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Keep thee still...   The Master is sleeping now, and if thou dost wake him; well, I wouldst most definitely not want to be in thy boots!   The article which thou dost seek is ready... and 'tis why my Master is now asleep.   He works ever-hard on the articles of which thou dost seek, and like the most powerful magycks, 'tis a wearisome task!   If thou dost want to read the first lesson, get thee to the Guild Hall of Adventurers and seek thee the scrolls of wisdom.   Watch thee out for Klogg, though.   He be the one who cleans the passageways around the Guild, and he be nothing but a poor, sodden pest sometimes.   Why the Master keeps that fool around, I shall never know!

Lesson the Second: Alignment Interaction Between Characters.

Who knows why role-playing games have "Alignments"?   Can anyone tell me...?   YES... you in the chainmail in the back, the one holding the glaive-guisarme.
*Listens attentively*
Uh-huh (he says sarcastically)... "Because otherwise the wheels would not be straight"... hmmm... I think you are looking for the "Car Wars" website; and that is on the other side of the 'net.   How about letting me take a crack at it?   Hmmm...!?   Well; I would say, because there is always an element of good and evil in any role-playing game, and the characters who live in the role-playing world must fall somewhere in there in the grand scheme of things.   Maybe it is not completely correct, maybe it is not as eloquent as it could be; but the general idea is there: Player Characters are going to base their decisions, actions and behavior on whether or not the are Lawful or Chaotic; Good or Evil (and maybe they just might be Neutral on many issues as well).   Sure, a good character can commit an evil act just as well as an evil character can do some good, but there will always be a general attitude &/or philosophy that the character will adhere to, and that is his or her alignment.   In Advanced Dungeons and Dragons there are nine possible alignment paths for any given character, NPC, or creature.   Looking at the chart you may or may not have seen for the Alignments, it can be pretty confusing.   Some alignment combinations may coincide (at least in part) with others.   Here is an example:

Sure, it's not pretty, but I didn't want to scan it and have TSR angry at me.   I DO want to work there someday...

Those nine different combinations have created more havoc between player and DM than just about anything else I have ever known.   Some people want to be the noblest knight in the land, vanquishing evil from the country side and saving the "damsel in distress".   Others want to play the flip side: a dashing villian whose devilish charm could melt the most rigid of sensibilities, relieving any unwary noble of their purse of gold coins.   As a long time DM, I have seen it all... groups of players who want to be the most pious of Paladins and players who want to be nothing more that "Denzar: Eater of Souls and Destroyer of Worlds".   But as we will learn, playing a good (or evil) character is much more difficult than just saying "I am a Neutral Good Mage, may I heal you?" or "I am a Chaotic Evil Fighter, give me your gold before I cut you like a fish".

In the campaign I am a player in now, I am using a 3rd level Paladin named Aeryck Iron-Nail (named after my first character on Ultima Online); your basic, run of the mill Paladin... or is he?   I have always thought that a Paladin is one of the hardest classes to properly play, because of the VERY strict alignment regulations that one must adhere to when playing this type of character.   Sure, it's relatively easy to tithe most of your earnings to your Church/King/Belief/etc; and keeping a limit on the magical items is painless also.   But keeping on the straight and narrow in the Lawful Good alignment is the tough part.   How will you act in certain situations... especially when you must adhere to the strictest of moral codes, no matter what the consequences for your character.   And remember, being Lawful doesn't always equate to being nice.   The same goes for being evil.   An evil character can be sweet as pie, but will still take any given opportunity to get ahead, even if it means leaving his/her party to deal with the dracolich they just ran into.

Our DM (a great guy I work with) put us into a situation where we were kidnapped and taken to the regions most notorious thieves guild.   Sure, I killed the lead rogue who attacked us, but who knew he was good friends with the Big Man On Campus (BMOC) of the thieves guild?   Anyhoo... we were told (at sword point, of course) that we were to break into the Kings castle, steal a book of demon summoning from the Kings Sage, and bring the book to the head of the thieves guild.   Yeah, right... like Aeryck was going to go along with that!   My character was ready to die a slow, painful death so as not to compromise his morals and beliefs.   In our party, there is a Druid named Gallagher (no relation to the comedian) who got into a morality debate with me (in and out of the game) on why I should go ahead and help the thieves guild so that I may live and do more good in the world as opposed to dying fruitlessly.   Well, to make an extremely long story short (we still debate about this at work every now and then) we were able to get out of that situation only to find out that the leader of the guild is the Kings main diplomatic aide with the neighboring kingdoms.   Talk about confusing!   In reality, I figured... "Hey, I can always roll up a new character, but my character cannot do something that he would find morally reprehensible".   In the game, my cahracter gave no quarter.   That is just how it is for him, and it didn't matter to him if nobody else agreed or understood.

Having characters of different (and especially with diametrically opposed) alignments in a party is difficult at best, but one of the best things I have ever come up with as a DM (IMHO) is my rule of never allowing the characters in the group to know the alignment or class of the other players.   I can almost hear the resounding "What?" from many of you.   That's right; I DO NOT let the other players know what the alignment or class of the other characters are.   That is something for them to figure out on their own.   Think about it this way... do you know what the alignment is of your teacher?   Your doctor?   Your mechanic (OK, most mechanics are probably Chaotic Neutral, but that is another story!)?   No, you don't... but you can make reasonable guesses about that person by looking at their actions and the way they interact with you.   The same goes for other characters in any role-playing game.   You may know the person who is playing the character, but that person is not that character and vice versa.   The look on a Paladins face after he/she finds out that they have been working with a Chaotic Neutral Mage will be a classic, especially when the Paladin must explain how he/she worked with the Mage without knowing he/she was chaotic.   IF the Paladin finds out, that is... you just never know.   A really well played evil &/or chaotic character would never reveal him/herself unless absolutely necessary.   That's where not letting the other characters know the classes of the party can come in handy too.   A Chaotic Neutral Thief can pass himself off as a Lawful Good Fighter if need be, enhancing that characters chance of possibly swindling everyone else in the party later.   A Lawful Neutral Cleric could pass himself of as a Chaotic Good Fighter as well, perhaps taking on the guise of a guard in the citadel of an enemy to spy on them.   Alignments are tools for the player to use with his/her character, and not a strict rule to be adhered to in the most stoic fashion.   They should be used to enhance the fun of the game, and not be used to stifle it.

This brings my second article to a close.   I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have.   I know that this article will cause a lot of comments, and keeping in line with the greatest of 'Net traditions, I am actively seeking comments on this article, and suggestions for future articles.   Please do not flood me with requests for creating your campaigns for you.   I have neither the time nor inclination.   IF, however, you need some help with a specific part of your campaign that you are having trouble with, please do not hesitate to e-mail me.

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