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Orc Hordes is a 22 page d20 pdf product and one of two new products in the Layonara Core: Hordes series of products, the other product being Goblin Hordes. This product develops Layonara orcs for the Layonara campaign setting, although the statistics are naturally applicable through all d20 fantasy gaming environments. This product details a variety of different orcs from four different tribes, and provides detailed statistics and useful gaming cards for each orc presented in the product. This pdf is suitable for use with the revised d20 core rules.
The product comes as a single pdf file that contains all the gaming statistics and handout cards for the various orcs presented in the product. There is an extensive table of contents to aid in navigation, but no bookmarks are included. Some of the artwork in this product is superb, particularly the various pieces depicting orc armor and some of the other orcish art. The detail is quite magnificent on most of these. Artwork is generally quite abundant, with there being almost a piece or more per page. The writing and editing is fair, although the mechanics suffers in a few places with some errors (for one, the stat blocks don't follow standard 3.5e nomenclature). For the most part, though, this is a well-presented product and the game material can quickly be used without concern for the odd errors.
By its nature this product is an accessory containing stat blocks for a variety of different orcs with various classes and weaponry. It's not a NPC product since each orc doesn't contain its own personality or history, but rather a useful utility product containing statistics for 16 different orcs, 4 from each of the four tribes presented in this product. The product also contains a brief overview and description of orcs (Layonara specific), and brief descriptions of the four tribes that the orcs are derived from. Following this, the various orcs are presented with brief descriptions on the role of each orc and a physical description of the orc in question. The orc tribes include the insane Rabid Wolf orcs, the stealthy and mercenary Black Hand orcs, the battle-worshipping Fiery Tusk clan, and the ravaging Slayer clan of orcs.
Each orc comes with a complete statistics blocks, and although it uses the revised core rules, the format of the statistic block is non-standard. The descriptive text and brief background gives some useful information on the role and utility of each orc. There's quite a variety of different orcs to choose from, although naturally with only 16 orcs, one cannot cover all the bases. Orcs include warriors, sorcerers, fighters, ranger/rogue multiclasses, and barbarians. The roles chosen for the various orcs are also quite varied and interesting, and helps one to place them more easily within a specific region of a campaign world.
Following the orc descriptions and stat blocks, some information is provided on treasure drops for defeating these orcs, and lastly there are several pages of statistics cards for each of the orcs in the product. These are very well done and look quite professional, and will make a useful gaming aid at the table. Four cards are printed on a page, meaning that with only four pages you can have all the orcs in this product at your fingertips.
Orc Hordes is generally a useful product. It's very well done in certain areas, particularly the artwork, but in others it certainly could use a little more polish, such as using a more standard stat block format. This kind of product will always be useful, as the standard orc is staple fare in most campaign worlds. Unfortunately it's very hard to capture an enormous variety, so many DMs might find themselves using only the occasional orc from this product. Despite the fact that each orc presented is given a more unique flavor, one cannot help but feel that a little more variety would've made this product better. The printable statistics cards are extremely useful as a gaming aid and a welcome addition. Overall, this is a decent product with some useful material and gaming aids and probably something most gamers can get some good use from.<br><br>
<b>LIKED</b>: Fantastic artwork and some really well-done statistics cards for printing. Each orc is slightly more than a statistics block in that it is given a description and some brief text on its role and function.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The lack of polish in the statistics blocks, both in the errors contained and the non-standard format. The stat blocks also contain large amounts of superfluous information which bloats them. Given that this product is about stat blocks and using them as gaming aids, this was somewhat disappointing.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>
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