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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Faraer" data-source="post: 3916031" data-attributes="member: 6318">I think Gary's original gnome concept is strong. Some of the reasons it wasn't taken to heart as much as elves, dwarves and halflings are that it didn't have their recognizable base in Tolkien, northern myth, folklore and Shakespeare; it wasn't dwelt on by Gary (except a nice section of S4) or other TSR designers; Jeff Grubb's tinker gnomes and succeeding high-concept novelties further complicated/diffused/distracted from their original identity; and of course our society's admiration of the tall, youthful and mostly hairless.I also like the gnomes -- the Forgotten Folk -- of the Realms, and again, they never got the attention that imbedded elves and dwarves in people's loyalties. Chicken and egg. Then, gnomes being a non-core race matches their secrecy in the Realms rather well.I think if Wizards made a little of their market research public we would trust their decisions more. I wonder what questions established the greater popularity of theoretical dragon people, or eladrins which most players (unless the fraction who buy supplements has multiplied since the 90s) probably haven't heard of.I've DMed two gnome PCs -- one good, the other a 'look, I'm different' attention grab -- and made decent use of them as NPCs.</blockquote>