So, what is the setting about ?

I obviously can't get down a few years worth of background musings in one concise post, so I'll try focus on the main ideas. I was going to explain all of my reasoning first, then present the concept - but I think it will be more fun to read the other way around.

I can already see that a small post will not really get across what I'm trying to do here, but it has to start somewhere. I will explain what I am trying to do in later posts, and why I have chose certain options. I'll obviously expand on ideas presented here as things further unfold.

The players are Orcs and other Goblinoid races. Members of tribes that
despite their ongoing feuds and wars have driven back the previously dominant
dwarves and humans into a few sparsely populated strongholds that await their
inevitable demise.

As the last resistance of these strongholds is wiped out, the future
challenges of the conquering horde are starting to emerge. The equipment, wealth
and magic being recovered from the strongholds is changing the power balance
between individuals and tribes, and in fact changing what it means to be an Orc
or Goblinoid.

Unrestrained by the social norms of typical realms, the players must make
their way through a land rife with violence and superstition - to find their
place either as the leaders or casualties of the new age.

Some of the reasoning behind the idea

I decided that if I focus obsessively on trying to make this setting original and distinct its not going to get me where I need to be. Where I need to be is running a game that is distinctive and fun. Distinctive in that it doesn't play out the way so many other RPGs do, and fun in that the players have a lot of room to decide how to play there characters.

D&D is often a fun game, it isn't always the best game - but there is something about it that so many of us remember from when we started playing it. My biggest disappointment in D&D games has resulted from having our choices in the game limited - maybe someone has a paladin, maybe we have to server the king, maybe the plot progression has no detours.

This kind of gives you an idea of what I'm trying to do. The players don't have to run around killing everything in sight (although I imagine they will do a fair bit of this just the same), but every time they are presented with a choice they will have so many more options. If they do end up doing "the right thing" it will be because they wanted to not because they had to. They will hopefully end up doing things for a variety of reasons, and the consequences that result should be more interesting, because the characters got to make decisions for reasons that made sense to them.