OSR [Shadowdark] How would you make a gnome?

[deganawida]

That's an alternative path: Merge halflings and gnomes. They're little people and homebodies who want to generally be left alone to enjoy their meals, smoke their pipes and live in harmony with their environment.

And that’s why they rock.

 

[darjr]

At the discord I mentioned this and posted my take. It wasn’t popular. But the idea of luck and tokens seems to have been. Either the halfling gets that instead and the gnome gets the invisibility or the gnome gets the ability to befriend animals or beasts.

 

[renbot]

At the discord I mentioned this and posted my take. It wasn’t popular. But the idea of luck and tokens seems to have been. Either the halfling gets that instead and the gnome gets the invisibility or the gnome gets the ability to befriend animals or beasts.

Yeah, I'm thinking something similar here, that gnomes get the 3 rds of invisibility and halflings get something different. Something with luck tokens works, but so would something about hiding behind a medium or larger creature which would trump the "can't hide of anyone can see you even a little bit" rule (paraphrase, don't have the book in front of me). Maybe limit it to once per day?

 

[kapars]

I think the Dverg “monster” from Zine #3 is a good take. They can turn into a small animal instead of attacking and the flavor text sounds gnomish to me. I’d say the player version lets them turn into a small animal for 5 + half their level rounds per day (rounded down).

Edit: On re-reading it literally says they are gnomes.

 

[Nightfly]

I'm debating whether polymorphing into small animals sounds gnomish or not. Maybe? It's a very good ability, in any case.

Worth noting, however, that all the basic game races have an ability that boosts them in combat, which this doesn't.

 

[kapars]

I'm debating whether polymorphing into small animals sounds gnomish or not. Maybe? It's a very good ability, in any case.

Worth noting, however, that all the basic game races have an ability that boosts them in combat, which this doesn't.

For me it is because I grew up watching a dub of David the Gnome.Though he rides a small animal and turns into something else

 

[Bill Zebub]

Shadowdark* classes and ancestries don’t have to try to replicate other games.

If something seems cool and fun, maybe that thing is what defines the class or ancestry in your world. Maybe Gnomes shoot lasers out of their eyes. (I hope not…it was just an example.)

*True for any RPG.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Shadowdark* classes and ancestries don’t have to try to replicate other games.

If something seems cool and fun, maybe that thing is what defines the class or ancestry in your world. Maybe Gnomes shoot lasers out of their eyes. (I hope not…it was just an example.)

*True for any RPG.

One of the reasons I'm looking forward to getting The Monster Overhaul this summer is for precisely that.

Do I want iron dragons who breathe out swords in my Shadowdark game? Hell yes, I do.

This doesn't have to be D&D. I've already got D&D and will continue to play it. When I play Shadowdark, I want something different, darker, more lo-fi and weirder. I want the gaming equivalent of Dungeon Synth.

 

[Autumnal]

One of the reasons I'm looking forward to getting The Monster Overhaul this summer is for precisely that.

Do I want iron dragons who breathe out swords in my Shadowdark game? Hell yes, I do.

This doesn't have to be D&D. I've already got D&D and will continue to play it. When I play Shadowdark, I want something different, darker, more lo-fi and weirder. I want the gaming equivalent of Dungeon Synth.

This is a most excellent description of how I’ve been thinking about Shadowdark. In can overlap with D&D, doing D&D-ish things in SD ways. But I’d downloaded a bunch of my old WotC and TSR PDFs with an eye to adapting them, only to end up, tossing them out in favor of new imaginings and old ones I could never make fit into D&D. (Which is of course not to say that nobody could. Just that I couldn’t.). Feels happier right now.

 

[Andrew Anderson]

How do you make a gnome?
When a gnoll and a memic love each other very much...

Also, now I have to go invent a memic, because the spell checker just told me I can't spell "mimic" today.