Questions and Ponderings

Friday's game was decent.  Most of it was travel time, with a good RP encounter in a sacked village that involved a group of Were (think tall wolf-men) of questionable allegiance.  They had helped in one way, but hindered in another.  Created some tension, and put the party in an interesting predicament.  Ahnuld didn't get to do much besides help investigate a temple to his god that was spared destruction for some reason.  However, next session promises to start with a roll for Initiative.  Sweet!

I also recently started a Facebook page for my Orc RPG.  Invited a bunch of friends and posted a download link to the playtest version.  It's more or less a complete game.  I just need to fine-tune the rules, and make any changes that playtesting comes up with.  Then it will need illustrations and artwork, and it will be pretty much ready to go.  Not sure how I will sell it.  Probably offer it as a PDF, but I might also do Print On Demand through Lulu or someplace like that.  We'll see how that goes.  First things first, though.  I need people to play it and give me feedback.

Earlier this weekend, Charles Gramlich asked me on Facebook where he could review my latest story, Blood from Sand.  And I honestly didn't know how to respond.  It is currently not available in any format, so there is no Amazon or Smashwords page to review it on.  I suppose he could review it on his blog, but what about people who read the review and wonder where to get the story?  Right now the plan is to re-publish the story, along with revised versions of both Pekra and Severance in a collection showcasing some of my better female protagonists.  That will happen in just under two weeks, after Severance gets out from under Amazon's KDP Select program.

I'll have to ponder that for a bit more.  In the meantime, I am down to one more discussion topic and a Term paper for this class.  So, my next couple of weeks will be focusing on that.  Probably won't get a whole lot of writing done, but that's nothing new.

I did start something that I am hoping to keep up with, though.  I have a tall bookshelf in our room that has been relegated more for clothes than books.  However, I cleared a shelf off so I could put some books there a while back.  Yesterday I organized the shelf with books that I would like to read over the course of the next year.  There's some new stuff there, some relatively new stuff, and some classics.  It's all various genres and lengths, but the main portion is Fantasy and Sword & Sorcery.

The first in queue is Orcs: Bad Blood by Stan Nicholls.  The direct sequel to the first Orcs trilogy, Stryke and the Wolverines are pulled back into conflict.  I had started reading it a while back, but had to set it aside (no doubt for school reasons).  So, when I picked it back up yesterday, I started right where I left off.  After just a couple of pages it all started coming back to me, and I am once more right in the thick of the story.

Had a good Mother's Day yesterday.  Made breakfast, went to church, had lunch at Red Robin, chilled at the house and watched The Dark Knight Rises (finally), and then just lazed the rest of the day away.  Michele says it was a great Mother's Day.  And, as long as she's happy, I'm happy.

Galaxy of Rage

I have this idea that has been swimming around in my head for a long time.  As you should know, I have recently completed the first phase of creating my own RPG based on the idea of the player characters being Orcs.  It’s called Life of Rage, and it’s in the “play test” stage (btw, I’m still looking for interested parties to look at it).

Well, for Christmas I got HALO 4.  It’s a beautiful game, and very slick, and it reminded me of everything I love about sci-fi, and especially military sci-fi.  So, now I have this idea for the first supplement for Life of Rage.  I call it Galaxy of Rage, and it is based on the premise that Orcs from a traditional fantasy setting are taken off-planet and thrust into a world that combines magic with high technology.

The premise is actually pretty old.  Games Workshop has been using it for decades for their Warhammer 40K game, and its various offshoots.  Additionally, Fantasy Flight Games had a D&D add-on game called Dragonstar that did exactly what I am talking about with all facets of a traditional fantasy world.  In fact, that’s where my idea originally came from.

So, my thought is to use the basic rules and mechanics from Life of Rage, and add on things like high tech weapons, futuristic skills, and of course, space battles and vehicles.  Originally I was thinking of writing it as a complete game, but now I am thinking I might just do it as a supplement.  Meaning, in order to play Galaxy of Rage, you would need to also have Life of Rage.

