I ran my first session of The One Ring (Second Edition) last Spring, and I loved how well it exposes themes from Tolkien’s works. I think it will shine in long-term play. Winter is here and I’m eager to dive back into Middle-earth with another session.

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about orcs. This post is for those already familiar with The One Ring, so I won’t delve into the existing mechanics. Instead, I want to share my own apocryphal musings and a GM-side procedure I’m cooking up to make orcs more engaging and memorable: as adversaries, and as characters.

Orcs of Morgoth

Tolkien was uneasy about the orcs in his fiction. As a Catholic, he didn’t like the implications of having a race of sentient creatures who were evil by nature, or beyond redemption. He struggled to compose an origin for orcs that would satisfy these concerns, and apparently never settled the issue.

For my present campaign, I’ll be more reckless. In my rendition of Middle-earth, the original orcs—the orcs of Morgoth—are all Elves who fell under the magnetic influence of the Dark Lord. Specifically, Morgoth’s desire for power was so potent, it was a literal contagion.

Elves will not admit this, but in the First Age, the overwhelming majority of the Firstborn were consumed by this mimetic desire. The idea of orcs being a separate, corrupted race, the idea of orcs multiplying by breeding, is elvish propaganda to hide from the horror that any of them may be vulnerable to the same corruption.

If this sounds familiar, that’s because it’s inspired by the mimetic theory of Renee Girard. According to Girard, imitation is the most fundamental human instinct. And it’s not just the behavior of others that we imitate: we also instinctively imitate one another’s desires.

Girard posits that mimetic desire is the root of most human conflict: People who enter into each other’s desires become rivals. If you imitate my desire for my spouse, you desire her as well, and then you and I become adversaries.

With Girard, there are more catastrophic consequences. You and I are not the only models for one another’s desires: We live in a society in which every person is a model whose desires we instinctively imitate to some extent. The snowballing of mimetic desire produces a contagion that threatens to destroy society in a crescendo of rivalistic violence.

Enough Girard for now. In my extension of Tolkien’s fiction, the Dark Lord’s desire is overwhelmingly potent. Potent enough to overwhelm the individual identities of Elves who are drawn into its magnetic field. The twisted, scarred bodies of orcs are a consequence of the rivalistic violence that their desire for power begets in them. This desire for power literally twists their bodies toward violence, and the multitude of rivals also enthralled in Morgoth’s influence assures that any survivors have endured harrowing violence from others.

Orcs of the Necromancer

My campaign takes place during the waning years of the Third Age while Sauron is yet disguised as the Necromancer of Mirkwood. I always wondered, why was he known as “the Necromancer”?

It’s because Sauron has found another way to spawn orcs in the catacombs of Dol Guldur. Inspired by the orcneas of Beowulf—“orc corpses”—Sauron’s orcs are created from corpses. Elf corpses.

Sauron’s desire for power is likewise potent, even contagious. This is a central theme of The Lord of the Rings. But as a subordinate to Morgoth, his desire is not as overwhelming to the Elves of the Third Age as the desire of his master. Of course the orcs of Morgoth would be attracted by the magnetic desire of a new Dark Lord, but they are scattered and Sauron wants more.

Just as Barrow-wights are spirits sent to possess the mortal remains of Men, Sauron’s orcs are demon-possessed corpses, or corpses possessed by the souls of Men or Elves who once served Sauron loyally in life.

Rising Through Ranks

Mechanically, one idea that sparked my interest was the much-hyped Nemesis System from the games Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War. I haven’t played those games and I’m not a PC gamer. But the main idea of the Nemesis System seems a natural fit for tabletop role-playing—almost a no-brainer. The heart of the Nemesis System as I understand it is this: NPCs are affected by your encounters with them, they remember the player character, and their future behavior is shaped by their past experience.

This is nothing new for tabletop role-playing. This should apply to every NPC at all times. Taking in the players’ choices and showing how they affect the world is a fundamental principle of being a GM. This is a central feature that differentiates role-playing games from other games.

