38 replies to this topic

[Bahamut810]

Hmm, unfortunately I can't see slavery being allowed in Aurum. At the end of the day the god Aurus is Lawful Good

Depends on the religion.  Jeudism (sic) and Christianity (becuase of the old test.) both somewhat endorce slavery.  Their alignment is arguable though .

[Prince of Boredom]

Well, I'd say that the Judeo-Christian god is clearly Lawful Good (though more lawful in the old testament and more good in the new testament), but that doesn't necessarily equate to the religion being the same.

That being said, this is D&D and there is black and white, with very little grey in between.  With the proper powers (and there may be those out there even if not the pc's) the alignment of people and even some objects can be discerned.  So there is actual Evil vs. the more White Wolf view (realistic) that evil is somewhat in the eye of the beholder.

And it is clearly stated in various D&D books that slavery, regardless of its reasons, is inherently an evil practice.  Does that mean that owning a slave makes one evil?  Not necessarily, but it definately pushes one in that direction.  Cultural relativism only goes so far in D&D.

[Bahamut810]

Oddyknocky

Im just saying that it was somewhat endorces (at least in the book of lavidicus, where the rules are).  I do think there oculd be some 'good' slave owners even in DnD...what about the guy who buys a slave, but treats the slave with respect?  I dont think that DnD is black and white...people just like to play it that way.

[Prince of Boredom]

what about the guy who buys a slave, but treats the slave with respect?

But wouldn't it be better to buy the slave, and then set it free?  As long as one is a slave, their fundamental liberty is taken away from them.  No matter how nicely you treat them, they are not getting paid for their services and they can't leave even if they want to.

I dont think that DnD is black and white...

Sure, I suppose for those people who take one of the neutral alignments...

[ProfPotts]

I agree with PoB that the standard DnD setting material leans strongly towards a 'back & white' 'good Vs evil' morality - for the reasons he's already pointed out. In essence, in such a setting, there is a universal standard of morality - killing innocents is bad, slavery is bad, torture is bad, etc. - & alignment can play a big role in such a setting.

If I recall correctly a god's Clerics can be up to one position away from that god on one of their alighment axis - so a Lawful Good god can have Lawful Good, Neutral Good, & / or Lawful Neutral Clerics in his / her / its employ.

I asked about the slavery thing because in fantasy settings, especially DnD stuff, there are societies with (by modern standards) pretty enlightened morality systems.

Historically pretty much any society you'd care to examine has had slavery in one form or another - & in most cases it wasn't really such a bad thing as fantasy settings suggest: they tend to take their que from the (relatively recent, historically speaking) European / American trade in African slaves - which was far worse than most older 'slavery' systems in many regards. In many historic societies slaves were closer to our more modern concept of a 'wage slave' (i.e. someone who has little choice but to do the job they've ended up being stuck with) - slaves could often earn their own money, gain freedom, rise to any level on the social scale, & often had better living conditions than many poor non-slaves (in fact, in some societies, people would sell themselves into slavery rather than live the life of poverty). In such a society slavery wouldn't be 'evil' by its very nature (in fact, the original 'utopia' concept was based around a society where a slave class did all the work!) - in DnD (& PoB's setting) it is evil by its very nature: so it makes perfect sense that his Lawful Good ruled society wouldn't allow such a thing to exist within its borders.

I'll think some more on the ol' back-story... but there's no way I'm having a character enslaved to a Hobbit (which, by the way, is all copywright & stuff by the estate of the late, great, JRR - so we should probably stick to calling them 'halflings' - & in any case, the halfling pictures in the new DnD books look a lot nicer than any hair-legged ol' Bilbo!    ).

I'm thinking that she (my character - as yet nameless 'Barbarian chick') was captured in her homeland by an enemy tribe & traded to the desert nomads for horses (selling captured enemies into slavery being a relatively common occurance in that part of the world), like PoB suggested, ending up in one of the great opulant cities of the region. There she was trained in befitting skills (sandwich making & the like ), before... [insert how character gets hooked up with other PCs]. I'd quite like to steer away from the old 'hated her new life & escaped' bit - since her new life would have been filled with wonders undreamt of in her homeland, not to mention regular meals she didn't have to kill & skin herself, shelter of the most comfortable kind, nice new clothes, & all those other comforts & luxuries which come with so-called 'civilisation'. I'm not planning on playing her as totally subservient or anything (not with that firey feral Barbarian temper just under the skin), but just as 'relatively content with her lot in life'.

I guess if their are no appropriate PCs (halfling rangers not being noted for their slave-ownership, for example ) having her along with one of the NPC merchants would seem to make some sort of sense. Of course if you, PoB, are uncomfortable with the idea of an enslaved PC then I can dream up some way she's obtained freedom - maybe her master fell for her & freed her to marry her or something? I just thought it'd be an interesting concept to play.

[Bahamut810]

Dernet!  I wanna win you in a poker game!  You know you love that nice hobbit ownership!!  Ill give you a nice collar and everything!!

[Prince of Boredom]

So, in the spirit of all of these old games having new life being brought into them, I'd like to rejuvenate this thread and see if there is still any interest in this D&D game.

If I do run it, it will be on a different site that is a bit better equipped to handle D&D games, and Heritage has volunteered to help as a co-DM (I've put a fair amount of thought into this in the last year or so).

So, let me know if you have any interest in playing, or helpimg me and Heritage out as a DM, I never turn down help.

P.S. While knowledge of 3.5 D&D rules is of course helpful, I am more than willing to work with someone totally new to the D20 world, and based on your character concept helping you build a character.

P.S.S This is not a game that is going to start tomorrow!  This is still has lead time involved in getting various pieces together, but I'm trying to see if it's worth my time to do so.
PoB

[SkyLion]

Shade Sentinel is running a DnD game as well that needs players...

[tooho]

I'm interested! My D&D books are getting dusty.