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http://www.amazon.com/Grunts-Mary-Gentle/dp/0451454537

You might like this

Lt.Soundwave wrote:http://www.amazon.com/Grunts-Mary-Gentle/dp/0451454537

You might like this

http://www.amazon.com/Orcs-Omnibus-GollanczF-Stan-Nicholls/dp/0575074876/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1345249427&sr=1-1&keywords=orcs+omnibus

this is a good one too

DOOMBREAD wrote:No. I imagine I'll get plenty of hate for saying this, but it's impossible to make an Ork with a personality that is sophisticated and can be related to.

you realize you just used the word sophisticated and orks in the same sentence right? I can just see you in your top hat and monocle typing away right now.

"How droll, these orks are dreadfully uncivilized. I ought to thump them right upside their skull with a dictionary of the queen's proper english!"

And there's plenty of room for development and growth in an ork character. They're not human, and have very different values than a human would. Ghazgkull had an arc, even if it's never been fleshed out. He started as a normal boy, until he was almost killed in a battle and thusly saved by mad doc grotsnik. He then had "visions" from gork and mork, and then led the lads on a proper WAAAAAGH!! instead of them muckin about all the time.

Another great example of ork "stories", even if it wasnt a canon story, would be the deffwotch. Look up the article on 1d4chan if you have a chance (nothing that bad in it except for good ol orky violence) as it has a really cool story and development. It is a rpg session, but the DM did a great job of adding interesting npcs for the players to interact with. Which brings me to another way to make ork stories work. how they interact with other races.

What really shows off the ork way of thinking is when the're around other races. Watching an ork interact with a human. an eldar, or a necron helps drive home just how diferent their mentalities are. For example, an eldar may be thinking of how he can trick the orks into helping him, while the ork knows what he's up to, but is completely fine with it because it's getting him a good fight with little to no work involved! Watching them negotiate a merc contract would be pretty interesting as well...

"Normally we do not associate with your foul kind, but we are prepared to pay for your... services... if you are willing to cooperate."
"Do oi get somuva dose fancy shootas you gitz keep running around with?"
"You mean shuriken catapults? I don't know..."
"Nah, not dem. Da big flashy ones dat zap all da tanks roight proppa."
"No! Over my dead body!"
"Dat can be arranged "

 MrMoustaffa wrote:

DOOMBREAD wrote:No. I imagine I'll get plenty of hate for saying this, but it's impossible to make an Ork with a personality that is sophisticated and can be related to.

you realize you just used the word sophisticated and orks in the same sentence right? I can just see you in your top hat and monocle typing away right now.

"How droll, these orks are dreadfully uncivilized. I ought to thump them right upside their skull with a dictionary of the queen's proper english!"

And there's plenty of room for development and growth in an ork character. They're not human, and have very different values than a human would. Ghazgkull had an arc, even if it's never been fleshed out. He started as a normal boy, until he was almost killed in a battle and thusly saved by mad doc grotsnik. He then had "visions" from gork and mork, and then led the lads on a proper WAAAAAGH!! instead of them muckin about all the time.

Another great example of ork "stories", even if it wasnt a canon story, would be the deffwotch. Look up the article on 1d4chan if you have a chance (nothing that bad in it except for good ol orky violence) as it has a really cool story and development. It is a rpg session, but the DM did a great job of adding interesting npcs for the players to interact with. Which brings me to another way to make ork stories work. how they interact with other races.

What really shows off the ork way of thinking is when the're around other races. Watching an ork interact with a human. an eldar, or a necron helps drive home just how diferent their mentalities are. For example, an eldar may be thinking of how he can trick the orks into helping him, while the ork knows what he's up to, but is completely fine with it because it's getting him a good fight with little to no work involved! Watching them negotiate a merc contract would be pretty interesting as well...

"Normally we do not associate with your foul kind, but we are prepared to pay for your... services... if you are willing to cooperate."
"Do oi get somuva dose fancy shootas you gitz keep running around with?"
"You mean shuriken catapults? I don't know..."
"Nah, not dem. Da big flashy ones dat zap all da tanks roight proppa."
"No! Over my dead body!"
"Dat can be arranged "

But my point about it being impossible to sympathize with and relate to an Ork character remains the same. And just because Ghazzy has a storyline behind him does not mean he has a complex and developed personality, nor does it mean that he could, so I stand by my "no possible complex personality" statement. And that excerpt from a hypothetical Ork BL book did not help advance your point in my eyes. I would only read a book written like that for a laugh. (Not saying you're a bad writer, just saying an Ork BL book would not be interesting at all.) Let's face it: While Orks do have a unique way of thinking, their way of thinking would not make for compelling characters.

I think alot will depend if you like or dislike how Orks are portrayed - I for one have always enjoyed "Da Boyz" and so would very much enjoy a novel centered around Orks.

For those interested in such things it may be worth checking out Imperial Glory by Richard Williams which has some of its story told from the Orkish point of view - there is actually in this case very little comedy and its pretty bleak especially towards the end.

http://www.blacklibrary.com/all-products/Imperial-Glory.html

I'd be very interested, GW could actually sell me a non-Imperium book.