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

IMG_2549.jpeg


I rarely paint goblins, but last year I decided to make this little guy colorful because he looks so happy. Also I was just trying to work on painting my miniatures in more vibrant colors. In the real world, you humans come in a myriad of lovely shades ranging from dark mahoganies to pinkish translucence. Maybe the goblins from the Pomarj tend to greenish hues while the ones running around the Welkwood are more bluish? Why not? Variety is the spice of life.
 

log in or register to remove this ad


My first exposure to the concept of "Orc" would have been playing the original Bard's Tale on the 1994 Interplay 10th anniversary compilation CD that came with my dad's new PC:

1736044632785.gif


And in the same collection, The Lord of the Rings CRPG:

1736044713719.jpeg


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

1736044784880.jpeg
 

Goblins:
BX "Their skin is a pale earthy color, such as chalky tan or livid gray. Their eyes are red, and glow when there is little light."
AD&D "Goblins range from yellow through dull orange to brick red in skin color. Their eyes are reddish to lemon yellow."
2e "Their skin colors range From yellow through any shade of orange to a deep red. Usually a single tribe has members all of about the same color skin. Their eyes vary from bright red to a gleaming lemon yellow."

Green is the "classic" goblin color in a lot of of media, and lots of people just translate that to their DnD art without thinking. Magic the Gathering cards depicted them as green. Same goes for Warcraft. Warhammer would be another example, and Pathfinder's Goblins are green. Dragonlance goblins varied from white, to grey, to red, to brown, to yellow etc. It was a clan thing.

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.


Though the above only covers the "monster manuals". Dozes of source books over the years have had orcs and goblins of all skin colors. Plus you need to add in all the environmental ones like the "swamp orcs" and "ice goblins" that were green and white.

So, really....all colors.
 



In my games - there is some variation and sometimes there are populations with other skin colors. But both orcs and goblins usually range from grey-green to olive to brown-green, regardless of what the official monster manual description says. Fits the fantasy archetype better IMO.
 

I know that orcs are canonically green in D&D, and are grey instead but I don't like that. Grey just is a boring colour for them.

On my setting Artra orcs are predominantly various shades of green, though ochre and teal are also quite common. Goblins can be green too, but they are somewhat less saturated and some are quite pale and colourless.
 



Remove ads

Top