Shifting From The Standard Tropes

[SotF]

Okay, while this is largely a bit of thought about how to create some Orcs that aren't quite in the usual takes on them, it would work well to expand on them.

I've liked taking various expectations of the standard fantasy molds and going elsewhere with them, my last major shot at Orcs essentially made them Romans and essentially a fall of the Empire type thing where you have both the more barbaric and more civilized portions. They were essentially tamed by the Empire by way of discipline and glory, making them less the onrushing horde and more of the line troops that work together and will wreck someones day. Treating them as some strange mix of the Roman legions and Spartans is strangely fitting for them.

Putting Elves in the same position of a fallen Empire, where they were the opposite side of the war that broke both Empires, creating a major reason for why both sides hate each other rather than the usual ones. Moving the elves to a desert rather than the normal fertile areas also heavily shifts things in the feel of them.

But the basic idea is that this is twisting from the usual fantasy tropes and into something that behaves far different from how one would expect and ideas for modeling them.

For a D&D setting I've been working on for a while, I wanted to have something more different in how the Orcs looked and acted. Mixing them between nomadic traders and more native american themes in bits and pieces.

With a dense woodland, I shifted them away from the normal mounts, the wolves/hogs don't really work and I'm not going with the pig faced ones as the basic description. Terrorbirds kind of fits for personal mounts that move around a larger convoy carrying their goods and supplies on the backs of Mammoths, children in large baskets on the sides with their mothers while the women function as the mahuts and the men as escorts, occasional whooly rhinos mixed in to pull carts and other things if pressed for battle.

They aren't a problem species as they are in most settings, being more traders though some might have some of the gypsy feel and have some issues tied to that.

The tribes are almost constantly on the move between villages and towns, bringing goods with them to trade while also functioning as escorts where people can essentially buy a ride between towns with a tribe.

Now, I've been thinking about how to model them and recently spotted some conversions of Kroot for fantasy stuff, and that seems like a good starting point.

But the basic idea of this is to toss a few oddball ideas for others to mix and match a bit for their own projects.

[JohnDSD2]

Interesting ideas.

It might be worth having a look at World of Twilight (nothing to do with Vampires!)
http://www.worldoftwilight.com/
Some of the figures there might provide you with mounts/inspiration.

Cheers

[manic _miner]

 Chronopia did a similar swap around with the normal fantasy races.The Elves had several different houses which each had specialised troops and character.Same with there take on the Orc's.Some great background info in the books too which really brought them to life.Adrian Smith's art worked helped a lot too.The Dwarves were formed into clans which each had a totem God and different out looks on life and different fighting styles.

[Elbows]

About ten years ago I had a huge background assembled for a potential fantasy game/dungeon crawl...it was great fun completely re-setting the history of my fantasy world.  Humans were nearly extinct, Elves were vicious hidden KGB cretins with a sinister wild secret, Dwarves were split and on the run, "Orc" was an insult and not a race, Goblins were human miners twisted after living their entire lives in caves/mines etc.  The undead were an unstoppable flood/curse sweeping in from beyond the mountains etc.

[manic _miner]

 That sounds very interesting Elbows.

 I think it is great when things get changed up a bit.

[commissarmoody]

this kick starter might have something useful to what you are working on.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1898422540/exotic-warbands-28mm-fantasy-warriors

[ZeroTwentythree]

For a D&D setting I've been working on for a while, I wanted to have something more different in how the Orcs looked and acted. Mixing them between nomadic traders and more native american themes in bits and pieces.

With a dense woodland, I shifted them away from the normal mounts, the wolves/hogs don't really work and I'm not going with the pig faced ones as the basic description. Terrorbirds kind of fits for personal mounts that move around a larger convoy carrying their goods and supplies on the backs of Mammoths, children in large baskets on the sides with their mothers while the women function as the mahuts and the men as escorts, occasional whooly rhinos mixed in to pull carts and other things if pressed for battle.

They aren't a problem species as they are in most settings, being more traders though some might have some of the gypsy feel and have some issues tied to that.