Anyways, it’s just an idea, and I will probably chip away at the project for a while, until I decide to make it a priority.  In the meantime, here is a vignette I wrote.  It was originally intended to be the beginning of a “Rambo”-type of story, but I think I will go a different route for this setting.  Enjoy!

###

Call of Duty

By Tom Doolan

Burkak the orc still remembered the Old World.  “Karneer” they called it.  Though to his tribe it was simply, “the world.”  He remembered when there was nothing beyond the lands of the orcs, elves, dwarves and men.  Wars were fought with axes and spears and swords.  Magic was what the mad sorcerers used to enslave his kind, and those who did not possess the power to fight it, or the will to withstand it.

But that was before the great Sky Ship came.  Before General Ortak came, and killed the Chieftain with a hand-held device that Burkak would later learn was called a pistol.  Ortak spoke of worlds beyond theirs, where orcs lived alongside men, dwarves, and even the hated elves.  Where petty racial squabbles were a thing of the past, and where the Great Empire of the One defended the citizens of hundreds of worlds from the threat of annihilation at the hands and claws of creatures far worse than those that existed on Karneer.

Ortak had asked for volunteers.  Burkak had been among the first.  He had found a new home in the Imperial Defense Force, and soon was serving in an infantry squad on faraway worlds.  Gone were his axe and shield; replaced by an Arcanoplast vest and helmet, and a plasma rifle.  However, he still carried his old war knife, as many of his kind did.

But the universe wasn’t as black and white as Ortak had painted it.  Yes, people of all races lived side-by-side within the Empire.  But the Emperor wasn’t nearly as benevolent, nor as all-powerful as the general had painted him to be.  And the IDF was actually only a loose collection of mercenary companies under contract.  During his first tour, Burkak had spent his time moving from one planet to another, fighting members of his own adopted Empire.

Even now, his unit, Hammer Squad of the 2^nd Orc Company, was stalking a group of “renegade” elves on a planet covered by oceans and jungle-encrusted islands.  Their primary mission was to destroy a landing beacon, thus delaying the renegades’ support from arriving.

“Snaag to Burkak.”  The orc’s squad leader’s voice was loud in his head as the helmet amplified the telepathic transmission.

“Burkak here.”  He hissed.  He couldn’t quite master the art of speaking only with his mind.

“SitRep, over?” Situation Report.

“Target is active.  Count: two-zero combatants.  Primary: Sightlocked, over.”  Burkak adjusted his cheek on his DragonEye sniper’s rifle, and focused on the elf in chainmail, a rifle over his head.  Even at a distance of twelve-hundred paces, the orc could faintly hear the elf’s rousing speech as the small unit of commandoes prepared to board their stolen stealth shuttle.

“Roger that.”  Came Snaag’s reply.  “Boomer is set.  Will blow on your signal, over.”

“Affirmative.  Stand by.”  Burkak focused his site on center mass of the elf’s chest.  He let out his breath, held it there, and squeezed the trigger.  He was rewarded with a echoing “pop” and a buck, as the rail-gun fired its projectile at twice the speed of sound.  In an instant, the target’s chest exploded in a crimson spray, as the adamantine projectile the size of a man’s little finger impacted, tearing through the chainmail and the body beneath with devastating effect.

As the elf was flung off of his stand, an explosion ripped through the camp.  At the far end of the small clearing was the homing beacon, and in a fireball that would make a red dragon envious, the metal and wood structure was vaporized, taking with it several soldiers.

Before the remaining elves could regroup, the woods at the edge of clearing opposite the smoldering ruin of the beacon erupted in automatic fire.  In a handful of heartbeats, the elves were reduced to less than ten, each taking cover behind whatever they could find.  Burkak focused on one of these and fired again, to the same effect.  Return fire began shortly, but it was sporadic and wild.  Another target of opportunity was taken by Burkak’s rifle, but beyond that there was no more.

