D&D 5E An Orcs(or Goblin)-ploitation Urban Campaign

[Kobold Avenger]

So an idea for a campaign where all of the PCs are various types Goblinoids or Orcs, with Half-Orc being the only PHB race allowed. It would be mostly an urban setting that takes place in a large cosmopolitan Human city like Sharn from Eberron, with mixed with various races that tolerates, but not necessarily accepts Goblins and Orcs.

Tolerated but not accepted, puts the Goblins and Orcs in their own neighbourhoods such as Goblin-Town or the Orc-District which happen to be some of the poorer parts of the city. Most of the residents go about their own lives, keeping to those places since they aren't as accepted in a Human-dominated part of town. However non-Goblins and non-Orcs feel those parts of town are more dangerous, in some cases they might be right as they're definitely are gangs of Goblins or Orcs that often run territory in those parts of town.

In this city Goblins and Orcs do have a place in society, but are often the lower and working classes. Some of them do manage to become middle class, but mostly the Goblins and Orcs and the PCs would be of lower class backgrounds. As an urban campaign there's certainly going to be the element of fighting various sorts of gangs, whether the PCs join a criminal gang or work to take down a gang. Some of these gangs are of course on the lowest tier of a shadowy organization. The campaign could be of an "Orcsploitation" genre.

The PCs are assumed to be from Goblin-town or the Orc-District too. They could be of backgrounds such as: an Orc that's a dockworker looking for more to do their lives, a Goblin house maid who's employed by a Human noble who's up to something, a Bugbear gangster divided on whether to climb the ranks or turn on the gang, or a Hobgoblin veteran who never quite fit in the nation's Human-dominated army.

 

[aco175]

Be aware/careful to real world perception about race like last year's debates.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Maybe don't cast Orcs/Goblins as "basically non-white people". Just a suggestion. I mean if you feel the need to have a D&D race stand in for RL racial and class-based oppression (but clearly mostly racial in this case), well A) probably don't but B) if you must, maybe try a race that isn't typically regarded as "inferior".

I mean, like Spire does this with Drow and it works (partly because Spire's Drow are very different to D&D Drow), but partly because they're not already coded as "inferior". So maybe consider elves or dwarves or something?

 

[Kobold Avenger]

Maybe don't cast Orcs/Goblins as "basically non-white people". Just a suggestion. I mean if you feel the need to have a D&D race stand in for RL racial and class-based oppression (but clearly mostly racial in this case), well A) probably don't but B) if you must, maybe try a race that isn't typically regarded as "inferior".

In some ways the idea is based on the movie Bright, where it could be seen that the Orc cop Jaokby played by Joel Edgerton is basically a non-white person while Ward played by Will Smith is sort of a white-person stand in. That movie certainly dives into a lot of those tropes about Orcs and certain non-white minorities, while not being strictly "black"

Witcher and Dragon Age has done a lot of race-based oppression on Elves, especially Witcher from a Polish writer trying to invoke some of Poland's history with their Jewish community.

I feel that Elves, Dwarves, Halflings and Gnomes are more the type of "Model Minority". There's still some racism there, but it's of a different type.

 

[Voadam]

Some possible inspiration in GURPS Goblins.

 

[Scribe]

Seems pretty on the nose, and using lineages that already carry some baggage.

Is that the intent here? Some social commentary? Seems like poking a bee hive just to do it.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

Certainly some social commentary. I think even Shadowrun did at little of this too, with it's playable Orks.

I don't think it'll have the same type of feel exploring the same type of themes with Elves and Dwarves, as it will come off like one of those fantasy series where they try to explore racial issues on something like witches or faeries, except that they're mostly depicted by white women. I also don't want something to be "like the Green Book" where a Human comes along and fixes everything for the poor Orcs.

I'm aware of the problems with the Blaxploitation genre and all of it's offshoots. Generally relying too much on certain stereotypes for all sorts of characters, even if the protagonist happens to be black.

Goblins and Orcs though in something like this won't be any direct correlation to any single non-white group. They would be resemble mixture of a few different people, both non-white and white, plus things that are completely made up.

 

[Mecheon]

In some ways the idea is based on the movie Bright, where it could be seen that the Orc cop Jaokby played by Joel Edgerton is basically a non-white person while Ward played by Will Smith is sort of a white-person stand in. That movie certainly dives into a lot of those tropes about Orcs and certain non-white minorities, while not being strictly "black"

Bright also went down about as well as a ton of bricks if I remember right. I do not recall it hving the best reception.

All the more power to you if you want to try something like it, buuuuut, you're basically stumbling into a minefield where things going horribly wrong is the expected outcome

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Read Snuff by Terry Pratchett.

 

[Quartz]

If you want a humanoid campaign, take a look at the adventure Vesicant in Dungeon and consider setting your campaign in in the Pomarj. Or look to the north of Oerth, to the west of the Bakluni realms where Orcreich wages continual war against the Khanate / Celestial Kingdom (the latter are dragonborn in my head-cannon).