Old-school gaming benefits from a recurring cast of stock enemies; minions of monstrous aspect to pad armies and populate dungeons. Traditionally, the orc has satisfied this particular need; but lately the poor orc has become, well, problematic. I know, I know, orcs aren't even human, much less real; and inherently evil creatures of any race are simply impossible in our reality. I've made myself clear on this point, but acknowledge that we must follow our conscience and that there's absolutely nothing wrong with the "nuanced" orcs preferred by some. Indeed, such orcs can easily serve as stock enemies...
Now if our only goal with enlightened orcs is to fight racism, we're misdirecting our efforts away from the actual humans we're trying to help. But there are still plenty of excellent reasons for giving orcs a nuanced treatment; and the OSR, with its emphasis on personal creativity, agrees. That said, here's some ways to make it happen:
(1) Orcs are automatons, imbued by their gods with only one perspective. Sure, these are still inherently evil; but they also aren't persons so much as an unusual golem having no discernable culture beyond acting on their programming. There just has to be room for this sort of thing in a fantasy game, and it has absolutely no parallel in our universe.
(2) Orcs (and Drow) aren't inherently evil; but some of their numbers have succumbed to religious fanaticism, taking after evil gods. This is similar to the Nazi cult of Hitler's Germany in its dark prime. Hey, if orcs are a complex, nuanced race, there's no doubt some of them would turn to wickedness. But still others would choose good, serving the orcish lords of light and fighting, perhaps alongside human allies, against the darkness.
In (2) above, evil orcs are just a faction of the whole, albeit large and distinctive enough to stand out. It's not so much "orcs" as "evil cultists" of (insert wicked orcish god here).
(3) Ultimately; some orcs are evil, just like some humans. And if we can fight human bandits and diabolical wizards, we can surely fight orcs. Perhaps an orcish warlord has arisen, amassing the worst of their kind under a banner of bloodshed. Of course, these would be reviled by orcs of the honorable sort; and it provides a population of stock baddies to engage with proper, old-school abandon. Call it a secular variation of (2), above.
My beloved old-school orcs clearly fall under (1), above. There's just enough personality to think you're engaging a person; but these aren't analogous to any so-called race, and the circumstances of their creation and continued existence should make that clear. Everything else is what happens when we decide that orcs are people. No, they aren't all uniformly wicked; but enough hold evil affiliations (we humans have many of our own) as to constitute a distinctive faction. Anyway, there's never a bad reason to flex our creative muscles, even when we think we disagree with some conclusion. Good ideas are everywhere...
There's been a lot of chatter about gaming orcs lately. Orcs are a racist stereotype, and inherently evil orcs give cover to the idea that some races (and by extension, some cultures) are better than others. I agree racist thinking is wrong, just as much as I admit that more nuanced orcs are a legitimate approach. But I emphatically reject the notion that evil orcs are necessarily racist, especially when we consider the symbolic nature of fantasy.
Fantasy is allegory. Fantasy is symbolism. It takes abstract, ephemeral concepts and embodies them for closer examination. Think of it as psychotherapy. Dragons, with their hoarded gold, represent human avarice whereas orcs symbolize pure hatred for others, something everyone fears regardless of their so-called race. These are universal concepts that speak to everyone, because the need for symbols is itself universal...
Not so much anymore. Fantasy can't be fantasy. It has to be a cold, naturalistic thought experiment. Orcs can't possibly represent the concept of hatred. Symbols have no place in the sterile imaginings of tomorrow. A thing in a fantasy rulebook must necessarily have its counterpart in the real world. Not a concept, but a literal, material thing. Orcs are people of color, and all this talk of universal symbolism is just a cloak for the slavery apologists.
But life is more than just things. Life is a collection of abstract, subjective experiences we must all grapple with. Otherwise, fantasy has its flesh-and-blood realism, but loses its metaphorical soul in a Faustian bargain. Now I'll say this just because I know it's gonna come up. Some would blame this all on secular culture, a popular boogeyman for a certain moral faction. I'm a secular humanist; and while I see no evidence for any supernatural claim, I see abundant evidence for humanity, physical brains, and inner lives...
And when we abandon symbolism, we abandon our humanity, which is the only thing that makes fantasy resonate in the first place. Otherwise, fantasy is just science fiction.
Now to be charitable, if the goal is to make D&D a realistic (read: naturalistic) universe, nuanced races make sense. The gods are aliens, magic just another natural energy to be harnessed. It's our world wearing new clothes. I've long thought that modern D&D has become an Iron-Age Star Trek, complete with elven shopkeepers and spells on every street corner. There's nothing wrong with this; it can be fun, but it's not the only way.
That said, orcs aren't people of color. They're the cop with his knee on an unarmed black man's throat. They're the Nazis who took my Jewish family to the camps. Orcs are the hatred we all must grapple with, and I find it sad that those who would challenge racism are unwittingly erasing the very symbols used to describe it. Orcs are pure, unapologetic evil, which comes in many forms. The Klan, the Nazis, the sex traffickers. You name it. And we desperately need such symbols in these times lest we become the very orcs we fear...
