Why these orcs are "evil"?

Recently there was some interesting discussions about evil monsters and I thought of writing some random tables that tell why a group of humanoids monsters are considered "evil" or more interestingly "enemies".

My goal is with these tables is to help make that tribe or orcs or bugbears you just rolled more interesting then just being "evil" or "chaotic". That said, a other solution can be to simply avoid using humanoids monsters and to use human factions instead.

Other interesting readings:
http://zedecksiew.tumblr.com/post/172688967221/of-palm-wine-women-and-war
https://coinsandscrolls.blogspot.ca/2018/05/osr-invading-orcs-part-1.html

What happened?
These tables assume that these monsters were simply "neutral" in the past and that something happened to constantly put them in harsh situations that lead to them becoming harsh and being considered evil by humans.

You can roll multiple times on each tables if you want to generate a harsher and more complex history.

The mystical past (d10) (These events happened a very long time ago, maybe 1d6 x 1000 years ago. Their stories focus on how their heroes have free their people from these hardships. There is also the possibility that the supernatural elements of these legends are interpretation of more mundane historical events)

1. Their greatest guide or champion was corrupted by a powerful magical item.
2. Their leaders were under the control of a supernatural influence (mind parasites, demons, etc).  
3.  A evil deity or demon took over their old religion and corrupted their priests.   
4.  A giant monster (dragon, giant, kraken, etc) ruled over them for many generations. 
5. A dark lord befriended or subjugated them for his or her own dark goals. 
6. A petty and vengeful deity cursed them for the "sin" of a important hero. 
7. A greedy or misguided leader made a dark pact with a dark deity and regretted it.  
8. They pursued a dangerous art or science that unleashed a disaster or a curse. 
9. They exploited a corrupted resource that slowly corrupted their bodies and their civilization. 
10. They were hunted or enslaved by a magic using civilization (elves, dwarfs, titans, immortals, etc) 

The distant past (d10) (These events happened at least a 1d6 x 100 years ago) (different factions may have different interpretations of these events) 

1. They were exiled and forced to settle in a harsh or hostile environment.  
2. They were allied with a human faction that lost a major war. 
3. Their land was colonized by a human faction that was considered a enemy. 
4. The great war happened over their territory and devastated their lands. 
5. A positive leader or champion was assassinated and this created a moral vacuum. 
6. A corrupt dynasty supported by a outside faction ruled over them for generation. 
7. A natural disaster or calamity destroyed the new city they were building. 
8. Scarcity of a key resource destroyed their new way of living and pushed them toward harsher work. 
9. A booming and ruthless economy followed by a crash destroyed or ruined the new society they were building. 
10. A long and disastrous civil war violently teared them apart. The original conflict may be about allying themselves or not with a human faction.  

What recently happened to stir the anger? (d20) (The first event happened 1d6 years ago, the second one 1d6 months ago and the third one 1d6 days ago) 

1. Trespassing: a human faction is establishing a route through their territory.
2. Murder or hateful crime: a murder was committed on the tribe territory and accusations go both ways. (it could be a accident).  
3. Border dispute & skirmishes: local factions fight over the their territory.  
4. Land appropriation: a human faction claim ownership over their land and want to sell or exploit it. 
5. Population movement: the arrival of human refugees or settlers into their territory. 
6. Criminals: local criminals are hiding in the tribe territory. Humans accuse them of protecting them.  
7. Mercenaries: a mercenary band arrived in their territory to recruit new blood. Humans (and some of their own kind) fear their militarization. 
8. Rise of a biter leader: a biter and vengeful leader is rising in their ranks (or in a human faction targeting them). 
9. Scapegoating: someone have been wrongly accused of a crime or blamed for a accident. 
10. Rise of a populist leader: a populist leader target the other side and blame everything on them to gain political momentum. 
11. Corruption: a criminal or outside faction influence one of their clan or leader. 
12. Calamity: a natural disaster or plague devastate the land, blames go on both sides. 
13. Scarcity: a local resource is becoming rarer and force them to venture outside of their territory or human to venture into their territory.  
14. Succession war: a important clan leader died and the power vacuum risk to trigger a succession war. 
15. Bad trade: a trade with a human faction went very badly or was very exploitative. 
16. New predator: the arrival of a new monster push some of them toward human territories.
17. Harsh competition: the tribe and the human compete over a trade or the use of a resource or a location.  
18. Attacks: orcs or human travelers were attacked by unknown assaillants. 
19. Rumors: new rumors about the tribe or the humans circulate and generate fear. 
20. Break of treaty or pact: a pact or a treaty was not respected or broken (by necessity, accident or malice).

