Wavinator I have to disagree with your statement of the quest for total consistency. That is exactly what think needs to be avoided. Having a universal type cast for monsters is exactly what I would like to see not happen in games. I would like to see developers coming up with reasons for having there mosters be the way they are. Not just say oh monsters are evil and horde treasure and that is the norm so I''ll just adopt this same fashion. I feel that CRPG''s have reached a stagnant stage where developers are too concerned with cranking out games to make money and not taking the time to spend developing a game worth playing.
But I do agree that if you have a reason for the characters to kill the orcs, ie they are looting towns and killing towns folk, then it give the characters a direction in which to go. A purpose for adventure.
If you want your monsters to not horde treasure then come up with a reason that they shouldn''t. If they do then come up with a reason why they should. Tolkien was the master of this. I remeber reading the Hobbit and knowing the trolls where evil in the land of middle earth by what they did and said. For one they where going to eat the hobbits. Why did smog horde treasure? Mainly for prestige. To show what a great dragon he was besides from the fact that dragons sleep on beds of gold. But this was the world of middle earth. Which is not necessarily the rules of my fantasy or sci-fi world.
Try not to blow my statement out of context. All I am is saying is come up with a reason for why your monsters act the way they do and why if at all they would retain the possesions of the people they have killed along the way. Don''t do the preverbiale cop-out and say a monster is evil cause it is a monster.
And I agree with Paul. Leave a sense of mystery to the game. Don''t just plaster a label on a monster or character and put a big arrow above it''s head saying kill me I''m evil. Let the players decide who or what should be considered good and bad based upon the role they have chosen.