...made you look!
Ok, in the unlikely event that any of my players are reading this, please stop now.
I just started running Runelords, and two of the characters in my group are gnomes from Whistledown. In fact they are brothers, Twiddlemitt Jumberdolt Roselduggin and Nimbledorf Blumpkin Roselduggin. The Roselduggins, like many gnomish familes, have a strong tradition of fey influenced sorcery, and Twiddlemitt is no exception. Unfortunately, his younger brother Nimbledorf was born without the spark and had to turn to the study of wizardry (shudder) to master the arcane. The two brothers have an ongoing rivalry on which form of arcane power is better.
Even though in general I plan on sticking fairly close to the AP as written, given the interesting interlocking background of these two characters, I was thinking that a short side-trek highlighting gnomish culture might be an interesting diversion at some point in the campaign, most likely
I don't want to waste a lot of time on this tangent, but I am thinking that one or two sessions along these lines would be a fun way to reward this unusual character backgrounds.
any thoughts?
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I wish my search-fu was better, but I recall a thread where someone (possibly Mike McArtor) laid out some cool gnomish traits and religion. Hints of big people-eating/sacrifice, fey pacts, blue woad, crazy festivals and burning wicker effigies. I think it was in response to some 4th ed / 3rd ed related argument about gnomes not being cool and him saying 'we can make gnomes cool in golarion'.
I'll try to look for it again, maybe someone else will remember the specifics.
There is this thread started by tbug
http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/paizoPublishing/pathfinder/adventurePa th/runelords/archives/gnomesOfWhistledown
I like the guy who is trying to train mosquitoes.
I had a lot of fun with the gnomes in Whistledown. I also added the legend of Glorgaberdinald Ziffenbubble, a first-level gnome sorcerer who became a worm that walks and lives in the nearby swamp. (He is technically only a CR 4 creature but could easily wipe out an incautious party of level six or seven characters, so handle with care. Not all of the templates in the SRD are completely balanced.)
I had a lot of fun with the gnomes in Whistledown. I also added the legend of Glorgaberdinald Ziffenbubble, a first-level gnome sorcerer who became a worm that walks and lives in the nearby swamp. (He is technically only a CR 4 creature but could easily wipe out an incautious party of level six or seven characters, so handle with care. Not all of the templates in the SRD are completely balanced.)
but that was not the thread with the female gnome stick expert,
does anyone remember the female gnome stick expert ?It was hilarious
but that was not the thread with the female gnome stick expert,
does anyone remember the female gnome stick expert ?
Isn't that Lini the iconic?
Isn't that Lini the iconic?but that was not the thread with the female gnome stick expert,
does anyone remember the female gnome stick expert ?
Somone wrote in some thread about his wifes PC, she colected sticks for various uses.
Something like 2feet oak sticks for pokeing dead orcs and 3feet heavy yew sticks for knocking at doorsBut more funny than that.
-- Pokey sticks (Warforged Goblin)
-- weird wickerman gnomes
I thought it was McArtor, but it turns out he just wanted to talk about anime and pigtails :)
Hi Hi
that was it. Thank you Robert.Warforged Goblin wrote:
So, our gnome jester found a random pointed stick in the burnt servant quarters of Foxglove Manor which she claimed as her own. She has since used her Pokin' Stick to add holes to the taxidermed manticore, contemplate using it to slit her throat in the manor bedroom, check for the dead-ness of things various things, and most recently to tap Biggun's funnel web in the Graul barn. She has decided that her latent area of expertise is indeed Stickery. Specifically Pokin' Stickery. She can tell you the finest stick with which to poke something, anything at all.
Looking to poke a 3 day old dead marsh badger? Well you should use a 15 and 3/4 inch long branch of sun-dried mosspine from the northern end of the Sanos Forest. Looking to poke something attacking you? Use a sword! What are you, new?
Those threads are pretty cool, and I had seen them before, but what I was looking for was more along the lines of plot ideas for short sidetrek, more along the lines of what tbug suggested.
My party had a stop-over in Whistledown (they were actually kicked off the boat, due to various shenanigans), where I introduced "Menu", an inn and eatery that the gnomes of Whistledown only went to for very special occasions. It was run by a bizarre fey creature, a boar twisted into the shape of a man, who would gleefully cook, serve and eat anything and everything except for paying guests. The guest of honor that night was one of the cold riders of Irrisen, and the PCs partook in an increasingly disturbing banquet featuring courses such as unicorn flank steak served with shredded cabbage and potatoes fried in unicorn fat, or a lemon-cranberry sorbet topped with a candied elf eyeball, all the while learning of the growing corruption within the Sanos Forest and doing their best to convince the cold rider to look elsewhere for his celebratory Dark Hunt.
Yes, the cold rider and the swine-chef were shamelessly plundered from Carnival of Tears. I also had an idea that I never got to use, about why gnomes all have racial bonuses to AC against giants. That idea being the Running of the Giant festival in Whistledown, where in order to be considered an adult, one had to run a gauntlet of a dozen or so wooden animated constructs in the shape of giants.