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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Admiral Caine" data-source="post: 4655991" data-attributes="member: 60438">Replying to the whole community along with Scott....  To jump mediums, this is the 'Galactus Justification' from Marvel Comics. Galactus is a space god that eats living planets to sustain itself. While the sentients of the universe may abhor Galactus, he equates himself with a force of nature. No more beholden to moral judgments and condemnations than a tornado. And that works, in that context. The problem with the D&D Genre (because it is a genre unto itself) is that the PCs are often opposed by forces that don't merely do things to survive.. they do awful things out of pleasure. Acts which are not required for any reason or motive other than the delight of the perpetrator at the expense of the victim. You can re-imagine certain races, like orcs for example, in the World of Warcraft motif.. as a noble savage race, with a different code of ethics. But the Core Game still has lots of enemies that just get their jollies by the suffering of others. Going back to the original point, they're not like Galactus. They are not sharks, impersonally attacking for food or some natural imperative (like territory). It is personal, and often unnecessary to survival. And that sort of evil is inherent to the Genre that is Dungeon and Dragons. Though I suppose you could make a campaign that de-emphasized that, but I think you'd need to start from scratch. </blockquote>