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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 5983127" data-attributes="member: 2067">For my purposes, your orcs lack an interesting hook (there's no particular reason for me to use them over some other monster) and rely too much on backstory (there's not much I can use at the table tonight).You're confusing "iconic" with "old."But I don't think either word hits what I'm going for. I'm looking at what makes them interesting gameplay elements. Why are they fun to include in plots and stories and encounters? In what ways are they different from other creatures? What makes an orc special in D&D? Why would I want to use one?For me, Warhammer orcs are slapstick cartoony and WoW orcs are comic book cartoony and neither feel really appeals to me. I really don't need "LOL Spelling errorz and hyperviolence" and I don't really need "Noble Savage guys."  They work fine for their respective environments, but my D&D isn't much like Warhammer and isn't much like Azeroth (and isn't much like LotR, either). But antagonists who have an implacable hatred for the PC's, simply for what they are...yeah, that I can use. That's good conflict juice, which makes for good storylines and good scenes and good fights and good gameplay. What happens when the orc hoard gathers outside of town and the peaceful nobles try to seek a compromise? (Probably what happens at the beginning of the new Battlestar Gallactica). What can the PC's do to overcome them? (Perhaps turn the orcs against each other? Imply there's greater reward in the chief's tent than in the battle-scarred cities?) How do the PC's have to fight them? (Defensively, probably, relying on terrain and protection to survive the onslaught, and attacking back after they're spent...) What happens to an NPC or PC who comes from such a background? (Have they rejected their culture's hatred entirely, or does it simmer under the surface, always threatening to break through?)That sounds like awesome good times to me. I don't care what their heads look like or what their alignment was back in 2e.</blockquote>

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