D&D 5E Orcs and Drow in YOUR game (poll */comments +)

[Helldritch]

So far, in the poll, we can see two tendencies.
1) Orcs & Drows can be any alignments
2) Orcs & Drows are always/typically evil.

What I find interesting though, is that both sides do not need any help or already have it covered. In fact if you look at the poll so far:
Orc and Drow will continue to be of any alignment fits the Orcs and Drows can be of any alignment within a 3% margin.
AND
Orcs and Drows will continue to be evil fits the within a 14% margin. I suspect that some of that means that a fair portion voted for We do not need help, we have it covered. If we cut this one in half, assign both halves to each then we have a closer match.

Is suspect that some like me voted for the two stances that I do not need help (either O&D will continue to be any alignments or O&D will continue to be Evil). And some just voted for one and assumed that it was not necessary to add more.

I think that it is a bit ambiguous for the last part as for the "we have it covered" could please both sides. I for one, am on the fence, it entirely depends on which game world I will be. Eberron is an incredible world where we can play drows, orcs and goblinoids like in WoW (Exandria and Tal Dorei are about the same, and yes I am waiting for my copy of Tal Dorei). Forgotten realm allows for the rare individual to be good and Greyhawk is a bit less flexible as "good" humanoid are rarer and most of them usually ally themselve with evil gods as per default. In my own game world, orcs are evil through and through with no possibilities to be anything else as they are literally bred from pods (no female orcs) fully grown and goblins are even worst. (they have rituals to make a simple goblin become a hobgoblin or a bugbear, both rituals involve a lot of humanoid or animal flesh).

But for those that play in a single campaign world, continuity is really important. Their game is not one shot (one group only if you will) that will end when the group is over. But it is there for all groups and time will advance on the world as they go with different groups. And it might stem from this single fact that some people prefer one way or an other. The younger generation of gamer usually play one group and then another in an other world. So anything goes be it rabbit folks, turtle folks, good orcs and whatever. The older generation usually stick to one world and prefer a more durable and structured approach. Both sides have their merits and flaws. Neither is right or wrong. And there are the other types that change worlds from time to time to dust off their old shoes and do something else (that's me ).

Also: Here it can depend a lot on whom introduced you to the hobby, my young players would fall into the first categorie but they play with me so they will go with the third stance. But some others that I have coached go either way. It is also a matter of preferences. This is why it is so hard to define.

This is what this poll is telling me.

 

[Mecheon]

Now I want to know what the evil gods do with their 1 weekly hour when they're not meddling with mortal races...

Get involved in bullet hell fights with people telling them to knock it off, of course

(i may have been playing a bit of touhou lately)

 

[Laurefindel]

Get involved in bullet hell fights with people telling them to knock it off, of course

(i may have been playing a bit of touhou lately)

I’d say this still counts as « meddling with mortal races » however

 

[Mecheon]

I’d say this still counts as « meddling with mortal races » however

I mean, there's 'meddling' and then there's 'taking several dozen tallismins, lasers or knives to the face as you try to get off Earth Sign: Shattering the Rigged Lot'

... D&D god based touhou fangame sounds like a terribly brilliant idea, to just go completely off-topic

 

[d24454_modern]

I like to do a percentage roll to determine the alignment of non-important NPCs. “Often” means “33% chance of being that alignment with a 33% chance of being within one step of it and 33% chance of being within two steps of it”. “Usually” and “Always” follow similar rules.

For NPCs integral to the story, I decide regardless of what it says in the book.

 

[Maxperson]

Yes exactly.

For example, if somebody killed Lolth, and all the drow were suddenly any Alignment again, without being under her influence, that for example would qualify as a shift in portrayal.

Or if your PCs went to a different Material World where races were of any alignment, that would qualify as a shift in portrayal.

Could be any reason at all whatsoever OR having no reason at all to make any changes, in your game.

If Lolth died 1) It would take Drow society centuries and perhaps millennia(given the longevity of elves) for their society to evolve away from what it currently is, and 2) would only happen if the other 6 CE drow deities also died at the same time. Otherwise they'd just fill the power vacuum and evil drow society would continue on, though probably in a somewhat different manner(far fewer spiders for example).

 

[Oofta]

I will say that while I at no point needed WotC's help in determining the potential alignment of the sentient, sapient species in my campaigns (and voted as much), I do very much appreciate that WotC has taken steps towards making these changes more canonical in D&D moving forward. People are always still gonna do what feels best to them, but I hope that it ultimately opens up newer players to more interesting and complex worlds and role-playing opportunities

That assumes that more complex is inherently better for the game. It may be better for you, but the game has become the most popular TTRPG ever made without that explicitly stated complexity.

 

[beancounter]

Orcs and Drow are evil in my games.

 

[Scott Christian]

I did not see in the poll where it stated orcs are in the game of any alignment and drow do not exist. Or orcs are in the game with evil alignment, but drow do not exist. Or the reversal of this, where orcs are not in the game, yet drow are.

 

[Azzy]

God am I happy to not playing in that world too.
The basic premise of D&D is that the gods are there. They can and will meddle in mortals affair. Yes you can do otherwise, but in doing so, you leave the basic premise and thus the "always" and "generaly" need not apply after that.

I wouldn't say the basic premise. While "those meddling gods and their dog" is common in the GR, GH, and DL to varying degrees, even as a teen I felt it was overused.