Orcs, Elves, and the One Cliché to Rule Them All

[SafeKeeper]

There's been several posts on the addition of orcs, elves, night elves, et cetera into Dominions III. Hence, I decided to write this little essay to contribute my two cents on our buddies from Tolkien's realm.

Name ten games, board games and/or video games, with the Orcs, Dwarves, Elves, and Halflings. Good work! Now for the real challenge: You shall name five games with C’tis, Abysia, and Vanheim, the Dominions series excluded.

I trust everyone sees my point?

Our Swedish comrades in Illwinter Productions has made two games that are almost completely free of the ”Orc versus human” cliché that Lord of the Rings, Warcraft, Dungeons&Dragons, and, it seems, just about every other fantasy franchise out there makes use of. That is one of the main reasons why I love Dominions: The massive development team dared to depart from the familiar and venture into innovation - hence I get to explore a new world, rather than delve in a setting I’ve been trough in a thousand shapes and forms before.

I love the Dominions series, which, although it’s low-budget and without too much fame to speak of, nonetheless has a message board that is very much alive and an incredibly loyal fan base that keeps exploring the vast universe and all of its spells, units, nations, and possibilities. There’s a large number of war stories big and small, of players sharing tricks and tips and strategies. The suggestions thread is a vast monster of ideas and critisism, bigger than the threads for many games with more of a fan base. Sure, adding Tolkien races and elements would increase sales. I’m sure that if Dominions III was to be advertised on a fantasy forum, one screen shot of a clash of Orc and Elves alone would get more attention than twenty screen shots of showcasing the huge selection of features and creative and less-than-famous nations. But I, personally, don’t want a Tolkien game. I want a Dominions game, with Dominions’ world and characters and races.

Put short, the Orc-versus-human setting has been over-used to the extreme. As for me, I’ll go farther than saying that I don’t want a Elf or Orc nation: I want as few Tolkien units as possible. No Elves or Night Elves, no Orc nation, no Uruk-Hai, no Hobbits, and no Dwarves. Give me the mysterious Men of Abysia, Vanheim, C’tis, or Machaka any day.

My two cents.

[/b]–Øyvind[/b]
, Norway [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Campfire.gif[/img]