The tribes are almost constantly on the move between villages and towns, bringing goods with them to trade while also functioning as escorts where people can essentially buy a ride between towns with a tribe.

Now, I've been thinking about how to model them and recently spotted some conversions of Kroot for fantasy stuff, and that seems like a good starting point.

But the basic idea of this is to toss a few oddball ideas for others to mix and match a bit for their own projects.

IIRC, Crucible had a take on orcs somewhat resembling Native Americans, with various other races being the colonial powers trying to take their land, etc. That's around when FASA & RP were both tossed around a bit, so they never got far with the orc faction. RPE *may* have those figures (they have many of the Crucible figures, but some have been mixed into other ranges they produce) , but I forget the exact details of what they looked like.

[commissarmoody]

I thought the Crucible Orcs had more of a "Zule" nation feel to them. But I might be mistaken. I did a quick read online and it says that there was supposed to be 3 orc armies. So they could be a mixed culture

[ZeroTwentythree]

I thought the Crucible Orcs had more of a "Zule" nation feel to them. But I might be mistaken. I did a quick read online and it says that there was supposed to be 3 orc armies. So they could be a mixed culture

I think you're right, my mistake! 

[Diablo Jon]

I thought the Crucible Orcs had more of a "Zule" nation feel to them. But I might be mistaken. I did a quick read online and it says that there was supposed to be 3 orc armies. So they could be a mixed culture

IIRC, Crucible had a take on orcs somewhat resembling Native Americans, with various other races being the colonial powers trying to take their land, etc. That's around when FASA & RP were both tossed around a bit, so they never got far with the orc faction. RPE *may* have those figures (they have many of the Crucible figures, but some have been mixed into other ranges they produce) , but I forget the exact details of what they looked like.

I think you're both right RPE has them as tribal orcs but they include Bison riders and Eagle warriors (clearly Meso-American influence) and hippo riders and warriors with Zulu style shields (clearly African influence)

any way the whole lot are listed here

http://www.ralparthaeurope.co.uk/shop/ral-partha-fantasy-c-37/fantasy-armies-c-37_39/tribal-orcs-c-37_39_50/?sort=20a&page=1

[Connectamabob]

I like Terry Pratchett's Orks, though it's hard to discuss them without getting spoilery about the only book they appear in. There's a very loose connection to Tolkien's Orks, in that they started out as a soldier caste magically/alchemically modified from one of the natural races by a "dark lord" of times gone by, but aside from that they don't bear any resemblance to the standard (or Tolkien) tropes.

I also like Elder Scrolls orcs, though those are just a refinement of the modern standard fantasy Ork template typified by the likes of Warcraft. They're well thought out though, and do an unusually good job of selling the "not chaotic evil, just a different culture" thing. I wish the series would actual push them even further than it does, and so some of my ideas of what orks should be are based on that. For example: lore-wise Elder Scrolls orks are actually supposed to be master metallurgists and smiths, basically on the level of Standard Fantasy Dwarves, only without the affinity for machines. But Bethesda is cowardly about breaking from the Standard Fantasy look, so all the in-game art/models for Ork tools, weapons, clothes etc. look super-crude and borderline-neolithic. As a result, I tend to picture my orks as have a tradition for intricate gold work, somewhat in the style of Hindu or Thai jewelry.

[JollyBob]

I have had a little fantasy project on the back burner for a while now, and have collected enough figures for a Dragon Rampant army based on the Reman Empire...

Basically inspired by the Hasslefree figure of a Halfling in Roman armour, the background goes like this:

Remans are halflings, and have dominated the Aitalian peninsula through aggressive trade and basically acting like a diminutive mafia. Underestimate the Remans at your peril.

They maintain their fledgling Empire through employing mercenaries drawn from the Pumilio (dwarf) peoples from the Northern mountains and have made inroads through trade and conquest into Asia Minor, northern Afrik and the dense forests of Ogermania.

