called upon in the most dire of circumstances.  Striking a deal with Nabu is very much a core aspect of it, but like all magic it has a deep cost.

 

"Fate Must Take a Hand!"

The Wizard SHAZAM!

            Holding court in the Rock of Eternity, guarding the 7 deadly sins, and anointing champions to guard earth from supernatural threats the Wizard SHAZAM has seen champions fall to the dark side in eras past and has taken greater and greater care over the centuries to not see it happen again.

            To that end he searches for those pure enough at heart to restore the world to a truer state of good and right, rather than empowering those who would try to impose their own vision of true and right.  Captain Marvel has been one of his champions harnessing a variety of divine powers to save the world.

            SHAZAM is perhaps the closest to the idea of a benevolent celestial for the Warlock class.  That while he was once mortal, made mistakes, and is obviously functioning on another level, his motives appear to be on the level even if too many of the bad guys Captain Marvel fights are left overs from SHAZAM’s inability to keep a lid on supernatural evil.

 

"I ask too much."

The Spectre, Eclipso, and the Vengeance of God

            In the DC universe they wisely stay away from naming the Presence that serves as the supreme god of the whole shebang.  However, they do make its will felt thru the presence of various spirits and powerful beings.  The two that most fit the purpose of a Warlock-esc entity are Spectre and Eclipso.

            They are in effect two aspects of the same force, that of karmic punishment.  Eclipso represents a more primitive and brutal method of seeking vengeance which is why it was replaced by the Spectre, who is a Dante like dealer of ironic punishments, “What is justice without vengeance?... Simply a slap on the wrist, and an invitation for evil to continue… unabated.”

They may also bang occasionally.
I mean, they have a lot in common.

            The key difference in these beings has to do with how they are tied to Earth, via bonding with a mortal soul.  Eclipso possesses a living being whom it overrides.  Some can overpower the spirit, but they are usually powerful with magic.  Others can work in concert, but only if they are 9 kinds of ax-crazy.

Spectre in contrast bonds with a dead person but one that has the will and mindset to temper the Spectre’s wrath and keep it grounded, an excellent comic by J.M. Dematteis (JLA 1997 #35, Day of Judgement) illustrates how the Spectre’s wrath often makes it wish to strike at people because of what they MIGHT do.

The Guardians of the Universe

            Again, from DC comics one of the oldest and most powerful species of humanoid in the universe are the little blue gnome wizards that created the Green Lantern Corp.  Their selection process is based entirely around willpower (courage) and so leads too often to members being kind of tyrannical, but they do have some standards.  They even have an Oath.

In brightest day, in blackest night,

No evil shall escape my sight.

Let those who worship evil's might

Beware my power--Green Lantern's light!

 

"Can you dig it?"

            Follow the rules.  Fight evil.  And in exchange you will be trusted with tremendous power.  It is important to note that the Guardians are also a cause of many-MANY issues that are left floating around the universe, caused by their quests for knowledge and control of a universe they perceived as their bailiwick.

Vorlons

            I am talking about “Babylon 5” again.

The Vorlons are a race of ultra-powerful aliens that have been guiding the other intelligent races of the galaxy since the beginning of life.  They push for a system of unity (or at least live and let live) and via their powerful telepathy they can provide wisdom and insight to the other races.  They are also huge assholes, standing off to the side in times of crisis behind a condescending wall of riddles and mysterious acting.

            Touched by Vorlons, is a trope in fiction which is about as close to WARLOCK as it gets in science fiction (the Warlock class is referenced on the TVTropes page).  It refers to how telepaths in the series would get a tremendous boost from interacting with the aliens.  Turing them into agents of the Vorlon’s ultimate goals.

            Watch the show.  It is now on a free streaming service.

Bayonetta

            The mythology of this game is dense and strange.  Its presentation is pervy in that uniquely Japanese sense.  That being said the protagonist of the game is unquestionably a Warlock by the standards of Dungeons and Dragons.  Bayonetta is a witch who made deals with the devil to hunt angels who are absolute bastards in their own right.

"I'm doing it for the thrill."

