Folks who follow my regular releases likely noticed that my latest TTRPG supplement, A Dekas of Dwarven Clans, went live on Drive Thru RPG this past weekend! I put a lot of work into this supplement, and it gives you 10 dwarven clans complete with history, colors, battle cries, culture, noted NPCs, and several rumors to help flesh them out in your setting. And while I finished it several months ago, now that it's out, I'm wondering if this is a formula folks would like to see me expand on in the future?
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Is This A Format You Want To See More Of?
If I had to compare this latest supplement to something I've done before, I'd compare it to A Baker's Dozen of Noble Families, which came out in winter of 2018. And since that older supplement went Electrum, I figured there must be something in there that people were interested in. So as an experiment, I decided to expand the general idea, and to put together 10 dwarven clans. After all, if there's anything I learned from the Species of Sundara series I put together, it's that folks who play fantasy games love dwarves.
While A Dekas of Dwarven Clans is hot off the press, it was one of several ideas on the workdesk when I was putting ideas on my to-do list. Others included A Baker's Dozen of Barbarian Clans (for folks who want to expand on something like a "barbarian nation" for their raging character), or A Dekas of Orc Clans (which follows the same format as the one I wrote for dwarves). I could, of course, expand this out to other species, other environments (if we want something like "mountain clans" or "desert clans"), and so on, depending on what people want to see more of.
The question, of course, is would you all like to see that happen?
As most folks know, discoverability is in the toilet for RPG products these days, and actually getting the stuff we make in front of the eyes of people who could use it is hard as hell to pull off. As such, it's tougher than ever to judge whether something actually has interest from the audience, and if they'd like to see more of it.
So if this is a format you want to see more of, or if any of the ideas I mentioned above sound interesting, here is what I would like you to do:
- Buy A Copy Of A Dekas of Dwarven Clans: As the saying goes, money talks, and the more sales this supplement brings in for the publisher, the more obvious demand there will be for sequels.
- Leave A Review: If you already got a copy of the supplement for yourself, leave a rating and review for it on Drive Thru RPG.
- Share On Your Social Media: Whether you share a link to the supplement, or a link to this post, the more people who boost the signal, the better the chance there is that people who will be interested in this supplement find out it exists, and they can decide if they want to buy copies for themselves.
- Comment On This Post With What You'd Like To See: If you want to see more supplements like this one, leave a comment below with which idea I mentioned that you want to see covered, or if you'd like to see something else entirely! And if you saw this post on social media, leave your comment there as well in order to boost the signal in the algorithm!
If I can count on folks out there to do all of those things, maybe this project will get a bit of traction, and I can actually make some room for it going forward. But as with everything else, the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and the supplements with big numbers and lots of attention get sequels.
So make your voices heard!
Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!
That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!
To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Blue Sky, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!
Long-time readers have probably seen me mention a time or two that I didn't grow up with Tolkien's body of work the way a lot of RPG players and fantasy fans did. I was more of a pulp fiction kid, with Burroughs, Lovecraft, Howard, and others forming the body of what influenced me when it came to fantasy. I saw the animated Hobbit when I was little, sure, but it just sort of slid right off my brain. It wasn't until I was in high school and the Lord of The Rings films started dropping that I really came back into contact with the father of high fantasy.
And I remember, as the films went on, why it was I hadn't identified with them much when I was younger. Because while there's a badass ranger who's the long-lost heir of a great kingdom, a dwarven prince constantly trying to prove his worth, and an elven renegade with an unerring eye, the story absolutely insists that we follow around these three-and-a-half-foot-tall farm kids who are in over their heads and utterly unqualified for the task they've volunteered for.
You make some poor decisions when you smoke too much Longbottom leaf...
Now, as someone who understands literary analysis and who knows Tolkien's history during global conflicts, I understand the overarching message of the story. I get how the hobbits were meant to be the everyman characters, out-of-their-depth in something far larger than they were. However, while we had to change the name to halflings when we put them in our RPGs due to copyright reasons, there's still a lot of the same DNA passed down by Bilbo and Frodo in these characters. And while halflings have changed over the years and editions, they represented a particular challenge for me. So my goal was to create a version of these creatures that I actually liked, and which appealed to me as a player.
