It's less about trying to change him now, he's done his half--lessening the jokes and shouting and he's quit telling people they's muckin' about. Now I'm trying to learn my half and quit being all "ugghh...orcs" every time it's brought up. It's just I got a little PO'ed when this accidental orc game happened. There were only supposed to be 1-2 orcs in the party with the rest being something else. Now I'm surrounded! lol.
Have you ever visited the "projects" in your city? Not the safest environment you could imagine, but with a proper escourt you might get to enjoy one hell of a party.
I absolutly love Golarion Orcs. It's all about perspective.
Favorite races for me are Aasimar, Tiefling, Stryx, Catfolk, Centaur, Half-Elf, Ifrit, Sylph, Undine and Goblin.
I once had a Goblin Alchemist as a Cohort, he was toothless and had been tortured and left to die, and my Rogue took him in.
The race I've always hated is catfolk.
Ever since I started playing back in the 80's (yes, i'm that old) it seems like almost everyone has wanted to play a cat person and expects because they are cat person they should be good at everything because cats are so great.
One time I actually broke down and made a race (about the same power level as elves) to let them play cat people. Out of the 5 players, 4 decided to play the cat people then spent the next month complaining that the cat people weren't uber enough.
At that point I quit playing for almost half a year.
Just a one shot? Surely you can handle it for one night?The One Shot is just the latest thing in a long line of Orkiness.
It all started when he found out about Warhammer. Then he and his two friends hijacked another friend's Steampunk 3.5 game by playing the Orc Three Stooges: Fatty, Skinny, and Drunky. They were basically 13 year old boys as orcs.
Three years later, I can't say anything even remotely perverted or else I hear the Orc Laugh, which is a deep, guttural Nelson from Simpsons "Ha-Ha." Every Gaming conversation eventually leads to Orcs. Every idea I come up with is met with "well, here's what an Orc would do." Even in real-life conversations about what's on the news or what movie to put on Netflix is usually met with "oh, that's so orky!" and the like.
I don't want to complain, but it does bug me, and I don't know how to make it stop.
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you dum git, orcs is da best!!! we's da biggest and da strongest and we dont take no lip from none of ya'z. youz lucky you aint part of my game, i have orcs on ya'z so fast itta make ya head spin!!!
now dem elfy boyz dem is da one you should be hatin, alwayz prancin round like deys funny in da head. i say we shoot 'em, stomp 'em, and crush 'em tell dey gots no life left!!!
Oi, ya git! We'z tryin' to make us greenskins look a little more so-fist-a-mac-ated.
First we brings dem in wif da so-fist-a-stuff, den we intro-ducks them to DA STOMPIN' 'N' DA KILLIN'!
DEN WE KILLZ DEM PONCY ELFY BOYZ!
Orks! Orks! Orks! Orks!
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Just a one shot? Surely you can handle it for one night?The One Shot is just the latest thing in a long line of Orkiness.
It all started when he found out about Warhammer. Then he and his two friends hijacked another friend's Steampunk 3.5 game by playing the Orc Three Stooges: Fatty, Skinny, and Drunky. They were basically 13 year old boys as orcs.
Three years later, I can't say anything even remotely perverted or else I hear the Orc Laugh, which is a deep, guttural Nelson from Simpsons "Ha-Ha." Every Gaming conversation eventually leads to Orcs. Every idea I come up with is met with "well, here's what an Orc would do." Even in real-life conversations about what's on the news or what movie to put on Netflix is usually met with "oh, that's so orky!" and the like.
I don't want to complain, but it does bug me, and I don't know how to make it stop.
Well that is hilarious, to me of course. I can certainly see how this would be bothersome to you. Not sure how to advise you here. Does he/they do it because they are just obsessed with Orcs or do they know it gets a rise out of you? If they love Orcs you are kind of up the creek. If they do it to bug you two can play at that game.
Uh-oh, how to put this delicately...sounds like you two might need to re evaluate your compatibility as a couple, I'm hearing a lot of disdain which in the words of John Tesh radio speaks of ill omen for the longevity of your relationship. Anyway, not sure if this is the right forum for that discussion.
