Thoughts on the New Orc Bard Hero?

[cornixt]

I'd heard about kobolds for years (never a D&D player, I), and it turns out its just another term for "goblin" (and "hobgoblins" are just bigger goblins, which in terms of some streams of development, is an Orc... although an Orc could also just be the physical form of a demon).

In mythological terms, there isn't much distinction between a lot of the species, or there are wildly different ideas of what certain creatures are (contrast the tall Norwegian elves with the very short German elves). The success of Tolkien's books went a long way to to solidifying the western view of certain creatures into a particular form, but I'm sure he wouldn't give a flying f... about Hasbro's interpretations of mythological creatures. He himself turned historically ethereal and malevolent creatures into living and breathing beings of high culture.

[mk4000]

The success of Tolkien's books went a long way to to solidifying the western view of certain creatures into a particular form, but I'm sure he wouldn't give a flying f... about Hasbro's interpretations of mythological creatures.

Remember also Hasbro can easily "borrow" from other properties they own so there is that. So I guess be grateful its only an "Orc Bard" and nothing even more outlandish? I guess i could have a wizard unicorn. Im sure my daughter still has her Twilight Sparkle mini around here. But Twilight is way OP =)

[Kurgan]

A bunch of D&D style stuff appeared in the Hero Quest II: Legacy of Sorasill PC game, like Beholders.

Some stuff fits better than others. In Classic HQ, Mummies, Vampires, Werewolves are all canon... so I figure its not a stretch to include Vampires (which also appear in the above game). I also like to think that guy between the two zombies on the original box art is Frankenstein's Monster, which fits into my Alchemy de-magicified mod.

In the end the imagination is the limit, but what "fits" is a matter of opinion. Though I think we can probably agree this character is the most controversial thing about the Remake. But for those of us who still care, HQ's greatest strength, it's modability and and the imagination of the community are the greatest strength in "fixing" it, though one person's idea of a good fix may be different than another. This pushed me to finally just bite the bullet and consider the Rapier part of the Armory. Lots of people had put it up there before, but I was resistant thinking it was too modern. But then HQ has a mixture of different tech levels from real history. Not every culture or group uses the same stuff all the time and the Heroes are drawn from the various corners of the HQ world, so a nice blend of options it out there. It's able to be the MMA of fantasy board games.

[Oftkilted]

As was mentioned previously, the New rapier isn’t really different than the old EU short sword. But if that’s the “end weapon” conceptually for a bard... that’s going to be rather weak.

[cornixt]

Progression is the weakest part of the bard. His advantages don't gel with any upgrades, both weapons and armour - he loses both of his combat flavour-rules when he gets anything new unless there are other items added to the armory that we don't know about yet.

[Pancho]

No, being an Orc is the weakest part of the bard. It’s the reason why like 5 fans in total want to use it, and the rest of us are still wondering if the whole thing is a prank.

[mk4000]

6... I'll use it. but I may make diffrent Race/genders available for players to chose from. Plenty of good Bard mini's out there.

[Davane]

6... I'll use it. but I may make diffrent Race/genders available for players to chose from. Plenty of good Bard mini's out there.

I suppose I'll consider using it, just not as an Orc. It makes an interesting variant to the Elf.

[warlordaxe]

Maybe this whole orc bard thing is just Hasbro being salty that they cant use any Games Workshop lore,minis etc. Maybe they conversed with GW prior to all this to strike a deal and GW wasn't having any of it and didn't want another Malice (5th chaos god) situation. So Hasbro had to rework story and Chaos - Dread etc. and just to get back at them lets ruin there orks. What greater insult is to take greats such as Grimgor and Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka what makes an ork an ork and reduce it to a well.........what we got. lol

[Oftkilted]

Maybe this whole orc bard thing is just Hasbro being salty that they cant use any Games Workshop lore,minis etc. Maybe they conversed with GW prior to all this to strike a deal and GW wasn't having any of it and didn't want another Malice (5th chaos god) situation. ...

I think that Jane West said it well:

“Let us not attribute to malice and cruelty what may be referred to less criminal motives.”