And that was not a small thing, pun very much intended.
Before I go any further into this week's update, though, make sure you sign up for my weekly newsletter if you want to get all of my latest and greatest. If you've got a little dosh to spare, you could also become a Patreon patron to help me keep the wheels turning!
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Reimagining Community and Creativity
At their core, halflings have remained a species that's most often about curiosity, heart, and community. There have been variations or extreme takes (I'm looking at you, Kender), but that's generally been the through line of most of what I've seen done with this species. So when I sat down to work on them for Sundara I asked how I could keep that core of what they've been (and what inspired them in the first place), while still making them an organic part of this setting overall?
For those who've gotten their copies of Species of Sundara: Halflings (available for Pathfinder as well as for Dungeons and Dragons 5E) I like to think I managed pretty well.
And if you don't have a copy yet, go get one!
The first thing I did was to reimagine the origin story of this species. While there's no true authority in Sundara saying explicitly where any particular species did or didn't come from, the most common myths told about halflings is they were created during the sculpting of the dwarves. The ancient giants were so focused on the dwarves that they didn't noticed the chips and pebbles that had come off during their carving... and those small chips were what became halflings.
However much truth their is to this tale, dwarves have historically treated halflings more like distant cousins than they have as mere neighbors. This has meant their communities often live and work side by side, and that halflings (as a whole) are often well-versed in many of the same techniques and skills of their dwarven neighbors.
This gave halflings an origin story and a broad history (though there's still some debate as to just how factual it might be). From there I moved out into different cultures and communities, attempting to add some variety to these creatures. From the Vale who lived among the hills shepherding huge herds of sheep and riding their shaggy gray hounds, to the Suff Folk with their green skin living in secret burrows in the deep forests, to Barreners in their ruined cities, Skycatchers atop their lonely mountains, or Tidelings who spend the majority (if not the whole) of their lives upon the sea, there's a wide variety of ways these clever creatures have changed and adapted to fit environments across Sundara.
In the end, I think that this book definitely achieved what I set out to achieve. It gave halflings an organic place in the setting, and it spiraled out showing how they've taken on new and different forms across the world as they made homes and interacted with other species, cultures, etc. And, in the end, made halflings that felt more varied and less stereotypical than what we tend to see in other settings where Tolkien's name might have been filed off but we can still see the impression it left behind.
Remember To Check Out The Other Species of Sundara!
If you enjoy my take on halflings, and you want to see what other changes I've made to the core species we're all so used to, make sure you take a moment to check out the rest of the Species of Sundara series that's been coming out the past few months! And if you like them, don't forget to check out the rest of my Sundara: Dawn of a New Age setting as well!
- Elves of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Elves are one of the most quintessential fantasy creatures... but if you want to see more than just high elves, wood elves, and elves of the sun and moon, then this supplement has you covered!
- Dwarves of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): The children of the primordial giants who were meant to fill in the details of the world they'd made (or so the myths say) there are as many kinds of dwarves as their are kinds of giants... and possibly more, depending on who is keeping count.
- Orcs of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Supposedly a creation of the elves, none can say for certain exactly how or why orcs have been made. What most agree on is that these creatures are far more than most may think at first glance.
Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!
That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!
To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!
If you're a gamer on any social media right now, then you've no doubt seen the firestorms surrounding the Why Orcs Are Problematicpost that's been going around. On one side of the argument you have players shouting, "We know, we've been saying this for years!" and on the other side of it you have players rolling their eyes and shouting back, "Orcs aren't even real, Jesus Christ not everything is racist!"
Artist's depiction of the comments section.
The problem here is that the argument is often couched in black-and-white, binary terms. Either orcs are problematic, or they're not. However, there's a lot going on beneath the surface, and a lot to think about. Not just in gaming in general, but also in terms of the fiction we draw on, the stories we tell, and the attitudes that are often baked-in with the games we consume.
