[UA] Morality

[James Palmer]

[Greg] >> I find this very, very interesting. What, exactly, do they
>feel is STOPPING them from being moral?

[Chad] I think that there's some undercurrents in the game that say
"Try to be moral/heroic and the universe will smack you down."
There's also the aspect that being moral or heroic isn't
empowering, while being amoral/immoral *is* empowering. "The
meaner you are, the more powerful you are, and can do what you
will with impunity."

[James]
I strongly disagree with this, especially the ‘with impunity’ part.  The two 
main sources
of power (in personal, supernatural terms) in UA are Avatars and magick.  
Avatars are double-edged; sure, you can be an Avatar of the Dark Stalker, or 
the Executioner, or whatever, and get there by being a bastard - but you 
have to be a bastard in a very specific way, and you could have chosen to be 
a dedicated Martyr, the Flying Woman, or whatever.  What Avatar you follow, 
and the interpretation you give to it (for they all have two sides) is very 
much your choice.

Magick; yes, you generally have to be screwed up, but your actions have a 
very definite impact on you, and the world around you.

Sources of power that aren’t supernatural; let’s look at the next point Chad 
makes -

[Chad] Which may very well be the point: morality and heroism are hard
choices which limit you. It can be argued that that's true in
the real world. Interesting points, and one worth thinking
about. But not fun to game out for some people who wish light
entertainment from their gaming.

[James] I think UA reflects the reality of the world very well in its power 
groups.  Those people who have, as far as the OU is concerned, big mojo 
generally have good intentions, tinged with a heavy longing for power, and 
are compromised, though not necessarily fatally, by the rest of the world.   
>From my experiences with people who have real-world power, that’s a fairly 
good picture.  You get exceptions, on both sides, but the general rule, as 
with most things, is shades of grey.

[Chad] However, over and above that, there's a strong feeling
engendered by the setting that if a PC risks his life to save
the child from the tenebrae, scooping the toddler up and running
away from the monster, the child promptly bite his head off with
relish-- because it's actually a baby corpse inhabited by a
teeny-tiny Unspeakable Servant.

[James] Bollocks.  Name me one instance where making a heroic/moral choice 
has this type of nasty and *unexpected* consequence.  Sure, heroic actions 
can be fatal - but they wouldn’t be heroic, if they weren’t?  They’re not 
*pointless*, though, as the heroism in this example is.

One of the great things about the UA setting is that it isn’t dark.  There 
are bad things out there, and there are bad people out there, but they 
aren’t overwhelmingly, unstoppably powerful.  It’ not a nihilistic game.  
The White Wolf games, on the other hand, give off that message very, very 
strongly.

More generally, and ranting for a moment, I think that the rpg community - 
and the sf/fantasy community, come to think of it - have a tendency to focus 
on a model of heroism that isn’t that useful (that of the ‘immediate hero,’ 
who leaps boldly to the rescue), and then whinge that the rest of the world 
- and mainstream literature - has forgotten what ‘true heroism’ is.  I 
hereby name CASTLE FALKENSTEIN and 7TH SEA as particular offenders in this 
regard.  Heroes in real life - well, sometimes they’re people who save 
babies from burning fires, but more often they’re the people who work day 
in, day out with abused children, on tiny salaries and long hours, or who 
hide Jews in their cellar for three years, and they very rarely confront the 
Dark Lord with blades flashing.  (My favourite analogy, actually, is with 
aid work.  Doctors, who get all the glamour, are quite often heroes, yes, 
but it’s the sanitation engineers who save ten times as many lives.)

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