I'm torn on whether or not to include non-human races in Crowfield in general. I'm doubly torn on orcs.
Reasons "Not to Orc"
There are two reasons that make me want to avoid the orcs, and they both revolve around the flavor of the setting.
Low Fantasy
I'm very much looking for a low fantasy feel. More like Conan than Lord of the Rings. I don't think Conan ever came across an entire civilization of non-human intelligent beings.
But then, if the "fantasy dial" is turned too low, then the party shouldn't really have any wizards or clerics. I think I want player wizards and clerics. I think.
We Don't Serve Their Kind Here
Even if I wanted non-humans, I'm not sure orcs are the right non-humans. I want the Firelands to feel like a cross between ancient Egyptian mythology and 1,001 Arabian Nights. Orcs, Elves, and Dwarves don't belong in the ancient Sahara.
In Defense of Orcs
A while ago I posted a couple unique monsters for Crowfield. Someone (I forgot who, sorry) contacted me and warned me against going overboard with custom monsters. "When people play D&D," the argument went, "they expect certain tropes."
In many ways, stock monsters are the "character actors" of the game. Wikipedia says:
Character actors tend to play the same type of role throughout their careers, including Harvey Keitel as tough and determined characters, Christopher Lloyd as an eccentric, Claude Rains as sophisticated sometimes morally ambiguous men, Abe Vigoda as an ageing criminal...
This lets the filmmaker take a short cut. When you see Peter Lorre you don't need 20 minutes of screentime to know that he's the creepy foreign guy.
Likewise with orcs in D&D. When the characters see a bunch of orcs, they know the bad guys have come to town.
Of course, the expectation can be flipped to great effect. My plan for the first adventure involves the party finding a grain rich oasis inhabited by a small population of orcs. Little known to the party, these orcs are not chaotic in alignment.1 The dilemma arises: should they trade with the orcs? Just take what they need? Return with an army to conquer them? While I can run the same adventure using humans instead of orcs, I don't think the players will react the same way.
Wrapping it Up
Often, writing a post forces me to organize my thoughts in such a way that I reach a conclusion by the time I'm done writing. Not so this time. I'm really torn on this issue.
What do you think? Human only? Non-humans? Magic? No magic?
I really don't know.
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In the original printings of D&D orcs could be neutral or chaotic. This was changed in later versions. ↩
An interesting post! I'm personally one to enjoy the 'fantasy dial' turned up more, but recognize context is important.
ReplyDeleteIt might go against the custom recommendation, but could you use the orcs as template, retain all technical traits and just give them some aesthetic flair to match more in line with the Egyptian mythos? You could even indicate to the players that the creatures are 'orc-like' in appearance, perhaps even imply that they are desert-adjusted orc descendants? Just a thought.
In terms of whether to include such elements at all, I feel that your setting with Gob and Hume and such lends itself sufficiently into a magic world, especially if creatures such as Efreet are going to be roaming around.
Also, with potential non-human NPCs, and the usage of "Human" and "Goblin" as being allied with Hume less so than a race, it would give opportunity to have very interesting interactions. What if an orc had been saved by some human race folk, and decided to follow Hume? Could serve as a way to connect with the other orcs and establish good trading, but would be up to the players to figure out and pursue.
I don't mean to overlay your event/situation with my own, just spitballing how including these to a small degree could spice the campaign up and cause some tough decisions.