So if you're looking for a deeper dive beyond the two options presented above (or if you're confused and looking for context) hopefully this Monday's post will help you out a bit.
But if that's not really your bag, well, my latest Critical Hits module from TPK just dropped this weekend, so you could go check out The Ghosts of Sorrow Marsh instead!
Seriously, go give it some love!
First Things First, What is an Orc?
Most of us already know the answer, so go ahead and say it with me! Orcs, as a creation of J.R.R. Tolkien were inherently evil humanoid creatures who served the dark lord and made up the ranks of his foot soldiers. They were corrupted, wicked, and they made up the muscle of the threat our heroes had to face.
Check out so far?
In their original incarnation, the orcs were symbolic as much as they were an actual threat to be dealt with. They were also monolithic; the orcs were a hoard, and there was no real, important difference between them. Some might be bigger, some might be meaner, some might be more skilled, but orcs were generally painted with a pretty broad brush. Which, one might argue, was one part of the initial problem.
The Depictions (And Evolution) of Orcs
Elements of this mythology maintained in Dungeons and Dragons' early days. Orcs were repulsive creatures who were brutal, violent, disorganized, and they typically worshiped/were bound to a dark god who demanded slaughter, sacrifice, and debased acts. While I would argue that maintaining a monolithic culture, and not giving orcs a great deal of depth were issues in the writing, the other issues actually came from their art in the early days.
And speaking of problematic art...
As was mentioned in the article, orcs were often depicted bearing weapons and armor inspired by non-European nations of the real world. Now, this was definitely fantasy, and there was no one issue of an orc carrying a kukri or wearing mirror armor that was a problem individually... it was the trend. It was the broad overall pattern that drew the battle lines in purely visual terms. Orcs were universally savage, brutal, and they carried weapons that bore a striking resemblance to India, China, Mongolia, and the Middle East. The heroes were drawing on the aesthetics and inspiration of Western European heroes, and so we have what might literally look like caricatures of East v. West.
Was that intentional? No, probably not. Just as Tolkien didn't state in his books that orcs were supposed to be based on any particular ethnicity or to represent any one group (though he did state in his letters he was drawing on specific ethnicities to make them seem more foreign to his projected European readers), the initial intent was probably not to say Europe good, non-Europe bad. Doesn't mean that's not how it came across, though.
Things got more problematic when orcs stopped just being corrupted evil beings and were given free will and choice. The creation of half-orcs (and eventually of orcs becoming PCs) meant that monsters who had once been entirely used for plot devices now had to become a varied and organic part of the world. But as we saw in Volo's Guide, as mentioned in the original article, there is still a clinging to the idea that all orcs are brutish, savage, and incapable of true empathy and understanding. They're always, at their core, monsters by their very nature. Inhuman. Other.
This becomes really problematic when you look at orcs as a big picture under those circumstances. Because if they can have children with humans, that raises questions of agency, of decisions, and of stereotyping. What was once a generic plot-filler threat is now an entire category made up of individuals who by the lore can be, do, and become what they want the same as any other character. Yet they're still treated as savage, backward, and lesser at the same time. That's frustrating for players who want to be orcs, but it also continues the trend of maintaining that problematic message.
Our Fiction Inherits Baggage (Whether Like It Or Not)
I grew up reading pulp fiction, and there is a breathtaking amount of racism and sexism in those stories. A lot of it was a product of its time, but many among us forget that the stories and tropes of that time didn't just get uprooted and replaced with shiny, new stuff that nixed the problematic descriptions. Many of these elements endured and maintained, until we didn't see them as products of prejudiced attitudes; they were just the way these stories were told.
Bob Chipman explained it particularly well using the trope of The Lost City.
For those who didn't watch it, the trope of The Lost City has its roots deep in European colonialism to Africa. Explorers would find these ancient ruins, and they would be flabbergasted that something like this could be found in Africa. They turned themselves inside out trying to explain it, ignoring the obvious that perhaps they were built by the ancestors of the people who still lived there. Nonsense! Black people could never comprehend the skill or ability it would take to build a castle, ridiculous!
