Fury in the Wastelands: The Orcs of Tellene

[Messageboard Golem]

You have fought them for years. You thought you knew their motivations, their tactics and their foul habits. But do you know the truth? Contained within this Kingdoms of Kalamar sourcebook is the real truth about orcs.

Their culture, motivation, core religious beliefs and methods of warfare are examined in depth for the first time, all designed to give orcs a unique cultural feel. This supplement includes new prestige classes, new feats, three complete adventures, and all the help you wouldd ever need to roleplay an orc character.

 

[Outlaw]

FURY IN THE WASTELANDS: THE ORCS OF TELLENE
Written by Paul "Wiggy" Wade-Williams, published by Kenzer & Co., $23.99

A review in two segments by Jim Cannon

SYNOPSIS

Chapter One: The Legend of the Orcs: Concerning the mythological beginnings of the orcs.

Chapter Two: The Five Orc Species: Concerning statistics and descriptions of five breeds of orcs, including common orcs, black orcs (magically spawned super-orcs), deep orcs (gray-skinned neighbors of drow and mind flayers), brown orcs (desert dwellers) and white orcs (arctic orcs).

Chapter Three: Orc Social Structure: Concerning the six castes of orc culture, including examples from each one in handy-dandy sidebars.

Chapter Four: Orc Culture: Concerning information on the base civilization of the orcs, with a lesson on biology, habitats and lairs, relations with other races, trade strategies, and quite a bit more.

Chapter Five: Warfare: Concerning the meat and drink of the orcish race, with special orcish weapons and armor, strategy and tactics, and new spells.

Chapter Six: Religion: Concerning the major gods of the orcish pantheon, and how they fit into the larger picture of gods in Tellene, as well as information on the priestly class amongst the orcs and important rituals.

Chapter Seven: Misconceptions: Concerning the many mistakes and assumptions adventurers tend to make about orcs.

Chapter Eight: Major Tribes of Tellene: Concerning the fifteen largest tribes of orcs extant in Tellene, spread across the continental mass, including one run by giants, another controlled by a vampiric worg, and a host of others just as interesting and pregnant with plot hooks.

Chapter Nine: Sample Orc Personalities: Concerning the statistics and background for ten NPCs, with appropriate plot hooks and examples of orc prestige classes in action.

Chapter Ten: Making and Playing and Orc PC: Concerning the development and use or orcs as player characters. Includes Monster Manual style entries for each of the new orc breeds.

Chapter Eleven: Plot Hooks: Concerning twelve different adventure hooks, six for standard player characters, and a half-dozen for orc characters,

Appendix A: Glossary of Orc Terms: Concerning a lexicon of orc words that were scattered throughout the main body of the book.

Appendix B: New Rules: Concerning a collection of prestige classes, new spells, magic items, feats, orc races, and other rule information previously printed in sidebars in the main section of the book.

Appendix C: Full Adventures: Concerning three fully detailed adventures, for use with standard adventuring characters, or mad, bad, and ugly orc adventurers. Copious illustrations included.

Appendix D: Index: Self-explanatory, I hope.

ANALYSIS

I think The Orcs of Thar remains the seminal work on the subject, but Fury in the Wastelands does an admirable job of detailing the daily lives, goals, and travails of evil humanoids. In this case, orcs take center stage again, despite the prominent place hobgoblins possess in the Kalamar setting. And why not? Orcs epitomize the stereotype. They're nasty, brutish, violent, thoroughly evil, and they were there from the beginning. I know when I first started gaming in the early 80's, the first "bad guys" we fought were orcs. So it's nice to see them get some attention.

The package is nice. Fury in the Wastelands is a black and white softcover, 160 pages, and though there is a little padding, there is an awful lot of meat inside. The text is primarily universal, and could easily be applied to other game lines. Rules information appears in gray-toned sidebars, and most of these are placed so as not to disrupt the flow of the main text. Most of the illustrations are provided by Caleb Cleveland, who has an appealing fine line, and though the style of the pictures is somewhat light and a little sketchy, he still manages to give his orcs solidity and menace. In particular, in the full page shot just before the chapter on warfare, Cleveland provides a massive, scimitar wielding orc with a wolf companion that looks as threatening as an orc should be.

