Comments on: Fie on gnomes https://incrediblevehicle.com/2009/02/09/fie-on-gnomes/ (It's a blog.) Thu, 26 Apr 2012 05:20:05 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: fergusonfinn https://incrediblevehicle.com/2009/02/09/fie-on-gnomes/comment-page-1/#comment-105 fergusonfinn Wed, 11 Feb 2009 02:08:24 +0000 http://trahari.wordpress.com/?p=458#comment-105 "Wha? Don't like Gnomes?! Some of my best friends are Gnomes!" Actually I understand, often times Gnomes don't get the deeper RP play they deserve---a shared fault of the setting and players who stay with the stereotypes, which is a letdown for <i>any</i> race. And I'd agree with "anonynos"---the Gnomes of both Pathfinder and Eberron are MUCH more compelling than their standard-issue, vanilla brethren. In fact Eberron Halflings are far cooler than LotR too (sorry boys). “Wha? Don’t like Gnomes?! Some of my best friends are Gnomes!”

Actually I understand, often times Gnomes don’t get the deeper RP play they deserve—a shared fault of the setting and players who stay with the stereotypes, which is a letdown for any race. And I’d agree with “anonynos”—the Gnomes of both Pathfinder and Eberron are MUCH more compelling than their standard-issue, vanilla brethren. In fact Eberron Halflings are far cooler than LotR too (sorry boys).

]]> By: anonynos https://incrediblevehicle.com/2009/02/09/fie-on-gnomes/comment-page-1/#comment-104 anonynos Tue, 10 Feb 2009 01:12:50 +0000 http://trahari.wordpress.com/?p=458#comment-104 No real comment on the stuff in your post but... for a take on gnome that isn't quite so.... "gnomey"... take a look at Pathfinder. Their gnomes are interesting. IMO at least. (Basically they are refuges from the fae realm who are more or less exiles in the material plane and require new experiences to not fade away into a sort of melancholy fugue state...) No real comment on the stuff in your post but… for a take on gnome that isn’t quite so…. “gnomey”… take a look at Pathfinder. Their gnomes are interesting. IMO at least. (Basically they are refuges from the fae realm who are more or less exiles in the material plane and require new experiences to not fade away into a sort of melancholy fugue state…)

]]> By: joshuamacy https://incrediblevehicle.com/2009/02/09/fie-on-gnomes/comment-page-1/#comment-103 joshuamacy Mon, 09 Feb 2009 14:47:02 +0000 http://trahari.wordpress.com/?p=458#comment-103 Maybe it's because I haven't played that much 3e D&D, or read any published D&D fiction whatsoever, but I don't have a very strong image of a stereotypical Gnome. My default is probably either something like Wee Mad Arthur from Discworld, or maybe a be-goggled oil-streaked tinkerer as in World of Warcraft (which I tried for a couple of weeks)... At any rate, I think it's probably easier to override people's default assumptions about what Gnomes are like for your particular setting than it is to change, say, what Dwarves are about. I've tried giving Dwarves different cultures, or even eliminating them entirely and it never takes. Players just take the race that's physically closest to a Dwarf and play it as a Dwarf...it may be a black-skinned, clean-shaven, three-foot high Dwarf, but by the Maker it can quaff ale and smash with its warhammer like the best of them! I've given up, and just let them have their Dwarves. Maybe it’s because I haven’t played that much 3e D&D, or read any published D&D fiction whatsoever, but I don’t have a very strong image of a stereotypical Gnome. My default is probably either something like Wee Mad Arthur from Discworld, or maybe a be-goggled oil-streaked tinkerer as in World of Warcraft (which I tried for a couple of weeks)…

At any rate, I think it’s probably easier to override people’s default assumptions about what Gnomes are like for your particular setting than it is to change, say, what Dwarves are about. I’ve tried giving Dwarves different cultures, or even eliminating them entirely and it never takes. Players just take the race that’s physically closest to a Dwarf and play it as a Dwarf…it may be a black-skinned, clean-shaven, three-foot high Dwarf, but by the Maker it can quaff ale and smash with its warhammer like the best of them! I’ve given up, and just let them have their Dwarves.

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