Pintas y Dados - El podcast

Una de las cosas más gratificantes de ser un Dungeon Master es ver como toda la preparación previa al juego resulta en una historia divertida y asombrosa a la hora de jugar. El proceso que cada DM sigue para prepararse y escribir la historia antes de contarla difiere de DM a DM. A algunos nos gusta improvisar, a otros nos gusta planear todos y cada uno de los puntos de la historia, otros lo planean pero dejan que la decisión dependa de una tirada de dados… En fin, todos tenemos nuestro “librito” que seguimos a la hora de correr nuestros juegos.

Por otro lado, una de las cosas más gratificantes de ser un jugador de DnD, es que tu Dungeon Master no te mate.

HAH!!

Pero no hay nada mejor que encontrarse con tus amigos luego de un juego y hablar sobre lo cool que fue el juego, o las diferentes formas en las que podemos correr otro juego la próxima vez que nos toque ser DM.

Con esto en mente, dos amigos y yo nos pusimos de acuerdo para crear “Pintas y Dados”.

Pintas y dados, el podcast, es básicamente una ventana en la que Fernando, Moisés y yo les hablaremos sobre varios aspectos de nuestro hobby favorito: Los juegos de Rol. Hablaremos de Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, Fate, Numenera, Legend of the 5 rings, y muchos otros sistemas de juego, mientras comentamos sobre los monstruos, las reglas, las historias y las ideas que pasan por nuestras mentes a la hora de preparar una sesión de juego. Todo esto mientras nos tomamos una que otra pinta :) .

Además de esto, con la ayuda de nuestro grupo de amigos, grabamos varios juegos de rol que presentaremos como una historia en episodios. Así como cuando nuestros padres escuchaban radionovelas? bueno, así mismo solo que con nerdos, dados, sin guiones, y un humor mucho más cuestionable.

El día de mañana (29 de Junio) presentaremos nuestro primer episodio, gracias a nuestros amigos de Patacoins, ustedes, mis muy estimados lectores, podrán encontrar el podcast en el sitio de patacoinstv.com y así también en iTunes y cualquier aplicación de podcasts en Android (yo uso Podcast Republic, es gratis, soy pobre)

También si tienen alguna pregunta, o algún tema que les gustaría que comentemos en el podcast nos pueden escribir a pintasydados@gmail.com, o encontrarnos en twitter como @Pintas_y_Dados y en Instagram como pintasydados. En un futuro grabaremos un capítulo con sus preguntas y comentarios, asi que envíennos todas las ideas que quieran escuchar en el podcast!

Estamos muy entusiasmados con este proyecto y esperamos que les guste lo que tenemos preparado para ustedes.

Cheers!

Julio

Mighty No. 9 - Dice Head News

The team at Inti Creates and Comcept released a statement today through a kickstarter update, announcing that all of their backers will receive a 1-month trial version of their upcoming game: Mighty No. 9

A few weeks back the game was delayed until 2016 in order to work out some of the online issues the game was presenting. Here’s part of the statement released today:

"We know that there are a lot of our fans and especially backers who were disappointed that the Mighty No. 9 release has been delayed from the planned September 15th date. However, we don’t want our backers to be completely empty-handed, and as a result we have a special announcement!

We are releasing an exclusive Trial Ver. for all of our Mighty No. 9 backers!!!

The team at comcept and all of our partners are currently working on solving the online issues with Mighty No. 9, however the single-player content is in a complete state. We would like our backers to have a chance to play the near-complete game, so we are releasing this Trial Ver. which has more volume and functionality compared to the original beta test we conducted. The release of this Trial Ver. is planned for September 15th, so make sure to clear your schedule! We will start sending out codes to our backers a few days earlier than the actual release. This Trial Ver. is planned to run for a full month after release, but will be taken down after that."

The trial Version will feature four fully playable stages from the game including all relevant cutscenes, voice and subtitle options (subs: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Russian, Japanese Dubs: English and Japanese) Retro soundtrack, and challenge mode stages 1 – 6.

