I think I'm turning into Alrik Fassbauer

[Alrik Fassbauer]

LOL

Well, my own philosophy has always been this - in terms of gaming, I've grown to rather be an Escapist. I want to have relatively simple fun with games and use games - so to say - as a tool to withdrawn from this troubled real world a bit. This Real World with all of its crime, wars, killing of innocents, politics, autocrats and kleptocrats, Mafia and crime gangs.

I can see that so much in the Real World. I do not wish to have this while trying to withdraw from all of that.

The form of gaming I seek is like ... crawling under a blanket with having a nice lighthearted book, and see nothing else around me.

To me, it is like drawing energy to survive the next day, so to say. With all of this "I just missed the train again ! The bus didn't come !" and all of this hassle.

This is why I'm so much against - for example - playing evil characters in games. It disrupts my form of Escapism. It just doesn't give me energy.

The only real problem is, when Escapism becomes addictive. And this is a completely different battlefield.

I'm glad that games are only temporarily addictive for me. But some corporations don't want the word "temporarily".

 

[Corwin]

And we enjoy having Alrik play DDO with us during our weekly RPGWatch Guild runs on a Friday night which is in the early hours of the morning for Alrik. That's dedication!!

 

[bkrueger]

And we enjoy having Alrik play DDO with us during our weekly RPGWatch Guild runs on a Friday night which is in the early hours of the morning for Alrik. That's dedication!!

Wait until he makes you all join his Genshin Impact group!

 

[purpleblob]

This is why I'm so much against - for example - playing evil characters in games. It disrupts my form of Escapism. It just doesn't give me energy.

I can relate altho I think I may have more tolerance with evil characters than you do

I definitely prefer playing RPGs where I can get along with companions I consider friends and spread the good deeds.

However, I'm currently in a situation where I have to learn to fight back those who are mistreating me. I used to get so upset with those who I treat well but doesn't return the favour. I tried to avoid these people as much as I can but avoiding can only do so much. So I'm now trying to learn how to bite back at them and feel comfortable with it. I hate myself for feeling guilty for not treating them well. So I'm having that practice in games too - and you know what? I'm starting to feel more liberated

 

[Vaelith]

Alignment as a definition and a restriction for one's character is indeed something DnD got rid of in 5E, as morality and "alignment" are so much more complex than a dot in a compass. In BG3 all companions are pretty ambiguous, while all of them are more or less willing to do whatever it takes to get what they want from the get-go. Minthara is definitely more "Evil" than Gale is, for example.

Not too spoilery so I'll say that one of the best experiences for me in BG3 was seeing Lae'zel journey from being a hateful, racist, murdering bully to a tolerant, understanding, and even caring person.

As @wolfgrimdark said, this is more or less true with all companions, and it doesn't happen right away. It tests your patience and your sanity at times, but if you're good to them, and you do right by them, they do right by you. They will become good simply because you are good, and you have been a good influence to them - you cared enough for them to accept their differences, and proved to them with your actions that there is a better way.

When BG3 is considered to be one of the best RPGs of all time it's really not because it's taking advantage of being in a DnD setting, or because you can see tits during sex scenes as some people like to simplify.

 

[Philistine]

because you can see tits during sex scenes

Ah, there's a goal worth fighting for! I've created 4 characters so far, and may make more before I begin. I'll try at least a couple out through Act 1 to see if they gel.

As @wolfgrimdark said, this is more or less true with all companions, and it doesn't happen right away. It tests your patience and your sanity at times, but if you're good to them, and you do right by them, they do right by you. They will become good simply because you are good, and you have been a good influence to them - you cared enough for them to accept their differences, and proved to them with your actions that there is a better way.

That is awesome, but sadly I always take people as they present themselves, so if they come off badly I will reject them. I can put up with peoples shit enough for a professional relationship in real life, but in a game I'm more of a loose canon so I do not predict it going well.

 

[Vaelith]

That is awesome, but sadly I always take people as they present themselves, so if they come off badly I will reject them. I can put up with peoples shit enough for a professional relationship in real life, but in a game I'm more of a loose canon so I do not predict it going well.

Haha, I'm the contrary. I have no patience for assholes in real life because I'm better off without them and they're uninteresting people I won't miss a single second of my existence, but games are built around rewarding your efforts (most of the time!) so I like to invest in these (scripted) emotional rollercoasters when there is a good narrative involved.

To be fair, I used to prefer straight good-aligned parties in the past as well, but that grew very flat and boring over time. I also dislike plain evil in my games, but If I have to put up with another righteous paladin "for the greater good!" or another goodie naive dryad type of companion that goes "Ahhh.. but we have to save the butterflies!" I think I would get a sick stomach and throw up. Nuance makes it a much better deal for me, but I can see why not wanting conflicting personalities in your "escape from reality" is appealing to others and it's definitely respectable.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

The "other me", so to say, actually loved playing with alignments to some degree. Well, actually, that's one of the strongest points why i love the Ebberron setting so much : Alignments don't mean much there, either !
The prime example for this is Fred. A Mindflayer, in other settings he would be an Ilithid, whic just got his own quest or quest series (aka "adventure pack") One of the most fearful monsters can be a - relatively - friendly and caeing person ? In Ebberron, this is possible ! [ I always write it this way, because that's the way how I pronounce it. ]
This setting also has monsters "of the usual kind". But also some of them are more integrated into the town society - which makes me often wonder about the term racism" in conjunction with "monsters" in (A)D&D.

Another part of me just loves playing with alignments from a different standpoint. In SWTOR and in DDO, I have created characters which look evil, but are good. To me this is the most fun to play !

In times where people turn Winnieh pooh into a horror movie as soon as the copyright faded away - and a similar thing just was done with the very early Mickey Mouse ! -
in these times I have decided for my self to just havre fun with turning evil characters into good ones !

An example for this i already knew is the book series "Skullduggery Pleasant", where an undead one is actually on the side of the good ones. Although, I must say, that i once lost interest in that series, because I had the feeling as if most books rather became dialogs with almost no description of the environment where the plot takes place.

In the 90s ( ! ) I once wrote a short satire of a zombie family. The father is a tester of drugs, the sun works as a crah test dummy, and the daughter works in the hygiene department, showing people why it is important to have everything clean, because dirt can spread illnesses.

A new experiment in DDO is that - I don't even know in how far that's feasible ! a Wizard of the "Pale Master" type, who is at the same time an "Eldritch Knight" - and good aligned !
The deveopers of DDO released archetypes under Update name of "Unlikely Heroes", which are more or less evil by themselves.
The difference to mine is that mine are at least neutral, but rather good aligned.

In times where everyone seems to think "evil is the new good", I turn everything into 180 degrees around. If I was a painter, I would DEFINITIVELY paint several mascots from Heavy Metal album covers having fun in pink plush sofas !


P.S. : I was reading today the first book of the "Dungeon Academy" books. Short and/but fun ! Also a story about alignments ...