D&D (2024) Goblins and Orcs Not Being Green

[Bae'zel]

And the Ranking-Bass Hobbit would have been so.ething I saw around the same time, for "Goblins":

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Yes! Rankin / Bass goblins / orcs are so cool. Japanese studio interpreting orcs with an Arthur Rackham style.

Aside: that studio also did the Last Unicorn before they did Nausicaa, then shut down and a bunch of their animators, including Hayao Miyazaki next founded Studio Ghibli.

 

[Plaguescarred]

In my campaign Orcs and Goblins have skin tones varying from red, yellow, green, grey and any mix in between.

I often display the tone as a muddied blend of colors similar to old MOPAR muscle car underpaint primer.

 

[Ringtail]

My first introduction to fantasy was actually The Elder Scrolls. Orcs in that universe are green. It was very formative in my association with fantasy stereotypes, to the point that Catfolk and lizardfolk are as iconic as Elves and Dwarves, imo. Many of the friends I started playing D&D with in high school were also in WoW, so that trickled down.

Two of my favorite alternate orc styles are the retro-fantasy inspired ones in Delicious in Dungeon (very piglike and far more anthropomorphic).

Or the Reddish-brown/clay colored Mag'har Orcs from World of Warcraft.

 

[dave2008]

Green orcs were cemented into RPGs by Games Workshop (Warhammer) when they started selling their orc models (GW started out as a D&D mini company with the Warhammer rules existing just to get people to buy more minis than they needed). One of their artists thought that green orcs looked funny and distinct. Then Warcraft copied it and took the idea of green orcs to the mainstream. Before GW, no orcs were green - Tolkien orcs were brown and grey, most D&D setting orcs were also grey, etc.

As noted in post #17, the D&D cartoon had green orcs in the '80s. With a little wiki research it seems like warhammer war game wasn't published until 1983 and the RPG in 1986. So after, in the US, or around the same time as D&D cartoon (1983). Clearly the idea of green orcs invaded the US with little to no influence from GW. No I do agree the WoW popularized the idea in general media to a much greater degree, but the idea existed already.

 

[Parmandur]

Yes! Rankin / Bass goblins / orcs are so cool. Japanese studio interpreting orcs with an Arthur Rackham style.

View attachment 391115

Aside: that studio also did the Last Unicorn before they did Nausicaa, then shut down and a bunch of their animators, including Hayao Miyazaki next founded Studio Ghibli.

Also did Wizard of Oz, Flight of Dragons, the Coneheads, and some of Thundercats.

 

[dave2008]

Man, orc have sucked for a while, should I even ask about what is the caption for the 5e or is that another death pit?

Illustrations in the MM don't usually have captions.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Illustrations in the MM don't usually have captions.

the ones added in the image.

 

[dave2008]

the ones added in the image.

"Looks like he just stepped in warg s***" Was the meme caption (without the naughty word edit)

 

[Sacrosanct]

As noted in post #17, the D&D cartoon had green orcs in the '80s. With a little wiki research it seems like warhammer war game wasn't published until 1983 and the RPG in 1986. So after, in the US, or around the same time as D&D cartoon (1983). Clearly the idea of green orcs invaded the US with little to no influence from GW. No I do agree the WoW popularized the idea in general media to a much greater degree, but the idea existed already.

In the MM from 1978 they are described has having brownish green skin.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

In my mind goblins are usually the colour of mud. Or else blue, like in the "Jig the Goblin" books.

View attachment 391109

D&D has been specific about Blue Goblins being Psionic, they were effectively a sub-species in 3e. Not explained too much back then though.

I guess it's likely that if a Goblin PC takes a level in a Psionic class, the feats Telekinetic or Telepathic, becomes a Soulknife Rogue, Aberrant Mind Sorcerer, Great Old One Warlock or Psi Warrior Fighter, then their skin will turn blue.