On top of that all backers will receive a steam code for the release of Mighty Gunvolt as a special thanks for supporting Mighty No.9.

I, for one, am really excited for this. I believe that if you're going to make a game, you better do it right the first time. A month of mighty No.9 might be just enough to get a taste of what's coming.

What do you think? did you back this project back when it was just starting? Let me know in the comments if you'd like to see me review this game once it finally comes out.

Thanks for reading!

Age of War by Fantasy Flight - DICE HEAD REVIEW

Every now and then you come across a game that is fun, simple and easy to learn. Today we look at Age of War, a fast paced conquest card and dice game released in early 2014 by Fantasy Flight games, designed by Reiner Knizia (Lord of the Rings board game, Samurai, Beowulf: The Legend).

A few weeks ago I got together with some friends to play Eldritch Horror (stand by for a review of that one as soon as I get my hands on a copy of the game) and since most of the group still hadn't arrived yet, we decided to play a round of Age of War.

The game is pretty simple. You are a daimyo (Japanese general) and your goal is to conquer castles and unify the warring clans of feudal Japan. You do this by waging war against other players ( up to 6 others) who wish to do the same. Basically, you are all generals trying to conquer Japan and bring honor to your house, your family, and your cow.

MOST HONORABLE CONTENTS:

The playing field consists of several playing cards that represent each castle. Each card is color coded and has a clan symbol on the back of it. There are yellow cards (4), red cards (2), purple cards (2), black cards (2), grey cards(3) and one green card. Each clan(color) has a different number of castles(cards) assigned to it. 

You conquer each castle by rolling seven dice and assembling your army with your results. Results may vary between infantry (swords), archers (bow and arrow), cavalry (horsemen) and daimyo (red mask). Each castle requires a certain number of each of these symbols in order to be claimed by the player.

Each castle also has a number that shows how many points this castle is worth, along with the name of the castle inspired by an actual real-world Japanese location.

MOST HONORABLE GAMEPLAY:

One player is chosen randomly, the game then continues clockwise. Each player throws the dice to try and complete the requirements to conquer a castle. Once a player has a castle there is the option for other players to take that castle away from him or her by rolling the required dice for that castle plus an extra daimyo dice.

Once a player has all of the castles in a colored set (clan) he flips them over, revealing the total points for that set and claiming that clan as his permanently. This means that the castles in that set can no longer be taken away from that player. This allows for a lof of different strategies in the game, which makes it very fun and entertaining. 

Once all castles have been claimed, the game ends and the points are recounted. Whoever has the most points, wins. If there is a tie, whoever has conquered the most castles wins. If there is STILL a tie after that, the players share their victory and drink sake for the honor of their respective houses, families, and cows.

I AM MOST PLEASED WITH THIS GAME!

The game is quite fun, I recommend playing it while listening to some traditional Japanese ambient music. I also encourage whoever is playing against me to use Samurai trash talk.

Like so:

Me: I see you will attack the Kitanosho Castle... A most daring move.

Opponent: I shall teach your peasants the meaning of force. Do not worry though... I shall allow your Samurai to commit Seppuku to cleanse their families' of the SHAME AND DISHONOR they have brought upon their house.

*rolls dice*

Opponent: GODDAMIT! the archers! EVERY SINGLE TIME!

Me: Ho ho ho ho ho *strokes imaginary fu-man-chu beard*... It appears not only have you failed to seize my castle, but also shed the last bit of dignity your samurai had left. YOU HAVE DISGRACED YOUR PEOPLE AND DISHONORED MY LANDS! NOW! WE SHALL ENGAGE IN COMBAT!

Good times :)

All in all, Age of War is a good solid game that will guarantee a few rounds of fun. It's also pretty cheap at around 12-15 USD. On top of that the game comes in a small 7.5" x 5" inch box so it's ultra light and easy to carry around. It will make a nice addition to your tabletop games collection.