            The angels in this series care about the extermination of the witches and they act as such, leaving way too many people dead and too much of reality twisted in pursuit of their goal.  Modifying these guys to be the sponsors of Warlocks in Dungeons and Dragons would make sense.  They are the sort of capricious power source the class is all about.

Darksiders

            This franchise is goofy as hell, but its over the top nature gives birth to another instance of, “I will blow up the universe to accomplish my goal of GOOD”.  As if I haven’t made it clear by now that is the factor I am looking for.

I consider Darksiders the least “deep” of these options for what I consider to be obvious reasons.  That being said, there is a lot of stuff laid out.

            This game has a whole list of beings that could make for fitting patrons for Warlocks.  The Charred Council being perhaps the best, but Samael fits for a demonic patron, and Abaddon works for a Celestial.  You could plum the depths of this game’s maddeningly over the top goulash of names drawn from obscure Christian Mythology for an entire pantheon of powerful beings in DnD.

 

"Ghost Riders in... The Sky!"

I Swear I Didn’t Mean for this to Happen

            I am going to have to make this a 3-part deal.  Looking over the list of pop culture things here I will whip together a list of Celestial Patrons for the Warlock class that I feel work better for the intended flavor of the class than the options presented in the core book.

            You might be asking, “uh… if you ran down all of these things here, why do I need to read the next entry?  Won’t it just be the rendered version of this?”

            To that I answer, I am going to try and put some more spins on the whole thing and add a few that aren’t in here, this was more a rundown of the IDEA, not a complete list.

Though I guess if you were satisfied with this feel free to stop.

It is your life.  Have Fun!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

            If you want to read more of my stuff talking about Dungeons and Dragons, click here.

            If you would like to see more of my Political side, click here.

            If you want to read a short story I cobbled together, click here and then here.

______________________________

            If you like or hate this please take the time to comment, +1, share on Twitter (click that link to follow me), Tumblr, or Facebook, and otherwise distribute my opinion to the world.  I would appreciate it.

Dungeons and Dragons, "Character Ideas" episode 1

A Too Long Introduction

            A while back I wrote up some short biographies for characters I thought about using in a 5^th edition game of Dungeons and Dragons.  While I ended up using only one of them and have since moved on to running a game rather than playing in one.  However, and let’s be honest here, the most fun there is in Dungeons and Dragons is making a character.

            Since I like doing it, I figured I would make a chart in Excel and start checking off class/background combinations, by the end of this writing exercise I will have 156 character ideas.  I have decided not to include races, subraces, sub classes, or the backgrounds from supplemental materials.  Just the Players Handbook… FOR NOW.

            For fun, I will also give a numerical rating for whether I think something is “Interesting”.  There are characters that are so common as to be arch typical or even cliché, but maybe there is a reason they are so common, because they are just that intriguing.  Feel free to disagree or offer your own suggestions and objections in the comments.

            If you would like to share some of your own unused character ideas, do so in the comments, maybe use this format (maybe get it to catch on, I like its simplicity) and try and keep to a shorter length, you don’t want people to “tldr” your stuff.

            One more thing worth mentioning, I will make an effort to include a variety of different fantasy races in my character creation.  I have written before that I could run an entire fantasy world with just humans and see most fantasy races as too bland to be seen as meaningfully different from humanity (elves, to me, are too often played as just tall humans with pointy ears).  I also know that this is not an opinion shared by most and I want to try and expand my own horizons.

What Have I Got?  Wanderers.

            I recommend as a DM, that if you have the luxury of having your players making characters as a group, picking a theme of 1-5 words to serve as an inspiration seems like a good idea.

            I decided to choose a theme for all of the characters I made today to illustrate this, that of the Wanderer.  It is an easy theme to work with in Dungeons and Dragons as most adventurers have to go to a large number of places to go on a wide variety of adventures.  That being said, I managed to get 3 of them to fit a subtheme of “Exile”.  They are out and about, but not super happy about it.  Maybe I am feeling too brooding these days. 

