A three-alignment system for D&D

[roseembolism]

For my upcoming Western themed D&D game, I'm tempted to simplify the alignment system to somethng both easier to understand, and more genre appropriate:  I'd reduce everything down to three alignments:

GOOD: You get to wear the white hat: Helpin widders' across the street, tipping your hat, drinkin' sasparilla, etc.  You know what this means: Honest (mostly), loyal, thinking of the better good, clean, reverent, etc..

BAD: The wearer of the black hat.  More than mean, you make your plans to hurt people.  Killin.' stealin' and cheatin' the innocent is a true pleasure.  If there's someone who's going to tie the school marm to the track just to hear her scream, it'll be you.

UGLY: The mean SOB in the grey hat.  Ornery, angry, or just plumb crude and selfish, the Ugly may be a nasty piece of work, he's not malicious, and can be very loyal.  He never hurts anyone who wasn't trying to kill him.  Or looks like he might kill him.  Or if there's a woman involved.  Or for money.  Or if he has a firewater hangover.

Any comments?

Comments

[devonapple.livejournal.com]

Somewhat related question: do we get guns, or is it D&D tech with a Western spin? I may want to put more points into Riding.

As for alignment, I think I can work with this system.

[roseembolism.livejournal.com]

It's definitely D&D with a western spin- in fact, I'd rate the technology as more 17th-18th century than 19th. And of course no gunpowder, because I don't want to deal with guns, at least not with the current system. Use crossbows instead.

Ride is always a good idea. Horses are one of those big symbolic things in Westerns.

[racerxmachina.livejournal.com]

Better that they be big and symbolic than their usual role of being big and slightly stinky.

[baronlaw.livejournal.com]

*squints like Clint*

Sounds like a plan amigo.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Up to you. Old school D&D just had lawful, neutral, and chaotic, so what the hell.

[racerxmachina.livejournal.com]

The Ugly sounds like Jayne. Or most kil-em-and-take-their-stuff adventurers.

[roseembolism.livejournal.com]

Jayne IS a kil-em-and-take-their-stuff adventurer!

Do we have to mention that Wheddon is a big D&D geek?

[mithriltabby]

Do you actually need alignment mechanics at all?

[racerxmachina.livejournal.com]

*ahem*
*points to humor tag on the post*

[mithriltabby]

It wasn’t clear from context whether this was metagaming humor or discussion of putting together a humorous game.

[roseembolism.livejournal.com]

Actually, at this point I'm not sure which it is either. I'm pretty sure the game is going to be somewhat tongue in cheek, given the subject, but I'll rely on the players to supply most of the humor.

But now I'm thinking that the hats definition could be an excellent attribute for some indy game in the vein of Dogs in the Vineyard. Which hat you choose would give you different advantages at various stages of the game.

[roseembolism.livejournal.com]

Well, aside from RXM's point, there's a number of pretty important spells and magical effects that depend on alignment. Though if you're staring across the table at a bugbear gambler, "Detect Ugly" might be a little bit redundant.

[mithriltabby]

Though it can come in handy for white hats to pretend to be ugly when infiltrating the black hat camp; it gives the players a chance to ham it up. If a black hat can cast a first level spell to suss out the newcomers who have joined up, it spoils that approach.

[roseembolism.livejournal.com]

True- which is the advantage of having a little grey in one's hat. Of course that detect only detects moderate to high-level characters of a given alignment, so that's an incentive to send the kid in to rescue the White Hat when he's been captured.

I'm obviously thinking about this too much.