[MUD-Dev] Alignment

[Jon A. Lambert]

On 24 Aug 97 at 19:36, Jeff Kesselman wrote:
> 
> Alignment for its own sake or just to pigeon hole characters I personalyl
> find primitive if nto outright pointless. Where it IS useful is where it is
> well inetgrated into the game in order to embody a principle organizing
> structure of the campaign or world.
> 

Ideally it's but an aspect of character customization and if were the 
only aspect it would be quite pointless.  It is nicely suited to 
categorization of NPCs for quick study.  Principles of alignment can 
figure prominently among games where multi-theism is a significant 
part of the theme.  And where clerics derive much of their power 
through channeling through allied mortal/immortal forces.

I would imagine the guidelines I posted are not all that dissimilar
to those used to determine a character's reputation.  Alignment 
created through action rather than assignment is similar to Fame and
Infamy (depending on which side of the line you stand on).
Jon A. Lambert