It's not bad in a "we need to end this relationship" kind of way. I want to put a stop to that train of thought right here. I love him. We've been together 5 years. The SCA is what brough us together, and gaming is a shared hobby of ours. I am not here to complain about him. Like I said before, he did his part by reducing the amount of childish orkiness. It's my problem because he can be perfectly fine playing an elf or a halfing (although to play a complete caster to him is not ideal, he's currently running through his first Cleric which is awesome). But yet, if you give me an Orc to play, I pick up the sheet with two fingers like it's covered in dog drool.
It's my problem that I can't bring myself to tolerate orcs, and there's this mental block that comes up every time they're mentioned in conversation. I'm opening up the conversation. I want to find out the appeal, and I want to find ways to embrace it.
I believe your aversion to Orcs is the way that your BF and his buddies play them. Tell them to be more mature Orcs that aren't so slapstick and then YOU may enjoy trying to play them. It'd probably be the same contempt from you if it was a different race that they were playing so immaturely. It's them, not you who needs to fix the problem at hand because of them role-playing the race so badly and in such a fashion it causes you to inadvertently hate all Orcs based on your experiences thus far.
Try to get them to play different personality types of Orcs which don't evoke memories of 13-yr old kids that you can stomach and see if that helps you out.
... But yet, if you give me an Orc to play, I pick up the sheet with two fingers like it's covered in dog drool.
It's my problem that I can't bring myself to tolerate orcs, and there's this mental block that comes up every time they're mentioned in conversation. I'm opening up the conversation. I want to find out the appeal, and I want to find ways to embrace it.
Aha, ok I misunderstood.
Then I would suggest playing something similar but not the same.Try a hobgoblin disciplined mercenary. Then maybe a goblin scout. Last a bugbear barbarian. You should be working your way to something very close to the classic orc without having to actually use that name.
Then you have a chance to see what people might like about them.
Another thing that might help you is to change the name. "I'm not an orc, I'm a Orglin. We are a superior race brought about through breeding to combine the best of the goblins and ogres." Doesn't even matter if it matches the GM's definition of orc in his game. It could just be something the tribe you came from believed. Maybe they were conn'd by some wizard in the past as a means to control them. yada yada yada...
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Play an orc and show them a different way of playing the race.
Pump wisdom. Play her as thoughtful. Not the brightest in the world, not likely to be doing any particle physics, but spiritual and reverent in her traditions towards things beyond SMASH. Play up the proud hunter-warrior vibe. Play up their view of their relationship with nature as being "we are a part of the wild" rather than "we are above it/outside of it".
Orcs are only as cartoonish as one makes them. There's plenty of nuance to mine.
Warhammer Orks have some interesting ideas in them but being played like a 13-year old is not one of them.
Also, if your bf and his pals are so enamored of Warhammer orks bash them anytime they make sexually-related jokes for not being in-character - as genderless creatures orks are completely incapable of getting anything remotely sexually-related.
Well, for one, they've told me if I play the Paladin, they promise not to play the Mess-With-Paladin-Code card. I do plan on using a lot of these ideas for NPCs in my world. My anti-orc attitude has led to an overabundance of the "pretty" races being featured in my New Worlde, where humans make up only 50-60% of the total humaniod population. I was thinking about using Hobgoblins for my Winged Hussar warriors, but haven't fully decided yet.
Warhammer Orks have some interesting ideas in them but being played like a 13-year old is not one of them.
Also, if your bf and his pals are so enamored of Warhammer orks bash them anytime they make sexually-related jokes for not being in-character - as genderless creatures orks are completely incapable of getting anything remotely sexually-related.
They take idea of Whog! and Red Makes you go Fasta and Muckin' About from Warhammer, but not really much else. Orcs in his world (and the friend's homebrew we're playing in) are not killed on sight, and there are female orcs.
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whog? what da hell is dat?
you mean WAAGGHHH!!!
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It won't help much in a game that doesn't use this particular houserule, but in my own setting I got rid of Half-Orcs (by making Orcs and Humans incompatible) and gave Orcs their stats; original Orc stats became "feral Orcs" and are exclusively for monstrous non-PCs, whereas the former Half-Orc stats became used for not only Orc PCs but also the more intelligent, more capable members of NPC Orc clans/tribes, particularly their leaders - who tend to be clerics, witches, warlocks (we use a PF/3.5 hybrid system), or druids. You get all the ferocity of the orc flavor, while statistically they can be still quite intelligent and cunning and not have abysmal charisma.
