why do folks hate gnomes?

[Gez]

There are two reasons I dislike gnomes so much. First, I can't help but see those tacky garden statues in my head every time they're mentioned. Second, the trickster/tinker archetype annoys the heck out of me.

My games are 100% gnome-free zones.

In French, we have nains de jardin (garden dwarf), not gnome de jardin. (And beside, nearly every garden "gnome" I've said was in semblance to one of Snowwhite's seven dwarfs).

Yet I don't associate dwarves with garden statues.

As for the silly stereotype... Yes, it's annoying. Just ignore it. I do.

And don't you find the halfling stereotype as potbellied kleptos without the slightiest trace of danger awareness annoying ? What about those tree-hugging hippy queer elves that spend their days prancing in the wood and considering themselves the pearl of creation ? Ain't it annoying ? Or the stern dirty dwarf that loves only beer and fight, and hates bathing nearly as much as he hates elves and orcs ? Ain't it annoying ?


If you're going to reject races because they are associated with boring stereotype, you're going to allow only humans -- and then again, see all the stereotypes associated with various human subgroups (be they based on sex, age, ethnie, wealth, nationality, religion, political conviction...).

 

[Argent Silvermage]

I love Gnomes! I'm bored silly by Elves and Dwarves.

 

[alsih2o]

Bah.
Nobody wants to play a short ugly sissy. I can't imagine anyone having a power fantasy like that.

some of us play for reasons besides power fantasy. and some of us don't think "sissy" when we see +2 con.

 

[Veander]

Well, if the idea here is whether the traditional gnomes are hated then I must say I am probably bored with most, or all, traditonal takes on any of the races.

However, I do love the use of gnomes in my campaign (whether homebrew or the newlyacquired Forgotten Realms campaign). In my homebrew I simply inserted this history for the gnomish population: a few hundred years ago Garl Glittergold made the mistake of attacking a Kobold "city" while a band of gnomes was there. The gnomes were there in what was to become, in there minds, a fragile truce between the warring nations. I run my kobolds like normal fireball-recipient puppies that a lot of people do, but I do have them organized enough for treaties to be signed. GArl's reason for doing this is a little more complicated than I want to explain, but in essense it created a deep hate among all gnomes of him. Stories of the slaughter carried back to the gnome nation and they began to hate the god. Their greatest warriors and leaders had been slain. Kurtulmak, the kobold god, saw this as a wonderful opportunity to stick his knife into Garl's side (so to speak), and took in the gnomes, showing them that Kurtulmak himself woudl make for a wonderful deity.

So the bottom line is after years of worship over Kurtulmak, you will now find Gnome warriors, magic users, and such leading legions of Kobold/Gnome troops. The gnomish cultures strongest characteristic is their need to pay back Garl with his ousting fromt he world's pantheon. You know? They want him dead.

That's the brief story, but it's also how one can change the race without forgetting it's normal history.

Veander

 

[Desdichado]

I like gnome's well enough. I've had a gnome sorceror character that I kinda liked. For homebrews, if I use other "standard" races, I include gnomes as well. However, lately I've been more inclined to dump elves, dwarves, halflings and gnomes altogether and try something different for a homebrew setting.

 

[incognito]

I am working on a world where gnomes stole the secret of mithiril from the Fire/War god. Nothing 'funny' about that.

They are alien, creative in a decidely effective, non-gagety way, and capable of illusions which are meant for deadly deception with glittering eyes, and a fell way about them. They speak with animals becsue they have learned the secret of language, nto becasue they are touchy-feely foresty

The elves of this world are more feral, more fey-like. They shun metal, working instead with darkwood (which they call witch wood)

The dwarves are literally of the earth (outsiders). They horde Adamantine.

Halflings I have made with Asian flavor, and a seafaring race (darkened thier hair, and made their skin tone decidedly asian).

How's that for gnome flavor?

 

[Ace]

people act as if dwarves and halfings have existed for centuries and gnomes were invented as a merchandising ploy for a stars wars prequel. what is up?

con bonuses, a strong sense of a seperate community, skill bonuses, illusion resistance, cantrips. they seem like a munchkins dream, and a "character players" dream as well.

despite what seems to me to be a wealth of story building opportunities they ahve to be the single most banned race.

to heck with "i just hate them" why? did a lot of gamers get scare by gnomes as little kids?

(edit: mind you, i am not strict gnomophile, but i don't understand all the hatred)

Gnomes just don't fit IMC.

I suspect they are either modeled on Hugi, the iconic Gnome in Poul Andersons Three Hearts and Three Lions (which gave us the D&D Troll and influenced the Paladin)

I just don't see the need for a trickster race as PC's and Gnomes fill no niche IMC that can't be better done with Dwarven Subraces

I don't hate Gnomes, I just have any IMC

 

[Voneth]

For those who like the mechanically-inclined gnomes but hate the tinker gnome, you can easily have gnomes be the inventors of: hand and repeating crossbows, alchemist's fire, tindertwig, antitoxin, tanglefoot bags, apparatus of kwalish.

Funny enough, that's what I did assume. Then again, I found the Alchemy/Craft rules for making such items to be clunky and too strict to really focus a character on just be an inventor. It's like they added gnomes to make Dragonlance fans happy and then pulled back on the rules to make the "I HATE Tinker Gnomes" crowd happy. (Remember when 3e was being made, they still hadn't settled on which settings ones were going on the shelf.)

On the other hand, Pinnicle has some great steampunk invention rules that go overboard as far as most d20 fantasy games are concerned.

And why does "fantasy tech" have to be an eyesore? Remember the Dark Crystal? That HUGE and yet beautiful contraption that represented the model of the orbit of the stars? How come few people envision that sort of thing for fantasy tech?

 

[Caliban]

people act as if dwarves and halfings have existed for centuries and gnomes were invented as a merchandising ploy for a stars wars prequel. what is up?

Small hands, big noses, and they smell like cabbage.

That, and I will never forgive Dragonlance for Tinker Gnomes.

 

[Tonguez]

Good point. Dwarves, elves, and halflings appear in Lord of the Rings. Gnomes appear... in that stupid illustrated Gnomes book from the, what, 1980's?

The entirety of Terry Pratchetts "Bromeliad Trilogy' (Truckers, Diggers and Wings) is about a society of Nomes survivng in the modern world and imho offers an excellent treatment of the little guys. Then of course there is the exceedingly Gnomish Smurfs

Unfortunately the DnD Gnome is not the 'classic gnome' (even that Illustrated book of gnomes says that gnomes are 15 inches high - ie Tiny in DnD terms and imc thats exactly what they are Tiny fey-like creatures who see the world through different eyes to the Big races.

Gnomes rock