The importance of the Short Stuff

[Glade Riven]

Oh, I've found my direction with elves (here's a hint), including a different take on drow (not so much evil as amoral opportunistic survivalist mongolian inuit ninjas). Dwarves I'm rethinking because the response is going to be "too much like Skyrim (nordic/imperial, not dwemer)" - similar source material, similar results, so I'm looking at switching them from roman/norse hybrid culture to roman/slavic.

Bottom of the food chain and the kids perspective is helpful.

Halflings are formerly elves, but were changed to halflings centuries back by Deus Ex (continental wild magic storm castastrophy, in this case) and probably ride giant lizards in their desert sorta-persian empire. Gnomes are the new Kender, but not so much because of kleptomania as they have trouble understanding the concept of ownership - but they're currently shunted off to the Feylands (also known as the elfy elf lands or Alfari Imperium) for right now. Dromites were going to take over the role that halflings often are in for D&D, but..well, they're dromites.

C'me on, Transbot, you can make the underground criminal bug empire work right alongside the "surface world" somehow (no, there is no underdark, but bug people love their tunnels)

 

[Yora]

In my homebrew setting, gnomes are the only small race in a rather tough world. This results in them having to use every dirty trick that is out there to survive. Gnome warriors have no concept of honor in battle, for them everything is fair game.
They also get into direct confrontations when its by their own terms. If they can't ambush their enemy, they will always retreat or if neccessary surrender, but they will not fight unless they have a clear advantage or if there is no other way to stay alive. They can always come back later to finish the job. Since they are small, many people asume they are weak and easily scared, so they don't get chased often when they retreat or appear to accept defeat.

This behavior also applies to business and politics. Gnomes will say yes to everything to make their opponent not regard them as a threat and put them into false confidence. And a few days later they turn around and have no intention of keeping their promises.

 

[howandwhy99]

Giants and halflings have to do with the novelty of the normal, yet absurdly large or miniature. They are similar to humans, so could have differing cultures and constructions, but it's the size of their created world that is unique.

(Here you could be afraid of a housecat or careless of an owlbear)

Exploring how humans might interact with either can give you insight on how the giants and halflings might interact in larger of smaller worlds themselves.

 

[TarionzCousin]

Short [-]Stuff[/-] Round was critically important to saving Indiana Jones in The Temple of Doom.

This might have been a funny joke if this character's name was really "Short Stuff."

 

[Wik]

Lesse. In my last "Standard" D&D campaign...

* Halflings were gypsies. They sailed on normal-sized catamarans, but because of their smaller size, they could carry more cargo. Their ships also turned into wagons. They were traders, entertainers, and criminals. A fun cultural element was that they believed hte meaning of their name was more important than the sound of it, so they would translate it into whatever language they were speaking. They were always named after animals or plants - "badger", "duck", "seahorse", whatever.

* Gnomes were dwarves who had been trapped in the feywild for a long period of time, and had been changed by the magical energies. They didn't really appear much in the game.

* Kobolds were opportunists, and lived in underground clans. In my campaign, they were mostly street cleaners and city scavengers. Their culture was based on bragging about what you could steal, and how close you could get to death without getting hurt.