A Touch of Evil: Antagonists in Your Campaign, Vol. 1: Orcs

[Crothian]

Is your gaming group tired of facing the same old Villians? Are you feeling burned out and looking for a little help coming up with a fresh challenge for your players?

Well look no further!

"A Touch of Evil: Antagonists in your game," is a series of short pdfs devoted to providing fresh antagonists which are ready to drop into your campaign with minimal effort!

Volume 1: Orcs takes a look at the most widely used antagonist in the game, the Orc.This product provides you with npcs that are fresh,inventive, and most importantly,are ready to give your characters a run for their money! Each Orc npc is illustrated and comes with a detailed background and suggestions for using them in your campaign.

 

[Pinotage]

A Touch of Evil: Antagonists in your Campaign Vol 1: Orcs

A Touch of Evil - Antagonists in your Campaign Vol 1: Orcs is the first pdf product from Reality Deviant Publications and the first in the 'A Touch of Evil - Antagonists in your Campaign' series. It's written by David Jarvis and Chris Swenson, and features half a dozen fully detailed and illustrated orc NPCs to add flavor to any campaign. The pdf is 16 pages long, 13 of which are used to detail the NPC orcs, as well as give a brief overview of the nature of evil in a campaign. This pdf normally retails on RPGNow.com for $2.

Initial Impressions:

One is never sure what to expect from new publishers, although in recent years the quality is much improved on some of the releases in the early days of third edition. This first pdf from Reality Deviant Publications is a good and solid effort, and I have to admit that they've done a good job of presentation and writing, as well as provide useful content and numerous ideas for using the listed NPCs in your game. The cover and interior art is good, although it may not fit everybody's impression of a bloodlusting orc. Layout is solid, and well done, the pdf is easy to read, and there were very few errors in the writing, including, thankfully, the stat blocks. In addition, the pdf provides both a table of contents and is fully bookmarked.

The pdf starts out by describing the nature and use of villains in a campaign. While not as detailed as I would've liked to see, if does give an good and brief overview of the nature of evil and how to use villains. In some places the writing is a little disappointing, such as calling orcs 'silly' or 'our friends', something that certainly didn't fit my impression or use of orcs, or be words that I would generally describe them as. The writing didn't always seem this 'flippant' and generally provided solid, descriptive detail for the six orc NPCs described.

The Details:

Each of the six orc NPCs described contains a detailed background, solid stat blocks, and handy advice on how to use each orc in a campaign, with numerous ideas to build upon. The orcs are also all from a range of different classes and challenge ratings, including wizards and druids, and CRs from 4 to 12. Surprisingly, or thankfully depending on your point of view, there are no single classed barbarian orcs. I would've liked to see more expansion on the personalities of the various NPCs presented, rather than attempting to infer them from the backgrounds provided. While tactics for combat are given, the NPCs were on the weak side regarding personality, interesting habits or quirks, and other information that would make for a lasting NPC. I think that's probably an important comment on this pdf - good and useful NPCs, though perhaps not lasting in memory as orcs to remember long after they are dead.

Grauk Splintershield: This orc is a ranger along with animal companion, a lone orc that preys on travellers while following rumours that would lead him to riches. A handy foe for a low-level party, with a useful background that could lead to the party following the same rumours that Grauk does.

Ug'rach Bloodfist: Ur'rach is a rogue, who travels with the Ghostwalkers. His background and environment offer some good opportunities for political and diplomatic manoeuvring and as such he and the Ghostwalkers can provide a challenging encounter on a non-combat related field as well. Here it would've been nice to see some additional information on his personality, particularly if the suggestions on his use in small city politics is acted upon.

Glitterdeath: An orc wizard that offers good opportunity for roleplaying. Glitterdeath runs her own 'wizard school' and such a concentration of magic in orcish society offers scope for interesting development and diplomacy along the lines or beyond those listed in the pdf.

Zurl Blacktooth: Probably my favorite of the bunch, a clerical half-orc with associations to a demonic god. As the leader of his own cult devoted to this deity, he provides for fun encounters. No information, however, is really listed for the god, nor other useful information such as creed or beliefs or aims of the cult, but there's something there to develop into a greater plot if needed.

Lurkuul Shogra: A bloodthirsty druid and tribal leader, who PCs may encounter in or around his territory. Lots of background information is given on Lurkuul which makes for a good read, but I felt didn't say enough about his motivations as leader of his people, nor about his interaction with foreigners walking in his territory. A challenging NPC.

Molok Spine-breaker: A strong and powerful half-dragon/half-orc, Molok and his heritage, along with his power, offer some good opportunities for roleplaying and strong combat encounters.

For those that are interested in a quick, useful NPC for a once off encounter, this is a very useful pdf. For those interested in more long term NPCs, I think that the information provided is useful, but lacking in certain areas, and could've expanded more on things like personality or the numerous ways in which an NPC can be used. While saying that, for example, a particular orc can be used to infiltrate with the aim of assassination, it would've been useful to have some ideas as to what the orc expects to achieve, whether he would be prepared to act diplomatically if confronted with the PCs, how he would respond, etc.

