Friendship is Dragons
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Page 1607 - Squad Goals
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Well, to be fair to AJ's player, D&D's usual settings allow you to become obscenely rich without exploiting your fellow peeps. You do need to exploit and plunder dungeon denizens though, but then again, if you were going to do it one way or the other...
I can agree with a Lawful Evil alignment for billionaires, but it is of my opinion that at best, the good ones are Lawful Neutral. One billion is the kind of number that sits in the category of so large, people are unable to really grasp its largeness. To make that kind of money, one has to exploit the loopholes in the laws.
That's not entirely true. There is also individuals who offer a brand new service or invention that goes critical. Like the creators of Google. They didn't need to exploit anyone. Just provide a service that was so good, that nearly everyone now uses it. And then they retired after making billions of dollars.
Hell, Google's original creators had the url be part of academics specifically so advertisers couldn't be used and the search results would be organic without people paying for priority results.
They also have a headquarters in Ireland? I think, to get around U.S. Tax law while being rediculously profitable- legal or not avoiding paying taxes to the government that funded the infrastructure that makes your buisness possible is an Evil move. It would be like a wizard using funds from the king of country A to invent a magic item that makes him tons of money, and then moving to country B which has lower taxes on the relevant buisness. Ultimately the people of Country A are the ones that suffer, when their government has less money for things like the army and infrastructure and the various decisions made with that in mind.
There are more Evil companies than Google but the richer you are the more likely you are using some technically legal shenanigans to stay that rich- from tax havens, or trust funds, to just plain lobbying the government for things like tax breaks, and face it Lobbying is basically institutionalized bribery.
There are more Evil companies than Google but the richer you are the more likely you are using some technically legal shenanigans to stay that rich- from tax havens, or trust funds, to just plain lobbying the government for things like tax breaks, and face it Lobbying is basically institutionalized bribery.
They also have less money to give thousands of politicians that do nothing more that argue with each other and be lazy their share of caviar, champagne and big parties
Alright alright, let's cut off the real-world politics before this becomes a YouTube comment section.
Male bovine excrement.
It's actually EASIER to become rich while obeying the law, as you avoid the pitfalls of being caught dealing dirty and losing everything.
Granted, some really big businesses get crooked, because bribing politicians to use policy to choke off newer competition is more profitable than just being in business in certain climates... like a high tax climate where politicians also have major regulatory power beyond the "Don't run dirty businesses" prevention regulations.
But... no. Most businesses are the mom and pop local shops where you get that delicious pizza and the where you do your laundry while your washer is busted.
It's actually EASIER to become rich while obeying the law, as you avoid the pitfalls of being caught dealing dirty and losing everything.
Granted, some really big businesses get crooked, because bribing politicians to use policy to choke off newer competition is more profitable than just being in business in certain climates... like a high tax climate where politicians also have major regulatory power beyond the "Don't run dirty businesses" prevention regulations.
But... no. Most businesses are the mom and pop local shops where you get that delicious pizza and the where you do your laundry while your washer is busted.
The mom and pops aren't the obscenely wealthy, it's not a counter argument if it doesn't apply to the argument. Not that I disagree with your point that it's perfectly possible to be obscenely wealthy while being lawful (in fact, the villain businessman archetype is usually characterized as Lawful Evil in D&D terms), but that's beyond the point.
Well, I don't know why I expected any different than long discussions for even bringing this up...
In a Fallout Equestria game I'm playing in, I've been working towards getting my character into a leadership role in order to reunite two pony factions. It's been a wild ride of ups and downs, but it has been reaching a turning point where I might make a significant dent in that goal. And then I got a hint that my character may be mutating into an alicorn because of exposure to some old mutagen stuff from the old "project" and I'm now curious where this goes.
Often the goals I set for my characters are not the exact goals I end up accomplishing, but I do like a little bit of mystery in where I ultimately see my character end up.
Often the goals I set for my characters are not the exact goals I end up accomplishing, but I do like a little bit of mystery in where I ultimately see my character end up.
So far most of my characters' goals have been some version of "keep doing what I was doing" or "do more of what I think I should be doing" rather than reaching an arbitrary end-goal, although as the story progresses, it makes sense that the resolution of the campaign becomes their more intermediate goal. I did have a couple characters who had proper end-goals, but as their understanding was appropriately shattered by the bigger picture (or whatever version of it became available to them), those goals necessarily shifted.
Of course, some goals can always be salvaged regardless of the circumstances, like the case of a person who wants divine power for power's sake, or for selfish reasons, but eventually discovers a vein of good in their heart and realize they could make a positive difference with said power. Character growth could mean the goals change, or it could mean the motivations do.
Of course, some goals can always be salvaged regardless of the circumstances, like the case of a person who wants divine power for power's sake, or for selfish reasons, but eventually discovers a vein of good in their heart and realize they could make a positive difference with said power. Character growth could mean the goals change, or it could mean the motivations do.
It's not about how much you have, or how much you want to have, but what you plan to do with it.
Joke's on the players, they already know the all end up teachers.
I'm just picturing that there's about 12 days in a year where the Goddess of Parties just rests and recovers for a bit, because you can't party forever.
In truth, the loot from most folks first dungeon is enough to live comfortably for the rest of ones life. High level parties can amass individual wealth that dwarfs small kingdoms.
I mean, technically AJ needed the money to spruce up the farm as a whole and fix Granny Smith's hip. Was that so wrong?
Nope. Money can't buy happiness, or love... but it can definitely buy peace of mind and enough comfort to make happiness easier.
It's hard to be happy when your home farm is collapsing, your grandmother is in constant pain, and you're not sure if you'll be able to eat next year, or sleep under an intact roof.
It's hard to be happy when your home farm is collapsing, your grandmother is in constant pain, and you're not sure if you'll be able to eat next year, or sleep under an intact roof.
She's got a Dream (She's got a dream) Applejack's got a Dream (She's got a dream)
Who else thinks Pinkie's comment will get a call-back when we finally get to the screenshots from the series finale?
And thus we get to the tip of the iceberg in the D&D alignment flaws. (boiled down to absolute lack of subtlety and inflexibilty)
And this assumes 4e, which didn't have the D&D Alignment Grid but had an Alignment Line. It just went like:
[Lawful Good] [Good] [Unaligned] [Evil] [Chaotic Evil]
Granted I think D&D Alignment in general is a relic that can be removed with minimal impact, and honestly 5e's section of Bonds, Ideals, and Flaws are better character guidelines than Alignment, IMO.
[Lawful Good] [Good] [Unaligned] [Evil] [Chaotic Evil]
Granted I think D&D Alignment in general is a relic that can be removed with minimal impact, and honestly 5e's section of Bonds, Ideals, and Flaws are better character guidelines than Alignment, IMO.
Becoming obscenely rich while lawful good only means that you must offer a lot of what people want to buy without breaking any laws or codes of ethics.
It helps to have a less than lawful friend who will let you know when potential business partners are dirty, so that it's easier to avoid bad deals.
It helps to have a less than lawful friend who will let you know when potential business partners are dirty, so that it's easier to avoid bad deals.
My friend GreatDinn ran a spooky one-shot in Root for a Halloween special!
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