Re: what is it about angels?

On Jan 30, 11:37 pm, "psychohist" <psychoh...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> "Will in New Haven" posts, in part:
>
>   Fritz' defiance of the angel reminds me more than
>   a little of Huck Finn when he was sure he would
>   go to Hell if he helped Nigger Jim, but he helped
>   nonetheless. If an angel out of a cloud had told
>   him not to, Huck would still had done the right
>   thing. The most heroic moment in American
>   literature, in my opinion.
>
> I don't remember Jim selling orphans into slavery.

No and Jim's "alignment" wasn't the problem. The problem was that
Huck's belief system told him that helping a slave escape was morally
wrong. It is difficult for a modern to put himself into Huck's
posiiton. If I had been playing a character who thought of himself or
herself as moral or ethical, have had a very hard time putting up with
a slaver, but under the right circumstances it might happen.

>
> I agree with you that part of what Mary is seeing here is a clash
> between a style which allows the characters to figure out their own
> ethics and morals and a system with predefined alignments.  That said,
> given that the system has predefined alignments, I think the angel is
> fulfilling itself perfectly:  it is forcefully reminding the player
> characters of what those alignments are, in a way the player
> characters can't ignore.
>
> Warren J. Dew

Because the angel is so powerful, I think it forced the characters to
a decision that might be correct but could have been left to the
player(s) and been more interesting. If, in defying the angel, they
condemned themselves, well then they condemned themselves. If they
fell into dissension, well then they fell into dissension. Some stuff
just happens. Of course, why they should KNOW that they can't take on
the angel succesfully, if that is what they want to do, is another
story. Encounters that are so transparent that the outcome is known to
the players are not my cuppa tea.

Will in New Haven