Integrating Orcs

[Paka]

Does anyone have any experiences or ideas about integrating Orcs into a party? How does this tend to work, storywise?

The Orcs are fantastically flavorful but I'm not sure how they'd work with all that...well, HATE!

I am worried about shallow Orc PC's who use the word Me before every sentence and only grow enraged at who the party wants 'em to be engraged at.

Thoughts?

[Kublai]

Breaking away from the Tolkien canon from which BW Orcs were inspired by will certainly take some effort, but I think it's totally possible! To properly insert an orcish character in a non-orcish party will require masterful BITs (Beliefs, Instincts, and Traits). You'll also have to bury the concept that orcs are inherently evil. It becomes all about his Hatred and exactly what he hates. If properly focused, this Hatred can become a great motivation towards a campaign goal.

Say one of the orc's beliefs were "Make any alliance necessary to achieve my goals." If the GM ensures the orc's goal and the rest of the party's goal are similar, then incorporating him into the party should be possible. Of course, the rest of the party will have to put aside their own biases towards him!

There's also a cheating way to incorporate an orc into the party, an orc who has no Hatred at all. This is done by creating a human character and giving him the Fey trait, then choosing Orcish traits and appearance. In essence, he will be a half-orc, but can seem completely orcish to non-orcs.

[Paka]

I am quite comfortable deviating from the Tolkien hard-line. Just wondering how others were handling Orcish PC's.

Some good ideas in your response. Thanks.

[luke]

I don't know if you've downloaded the Poisonous Ambition package yet, but from that you can see that I'm no use to you. I'm an Orc for Orcs man. Or at least Orcs for Orcs, Trolls, Wolves, Spiders and shifty, unscrupulous men.

The original intent of those races was to allow PCs to go "evil", but also to give the "otherside" some depth as well.

But I think once you toss the Tolkien history/baggage and bestow upon Orcs their own place and culture in your world, then integration is possible. They simply become another people, albiet a warlike and antipathic one.

Still, PCs could be escapees from that culture, trying to master their terrible emotions. Or PCs could simply be mercenary, out in the world to in fact spread the hatred. And, as Pete mentioned, it is possible to make an Orc without Hatred. And you can do it using the Orc LPs -- without having to resort to being a puny human! Just choose your paths carefully.

-Luke

[Paka]

I think this game will fit my last homebrew D&D world better than D&D. I am looking forward to running a game in Ladymist again.

Ladymist is what happens when a Dragon builds a city for her children. She is called the Lady or the City of Lairs.

Ladymist is a city hewn from a mountain into the shape of a step pyramid, one borough to each step. Waterfalls spill from the upper levels tot he lower and conjure mist into the streets. In spring, mountain foliage makes a canopy over the cobblestone streets and in the winter the waterfalls freeze into ten story crystal sculptures.

Lair Sisters, in their green habits, silently make their way through the market-place, bargaining in sign language or on small chalk boards. Balladeers sing epic Draconic poetry that can take days to recite completely. Gentlemen and ladies stroll arm in arm through the Jade Aerie with their exotic birds on their shoulder.

In the Goblin ghetto, the greenish children mock duel with wooden knives. Any adults with goblin blood aren’t allowed to walk the streets out of their borough in groups larger than three. It is called the Horde Law, from a time when Goblin, Orc, Ogre and Troll Horde spilled out of the forest and laid siege to the Lady.

During festivals cres paper puppet heroes hunt wooden vampires or trolls through the streets. When the creatures are caught, inevitably in a square next to a dried out fountain, the puppets engage in duels. Red candy spills from any wounds inflicted into the delighted hands and mouths of Ladyfolk children.

The Ladyfolk, as the city-born are called, would never dream of living anywhere else.

[luke]

rockin! you should post a thread in the Games, Campaigns forum.

-L

[Pheel]

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

One way to integrate an Orc into a "good" party without losing their delicious hate is to come up with the right story. Orcs show no loyalty to one another, and an ambitious orc could ally with a party intent on destroying his enemies. Of course, the party would have to be in dire straits to allow said Orc to venture with them, and the group would be in a constant state of tension, wondering when the Orc would betray them.

Which sounds like a kick-ass little campaign to me...