However, considering the orc-centric focus of the Nemesis System in Shadow of Mordor, the growth and change of orcs involves elements that could be particularly relevant for The One Ring RPG:

• Orcs are typically organized in warbands.
• Warbands have a hierarchy.
• An orc’s position in the warband may be subject to change.

And the consequences of these three circumstances show a lot of potential for both story and gameplay.

My procedure builds on those based on the following principles:

• When orcs first encounter the player-heroes, their individuality might be quite limited. They may or may not be named already, they may or may not enter play with any distinct personality. If not, it’s the GM’s job to bring each orc to life through play.
• Any orc who survives an encounter with the player-heroes earns some more personality detail, each time they survive, based on what happened in the encounter.
• Any orc who survives an encounter with the player-heroes also earns some mechanical differentiation. Especially if an orc is demoted or promoted in the warband as a consequence of the encounter.

The procedure is this:

• After every orc encounter, the GM may swap or add a new Distinctive Feature to every orc. If it’s the first encounter, this might be when the GM assigns a trait to individualize each orc.
• Promotion: If an orc kills a player-hero, they are promoted in the warband, and the GM rolls for a promotion below. And when a superior orc is killed, someone will have to be promoted to fill their role.
• Scars & Savvy: An orc who does not kill a player-hero gets more Endurance anyway, by simply surviving.

Promotion

So you killed yourself a hero. (Spit!) Or maybe you were lucky enough to be the toughest remaining orc in your unit when your superior was taken out.

Roll a Feat die, and compare the result to the orc’s current Attribute Level (Attr):

Roll	Outcome
Eye of Sauron	Increase the orc’s Stamina Multiplier by 1, and add 1 to the orc’s Attribute Level and Hate
> Attr	Add 1 to the orc’s Attribute Level and Hate
≤ Attr	Make a Might Check (below) if the orc’s current Might is less than 3; if Might stays the same, give the orc a new a Custom Move or Fell Ability (GM’s choice)
Gandalf Rune	The orc is Challenged by another orc (see below)

Stamina Multiplier

An orc’s Endurance is the product of 2 numbers: Attribute Level and this factor. Multiply the orc’s Attribute Level by the Stamina Multiplier to determine their Endurance.

The default Stamina Multiplier for all orcs is 4, and can increase through promotion.

If the orc’s Attribute Level or Stamina Multiplier change due to promotion, it’s time to re-calculate the orc’s Endurance. If the result is lower than the orc’s previous maximum Endurance, add the orc’s new Stamina Multiplier to their previous Max. Endurance instead.

Might Check

Roll a number of Success Dice equal to the orc’s current Might. If all the dice show a success icon, then the orc’s Might increases by 1 (to a maximum of 3)

Challenge!

Another orc has challenged your promotion, and is willing to fight you for it. Whoever wins will take the promotion instead!

1. Choose another orc in the warband to challenge the orc being promoted, if any survived.
   • Otherwise, pick another orc who may benefit from challenging the orc’s promotion.
   • Invent a new orc if you don’t have any.
2. Make an attack roll for each orc, the challenger and the the defender.
   • If either orc has a Might greater than 1, make multiple attack rolls for that orc and add them together.
3. The orc who rolls the most Success icons wins.
   • If that’s a tie, the orc who gets the highest attack total wins.
   • If it’s still a tie, roll again.
4. The winner gains Endurance equal to loser’s damage rating, and then makes a Favoured roll on the Promotion table above.
5. Decide what happened in the fiction.

Scars and Savvy

Any orc who does not get promoted still gains Endurance if they survive. It works like this:

• If the orc lost any Endurance fighting with the heroes, the orc adds that amount to their maximum Endurance.
• An orc who didn’t lose Endurance adds 1 to their maximum Endurance.

