Gnome Studies 1:

Deconstructing the Gnome

by R. Nolan

I really love gnomes, but I know that most gamers groan when a fellow player announces that he'll be playing one. Annoying little pranksters, or lunatic inventors, the lot of 'em. The group may as well forget about getting serious work done with one of the little guys around.

Many gamers let the above stereotypes define all that there is to gnome existance, and they're not to blame, the publishers are.

The gnome has had very little evolution in the twenty some-odd years of Dungeons and Dragons. They started out as relatively undefined little guys. Gamers used gnomes and halflings pretty much interchangeably, the only difference being that halflings were better thieves, and gnomes were better with illusions. Both were relatively carefree, with halfings more focused on their own comforts, and gnomes more interested in pranks, jokes, and the like.

Dragonlance did create a new archetype for the gnome, (and the halfling too, through the kender), the tinker-gnome. There is nothing wrong with tinker-gnomes, if that is your vision of gnomes, go with it and have fun, but I have a different vision of gnomes. If you are playing Dragonlance, disregard this article entirely.

The third edition of Dungeons and Dragons has changed the halfling significantly, getting away from the old hobbit stereotype a bit, but the designers still forgot to give the poor gnomes a little color. They played up the old gnome stand-bys of pranks, gems, and inventions.

Pranks are fine things, but I don't think that an entire culture could be based around them. Certainly elves have an unmatched love for the harp, but few gamers would think of only the harp when imagining elven life. Gems are a good enough reason for many gnomes to take up an adventuring career, but considering relative value of many stones, few gnomes would have an impressive collection of stones just sitting around to be stared at all day. That would imply luxory beyond the means of simple peasants. Yes, gems are a fine thing, but please let's move past them and try to find out something more about gnomes.

The third of the great racial stereotypes applying to gnomes is the invention problem. Consider for a moment that this is an actual career path open to bright young gnomes. If the gnomes are able to make a living from this, then obviously there are people buying gnome inventions. If only a handful of gnomes in a given village were full-time inventors, for the last hundred years or so, then there must be thousands upon thousands of little gnome wonders existing in the world. And people are buying these things.

Remember that it is likely that most inventions are reproducable, meaning that these inventor gnomes don't need to be craftsman. The act of invention (and the subsequent refinement of the device), would only need to be done once. Then the gnome can go on to doing something else. The entire world should soon be overrun with whirring gears and whistling pipes. My fantasy world doesn't look like this, and yours probably doesn't either. Rationalizing away the plethora of inventions is fairly easy, but it is also simple to dispense of the creators.

This doesn't mean that there aren't any gnome inventors out there, but that there shouldn't be one in every gnome village, or even in many good sized cities. Obviously then, full-time inventor is not a wise career choice for many gnomes. Many gnomes could still have an appreciation of the mechanical arts, if you prefer.

Now that pranks, gems, and inventing are out of the way, that leaves us with the one defining characteristic new to third edition, alchemy. Due to their natural bent to the alchemical arts, gnomes might make up a higher percentage of professional alchemists than other races, but that would still leave the other 99.9% of the gnomish work-force filling ordinary, mundane occupations.

In other words, the gem loving, inventor/prankster should not be the defining archetype from which all gnome heroes should be drawn. Be willing to let more than that tired flavor of gnome into your campaign, and you may see that gnomes do have a place in the world.

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