Make no mistake about it, that's what this book sets out to do. Wade-Williams succeeds in giving orcs menace for the first time in a long time. That's part of the problem with being there first I suppose; orcs wear out their welcome rather easily. They've got one hit die, are all but useless in daylight, and fare poorly when compared to hipper, kewler antagonists like drow, mind flayers, and, well, drow. But orcs are exceedingly dangerous, and Fury in the Wastelands shows us why.

First, we get new orc breeds. Elves and dwarves and even halflings have sub-races, so why not orcs? The common orc comes straight out of the Monster Manual and thus not terribly impressive (yet, anyway). But then there are brown orcs, who dwell in deserts and may still suffer from sunlight, but can survive in their harsh environment without water twice as long as a normal orc. There are white orcs, who with pale fur and slightly more savage disposition populate the mountains and snowy regions of Tellene. Gray orcs, or deep orcs, live next door to duergar and drow and generally end up as slaves of more powerful Underdark races. And last, but certainly not least, are the black orcs. Black orcs are made, not born, summoned through sacrifice and magic and spawned from pools deep within the earth. They're stronger, faster, smarter, and meaner than the average orc, and if they remind you just a little bit of the Uruk-Hai from Peter Jackson's Fellowship of the Ring, then you're thinking correctly.

But that's just to start. From there we get into orc culture and warfare and social stratification, and this is where the book really shines. Peppered throughout Fury are words in the orc tongue (garak means chief, aanugh refers to any orcish spellcaster, and so on) so that by the time you reach the appendices, you've acquired quite an orcish lexicon. There are six castes in orcish society, each with its own role to play, from the chieftains, or garak, at the top to the ra'rugh, or runt bearers - a generic term for "female" among the orcs - at the bottom. This is a believable and compelling illustration of a chaotic evil culture that manages to work, based on a careful balance between each orc's lust for personal power and cowardice in the face of physical danger. Wade-Williams manages to make orc culture plausible and repulsive, and I found myself wincing far more often than I did while reading The Book of Vile Darkness. Where do all those little half-orcs come from, after all? It's always in the back of one's mind, but seeing it spelled out in black and white just gives me the shivers.

Remember that old saw about the paladin and the orc children? Wade-Williams gives us the answer. Assuming, of course, that the runts don't simply escape (orc lairs are riddled with bolt holes and hiding places), the paladin is going to have to defend her life against the orc kids. Evil begins in the womb, and since orcs reach adulthood around age ten, they become dangerous very quickly.

There is practical application of all that theory as well. Fifteen major orc tribes are supplied, scattered throughout the rough and tumble areas of Tellene, each one with its own flavor and agenda. Again, place names can be easily changed to put these orcs in the backwoods of Oerth or Toril or a homebrew world as well.

Warfare is where orcs excel. Although individually cowards, once you put them in a mob they become mad killers. New weapons and armor are provided (sparsely, but they are present) as well as new spells and magic items, including healing salves to get an orc back into fighting trim swiftly. Prestige classes tend towards the martial, as one would expect. The berzerker out-barbarians the barbarian, the deep scout spelunks for evil, the runner maintains information lines between tribes and military units and even gets to run up walls and ceilings, the expert tormentor tortures for fun and profit, the tunnel rat slips into dwarven territory and disables traps, and the warband leader heads the charge into battle. Though distinctly orcish in flavor, all of the prestige classes can be tweaked for more universal applications. I'm quite fond of the tunnel rat myself.

So you can see that there is a lot on the page. Adventure hooks, plot points, general cultural tidbits, and such abound. So it is surprising and disappointing to see a bit of padding. There are two chapters that are only two or three pages long, and while interesting and informative, could easily have been folded into a larger chapter. The appendices are solid, particularly the adventures and index, and I wish to see more of this kind of thing in future D&D or d20 supplements, but Appendix B is merely a reprinting of all the material previously shown in sidebars in the main text. Makes things easier to find, I suppose, but that's 16 pages out of 160 and could have been put to better use.

