More animal than human: The Orcs from Dungeons & Dragons
As one of the oldest and largest role-playing games in the world, Orcs must not be missing in D&D. In the beginning, however, they were merely opponents and only available as Half-Orcs for players.
Orcs are depicted in D&D as slightly larger than humans, much bulkier, with a boar-like face. They usually have gray skin, very long, muscular arms, and reddish eyes. They tend to live shorter than humans.
Similar to Tolkien’s Orcs, the D&D Orcs are an “evil” race, meaning one with little morality, and like the Warhammer Orcs, they are easily excited for war but less for peaceful approaches. They quickly become impatient and choose violence as their way.
Orcs from D&D live, like Black Furs from DSA, in tribes loosely held together by a chief. Here, women originally had a very low status in society.
In recent years, Orcs have been opened up to players as a playable race, with official rules from “Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse.” With the major revision of the rules in 2024, Orcs are no longer necessarily evil, and players have more options to customize their characters.
Bonus: Orcish pigs – truly
If you are more into movies and series, you may have noticed creatures that look like pig people, especially from the anime realm. These are Orcs, as they are mostly depicted in Japan.
The Japanese depiction of the species is based on the understanding of mythical Oni, that is, various demons. Orcs correspond here to pigs, goblins roughly to dogs or at least species that are very similar to them.
Aside from appearances, Japanese Orcs share many characteristics with those on this list. They are often brutal, warlike, and frequently uninterested in peaceful solutions or incapable of making such decisions.
Slightly macabre: Due to their appearance, there are many scenes in anime and manga where Orcs are eaten and… well, are said to taste like pork.
If you find Orcs and Orks interesting, you should definitely take a look at dwarves. They are often depicted very similarly – small and stubborn – but Warhammer alone has multiple versions from the master craftsmen: In Warhammer, there are 3 types of dwarves, and two of them do forbidden things