Name: Katarina Othronus, the Exiled Diaspora

Class: Barbarian (Wolf Totem)

Race: Half Elf

Background: Outlander

History: My mother’s ancestors were once good people.  Our homeland was vast and shielded from the world by white and violet mountains to the east, and the glittering sea to the west.  Then the Sea People came.  Our glittering sea once full of little fishing boats was replaced with the burnt red of a sun setting on water full of bodies and burning sails.  Our city was sacked, and while once upon a time those mountains seemed impassable, my people fled thru their tight paths to the land of my father’s people, the Elves.

Goals: My elf side sees the length of time stretched out before me and my clan, a century has passed since the humans fled from the Sea People, and in another century, unable to grasp that there is no return they may fade from this world, forgotten.

            My human side, filled with burning human blood, can’t let that happen.  I feel within me the anger of thousands of dead ancestors killed in my homeland.  I feel the rage of many thousands more lost in a land unknown to their forbearers.  I see in the night the packs of wolves moving thru the forest and know that my pack, my people, must go back to our homeland, we must not simply fade from this world.

Rating: 4/5 (please leave your own numerical score for these in the comments)

            While “Outlander” and “Barbarian” go together like bacon and eggs I think that greater depth can be plumbed by contextualizing the “Outlander” as someone in exile, the Barbarian’s rage as the rage of their ancestry, the totem of wolf being taken up as a symbol of unity, and the mixed heritage providing internal conflict.  All of these elements together allowed me to take something that could have been the 10,000 Barbarian from the land of Barbarians and instead create something much more original.  This is a person who wants to reclaim a homeland they have never been to, while at the same time belonging to another homeland that sees such efforts as a small thing compared to the vast history of the elves.

Name: Ribbles, the Bawdy

Class: Bard (Lore)

Race: Gnome (Forest)

Background: Sailor

History: I would like to think of myself as something of a pioneer.  If I am not the inventor of insult comedy, something I did while cooking roast pig in an island port full of Summer Elves… Well, if I am not the inventor then I am at the very least a truly lauded explorer and developer in the field.

            I have traveled to dozens of ports and talked with every prostitute, gambler, drinker, and ne’er-do-well I can find to find better, more disgusting ways of making people laugh at themselves.  Sometimes they laugh so hard it hurts.

Goals: I am composing my manifesto.  It will be the longest and most comprehensive book ever written on the topic of insults.  Drawn from port towns all over the world, from as many languages as I can interact with, and with etymology to explain how new words and insults evolved in such a hazardous environment.

            Ports are a breeding ground… and not just for bastards like you, but for language.   People from all over the world enter these colosseums of vulgarity to do battle with beasts of insults, most of which are just colorful ways of calling each other “ass”.   Once I have my book altogether, I will compose the single greatest insult I can, the best ever made, and I will use it on the concept of humorlessness itself.  I will kill it dead, giving everyone in the world a good chuckle at how impotent and shit such things are.

Rating: 3/5

            I have no idea how I managed to come up with a gnome writing a manifesto on insults, that idea poured out of my brain in all one sitting.  The only difficulty I see with this character is that the person playing them has to be able to say clever insults, or at least poetic ones.  I know that I can do that, half of the NPC’s I play are sarcastic in such a fashion, but most people will just come off as attention seeking edge lords, and will bring down the room by being mean instead of funny.

Name: Dain of No Clan, the Honorable Exiled

Class: Rogue (Assassin)

Race: Dwarf (Hill)

Background: Soldier

History: Dwarves are “Honorable”.  Dwarves are “Forthright”.  Dwarves are “Unsubtle” and “Brash” and many other adjectives that do not couple with the word “Assassin”.  There is a reason for that.  Dwarven commandos, dubbed “Sharp Flints” are a well-guarded cultural secret by the clans.  “Sharpened of the Darkest Stone” is the call to action, and the ability to push that sharp stone into the throats of the clan’s foes is the mission.

            After the last conflict, the King refused to call it a war, I was granted “Honorable Exile” as reward for my time in the Sharp Flints.  My actions during the war were considered so beneath the honor of the Dwarven people that I could not be allowed back into the society whose safety I had helped secure, but so noble was my sacrifice they would not punish or damn me in their histories.

