Author's Notes
The Steppe Orcs
I've always felt that orcs has been lacking in games. They usually take one of two paths:
- Monsters. No culture, no traditions, just monsters. Kill them without remorse.
- Ordinary people, but strong, with tusks and green skin.
To me, neither approach felt good.
My initial idea was to pattern them loosely on the native Americans, but as I they took form, they felt more and more like Mongol tribes, so I went with that instead.
First thing I did was to drop the green skin and tusks, as I've found both just plain stupid. Instead, they are grey skinned and muscular.
Then, I gave them a culture, adapted to the steppes. War is their way of life, but it has rules. The way the families of fallen warriors belong to the victor, and the victor has an obligation to take care of them and provide for them felt very orcish. Likewise, the tradition of corpse piles is also very orcish, to honor the dead by piling the corpses of their enemies.
One bit of inspiration came from a nature documentary about apes. In some ape species, the alpha male grows larger when he assumes that role. That also felt very orcish, that the great leaders actually grew, and become larger and stronger. A strong chief will also, of course, have many women and children, taken from his defeated enemies. Once again, this feels very orcish.
I hope that my intent to make orcs which feels like a people, with a culture and religion, someone who is a person, not just a monster, worked. If the players kill an orc, they should feel that they kill a person, not just a random monster, and that there may be consequences.