While thinking of rebooting my Audor campaign, it came to me that I never really did figure out what to do about the gnomes. They always end up being "the other short people."
I have been inspired by Wil Huygen and Rien Pourtvliet's book _Gnomes_, where they are described as little guys in blue jackets and pointed red hats. That's how I've described them in my Audor campaign, with the idea there there sometimes wore other colors as well.
I will probably continue to have this "Forest Gnome" the dominate culture of gnomes, but I have also been inspired by Wizard of Oz, and their Rock Gnomes. And Huygen's book describes "Siberian Gnomes" who would fit in well in my northern areas.
When in doubt, I like to randomize. I brainstormed a bunch of ideas for gnome cultures, then drew a card to determine how many to choose for me setting. Drawing the 4 of hearts, I will plan on 4 cultures with perhaps 3 additional subcultures:
1. Forest Gnomes wear the blue suits and red hats and are involved in taking care of the forests. They practice the druidic religion and take it very serious.
Subculture: Village gnomes live in villages with humans or halflings and help defend and protect them from threats.
The problem is, I keep imagining a bunch of little guys singing "In the navy....!"
Subculture: Seagoing gnomes actually do join the navy. (Or some sign up for service on merchant vessels, or fishing boats, or even pirate ships.)
2. Rock Gnomes live in the mountains and are very xenophobic. They feel that big people keep wanting to steal their stuff, and they have some of the finest crafted gems and jewelry around. They are also good at making traps and weapons.
Subculture: Rock Gnome mercenaries may not have a lot of size or physical strength, but they make up for it with determination, cleverness, and magical weaponry.
3. Ice Gnomes live in the cold places. Chaotic neutral in cultural alignment, they actually sometimes get along with trolls. They have a harsh culture and sinister reputation, but their history of dealings with varied species makes them valuable diplomats (if you can consider someone like John Bolton a "diplomat").
4. Metal Gnomes like to tinker with technology and magic. Their work with mirrors led to their reputation as illusionists, and their research led to the "modern" illusionist class. They often either live in large human cities, or in underground labyrinths of astonishing complexity. They consider themselves the smartest of the gnomes.
While thinking of rebooting my Audor campaign, it came to me that I never really did figure out what to do about the gnomes. They always end up being "the other short people."
I have been inspired by Wil Huygen and Rien Pourtvliet's book _Gnomes_, where they are described as little guys in blue jackets and pointed red hats. That's how I've described them in my Audor campaign, with the idea there there sometimes wore other colors as well.
I will probably continue to have this "Forest Gnome" the dominate culture of gnomes, but I have also been inspired by Wizard of Oz, and their Rock Gnomes. And Huygen's book describes "Siberian Gnomes" who would fit in well in my northern areas.
When in doubt, I like to randomize. I brainstormed a bunch of ideas for gnome cultures, then drew a card to determine how many to choose for me setting. Drawing the 4 of hearts, I will plan on 4 cultures with perhaps 3 additional subcultures:
1. Forest Gnomes wear the blue suits and red hats and are involved in taking care of the forests. They practice the druidic religion and take it very serious.
Subculture: Village gnomes live in villages with humans or halflings and help defend and protect them from threats.
The problem is, I keep imagining a bunch of little guys singing "In the navy....!"
Subculture: Seagoing gnomes actually do join the navy. (Or some sign up for service on merchant vessels, or fishing boats, or even pirate ships.)
2. Rock Gnomes live in the mountains and are very xenophobic. They feel that big people keep wanting to steal their stuff, and they have some of the finest crafted gems and jewelry around. They are also good at making traps and weapons.
Subculture: Rock Gnome mercenaries may not have a lot of size or physical strength, but they make up for it with determination, cleverness, and magical weaponry.
3. Ice Gnomes live in the cold places. Chaotic neutral in cultural alignment, they actually sometimes get along with trolls. They have a harsh culture and sinister...
Without a doubt, Deep Gnomes (Svirfneblin) are the funnest gnomes to play. Unfortunately, the penalties to play them are severe. I have one that has leveled past its -3 lvl penalty, and is 2rogue/1Wizard(illusionist)
While I have 6 levels (-3 penalty), I only have 2 feats to show for it. Grant it, I have the racial's, which does include Magic Resistance (among others). But every thing we battle can 1 hit me essentially. I have designed my gnome to have a extremely high AC, without armor, and that helps.
But that is what makes it so fun. Unlike our fighter who is La Machine, I have to be so very careful. I cant just Uber my way through everything. I have to think, be creative. Essentially, pick my spots and hope I survive. Its challenging!
The one thing I tell people when they have a choice of race to play
Once you go Gnome, you never go home....
Play a Deep Gnome, and live. That is the challenge!
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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In the interest of recycling, here is a gnomish nation I wrote for the 2008 RPG superstar also-ran thread:
“An opal-hearted country, beneath a pitiless blue sky”
Ruler: Provisional Governor Hansabal Thrice-Locke (LN Male Dwarf Aristocrat 7)
Capital: Stormleigh
Alignment: CN (Tablelands), LN (Stormleigh)
Government: Kritarchy (Tablelands), Reluctant Autocracy (Stormleigh)
Demographics: Gnome 64%, Dwarf 22%, Human 10%, Others 4%
Description:
“Dad, is it true that the sun will never set on Demeros?”
“Yes son,” the leathery gnome replied, squinting into the heat haze, “because not even nature would trust bastards like us when the lights are out.”
Demeros has a vast expanse of land calling for exploration, harsh terrain full of bones, fires and droughts. The native Demer gnomes have long eked out an arduous existence in the arid soil on lonely stations. A trading colony of dwarves and humans sprawls on the coast, lured by Demeros’ natural wealth.