Goals: My name will be written on a black stone tablet and kept in a vault, secure till the times of judgement when the Lords of the Caverns return to guide the Dwarven people into the next world.  When they come, the tablets will be broken, and I shall join my people in the next world.  My honor and place in the clan restored.  As for right now, I am free to use my sharp stone on all the wicked fools and villains I find.  Let’s go find some.

Rating: 2/5

            Let’s be clear, the role of “Soldier” is not meant for certain classes.  The Rogue is typically drawn to Criminal and Charlatan backgrounds, those seem like the most logical for a class based around stealth and opportunism.  The subclasses for Rogue are also not suited for the role of a conventional Soldier.  This is not the sort of contrast that leads to creativity, this is the sort of contrast that just doesn’t really fit.

            Since I had to make such an odd fit, I looked for the race that would have the biggest break culturally and then worked to connect the dots.  Dwarves are not typically Rogues but are often Soldiers, what if even their Rogues were seen as a type of Soldier?  Did it work?  I don’t know.  I could not come up with goals aside from, “do good till I die and go to heaven”.  Which is admittedly weak.  This is definitely the weakest individual character of this lot.

Name: Karg

Class: Paladin (Vengeance)

Race: Half Orc

Background: Criminal

History: In this Kingdom, I am a crime.  I represent the pollution of the good, natural, noble blood of the populace by the foreign menace who wish to rape the women, and emasculate the men.  I am the product of rape according to the laws of this Kingdom.  Never mind my mother’s happy tears on the day of her wedding to my father.  Forget the years of secret love and devotion.  Ignore the endless aching sobs she cried next to the spot where they burned my father’s body.  She was the victim, he was a criminal, and I am the crime.

            I am a crime by birth.

            My father was tied to a tree, to die of exposure over the course of days, and then his body burned in a pit.  He came to me in dreams when I was young, to play games, give me the hugs I had never gotten, and to teach me to farm.  They were all dreams of a man I never met and will never have the chance to live up to.  He was a peaceful person.  Strong enough to work a farm and forge.  Strong enough to be in love.

Goals: I will have my revenge on the bigots who destroyed my father.  Vengeance for the little boy I was.  I will burn this toxic dump of a kingdom to the ground.  I will mount the head of the King on a post and throw garbage at it.  I will kill until there are no more of them to beg forgiveness from my wrath.  When they are all gone, maybe, just maybe… I will find some peace in the afterlife.  On a little farm, a child again, hugged tight in the arms of my father to live the life I was denied.

Rating: 5/5

            This, I think, is one of the intersections that has been made a little too easy in 5^th edition.  In previous editions a Paladin was required to be a paragon of virtue and as such the only way to make them a criminal was to assume the government declaring such a thing was evil, Sheriff of Nottingham style.

            5^th edition though, provides a much greyer form of Paladin.  This option is what I have chosen to do here.  The path of Vengeance is the most personal and least good of the Paladin subclasses in the players handbook, but at the same time it does ostensibly have an end goal that can be reached, Revenge.  Once the character has their vengeance, the question of where they go and what they do from there is intriguing and something that could make for a cool story in the context of a game.

            If you are a fan of science fiction I feel I should point out that most of the inspiration for this character was G’Kar from “Babylon 5” (the name is an anagram).  G’Kar was defined by vengeance for nearly two whole seasons before having a religious experience and shifting tracks to become one of the spiritual heroes of the series; in fact, his quest for vengeance was so tied into his persona, the villains of the show did not see him as useful in the long term because he had no aspirations beyond vengeance, and they wanted to align with those who had vision for the future.

            I have talked about “Babylon 5” before, but as it relates to Alignment in Dungeons and Dragons, I highly recommend the show (the first 10-12 episodes are pretty weak, but everything after that till season 5 is considered some of the best science fiction ever produced).

            Another small bit of inspiration?  “Born a Crime” the title of Trevor Noah’s book on growing up mixed race in Apartheid South Africa.

Outro

            What do you all think?  Do you have a request for a class/background combo?  Did you play one of the combos I have featured and want to share your spin on it?  Post in the comments.

