AD&D True Neutral: The Alignment That Tests Every DM
Letâs talk about True Neutral, or as I like to call it, âthe alignment that tests every DM.â Donât get me wrongâitâs not all bad. The concept of balance between good and evil, chaos and law? Itâs cool in theory. In practice, though? Itâs like herding cats while trying to balance a spinning plate on one finger. Welcome to my life as a Dungeon Master.
Hereâs the thing: as a DM, Iâve got a lot on my plate alreadyâworld-building, managing NPCs, keeping the story moving, and making sure the players donât wander off to start a chicken farm in the middle of a dungeon crawl. Adding True Neutral to the mix feels like juggling flaming swords. Is your druid leaning too lawful? Did your ranger just stray 5% into chaotic territory? And donât even get me started on the atonement rules. Oh, your cleric isnât neutral anymore? Guess whatâtime for a quest where you sacrifice 10,000 gold pieces per level to keep your powers.
Now, Iâll admit thereâs a certain beauty to the philosophy of True Neutral. Itâs about seeing the bigger picture, recognizing that every alignment has its place, and keeping the cosmic scales balanced. Itâs not about being indecisiveâitâs about ensuring the world doesnât tilt too far one way or the other. But letâs be real: most players donât treat it that way. They slap True Neutral on their character sheet and call it âflexibility.â For me? That âflexibilityâ turns into a logistical nightmare.
Still, Iâll give credit where itâs due. True Neutral can lead to some fantastic storytelling momentsâwhen itâs done right. A druid fighting to restore balance after a kingdomâs expansion disrupts the natural order? Thatâs gold. A ranger refusing to take sides in a war, instead focusing on protecting innocent bystanders? Solid character development. But when itâs used as an excuse to ignore moral decisions or dodge accountability? Thatâs when my patience wears thin.
So, hereâs my take: True Neutral isnât the worst alignmentâitâs just the trickiest one to pull off. It requires players who are willing to dig deep into the philosophy, and a DM ready to weave it into the story without getting bogged down in charts and rules. Itâs not my favorite, but Iâll admit it has its moments.
If youâve got thoughts on True Neutralâwhether you love it, hate it, or just enjoy watching your DM squirmâthis is your episode.
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I like your take on alignment, when I played AD&D it was always a contentious issue, arguing whether an action was within alignment or not, something the game does not really need.
For the last few years I have been playing B/X, that only has Lawful, Neutral and Chaotic, but the underlying assumption is that players are always âgood" and any enemies are opposed to "good", I take this from the literature of OD&D which shows the journey from the 3 point to the 9 point alignment matrix.
Essentially B/X translates to the AD&D alignments of Lawful Good, Neutral Good and Chaotic Good, which are generally perceived as the alignments most DMs would be comfortable with, so it may be easier to just limit the players to those.