Thread by @meffridus

A thread on AD&D alignments, and how there are more than nine, for @JeffroJohnson, and anyone else interested in my "conspiracy theory."

#17Alignments #SuperAdvanced #SecretsOfPros

@jeffrojohnson Alignment in the AD&D game is based on the Outer Planes as the source of alignment. Alignment is a matter of religious/philosophical/ethical ideas as #EGG et. al. write.

@jeffrojohnson In the AD&D game, alignment is more akin in a certain sense to the Platonic idea of the forms rather than the dualistic eternal struggle between Law & Chaos as it is in Anderson, Moorcock, and the non-#Advanced TSR versions.

There are, of course, still strong oppositions between Law and Chaos, Good and Evil, and the different “opposites” that are formed on the Great Wheel of the Outer Planes.

The Plane of Concordant opposition consists a mixture of all alignments and is the source of Neutrality.

The AD&D game puts Concordant Opposition in the center and under the Great Wheel giving it the center and preeminent place in its cosmology, and hence neutrality as the “default” setting.

DMs are supposed to chart the player’s character alignments based on their actions in the game world.

The Alignment chart is similar to a color wheel. Alignment incrementally changes. And in the AD&D game world there are 16 increments on the great wheel, one for each of the outer planes, and True Neutrality in the center. Hence #17Alignments

Character Alignment must change by incremental steps, barring magic or a curse. A character can’t ordinarily go from Lawful Good to Chaotic Evil. He would go from Lawful Good to Neutral good (or Neutral Good Lawful to hit all the increments).

The #17Alignments aren’t hard and fast, especially the gradations between the compass points. They’re more like shades on the wheel. I’m sure you get the idea.