Episode 0

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

______________________________

            If you like or hate this please take the time to comment, +1, share on Twitter (click that link to follow me), Tumblr, or Facebook, and otherwise distribute my opinion to the world.  I would appreciate it.

Dungeons and Dragons: "Alignment" part 2

            I have played Dungeons and Dragons for more than 15 years.  Lately, I have not had access to any other players and so I have just been kicking around ideas that normally would be in a game and instead I am just going to post them on my blog.  This is going to be a reoccurring thing as I just keep hammering out things and not all of them can be turned into elements in my “random fantasy novel ideas” folder.

What Have I Got: Alternatives to Alignment

            Last week I wrote an overly long diatribe explaining the ins and outs of the alignment system as it has traditionally existed in Dungeons and Dragons and how that concept would be visualized in real life.

            I also explained (it was a really long blog) about how this alignment system is not known too well in the wider popular culture, so many works of fiction speak to broad concepts like “Light and Dark” or “Order and Chaos” or “Justice and Chaos” or… Honestly, there are many examples of Dark and Chaos being looked at as the real “villains” and not too many that focus on Light and Order being the bad side of the coin.

            I wanted to point out some alternative morality systems that exist in games and nerd-ness that do not necessarily gel entirely with Dungeons and Dragons’ alignment system.

Babylon 5: “Who are you?” and “What do you Want?”

            “It was the dawn of the third age of mankind, ten years after the Earth/Minbari war. The Babylon Project was a dream given form. Its goal: to prevent another war by creating a place where humans and aliens could work out their differences peacefully.

            “It's a port of call, home away from home for diplomats, hustlers, entrepreneurs, and wanderers. Humans and aliens wrapped in two million, five hundred thousand tons of spinning metal, all alone in the night. It can be a dangerous place, but it's our last best hope for peace. This is the story of the last of the Babylon stations. The year is 2258. The name of the place is Babylon 5.”

            This is the standard opening of each episode.  Personally I would have moved some words around as I think “all alone in the night” is the strongest possible line to end on.

            “Babylon 5” is considered a classic of Science Fiction at this point.  20+ years ago the idea of writing a long form story as a TV show was put into motion and was hampered considerably by the limitations of budget, special effects technology, budget, lack of an internet to serve as a reference for the audience, budget, poor acting from outside the core cast, and budget.

            To me this show is the best example of a conflict between Law versus Chaos as identifiable philosophies that could be applied to Dungeons and Dragons and Roleplaying games.  I would even encourage the primary races to be adapted into Dungeons and Dragons as familiar tropes that are often given greater depth and complexity, and are useful to lampoon silly aspects of politics.

            This section is going to talk about the central conflict of the first 4 seasons of the show, it would have been all 5, but the show was going to be canceled and so the central arc of the show was hammered down into season 4, and when it was renewed for a 5^th season there was a lot of filler… I digress.

            If you are interested in watching “Babylon 5”, and many fans of Science Fiction as a genre would say you should, please skip this section.  But I should tell you that if you decide to watch the show you really need to brace yourself to swallow the many limitations of the series as a byproduct of its era.  The story is worth the trouble.

 

"Who are you?"

SPOILERS START HERE

            The primary conflict of the show is between the mysterious and menacing Shadows and the ancient and cryptic Vorlons.  The Shadows appear as massive insects with dark ships and powerful weapons, they ask you, “what do you want”.  The Vorlons are rarely seen, hidden away in methane rich atmosphere and inside of a cloaked containment suit, they ask, “Who are you”.

            It is revealed that they are each part of a group of aliens called The First Ones, among the first space fairing races in the galaxy who (when the other first ones left to explore other galaxies) stayed behind to shepherd the younger races.  They each took conflicting ideologies and decided to play them out with the races of the universe to see who was right.  The Vorlons expounded peaceful cooperation among the many races while the Shadows encouraged Darwinian competition.

            Shockingly, the war began because the Vorlons started meddling in a rather abhorrent fashion, they genetically altered the younger races to see them (when out of their suits) as angels, a telepathic trick but an effective one.  That sort of manipulation couldn’t stand and deciding that the Vorlons cheated the Shadows decided to win the argument via open war.