How they are not always seen as evil? (d20) (You can roll multiple times)  

1. They respect the quality of one of the six attributes (STR, DEX, CON, INT, WIS, CHA) (You may use this stat for reaction adjustments).
2. They master a craft and respect who master or respect it.  
3. They respect a common historical figure meaningful to a faction allied with the PCs. 
4. They respect the teachings of a old and still respected philosophy, religion, school, guild, army or faction.   
5. Some tribe members are know to work for humans (or to hire humans) and are appreciated for their competence. 
6. They like to trade goods and enjoy a good trade. 
7. The tribe have a mutual relationship with a faction allied with the humans. 
8. They always help strangers in a bad situation.   
9. Outcasts from their tribe live with humans and adopted human culture. 
10. They oppose a common enemy (for a relatable reason). 
11. They create and trade a unique resource.  
12. They have a good mentor of one of the PC class and respect members of the same class. 
13. They always show great hospitality and like to share food, drinks and laughters. 
14. They have beast companions that they respect and they show the same respect for other beast companions. 
15. They are very curious about the world and like to trade knowledge. 
16. They respect a old historical location set on their territory and respect history and who also respect it.  
17. They take great care of their sick and wounded.  
18. They show respect for their dead and to the land. 
19. They always honor a special greeting or sign that reference a historical alliance. 
20. They do everything as a family unit, children or elders are always present.  

How dealing with them can be complicated? (d20) (again you can roll multiple times)  

1. Their language is complex and hard to master and require skill rolls to avoid errors. 
2. They eat something strange and hard to digest (but delicious). 
3. They dislike a type of gear and look down on it use, they may use a alternate solution.  
4. Some members of their society have specific greeting or introduction habits that can be complicated to honor. 
5. They dislike a type of teachings or religion from the PC's culture.  
6. They dislike a historical figure or hero from the PC's culture. 
7. They dislike a type of creature allied or beneficial for the PC's.  
8. They dislike a type of spells or magic.  
9. They dislike a allied faction.  
10. They respect a enemy faction for their own reasons. 
11. They have beast companions that seem repulsive or dangerous. 
12. They have a special character class that do something that seem repulsive. Like fire bugs eaters who vomit fire. They can eventually offer to teach that class.  
13. They have a dangerous combat tradition that buy social currency. 
14. They dont eat or drink a type of food. 
15. They frown on the use of certain material for a specific function. Like gold can be good for sacred jewelry but they frown on it use for coins. 
16. They have a different version of a specific historical event.  
17. They don't trust a character class and it methods (but they could be actually good at it) 
18. They ritualise a specific activity and it take a longer time to do it. 
19. They do a specific activity only at a specific time, location or with a specific person. 
20. They respect and refuse to kill a specific monster (or type of monsters) that the PCs have to deal with. 

Orc baby generator

Roll a d4, d6, d8, d10 and d12 to complete the phrase:
You see a (d4) little thing with (d6), (d8) with (d10), [he/she] look at you and (d12).

You see a (d4) little thing

1. giggling  
2. crying 
3. sleepy 
4. hungry 

with (d6),

1. crusty eyes
2. large ears 
3. a running snout 
4. chubby arms 
5. a missing tooth
6. large fangs 

(d8)

1. playing 
2. eating 
3. hiding 
4. breaking things 
5. crawling 
6. running
7. hugging  
8. fighting 

with (d10)

1. a tired [rat/badger] 
2. a dirty [blanket/boot] 
3. a big [club/knife]
4. a old [bone/sword] 
5. a large [tooth/claw] 
6. a ball of [snots/dried dung]
7. a fat [centipede/grub] 
8. a blood soaked [doll/rattle]
9. a dented [shield/helm] 
10. [his/her] little snotty [brother/sister]

[he/she] look at you and (d12).