And as Bob points out, that trope kept coming back over the generations. It existed in the time of the pulps, and early adventure fiction, it showed up in Indiana Jones, it was latched onto by games like Tomb Raider and Uncharted... it's a part of so many stories it would take a huge list to lay them all out.
Does that make all the stories who used this trope racist simply because they have their roots in a colonialist view? No, it doesn't. But it is important to hold these stories at arm's length, and ask what part of the original ancestor has survived and thrived in the current example, and how it was able to make it all the way into the modern incarnation. And, perhaps, what to do to fix it so that baggage doesn't weigh on the narrative.
For those looking for a real-world example, The Liberal Redneck Manifesto talks about the battle flag of northern Virginia... what a lot of people immediately think of as the Confederate flag. It was flown in a losing war, and then it was resurrected as a symbol of hate by organizations like the KKK, and by segregationists who wanted to cow and frighten black people. The flag became a symbol of several Southern musicians as well, and it was adopted by many who saw it as a rebel icon... the problem was that it still held all those older, more awful connotations for black people, and other ethnic minorities. So even if someone wears that flag because it's something waved around by a musician they like, or it's something they associate with family and good times at home, it's important to recognize that there's more to its legacy than the parts you've seen and know. You have to look at all of it, and at what message it sends to other people.
Oh, So Now It's Racist To Have Orcs as Bad Guys?
This is probably the dumbest thing I've seen come out of this conversation, so I'm going to address it here. It is not racist to have orcs as bad guys in your game. It's not racist to play an orc character. The issue arises when people ignore the history of how orcs have been depicted (and the real-life cultures often associated with them through their art, cultural trademarks, etc.), and when they don't put in the work of actually developing orcs in their settings.
There is no replacement for hard work.
As an example, I'm going to turn to Paizo's Golarion setting. When most people think of orcs in this world, they tend to think of the orc hold of Belkzen. This nation is a loose confederation of warring tribes who worship harsh and brutal gods, who value strength, and who were the foot soldiers of a powerful lich king who sought to conquer the world a handful of generations ago. They are, in a very real sense, one of the best takes I've seen on Tolkien's orcs as an organic part of a setting.
However, they are one of dozens of different settlements around the world, and each of them has their own unique culture, background, history, and feel in the context of the setting. The settlement of Averaka is a hard-working fishing village on a northern coast. Orcs and half-orcs in the Mwangi Expanse are often valued for their strength and durability, and they often hold important positions in tribes. Orcs in the deserts form their own familial groups, trading and intermarrying with others. Orcs and half-orcs have a wide variety of traits players and DMs can pick to customize them to a given area, but more importantly the lore of the setting makes it clear that attitudes, styles of society, etc. are a product of their history in a given area, rather than some in-born sameness that all orcs share.
That's the level of work it takes to make a sentient race a real, breathing part of a world and setting, and all of that has to carry through to how they're treated in the world as well. If a settlement is being raided by orcs, ask why, and build that into the adventure. Are they a war band who can't find a master, and they would rather take from the farmers than lay down their swords? Are they starving and pushed out to the edge of the badlands, so they have to steal in order to live? Is there a disagreement over the terms of a peace treaty, or are they mercenaries whose services have been bought by a bigger NPC with a hidden agenda? Is this a land-bound group of pirates looking to get back on the river, but they need the resources to repair their ship?
All of those are workable, and they add extra depth and meaning, allowing orcs to stand on their own as characters instead of as caricatures.
Lastly, Consider The Problematic Core of Many Adventures
Now, I know we're talking about orcs here, but this is something that Mark T. Hrisho brought up on his blog and I think it's a point worth adding to the discussion. Because a lot of our fantasy RPGs have another piece of baggage that has colored many of our monstrous races; mainly that if a given area of the map doesn't have people who look like our party living in it, then it doesn't really qualify as settled or explored territory. It is, instead, the edge of the known world, and the last edge of real civilization beyond which lives only darkness, and savagery.
Helmets on, I hear comments coming!
