The Moral Tone of the Faalor Campaign World
As a Christian and bit of a moralist (primarily, I'm a fan
of Kant and Rawls), it's sometimes hard to justify to my peers
the fact that I play D&D. In the Church at large,
it's at best a gray area; at worst, I must be a
demon-worshipper. Obviously, I find role-playing games
to be an enjoyable pastime, worthy of my thought, creativity
and time. I do though think that there are certain
dangers associated with these types of games.
My main problem with them is their lack of moral
guidelines. Everyone's heard stories about player
characters going on elaborately-planned rampages, raping and
pillaging through a fantasy world AND being rewarded for
it. I am not opposed to players playing evil characters
(I kind of enjoy it myself from time to time). I just find it impossible for me to imagine
playing an evil character that does not suffer because of his
evil deeds. I realize this is pure fantasy, but we
should think about the message our game play sends to others
and reinforces in our own lives.
Faalor is a unique fantasy world, not because of the
<sarcasm>amazingly creative setting and profoundly rich
story lines</sarcasm>, but rather because I, as the
Dungeon Master and creator of the setting, have built into the
world certain moral realities. These realities create
reasonable moral boundaries for the players and the campaign
as a whole. Please, don't take this as a preachy rant,
but rather as an explanation of why I run games and characters
the way I do.
We are told (and it only makes sense), that we should think
about good things, we should fill our heads and hearts with
positive images wherever possible (Philippians
4:8). Therefore, I tend to greatly discourage graphic descriptions of:
- Demon worship
- Violence (especially torture)
- Overt sexuality
Obviously, these things happen in Faalor; there are
demon-worshipping rapists running around, but I have no desire
to focus my attention on the graphic details of their
nefarious activities. There's no reason why, if these
activities are necessary in game, that we have to play them
out in their gory details. These actives can easily be
moved "off camera".
That doesn't mean that major moral issues can't be handled
center stage as well. Dealing with intolerance, injustice and
crime as well as simple moral dilemmas like promise-keeping
and fidelity can and probably should be graphically depicted
in game. Moral conflicts involving cooperation of PCs,
tolerance and intolerance, religious and philosophical
differences have a real place in the campaign. Something
good (for us players) can come of focusing our attention on
these sorts of activities when they are explored in detail, in
game. We can learn something about ourselves,
problem-solving and life in general by focusing an appropriate
amount of attention on these activities.
The following guidelines are in place to protect the moral
clarity of the DM and players:
- All actions have reasonable consequences, given the
"realities" of the campaign. (Galatians
6:7)
- Corollary of 1: If any character in the campaign (PC or
NPC) does something good, noble or moral, the
"world" will respond in kind, even if internally
and eternally, if I may use the word.
- Corollary to 1: If any character in the campaign (PC or
NPC) does something immoral, evil or criminal, the
"world" will catch up with him/her.
- Corollary of 3, only very intelligent or lucky
characters can survive very long being "evil".
- Corollary of 4, while there are permanent forces at work
for evil, normal evil characters have very short
life-spans.
- The "world" is a morally neutral place; moral
meaning is derived from the actions and reactions of the characters (PC
and NPC) as they behave in the world.
- Allegiance to the various gods of the Faalor world is
designed to be an outward "sign" of moral
clarity and is useful in determining moral and ethical underpinnings
of the character.
- Corollary of 7, there are forces in the
"world" that will attempt to morally steer
characters and characters must make conscious choices
about their actions. (This is a major factor in
story and character development.)
- Corollary of 7, some of these forces will
"help" a character achieve some quick goal, but
at a very high price. (Matthew
16:26)
- Alignment is a moral compass, and will be used in game
to help determine a character's fate.
- Alignment can move based on character actions in game.
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