Morality System - "Roleplay Policing"

By Ebak, in General Discussion

Location of tongue relative to cheek noted. ;)

If this system tells me anything, it's that I should embrace the Dark side as quickly as possible because for a lousy 2 strain I get power, unlimited power. Also, cookies. If anything, the Dev's are being too gentle, especially compared to the WotC and WEG versions. For me, I think they've hit the sweet spot: Darkside is not unplayble in case you want to play a redemption arc or just, you know, revel in it.

Somehow I've just imagined this exchange:

" Don't think that the government doesn't know what the Sith have been up to in the world of Force-wielders ."

" Of course, official -- but this is a matter for Force-wielders and doesn't concern the government ."

" I understand this. Why else do you think the government hasn't interfered? Don't think that we approve, we're merely turning a blind eye... so long as you are careful not to cross the boundaries between your world and ours. If the wind shifts, you'll be swallowed up by your fire, and nowhere in the galaxy could your kind call home ..."

Oh very much so...

Actually, they both expect at least one session to play out exactly like Yojimbo .

What I was thinking was more the idea that a Galactic government is perfectly capable of deciding on a Great Jedi Purge without Sith manipulation, not least because it might well be against the Sith (too)... :P

I find it interesting though to imagine a Galactic government that, through keeping their distance from the Jedi instead of embracing them, is capable of knowingly letting the Sith war with the Jedi play out so long, because they don't consider that (the culture of Force-wielders and primacy within it) their " world " anyway, so long as the Sith return the favor in not considering secular governance within their purview either*... basically, imagine if the Jedi and Sith were the Fringe. ;)

(In the exchange that I adapted, an Imperial guard official was talking to a Wudang sect -- yes, that " Wu-Tang " -- assistant headmaster after a Wudang martial artist defeated an Imperial guardsman -- who'd trained in a rival school -- in a exhibition duel before the Emperor... essentially attempting a " don't get too cocky ". Funny thing is, the Wudang assistant headmaster had already sucked up to them after the duel by telling the Emperor that it's more efficient to train an army than martial artists, and that it was a zero-sum thing between attaining " the zenith of martial arts " and... doing anything else, really.)

* At one point, the starting protagonist is flat-out told that if he abandons the martial life he'll drop off the Wudang's radar and never be bothered by them again, and so far the depiction of the Wudang (even when they're by themselves) is of obsession to the point of myopia. Hell, one discontented Wudang warrior leaves home only to find that his fighting skills doesn't do **** when it comes time to actually try to find food in the wild, and he didn't bring any money or supplies either... because other/more worldly Wudang previously took care of that for him.

Should droids use Morality?

Should droids use Morality?

No reason not to. Think of it as going against and/or following the programming of their ethics circuits. But like Lorne said, it's mostly important for the Force users. If non-Force users in your campaign are tracking Morality there's no reason droid players shouldn't.

Should droids use Morality?

No reason not to. Think of it as going against and/or following the programming of their ethics circuits. But like Lorne said, it's mostly important for the Force users. If non-Force users in your campaign are tracking Morality there's no reason droid players shouldn't.

So battle droids (or assassin droids) will lose strain for following their basic programming.

NPCs don't follow the same rules as PCs.

If it's a PC Assassin Droid and it's a Murder Hobo, then by the rules of F&D it is also a Force User and following Morality. Case Closed.

Which is just one of the reasons why I hate Morality and am dumping it whole cloth.

Edited by evileeyore

NPCs don't follow the same rules as PCs.

If it's a PC Assassin Droid and it's a Murder Hobo, then by the rules of F&D it is also a Force User and following Morality. Case Closed.

Which is just one of the reasons why I hate Morality and am dumping it whole cloth.

Well, for one, Morality itself is intended to be something meant for players focusing on their connection to the force. As such, you will notice droids are not a selectable species in FaD's core, and subsequently, most careers in FaD are completely awful for a droid due to their reliance on having at least 1 force rating. For another, you'll notice, presuming you've gotten the AoR Core/Beta, that there is presently nothing so far on integrating the other cores or running campaigns with Morality in addition to Duty/Obligation at the same time, which means you don't know yet how droids are actually supposed to work with FaD.

And finally, why can't a droid follow morality? Entire point of a PC playing a droid is that its gotten personality quirks and subsequently has the freedom to choose and act as it pleases. Sure, there'll be programming that may get in the way and they need to resist it if they choose to, but if a droid is going to be one that entirely follows programming, then hell, it should just be an NPC that the other players tell what to do.

Edited by Lathrop

Should droids use Morality?

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Again, the Morality mechanic does not tell you what to do. It doesn't tell you when to brush your teeth, what kind of speeder to buy or who to vote for. All the mehcanic tries to do is keep a moral accounting of your PC's past actions and manifest them in the metaphysics of the Force (mostly, what color pips to use).