Over the helmet set Snaag’s voice called for “All clear.”  At that, Burkak gathered his gear, slung his rifle, and immediately began picking his way down the rough mountainside to the clearing.

Questions for Gamers

Image from the game "Of Orcs and Men".
Really looking forward to this game, as it
seems to have the exact look and feel I want
for my Role Playing game, Life of Rage.

Yesterday I finished the main text portion of my Orcs tabeltop RPG, Life of Rage.  All that is left to do is to write the sample adventure, maybe create some sample characters, do some formatting, probably a lot of editing, and of course, get some decent artwork.  Ok, so there's a lot more to do.  But, technically, what I have right now is a (more or less) completely playable RPG.  That I wrote.  All by myself.

Anyways, at this point I find myself with a few choices to make.  So, I figured the best way to gage how to go about those would be to ask the RPG community for their opinions.  So, please comment here or on my Facebook post, or send me an email, and let me know your opinions on the following questions:

1.  Format - Do you have a preference for PDF or Print?  I will likely offer both, with the PDF being laid out for optimal use on a computer screen.  Print will most likely be POD through Lulu, or maybe RPGNow.  Have to do some exploring there.

2.  Size - For print editions, what size do you prefer?  I'm looking at doing either full-size (8.5" x 11"), Trade Paperback (6" x 9"), or Pocket size (4.25" x 6.87").  Depending on how it all works, I may offer multiple sizes, but I'd like to keep it as simple as possible, since I doubt my audience will be that big.

3.  Fiction - How important or useful are snippets of fiction in an RPG book?  I know that White Wolf has always used it extensively, and I have even read some of it.  But I'm not sure many other games do.  What are your thoughts on fiction?  Does it help you get into the mood of the game?  Or is it just fluff for page count?

I think that's a good start.  So, please let me know what you think!

I'm a bored dork who is dodging responsibility

So, this summer my teenaged daughter was kind of obsessed with the cartoon Avatar: the Last Airbender, and she watched all three seasons on NetFlix. I watched about half of it with her (she had a habit of staying up way late, and would watch a lot of it while I was in bed), and I really grew to enjoy the show. I may have to go back and watch the episodes I missed. If you’re not familiar with the show, I highly recommend reading the Wiki page above, and if it interests you, check it out on any number of video formats.

As anyone who has been reading my blog for any length of time can imagine, while watching this show, I was immediately struck by how easily it could be done as an RPG. So, I hit the internet, and behold…nothing.

Though there have been various attempts to adapt existing games to the setting (with varying degrees of success), there has never been an official game produced. As a life-long RPG player, I see this as a serious missed opportunity. But, considering the fact that tabletop RPGs aren’t nearly as popular as they once were, I can see why the effort was not made. Still, it seems like someone would have at least optioned the rights for a game. It would have cost the producers of the show nothing, and would have even made them a little chunk of change.

Regardless, my brain started working out the details of how I would do it. I’m not sure I will ever put the rules on paper, let alone actually play it. But it’s an interesting exercise in game-design. You have to come up with basic rules on Bending, and then you have to come up with ways to logically break those rules in order to create the Avatar, and to create new Bending techniques (like Blood and Metal bending), all the while maintaining game and player balance. Fortunately, there is only one Avatar (and would most likely never be a PC), so that part doesn’t need a lot of detail. But the rest is intriguing to think about.

Speaking of RPGs, I find myself thinking again about Life of Rage, my Orc RPG. I really only need to flesh out the setting information a bit more, and then some minor details. And of course, artwork. But it’s kind of playable right now. However, I am rethinking the core mechanic.