GET OUT OF MY HEAD!
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In my Carrion Crown game I have a player running a half-orc paladin of Abadar. He emphasizes his civility, and looks down on uncouth behavior. He bends the stereotype around and is a fun enough character that generally I forget he is an orc, and when I DO remember, I find the behavior even funnier.
Now I FULLY understand your revulsion with orcs. I have an utter hatred and disgust of all things elven (the nasty little tree humpers). I tried to play one, I really did. For about 15 minutes before I was so disgusted I couldn't stand it.
The people I play with understand I HATE elves and deal with it. I understand that I play with freaks that love the disgusting critters. I deal with it. :)
I mentally try to just de-race them, and in my mind they are humans with weird habits. :)
Best I can do besides sympathize.
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It definitely does sound more than you're racist against a specific portrayal of orcs than orcs themselves.
All my warhammer joking aside, I am an orc-o-phile and have RPed orcs in a variety of settings.
From Warcraft to Faerun to Warhammer, I've done it all.
I think the suggestion that you try to RP and Orc and show your husband how to do it a little more adult like is cool.
Personally, I like RPing the conflicted orc. Fleshgrinder is actually the last name of an orc character I originally made in a NWN PW server named Dhummokk Fleshgrinder.
He was old school. An orc who liked to fight. But he wasn't too stupid either.
I had a lot of fun RPing the conflicted nature of his violence versus his emerging philosophical ideals beyond simply "Stomp and kill!"
I remember writing a story about the character where he basically has a crisis of character while in the middle of a battle.
He did this whole monologue thing while slaughtering his enemies.
Stuff like "If I am a weapon, why do I crave things other than battle?"
He would curse the gods for making him as he was. He would take out his anger on his enemies killing them in horribly violent ways.
Eventually he went insane and died in battle, but he was fun to RP.
Nepherti, if it makes you feel any better half orcs are the worst race in the game.
It won't help much in a game that doesn't use this particular houserule, but in my own setting I got rid of Half-Orcs (by making Orcs and Humans incompatible) and gave Orcs their stats; original Orc stats became "feral Orcs" and are exclusively for monstrous non-PCs, whereas the former Half-Orc stats became used for not only Orc PCs but also the more intelligent, more capable members of NPC Orc clans/tribes, particularly their leaders - who tend to be clerics, witches, warlocks (we use a PF/3.5 hybrid system), or druids. You get all the ferocity of the orc flavor, while statistically they can be still quite intelligent and cunning and not have abysmal charisma.GET OUT OF MY HEAD!
I have joint mental residency with at least two people now... this is unusual.
May I suggest you try to read David Daglish's Half-Orcs series? He does a great job of portraying Half-Orcs and their evolution through the story is suburb in my opinion. It was a very enjoyable and fun series to read. It may give you a new perspective on Orcs as well, and tell your BF and his buddies to read them to get some ideas!
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May I suggest you try to read David Daglish's Half-Orcs series? He does a great job of portraying Half-Orcs and their evolution through the story is suburb in my opinion. It was a very enjoyable and fun series to read. It may give you a new perspective on Orcs as well, and tell your BF and his buddies to read them to get some ideas!
Dang dude those sound good! How did I miss those?!
Will buy book one tonight!
Okay just thought of a way for you to consider half-orcs...
half-humans... the result of some tragedy in their mother's past. She birthed a painful reminder of her agony, but for some reason the little face looking up at her, with her father's eyes, did not seem so horrible after all. This poor little child, to be hated and ridiculed its entire life over origins it had no part in, was just a helpless baby craving what every baby needs. Love.
Sheltered from the bigotry of the village the baby grew to a child and soon was introduced into "society," a brutish, hateful place where humans heaped scorn and terror on an innocent victim.
Soon, the protective mother dies from the fevers. The child is left alone in the world. Despised by both parent races and loved by no one, the child sets out to survive, to prove to herself, to everyone that she is not the moister they believe she is. In a lonely world where she is expected to be evil, she alone seems to be the pillar of good in a world of evil masquerading as good.
