Where does the Gnomish Tinker stereo/archetype come from?

[Unseelie]

It seems to be mostly a FR thing, but I'm curious if the archetype of the mad Gnomish inventor/tinker and their odd constructs and contraptions comes from somewhere in particular?

In addition, have any D20 books dealt with this, perhaps providing crunchy bits on the idea?

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Home Depot? Lowes?

... just kidding ...


It comes from the Weiss & Hickman Dragonlance novels.

 

[Unseelie]

Home Depot? Lowes?

... just kidding ...


It comes from the Weiss & Hickman Dragonlance novels.

Ah, okay. So one might assume that perhaps the Dragonlance Campaign Book might have some crunchy bits about this. Does anyone know if this is the case?

 

[Wombat]

Shoemaking elves

 

[Dark Jezter]

The concept of tinkering gnomes originated with Dragonlance.

The concept of an angry dwarf originated with Al Pachino.

Any questions?

 

[Faraer]

It certainly came from Dragonlance, and then leached like an illness into other worlds.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

It certainly came from Dragonlance, and then leached like an illness into other worlds.

Actually, I like it. I'm typically a gnome-basher, but tinker gnomes seemed to give gnome a niche which I think they often lack in standard fantasy worlds. Of course Weiss/Hickman used them soley for comic relief, which I think was short-sighted. But then again, they're the big name writers and I'm a goober on the internet.

To answer the follow-up question: I don't know if they are in the 3e Dragonlance Campaign Setting or not, but I would certainly assume so.

 

[Liolel]

The gnome tinker orignated in dragonlance, as tinker gnomes. They later got into the second edition monster manual as a subspecies which is where I first saw the idea. To create such a character look at the gnomish artificer class in the magic of fauren (even though the class is almost completly no magical.)

 

[der_kluge]

Check out www.mysticeyegames.com in the free downloads section for Bluffside. There is an enhancement which covers a tinkering skill which any class can take.

My first 3e character was a gnome cleric with maxed out ranks in tinker. He was a blast.

 

[Wolffenjugend]

The 3.5 Dragonlance Campaign Setting does indeed have background and specific info on tinker gnomes. There are no particular rules, however, re: the specifics of "tinkering."