Overall, a minor quibble given the strength of the material. And hey, just as Orcs of Thar did, Fury in the Wastelands provides the option of playing an orcish character. I may have to dust off old Grim Claw and see how he does in 3E.

CONCLUSION

Another strong entry into the Kalamar line. Not a must have, I suppose, but a solid sourcebook with a great deal of information and detail, buttressed by useful game information, options, and adventures. It brings orcs back to a prominent position in the range of threats arrayed against player characters, which is where I think they belong.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Fury in the Wastelands
The Orcs of Tellene
Written by Paul Wade-Williams
Published by Kenzer & Company
160 b & w pages
$23.99

When I first opened up Fury in the Wastelands, I was wondering if the author read my comments about Wrath and Rage. There are several orc subspecies here, all with racial write-ups and monster write-ups. There are new PrCs here that are player friendly. There are new feats, spells, and weapons that can be added to any campaign. To top it off, the book has a bit of a Tolkien feel with many words and phrases that look like they jumped right out of Middle Earth.

In the race section, we now have five varieties of Orc. You’ve got the common (Ukak) orc, the mightly black orcs (Urar Ukak), the gray ors (nogror ukak), brown orcs (chagun ukak) and white orcs (nukugh ukak). Many of them are standard deviants that inhabit other areas. White orcs for example, are in the frosty reaches, while gray are underground and brown in deserts. Each one has enough information to add to almost any campaign immediately.

In terms of crunch, the book’s got you covered. Now only are there a few new spells, magic items, alchemical brews for healing and feats, but PrCs. For Prestige Classes, we get the following, each a full 10 level PrC:

Berserker: Known as the no’Grarg, or Spawn of Grag. They are fearless killing machines who gain additional rage, damage reduction, immunity to fear, and other rage related abilities. The glories of greater rage may not be appreciated by your players though.

Deep Scout: When orcs look into caves, dwarves aren’t the only things they have to worry about as drow and other creatures are often about. The deep scout finds those dangers with an ability to survive underground that can’t be beat.

Runner: Need to get messages across a battle field in a hurry? Then the Runner is your orc. They can numerous abilities related to movement in special ways that doesn’t cut into their movement rate like tight turning and vertical movement (running up those walls always helps escape those pesky shorties.)

Expert Tormenter: Perhaps the only PrC I saw here that I don’t think players would be interested in, the Expert Tormenter is a master of the body and can tell at a glance how much damage as victim can take before dying.

Tunnel Rat: Need someone to clear out the tunnels of traps and other undesirables? The Tunnel Rat is your man. Now only does he have the ability to detect secret doors and improved trap detection, but he can build his own traps and secret doors too.
Warband Leader: Ah, just the thing for anyone who wants to control their own tribe of orcs. These individuals are the cream of the crop who’ve lead at least ten orcs in a battle prior to joining the PrC. They gain numerous abilities to lead their troops like an aura of command that provides +2 to Will Saves and bonus feats and initiative bonuses for his troops.

For those running campaigns with orcs as the main foes, they’ll enjoy the chapter on orc social structure. This deals with the various castes that make up orc society and how one moves between those structures. Captains, or anuks of the orcs, are those who lead ‘Those That Fight’ or the okogn. Flavor like this is scattered throughout the whole section so you’ve got different names and ideas for the clergy, the leaders, the slaves and the different races, not to mention their own versions of the gods. All of this adds up to an orc that has something more than just a set of stats. Each type of character comes with its own example so GMs in a hurry can quickly whip out their own leaders, clerics, and warriors.

One of the interesting things here is a chapter on making and playing an Orc PC. It provides details on which classes are common and because its an official product, when it talks about which PrCs are good classes for orcs, makes mention of those from the various class books like Masters of the Wild. Who would’ve guessed that orcs would make good frenzied berserkers or ravagers? It’s a small chapter but shows that the book can be used by players with a minimum of fuss and GMs have one centralized location to see what they need to know about orcs as players.

