Wisdom: 3
This week’s WISH asks for three bits of gaming profundity. Apparently there will be a sequel next week.
Well, I tell you what. I tried and tried and tried to come up with three suitable soundbites. I came up emptier than a bag of holding dropped into a portable hole. (Non-game-geeks: Implosion. Big one. Rift-torn-in-universe kind of thing.)
So I’ll do what all stuck gamers do: get goofy.
Soundbite number one: “Chaotic neutral means never having to say you’re sorry.” This one’s not true; very CN Latiel once had to apologize before a higher-level wizard did something truly nasty to her. She is currently helping said wizard cope with a totally unexpected gender transformation—which reminds me of something that bugs me in most portrayals I have seen of CN characters. Chaotic neutral is not chaotic evil! If your CN character isn’t doing at least as many pointlessly nice things as pointlessly nasty things, you are not playing that character properly.
Alignment is a tricky thing at the best of times. I rather wish 3e D&D had got rid of it, actually. Still. It’s there; use it as a way to play against type.
Soundbite number two: “Don’t call me a thief. I’m an entrepreneur.” Sometimes the best way to deal with hackneyed game elements is to subvert them. I probably need to quit playing D&D one of these days; most of my current characters subvert the paradigm one way or another. (No, I’ll switch to another gaming system! You thought I was renouncing gaming? Never!)
Soundbite number three: “Life’s a die and then you bitch.” Two morals. If you GM, don’t throw away a character’s life on a pointless roll of the dice. (Not often, anyway. Sometimes life just isn’t fair, and that’s okay.) If you play, and your character dies, don’t whine. There’s another good character waiting.
And bonus soundbite number four: “With my Diamondlight Sunhammer I shall smash the evil carpet!” Uh… you had to be there.
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