Thanks for reading!

The Tyrant - Lawful Evil

“Some battles are won with swords and spears, others with quills and ravens.”


And now, for the more... unsavory... part of the alignment chart. 

Evil...

Lawful Evil. The Alignment that makes us all crawl with unease for the fact that it is so easy to be LED by one of these characters. Sometimes you see what they do, and you can't help but sympathize with their ways. They are cruel, tyrannical, Dictatorial, and yet somehow their way works. Because they follow an order, they follow rules and they keep chaos and Anarchy at bay.

The problem with that, is that they usually end up hurting others to get their way, they tend to have a total disregard for the suffering of others, and will do anything that is necessary, and within their moral code, to achieve success. 

These characters make for some of the best villains in any story. Mainly because they are Evil because they see it as a necessity. It's not unusual to read a book, or watch a tv-series and feel in a way charmed by a character who does HORRIBLE things, but still has a certain charm and well educated demeanor that keeps you wanting to see more of him or her.

Let's take a look at what most Rulebooks say about Lawful Evil, and their particular way of "Following a code".

Some lawful evil villains have particular taboos, such as not killing in cold blood (but having underlings do it) or not letting children come to harm (if it can be helped). They imagine that these compunctions put them above unprincipled villains.

Some lawful evil people and creatures commit themselves to evil with a zeal like that of a crusader committed to good. Beyond being willing to hurt others for their own ends, they take pleasure in spreading evil as an end unto itself. They may also see doing evil as part of a duty to an evil deity or master.

Lawful evil creatures consider their alignment to be the best because it combines honor with a dedicated self-interest. Lawful evil is the most dangerous alignment because it represents methodical, intentional, and frequently successful evil.

Frequently successful evil... scared yet? no? 

Let's look at the chart.

And so he spoke... and so he spoke...

“Joffrey, when your enemies defy you, you must serve them steel and fire. When they go to their knees, however, you must help them back to their feet. Elsewise no man will ever bend the knee to you. 

Tywinn Lannister - A Storm of Swords

Lord Tywinn Lannister, Hand of the King, Lord of Casterly Rock, Warden of the West, Lord Paramount of the Westerlands, Savior of the City and Protector of the Realm. Tywinn follows a very strict code where he puts his family's name in fron of everything. Lannisters must rule, no matter what. He sticks to protocol whenever it is needed, and was smart enough to manipulate the Freys into killing Robb Stark. He pretty much had Westeros all for himself until Tyrion put a bolt in his gut.

But he was like-able wasn't he?

I'll leave you with a final thought.

The real danger in a Lawful Evil character is not how evil they are ... but their ability to have others do evil for him. A study in the 1960s by Yale psychologist Stanley Milgram seeked to find exactly how much harm a regular person could inflict upon another one after being ordered to do so by a person in a position of perceived authority. Here's the Crash course psychology video that explains the experiment and the results thereof.

Scared yet?

Thanks for reading...

Exploding Kittens - DICE HEAD REVIEW

Do you like cats?

How about explosions?

And lasers? Do you like lasers?

How do you feel about goats?

Are you curious to know what would happen if a Pterodactyl and a Bear had a lovechild?

If you answer positively to any of those questions then 1) we should hang out, and 2) We should play exploding kittens while hanging out.

Exploding Kittens is a card game designed by Elan Lee, Shane Small and Matthew Inman from the comic “The Oatmeal”. This project is the wet dream of anyone who has ever wanted to crowdfund a project. The original goal was to raise 10,000 USD. Within minutes (literally minutes…) they had reached their 10,000 USD goal. Then after 7 days they passed the 106,000 backer mark, breaking the record for the most backers in Kickstarter history. By the end of the Kickstarter campaign they had raised $8,782,571 USD in pledges by 219,382 backers.

That’s a lot of money.

