D&D General How To Reconcile the Settings

[Coroc]

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Addendum: Take Eberron, their gatekeeper orcs are totally untypical e.g.

 

[Oofta]

Just to echo @Coroc, in my campaign orcs are evil. Period. They aren't humans with a skin condition and bad dental work. My personal preference is to have race matter, other races are more than just humans in a rubber mask.

Comparing orcs to humans is like comparing a house cat to a tiger. No matter how well you treat the tiger, it will always be a tiger.

As far as orcs not being scary, individually they are not. In a horde they can be kind of terrifying. Kind of like mice...

 

[Mecheon]

Comparing orcs to humans is like comparing a house cat to a tiger. No matter how well you treat the tiger, it will always be a tiger.

Housecats are vicious invasive predators where I live. Only reason they don't go after humans is they aren't big enough. Of course, then you go the whole Australia Big Cat things...

My personal preference is to have race matter, other races are more than just humans in a rubber mask.

I've always been one of anything's actions are just what they are. You can have orcs who are still savage, but not necessarily hostile if they don't need to be. Likewise you can have elves who are evil villains and the orcs absolutely in the right for wanting to topple their spires.

We're in a post Warcraft 3 world, even if you don't want to go full Elder Scrolls and have orcs just being weird elves because everything in Elder Scrolls is either humans or elves. (Except the lizard-men birthed from the alien trees who managed to survive the last cycle of existence and hop into this one)

 

[Oofta]

Housecats are vicious invasive predators where I live. Only reason they don't go after humans is they aren't big enough. Of course, then you go the whole Australia Big Cat things...


I've always been one of anything's actions are just what they are. You can have orcs who are still savage, but not necessarily hostile if they don't need to be. Likewise you can have elves who are evil villains and the orcs absolutely in the right for wanting to topple their spires.

We're in a post Warcraft 3 world, even if you don't want to go full Elder Scrolls and have orcs just being weird elves because everything in Elder Scrolls is either humans or elves. (Except the lizard-men birthed from the alien trees who managed to survive the last cycle of existence and hop into this one)

So? I'm not playing WOW. If orcs are just misunderstood savages in your campaign, go for it. In my world they aren't human. If I want moral dilemmas or options for an enemy that you may be able to negotiate with there are still plenty of options.

An analogy in Sci-Fi would be the xenomorphs from the Alien movies. Raise a face hugger with loving tenderness and it will still eat you.

 

[jasper]

Housecats are vicious invasive predators where I live. Only reason they don't go after humans is they aren't big enough. Of course, then you go the whole Australia Big Cat things...


I've always been one of anything's actions are just what they are. You can have orcs who are still savage, but not necessarily hostile if they don't need to be. Likewise you can have elves who are evil villains and the orcs absolutely in the right for wanting to topple their spires.

We're in a post Warcraft 3 world, even if you don't want to go full Elder Scrolls and have orcs just being weird elves because everything in Elder Scrolls is either humans or elves. (Except the lizard-men birthed from the alien trees who managed to survive the last cycle of existence and hop into this one)

oh ow oh Mr. Kotter Mr. Kotter Um Mecheon What about us gamers who never played WOW and only know about from the cool commercials.
Back in 1E I ran a hard black and white campaign. So if a race was CE you could get your sword on without any ethical problems. Some gamers like being able to slay mooks and enjoying the cure disease scroll and pie they looted from the orc's body.

 

[Oofta]

oh ow oh Mr. Kotter Mr. Kotter Um Mecheon What about us gamers who never played WOW and only know about from the cool commercials.
Back in 1E I ran a hard black and white campaign. So if a race was CE you could get your sword on without any ethical problems. Some gamers like being able to slay mooks and enjoying the cure disease scroll and pie they looted from the orc's body.

For what it's worth, I don't play a hack-and-slash game. But yes, if a monster is labeled CE in the MM, it's CE in the game. D&D is not reality, orcs are a race created specifically for a purpose. Raiding and killing is fundamental to their nature.

None of which means I don't run a campaign with as much intrigue and depth as my group wants. It just means that monsters are monsters. Sometimes the most terrible monsters happen to be human.

 

[jasper]

.... Sometimes the most terrible monsters happen to be human.

Yes and us dms call them players....... BFEG (Big Fat Evil Grin)

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Orcs were low level mooks. They were never terrifying. They're especially never going to be 'terrifying' now that we're in the age where Warcraft exists and orcs have moved so far past "They are the evil people we can freely attack" to "They are another culture we got problems with but they're people" that its so far in the distance no one can see it.

I meant terrifying to villagers the general human populace. The idea that a roving band of orcs could be devastating to a farm community. Not terrifying to PCs.

And I literally just said it would be nice to revert to the OG interpretation of orcs (well not strictly evil, but that humans view them as evil).

 

[Arnwolf666]

If I’m in 8th England I’m killing a Viking on sight or running for my life. That is a specific setting. Fast forward several centuries and I would do neither.

 

[Son of the Serpent]

Nope I did not say that all orcs have to be like that but what I wrote is the standard orc not from a mechanical point of view but from his typical behavior at least in my standard campaigns , sorry D&D is a bit about stereotypes, that is part of the game, and nothing I feel bad about.
And other people are free to portray their orcs as pacifistic dope-loving hippies in their campaigns if they have fun with that, and they still are of course real roleplayers and it does not devalue their campaign or playstyle in any way.

See D&D has been diverse and multicultural way before this got such a high value in society.
Already in 2e (Back in 87 or 89? i cannot remember) they decided that there be no differences anymore in stats or whatever for male or female characters. I think 1e still had this that males could have higher strength.

Still there were stereotypes and there still are and that's it it is just a game not reality.

I know a lot of dms who still add in rules for differing stats between males and females depending on the way sexual dimorphism presents in the given race.

I do it myself. Different distribution curves, mods, and even extra featured abilities if relevant. Its too bad they dont publish things like this anymore. But there are still people keeping it alive.