One thing used here that I’ve seen elsewhere, is the orc love of gladiatorial combat. Perhaps one day soon I’ll have the characters in my campaign captured and get to see some orc society up close and personal. Another interesting pastime that the orcs enjoy is sticks. Here they whack each other with sticks until one of ‘em passes out.

The new equipment didn’t do anything for me. There are several variants of standard weapons given orc names. Sure, the nognoglut (shortbow) sounds cool, but it’s a shortbow. The illustrations go a long way in letting your players know what a jagged scimitar looks like though, and their blade bow, which can be used in melee as well as to launch arrows, has a vicious look to it.

For GMs always in a hurry, they’ve included some goodies that can be used quickly. Need example tribes? Done. How about NPCs? Included are NPCs of various levels and classes that can be added to the campaign quickly. How about an adventure or two? There are several adventures seeds and some full adventurers. The Lost Temple, a low level module where the characters get to battle orcs over a fallen temple, is a good way to start bringing the strengths of this book to the campaign. It can be placed almost anywhere. I’ll be modifying it for my higher-level Scarred Lands campaign and using some of the pregenerated NPCs in the book to flesh it out. The adventure Troubled Times is designed for orc characters of 4th-6th level and lets the players take the role of the orcs as they now have to defend their lair. Gnome Uprising is another orc adventure, this time for 2nd-3rd level characters, who must learn the gnomes battle plans.

Some of the things I didn’t like about the book are the reprinted sections. For instance, the PrCs, feats, spells and monster write-ups are all redone at the back of the book. Sure, it makes it easy to reference but this isn’t a 400-page hardcover where this type of treatment is needed. Thankfully, this only takes up a few pages. In terms of personal preference, I would’ve rather seen monstrous allies of the orcs, similar to Wrath and Rage, instead of adventures. There’s nothing wrong with the adventures here, but with more source material, I can do more with it than run it once and have to heavily modify it if I want to run it again.

Art in the book is top notch. There are several illustrations that showcase the different races and class combinations so the reader gets a clear idea of what the orcs of this world are like. Layout is fairly standard with two columns of text, broken up by said illustrations. The top has that standard Kalamar border device while the bottom text almost goes off the page. Outer margin is an inch, while inner margin almost reaches the interior page itself. The adventures do take advantage of the ImageQuest, where the GM has separate handouts for important illustrations. As with other recent books, Kenzer has insured that there isn’t two illustrations on one side and one on the other so everything matches up. Maps are crisp and clean on the interior covers. Since this is an official product, there is no OGL to take up any room putting this product at least a page or two ahead of other d20 products.

For players and GMs, Fury in the Wastelands offers more than Wrath and Rage but is more expensive and some parts will have to have the serial numbers filled off to be used in any campaign.

 

[Arnwyn]

"...and if they remind you just a little bit of the Uruk-Hai from Peter Jackson's Fellowship of the Ring, then you're thinking correctly."

*cough* Uh, wouldn't that be *JRR Tolkien's* Fellowship of the Ring?

(Just being smarmy. Good review!)

 

[lord irial]

Do the instructions on making a Black orc read something to the effect of: "When an orc, a goblin-man, a wizard and a mud-puddle love each other very much..."

I was going to try to stay on my budget and not get this, but dammit, between Outlaw and JoeG, I think I missed my Will save.

 

[Simon Collins]

This is not a playtest review.

Fury In The Wastelands is a sourcebook on orcs for the Kingdoms of Kalamar setting by Kenzer & Co.

Fury In The Wastelands is a 160-page mono softcover book costing $23.99. Margins and font size are average though there is a fair amount of space left between sub-sections, which gives a somewhat strung-out appearance to the text at times. There are also several chunks of white space spread through the book but the inside covers are used for maps. The artwork is mainly good, as are the maps, which are scaled and with compass direction. Writing style and editing are both good.

