writer (derogatory). lead designer on Fallen London.
http://twitter.com/notbrunoagain
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i have an unerring, fundamental aesthetic distaste for them across dozens of interpretations of the core idea. that is my beef with gnomes. this is not an invitation to debate me.
so one of the many ways in which pathfinder doubles down on D&D ideas in terrible ways is that gnomes in that setting are not just quirky, they are like, quirkophages that need to be quirky to live otherwise they catch not-quirky disease and die of low blood whimsy
i can hear the punctuation of banging an iron staff on a stone floor at the end of this post
do lalafell count as gnomes
I always considered them more like halflings.
See, and that’s the thing, I am no Austin Walker, but personally I never felt like DnD or anyone else has ever managed to justify having Halflings AND Gnomes in a setting. We’ve already got dwarves we don’t need a second subtype of the existing second subtype of short guys.
I think gnomes work best when leaned into them being like, horrible little freaks that aren't pleasant (See: Puzzle Agent) but when they're existance is just trying to win the shortguy-off, it just comes across as "Why wouldnt I just be a dwarf or halfling?"
Hobbits But Worse
Worst Impulses of Ren Faire
Steampunk Bur More Twee Somehow
completely unsalvageable
"The DM won't let me play a goblin so I'll just hot glue these brass cogs to my top hat" guys.
I'm honestly ecstatic to hear that there's a genus of Little Freak that you refuse to entertain
I'm always baffled by the fact that D&D has halflings and gnomes as separate things. Like if you're GONNA do that, just have gnomes be six inches tall. Commit to it.
As a person who played a homicidal pixie in a one-shot D&D game, I completely support this and will houserule it in any future games I run.
you know what I've never thought hard about Gnomes but I am inclined to agree with you
thank you for answering something i have wondered for literal years
There are a small handful of interpretations of gnomes I don't have a fundamental distaste for, but I don't think less of most anyone who shares your opinion.
I'll still chew out my friend for equating certain interpretations when one is very clearly worse than the other, but that's different than judging them for not liking either.
Their push to drop x11 before wayland reaches complete feature parity for crucial things like steam support comes to mind
In Ukrainian and Russian word for dwarves in usually "gnome" ("гном"), so when both of them are in something it seems to me redundant and confusing. So I just throw away the less cool gnomes.
There are attempts to use a different term for either dwarvers or gnomes but they are kinda awkward.
What is your fave interpretation of those fantasy species whose aesthetic you do enjoy?
I propose a niche for gnomes (a gniche) that will let them shed much of their unwanted baggage:
Gnomes are Jacobins. That's why they wear those red caps.
You know how hobbits are just West Country farmers because JRRT wanted some West Country farmers in his books? Elves, dwarves, goblins, trolls, West Country farmers? We do the same with French revolutionaries and we call them gnomes. They're scientists and inventors, and they're imposing their new calendar and system of measurements on the world. They have overthrown their ancien regime and instituted a new highly-bureaucratised republic. They're quirky if you consider calling each other 'Citizen' quirky.
This is good. I could work with this. As long as they're 6 inches tall and talk to mice.
if i didn't already know this to be 100% true i would genuinely think you made this shit up
In my most-recent pf2e game, the gnome alchemist woke up early, went back into the horrible cave, spent like 4 spell-slots trying to charm a 3-foot-tall frog into being a mount, lit a small section of the forest on fire to prevent it from escaping, and then my bard woke up and instantly gibbed the poor dumb thing, thinking we were under attack.
