D&D 5E (2014) Orcs and Drow in YOUR game (poll */comments +)

[Lanefan]

Interestingly, there's no option in the poll along the lines of "Orcs and-or Drow will continue to be typically/always Evil in my game setting"; the built-in assumption by the OP seems to be that in all settings they will either change to or already are Any Alignment, which isn't necessarily true.

EDIT: ninja'ed by @Lxyen by mere seconds.

 

[el-remmen]

In my current homebrew, orcs are extinct (but the lore of the Free Peoples say they were evil and those who count themselves the descendants of orcs - half-orcs, but really a lot less than "half" - say that is propaganda) and drow are typically Chaotic, but not evil.

In my old homebrew, orcs were "typically evil" but I moved further and further from that as I leaned into the how they were historically manipulated to be cannon fodder by the powers that be and rejected by other groups because of that history, and drow was not a race of elves, but a subset of elves of any kind or shade who sold their soul to Teneraél Undol (that world's Lolth equivalent) - surface elves, ashamed of this, leaned into the racism of letting other peoples believe it was just the dark skinned ones who were evil since they were not around to argue differently, being underground). This latter facet was a big in-game reveal, when the PCs realized that all the lore of drow they'd ever learned was wrong.

In all my games most sapient beings are "typically neutral."

 

[DarkMantle]

Interestingly, there's no option in the poll along the lines of "Orcs and-or Drow will continue to be typically/always Evil in my game setting"; the built-in assumption by the OP seems to be that in all settings they will either change to or already are Any Alignment, which isn't necessarily true.

Correct. This is on purpose merely to show a high level of sensitivity to those who might/would expect to see change, in lieue of WoTC's statement. Just being extra-careful here.

 

[Minigiant]

I'm my games, orcs and drows are not a monolith and have different alignment base on their nation.

Red Orcs, Blue Orcs, and Purple Drow are evil.
Brown Orcs, Green Orcs, and Green Drow are neutral.
Purple Orcs, and Silver Drow are good.

In the setting, elves change color with allegiance to a royal elven house and its alignment. Orcs change color to the elves they hate the most.

 

[Lyxen]

I voted typically evil, I remain in line with our holy father Gygax.

 

[Lyxen]

Correct. This is on purpose merely to show a high level of sensitivity to those who might/would expect to see change, in lieue of WoTC's statement. Just being extra-careful here.

And, pray tell, why is special care needed for these opinions ?

 

[Scribe]

I voted that orcs were typically evil(as there has never been an edition where all of them were evil) and that I didn't need any help to keep them that way.

Correct. This is on purpose merely to show a high level of sensitivity to those who might/would expect to see change.

Why? The thread isnt about what Wizards is doing, its about what we do. "Leave it as it has always been." certainly should be an option.

 

[DarkMantle]

And, pray tell, why is special care needed for these opinions ?

This is not a debate thread. It's an information-seeking thread. We have other threads for debating

 

[Lyxen]

This is not a debate thread. It's an information-seeking thread. We have other threads for debating

You were the one who created the debate by supposing that everyone would make a change. Obviously, this prevents some people from answering such a biased information-seeking.

 

[Quartz]

I have no issue with them being and staying evil. Do note that i differentiate between elves that have black skin and drow.