Rotomaton

So, Alignment Charts have some sort of strange, supernatural hold over me. I love finding cool ones online, sorting my friends and popular characters into them, and making them too.

I think it has something to do with the way they're a simple way to organize and categorize information/people in fun, uniform ways, and can mean as much or as little sense as you like.

In my "extensive research" of Alignment Charts, I have noticed that there are 3 main types of alignment charts.

The Grid Alignment Charts

The Graph Alignment Charts

The Tree Alignment Charts

The Grid Alignment Charts

This is probably the most common variety of Alignment Chart; a series of tiled geometric compartments. This includes the famous D&D Alignment Chart, as well as the far less popular Bear/Twink/Hunk Triangle.

The Square Variety either features two scales of different factors (lawful to chaotic / good to evil) or two collections of different things (preferred drink vs. sexuality is a common one).

The Triangle/Pyramid Variety, however, is a bit more interesting. Instead of having a label at the end of each row, there is only a label at the end of each vertex. As opposed to having the location of a compartment determine its exact value with regard to the chart, the proximity of a compartment to any given vertex determines how much that label applies to what is found in the compartment.

Fun Fact: A square Grid Chart has the same number of compartent as a triangular Grid Chart with the same side lengths! (i.e. A 2x2 square and a 2 layer triangle both have 4 compartments!)

This type of alignment chart is definitely better for smaller, finite sets of data, and allow for more specific and definable areas within the chart.

The Graph Alignment Charts

Graph Alignment Charts, while distinct from their Grid cousins in appearance, are practically identical in function. Again, like their grid cousins, Graph Charts come in both square and triangle varieties. Perhaps the most notable chart of this type is the "McDonalds Triangle Meme," seen here:

The lack of a grid/compartments allows for a lot more freedom when it comes to placing data points. Their lack of boundaries also allows for many more labels or points to be added in close proximity to one another, meaning that, unlike in Grid Charts, data points don't have to fight for a given spot, they can occupy the same niche in harmony.

The true graph Alignment Charts (As seen below), are an even better example of this category of chart.

While it shares the same labels as the classic 3x3 D&D Alignment Chart, it opts to turn the three columns of order and three rows of morality into axes, meaning one can utilize a greater range of positions, instead of relegating

These types of alignment charts are better suited to larger groups of data and work best when you're trying to relate data points more towards their relationships to a set of labels than more segmented, specific labeling.

The Tree Alignment Charts

This typing is somewhat loose and is more of a catch-all category. I only call them "Tree Alignment Charts" because the Tree Chart is the most structured variant of these charts, and most "Other" charts could be translated into the Tree Chart format and still work as intended. Really, these are the only types:

Tree Charts, which is just what I call the charts.

Freeform "Charts"

I don't think anyone else would call these "Tree Charts," this just looks like the Tree Charts I learned about in math class as a kid. You probably know the Tree Chart by its most famous version: the "When a bag is stuck in the vending machine" chart, seen below.

This is a somewhat prevalent version of alignment chart, but definitely not as popular as the classic 3x3 grid chart or the McDonald's-style triangle graph chart.

It's far less based on relation to values or labels, and is really just all or nothing and requires more broad, divided, and unrelated categories.

Finally, the Freeform Charts are just unorganized Tree Charts, as seen below.

This chart presents a similar format, with different categories of reactions to a singular prompt given in the title, this one just lacks the organization of lines.

There isn't really much to say about these Tree Charts as they are so open-ended.

These Tree Charts are best for displaying random assortments of data with only one set of labels, as opposed to the two sets of labels that both the graph and grid charts utilize.

Conclusion

I didn't really have a goal in mind with this post, I more just wanted to illustrate the different types of alignment charts and what they were good for. Also, I kinda just needed to get some Alignment Chart talk out of my system.

I have a lot of alignment charts saved up that I've found over the years, so I might post some of the more interesting ones at a later date.

Also, I have some varying charts and diagrams that I made as a form of personal indulgence that go into some deep specifics with regard to the values demonstrated within a given chart that I will post on another day.