You said:

I don't think there's a set of rules somewhere that guarantee virtue or evil depending on whether or not they're followed.

Are you of the opinion that even if all the people in the world would live by the rules set out in the Ten Commandments there would be no difference in our way of life?

1) Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

2) Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them:

3) Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain;

4) Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

5) Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

6) Thou shalt not kill.

7) Thou shalt not commit adultery.

8) Thou shalt not steal.
9) Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
10) Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

I think that if everyone on the planet would obey the sixth commandment, there would be no war or murders.