I actually really like the way it's worded and set up in the book. The Conflict table even supports a wide degree of moral relativism, which I like. It really only punishes people for deliberately taking advantage and preying on the innocent. Even the Conflict I don't like, "Knowing Inaction," is only worth 1 Conflict and only if the target in question is considering unprovoked assault, cruelty, or murder.

And come on, if someone you knew was going to go torture somebody and you didn't do anything to stop them, you'd probably feel a lot worse than 1 Conflict.

My Thoughts on Morality

In this wide, wonderful universe, there exist a mind-bogglingly large number of beings in the galaxy. Every one of these beings, due to culture, upbringing, personal intuition and desires, or simply "brain wiring" has their own code of conduct about what is right and wrong. About where their own line exists that they will not cross, and what is "good" or "evil".

The Force does not care .

The Force has it's own list of what's right and wrong, and when you have a character that's attuned to the universe, and the universe is reflected upon them, then the characters moral code can confilct with the Force's and cause them to slip to the Dark Side. Anakin didn't want to go Dark Side. But he did, because he was afraid. And reckless. And loved so hard that he refused to let anyone take away the object of his love. He thought he was obeying the Force, as he believed it. The Force did not care, and Anakin was lost.

Now, F&D gave us this rather ingenious and really friendly system for tracking how close (or far) someone is to going dark. Is this mechanic emboldening the Morality Police GMs to enforce their own moral code on their players? Possibly. But the universe decides what is good and evil. The Devs I think have done a really decent job giving a pretty codefied list of what will cause Conflict, and a mechanism to limit someone from "gaming the system". As long as the GM and the players try to use the chart and stick with it, it should keep the arguments over how much conflict is awarded to a minimum.

They've also give players a chance to make those questionable moral choices, and do acts for selfish or aggressive reasons, and potentially not cause it to screw over your character. Or maybe you will, if you happen to score a 10 on the d10. That's the risk, that's the gamble. That's the temptation.

That's the Dark Side.

:D

I like this system. On paper, it looks pretty fair. I'm eager to see in a week how it plays out in practice.

Now, concerning Morality and other, non-Force Sensitive characters. In My Opinon , I would not use Morality for characters without a Force Rating. They certainly can still do malicious acts of violence, hatred, and selfishness, but they're not in synch with the universe. The powers of the Dark Side might appreciate the work their doing in their name (wittingly or not), but that Dark Side energy isn't going to weaken the non-Force Sensitive. It's going to cause them to poison the Destiny Pool. Certainly isn't going to make them use Dark Side pips on the Force die...because they never use it.

Duty with Force Sensitives? Absolutely. Obligation with Force Sensitives? Certainly. All three? Tricky, but do-able. Morality with non-Force Sensitives? Nigh-pointless mecanically from an in-universe perspective. Save yourself the mental bandwith and don't worry about it. I'm sure you have enough problems with Obligations.
^_^

/drops 2 credits

MTDBWY

It's easy to not use the Morality if you don't think it fits.

My inclination is to use it for everyone - including droids and non-Force Sensitive characters.

The narrative purpose of Morality seems two-fold to me:

1. Model the struggle with the Dark Side and tapping that source of power that's a fundamental theme to Star Wars.

This really only applies to force users.

2. Model the internal struggle with doing what's right and the conflict of moral virtues (check out the Emotional Strength/Weakness table) - Bravery vs Anger, Love vs Jealousy, Compassion vs Hatred, etc.

This applies to everyone. And adds an interesting element to the game.

Han Solo is a great example of this - he struggles with Obligation, Duty and Morality.

Got me thinking, wouldn't as sentient droid rewrite his programming bit by bit with daily activities and decisions?

Right now I dont have a complex idea what that would mean for my droid, but the +wound threshhold /-strain makes sense.

A droid that is more likely to kill/steal/crush/lie could become just as "antsy" as a human could, because the rest of his primary programming still lingers somewhere in his circuits, starting an internal argument between:

" He appears troubled, if I can calm him he could help us later " and

" This "meatbag" is an incoherent babble of useless information. Can I shoot him? "

with no inherent moral guidance (think upbringing/education)

Edited by derroehre

I posted this over in the mechanics section, but I thought I'd get move views with a repost:

"A Non force sensitive who becomes a paragon of either light or dark, has developed a reputation that affects how Obligation and Duty interact with the character.
A Dark side paragon gains an Obligation equal to 30 minus his morality. This should be related to his reputation- Criminal, Bounty, or so forth. His duty is also considered to be less by the same amount, as your superiors are afraid to reward you as they should, not wanting to condone your actions.
A Light side paragon , conversely, is considered "legitimate and aboveboard", able to rely on their reputation to protect them from the consequences of their obligations. Their obligation is considered to be (morality minus 70) less. You also are fast tracked by your superiors- your duty is considered to be higher, and allows the party to reach a new contribution rank faster (and you start the new contribution rank with this bonus duty as well)"

So far every time I've handed out conflict the players have been like "yeah, I saw that coming". As Dart GM said it's super fair if use the chart. Even if you generate 5 conflict in a session you stand a good chance of coming out with a morality boost.