D&D General What have you done with Orcs in your games?

[Gorg]

(Wasn't there a quote from one Conan story along the lines of, "Barbarians are politer than civilised people, because an insult is more likely to be met with an axe to the head"?)

I read a similar quote/theme in a lot of the old cowboy Westerns I like- except it's along the lines of people tend to be more polite when everyone is armed- because disputes tend to be settled with guns.

I always thought "Well, that's one way to keep the population of quarrelsome people under control..."

Either way- it's a rather appropriate saying where Orcs are concerned!

 

[Benjamin Olson]

In my homebrew setting the relevant population of orcs are the ruling class of a large, multicultural, urbanized empire who struggle to maintain ties to the steppe nomad traditions of their ancestors who conquered that empire.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

In my homebrew setting the relevant population of orcs are the ruling class of a large, multicultural, urbanized empire who struggle to maintain ties to the steppe nomad traditions of their ancestors who conquered that empire.

I like that. Makes them reminiscent of Turks and their cultural journey.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

I like that. Makes them reminiscent of Turks and their cultural journey.

That's the main inspiration, since I once took a graduate class on Ottoman history, though the same thing basically happened on some level almost every time a nomadic people conquered a sedentary people with a developed infrastructure. Suddenly they discover that sedentary civilization is great when you're in charge of it, but also gradually find less and less time to practice the nomadic warrior skills that got them there in the first place.

 

[Parmandur]

I rarely use them.

I think they've come up more often as player characters than monsters, but I come from a post-Warcraft generation.

 

[jasper]

Guilty Free xp with loot on top from 1 E to 3.5. With an warning by multiple means if I was throwing a LG orc at them.
5E. The players are always stealing their pies.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

That's the main inspiration, since I once took a graduate class on Ottoman history, though the same thing basically happened on some level almost every time a nomadic people conquered a sedentary people with a developed infrastructure. Suddenly they discover that sedentary civilization is great when you're in charge of it, but also gradually find less and less time to practice the nomadic warrior skills that got them there in the first place.

Yep, was not too different from the Normans.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

My premise is that a long time ago, the early gods rose up against a bunch of god monsters and imprisoned them (except for a big shark swimming in the 9 Hells and a big lizard wandering the Abyss). Orcs were created to guard the sleeping god monsters. Orcs (correctly although PC's don't know that) believe that they have to sacrifice humanoids to the god monsters to keep them asleep. They think that sacrificing "weak" humanoids (non-orcs that don't impress them) will weaken the god monsters so they won't be as much of a problem if they do awaken (this is not true but the gods with the most say over orcs figure it doesn't hurt them to think that). Non-orcs that impress the other orcs become "honorary orcs" and get the greatest honor of all, to be the parent of a half orc. It is a high honor for an orc to mate with a valiant (but ugly) "honorary orc" and there is a fair amount of competition for the honor when it comes up.

Obviously this is a tough way to live, so the main gods who appeal to them are Gruumish (LN with evil tendencies) god of "toughness" and "machismo" and Bane (LN with evil tendencies) god of "discipline" ("harsh" is implied but clerics of Bane have some leeway). Any god not seen as too "soft" is likely to have some orc clerics in any sizable orc community, but political power will usually be concentrated behind Gruumish or Bane.

 

[Neonchameleon]

I use orcs as the enemy in the mirror. "We are humans, they are orcs". The differences between humans and orcs are cultural - the orcs are your hereditary enemy either locally or on the other side of the border. Calling them orcs (rather than Hatfields or Spanish or whatever) and making them green gets the players into the right frame of mind for the world I am building. Their language is different, and seen as harsh, and their culture and manner of dress is the same. And they think the same of you. Orcs can have the same range as humans - but orcs are considered hostile to wherever the default setting is even if it's only regional rivalries that no one knows who started (but clearly they did).

 

[Emerikol]

When I was much younger, like 40 years ago, they were just evil cannon fodder. Caves of chaos stuff.

In recent years, I have considered moving some of the traditionally evil races into a more civilized mold. Not necessarily super civilized but more so. Meaning they could be found in human cities and not attacked on site. I still probably considered them more likely to be evil than the average human for whatever reason (culture, nature, whatever). I also though would have had no problem with a good orc or a good hobgoblin.

I've actually considered making the hobgoblins an empire in my campaign world. I tend to design every world as a unique thing including some of the unique monsters like dragons. I think the joy of exploration and learning the world is half the fun.

So yeah, I'm a worldbuilder. I create a world, run some campaigns in it. Grow tired of it. Rinse and repeat. Each time though I make it really different. So in any given iteration, any race could be good or evil.

I also think the Elf's being the bad guys as a surprise was a great campaign idea.