1. smile
2. blink
3. scream
4. yawn
5. belch 
6. laugh 
7. fall down 
8. growl 
9. wince
10. say "GRUG!" 
11. wave
12. point at your feet

Old Shield +1 of moral

People talking about towns

Rumors about towns:
2d6  + a extra d6 of a different color, if you roll a 1 on this die, the rumor is false.

2: something truly supernatural and disturbing

3: warning of dangers or conspiracy

4: superstition and folk tale

5: problem, people or place to avoid

6: bad stereotype and reputation

7: settlement or architectural characteristics

8: good stereotype and reputation

9: opportunity, people or place to seek

10: historical or recent event

11: trusted contact and reference.

12: something truly supernatural and wonderful

Island and random encounters tables speciation.

This is inspired from this youtube video about how species fill vacant ecological niches on isolated islands. For exemple how kiwi birds took on the role and characteristics of rats in the absence of these mammals.

Let try to apply this on random encounter tables. Now random encounter tables are not really ecologies or biomes but since we are familiar with their content it can be fun to generate interesting variants.

Let use the the Forest/Wooded encounters from the Labyrinth Lord's Wilderness Monster Encounter Table.

Forest/Wooded encounters (1d20)

1. Bee, giant killer
2. Boar
3. Bugbear
4. Cat, Panther
5. Cockatrice
6. Dryad
7. Dragon, Green
8. Elf
9. Ghoul 
10. Hobgoblin
11. Werewolf
12. Brigands
13. Orc
14. Roc, small
15. Spider, giant crab
16. Troll
17. Unicorn
18. Wight 
19. Wolf
20. Wolf, dire

Let remove half the encounters so that the "surviving" monsters can fill their "niches".

We roll 10d20: 20 - 11 - 2 - 17 - 20 - 5 - 12 - 12 - 6 - 4 (re rolling doubles: 7, 10)

1. Bee, giant killer
2. Boar
3. Bugbear
4. Cat, Panther
5. Cockatrice
6. Dryad
7. Dragon, Green
8. Elf
9. Ghoul 
10. Hobgoblin
11. Werewolf
12. Brigands
13. Orc
14. Roc, small
15. Spider, giant crab
16. Troll
17. Unicorn
18. Wight 
19. Wolf
20. Wolf, dire

Now let see who fill these empty niches

For each absent monster we assign a random survivor who will speciate to fill it empty niche, we will combine the two monsters to create a new one. This new monster use the survivor stats bloc and switch 2d3 characteristics with the monster it is replacing.

Characteristics table (d12)

1. No.Enc
2. Alignment
3. Movement
4. Armor Class
5. HD (size) 
6. Attack type
7. Damage
8. Saves
9. Morale
10. Hoard class
11. Special ability or vulnerability 
12. Appearance  

If we make the rolls we end up with:

1. Boar wight 
2. Panther trolls  
3. Cockatrice elves 
4. Dryad bugbears 
5. Green dragon ghouls 
6. Hobgoblin wolfs 
7. Werewolf bugbears 
8. Brigands giant killer bees 
9. Unicorn giant killer bees 
10. Dire wolf wolf (??) 

