“Alternate Alignments” is an independent product published under the Shadowdark RPG Third-Party License and is not affiliated with The Arcane Library, LLC. Shadowdark RPG © 2023 The Arcane Library, LLC.
The GM may want to consider other alignment systems in their Shadowdark games.
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For a grimdark world no alignment might suit the ethos better.
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For my setting where “True Neutrals” actively oppose Law and Chaos, four alignments.
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Other settings may prefer fewer than the standard three, or possibly more, or likely none.
No Alignment
In Shadowdark no game rules depend on Alignment. Alignment is merely a convenient shorthand for attitudes and sides in a cosmic struggle among extraplanar beings (angels vs. demons and devils vs. elementals and “elder things”). So ditch it.
Four Alignments
In this variant are four alignments:
- CHAOTIC
- As described in the book.
- LAWFUL
- As described in the book.
- TRUE NEUTRAL
- True Neutrals actively attempt to balance Law and Chaos, ideally by minimizing the influence of both. They believe nature can’t take its course unless all human and supernatural influences have been neutralized.
- UNALIGNED or NEUTRAL
- Unaligned characters simply do not care about Law or Chaos. They take a laissez faire approach to life, going with the flow, looking out primarily for themselves.
Other Alignments
I previously wrote a whole essay (or two on alignments. Other schemes explored include:
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A Corruption metric that only grows as the character engages in moral degradation and magical contamination.
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A battle vs Light and Shadow, where Light is insufferably self-righteous and Shadow is not necessarily evil.
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“Temporal Alignments” based on the objectives of entities outside Time.