Chapter 1: The Legend Of The Orcs
This is a 2-page chapter giving an account of the birth of the orc race, as if extracted from an ancient text.

Chapter 2: The Five Orc Species
This chapter presents four sub-species of orcs as well as information on Common Orcs. Each type has information on physiology and psychology, as well as sidebars containing rules for running them as PCs. The four sub-species covered are Black Orcs (a tall, strong orc, magically created for warfare - think Uruk-hai), Gray Orcs (or deep orcs, living permanently underground under control of mind flayers), Brown Orcs (desert orcs, caravan raiders), and White Orcs (snow orcs with a curious reaction to fire). In terms of stats, the Black Orc is more powerful than the other orcs, whilst the Gray Orc seems weaker.

Chapter 3: Orc Social Structure
This looks at the orcs' social class system, from the rulers to the slaves, with an interesting discussion of the concept of a chaotic evil government. A new skill, Knowledge (Orcs), several new feats (battle scars, selectively bred, physically intimidating, and former slave) and typical stats for NPCs from the various social classes, are provided.

Chapter 4: Orc Culture
Here we learn more about the cycle of life, including more on black orcs (including a new spell Create Black Orc), and a discussion of half-orcs and their role in orc society. There is a fairly detailed discussion of the habitat of orcs, in particular their lairs. A 10-level prestige class, the Tunnel Rat, is particularly skilled at trap detection and removal, and a new feat, Improved Movement, allows for increased movement over difficult terrain. Another 10-level Prestige Class, the Runner, an intertribal messenger with a proclivity for movement over most any obstacle (even along walls and ceilings at a run), is also provided. Recreation (brutal sports), diet, clothing, tattoos, and medicine and healthcare, are all discussed, accompanied by a sidebar introducing two new alchemical healing mixtures. A substantial sub-section looks at orcs' relations with other races, including non-civilised races, and there is also a discussion of trade and tribute. After information on the orcish calendar, there is a final section on literacy including a new skill, Speak Language: Orc Battle Tongue, and notes on pronunciation and a few orcish words.

Chapter 5: Warfare
Begins by detailing new weapons and armour - the weapons seem minor amendments to standard weapons but I did like the bow and shield blades, a short sword blade attached to the edge to turn either into a melee weapon. We see a new feat, IMproved Forced March, and several new combat-related spells are offered (with notes on use to create magical items). There is a useful sub-section on tactics and strategy, covering ambushes, sieges, pitched battles, defending lairs, and naval units.

Chapter 6: Religion
Begins with a discussion of the orcish pantheon headed by Bolg, the Creator of Strife. Continues with further elucidation on orcish religious beliefs, including racial superiority, the Afterlife, and several important ceremonies such as the Trial of Rulership. There is also a 10-level Prestige Class, the Berserker, which manages to capture the furied fighting of the historical Viking berserkers without the annoying rule that the berserker carries on attacking his allies after finishing off the enemy that products sometimes apply to this concept.

Chapter 7: Misconceptions
After littering the text with misguided quotes from a stuffy academic wizard, this chapter sets out to show how little the wizard is about orcs (and most others, including adventurers). The short chapter centres around a discussion of sunlight's effects on orcs (and offers a new feat, Sunlight Tolerance, to confound opponents), orc spellcasters (no mention of orc wizards here), different orc breeds, and the influence of religious leaders on orc society.

Chapter 8: Major Tribes Of Tellene
Fifteen tribes are described in this chapter, covering Brandobia, Kalamar, The Young Kingdoms, The Wild Lands, Reanaaria Bay, the Vohven Jungle, and the Obakasek Jungle. Each tribe entry covers the tribal symbol, territory controlled, numbers, resources, religious bias, raid targets, and current events. Hidden in the middle of the chapter is a 10-level Prestige Class, the Deep Scout, an underground ranger/rogue cross.

