D&D General Why Do People Hate Gnomes?

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Serious question, as I've seen a ton of people online that play D&D make jokes about Gnomes or say how much they hate them. More than Kender, actually.

So . . . what is it about Gnomes that makes people hate them so much? Or such easy targets for jokes online?

 

[Leatherhead]

Have you heard about what Garl Glittergold did to Kurtulmak?

 

[Tonguez]

Because even though they will vehemently deny it they are caught in the Western Tolkienic Hegemony of Elf-Human-Dwarf-Hobbit from which the only allowable variations are Furry or Monsters.

Gnomes fit an idealised liminal space of not-Tolkien, not-Monster which their minds can not comprehend.

That said even I who loves gnomes think they are easy targets for jokes…

 

[Professor Murder]

I had a bad experience.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I've never understood the dislike of Gnomes or Kender. But people have their preferences (I find Dragonborn a bit annoying for example, I know some players who get annoyed by the asymmetry of there being half elves and half orcs but no half gnomes, half halflings, half humans, and half dwarves: exceptions obviously in certain settings and supplements).

 

[TrippyHippy]

1) They aren’t Tolkien.

When D&D first introduced Gnomes - and I think it was the first RPG to do so, although I may be wrong - all the other playable races were all taken more or less directly from Tolkien. Elves, Dwarves, Halflings (Hobbits without the trademark), Half Orcs and Half Elves making Gnomes the odd one out. The Halflings already covered the diminutive character archetype, while Gnomes themselves had to emerge as an odd-one-out new archetype.

2) People who play Gnomes often play them in a very irritating way. Gnomes are pranksters, silly, squeaky and irritating. While they may be fun to play, for individuals who like these things, it doesn’t mean that others will like to play with them.

I have a long term Gnome alchemist character, based on Paracelsus the real world alchemist, called Alkacelsus. Yes, it is a case in point.

 

[niklinna]

I'd say the main problem is that gnomes in modern RPGs and popular culture are twee (affectedly quaint and cute). Halflings are small, somewhat childlike, and plucky, but they aren't working it the way gnomes are. Elves are fey, but they're full-size, grownup Tolkien/Tuatha Dé Dannan elves. Dwarves are short, but otherwise grown-up, very beardy, very serious peoples (except perhaps when drunk, or in World of Warcraft).

 

[tetrasodium]

The do nothing rube goldberg steampunk farce wotc won't drop from them. Eberron & monster hunter international gnomes are pretty awesome

 

[theCourier]

I don't like most demihumans and find them overly quirky

 

[MNblockhead]

Don't know. Gnomes are a favored D&D race for me, both as DM and player, and are just as iconic as dwarves and elves.

I've played whimsical gnome wizards to steampunk-inspired artificers. But my favorite use of gnomes in my games are mysterious, playful, with a tinge of feyworld menace. The poem "The Friend of the Children" by Robert Louis Stevenson is a perfect depiction of a gnome.

The Unseen Playmate by Robert Louis Stevenson

Read, review and discuss the The Unseen Playmate poem by Robert Louis Stevenson on Poetry.com

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