So after much designing, playtesting and sending out surveys to their backers, they finally sent out the first batch of exploding kittens all over the world. I myself received mine last week and have played several times since. So today I bring you my review of the game, focusing on what it has to offer, the gameplay experience, and the feel of the game.

WHAT IT HAS:

My version of the game comes with 

1) The rules of the game

2) A regular exploding kittens deck (2 to 5 players)

3) A box to carry the game

In addition to this I opted to buy an additional deck called the "NSFW deck" which can be played as a standalone deck, or by adding it to the regular deck to allow for more players (and more 'SPLOSIONS!). As you may imagine the "NSFW deck" has more... "adult" illustrations, but if you've ever read any comic on The Oatmeal site, then you know what to expect.

The NSFW deck contains:

1) The rules of the game (including a guide on how to mix it with the regular deck)
2) An NSFW exploding kittens deck (2 to 5 players)

3) A box to carry the game

GAMEPLAY!

The game describes itself as a "Russian roulette". You draw cards until you draw an exploding kitten, which then causes you to explode, losing the game in the process. You win the game by playing cards to either avoid drawing a card, or avoid death by kitty explosion.

The types of cards:

Exploding kittens: The deck starts with a number of exploding kittens equal to one less than the number of players (4 exploding kittens for 5 players, 3 for 4, etc)

Green cards: These are the defuse cards, you use them to defuse the exploding kittens and avoid death by 'splosion. After successfully playing this card (see the red NOPE card) you may re-insert the exploding kitten ANYWHERE in the deck (which lends itself to some pretty nasty strategies).

Blue Cards: lets you skip a turn.

Pink Cards: See the future by looking at the top 3 cards of the deck and returning them in the same order.

Orange cards: Attack cards. Lets you skip a turn and makes the next player take 2 turns.

Brown cards: These cards let you shuffle the deck before you draw a card.

Black cards: Favor cards let you choose another player and have him choose a card from his hand and give it to you.

Red cards: The Nope card. This card negates any other card except for the exploding kitten and defuse cards, and may be played at anytime to stop another player from doing anything. MY FAVORITE TYPE OF CARD BY FAR.

Yes, that card does say "Don a portable cheetah butt"

Cat cards: There are other cards with kitty-related illustrations. These cards do nothing on their own, but if played together (two of a kind, three of a kind, 5 different cards) they let you execute other advanced plays, like picking a card from your opponent's hand, or picking a card from the discard pile.

 Everyone starts the game with 5 cards in their hand: 1 Defuse card, and 4 random cards from the deck. After the cards have been dealt, the remaining defuse cards and the exploding kittens are mixed with the rest of the cards, the deck is placed in the center of the table and the game can begin!

The game starts out at a moderate pace, and since everyone starts with a defuse card, everyone has a fair chance of not getting blow up in the first few rounds. But then as the deck becomes smaller, the impending doom becomes greater and greater. The tension builds up as players start exploding faster and faster, It's tons of fun because even when you blow up and lose you feel like you're having a great time!

GENERAL OVERVIEW

This game is fun. I tried it out at home, then with some friends at a party, and we had a blast. You could see the cards as simple colored cards, but it's way more fun to actually read the descriptions and appreciate the bizarre drawings on them. One of my favorite things is watching a person draw a card, and see how their face goes from a confused look to a snort and a laugh in a few seconds.

Now, about the nope card...

I've mentioned before how much I love the nope card, but you have to experience the thrill that comes with playing one of these by yourself. Imagine it's down to just two of you and your friend draws a card. It's an exploding kitten. He plays it and tries to defuse it via a Catnip sandwich card. But then you slap your nope card on the table with a loud "NOPE!". He smiles  cockily as the pulls out a SECOND defuse card, this time a "Cat therapy" card. He seems to have saved himself from the impending explosion but "NOPE!"... you had a SECOND nope card in your hand! Now he's done, defeated! BOOM!!! there goes the exploding kitten, and the game is yours!

So good... SO GOOD.

