Orconomics: A Satire (The Dark Profit Saga Book 1)

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Gleebek, a Goblin and Gorm's (quite terrible) squire. Only speaks Shadowtongue, which no one else in the party understands. His real name is eventually revealed to be Tib'rin of the River Turtle Clan. To be fair, he constantly tries to correct Gorm on his name ("Gleebek" is Shadowtongue for "hello"), but Gorm doesn't speak Shadowtongue, and Tib'rin doesn't speak Imperial. Companies in each industrial sector generate income or losses, and grant abilities to players - in combination with the cards they have in hand - they can use to manipulate the economy of the Orc society. For example, as a leader of the Totemology industry you will be able to send a Crisis onto your opponents' companies; or you can use your control of Banks to make your opponents go bankrupt defaulting on their loans... Alternative Calendar: The world of Arth goes by a different (although similar) calendar than we do. A year on Arth is not a perfect 361 days. It consists of twelve months of 30 days each plus Mordo Ogg's day - first day of winter (or summer in the South). All months are officially named after gods, but most people use common names, typically associated with farming (for example, the eighth month is formally called Maeneth, while its common name is Harvestgild). Every three or four years, Agekeepers declare a Dark Year (sort of like our leap year), which extends Mordo Ogg to a whole week (weeks are still seven days) to correct the calendar. Additionally, the history of Arth is divided into Ages. They're marked by significant events rather than length. Orconomics is set in year 373 of the seventh age, called the Age of Heroes. A year is typically written as [age].[year] (e.g. 7.373). For more details, visit here . Orconomics (Second Edition) is a light economic game in which players act as Orcs trying to start a business in one of 11 different industries (which include Transportation, Tourism, Banking, Communication, and Food Processing). Players attempt to conquer their opponents by being the first to collect 11 points (in a 4-5 player game) or 12 points (in a 2-3 player game), through a combination of starting businesses, completing quests, and clever and ruthless cardplay.

The Atoner: Duine Poldo becomes a philanthropist after leaving Goldson Baggs and starting his own investment firm Silver Guard Securities. It starts with letting Wood Gnomes live in his office, even though most consider them pests and typically call for an exterminator. Then he invites a Gnoll widow and her three cubs to live with him (he remembers her late husband from Goldson Baggs) and she becomes his invaluable assistant, while the Wood Gnomes also prove extremely useful. Eventually, he starts making plenty of money and buys up a number of apartment buildings, where the Gnoll widow settles those displaced by the recent events, who would otherwise have nowhere to turn to. Why is he The Atoner then? Because Duine realizes that many of them are in this position partly because of his actions at Goldson Baggs. Finally you can play any number of cards from your hand. In Orconomics, cards serve two purposes: each card matches one of the industries on the board, and also has a special ability (matching that industry). Casanova Wannabe: Heraldin goes after pretty much anything female. His attempt at getting into Kaitha's pants results a few broken fingers, when he doesn't get the hint and release her hand. He's smart enough to avoid trying anything with Laruna, though... again, after losing his eyebrows the first time. Insistent Terminology: Heraldin is very insistent on not using the term "thief" for his former profession, lest one Benny Hookhand find out.

In the second book, that role goes to a Kobold named Burt, who appears in the first book a few times. Unlike Gleebek, Burt is fluent in both Imperial and Shadowtongue and has connections everywhere, frequently through other Kobolds.

Orconomics blends the best traits of Pratchett’s and Eames’ work, seizing the reader with bursts of humour, holding them with a well-woven story, and yet transitioning somehow along the way into a serious quest tale. During a conversation between Kaitha and Gorm about the dangers of heroes doing stupid things for glory, Gorm recalls a story about a well-known and highly-skilled group of heroes that were killed to a man when an inexperienced member of the crew charged into a drake roost and angered all the Acid Drakes inside. Magic Compass: In the second book, Gorm gets a gazer from an assassin. A gazer is a mechanical construct animated by various sprites, including search sprites. The directions given by the gazer sound almost exactly like those of a GPS navigator: "make a U-turn", "take the next available left". It's also prone to the same problems as a GPS, such as claiming that their destination is located in the middle of a lake. Self-Harm: Salve-heads are Arth's equivalent to drug addicts, except they're addicted to healing salves. They deliberately cut themselves (usually on their arms) and then apply a salve to get their fix. Many former heroes get addicted and end up losing everything, wasting away on the streets, cutting themselves in the hopes that a passerby gives them a salve. Many bleed to death instead.The key quest – recovery of the oft-stolen Elven Marbles – must surely be a nod to the disputed Elgin Marbles. The Chosen One: The followers of Al'Matra believe The Prophecy of the Seventh Hero, who is destined to complete a great quest for the glory of Al'Matra. There have been multiple candidates in the past, but all of them have either died or spent their lives waiting for their quest to start. Now, Niln believes himself to be the Seventh Hero, except he has zero combat skills and no adventuring experience. Cavalry of the Dead: In the second book, necromancer-turned-liche Detarr Ur'Mayan raises an army of various kinds of undead and starts moving through Ruskan and the Freedlands, destroying towns and cities, while the dead join their ranks. By the time the army is on approach to Andarun, it's a veritable horde. Even worse, a sizable percentage of town and city defenders are convinced to defect via the use of clever marketing and advertising by the undead. See here for the artwork ◊. After Detarr's defeat, all the remaining undead now follow Detarr's second-in-command - Knight-Commander Tyren Ur'Thos. Tyren resolves to lead the undead out of the city and into a distant marsh, where his ancestral home is located. Gorm used to be a well-known adventurer, known for slaying many dangerous F.O.E.'s. Then he ran from a dungeon, being the first Berserker in history to run from a fight. Since then, he's been running from the Heroes' Guild's justice, robbing adventurers for money, and drowning his sorrows in a bottle with said money. The Al'Matran quest represents his one chance to wipe the slate clean and become an adventurer again. Dream Weaver: Noros was the Gnomish god of dreams. He was convinced by Mannon to join him by promising him unrestricted freedom to create anything he can imagine, no matter how twisted. Noros became known as the Nightmare King and was responsible for some of the worst monsters of the War of Betrayal, including the creation of the monster races. The Agekeepers are still arguing on whether it was Noros who corrupted the Lightlings loyal to Mannon into the Shadowkin or Mannon himself.