Thalantir Ocean:
“Don’t worry; there aren’t any sharks out there”
“Yeah,” confirmed his sardonic companion “the krakens ate them all years ago”
This vast body of sparkling water stretches to the east of Demeros. It is haunted by vicious sea-beasts that lurk in the vibrant coral reefs that parallel the coastline.
Sapphire Rampart:
Pine-clad ridges raise their torn and rugged battlements, regularly foiling the coastal storms from advancing into the country’s dry heart. They are named for the fine, blue-tinged vapour of pine-oil, which clings to the slopes during the hot, gold hush of the day.
The range is also filled with an extensive network of limestone caves, formed from eons of erosion. Deep in their bowels lurk mobs of slime-covered trolls who relish lives of dark, immortal slaughter.
Sanguine Desert
These scarlet sands engulf the western border of Demeros, and are home to degenerate tribes of frill-necked kobolds who roil in the carved vaults of a long-lost dragon empire. Rumours of an inland sea persist, despite the failure of several determined expeditions.
Demer Tablelands:
The Tablelands are a broad swathe of arid land between the Sanguine Desert and the Sapphire Rampart. The land supports a mix of sparse scrub and spindly grasses, veined with green tangles of trees that trace parched river beds. In times of flood, ushered by decade-brewed, violent thunderstorms, the plains turn into seething brown seas.
The Demer gnomish population dots the plains, their makeshift homes constructed on stilts to avoid ravening monsters, poisonous fauna and the too-rare floods. Each station sports the ubiquitous Demer Windmill twisting in the breeze, spouting water into scorched cattle-troughs.
Burrowing monsters, including the insatiable bulette, stalk the Tablelands. Bands of professional hunters, often riding hippogriffs, are hired by station owners to drive off these predators. One particularly mad rider, Clazza of the Underflow, captures and breaks Landsharks for cavalry duty.
Notable Settlements:
“You have been sentenced here for the term of your natural life. You will serve it free.”
Stormleigh (pop. 21,450): Sheltered by the headlands of Camphor Bay, this thriving trading colony is a confluence of races and creeds, propelled by an influx of convict labour.
Hansabal Thrice-Locke is an apologetic tyrant, ruling out of necessity to hold back the prevailing anarchy. His private soldiers act as the local constabulary and keep law and order as best they can. Without this security, foreign vessels would not dare the month’s dangerous journey to the port.
Thornfield (pop. 2,800): One of the rare dwarf-operated towns in the Tablelands, Thornfield is currently in the middle of a gold rush. The governor’s soldiers collect claims-taxes, which strains relations between the miners and the dwarves.
Culture:
“They have not the slightest pretension to being gentlemen or civilised. Their faces are coarse and hard bitten. The Demer manner is blatant and self assertive and their voice likewise. I am afraid I never wish to meet any more Demer. My servants too, complain that they are a rough lot.”
- Hansabal Thrice-Locke
The Demer by their larrikin nature are wry in calamity and nonchalant in triumph. For some in Stormleigh a ‘heroic defeat’ is considered a tautology; for gnomes it is an oxymoron.
Despite Stormleigh’s complaints, they are not more antagonistic than their neighbours, just more direct and brazen. Indeed, there is a curious innocence to much of their behaviour. Those that come with open minds can find hospitality and appreciation hidden beneath their brash exterior. However, they are quick to resent patronising behaviour, and the notion of class distinction or systemic authority is distasteful to them.
The favoured class of Demer gnomes is Ranger.
Feats:
Cynical Bastard [Regional]
You have had extensive contact with Demer Gnomes.
Prerequisites: Born in Demeros or 1 rank in Knowledge [Local – Demeros]
Benefit: You gain a +2 skill bonus on sense motive checks and a +2 bonus to will saves against illusions and enchantment effects.
Ramshackle Crafter [Regional]
You can make do with the most basic of materials. The results are not pretty, but they are effective.
Prerequisites: Demer Gnome
Benefit: The cost of materials for mundane and magical crafting is reduced by 50%. Your magic items are not required to be of masterwork quality before enchantment.
Special: Everything you create looks like junk. Items crafted with this feat have no resale value.
Religion:
“Why would you venerate the bastard that left us in a place like this?”
The Demer are predominantly atheist. Sermonising missionaries of the migrant races are often treated for concussion injuries.
Magic:
Arcane Demer tend towards sorcery, and are popular with their people (they can pull off the best jokes). Demer druids exist, venerating nature, rather than specific deities.
Gnomish Windmills are enchanted to compress wind to precipitate water from the atmosphere. A Windmill can create water (CL 1st) once per day.
Equipment:
The Demer, renown for their crossbows, have unique ammunition for their favoured weapons:
Caltropults: (4 gp) This ammunition disperses a 10’ square of caltrops. Range: 80’. 8lbs.
Crossbow Bolas: (6gp) This ammunition fires a small bola with an 80’ range increment.
DM Secrets:
For the Demer gnomes, an invisible plank of wood on the latrine is funny. The fact that Stormleigh is built on a Bulette breeding ground is “%*$(ing hilarious”.
A mysterious ship arrived a fortnight ago and began recruiting for some far-off war. They have found plenty of eager volunteers from the Demer looking for adventure.
While the desert does not hold an inland sea, it does conceal Mattisser’s Reef, a vein of gold as tall as a man.
A human outlaw named Yellek is at large, stealing cattle and ambushing soldiers. He entered his life of crime after thwarting his sister’s mistreatment by the governor’s soldiers.
The Demer farming practices, including the use of the Windmills, are the cause of the encroachment of the desert eastwards.
In the interest of recycling, here is a gnomish nation I wrote for the 2008 RPG superstar also-ran thread:
** spoiler omitted **...
Who is the head of Gnomeland Security?