Right now, I am borrowing the mechanic from Alderac’s L5R and 7th Sea RPGs, but with modifications. Basically, you roll a certain number of dice based on your skill, then you keep a number of those dice based on your related attribute, and add the results together to try and beat a target number. It seems kind of illogical, as you should roll your attribute and keep your skill. But for the sake of game play, it works. My main modification is the die-type. I use d12s instead of d10s. However, I think I might reconsider that and go with d6s, just because I want to keep it all pretty simple.

This is where my brain goes more often then I want…

Mid-life?

So, I think I am going through the gamer-geek's version of a mid-life crisis.  Instead of wanting to be single with a sports car, I just want to relive my gamer youth.  I want to play old RPGs, watch the movies and cartoons I grew up on, and read old-school comics.  Ok, and a part of me looks longingly at that motorcycle I saw for sale on my way to work.

Actually, now that I think about it, I've been feeling this way for a long time.  So, maybe no crisis, per se.  Still, it is cool to play 1E D&D, and yesterday we bought Michele a copy of Shadowrun 3E at Half-Price Books for $10, and she plans to run a game.  Which is cool for me, since I only ever played it once, when I was in the Army, and I'm pretty sure we never actually finished a game.  In fact, I'm not sure we did anything more than create characters.  Which is usually my favorite part of an RPG anyways.

Speaking of RPGs, Saturday was Free RPG Day, so I dutifully headed down to my FLGS, and picked up a copy of the annual free Pathfinder adventure.  I figure that someday, when I can convince my group to play the game, I will have a whole campaign's worth of free stuff.  We also got Catalyst's free preview versions of Shadowrun and Battletech RPGs (a flip-side two-in-one publication, and which inspired the aforementioned HPB purchase). 

I also picked up a copy of the new Marvel Superheroes RPG from Margaret Weis Studios (no, that wasn't free).  I haven't read it all yet (and I probably won't, since I don't think I have ever read an entire RPG from cover to cover).  My initial impression:  Well, it's certainly pretty.  Seriously, it's sized the same as a standard comic book Trade Paper Back, and the quality is just like what you get with the new TPB books.  The art is directly from the comics, and they showcase all the best characters.

As for the system itself, I'm not sure what to think.  For me, personally, it's kind of counter-intuitive.  The stats don't match the standard physical and mental attributes you usually find in RPGs.  And instead of numbers for stats, they use die-types.  I've always been kind of on the fence with those kinds of systems (ala Savage Worlds), but I know they can work fine, so that part is ok.  They also don't detail Hercules.  However, they give stats for Captain America (of course) and Colossus.  So, it's all good.

I'm sure it won't matter, though.  This is just another in my large pile of RPGs that are cool, but will probably never get played.

So, what are you playing?

Reflections on Gaming

This past weekend was GenCon. I'm Facebook friends with many people in the gaming industry, and a lot of them talked about their experiences over the last few days. I have been to one GenCon, and that was a few years ago, as a vendor. I worked for the second largest game-distributor in the country, and I spent my weekend mostly in meetings with game companies; talking about what was coming up, how we could best serve them, and generally trying to cultivate working relationships. Of course, I was fired a couple of months later, but that's neither here nor there. I enjoyed the experience, and kind of miss having an inside track on the industry.

My only regret was that I was unable to just experience the Con as a gamer. My wife was allowed to come with me, and she got to view a lot more than I did. But, neither of us got to participate in any games, or sit in on any panels. We were hoping to make it this year, but money and the economy...well, you can probably see where that went.

The plan is to try to make it next year, and hopefully make a road-trip to DragonCon in Atlanta as well.

This is how it all started.

As always, the presence of GenCon and DragonCon gets me to thinking about my gaming experiences; past, present and future. I was introduced to the hobby, like many of us, through D&D. In 1981, I moved from Kansas back to my hometown in California. I was just entering the 6th grade. One of my new friends there asked me one day "Do you play D&D?" I responded with "What's that?" And thus a lifetime of gaming was born.

