Hey Folks,

Just a light, fun, meeting about determining your character's moral compass, or lack thereof. I guess there might have been a better topic for this, but I can't think of anywhere else. And I'm, like, really tired right now.

Roleplaying Good & Evil in Medieval Society - Tribanin, Sashera, Shakahn, Veyl, Auriane
Saturday, 6/5/04, 12pm

[There were a lot of character and NPC names dropped at this seminar. Please excuse any misspellings.]

Tribanin: [aside to other panelists] "If I go to sleep up here, do you think they'll notice?" [to seminar attendees] What defines good and evil? The dictionary says that Evil is moral corruptness, wickedness, perniciousness. Good is of a favorable character or tendency. These definitions are boring. That's not fun. Evil apparently means refusing to obey the laws of good. Everyone's perception is different. Oh! Perhaps perception is the key to defining good and evil. Sashera will demonstrate obvious good. Tribanin, un-obvious good. Shakahn, obvious evil. Veyl, those that are perceived as evil but are not. Auriane, the un-obvious or hidden evil.

Sashera: Her PC was known as a goody-two-shoes. It's how she turned out. Her characters are usually "good." Although, killing people is fun... When you think of good, you might think it's easy. But it can be hard. And how do you play it when nobody else is looking? A very good character tires to solve problems peacefully. Her PC PvP'ed once, when her husband was attacked. Some characters fight back when they are stolen from. But a goody-two-shoes wonders if it's worth it, and what the personal impact to them will be. Sashera did some reseach on the web. Good are seen as protectors. Her Ranger protected the land. Altruism, dignity, and respect. And concern for sentient beings. For example, a Ranger would be concerned about how a horse they sell would be treated. Sashera pointed out that every choice you make defines your character. If Prince Vorclaf entrusts you with some item that's vital to the security of Zoluren, and then someone kidnaps your child and demands the item as ransom, what would you do? The goody-two-shoes would have to give up their child.

Q: How do you balance what you feel with what others expect of you?
A: You have to go with what you feel. Not everyone loves the obviously good person. It's not easy. You want to explain your decisions if others will listen to you.

Q: [from Jolebin] If you had a pretty horsie, would it be a boy horsie or a girl horsie, and what would you name it, and what kind of pretty ribbons would you put in its hair?
A: It would be a girl named Sasha, and I'd put blue and green ribbons in her hair.
Attendees: That question is consent!

Tribanin: There are those who appear to do nothing, like many of the guildleaders during the Outcast War. Do you know Kssarh? Is he good? (audience: He's grumpy!) Is he bad? (audience: He's grumpy!) He made sure that Moon Mages were prepared to fight the Outcasts. Some think that Taramain is evil, but everything he does is done to protect the guild. The un-obvious good seems to do nothing. But they nudge you towards what you should do. If an Empath healed someone for no reason, is taht a good act? Tribanin says it is. Then, if they refuse to heal you again later because you didn't pay them the first time, how do you feel about that? These people affect history in quiet ways and may not receive any praise for it.

Shakahn: Evil is easy. Make players want to kill you. Tread over other people's morals. Use their morals against them. Look at Yhaman. Eloths think he's evil, since he wants to kill them. Tigron. People try to redeem him, but he can't be redeemed. Some are noticeable, like Sidhlot. Sorrow. (audience: Sorrow's dead.) He'll be back. An evil person doesn't care about anybody else's rules of motivations. They'll just use you as needed. There's lawful evil, like corrupt rulers. The Spanish Inquisition or Cardinal Richelieu.

Q: [from Jolebin, at Sashera's urging, and with great trepidation] If you had a pretty horsie, would it be a boy horsie or a girl horsie, and what would you name it, and what kind of pretty ribbons would you put in its hair?
A: I'd kill the horse, drink it's blood, make it undead, put Eloth bones in its mane, and name it Ferdahl.

Veyl: Tribanin, I'm not going to talk about that thing you said I was going to. It's all about perception. Obvious good and obvious evil are both boring and predictable. He's played good and evil. He's played a character in the Care Bears movie. He prefers a character with a different set of morals. Outcasts are from a wildly different background. Who interprests good and evil. The Outcasts have a certain justification for what they've done.

Auriane: Inobvious evil. Natashya. Her strategy is like a chess player, looking seven moves ahead. Prior to the war, the Outcasts were an inobvious evil. Natashya organized assassinations of players in the Sorrow war. She came back and looked completely different. Inobvious evil always has plausible deniability.

Tribanin: What does a truly good or evil person never have to do?
Sashera: Go to the bathroom?
Jolebin: Declare their affiliations.
Tribanin: Right. They are just being themself.

We developed lists of characteristics for the archetypal good and evil characters, and we named the characters.

Personification of Good - Necrobob: altruistic, disciplined, honesty, patience (to a degree), selflessness, wisdom, compassion, moderation, persistence, dedicated, chaste, loyalty, reliable, pure

Personification of Evil - Eric: vain, slutty, intelligent, cunning, dishonest, charismatic, evil laugh, persistent, sense of humor required to deal with henchmen, resourceful, loony, fanatical, manipulative, sadistic, deceptive, deniability, dedicated/obsessed/ mommy issues.

And that wrapped that up.

Sincerely,
David (Jolebin Swordstaff, Elemancer of Riverhaven)


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