Alignment, contextualized.

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 "Before the game begins it is not only necessary to select a role, but it is also necessary to determine what stance the character will take - Law, Neutrality, or Chaos." (Book I)

 

 What stance will your character take? Law, Neutrality, or Chaos? What kind of question is that?

 

Alignment. Its common uses:

  • player prescription for character morality
  • descriptor of a character's personality
  • Trap mechanics (e.g. Nightwick Abbey)
  • Language choice

Its issues

  • too limited of a moral descriptor
  • too abstract/interpretable
  • can be meta-gamed by objecting of what "REALLY" is lawful or something
  • not actually descriptive of anything concrete

My proposal

  • Have a setting with clear opposing organizational sides, and only describe alignment in terms of the organizations
    • In Times that Fry Men's Souls, describe the characters as British- or American-aligned or neutral
    • In Nightwick Abbey, make it clear you're working to reclaim the abbey to its original purpose, simply loot it, or inflict pain on in its inhabitants, specifically.
    • Feel free to have 4+ alignments
  •  Never make explicit the alignment descriptions, or even that alignment is a mechanical factor
  • Update secret notes with character alignments as they change - they should never be revealed

Drop clues to how NPCs feel about the players quietly or like an anvil from heaven. It will always be a great, concrete descriptor of how players have acted and relate to the world. 

 

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