The game is very fast so you could play a good 3 or 4 rounds within an hour once everyone's familiarized with the rules and how to play. And learning the rules is really easy and fast. The game states that you'll spend 2 minutes learning to play, and 15 minutes playing it. I'd say this is pretty accurate.

The Illustrations by Matthew Inman are simple yet hilariously comical. One has to wonder how he comes up with stuff like "A Butt tuba spelled backwards is still A butt tuba" and then make an illustration for that. But like I said before, if you are familiar with his comics then this is exactly what you'd expect from him. 

As of right now only the backers of the Kickstarter campaign will receive copies of it, however the Exploding Kittens website has put up a mailing list in case you'd like to be notified when new sets of the game are available for purchase.

Considering all of this, I would definitely recommend picking this game up once it's available for purchase. Take it to a party and play it with your friends, have a few drinks and enjoy the sillyness of this very unique game.

Let me know what other products you would like to see me review next (If any). I'm working on a "Legend of the 5 rings RPG" review, on top of some other things, but I really welcome your feedback regarding this blog and I look forward to reviewing some other games for you, so if you have any favorites that you'd like to recommend to me, then leave a suggestion in the comment section below

So you want to play Dungeons and Dragons...

But Julio! – you say- I’ve never played Dee Enn Dee before! What’s an Arr Pee Gee? You make it sound so fun and epic and I wish to learn more!

Well, my friends there’s a many ways I could describe how you play D&D (or any other type of tabletop RPG). If you can get together with some friends and play, that’s the best way to learn the game. You need at least 4 (maybe 3) people to play the game, one of which needs to act as a Dungeon Master. Groups could be bigger than that, although I would advise you to keep your groups below 6 or 7 players.

Basically, you and a group of friends will get together, and play out a story. One of you will be the "referee" or "judge", and the rest of you will play a part in the story. You will most likely use dice to determine how good your character is at doing the things he or she does, and you will keep your character's skills, strengths and weaknesses on a character sheet.

Before you begin:

You should have a character creating session with your group, in which you will decide what type of hero or adventurer you will play. I'm assuming you already have the core book(s) for the game you want to play, these should have enough information for you to make the character you want to play.

After making your characters, you and your friends need to agree on what type of game you want to play. If you leave this up to your DM, that’s fine, but it always helps to give him an idea of what type of story you’d like to play. Or what type of story your characters are going to be involved in for the duration of your campaign or adventure. Keep in mind that an adventure can take months, and a full-fledged campaign could take years to complete. So make sure to tell your DM what makes your character want to be an adventurer. 

Now, with that in mind, here’s some tips for when you start playing.

Fun fact: My mom was actually a pretty badass cleric in one of my sessions

Be present

The most important thing to remember when playing a tabletop RPG, is to pay attention.

Pay attention to what your DM is saying. He’s describing the world around you, the actions of the people around you, and repercussions of those actions. Failing to pay attention to the DM will cause him or her to have to keep describing everything over and over again to you. After a while, this becomes tiresome both for the DM and for the other players, it slows the game down. And, as you will soon know, slowing the game down is the first of many things you should avoid around a gaming table.

This should go without saying, but you should also pay attention to what the other players say. They also play a (major) part in the story, just like you. So, in the same way that you want people to listen to how great your character is, you should listen to how awesome their characters are.

Know your character

Look, everyone gets a free pass for the first few sessions. But if it’s been 4 months, playing twice per month, and you STILL don’t know what you should roll to hit with your weapon/spell/skill then your friends are going to start to hate you, and eventually you might notice that your character will be the focal point of all the enemies’ attacks (hint hint, your DM hates you too).

How do you avoid being that character? Well, get invested! There are books that cover game mechanics that could help you get familiarized with the game, but if you ask your friends and pay attention (See: Be Present) you will have no problem remembering basic game mechanics after a few sessions. And if your DM brought paper and pencils, you can also make quick notes on the “Notes” part of your character sheet. 

