Why are Orcs Evil

So, I know this debate has come up recently – again. It is not really a new debate. I remember discussions about the ‘evilness’ of monsters way back in the 80s. Maybe it was just me, but it did come up time and again. At the end of the day no one really cared and everyone just continued to game. Be that as it may, the discussion has come up again. 

I mean, is that the face of evil or just depressed?

 

First, before reading any further. 1: I am not inserting myself into this debate. I am just remembering some old discussions and what not. 2: None of the positions represent my actual opinions nor Steve’s nor troll Lord Games. I speak for no one. 3: I am the consummate devil’s advocate. I can’t think of a single belief, opinion, or fact someone holds near and dear that I won’t argue against. I even argue against myself because, well, sometimes people get tired of arguing with me.

So back to the thing. I can’t remember who it was that brought it. I think it was ‘Lips.’ About Lips. I can’t remember Lips actual name, Lips was his nickname. We all had nicknames for one another. All the nicknames were pejoratives. Mine was 'TP" because I got my azz handed to me in a fight in one blow one sunny Sunday afternoon. It was an actual boot to the head. That was Jamie Ninjapoop because he never stopped talking about ninjas and how they could deflect bullets, dodge bullets, and reshape reality. He actually managed to roundhouse kick me right on my noggin and I folded like wet toilet paper. It may have been Toma. Who knows?

Its amazing how many pics of wet TP are copyrighted.

 

Anyway, one of them decided to quit killing goblins mid-game. He just felt sorry for them claiming they had never done anything to him or, well, to anyone as far as he knew. But I was like ‘eeeeevvvill.’ Now, I had sorted painted myself into a corner here because, well, all my goblins were not evil per se.’ I mean, they just lounged around breaking and burning stuff on their home turf and even traded with humans.  

Long story short, he pointed out that humans were just as evil as goblins. In fact, I do recall that he pointed out that my barons, lords, and kings with their various militaries and desires were fairly rapacious raiders of each other and that if he really wanted to fight evil, he would kill them first. Well, that was a twist and….

A game changer.

I filtered out the noise in the game and focused on conflict. The reason orcs and goblins are evil is because they provide an easy source of conflict in the game. A source of conflict that does not really have to be managed. Man good, orc bad. Solve! Rather than address the endless and age-old debate of what constitutes good and evil, I focused on conflict and conflict resolution. The players need a mission and a conflict for the game to be enjoyable. The conflict does not always have be violent, but the game is geared in that direction. I mean, it’s not called Puzzles and Wordplay.

Those discussions were what prompted me to do away with alignment way back in the 80s. In my game, alignment has no place. Consequences do have a place though and reputation can get you killed or saved. The games also twisted away from the murder hobo mindset and more attention was placed elsewhere.

Anyway, the whole topic is nothing burger. Want your orcs evil? Make them evil. Want them good? Make the good or OK. All you really need is conflict.