Custom Moves

If an orc gains a Custom Move, it’s time for the GM to get creative and imagine something based on the circumstances of their previous encounters.

What are “moves”? They are things the monster can usually just do: concrete things the GM describes that bring the monster to life. Moves don’t spend Hate, require an attack roll, or anything. The orc can do them off-camera, or outside of combat, and sometimes in combat.

My original idea was to have a big d100 table (or something similar), so the GM could randomly select a new trait or special ability any time an orc survives an encounter with the heroes. But I realized what I really want are orcs who change—and possibly improve—in ways that are directly informed by the fiction. Sometimes a random table can spark unforeseen inspiration.

But often, the circumstances of their last encounter or the orc’s personality will suggest obvious ambitions, passions, or opportunities that inspire a new trait or special ability. Use those first.

Otherwise, consider the following questions (inspired by Dungeon World) to develop a new move:

Is there new folklore about the orc?

Write a new move that expresses what the orc is known to do.

What does it want and what tactics does it use?

Write a new move that describes how the orc gets what it wants.

Does the orc use deception or trickery?

Write a move about the orc’s dirty tricks.

Does the orc develop a new mutation, adaptation, or modified gear?

Write a move describing how it uses this new trait.

Is the orc an effective leader or strategist?

Write a move about how the orc organizes and calls on their forces.

Has the orc gained insight from the Shadow, or from beyond this world?

Write a move about how the orc uses otherworldly knowledge or power.

Has the orc’s presence become disturbing, terrible, or horrible?

Write a move describing how the orc uses their appearance, voice, and actions to inspire abject terror.

Example: Grimshot

Separated from their allies, Arathorn and his squire are facing off against orcs in the Trollshaws. The orcs overwhelm them, but not before Arathorn slays their chieftain.

One goblin archer manages to Wound Arathorn in the skirmish, but another shot flies wild. Unseen by anyone, the squire picks up the orc arrow and uses it to slay his lord. The goblins track the traitor through the late winter snow and kill him. Being in the back rank until the last round of combat, our as-yet unnamed archer escapes the battle unscathed.

Suppose this is the goblin archer who wounded Arathorn and killed Arathorn’s treacherous companion.

Not only was the orc-chieftain slain, but this little guy is bragging that he killed the chieftain of the Dúnedain. He takes the name “Grimshot” and claims Arathorn’s helm, shield, and greatspear as his own. Because he is lying about the achievement, taking credit for someone else’s kill, I will give him Insecure as a new Distinctive Feature.

Let’s roll for his promotion.

My roll on the Promotion table is a 4. That is higher than his current Attribute level, raising his Attribute level and Hate to 3. No one challenges his promotion.

Since Arathorn is such a high-profile hero, I will give him a second roll on the promotion table. I might codify this later based on the hero’s Valour or something.

My second roll on the Promotion table is the G-rune. That means another survivor, an orc soldier, challenges him for the title.

Now Grimshot’s roll is 4, 5, and 5 (14 total) vs. the soldier’s 3, 2, and 2 (7 total). Grimshot wins, slaying the challenger. He gains +3 Endurance and I make a Favoured roll on the Promotion table.

My third roll on the Promotion table gives 9 and 4. The 9 is higher than his current Attribute level, raising his Attribute level and Hate to 4.

All done. Now I just have to translate the results back into coherent fiction.

Here is Grimshot’s new stat block:

Grimshot, Orc Warchief

Cunning, Keen-eyed, Insecure

Attribute Level	4
Endurance	16
Might	1
Hate	4
Parry	2*
Armor	2

Combat Proficiencies

Bow of Horn 3 (3/14, Pierce); Great Spear 2 (4/16); Jagged Knife 2 (2/14)

Fell Abilities

Craven. When affected by the Intimidate Foe combat task, the creature also loses 1 Hate.

Orc-poison. If an attack results in a Wound, the target is also poisoned.

*2 Parry only when using shield; 0 when using bow