Orcs: How Important Are They?

[The Lemon Merchant]

Orcs, to me, remain a necessary part of my D&D campaigns. However, I am now moving to more sparing use of them. In my current campaign world they've been relegated to the barbaric hordes of a desert waste, poorly organized and mostly just bothersome raiders.

I've always loved hobgoblins and I'm now moving more toward a focus on them.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

While Orcs are a staple of fantasy, I just don't use them much...or at all, really.

Kobolds and Goblins are the bigger mook type species for my games.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

If orcs go, pie goes too.

 

[Dragonhelm]

I like the orcs as Klingons analogy.

It's one way of altering them, though I think the Klingon analogy works much better with Dragonlance's minotaurs (honor, sailing ships/starships, etc.). Orcs don't really demonstrate honor or a knack for sailing vessels. Though they could, if that's how you want to define them.

One of my favorite takes on orcs/orks is in Sovereign Stone, where I believe they are descended from orcas (aka killer whales). That's a totally different take on them and their association with water adds some good flavor.

Here's what Wikipedia has on Sovereign Stone's orks...

"Orks: In this world Orks are excellent seafarers in touch with the magic of the water. They are master engineers and are dedicated to the reading of omens. The authors specifically stated that they wanted the Orks in this world to be more then the "usual cannon-fodder", and thus made several changes to the average fantasy orc."

What other ways can orcs develop their own sense of identity?

 

[Tonguez]

Currently Orks don't exist imc their role as 'antagonist race' being taken by Sahuagin

However I have used Orks in the past although not as a major feature. I just tend to like Ogres, Gnolls and Goblins better.

What other ways can orcs develop their own sense of identity?

When I did use Orks I got anthropological and decided made to have them split into all female clans and allmale mobs. The clans are LN hierarchies dominated by a matriarch and her daughters with other lesser females and whelps subordinated below them. These clans are seminomadic and hold territory.

At age 8 all male whelps are expelled from the clans and forced to survive, this is usually achieved by the formation of all-male Mobs. Mobs are not allowed to settle in any territory and instead survive by raiding and brigandage. Mobs will often tail a clan and attempt to abduct a female with whom they will mate (by ritual rape) at all other times females will kill any male who gets too close

Occasionally a male Chieftain will unite a number of mobs and claim enough authority to dominate a territory and the females in it, however the females usually resist this more aggresively than they would an incursion by humans...

Anyway this set up allows me to have the violent chaotic mobs raiding human villages as well as the more settled noble savages of the 'clans'.

If orcs go, pie goes too.

We could always try Gnoll and Pizza or perhaps kobold and Brockwurst

 

[Melan]

There's no option to say they're great classic humanoid monsters yet aren't a necessary fixture of every setting.

My take as well. They are fun opponents (especially orc archers with poisoned arrows - players love to hate those guys), but there is no overwhelming need to have them in a game.

 

[grimslade]

If orcs go, pie goes too.

Yeah you can't have a 10' x 10' room with just pie. Where is the challenge? I suppose it could be an evil pie, but that is a completely different animal.

 

[mmadsen]

Orcs are one excellent option for a campaign's primary foe. In my recent campaign though, I've been using goblins as my "orcs" and hobgoblins as my "Uruks". I haven't used actual orcs at all.

 

[Fifth Element]

Neither does the 3rd ed Monster Manual.

Yeah, it only says they're "often" chaotic evil. The way they're portrayed in the game, of course, means the rest of the time they must be neutral evil or lawful evil.

 

[tzor]

I've always the 1E AD&D Orcs, the other white meat. I've always had respect for the wild boar like humanoids which was a staple of low level encounters. I missed the loss of 1/2 orcs in second edition AD&D and was happy even though dissapointed in their return in 3E.