Chapter 9: Sample Orc Personalities
Ten orc NPCs covering a number of breeds, classes, and social roles, and ranging from CR 2 to 10. Each NPC has information on tribal links, class abilities, languages, signature possessions, in-depth background, appearance, and personality. There are also some crunchy bits strewn through the chapter - a new feat, Battle Hardened (giving improvements to initiative and weapon focus), a new 10-level Prestige Class, Warband Leader, effective combatants and leaders with abilities to support this role, and a second 10-level Prestige Class, Expert Tormenter, with abilities to enhance the PrC's role as torturer (I felt this would have been better as a 5-level prestige class).

Chapter 10: Making And Playing An Orc PC
A great little chapter giving sound advice for both roleplaying an orc character as a PC and making best use of the statistical side of the race in relation to class choices, including classes reliant on mental abilities such as Cleric. There is also a sidebar discussing the available prestige classes from the Kalamar Players Guide, DMG, and the WotC splat books.

Chapter 11: Adventure Hooks
Twelve plot ideas of a paragraph or two, six for PCs against orcs, six for orc PCs. In the sidebars between the hooks are 'creature' stats for the new breeds of orc introduced in Chapter 2.

Appendix A: Glossary Of Orc Terms
Brief Tolkienesque list of orcish words for flavour and in-game use, the majority of which begin with g, and u.

Appendix B: New Rules
Sixteen pages of rules re-printed from previous chapters in the book, all in one place. I guess publishers just can't win - if we aren't complaining about rules material spread throughout the text, we're complaining about it being re-printed from previous chapters. But I'm going to complain anyway and suggest that this space could have been used more usefully by printing the rules either in their own chapter with reference in the text or spread throughout the text and let GMs use the book as an out-of-game rather than in-game reference.

Appendix C: Full Adventures
Three low-level adventures are offered here, each designed to be adaptable for higher-level play:
* The Lost Temple - designed for standard PCs and involves, strange to tell, orcs, and a lost temple.
* Troubled Times - designed to be played by orc PCs, this involves a strike force on a gnoll lair.
* Gnome Uprising - designed for orc PCs, this is a spying mission on a gnome outpost.
There are a series of 8 separate large illustrations to be shown to the players at appropriate times in each adventure and maps at the end and on the inside covers detail the lairs outlined in the adventures.

Appendix D: Index
This is 5 pages long and overly detailed.

Conclusion:
Up to the appendices, I could have given this book 5/5. Here is a product that finally gives a bit of depth to a race, an understanding of the society, culture, psychology and tactics of orcs along with NPCs, tribes, and adventure hooks. Its all done with class and style, and the details of Kalamar do not impinge to such a great extent that it spoils the product's usefulness outside of that campaign setting - indeed, I would recommend it to any GM planning to detail orcs in their campaign world in more detail, wanting to run a campaign or adventure with orc PCs, or for players playing orc PCs in those campaigns. I liked the Tolkienesque feel that subtly (and sometimes not so subtly) appeared throughout the text and the realism engendered throughout the discussions of cultural and societal aspects.

It just seemed to get a bit lost in the sixty-odd pages of appendices. The rules re-print seemed overkill, the adventures were fairly bland, and the index too long. All of this space could have been cut along with the price, or used more effectively on different subjects.

 

[Nail]

Just can't win with those indexes, can they? Either too long, too short, or non-existant.

But seriously, can an index be *too* long? Not fer me, anyway.....

 

[Messageboard Golem]

I think one of Kenzer's selling lines is that their products are DM friendly. This could explain the massive appendixes in their products.

 

[Psion]

Fury in the Wastelands

Fury in the Wastelands: The Orcs of Tellene is a rules and background supplement for the Kingdoms of Kalamar campaign setting detailing orcs of the various regions of the world of Tellene.

Fury in the Wastelands is written by Paul Wade-Williams.

A First Look

Fury in the Wastelands is a 160 page perfect-bound softcover book priced at $23.99 US. This is a good price for a book of this size. In addition to the 160 pages, the inside covers are used for maps.