Perhaps, somehow, she can manage to find peace in herself, perhaps she can make a handful of friends. And maybe one day she can find that love she has always craved but never found.
She doesn't HAVE to be brutish or ugly. Inside of her is a misunderstood child... start from there and maybe you can find something in these half-humans you can like.
Just don't play a full blooded orc! lol
OP: Play an orc that would be more like your usual fare. High INT and CHA and marginal strength might not be a warlord stuff, but it certainly will make a good advisor, which are in high demand among orcs. Now just quest for the right brute that you can manipulate to do your bidding and make him climb the power ladder and pull you with him (ideally strike a deal with one of the players and keep your own agenda as a bonus. They may take you for weakling, but you may be worth more than hunderd warriors.
Read Orcs of Golarion. Some of the tribes offer great inspiration for non-traditional fare. Thereare engineers trying to build the best warmachine (with mixed results of course) there are sulphur fumes breathing prophets and also the orcs are trying to breed clever half-orcs for brain work, so you may play a slaver or breeding overseer or something even weirder. I think you just need to find the right sort of orc.
May I suggest you try to read David Daglish's Half-Orcs series? He does a great job of portraying Half-Orcs and their evolution through the story is suburb in my opinion. It was a very enjoyable and fun series to read. It may give you a new perspective on Orcs as well, and tell your BF and his buddies to read them to get some ideas!Dang dude those sound good! How did I miss those?!
Will buy book one tonight!
Yeah I got book one for free on Kindle and ended up buying the whole series and devouring them pretty quickly. I'm now reading his other series the Shadowdance trilogy, which is actually a bit in the past (on the world timeline). It's also a pretty good series and I'm 1/3rd way through book 2.
Anyhow good ideas on the Half-orcs you put up.
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The only good orc is a dead orc. We should make more good orcs.
+9000. I despise orcs, really...to the point of annoying my girlfriend when we played WoW by doing everything in my power to kill every orc in any given area before moving on. <_<
Honestly, though...why would you need to play an orc? They may be playing orcs, but you can make your own character to not be an orc - maybe a mercenary human who will grudgingly work with them for the right price, or an <insert race of choice here> alchemist with her head buried in her schematics to the extent that she doesn't really see them as orcs, just "those big fellows who carry my things and like to punch people," or a manipulative sorceress/wizard/etc. who basically thinks "this lot are too dense to realize I'm using them, and if they ever figure it out I can always run into town feigning panic and let the guard deal with them for me."
May I suggest you try to read David Daglish's Half-Orcs series? He does a great job of portraying Half-Orcs and their evolution through the story is suburb in my opinion. It was a very enjoyable and fun series to read. It may give you a new perspective on Orcs as well, and tell your BF and his buddies to read them to get some ideas!Dang dude those sound good! How did I miss those?!
Will buy book one tonight!
Okay just thought of a way for you to consider half-orcs...
half-humans... the result of some tragedy in their mother's past. She birthed a painful reminder of her agony, but for some reason the little face looking up at her, with her father's eyes, did not seem so horrible after all. This poor little child, to be hated and ridiculed its entire life over origins it had no part in, was just a helpless baby craving what every baby needs. Love.
Sheltered from the bigotry of the village the baby grew to a child and soon was introduced into "society," a brutish, hateful place where humans heaped scorn and terror on an innocent victim.
Soon, the protective mother dies from the fevers. The child is left alone in the world. Despised by both parent races and loved by no one, the child sets out to survive, to prove to herself, to everyone that she is not the moister they believe she is. In a lonely world where she is expected to be evil, she alone seems to be the pillar of good in a world of evil masquerading as good.
Perhaps, somehow, she can manage to find peace in herself, perhaps she can make a handful of friends. And maybe one day she can find that love she has always craved but never found.
She doesn't HAVE to be brutish or ugly. Inside of her is a misunderstood child... start from there and maybe you can find something in these half-humans you can like.
Just don't play a full blooded orc! lol
While the "mother was raped by orc" story is standard and good for half-orcs, I do prefer more atypical situations.
Sometimes I go with my half-orc being the offspring of two half-orcs.
Sometimes I go with the human being the rapist and the female orc being the victim, just to change things up. Or even the male human being the victim of rape by female orc.