What happen to the original survivor monsters?
Let roll on the adaptation table to find out:

Adaptation table (d8)

• 1-2 Dwarf variant (-1 HD, step up No Enc.) 
• 3-4 Giant variant (+1 HD, step down No Enc.) 
• 5-6 Random characteristic variant (roll on the characteristic table and modify this characteristic to create a variant)
• 7 Stunted variant (roll on the characteristic table and nerf or dilute this characteristic)  
• 8 Hyper variant (roll on the characteristic table and boost or intensify this characteristic) 

If we make the rolls we end up with:

1. Giant giant killer bee
2. Hyper Bugbear (Hyper variant: boost number encountered!)
3. Dwarf Elf
4. Giant Ghoul 
5. Dwarf Orc
6. Dwarf small Roc  
7. Giant giant spider crab  
8. High Damage Trolls (Hyper variant: boost damages!) 
9. Giant Wight 
10. Climbing Wolf (Random characteristic variant: movement type) 

Our final forest island random table: 

d20

1. Giant Wight 
2. Boar Wights (tusked wights who search the ground with their big groin) 
3. High Damage Trolls (ouch!)
4. Panther Trolls (stealthy four legged trolls)  
5. Dwarf Elves
6. Cockatrice Elves (use petrification to craft stuff out of petrified victims) 
7. Hyper Bugbear (larger No. Enc.) 
8. Dryad Bugbears (tree linked female bugbears) 
9. Werewolf Bugbears (bugbears who turn into dire wolves) 
10. Giant Ghoul  
11. Green Dragon Ghouls (greedy scaly toxic breath ghouls) 
12. Dwarf Orc
13. Hobgoblin Wolfs (weapon using bipedal wolfs) 
14. Dwarf Small Roc (mounts for the dwarf elves or orcs)   
15. Giant Giant Spider Crab 
16. Giant Giant killer bee (they are getting quite big!)
17. Brigands giant killer bees (killer bees who ambush people to hoard their stuff) 
18. Unicorn giant killer bees (white bees who produce magical honey for maidens) 
19. Dire Island Wolves (cosmetic variant Dire wolf) 
20. Climbing Wolves

The Doodle Factory in the Skies is back.

I put back The Doodle Factory in the Skies on my LULU store.

The zine is build around a drawing jam I did with my friend Melissa (but the zine is composed of 75% of my illustrations). The zine is in full color so a bit pricey but not too much.

This is a really whimsical set of 20 floating locations. Each location is represented by a big central illustration and a set of 6 (or more) small illustrations. The thing is that you roll a couple d6 to see what you find in these locations. These is also some rules for drifting from one location to a other.

The central theme is a big factory that pollute the other floating islands and a dragon that hoard enchanted trash around a micro-moon.

I personally like this setting and I enjoyed playing with it using the Black Hack but some people told me that the setup was too strange for them to figure out how to use it. If you are looking for something with more emphasis on wonder you might like it. There is a bit of a Planescale vibe to it. My non-gamer friends quite liked it and had a lot of fun contributing more to the setting when I asked them questions.

http://www.lulu.com/shop/evlyn-moreau/the-doodle-factory-in-the-skies/paperback/product-23594494.html

I will maybe revisit it on my blog, commenting on each floating locations.

The Fabulous Pocket Guild mini zine is availlable!

I used my tiny adventurers drawings to create a mini zine as a reward for my patrons on Patreon.
I want to eventually compile all the characters together into a pocket book on LULU.

I drew a collection of 120 tiny adventurers, each zine include a random selection of 15 tiny adventurers with 15 tiny character sheets. The way I imagined them to be used is that each zine is a guild or a stable of 15 characters. The players use their zine to create their character and they can switch between characters between session or in town. The zines are 34 pages long (including cover & back cover)

Paper Biome is Available!

Paper Biome is on LULU!

I made several versions because Print on Demand let us easily do that:

• Paper Biome Full version (print, include everything, 161 color pages) 50$
• Miniatures Only (print, only the miniatures, no tiles, no generator) 35$
• Generator Only (generator & sheets only, no miniatures or tiles) 25$
• PDF Paper Biome (full version) 12$ 

(This is in Canadian dollars)

I designed the generator to work with the paper miniatures but I guess you can still use it without the miniatures, except that you will only have the miniatures portraits to represent the creatures. This is really a kit to cut up and glue.

http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/chaudronchromatic

You better wait the next free shipping coupon to order.

Coming Soon!

I finished Paper Biome and I am waiting for my proof copy.

The thing is huge and in full color.

I hope that at least one person will assemble the miniatures. :)