Throughout high school I played a large variety of games. D&D, AD&D, Marvel Super Heroes, DC Super Heroes, Star Frontiers, James Bond...the list is rather exhaustive. I even still have some of those old games in my collection. While in the Army, the hobby continued. A lot of Champions (and various other HERO games), AD&D 2E and Call of Cthulhu.

When I got out of the Army, we moved to San Diego, and I started school at a junior college in 1996. While there, I was reading a Forgotten Realms novel before class. This guy noticed and asked if I played. And thus began a friendship that has lasted for years, and has lead to a lot of new friends. And indirectly, it lead to my current marriage, and my moving to Wisconsin (through the City of Heroes MMO).

The pseudo-medieval settings of D&D lead me to explore history, which lead me (and continues to lead me) academically. The interactive story-telling of RP-sessions has lead me to pursue writing. The games I have played have fired my imagination on so many levels, and lead me to read books and see movies I might never have experienced otherwise.

Sometimes it's kind of amazing to think of how much my life has been influenced, directly and indirectly, by Role-Playing Games. I can't even imagine what life would be like if my friend hadn't asked me if I played D&D back in 6th grade.

Only a ninja can stop a ninja!

Today, I am thinking of the martial arts.  Last night I wanted to watch something that wouldn't tax my brain, and would be filled with the awful awesomeness that I so enjoy in my films.  So, browsing through the NetFlix instant view selections, I found it.  Sho Kosugi's first starring role, Revenge of the Ninja (1983).  Though not his first ninja film (that would be Enter the Ninja, which, incidentally, was much cheesier), it was the one that put him on the map, and really started the ninja-craze of the 80's.  The whole thing is filled with camp, cheese, over-the-top acting, sub-par acting, cliche villains, and a surprise plot twist that was revealed much too soon.

This movie got me to thinking about martial arts again.  And, since I'm a dork, and this is how my gamer-brain works, I immediately started thinking about martial arts-themed Role-Playing Games.  Back in the days before the d20 OGL, (pre-WotC) TSR put out a PDF game called DragonFist.  Based on the AD&D (2E) system, it was heavily inspired by the Wuxia films of Hong Kong, and did an admirable job of representing that.  At least, from what I remember.  Unfortunately, my copy is long gone, and the original game is not available anywhere that I can find, on account of Green Ronin buying it and then letting it sit.

During the heyday of the Street Fighter craze, Capcom contracted with White-Wolf Games to create an RPG based on their IP, using the Storyteller system.  I have that game, as well as all of the supplements.  Very cool stuff.  Even managed to play it a little.  But mostly, it's just a collector's item.  because I am a HUGE Street Fighter fan.

This morning I browsed John Kim's Free RPGs on the web, and found a couple of games to download and look at.  Slayer of Dragon looks pretty cool, though I can't figure out how to print it so it's readable.  I also grabbed Final Stand.  This one looks less "fun" but I haven't really reviewed the rules yet.

I don't know.  What do you guys think?  Should I do a list of my favorite Martial Arts movies?

Crisis of Writer’s Faith

Today I am having a bit of a crisis of faith of sorts. I am starting to doubt my efforts in writing an Orc-themed RPG. It’s not a huge deal, as I am only writing it for fun, and I expect to make exactly $0 off of it. But, Orcs are kind of en vogue right now, especially in the RPG world. There are already several Orc-related RPGs and supplements out there. So, what would my paltry little amateurish effort have to add to all of that? I’m not really sure. I have a few supporters of the effort, who insist that I can do something unique with it. But, I’m not so sure about that. Right now it’s a pretty basic, high action, low/no magic RPG. It has the standard tropes, a possibly over-simple system, and really only presents orcs in a way that is familiar to many already. Thus, as an RPG, it’s nothing innovative. And honestly, when compared to professional works, it’s pretty amateur…and almost lazy.