Or you can go with two tribes, one orc, one of primitive humans, that actually interbreed peacefully.
A pure blooded orc with human ancestry who happens to be the unlucky member of his family for the genes to emerge (like how some eastern European families will have one kid who looks exactly like a Turk or Mongol. My buddy is 100% Polish but he looks Asian while his brother and sister are blonde and blue eyed. His great great grandmother had been raped by a Turk and the genes popped up occasionally in the family.)
I don't want to be, but I can't help but not like the brutes. And dating the man that I am, I am going to hear about Orcs every day for the rest of my life since they are his favorite race.
No matter where I go, I can't find a game that does not feature Orcs in some way, so I know I am going to have to deal with it. But when you create a character specifically to be the Anti-Orc (Aasmimar Paladin/Ranger) and then find out the other three players are playing Orcs, it can be tough. This game is meant to be a One-Shot, so I won't have to deal with it for long.
How do I completely get over Orc Racism? Mr. Nepherti is getting sick of my complaining. Playing an Orc just does not appeal to me in the slightest, so I need either another way or to hear something about Orcs that will make me want to play one. I don't usually play low CHA/INT characters, and I rarely play high STR so this makes it especially tough.
Embrace the orc. Be the orc. Max your cha, and play an orc sorcerer with orc bloodline. Blast with a vengeance, and be an ORC!
This is what your man wants. He wants your inner orc to shine. Be a hot, sexy, toothy, vicious ORC, and let your animalistic, predatory self come to the fore. Mean, not nice. Take what you want, and don't apologize. Survival of the fittest!
Max out intimidate, and make the party kill at your bidding.
It's fun to play against type, particularly for a one-shot.
I imagine you're a very nice person IRL. Be the opposite.
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I've always found the Half-Orcs having to be a product of Orc-rape distasteful. One thing I think 4th Ed did right was retconning that to make them more their own species.
Although I think in my games from now on I'll be doing the earlier suggestion of changing half-orc to plain orc and making orcs feral orcs.
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+1 to long being sick and tired of having rape shoehorned into the origins of every half-orc.
My half-orc in Jade Regent was born from from a consentual relationship between a Shoanti woman and an orc from a non-evil tribe in the mountains of Nirmathas.
He's proud of being a half-orc and both sides of his heritage, opinions of others be damned. Had to build the orc side of his cultural upbringing from scratch, but it was worth it.
I think it's a fine origin for some half-orcs, maybe even most, but it's definitely not the only place half orcs can come from.
Since orcs in Golarion actually like half-orcs, due to making better leaders, it's totally possible orcs would find willing humans to breed half-orcs as the decision makers and leaders of their tribes.
Go down to your local Game Shop and buy your boyfriend a whole passel of Warhammer Dwarves and the associated rulebook.
You'll probably be trading one headache for another, but at least you won't have to deal with rampant orkiness as often.
kill this man now!!!
+9000. I despise orcs, really...to the point of annoying my girlfriend when we played WoW by doing everything in my power to kill every orc in any given area before moving on. <_<
Honestly, though...why would you need to play an orc? They may be playing orcs, but you can make your own character to not be an orc - maybe a mercenary human who will grudgingly work with them for the right price, or an <insert race of choice here> alchemist with her head buried in her schematics to the extent that she doesn't really see them as orcs, just "those big fellows who carry my things and like to punch people," or a manipulative sorceress/wizard/etc. who basically thinks "this lot are too dense to realize I'm using them, and if they ever figure it out I can always run into town feigning panic and let the guard deal with them for me."
its funny because i used to do this with night elves... and humans... and gnomes. yeah i hated the races for the alliance.
Design Manager
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You want to find respect and love for orcs? Go grab an Advanced Race Guide and make yourself a Scarred Witch-doctor. They're a Con, yes, CON based caster with some sweet, sweet abilities. We ran a high level one shot and I built an orc SWD/Fit/Eldritch Knight and took the feat from ARG that allows you to use your move action to open yourself to attacks from your enemy but get a free attack if they take it, ramped my AC with the SWD's class ability, activated my Retribution hex, and then nailed peeps with Inflict spells and opened myself up to trade blows with my scimitar. It was sweet... And the first time I've ever played an orc, as I too, struggle with orc racism.