AD&D True Neutral: The Alignment That Tests Every DM
Let’s talk about True Neutral, or as I like to call it, “the alignment that tests every DM.” Don’t get me wrong—it’s not all bad. The concept of balance between good and evil, chaos and law? It’s cool in theory. In practice, though? It’s like herding cats while trying to balance a spinning plate on one finger. Welcome to my life as a Dungeon Master.
Here’s the thing: as a DM, I’ve got a lot on my plate already—world-building, managing NPCs, keeping the story moving, and making sure the players don’t 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 don’t even get me started on the atonement rules. Oh, your cleric isn’t neutral anymore? Guess what—time for a quest where you sacrifice 10,000 gold pieces per level to keep your powers.
Now, I’ll admit there’s a certain beauty to the philosophy of True Neutral. It’s about seeing the bigger picture, recognizing that every alignment has its place, and keeping the cosmic scales balanced. It’s not about being indecisive—it’s about ensuring the world doesn’t tilt too far one way or the other. But let’s be real: most players don’t treat it that way. They slap True Neutral on their character sheet and call it “flexibility.” For me? That “flexibility” turns into a logistical nightmare.
Still, I’ll give credit where it’s due. True Neutral can lead to some fantastic storytelling moments—when it’s done right. A druid fighting to restore balance after a kingdom’s expansion disrupts the natural order? That’s gold. A ranger refusing to take sides in a war, instead focusing on protecting innocent bystanders? Solid character development. But when it’s used as an excuse to ignore moral decisions or dodge accountability? That’s when my patience wears thin.
So, here’s my take: True Neutral isn’t the worst alignment—it’s 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. It’s not my favorite, but I’ll admit it has its moments.
If you’ve got thoughts on True Neutral—whether you love it, hate it, or just enjoy watching your DM squirm—this 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 ”good" 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.