SMOKEWOOD GAMEPLAY - FOUR-AXIS MORALITY SYSTEM

SMOKEWOOD Four-Axis Morality System: Complete Guide

Overview

SMOKEWOOD features a revolutionary four-axis morality system that tracks player choices across four independent spectrums. Unlike traditional binary "good vs. evil" systems, SMOKEWOOD's morality is complex, nuanced, and consequence-driven. It rewards players for being true to themselves, and punishes them if they are not. Through experiences, player characters develop personalities, and preferences. 

 

The Four Axes Explained

Axis 1: Modernization

Naturalist ↔ Industrialist

This axis measures your relationship with progress, technology, and exploitation of natural resources.

Naturalist Side:

  • Respect the land and its ecosystems

  • Use sustainable farming and foraging methods

  • Preserve wildlife and natural habitats

  • Work with nature rather than against it

  • Value indigenous knowledge and traditional practices

  • Consequences: Land thrives, wildlife flourishes, NPCs respect your stewardship

Industrialist Side:

  • Exploit resources for maximum profit

  • Strip-mine for gold without regard for consequences

  • Clear-cut forests for lumber

  • Dam rivers for power

  • Prioritize progress over preservation

  • Consequences: Ecosystem collapses, wildlife disappears, environmental damage becomes visible

Axis 2: Disposition

Peaceful ↔ Violent

This axis measures your preferred method of conflict resolution and interaction with others.

Peaceful Side:

  • Negotiate and dialogue with NPCs

  • Use persuasion and charisma

  • Resolve disputes without bloodshed

  • Spare enemies when given the choice

  • De-escalate conflicts

  • Use intimidation through reputation rather than force

  • Consequences: NPCs trust you more, dialogue options expand, peaceful factions welcome you

Violent Side:

  • Shoot first, ask questions later

  • Kill witnesses to crimes

  • Solve problems with your fists or gun

  • Escalate conflicts into bloodshed

  • Execute enemies rather than spare them

  • Use violence as your primary tool

  • Consequences: Feared by NPCs, higher bounties, violent factions respect you, combat-based solutions available

Axis 3: Criminality

Lawful ↔ Criminal

This axis measures your relationship with law, authority, and social rules.

Lawful Side:

  • Follow the law and respect authority

  • Report crimes to lawmen

  • Pay taxes and debts

  • Respect property rights

  • Work within the system

  • Build reputation as trustworthy

  • Consequences: Merchants trust you, law enforcement helps you, legitimate opportunities open

Criminal Side:

  • Break the law for profit

  • Steal, smuggle, and deal in contraband

  • Cultivate illegal crops (cannabis)

  • Produce moonshine

  • Rustle cattle

  • Rob travelers and merchants

  • Consequences: Bounties rise, law enforcement hunts you, black market welcomes you, illegal opportunities expand

Axis 4: Citizenship

Nomad ↔ Communal

This axis measures your relationship with community, settlement, and social obligation.

Nomad Side:

  • Live free and independent

  • Avoid long-term commitments

  • Wander from place to place

  • Answer to no one

  • Keep your distance from others

  • Maintain anonymity

  • Consequences: No obligations, maximum freedom, but less community support and fewer social bonds

Communal Side:

  • Settle down and build roots

  • Form relationships with NPCs

  • Contribute to community welfare

  • Take on responsibilities and obligations

  • Build a homestead and family

  • Become part of the social fabric

  • Consequences: Strong community support, access to faction benefits, obligations and debts, less anonymity

 

64 Possible End Game Combinations

The resulting values not only determine your path through the game, but also your end game play and the ending you will receive when finishing the main story. Each axis has two poles, creating 2⁴ = 64 unique character archetypes. Each will have a unique benefit in the game, and a distinct flaw. Each will feel like a different path creating rare experiences and endless replays.

How Combinations Affect Gameplay

Dialogue Options

Your position on each axis unlocks or locks dialogue choices:

  • Peaceful characters get negotiation options

  • Violent characters get intimidation/threat options

  • Lawful characters get authority-based options

  • Criminal characters get black market options

  • Naturalist characters get environmental knowledge

  • Industrialist characters get business/trade options

  • Nomad characters get travel/exploration options

  • Communal characters get community-based options

Quest Availability

Different combinations unlock different quests:

  • Peaceful + Lawful = Mediation quests

  • Violent + Criminal = Assassination contracts

  • Naturalist + Communal = Environmental protection quests

  • Industrialist + Nomad = Trading/smuggling routes

NPC Relationships

NPCs respond based on your alignment:

  • Gray Wolf (Naturalist + Peaceful) likes Naturalist + Peaceful players

  • Emmett (Violent + Criminal) likes Violent + Criminal players

  • Cole (Lawful + Communal) likes Lawful + Communal players

  • Elijah (Flexible) can relate to any combination

Bounty & Law Enforcement

  • Criminal + Violent = Highest bounties

  • Lawful + Peaceful = No bounties

  • Criminal + Peaceful = Moderate bounties

  • Violent + Lawful = Respected by authorities

Criminal Economic Opportunities

  • Industrialist + Criminal = Illegal mining, smuggling

  • Naturalist + Criminal = Poaching, illegal foraging

  • Peaceful + Criminal = Theft, con artistry

  • Violent + Criminal = Robbery, extortion

Multiple Endings

Your final position on all four axes determines which ending you receive.

Key Design Philosophy

"Most games tell you who to be. SMOKEWOOD remembers who you've become."

The four-axis system is designed so that:

✅ No axis is "good" or "bad" – Each has advantages and disadvantages
✅ All combinations are viable – You can succeed as any archetype
✅ Consequences are permanent – Your choices reshape the world
✅ The world reacts honestly – NPCs respond based on your actual alignment, not what you say
✅ Replayability is infinite – 64 different character archetypes mean 64 different stories

The Frontier Doesn't Judge

It just remembers.

Every action you take shifts your position slightly on one or more axes. Over time, these small shifts compound into a complete character identity. The frontier responds to who you've become, not who you intended to be.

That's SMOKEWOOD.