D&D General Vote Up A 5e-alike, Part 2: Lineages/Heritages

[Scribe]

Not Horde.

Ah, so you played the villians.

 

[Faolyn]

People love to play orcs. Its weird. To me orcs are either Tolkien slaves to evil or insanely aggressive nut jobs dedicated to goin' fasta' and more dakka (and spelled with a K).

Orcs re basically blank slates, since they have next to no culture--if Tolkien gave them one beyond being slaves to evil, I doubt any but the dedicated Tolkienistas really know about it, and D&D certainly didn't bother with much beyond "their gods made them evil"--so you can basically make them into whatever you want. Plus, they're big, muscle-y guys and gals, which a lot of people like for one reason or another; they're Proud Warrior Guys which gives them a useful niche; they're not so inhuman-looking to be thought of either as aliens or furries; and they're just edgy enough to appeal to the Edgy crowd while not being so edgy as to alienate those who hate the Edgy crowd.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Orcs re basically blank slates, since they have next to no culture--if Tolkien gave them one beyond being slaves to evil, I doubt any but the dedicated Tolkienistas really know about it, and D&D certainly didn't bother with much beyond "their gods made them evil"--so you can basically make them into whatever you want. Plus, they're big, muscle-y guys and gals, which a lot of people like for one reason or another; they're Proud Warrior Guys which gives them a useful niche; they're not so inhuman-looking to be thought of either as aliens or furries; and they're just edgy enough to appeal to the Edgy crowd while not being so edgy as to alienate those who hate the Edgy crowd.

Too much of a Trekkie here. You try to pry them away from Tolkien or 40k and they just turn into Klingons for me. And as a Dragonlance fan I've always preferred minotaur for that.

 

[Scribe]

Plus, they're big, muscle-y guys and gals, which a lot of people like for one reason or another; they're Proud Warrior Guys which gives them a useful niche; they're not so inhuman-looking to be thought of either as aliens or furries; and they're just edgy enough to appeal to the Edgy crowd while not being so edgy as to alienate those who hate the Edgy crowd.

Exactly.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I'd have liked some half-dragons.

 

[TwoSix]

Too much of a Trekkie here. You try to pry them away from Tolkien or 40k and they just turn into Klingons for me. And as a Dragonlance fan I've always preferred minotaur for that.

Well, yeah! The Klingon culture makes for a fantastic fantasy trope. WoW made them into shamanic Klingons, and it’s a great flavor that doesn’t clash with established D&D tropes.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Well, yeah! The Klingon culture makes for a fantastic fantasy trope. WoW made them into shamanic Klingons, and it’s a great flavor that doesn’t clash with established D&D tropes.

Oh, I get it. Like I said, I'm a Trekkie. I love Klingons, and they do work great in fantasy. I just believe that there are so many intelligent heritages in D&D, you've got to find a place for them all if you're going to use them. Tolkien (and later GW) already did that for orcs to me, and my personal history with fantasy led me to use minotaurs for the "proud warrior race" role.

That being said, I sometimes use orcs in the modern way as well, usually because players expect it. Often their history in my worlds starts with them as slaves to evil though; I have no hang-ups about the former slave origin.

I once ran a D&D in space game with an orc player where the party encountered a 40k ork. "I don't know what that is, but it's not an orc".

 

[TwoSix]

Oh, I get it. Like I said, I'm a Trekkie. I love Klingons, and they do work great in fantasy. I just believe that there are so many intelligent heritages in D&D, you've got to find a place for them all if you're going to use them. Tolkien (and later GW) already did that for orcs to me, and my personal history with fantasy led me to use minotaurs for the "proud warrior race" role.

That being said, I sometimes use orcs in the modern way as well, usually because players expect it. Often their history in my worlds starts with them as slaves to evil though; I have no hang-ups about the former slave origin.

I once ran a D&D in space game with an orc player where the party encountered a 40k ork. "I don't know what that is, but it's not an orc".

Oh, don't get me wrong, Warhammer Orks are fun guys.