            In short, the Vorlons won, but it was a pretty hectic path to get to that point.  A lot of time travel.  Anyway….

 

"What do you want?"

            Ultimately the level of genocide, destruction, manipulation, and bald faced terror caused by the conflict between the two sides meddling in the affairs of the younger races… Let’s just say that while order thru peaceful coexistence and advancement thru Darwinian conflict ostensibly look like Lawful-Good versus Chaotic-Evil it quickly turned into Lawful-Evil versus Chaotic-Evil as entire planets were being expunged for the sake of “peace”.

            What is the point of all of this?  The questions of “Who are you?” and “What do you want?” are the best possible questions to ask when writing characters.  What social forces and moral codes define you?  And what desires and goals would cause you to grow beyond who you are?

            I would suggest that these two questions should be asked whenever making any character that gets more than a line or scene, both in games and in writing fiction.  Nobody really gives a shit about the cashier your heroes buy snow caps from, but if you can’t answer why the cannibalistic serial killer thinks he needs to eat his victims you should maybe take another run at the script.

World of Darkness: Virtues and Vices

            I am not as big a fan of “World of Darkness”.  It has a simple system that does a good job of getting supplements grafted in but I generally feel a lack of motivation when I am playing something that essentially takes place in the real world but with monsters.  Which is ironic because that novelette I wrote and posted on this blog is more “World of Darkness” than it is anything else.

            In WoD the morality system takes on a classical Western view of the 7 Heavenly Virtues from which you pick one to be central to your character and the 7 Deadly Sins of which you pick one to define your transgressions.  Taking instances in the story to act in favor of these aspects of yourself is rewarded (in a way that affects the story, not just the, “I go pray for an hour to satisfy my sense of piety” stuff you get from players that then expect a pile of experience points for playing their cleric right).

            For instance, being put into a situation in which you can chose to satisfy the mission or be bought off by a villain who is okay with letting you have a cut of the money.  To a person running/writing the game it is of value to know that certain players make Greed such a motivating factor in their personality.  It is fun to know that you can use these simple guidelines to make the mission more interesting and reward them for such “weaknesses”.

 

To say that the 7 Deadly Sins are used a lot in fiction.  Accurate.

            This is a better story telling element than typical alignment.  GOOD LUCK trying to predict how a “chaotic” person will interpret bribes.  And watch as a “lawful” person justifies a chain of lies and deceit to their party members.  But if that “chaotic” person instead has Greedy-Diligence on their sheet you can put them in a situation in which they have to choose between accomplishing their goal (diligent) and satisfying their desire for material wealth (greed).  Or if instead of “lawful” you have Prideful-Kindness watch as they do good deeds but reveal in the attention it gives them.

            Not every combination is going to result in interesting internal struggle, Lustful-Humble is not going to cause anyone any interesting conflict unless their sexual partner wants them to brag while in bed, “Yeah, that’s it, tell me how great you are!”  Beyond that, classical virtues and vices are so well known that they work as game mechanics, but in general writing exercises they are perhaps too basic to be compelling.

Next Time: Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas

            There are other ways to do “morality” and the Fallout games back when they were RPG’s instead of a shooter with RPG elements.  To say it was thin would be accurate.  That being said it is important to contrast the two of them and then point to Dungeons and Dragons for further contrast.

The Beg for Attention:

            If you venomously disagree with me, please tell me why in the comments.  Feel free to leave links to your own blog on the topic or articles that you have found helpful.  Or write your own counterpoint to all this (or parts of it) and come back and post a link.  If you like “World of Darkness” feel free to share why in the comments.

            If you have any interesting moral conflicts from pop culture you would like me to talk about in the next entry post those suggestions too, but if I get too many I might end up with another entry in the series.

            I made this entry a great deal shorter, because it is hard to write a 4,000-word blog every week.  And I imagine it is hard to read 4,000 words by some random dude talking about DnD and Babylon 5.  Hopefully it was okay.

______________________________

            If you like or hate this please take the time to comment, +1, share on Twitter, Tumblr, or Facebook, and otherwise distribute my opinion to the world.  I would appreciate it.