For me, it really depends on the game. If it's a lighthearted S&S swashbuckling romp, then the bad guy is just plain evil. If it's anything more nuanced than that, then I like my bad guys to have reasons for doing what they do, although - like the Pundit - that doesn't excuse them. The closest my villains get to "sympathetic" is when they're confused individuals who are applying disproportional responses to genuine problems. ("My parents were killed by soldiers from Dodgy Kingdom X... therefore every man, woman and child from X must suffer!")

Everyone who is in #2, has a backstory (#1) to explain why they are that way. Sure you can be Evil and still be a functional "normal" member of society. It is when they decide to "risk themselves" and be all they want to be, that they become villians.

Most Evil Villians don't consider themselves Evil, they just think that the rules don't apply to them, or that they deserve this.  The Selfishness applies.

Now my Deamons are Evil of Evil's sake. He is their boss.  They eat/ gain energy due to discord/ negative emotions/ evil energies generated by the actions of "souls".  How they do it and their motivation for liking their "evil" this way or that, requires some degree of backstory.  (I was there and caused the first murder in a jazz club. I liked the flavor. Now I haunt the clubs, looking for that smokey flavor of dispair with a tinge of magical music.)  It does not have to a lot, but it changes a mechanical challange to something interesting (and gives you a wedge to trick the demon).

Now your Orcs, they are following X-leader (who has personal goals who are important), they are just trying to make a name for themselves (thus will do things normal maurading orcs might not do), looking for food and anything they can easily get (so they get something and run), or ... well you see how this works.  Each motivation changes the "tactics" of your fodder monster.

Sometimes, you might even see the dynamics of the fodder monster group.  One guy tries to run, the guy in back whacks him on the head and he keeps on fighting. (Thus the PCs target the guy in back and sure enough that one orc runs immediately and others soon follow).

Nobody said the story had to be long and involved, but it should be there.

Quote from: MoonHunterNobody said the story had to be long and involved...

Or that you have to delve deeply into that story.

Quote...but it should be there.

While in my own games I absolutely agree with you, I've seen people make do and have fun. Personally I always have something. But I can see the appeal of not having too much.