Orkworld is a fantasy
role-playing game
A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...
featuring
orks
Ork or ORK may refer to:
* Ork (folklore), a mountain demon of Tyrol folklore
* ''Ork'' (video game), a 1991 game for the Amiga and Atari ST systems
* Ork (''Warhammer 40,000''), a fictional species in the ''Warhammer 40,000'' universe
* ''Ork!'' ...
. It was designed by
John Wick, illustrated by Thomas Denmark and released by Wicked Press.
Game setting and mechanics
According to Wick, ''Orkworld'' breaks from the mold of treating orks as evil
monster
A monster is a type of fictional creature found in horror, fantasy, science fiction, folklore, mythology and religion. Monsters are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive with a strange, grotesque appearance that causes terror and fe ...
s in
tabletop role-playing games and
fantasy literature dating back to their creation by
J. R. R. Tolkien.
Orkworld treats orks as
protagonist
A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...
s (although not necessarily heroic ones), doomed by the fact that they are less intelligent and adaptable than their enemy races of humanity, dwarf-kind and elvenfolk. The game is heavily descriptive of a fantastical orkish culture.
Orkworld is also unusual in that character generation is a collective effort. Each party of players first creates the household using a pool of character points. The household defines multiple aspects of the group. The points spent can define the technological level, the population, the experience of the household leaders, and even the resources and strongholds available to the household. Once this is complete the players then divide up the remaining character points however they want and use the points assigned to each of them to create their character for the game.
Fan reaction
While fan reaction was mixed, a number of fan created additions to the game engine were done and released on the net during the years following release, and some are still recorded in the WaybackMachine internet archive.
Reviews
*''
Pyramid''
*''Backstab'' #24
References
Fantasy role-playing games
Role-playing games introduced in 2000
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