The cover uses a simple green border with a stylized separator offsetting the cover art and cover blurbs from the background. The front cover art is by William O'Connor and depicts a group of orcs bearing down on a party of adventurers in the midst of a forest.

The interior is black-and-white and features artists Caleb Cleveland, Thomas Denmark, Brendan Friam, Brian Friam, Ginger Kubic, Eric Olsen, and Tony Parker. The main sections of the book have interesting and appropriate illustrations, and the adventure section in the back of the book includes a number of full and half page illustrations intended for displaying to the player, as with the stand-alone Kingdoms of Kalamar adventures.

The interior body text uses a compact font, but the leader space is a little larger than the industry norm, and in the adventure chap. The book does utilize the inside covers for maps, but most of the rules material is repeated twice – each set of new race statistics, feat and prestige class appears both in a sidebar in the main text as well as being collected in a rules chapter in the back.

A Deeper Look

Fury in the Wastelands is organized into 11 chapters and four appendices.

The first chapter is brief (2 pages long) and details the creation myths of the orcs as described in the apocryphal text, the Codex of Dooms.

The second chapter describes the five major species as they exist on Tellene. The chapter outlines game statistics for each breed, as well as outlining the physiology and psychology of each. The breeds are:

- The common orc (Ukâk): This is essentially the orc as it is in the core rules. The physiology and psychology sections are pretty much in line with the classical image of orcs: brutish, violent, and somewhat bestial in nature.
- Black Orcs (Uràr Ukâk): The black orcs are tougher and smarter but even less social than common orcs, and are possessed of great endurance. Black orcs do not breed and only (sterile) males of the race exist. Black orcs are created from the power of foul magic.
- Gray Orcs (Norgor Ukâk): The gray orcs, also called deep orcs, are more exclusively denizens of the underdark than other orc subraces. Grey orcs are weaker but more agile than other orcs. Many gray orc tribes are controlled by mind flayers.
- Brown Orcs (Chagun Ukâk): The brown orcs, or desert orcs, are a breed of orc that have adapted to life in the deserts and raid desert nomads and caravans. Desert orcs are weaker but tougher than the common orc.
- White Orcs (Nukugh Ukâk): The white orcs dwell in cold climates, especially high in the mountains. They are hairy and have a somewhat yeti-like appearance. Like brown orcs, white orcs are weaker but tougher than common orcs.

The white and brown orcs seemed the least inspired of the new races to me, simply falling into the "environment" model of creating new races. On the other hand, I really liked the black orcs and grey orcs.

The third and fourth chapters cover orc society and culture. The chapters do not try to portray the orcs as misunderstood (thankfully.) But it does build on the traditional image of the savage orcish culture to build a fairly sensible and interesting culture. It defines various roles in the orcish society, and provides sample stat blocks for each major role. Game statistics are provided in sidebars close to the section in which the concept is discussed in the main text.

The fifth chapter details orcish warfare. Again, the chapter is split between background text and game statistics. The background text focuses on orc tactics (largely ambushes) and organization. In the statistics are a number of orcish version of common weapons. Typically, orc versions of weapons are cheaper and less effective than the core version of an equivalent weapon, such as the orc scimitar, which is only 10 gp (vice 15), but has a reduced threat range (19-20). Other game statistic items include more new spells, magic items, and feats, such as improved forced march.

Chapter six discusses orcish religion. As with all facets of religion in the Kingdoms of Kalamar setting, the orcish deities are, in truth, some of the same deities worshipped by all races and cultures of Tellene. The Creator of Strife (called Bolg by the orcs) is the central deific figure among the orcs, and the Emperor of Scorn and the Battle Rager are important figures as well. The chapter includes a few religious tenets and traditions of the orc, such as their racial superiority and their lack of belief that they will be rewarded in the afterlife.

The seventh chapter sheds some light on some common misconceptions, elucidating on the true nature of (among other things) orcish spellcasters and the orcish aversion to light.