The army consists of a Reman general, and his bonded dire wolf companion (there's a back story to this - Reman high status children are bonded with dire wolf cubs at birth to provide protection and life long companions)

There is a unit of Pumilio legionnaries (Black Tree Roman Dwarves) acting as heavy infantry, a small unit of auxilia archers (aelfar from the deserts of Asia Minor - Foundry eastern auxillia, they have a high elf look with the long skirts and pointy hats...), and a unit of light troops (barbaric Humidians from northern Afrik - Crusader/Black Tree Numidian javelinmen), as well as some punch in the form of a pair of freed monstrous gladiators (an Ogermanian and Vesuvian made from Planet Hulk Heroclix figures).

I will at some point paint all these and stat them up into a proper force, and maybe even play a game with them.

No idea yet about the wider world or who their opponents would be, but that's the exciting part, right? 

[commissarmoody]

I wrote out a campaign setting for a Role playing when I was a term. Where the setting was Earth. Only after a long occupation by an Alien race.
Modern man still exists but the fantasy races are genetic morphs of humanaty or uplifted animal stock.
Elves are the aliens who conquered earth but their galactic Empire collapsed along with their control of earth.
They now live in onclaves such as under the ocean, or at the top of a space elevator.
Magic was mostly psychic powers or really advanced tech.

[Menhir Games]

Hi, as  commissarmoody said, what the OP points out regarding the "typical" profiles that the fantasy races have, was the reason behind restlessness that led me to create a setting based on real world history and mithologies, and  ACTUAL creation of the world and species evolution, but using  the fantasy "races" and creatures.

As a result of that, the setting "Magrieb" has the typical celtic elves, but also, there are elves based on the assyrian culture and elves based on the mesoamerican cultures, while there are the typical germanic dwarves, in the other hand, the "innovation" of the  arabic/turko-arabic dwarves, and regarding ORCS, there are Inuit orcs and eastern-asian mongolian like orcs, 2 factions that are not composed by savage orcs, instead, civilizated, intelligent, merchant, nomadic/sedentary people orcs with a story to tell, a culture that representes them, not just the "bad boys of the story with big shoulder pads, pointy helmets and big axes"

While i dont have art, i have a miniature , a character of the Inuit orcs:



Also a Goblin faction based on the Korean medieval era:

[SotF]

One other thing I'd done a long while back and keep contemplating for a minis game is a bit more scifi in setting mixed with a lot of more fantasy stuff had another major take on the Elf, Goblin, Orc, and Troll thing.

Namely that they're all the same species.

The elves are pretty much the females and tribal leaders, they tend to have some powerful magic and/or psionics.

Goblins are the younger males, tend to be in a frenzy and unleashed wave of them into the mess, the survivors eventually grow into the adult "orc" form. Some of the Orcs eventually mutate into the even larger, regenerating Trolls. Of course they breed like rabbits and the majority of them don't survive to breeding age, meaning that the "best" of the males survive to reproduce while the females are cared for due to their relative rarity.

Half-Orcs are more from people captured and bred...

The setting started out with me trying to create a universe that kind of came out of the mix of Paraworld and more fantasy, with two human factions (Locals who had villages on the backs of large migrating sauropods) and a military force from a near future world that has started building up, another faction was scifi raptors with energy weapons...

The orcs were exceedingly tribal and managed to creep the hell out of the players of the Spycraft campaign I ran in that world. The Trolls early on when they realized that the reason the trolls got so much harder to kill as the tribes adjusted to the soldiers by way of relying on their regeneration while the elves essentially cut them open and implanted armor plates and letting it heal up on top of the worn armor...then they realized that the goblins were essentially their toddlers given sharp objects and pointed at the enemy as expendable shock troops.

And the elves "ethereal" beauty, well, that was largely caused by pheromone and mental manipulation, which combined with a more fickle and nasty nature due to politics that faced them off of each other.

It was largely due to their lack of technology and more confrontational nature that they were beaten.

Sure, some of it was based off of the "Basement" and "Long Stair" concepts that popped up a decade or so back on RPG.net (I believe), but it was a fun and nasty twist on things.