I mean something that takes the Tolkienesque formula and just does away with any subtlety whatsoever. Make it explicitly about defending the free and enlightened West from the forces of darkness and evil. The realms of Men are being invaded and it's up to you, the player, to stop the evil hordes:
-
Orcs, the usual savage and twisted humanoids, ugly, foul-smelling beasts who know only destruction and violence. They rape, they murder, they set villages on fire, they care nothing for art or life or beauty. They have war chants that just sound like ooga-booga jungle-mumble gibberish that incite them to further orgies of violence. And in their off time they drink, do drugs, or play a violent "ball" game that mostly consists of running around with a captive's severed head.
-
Goblins, cowardly and dimwitted little shits with a thoroughly unfounded arrogance despite even the other monster races viewing them as repulsive. Weak one on one they can still be a threat in mobs, and more often rely on backstabbing and subterfuge. Filthy creatures who live in squalor and shit in the streets. They openly worship Demons (more on those later) and perform numbers of horrible rituals in their name. Some of them have infiltrated Human society by pretending to be clever but really they're just shameless in their dishonesty, lying and backstabbing.
-
The Swarm. Also called "Bugmen," these hexapodal mantis-creatures are also individually weak but rely on numbers. They inhabit the ruins of a once-great civilization and operate by strict conformity, taking their orders from a Hive Queen. While unable to create anything on their own, they can make crude mockeries of the works of Men: however due to shoddy materials and workmanship these things fall apart quickly. While not as quick to violence as Orcs, they do show a particular sadism and cruelty, loving to torture captives just seemingly for the sake of causing pain. Also, they eat dogs alive.
-
Vampire Necromancers, one of the most dangerous factions, simply due to their influence. Some say they stole the bloodlines of noble Men to sustain their existence. They prefer to hide in the shadows and subtly manipulate events, however drawing them out and exposing what they are seems to be their weakness. Several times in the history of Men there were great leaders who almost eliminated them completely, but they always seem to come back with a vengeance. Average Men are helpless against their hypnotic powers, their shapeshifting abilities and their subtle machinations, relying on their controlled thralls in the banking and mercantile guilds, and every town crier seems to be a pawn of theirs as well.
-
Fallen Men who were once noble defenders of the West or descended from same, seduced by promises of power, glory, and earthly pleasures. Some have even joined their bloodlines with the Vampires in an act of unforgivable heresy. They are just as dangerous for they already inhabit the West, sometimes in positions of power, and have all the intellect and fighting spirit of Men but seek the destruction of our homelands instead of their survival.
-
And finally the Demons - little to be known about them except the perverse icons that the Orcs and Goblins worship in effigy, they represent the vices of lust, greed, wrath, and every other failing that taints the hearts of impure Men. It's not known if they take mortal form, much less if they can be vanquished in such, but they have other ways of harming you - damaging your Sanity meter, filling you with Fear or Despair effects, or sending succubi to seduce you with false illusions as your life force slowly withers away while you chase phantasms.
There could potentially be others as well. Such as the Half Orcs from the South who have some human characteristics but otherwise behave just as brutish and violent as their kin, with equally horrible music (and stench) and large families that invade in masses. Or a tribe of Goblins that supposedly left Gobbustan centuries ago, dabbled in demon worship to learn fortunetelling and other dark arts, and now infest some of Men's cities running scams and crime outfits (rumor has it they kidnap human infants to raise as their own and even interbreed with same, producing a truly abominable hybrid...)
On the good side you have Men, High Men who were and are the centers of culture, art and civilization, but have grown soft and decadent due to their success. South and East of their kingdoms settle the Common Men, some who once had impressive domains but now mostly get by as peasantry with only faint remnants of their past glories - but dealing with the monstrous races has made them a little hardier and more resilient than their more cultured brethren. Finally, the Elves, the order of tall, unearthly beautiful golden-haired and bright-eyed guardians sent by the Old Gods to watch over Man and be our guides and protectors, though it's an uneasy alliance at best, and they come and go on their own inscrutable whims.
(Remember, it's all fantasy. Any resemblance to any real world culture or nationality is purely coincidental.) 😉
The people-pleasing is just a survival strategy. They'll fake deference to anyone "above" them by bowing, scraping and using honorifics but the moment they outnumber you or have any kind of power they show a sadism that rivals the Orcs or the Bugmen.
Their merchant network spans between many countries, ans they have secretly indebted many nobles to do their bidding. Also, they are all gay. Super gross and gay. And they wear stupid tiny goblin hats that look like stupid donuts.
I thought about separating them into high (coin clippers) and low (street shitters) castes but it's fairly pointless, they're all the same gross creature.
Somehow the vampires are so much like the goblins even though they superficially resemble Men (except they usually have these big ugly goblin noses for whatever reason).
So goblins are the run of the mill useful idiots the vampires use for their machinations.
Also you forgot kobolds. Hairy brown ratlike beings that breed nonstop and devour everything. They are stupid and dirty but unlike the orcs they try to mimic society and claim to be doing it well. Like a child playing at swords. Those are your streets hitters
Maybe, I kinda think the Bugmen fit that role. As for the slaves of the vampires, a lot of Fallen Men were depressingly easy to turn to evil. Archduke Randolph Halder of Steelcrest tried to warn us but he and his Order of the Shield were overwhelmed in a combined assault from the monstrous races while Fallen Men betrayed the Western Kingdoms from within. And now even today we're told to accept monsters living among us, acting totally unlike us, because supposedly Lord Halder burned six million goblins alive including women and children (no bodies were ever found, pyres that big would be impossible to construct, and those bodies would have to still be burning to hit a number that large)