Thread by @McGowanJohnN

Traditionally, the first negative encounter PCs have is with either Orcs or Goblins.
Complaints are fielded, declaring all-evil creatures boring; the complainant is taken aback by the dedicated, often harsh, defense of the practice.

...but what exactly is being defended?

🧵/-

The creatures in the Monster Manual are usually pulled from European folklore: the folk would tell tales of monsters that lurked deep within the forest.
These creatures were inspired by primordial fears, given life in the imagination and the darkness.

2/-

What would an Anglo-Scottish serf make of being told that the redcaps, whose cap received its color from the blood of its victims, might be reasoned with?

Well of course Redcaps aren't an actual threat in real life and they are flesh-and-blood creatures in fantasy games...

3/-

The materialist-minded might be suspicious of the inclusion of all-evil monsters in a game, feeling no continuity with the "folklore character" of "goblin" and mistakenly connect it instead to an unsightly commentary on actual real world peoples.

This seems worth unpacking-

4/-

The core loop of D&D usually involves a variation of the following:
- heroes go out into the unknown
- battle evil that lurks there
- seize the spoils of victory
- bring it back to civilization
- celebrate and share the gains

This structure is the oldest LARP in the world.

5/-

The "evil" in this structure is always evil. It's an abstraction of the beasts that lurk in the forests, of the raiders who savage farms, the minions of a rival power.

"Orc", for example, is the personification of the idea of savage violence for personal gain.

6/-

It is good and right to resist the chaos of selfish violence by imposing order upon it.
"Orc" is what happens when you anthropomorphize the village raid - demons of violent consumption.

An obstacle that doesn't require the players to wring their hands is good for the game!

7/-

To remove the foundational evil that makes up the denizens of the dark removes a key portion of that ancient progression.

The Loop isn't so much a "story structure" as it a ritual that evokes human investment. Other things can exist around it or in it.

8/-

This structure is so ingrained, so instinctive that altering it will cause a not-insignificant amount of people to react with surprising anger.

Fantasy is mythical and its most affecting to the greatest number of people when it embraces the foundation of myths.

9/-

Say you want to do something different w/ goblins, orcs, or drow: you can do so, but perhaps consider replacing their spot in The Loop.
This can be done either with a different mythical monster or one created from scratch - doing so restores something core to the fantasy.

10/-

Demarcating what is "monster" and what is "people" is all that's required. If your orcs are capable of acts of charity, then they are people.

If I present goblins as rapacious monsters incapable of ethical interaction, then they are monsters.

11/-

Monsters can have industry & organize, but they'll do so purely out of the desire to overturn rival industries & organizations of the people they want to eat or plunder.

They are elemental: like a storm or the changing of seasons.

They are unlike any people that exist.

12/-

Battling pure evil is fun: the players can really roll up their sleeves and get to work - they'll have a great time (less so in the event the monsters win)!

Anyway, that's my thoughts on the matter. I hope all this at least made some more sympathetic to the idea at least.

13/13