How do you spice up your orcs?

[frankthedm]

In quantity -

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_MIerKvuPyvk/S4mHCOYuSfI/AAAAAAAABuc/_OlXtwVmGeM/s1024/aHPIM0543.JPG

Star wars did have some nice orcs, I really liked the realistically sized great axe on the Rebel Storm #47 Gamorrean guard, but the Alliance and Empire Gamorrean guard was the more affordable of the two.

Mark got the right idea, orcs are supposed to come in massed numbers. Eventually those stop having a chance to beat the party, but that is alright. The monsters should not be be staying as tough as the PCs. Orcs dying in droves is exactly what is supposed to happen.

BTW what game were those mass troops for>?

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

I use Paprika.

 

[Falstaff]

Take a look at Harn's orcs. Very different approach.

Nasty, Brutish & Short (d20)

 

[frankthedm]

Counter sheet of orcs for those not blessed with hundreds of orc minis {see sig for more}

img689.imageshack.us/img689/9123/orcr.png

 

[JRRNeiklot]

I ran a campaign were the orcs were tribal and very honorable, American Indian like, except, very, very, evil. The players seemed to like it.

 

[Barastrondo]

Heraldry to some extent, religion to a great extent. I like the fighting Uruk-Hai of 1e and 2e a lot better than I like the chaotic evil barbarians that showed up in later editions, and part of what made the Uruk-Hai work was a bloody-minded faith and confidence. Even if the "Evil Eye" of Gruumsh and the "White Hand" of Yurtrus were direct rips from Tolkien, they were a neat idea: orcish heraldry doesn't just represent tribal identity, it represents a specifically vicious worldview and maybe comes with some interesting rituals besides. The orc priests of Gruumsh plucking out one eye? Great stuff, weakish these days only because we've all gotten used to it by now and it's lost a bit of its shock value.

It's not orcish to me if it doesn't come with some sort of device to plaster on shields or banners, and some bizarre ritual that emphasizes just how brutish and hardcore they are. I try to make sure I never use generic "orcs" -- I want the players to differentiate the Brass Killers from the dragonpriests, much as they'd differentiate human opponents from different "tribes."

 

[Starfox]

Orcs are parodies of humanity. Anything that a brutish human can do, an orc can do better. Give them sunglasses and paramilitary uniforms and they become really scary.

My favorite rendering of orcs is from the last part of the Heavy metal animated movie - the part about Taarna.

 

[Haltherrion]

My players and I recently have decided to start a campaign in which orcs will be the primary adversaries for the PCs. Although orcs have been iconic low-level villains since the early days of D&D, I'm having some difficulty coming up with ways to make them viable antagonists over a range of levels. What other monsters have you paired orcs with, or what settings have you placed them in, to make encounters with them interesting and fun?

First thing I would do is not call them orcs. Give them their ownname. Create a place in the world for them (how did they come to be; who are they related to, if anyone; what sort of things have orc nations/tribes done in the past). Then work up details that are relevant to the current setting.

By all means, feel free to use the monster manual and related entries for orcs. But simply freeing them from the "orc" label which is freighted with many years accretion from fiction, movies and D&D games past will make them snappy and new right there.

Beyond that, give them unique customs and institutions. Make them good at something they aren't usually considered to be good at- perhaps the only source of worked metal suitable for strong magic weapons comes from them; perhaps all nature rituals are from orc ritual magic. Play against the stereotypes.

Also, in interactions with orcs, give them distinct personalities and motiviations. Distinct from the player races for sure, but distinct from each other.

So:

• Don't call them orcs
• Give them a culture and history
• Make the orc NPCs memorable with unique personality and motivations
• Play against stereo-type

And then they won't be your same-old orcs any more.

 

[Lackhand]

Bestiality. Hear me out.

Orcs are vaguely related to goblinoids (which are themselves fey-ish and more importantly fecund IMC); the goblins kidnap livestock and then some time later there's a true-breeding army of angry, strong, stupid pig-faced (or sheep-faced, or cow-faced) orcs coming down off of the hills to stomp the farmers.

Goblins are naturally generated by dungeons and eat because they wanna, not because they hafta; orcs, not so much, and so form clans or warbands to get the resources they need that aren't supplied by their environment.
They're (a bit) domesticated, letting them swell the armies of local necromancers and warlords; they are mostly-mortal, making them stronger and healthier than their goblin forebears; they're plentiful.
Their priests all have a bit of human blood, somewhere in them. Their warleaders have drunk human blood. It's what lets them break through the 1 hit die barrier

They also nicely side-step the gender issues orcs would otherwise have: there are no female orcs, because they need none; they let other species provide the females. Makes saying "he deals 17 points of damage with his battleaxe!" much easier.

They pair well with minotaurs, dire boar, goblins, and were-beasts; evil mercenary leaders from the ranks of assassins, wizards, evil priests, etc.

And players find their provenance so distasteful! Not to mention the cultural taboos that the concept of half-orcs brings up.

 

[frankthedm]

Bestiality.

Hackmaster did have orc ape crossbreeds.