How many adventures have you played in tabletop RPGs, or even in video games, where you took on quests to "clear out" local monster infestations in the area? Caverns full of goblins, hills teeming with kobolds, mountaintop ogres, or the ever-present roving bands of orcs? If you've been in the hobby any length of time, you can probably think of several games that started you off this way.
And I'm not the first one to point out that in these scenarios we're basically barging into these creatures' homes, killing their families, and taking their stuff.
Even if it's not a job to kill a certain number of non-humans, these scenarios are often painted as, "protecting the light from the darkness of the savage lands," or something similar. Which basically states that none of the cultures of the other beings who call this region home, from the lizard men, to the catfolk, to the gnolls, are "real" people. They're just savages. Monsters. Little better than animals, and often not even worth as much XP.
Am I saying that fantasy RPGs who use this framework purposefully set out to be some kind of subliminal argument for the ideas of Manifest Destiny, or declarations in favor of colonialism? No. However, messages exist in fiction whether they're intended or not. Just like how early Disney princesses being damsels in distress wasn't likely intended to send the message to young girls that they had no agency and should wait to be rescued, but it can be argued that message is present regardless of the intention.
"Problematic" isn't a term reserved only for racial slurs and misogynist rants; it means that we need to look at the history of something, the messages within it, and how it came to be what it is. We need to be intellectually curious, honest with the history, and we need to understand that just because someone didn't intend something to send the wrong message, say the wrong thing, or to smuggle in an offensive attitude, that doesn't mean it didn't happen. Because it's only by looking these elements full in the face that we can make the games we love better, deeper, more complex, and in the end, less problematic.
And like I said in It's Okay To Admit There Are Problems in Your Hobby, you can like something problematic without being problematic by association. But we should all seek to be intellectually curious about these issues, and to remember that just because it may not affect us personally, that doesn't mean it's somehow not a real issue.
Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!
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There is a particular trope in science fiction and fantasy that shows up a lot at our gaming tables. Chances are you've seen it, especially if you're a fan of a Tolkien-style setup. The way this trope works is that a particular culture (typically a non-human one, but human neighbors are not immune from this trope) is set up as having a particular thing that's noteworthy about them. You know, like how all Klingons (space orcs) are heavy metal tribal warriors, and how Vulcans (space elves) are aloof, logical, and tend to be generally better than humans at everything.
You know, like how ALL noblemen are inherently better than commoners.
Whatever the thing this race/culture/etc. is good at is referred to as their hat. It is immediately recognizable, completely unique, and every member of that population has it. And it's just fine for a generalized shorthand... but it sort of falls apart once you start interacting with people on an individual basis.
Things Get Better Once You Take Off The Hats
Fantasy games, especially games like Pathfinder, are loaded with hats. Having elven and orc as languages is a primary example. While we can largely blame Tolkien for it, the idea that all members of a given race inherently speak one language (except humans, of course, because humans are all different) is kind of ridiculous. Ditto the racial proficiency benefits that allow gnomes or dwarves to just naturally be good with certain weapons. Even if they come from parts of the world where those weapons would be improbable, unwieldy, or just not as useful. The biggest offenders, though, are when characters treat their race as the equivalent of a nation. Like there is only ever one culture, and one norm, and every member of that race you encounter will be aware of that culture, and those norms.
Here, I'll let Trope Talks explain the ins and outs of this one.
Got it? Lovely!
So how do you take off your character's hat? Or the NPCs' hats, if you're the DM? Well, the easiest way is to de-couple the idea of race from the idea of nation, and to introduce nuance and variety.
Adding Depth Always Helps
I hit on some of this a while back over on The Literary Mercenary with my post Tear Down The Monoliths, but that was meant more for writing than for gaming. So how do you introduce more depth and nuance into an RPG setting in order to avoid the idea that (except for PCs and the occasional important NPC) all members of a race, culture, etc. are more or less the same?
