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The history of what you call 'Alignment'?

Last posted Mar 01, 2010 at 12:29PM EST. Added Feb 26, 2010 at 06:12PM EST
7 posts from 5 users

Here's some info on the origins of the 'Alignment' 'meme'. It should probably be renamed Alignment-based Demotivational Posters if you want accuracy, unless you want to create a super-entry for it, since it is technically a subset of the RPG Motivational Poster genre. Your call, though. I just thought I'd be helpful.

Oh… I think I hear some tl;dr coming…

The alignment discussion/'meme' technically first sprouted after the release of AD&D back in '77. Yes, THAT far. AD&D was the first to introduce a second axis to the original linear Lawful → Chaotic alignment graph, bringing the total from 3 to 9.
TSR spent the next couple of editions refining the points before settling on the standard we all know – and during this time, players experimented and became fairly enamored with the concept; especially those at polar ends of the spectrum. So much so, in fact, that certain players would abandon logical story decisions for the sake of remaining in the extremities of their alignment. (Clerics refusing to kill anything, evil characters that would spend the game firebombing kittens instead of the objectives, etc.)
This exposed the inconsistencies in the system – that while law and chaos were easy to discern, good and evil tends to depend a lot on one's point of view, and often, the player's definition differed from that of the DM.

Subsequently, jokes began to rise that added a third, subjective axis to the 'improved' duilinear system, turning the graph into a cube. You'll still hear some comment derogatoritively about 'lawful stupid', or 'chaotic awesome', etc., when talking about certain characters/methods of roleplaying.
RPG.net user 'ThomasT' is credited for bringing RPG's and motivational posters together on 5/19/06.
http://wiki.rpg.net/images/0/0a/MPost1-Cthulhu.jpg
Although vague, this format was open to a lot of interpretation, and it flourished as people began using it as a teaching/evaluative/snarkasm tool.
The original RPG.net motivational posters thread has undergone several renewals since – the first thread alone needed to be closed after the forum itself began to grind to a halt due to overwhelming numbers of visitors; by then there had been 37,400 posts, and it contained an estimate of 22,000 posters.

Since then, the trend shows little signs of stopping, especially after the fan-polarizing release of the 4.0 rule system.

Anyways, that's my 0.00002 bits on the subject.
Feel free to ignore it if it's more info than you need, or correct/delete it if it bugs.

(Since you guys like sources, here are some.
http://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Motivational_Posters:Main_Page
http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/21016557/The_alignment_system_for_DND_4th_edition?pg=1
Myself, my husband, and my friends, who have been playing d&d since before the A was added. _)

1."It should probably be renamed Alignment-based Demotivational Posters if you want accuracy, unless you want to create a super-entry for it, since it is technically a subset of the RPG Motivational Poster genre. Your call, though. I just thought I’d be helpful."

1.Demotional posters are used for a lot of other memes, but I see your point.

2."Oh… I think I hear some tl;dr coming…"

2.Meh its interesting, too long did read :D

3."TSR spent the next couple of editions refining the points before settling on the standard we all know – and during this time, players experimented and became fairly enamored with the concept; especially those at polar ends of the spectrum. So much so, in fact, that certain players would abandon logical story decisions for the sake of remaining in the extremities of their alignment. (Clerics refusing to kill anything, evil characters that would spend the game firebombing kittens instead of the objectives, etc.)"

3. That makes sense, I've done that before.

4."http://wiki.rpg.net/images/0/0a/MPost1-Cthulhu.jpg"

4. is that an open source, where any one can write??
*edit I cant open it.

5. Thank you for posting open sources, that helps every one a lot.

Last edited Feb 26, 2010 at 09:37PM EST

I do seem to remember an entry about this…

EDIT:
Here we go…
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/alignment

Now, while we are please to have a new member of Know Your Meme, we would like to advice you to exhibit the habit of thoroughly browsing the whole database before trying to, although I shall applaud your sensibility of placing your suggested meme in the forums before making an entry about this; else it will placed in the "deadpool" section and you will be scorned for doing so.

TLDR: LURK MOAR! but it's a good thing you placed this in a forum before making an entry X3

Last edited Feb 28, 2010 at 09:48PM EST

It has been confirmed without the origin (internet origin) to be exactly clear.
Many confirmed entries can be updated too, and I think this account is interesting.

Last edited Mar 01, 2010 at 09:23AM EST

Oh – I wouldn't dare make an entry this early; XD
I wanted to see if any of this was retread, or if it could be helpful. The entry description in alignment is good, but this is just one of those memes that goes really far back – I just thought I'd look into just how far the hole went, since someone expressed curiosity. (And that way, others don't have to bother!)
As for making entry edits – I'm still way too 'young' to do it, so if you guys feel that it needs updating, feel free – otherwise, just ignore this and consider it my convoluted, round-about way of saying hello! :D

P.S. I shall work more on the Lurk Moar :D – I don't think I've found all the nooks and crannies around here yet, but if someone has suggestions, I'd be happy to go and 'research'. :)

Thanks!

Last edited Mar 01, 2010 at 12:30PM EST
Skeletor-sm

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