Alternate Alignment Systems

[Necrosnoop110]

(1) At one point someone on this board posted an alignment system from a non-D&D rule-set that was pretty awesome. I cannot remember what system. Any chance any one can read my mind and post a link?

(2) I would be interested in hearing about other non-D&D alignment systems (or the near equivalent) that you may have come across that you thought worked really well.

Thanks,
Necro 

[bhu]

The only other one i know of is palladiums

[Nanshork]

This thread talks about alignments in other systems.

So does this one.

[Maelphaxerazz]

They really don't, though. The Sacred Cows thread has a couple of people say they don't like alignments, and has one post (by Agita) listing games that do not use alignments (which does not answer Necro's question). The "How do YOU interpret Alignments" thread does not talk about other systems at all, and is instead about how people interpret alignments in D&D.

Now, for Necroscoop: most games do not use alignments, and the ones that do usually don't look much like an alignment system at all. One alternative that I see pretty often is a "corruption points" system: for example, the Dark Side in Star Wars Saga and Corruption and Insanity in Warhammer 40k RPGs. This is more like Taint from Heroes of Horror than alignment, but Heroes of Horror does say you can use taint as an alternative to an alignment system.

The idea is simple: instead of being categorized by your personality, corruption points track evil things you have done and evil things you have been exposed to. No judgment is made as to intents or morality, as that is not the point: a person can fall to the Dark Side or twisted by the Warp without being a bad person up to that point. However, his experiences have consequences and different mechanics reflect and interact how far down the Dark Side you are. Evil, in this case, is like a disease instead of a personality type. Those who are touched by the Warp need to be destroyed, even if they are innocent, because they are a danger to those around them whether they want to be so or not.

Another way is to track reputation, kind of like Honour in Unearthed Arcana. Instead of looking at what a person things or what they have experienced, the mechanics track how a person is perceived by society. I think Legend of the Five Rings has a similar system, though I am not certain as I have not played it. Evil, in this case, is a social construct, though it still has a real mechanical effect because people react differently if you are famous rather than infamous.

In short: Alignment is about a person's motivations, Corruption and Insanity is about a person's experiences, and Honour is about a person's reputation. Any one of those can be used, together or individually. Or you can use none, like most systems do, since a person can be a bad guy without the rules telling you so.

[Nanshork]

The sacred cows thread's post by Agita talks about what one alignment-less game has instead of alignments even if it isn't a direct correlation.

The how do you interpret alignments thread A) references the optional "alignmentless" system of HoH but more importantly B) in the very last post references the RIFTS alignment system.


Both posts are relevant to the original post.

[TC X0 Lt 0X]

FantasyCraft has a alignment system where you dedicate yourself to some particular force in a setting. The book has default alignments as suggestions based on the D&D axis, as well as 4 elemental alignments, but usually alignments are associated with some ideal or religion.

By default, no character starts with a alignment or has to get one. You get alignments by spending a Interest, which is a kind pseudo feat system which determines your characters interests (obviously). You can spend an interest on Languages, Studies (which help with certain knowledge checks), and Alignments.

Alignments directly impact how the Divine Classes (Priest/Paladin) play, which aren't typical spellcasters (though they can get spells). They determine what Paths you get (effectively Domains that grant special powers based on how much you invest in them), what your Ritual Weapon is (Deity favored weapon you get for free, even if you lose it later), what skills you get, and what avatar you can summon (though only if you choose the option to be able to summon an avatar).
A Priest with an Alignment that grants the Evil and War Paths plays quite a bit differently then a Priest with an Alignment granting the Life and Fortune Paths.

As someone who dislikes D&Ds alignment system, I like this one quite a bit because your not forced into dealing with it (unless the optional rule is used forcing it), and they have a lot more impact on how your divine classes play, unlike D&D which just prevents you from casting alignment spells which usually have a equivalent spell on the opposite side.