I guess for me, it’s just an exercise in creativity. One thing it is doing is making me think of world-building and creating a setting that I cold use for fiction. Yesterday I spent a lot of time coming up with ideas about religion. Even though, mechanically, religion has no function in the game (Remember? Low-magic…). And I have managed to brainstorm a lot of ideas about orc society. Why they are the way they are, and how their society and culture breeds the violent brutes we all love.

So, I guess it’s not so much of a crisis of a writer’s faith, but more of a crisis of game designer’s faith. Which, in the end, I’m cool with. If the only thing that comes out of this whole effort is a cheap, beer & pretzels RPG, and a lot of material for fiction, I guess I can call it a success.

Ok, crisis averted. Thanks for listening!

By the way, who wants a copy of the first Beta Release?

A question of dice...

Ok, this is for all of my RPG brothers and sisters. Imagine you have a new game, with a core mechanic that uses a single die-type for all rolls. The question is, does it matter what type of die you use? I know that statistically speaking, based on the manner in which the dice are used, some dice create a greater probability of success.

Here's my quandary. I have a system that I am using that I feel is very universal, and easy to adapt to just about any genre. The problem is, as it stands now, it's pretty much a carbon copy of an existing, published system, that is not open source. So, there may be legal ramifications if I publish a game using it (even if I do so for no profit). I think I have modified it enough to differentiate it from the original system that I started with, but if I used a different die-type, it might completely remove any direct relation.

An additional idea is to use lesser-used dice for it. Right now, I am considering using a d8 or a d12, mainly because these guys get very little love when it comes to the core mechanic. They're usually only used for damage and tertiary rolls like that. The problem I see with doing this is they are only available in game stores. My initial idea was to use d6's, which you can get at any major chain store. But the variation in a d6 is pretty limited. Should this be a concern? Is my audience likely to be anyone who is averse to hitting a game store for a handful of d12's or d8's?

De orcs, dey be a’comin!

A while back I talked a little about my current orc project, an RPG centered around the idea that the characters are all orcs living within their native culture. Well, the project has slowed, but not stopped all together. I am currently chipping away at the background and setting, and refining the rules wherever I see room for improvement. And I have also requested some artwork from a very talented friend. He sent me some initial sketches, and they look sweet! He has a good sense of my orcs, and with a little nudge here and there, the finished drawings will no doubt be amazing. Makes me wish I was writing this game for money. I’d love to be able to pay him. But, I think he’s drawing for the same reason I’m writing. For the sheer joy of creation.

Related to the game are a couple of fiction projects. One is a new short story that kind of popped into my head as a way of illustrating one of the more interesting (IMHO) aspects of my orc society: Mating rituals. I’m not talking about the act of sexual intercourse, but rather the ritualistic views orcs have about selecting and claiming a mate. And yes, it does involve a fight scene. These are orcs, after all.

The other project is one that I had been working on for a long time, but lost interest in when I realized I didn’t have a goal in mind for the story. The tale is of a human boy raised by orcs, and learning to live as one of them. In that story, the orcs are more civilized than they appear to be in the game. However, in my mind, this story takes place several hundred years after the game, during which time the orcs were unified by a powerful warlord who forged a civilized nation that still holds on to its savage roots through tradition and ceremony. I may dust that one off, do some revisions and additions, and try to complete it. The original intention was for it to be an epic novel, maybe leading into a trilogy. But now I see it more as a novella. Perhaps as part of a book-length collection of orc stories. I do have a few more ideas that could fill the pages nicely.

An interesting side note (well, interesting to me); I am finally reading Treasure Island (it was a free download at Amazon, and my iPhone makes a decent eReader). While reading this book, I keep comparing it to Treasure Planet, which is one of my favorite pre-Pixar Disney movies. I may, at some point, do a comparison of the two works, but that’s for another time. Suffice it to say that the whole thing inspired an idea for another RPG. I’m calling it Steam Jammer for now, as I initially saw it as a Steampunk adaptation of TSR’s old Spell Jammer game. I had toyed with the idea of making it an OGL game, but decided instead to plug in the system I used for the Orcs RPG, which is a modification of Alderac’s d10 system, used in the L5R game. I have some ideas about the setting, and will probably flesh it out at my leisure.