Creative DMs can use these NPCs as a starting point to build upon, but as is, this is more a pdf for those DMs looking for a quick orc to use. But, having said that, there is potential here to build upon, and some interesting ideas to further develop. In addition, given that only six NPCs are listed, it would've been useful to see the NPC stats at various levels beyond those listed. At least then you'd have 12 or 18 encounters to choose from, rather than only the six listed here, which limits the usefulness of the product.

Conclusions:

This pdf provides detailed background and usage guidelines for a good variety of orcs in terms of classes and challenge ratings. The overall presentation is very good, including layout, art and writing. I felt more could've been done with the NPCs, such as listing personality traits or perhaps further development of some of the ideas listed, along with perhaps offering abbreviated stat blocks for the NPCs at different levels, which immediately increases the usefulness of the product. As is, it's useful to me to grab a quick NPC, although I felt that some extra work would be needed to truly create a memorable or recurring villain from these NPCs. Still, a solid effort from Reality Deviant Publishing, and based on the comments listed above, I'll grade it with three and a half stars, rounding down to three stars based mainly on overall usefulness and utility. Still, a good buy at the price listed.

 

[Tha Black Hand]

A Touch of Evil: Antagonists In Your Campaign, vol. 1: Orcs

A Touch of Evil: Antagonists In Your Campaign, Vol. 1: Orcs is a very long title to a very concise and simple concept. That is, providing needy GMs with NPCs that will provide a challenge and add to a campaign. Reality Deviant accomplishes this with 6 interesting concepts of, as they say, "our freinds, the Orcs".

David Jarvis and Chris Swenson lead off in their introduction by stating how overused and abused the orc has become in DND campaigns and propose that new life can be breathed into the orc by introducing interesting NPCs that reflect an intelligent species. As good as their writing style is, I think the introduction could have been cut back to make room for information on advancing the NPCs or maybe adding an adventure locale such as Zurl Blacktooth's church.

As for the 6 orcs that are contained in the pdf, Jarvis and Swenson have avoided, very thankfully in my opinion, the "misunderstood race" route and instead have created, as the book's title implies: antagonists. Not all are pure evil, such as Grauk Splintershield the Orc Ranger who has shrugged off all orc society to enrich himself by seeking out a lost dwarven treasure, but they are all antisocial. Some have even become a scourge to their own race like Zurl Blacktooth, an evil half-orc cleric that has fled his people to build a church to a rival god. The descriptions for each NPC vary in length, but all include plenty of information that can be used to flesh out any encounter PCs may have with them. If the NPC's backstory isn't enough, hooks for the GM are also provided.

One weakness that becomes apparent in the NPC descriptions is there is little information on making any of the antagonists a recurring villain. Some of these certainly have potential--especially Lurkuul Shogra, a druid who has command of a small tribe of orcs for his own ends, but the DM will have to do the work at advancing the creature. Even an abbreviated stat block could have helped here.

Despite that, the stat blocks are very well done and everything is well organized. The artwork includes an illustration of each orc. These are very well drawn in a Warcraft-y style and complement the text.

In all, Orcs is a simple, easy-to-use collection of NPCs that can add to campaigns and breathe new life into, as Jarvis and Swenson say, "the potato of the fantasy RPG".

 

[BrotherD]

Inpsiring NPCs in a well-thought-out package

After spending just over a page discussing the importance of having unique villains in a role-playing game, and then about as much time explaining how orcs can be used to fill that antagonist role, Reality Deviants Publications' A Touch of Evil: Antagonists in Your Campaign, Vol. 1: Orcs wastes little time presenting six NPCs that can inserted into any role-playing game or campaign. (And for DMs that need a little help, sidebars are included providing several suggestions for how to best utilize these characters and pit them against a party of PCs.)

Don't discount this book as just another NPC collection. As a DM, I pride myself on being able to create my own NPCs for my games, so I very rarely look at pre-generated villains, but at least two of these orcs (one is technically an orc/half-dragon, while one is technically a half-orc) are incredibly tempting to use in an upcoming game. Each one of these characters can be used in one-shot style games or, with a little tweaking and imagination (and maybe a little sidebar advice); they could all individually find their way into a campaign. (Or, as in the case of the aforementioned orc/half-dragon, could become the campaign itself.)

Don't expect a treatise on orc history or culture here. Instead, this product focuses solely on individual villains who just happen to be orcs. These NPCs were created keeping their orc heritage in mind, but as individuals, they provide the biggest threat to your PCs.

Each of the NPCs is given a brief history. As a DM, I wish all the players I've had at my game table over the years put this much flavor and thought into their character backgrounds. These orc NPCs could have all been boring and bland (they're orcs, after all), but writers David Jarvis and Chris Swenson have given each one depth, personality and purpose. The accompanying artwork by Jason Walton fits oh-so-well, and completes the pictures of these orcs perfectly. (Jason Walton also provided the cover artwork along with co-writer David Jarvis.)

Overall, I would recommend this supplement. It's a quick read with lots of information about its subjects, and has given this DM at least one idea for an upcoming game or two.

- Derek M. Koch
dkoch@improbabilia.com
http://brother_d.blogspot.com