Well, the first thing you should do is de-couple the idea of race (the people) with the idea of nation (a physical location with specific borders). If you ever have an entire country that's made up strictly of only one kind of creature (the reclusive elven kingdom, the swarming orc horde, etc.) ask why? Because a small group of creatures, say a mostly nomadic tribe or even a small town, could easily remain homogeneous. Especially if they're self-sufficient, and have minimal interaction with outsiders. But in order to grow, they'll require a lot of resources. That typically means there will be trade, diplomatic relations with their neighbors (including war), and it means that people will want to come to be a part of what's being created. So the bigger a nation is, and the more land it brings together, the smaller the chances are of it being completely (or even mostly) homogeneous.
That is not to say that creatures from a given area don't share a culture. They absolutely do, even if as individuals they don't share all the same values, desires, goals, etc. But that area should influence who a character is in order to avoid playing into the excuse of the hat. For instance, you're playing a elf from Hardhome, so of course you're good with a longbow. So are many other folks there; archery is the nation's official national past time. So you're a dwarf who favors a hammer, eh? Well, yeah. When you were part of the Hilltop Guardians, you were a breacher. It was your job to batter down the door so your teammates could rush into the gap and capture criminals.
In short, make what you do about how you were raised, and where you're from, instead of using the excuse, "Well, I'm an X, so I'm just naturally good with a Y."
Another good step to take is to come up with alternatives to racial languages. It's more work on the DM's behalf, but try breaking them up into different dialects across the world. Yes, the Granite Kings popularized the characters and style of the Horrang language (snidely referred to by some as high-dwarven), but as the empire branched out, and citizens went to other parts of the world, it broke off and changed. Used mainly among scholars, and certain isolated pockets of the region, the language isn't dead, but it is rarely used in the everyday anymore. Make it clear that languages for other races are the same as for humans; they grow, they change, and they spread, becoming more or less common depending on trade, prominence of the home nation, the spread of its people, etc., etc.
This has the side benefit that skills like Linguistics, and magic like Comprehend Languages, become even more useful for those who invest in them.
Lastly, take the time to show players that given races and cultures aren't monoliths in your setting. Show NPCs as individuals, who may adhere to some of these sweeping generalizations, but not to others. Have a gnome who is calm, and difficult to excite, but who can fixate on objects of curiosity with an intensity that marks him as a genius in any field he chooses to enter. Give us a half-orc who uses his inherited strength and toughness to become a champion athlete, and who speaks out about non-violent solutions to the problems the world faces. Give us an elf who's damaged and volatile, who's seen hundreds of companions die of wounds and age, and whose unsurpassed skill on the battlefield is just as much a curse as a blessing as he forgets there is a way to live without a sword in his hand.
If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It
This is, of course, assuming that having a nation or planet of hats is an issue you've had at your table. Some games work perfectly well when they lean on this trope. Especially if it's a way to make an entire group of creatures irredeemable, so no one raises the issue of whether it's morally acceptable to slaughter the bad guys wholesale. However, if you like the idea of mixing up the formula, and jettisoning hats that, while functional, can make parts of the game world feel stilted and shallow, it's often a good idea to follow that impulse.
That's all for this week's Fluff post. If you're in the market for even more gaming content from yours truly, why not check out my Gamers archive, or head over to Dungeon Keeper Radio to check out some of the episodes I have the privilege to be part of? If you want to stay up-to-date on my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter. Lastly, if you'd like to support Improved Initiative, head over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a patron. $1 a month makes a big difference, and gets you some sweet gaming swag as a thank you!
This Moon Pope Monday we're paying respect (and disrespect) to one of the classics of the genre. This is one song that never appeared in any of Tolkien's work, but it's one that will get into your head and stay there. Big thanks to The Warp Zone on Youtube for creating this as well as more than a hundred other videos that will leave you rolling.
As always, thanks for dropping by Improved Initiative! In case you don't know, we're now available for subscription on the Kindle; just sign up for two free weeks here. If you'd like to keep us going then please share our pages with your friends, hit the "Bribe the DM" button to make a one-time donation, or check us out on Patreon. All new pledges during the month of January will receive a free ebook, as well as the two complimentary stories that all pledges get as a thank you. Hope to see you later this week!