You could also grab a separate piece of paper and keep a personal journal for your characters. Your Dungeon Master is (or should be) absolutely obsessed with office supplies by now. So ask for a few loose pieces of paper, a pencil and a stapler and boom, you now have a character journal, which should help you out when trying to keep track of several details within the game, character traits, equipment, plot points, you name it.

And Finally:

Be nice

No one gives up 4 to 6 hours of their weekend to have a bad time. Be nice to the other players and your Dungeon Master.  This is a group you will be meeting for several days a month, and you guys should be able to at least get along. I’m not going to give you a list of things you should or not say around a tabletop RPG table, because common courtesies and good manners are learned at home.

If you’re nice, you’ll see how more and more people will want to have you in their games.

If you’re a douchebag, your DM will eventually take you aside and politely tell you that he and the other players don’t want to play with you anymore. On account of how much of a douche you are.

That’s it. Everything I just wrote can be summarized in three simple points: Pay attention, know your character, and be nice.

Now that I’ve given some basic tips for new GMs and players, I’ll leave the the next topic open to you guys. Last time I got two awesome and very creative suggestions for future posts. “cat herding” and “What do I do if my players want to be murderhobos?”

I think I'll address these suggestions/questions in a post where I'll talk about dealing with certain kinds of players. Until then, I hope you enjoy playing Dungeons & Dragons, or any other type of Role Playing Game, and as always...

Thanks for reading

The lawless benefactor - Chaotic Good

- You know something Robin I was just wonderin'... Are we good guys or bad guys? You know... I mean... our robbin' the rich to feed the poor...

- ROB?!? tsk tsk tsk that's a naughty word. We NEVER rob! We just... sort of borrow a bit from those who can afford it!

- Borrow? heh... boy are we in debt

Chaotic Good. The hero of the people, who opposes the law because laws are meant to be broken, tied to a horse, dragged around the streets naked, and then burnt while the newly freed people celebrate their hero.

Chaotic Good is another one of those alignments that come up very often in a Roleplaying game, mostly because it's easier to roleplay someone who does not follow the rules. A true Chaotic Good character is not as simple as that though. From my point of view a Chaotic good character is very likely to turn Chaotic Evil, even more so than a Chaotic Neutral character. Crazy huh? Let me elaborate on that.

A chaotic Good character will go out of his way to denounce and fight the inequities imposed by society and its laws. Why should there be kings that live in opulence when their people are starving? Why do people starve when there's more than enough food for everyone? Why am I threatened with jail time when all I've done is denounce the corruption of the state publicly with my opinion? Absolute power corrupts absolutely, so there should be no absolute power! Freedom is the right of all sentient beings! Let's take away from the rich and give to the poor! All these statements resonate very well with the Chaotic Good alignment. And each and everyone of them could lead down a very dangerous path, in which the line between good and evil is no longer clear, and the heroes become the villains by doing what they think is right, but ends up hurting more people than helping them. 

These characters usually have a hard time dealing with the aftermath of their revolutionary actions. Once the evil tyrant is gone, who's left to lead the people? you? Of course not, you don't believe in order. You believe in freedom and in doing everything you want to do regardless of what the world thinks of you. So why would you replace an Evil Tyrant's government system with another one that limits the freedom of the people you just saved?

See? not so simple if you think about it!

Not everything needs to be 1500 shades of grey though. So let's look at the positive side of this alignment

Chaotic Good characters have good intentions, possibly the best intentions, They are quite possibly the best type of heroes, since they act quickly and are very emphatic with the ones they want to save.

Here's the textbook definition of Chaotic Good:

A chaotic good character acts as his conscience directs him with little regard for what others expect of him. He makes his own way, but he's kind and benevolent. He believes in goodness and right but has little use for laws and regulations. He hates it when people try to intimidate others and tell them what to do. He follows his own moral compass, which, although good, may not agree with that of society.