And that’s how I write these days. I find that I enjoy writing much more now that I am not so obsessed with getting to the point that I am writing for pay. I enjoy my writing more, and don’t feel obligated to work on anything in particular when I sit down at the keyboard, freeing me up to do whatever strikes my fancy. I have a good day job. No need to rush myself into getting rid of that for the uncertain life of a novelist. Instead, I open Word at work, open whatever project I’m inspired to work on, and leave it open. I Alt+Tab over to it throughout the day, re-reading it, writing a little bit, and just letting it all percolate. It’s a very comfortable way to pass the time, and take a break from work. And a hell of a lot healthier than smoking. Especially in this cold weather.

Orcs...again.

I seem to recall many ages ago blogging about orcs. I like them. They are arguably my favorite fantasy race, and I will often judge a high fantasy world (at least partially) on whether it has orcs in it or not (sword & sorcery worlds get a pass as they tend to be human-centric).

I am also a huge role-playing geek, and I love to tinker with the idea of creating and writing my own rpg. Therefore, it stands to reason that eventually I would try to combine those two ideas and create and write a game about orcs. Well, I have been doing just that for some time now (off and on). And I have the first part of the project more or less done.

I have often seen this project as having four phases. The first is to write the rules. This involves devising a dice-mechanic, the relating system for using that mechanic, and putting it all together in a coherent manner. I believe I have done this fairly well, though I use the term “devise” loosely in regards to the mechanic. I basically borrowed a mechanic from another game, modified it to my liking, and plugged it in. It works, and has the potential for the level of brutality a game about orcs should have.

The second phase will be to create the world that the game takes place in. This will be both easy and difficult. Easy because I have done this sort of thing a lot, and world creation is in itself a fun activity. But it will also be difficult, because the world needs to be familiar enough that people who pick up the game will recognize familiar tropes, yet unique enough that it won’t be derivative or plagiaristic.

After that will come playtesting and editing, which will probably be the most difficult, as I have no idea who I will get to playtest it. And the final stage will be revision and production, to include art and layout. This part I can do on my own, though I may try to get art from other people in there. That’s assuming this whole thing doesn’t just peter out and fall by the wayside, as so many of my projects do.

So, there I am. I have a basic, functioning rules set. And I have a decent idea of what kind of world I want to make. It will be a world where the only playable race is orcs, and everyone else is either an ally or an enemy, depending on the day and the mood of the characters.

At this point (if you’ve bothered reading this far) you may be wondering what kind of orcs will be presented? As most fantasy aficionados know, there are as many kinds of orcs as there are books and games about them, or involving them. They range from the original form presented by J.R.R. Tolkien, to the wildly bizarre ilk found in many of today’s games. This topic has come up during conversations with Scott Oden, who is a Tolkien Purist when it comes to orcs, and equally passionate about them. Personally, I like the orcs of WarCraft design. They represent more of the “noble savage” rather than the mindless killing machine so often portrayed in fiction and gaming (the irony here is that this is how Scott likes his orcs as well, even though WarCraft orcs are much more so than the orcs of Middle-Earth, though he still maintains their inferiority).

As a result, my orcs are hulking, brutal warriors, with an honorable streak that is rivaled by their capacity for treachery in the name of self-affectation. They fight constantly, for pleasure, sport, money, or just because. They respect strength and despise weakness. They are willing to ally themselves with anyone who pays enough, or promises to benefit them in some way. They are often loyal to each other, but not to the point of useless sacrifice. Orcs will support their friends and comrades, but if those friends do something stupid, they are on their own. They live in a tribal, shamanistic society, where only the strongest rule, and an orc is not an orc until he (or she) has proven himself in combat.

So tell me, would you play this game?