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GURPS Line Editor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
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Re: Roleplaying Evil
My own view would be that good-evil (in the D&D sense) would break down like this: Good: Has an active and possibly self-sacrificing concern for others' happiness, health, and/or well-being. Representative GURPS traits: Charitable, Chummy, Compulsive Generosity, Fanaticism (any charitable cause), Guilt Complex, Intolerance (groups with "evil" traits), Pacifism, Selfless, Sense of Duty, and Truthfulness.
Neutral: Seeks neither to improve others' happiness, health, and/or well-being nor to foil those things. Tends to be passively -- more rarely, actively -- indifferent to the whole dispute. Representative GURPS traits: Callous, Hidebound, Killjoy, Loner, Low Empathy, No Sense of Humor, Oblivious, and Paranoia. Supernatural "things" with Reprogrammable and/or Slave Mentality also qualify.
Evil: Makes an active effort to impede others' happiness, health, and/or well-being. Representative GURPS traits: Bloodlust, Bully, Compulsive Lying, Fanaticism (any harmful cause), Greed, Intolerance (groups with "good" traits), Jealousy, Megalomania, and Sadism. Law-chaos would break down like this: Lawful: Deliberately takes only those actions that are in accordance with a broadly accepted, external source of rule and/or a widely observed code of conduct. Representative GURPS traits: Code of Honor, Disciplines of Faith, Fanaticism (any orderly cause), Honesty, Intolerance (groups with "chaotic" traits), Vows, and Workaholic.
Neutral: Acts situationally, performing those deeds that best satisfy the demands of his good-evil standing under the immediate circumstances. Representative GURPS traits: primarily Overconfidence and Stubbornness -- i.e., putting more stock in your own judgments than in those of greater society.
Chaotic: Consciously or otherwise, takes actions that clearly disrupt and frustrate widely accepted rules and/or codes of conduct. Representative GURPS traits: Bad Temper, Berserk, Bestial, Compulsive Carousing, Fanaticism (any rebellious cause), Impulsiveness, Intolerance (groups with "lawful" traits), Lecherousness, On the Edge, Pyromania, Selfish, Trickster, and Uncontrollable Appetite. An inquisitor who simply "does the job" and seeks only to get to the bottom of things according to Title 7 § 500c as written would have Callous, Fanaticism (The Church), Hidebound, Intolerance (Lawbreakers), and No Sense of Humor, and be LN. One who knows no principles in the pursuit of justice might have Bully, Fanaticism (The Church), Intolerance (Lawbreakers), and Sadism, and be LE. And for that matter, one who seeks to redeem and save those brought before him might even have Honesty, Selfless, Sense of Duty (All humanity), and Vow (Rehabilitate the wicked), and be LG. IMO, job title rarely if ever uniquely prescribes morality.
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