Chaotic good is the best alignment you can be because it combines a good heart with a free spirit.

Chaotic good can be a dangerous alignment when it disrupts the order of society and punishes those who do well for themselves.

So that quote at the beginning should make it pretty obvious who we're going to add to the chart, right?

Drumroll...

PLOOOOT TWIST!!!

PFFFTTT!!! YOU THOUGHT I'D KEEP USING THE SAME TYPE OF TEASER/REVEAL ON EVERY POST!!! HAH!!! CHAOTIC GOODNESS DOES NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR RULES!!!

ROW ROW, FIGHT THA POWAH!!

Simon: Force your way down a path YOU choose to take, and do it all yourself! That's the way Team Dai-Gurren rolls!

Nia: Even when trapped by karma's cycle...

Yoko: The dreams we left behind will open the door!

Leeron: Even if the universe stands against us...

Viral: Our burning blood will cut through fate!

Simon: We'll break through heavens and the dimensions!

All: And defy all who would stop us to grab hold of our path!

Simon: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann!

All: JUST WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK WE ARE?!

— Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

Fun fact: Kamina (The dude with the awesome cape) is Chaotic Good BIG TIME.

TEAM DAI GURREN!!! AAAAAWWWW YYYEEEAAAAAAHHH!!!! ROW ROW FIGHT THA POWAH!!!

These guys are Chaotic Good to the core. If you haven't seen this anime I highly recommend it.

Thanks for reading

The Hero - Neutral Good

The Hero - Neutral Good

*Notes from the Present: After writing the entry for Lawful Good, I started working on Neutral Good, but then life happened, and I lost interest in the project. What follows is completely new material, fresh out the oven. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it and doing research for it.

"What do you mean?" he said. "Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?"

Neutral Good, the alignment that most, if not all, of the heroes we know from comic books, tv-shows and mainstream media tend to fall on. What is Neutral Good in a nutshell? Well simply put: whoever chooses to do good deeds, aid those who can’t fend for themselves, and at the same time does not fully associate himself with the law. He does good because it’s the right thing to do.

The man who stole the loaf of bread a couple of posts ago was going through some hard times. A Neutral Good character would have more than likely gone out of his way to buy a loaf of bread and give it to the man before he committed the crime. They do not care who needs help, he or she will help regardless of whether it’s done because it is dictated by society's morals or ethics or even the laws themselves.

Here’s what most player handbooks say about this alignment:

Neutral Good can be the best alignment you can be because it means doing what is good without bias for or against order. Neutral Good characters value freedom and will protect others' freedom as long as it's not used to do harm.

Understandably, this alignment can be confused a lot with Chaotic Good, but a good way to set the two of them apart is remembering that Neutral good is a lot more practical and a lot more moderate than Chaotic Good. Although both are led by a more internal code of morality, rather than an external code or set of morals, Neutral good tends to stick to the safe and practical side of "doing good deeds".

Simply put: If the Neutral Good character lives in a society where the laws allow or help him to do what he believes is good. Then he will abide by the law. However, if the laws impede them to do what they internally find to be good, they will find no problem in breaking those laws. Only… you know… not as extremely as Chaotic Good, who would not only save the children. They would also go and burn the churches, kill the priests, hack the planet, boom.

And here you see one of the problems with Alignments. When you need to define what is good and what is evil. Maybe your morals dictate that something that is good for someone else, is actually very twisted and evil for you. What is good? what is bad? what is love? baby don't hurt me... don't hurt me... no more...

SO! Who would be a good example? One who Serves kings and magistrates but is not beholden to them, right?

Dumroll…

He levels up by killing a Balrog in a 1v1 fight... also kind of a dick move since he shared NONE of the xp...

GANDALF!

He does not stop to think about the laws of men, Hobbits, Elves or Orcs when doing his duty as one of the Istari. He travels middle earth doing good, even though his definition of good clashes with others like Denethor, Théoden or Boromir. Who, let’s face it, were ALL doing what was good by their own set of morals. Here’s Gandalf at his finest: with the most ominous quote from the book and the movies.

“Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. For even the very wise cannot see all ends. I have not much hope that Gollum can be cured before he dies, but there is a chance of it. And he is bound up with the fate of the Ring. My heart tells me that he has some part to play yet, for good or ill, before the end; and when that comes, the pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many - yours not least.” 

Gandalf – The Fellowship of the Ring

If you google "Meaning of foreshadowing", you find that quote.

Thanks for reading! What do you think? Did I get it right? Was I HORRIBLY off-point in this one? leave a comment and tell me what you think!

The Paladin - Lawful Good

“He could have tried. He could have died. Old or young, a true knight is sworn to protect those who are weaker than himself, or die in the attempt.”

Again… remember that quote for me ok? ;)

 Lawful good… I took my sweet time to write this because of several reasons. One: I wasn’t sure which side of the chart I was going to cover after “Neutral”. Two: I don’t like to play LG. Three: since I don’t like to play it… research was needed for this one. Four: I wanted a true example of LG to fill the chart, but I also wanted to have a woman as the example. Let’s face it, out of the whole hero population; Lawful good female heroes are about 15% of it. But I found her, and it’s funny because she was right under my nose. And thanks to that we don’t have a sausage-fest in the chart anymore (I know… Treebeard is a tree, but his voice is manly, so there) (Notes from the future: A wood joke... there was a wood joke here, and I missed it... DAMN IT me from the past... DAMN IT)

A Lawful good character lives by a code, a strong set of rules that define his actions. He or she also believes that these rules exist to help those in need. To protect the weak and uphold justice, honor and morality, while also being humane and kind to those who need it, and ruthless to those who would violate the law and do evil upon his fellow man/woman.

 Now, how do we avoid becoming “that paladin” who instead of Lawful Good just seems to be “Lawful Stupid”?

The one that will throw the party’s rogue into the hands of the authorities because he picked some noble’s pocket to get the key they needed to save the slaves.

The one that will throw a sermon every single time anyone breaks the law, ANY LAW, at anytime, anywhere, and even go as far to act as Judge, Jury, and Executioner on the spot (Sound familiar? This is how Lawful Neutral USED to be played in the old days… thankfully it’s been rewritten)

The one that decides he needs to convince every single NPC of how good his deity is, to the point where it’s impossible to start an adventure without some kind of conflict of ideas between him and the quest giver.

Ugh… yeah… that one

Basically we need to keep this in mind: Characters of this alignment believe that an orderly, strong society with a well-organized government can work to make life better for the majority of the people. To ensure the quality of life, laws must be created and obeyed. When people respect the laws and try to help one another, society as a whole prospers. These characters strive for those things that will bring the greatest benefit to the most people and cause the least harm.

 Keywords for Lawful Good:  Honor, Tradition, Justice, Fairness, and the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few.

 So… who’s going up on the Lawful Good bracket on our chart? The same person who said those words at the beginning of this post…

 *Drumroll*

 

Coming very soon to a theater near you wearing Chrome Plated armor and an assault rifle...

Brienne of Tarth!

Simply put: Brienne is a Knight in Shining Armor who is willing to risk life and limb to fulfill an oath she has taken or to protect innocent people, despite the fact that she lives in a Crapsack World dominated by dishonorable or even outright evil men and gets little respect or glory for it.

Remember that scene in the Game of Thrones tv-series where she faces a road bandit who has just threatened to rape her just as he did rape a woman he left hanging from a noose on a tree… and after beating him in a sword fight she shoves her sword straight up his rectum?

That… my friends… means Lawful good does not necessarily mean “Lawful Nice”.

*shudder*

*Notes from the future: 
As I mentioned before, this article is a bit dated, since Lawful goodness is no longer directly related to Paladinhood. Personally I like it a lot more the way it is now. An alignment should not be a straightjacket for character development. What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!