Alignments in the World of Greyhawk

Alignments are one of those things that generate lots of discussion, in part because they've changed meaning over the years. By the time you get to 3rd edition, "Lawful Good" had officially changed meaning to "Obedient Stupid," which made it possibly the most unpopular alignment for player characters. However, it was more intelligible in the early editions of the games, since they were moral axes, not strict, behavioral rules.

The Law/Chaos axis:
Lawful: The needs of society outweigh the needs of the individual. Order is preferable to chaos. Rulers, authorities, and hierarchies exist for a good reason and are necessary to maintain society.

Chaotic: Order, hierarchy, and social convention are restrictive or even harmful. Civilization is a prison. Aristocrats are obnoxious, and disciplined armies are a self-contradictory absurdity to you.

The Good/Evil axis:
Good: Every human and demihuman (i.e. player races) has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Evil: The weak exist to serve the strong. Might makes right. Selfishness is good; charity is for fools.

What about Neutrality? Often, D&D players take "neutral" to mean "amoral," but more often than not, "neutral" played this way is actually "evil." A character who drifts around the world, doing whatever will personally benefit him the most, with little regard for anything but his own profit and increasing power, is chaotic evil, not neutral!

That's right, murder-hobos. You're chaotic evil.

Neutrality in the Greyhawk context means that you believe moral forces must be held in balance for the true good of the world. Civilization has its place, as does wild nature. The hopes and dreams of human beings are held in check by other forces which cull the weak and put limits on ambition.

A classic druid is True Neutral. They are not the enemies of civilization, but neither can they be relied on to help the armies of Gran March go wipe out orcs once and for all. In fact, should the forces of civilization log too many forests, dam up too many rivers, and plow too many plains, a True Neutral druid just might stand back while a tribe of hill giants raids the king's realm, so that nature might reclaim the land and bring balance to the world.


Furthermore, no alignment means "stupid." Just because a Paladin is lawful good doesn't mean he's going to draw his sword and charge into a group of Fire Giants guarding a chasm. A Chaotic Neutral thief is, in fact, able to restrain himself from robbing the king and incurring his wrath. If players are using alignments as an excuse to do insane, self-destructive things, they really are doing it wrong.

Random Snapshot of TTRPG Amazon Ranks

Here are the Amazon ranks in fantasy gaming. D&D 5e is the hobby's juggernaut, but let's see how it's going (omitted non-TTRPG books):

1. D&D Player's Handbook
2. D&D Dungeon Master's Guide
3. D&D Monster Manual
4. ---
5. D&D Xanathar's Guide to Everything
6. D&D Mordenkainan's Tome of Foes
7. D&D Volo's Guide to Monsters
8. D&D Dungeon Master's Screen Reincarnated
9. ---
10. D&D Starter Set
11. ---
12. Pathfinder Playtest Rulebook
13. ---
14. Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide
15. ---
16. ---
17. D&D Guildmaster's Guide to Ravinica
18. ---
19. ---
20. ---
21. D&D Tales From the Yawning Portal.

It's not surprising to see the Pathfinder Playtest Rulebook crack the top 20. Pathfinder is the 2nd-biggest brand in the hobby, and people are interested in what this game will be. It's sucking out all the oxygen in the room for Paizo's other products: Starfinder's fallen down to #40, and original Pathfinder stuff is even lower.  But remember, sales numbers fall off exponentially as you go down the list. The D&D Player's Handbook is #53 in all books, while the Pathfinder Playtest is #1,184. Tales From the Yawning Portal is #2,096.

I think what's likely is we'll see initial numbers out of the gate that put Pathfinder 2 in the top ten in Amazon Fantasy Gaming. It may even crack the top 100 in all books; after all, Starfinder launched at #184. But it will rapidly fall off from there as its audience will be limited largely to the Paizo faithful and their immediate friends.

Is anyone even talking about Starfinder now?