>>96369328
I consider tropes and why they are useful. I'm not against "ancient civilization that justifies dungeons", have more than one, but they must make sense within the setting.

For example, did orcs as Frazettamen by starting from the gameplay template of "low level enemy that might be common everywhere", adding details and spices to it. The end result wasn't what one would call "orc" otherwise.

Meanwhile, hobgoblins were used as the "barbarian green/gray/red skinned race with tusks", adding flavors such as they inventing composite bows, taming dinosaurs and rejecting civilization because their physical existence was their fey ancestors being enslaved by an Alexander-like conqueror.