The eighth chapter introduces a number of orc tribes. The tribes are arranged by region in the Kalamar setting, but it would be easy enough to work their background and other information into another fairly typical D&D setting. Each tribe description highlights a few of the distinctive traits of the tribe, such as their symbol, the area in which they operate, their religious bias, organization, preferred victims, as well as current events involving the tribe.

The ninth chapter provides a number of orc personalities, including game statistics as well as personality and background notes.

Chapter ten is a brief treatise on playing orc PCs. The chapter touches on both mechanical and role-playing considerations that may come into play when playing such creatures.

Chapter eleven provides a number of useful adventure ideas for campaigns involving orcs, both as villains and as PCs.

The first appendix is a glossary of orc terms. Kalamar tends to pay particular attention to languages, and this books is no exception. The glossary provides gamers with a number of terms in the orcish language that can be used to enhance the gaming experience.

The second appendix is a collection of all the rules material that appeared in sidebars in earlier chapters. There are 6 new prestige classes and nine new feats, as well as spells, equipment, and magic items.

The prestige classes are generally well written. Unlike some earlier Kalamar classes, this book lists the class abilities in the order that the classes attain them instead of alphabetically, making it much easier to reference the class abilities. Further, they tend towards extraordinary but not magical ability, which I find to be a boon since it seems that many prestige classes in other products are all too willing to dole out magical abilities with no credible explanation in the milieu. The prestige classes include:

-Berserker: The berserker builds on the barbarian's rage ability. The class continues to improve rage and damage reduction, and gains other related abilities such as a fearsome shout that can rattle enemies, and other abilities such as immunity to fear and abilities related to leaping.
-Deep Scout: The deep scout is an expert at survival in the underdark, with abilities that assist them in living and prospering there, such as ability to wiggle their way through tight spots and survive on underdark flora.
-Runner: The runner plays an important role in communication between tribes of the orc. Most orcs can't read, so runners are relied on to deliver verbal messages. The runner's abilities assist them in movement, such as being able to bend the movement rules and avoid would be interceptors.
-Expert Tormentor: An expression of orcish cruelty and an important tool the orc arsenal, the expert tormentor is adept at acquiring information from uncooperative individuals.
-Tunnel Rat: Though superficially similar to the deep scout, the tunnel rat is more a spy and assassin trained in dealing with enemies of orcs (such as dwarves, gnomes, and humans.) The tunnel rat is an expert at setting and disarming traps.
-Warband Leader: A fairly straightforward concept, the warband leader is a powerful warrior leader among the orcs. In addition to traditional prestige-class type abilities relating to leadership and combat, the warband leader advances up the orcish social ladder as they gain levels.

The most interesting of the spells is probably create black orc, hearkening back to some traditional fantasy images of orcs. This spell creates a pool of slime. For each sacrifice of a sentient creature made at the pool, one black orc is created by the pool.

The third appendix contains three complete adventures set in the Kingdoms of Kalamar setting regarding orcs. As with other Kalamar adventures, these have accompanying illustrations that can be show to the players. By way of comparison, these have much less in the way of background details that the independant Kalamar adventures, but are generally decent adventures. The first two adventures are for normal D&D style PCs and the third is for orc characters. The adventures are fairly adaptable and could easily be used in any campaign that uses normal D&D character types.

The final appendix is an index.

Conclusion

Fury in the Wastelands is a decent sourcebook for adding depth to orcs. It is more intensive on background details and lighter on mechanics than Green Ronin's Wrath & Rage, and adheres to a more classical image of the orc, which may good or bad depending on what your image of orcs is. The book is fairly adaptable to different campaign settings, and the prestige classes, a rules element I don't think Kenzer has done a particularly good job with in the past, are well constructed and embody some important concepts within orcs.

By far the element that I liked the most was the black orc, which takes the D&D orc a step towards its roots, and would be a great element in any classical high fantasy campaign.

-Alan D. Kohler

 

[Messageboard Golem]

Very thoughtful review, touching on many of the aspects of game supplements of interest to me. I'm also a big orc fan, so it was all doubly interesting.

Could you comment on the quality of the art?