Orcs.
The ancient enemy of Elves, Dwarves, and Men alike. Why does it seem that every story told about these often brutal, oafish, or downright twisted mockeries of muscle and cruelty treats them as such a menace to all life around them?
Is it perhaps that, like every other Enlightened Race--those capable of forming their own societies, harnessing magic or technology, and sharing distinct cultures--they are bipedal pursuit predators, omnivorous (though perhaps with a preference for meat, and perhaps less emphasis on the preparation of foodstuffs than its consumption), and capable of altering their surroundings to suit themselves rather than relying on their natural adaptations? Does this biological niche simply force them into competition with every other creature that fulfills these same criteria?
Is it because they are prone to being rallied under the flag of an even greater evil who forces them to follow through sheer force or magical coercion, whether or not they will it so?
Is it because their cultures crave violence, or because their brains are less inclined to intellect? Are Orcs naturally born evil? If an Orc became good, would it cease to be an Orc?
Perhaps the answer is more simple. Perhaps Orcs are seen as a threat because of a singular ability, or as this particular World calls it...a Skill.
Ingestion - The ability to absorb certain types of Skills from a given amount of consumed biomass.
Every creature in this World possesses at least one Skill. The Enlightened Races are unique in their capacity to learn as many Skills as their lifetimes and efforts allow. The Demon Races, however--including everything from Greater Devils to the lowly Slime--merely draw Skills from a process of Inheritance, and their innate natures limit the amount or types of Skills they can use. Orcs, for instance, often Inherit the Skills [Berserk] and [Dusk Vision]...and [Ingestion] allows them to, much like the Enlightened, learn new Skills they would not normally have.
In addition to this, Orcs are one of the Demon Races with the most prolific Evolution Potential--that is, a young Orc Runt may show significant variance from the rest of their species by the time they reach adulthood, and adult Orcs may even evolve further into stronger Demons.
Theirs is a rough lot. Only the strongest and most capable have a chance of surviving--and even they will face danger from all sides. Can you imagine, Human, what it would be like to be reborn as an Orc?
How would you fare...?
Greetings, Runts! I'll be your friendly Demon King tonight!
In this RP, Players will take the role of characters from "our" world who have been ISEKAI'D during Truck-kun's latest rampage. Before they can truly pass on, however, it seems a force beyond human comprehension had the great idea to use their souls for an experiment: Are Orcs all that different from the other intelligent species they constantly find themselves battling? If members of those same species, such as say, Humans, suddenly somehow coincidentally became Orcs, what would happen?
Your journey, your decisions, and how or even IF your actions shape this world will provide the answers they seek.
I'm looking to cap this at between 7-10 players, for the sake of my own sanity. GM posts would likely occur on a once-per-week basis, most likely on weekends. The game would begin with the Players being soul-swapped into the bodies of several Orc Runts (you'll choose the specifics yourself, of course, during character creation) and awakening in a brand new world full of magic and fantasy. Players will "progress" through the game in typical Open-World-RPG fashion, building on the Skills they start with in various ways and, over time, possibly becoming something much greater than a simple Orc.
"But wait, Zeroth," I hear you say--And by the way, that's Zeroth-Dai-Maou-Sama to you!--"What's an Orc Runt? What kind of Orcs are we even talking about--Tolkien's? Blizzard's? Da Boyz!?" So here's a quick rundown:
If you didn't read the run-down, or you're still not clear on the flavor of Orcs I'm going for, here's some references to various other works that have inspired this RP that will hopefully instill the "atmosphere" I want:
- Shadow of Mordor/War
- Skyrim
- Re: Monster
- Goblin Slayer (but not QUITE so brutal and grimdark)
- Slime Tensei (but not QUITE so sugar sweet and happy)
"And what about these Skills, then?" I now pretend to hear you ask! "Skills" in this RP simply refers to the "special moves," "magic spells," or other terms for unique feats, traits, and so forth Players and NPCs alike can use to try and accomplish their goals. Something like The Legend of Zelda's [Spin Attack], a Dragon's [Fire Breath] and so on. They'll consist of both magic and melee, actives and passives, all that jazz. Once a Skill is gained by Ingestion or any other method, its Rank can be increased to make it more powerful or versatile. Much like Skyrim, practice makes perfect--but don't think your character can just spam the Skill willy-nilly and level up without any further effort! Diminishing returns, the inherent dangers of the skills themselves, and...maybe some unforeseen side effects...will quickly put a kibosh on that!
In addition to all this, there will be a grand world full of other species to slaughter discover, civilizations to conquer explore, and all sorts of other fun stuff I've spent quite a bit of time preparing! So, feel free to field me any of your own questions or concerns, but I have just ONE left for YOU!
Would You Be Interested?
Character Sheet Information:
Feel free to change the aesthetics, colors, formatting codes, etc if you like to spruce up your CSs! Also, it's completely optional, but consider adding a Theme Song somewhere in there!
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