Jeff the Green
2012-02-17, 02:28 AM
I'm working on a campaign setting and I've found that I'm, consciously or not, doing away with tropes I find overplayed or distasteful in and of themselves (violent drunk dwarves, mystical elves, and x-breathing dragons among them).
The problem I've come to is the gnomes. Dear lord, the gnomes.
See, I've made them into slave-taking semi-socialist sailors.
Their island is pretty much devoid of natural resources--except for trees. There are plenty of trees. They have exactly one advantage: the governments of their two main cities control all knowledge of how to navigate a very dangerous, very important strait. The two other main nations (the dwarves and their client humans to the west and the elves to the east) have to either pay the gnomes to ship trade goods between them, risk the icebergs in the far south, or send their caravans through the Betweens, vast stretches of forest, wasteland, and mountains inhabited only by the more monstrous creatures of the world. This produces an enormous profit that is distributed amongst all residents of the cities and allows even the lowliest gnome to live, if not extravagantly, at least comfortably.
They also are the only major society that doesn't prohibit slavery. The majority of their land-based armed forces are slaves that are either magically controlled or promised freedom. They hold regular gladiatorial games--though usually not to the death, since slaves are expensive--and sorcerer-gladiators are prized because they give a particularly spectacular show.
Finally, their government and religion are about the most liberal in the world. Their gods are distant and really only demand the occasional sacrificed sheep, so the sexual and societal taboos that are prevalent among the dwarven, elven, and human kingdoms are basically non-existent.
But...
I'm worried it will stretch players' suspension of disbelief too far. Dragonlance has so infected our notion of what gnomes are supposed to be that I'm worried that I'd be better off replacing them with some other race and either doing away with gnomes all together or making them just a variant of halflings.
What does the Playground think?
The problem I've come to is the gnomes. Dear lord, the gnomes.
See, I've made them into slave-taking semi-socialist sailors.
Their island is pretty much devoid of natural resources--except for trees. There are plenty of trees. They have exactly one advantage: the governments of their two main cities control all knowledge of how to navigate a very dangerous, very important strait. The two other main nations (the dwarves and their client humans to the west and the elves to the east) have to either pay the gnomes to ship trade goods between them, risk the icebergs in the far south, or send their caravans through the Betweens, vast stretches of forest, wasteland, and mountains inhabited only by the more monstrous creatures of the world. This produces an enormous profit that is distributed amongst all residents of the cities and allows even the lowliest gnome to live, if not extravagantly, at least comfortably.
They also are the only major society that doesn't prohibit slavery. The majority of their land-based armed forces are slaves that are either magically controlled or promised freedom. They hold regular gladiatorial games--though usually not to the death, since slaves are expensive--and sorcerer-gladiators are prized because they give a particularly spectacular show.
Finally, their government and religion are about the most liberal in the world. Their gods are distant and really only demand the occasional sacrificed sheep, so the sexual and societal taboos that are prevalent among the dwarven, elven, and human kingdoms are basically non-existent.
But...
I'm worried it will stretch players' suspension of disbelief too far. Dragonlance has so infected our notion of what gnomes are supposed to be that I'm worried that I'd be better off replacing them with some other race and either doing away with gnomes all together or making them just a variant of halflings.
What does the Playground think?