Hobbits were added in because of LOTR and later renamed halflings (and slowly lost some of the visuals of hobbits) because TSR was sued by Tolkien's estate. Gnomes? I always assumed they were meant to represent the fey "little people" of legend.
So in my campaign gnomes originate from the feywild, and are the "good" side of the goblin ancestry that split off. They have a close association to nature and magic. A fair number are druids or warlock with fey patrons. That or they are tinker gnomes simply because I have fun making up crazy inventions as they try to out-do each other on the creativity of their inventions. In game they also tend to be sages, particularly when it comes to arcane studies (although not necessarily wizards).
Halflings? They're one of those races I'd get rid of but they've been in my campaign world forever. I don't have a problem with them, they just don't really have much going for them either. So I give them a niche of being itinerant wanderers and a people that fit into the literal cracks in society. They represent the (literal) little people that happily go around their daily lives doing odd jobs or living a pastoral life.
So in my campaign gnomes originate from the feywild, and are the "good" side of the goblin ancestry that split off. They have a close association to nature and magic. A fair number are druids or warlock with fey patrons. That or they are tinker gnomes simply because I have fun making up crazy inventions as they try to out-do each other on the creativity of their inventions. In game they also tend to be sages, particularly when it comes to arcane studies (although not necessarily wizards).
Halflings? They're one of those races I'd get rid of but they've been in my campaign world forever. I don't have a problem with them, they just don't really have much going for them either. So I give them a niche of being itinerant wanderers and a people that fit into the literal cracks in society. They represent the (literal) little people that happily go around their daily lives doing odd jobs or living a pastoral life.