05-02-2022, 01:30 PM
I have been reading the World of Greyhawk boxed set books again, and one thing that strikes me is that gnomes are extremely common in that setting. In some regions, they seem to outnumber dwarves and halflings. But I couldn't recall any mention of gnomes in Blackmoor, so I started looking through the oldest materials we have from Supplement II: Blackmoor and the FFC. So far, I have only uncovered two brief mentions of gnomes, and the evidence leads me to believe that gnomes were not part of Blackmoor until Gary Gygax added them to his game, and they may have been a retcon in the Blackmoor setting. Maybe Greg Svenson can recall when gnomes became part of the setting, but here is why I think they were a late edition.
In Supplement II: Blackmoor, there is only one mention of gnomes. It is a single line that seems to suggest that they live in air-enclosed cities on the bottom of the sea and connected to the surface world via tunnels. But the context is unclear because there is no other discussion. However, gnomes are presented in the same section with the sahuagin and a bunch of sea creatures and monsters, so when it says "on the bottom," I assume that this means the bottom of the sea.
In the FFC, I believe gnomes are only mentioned in parenthetical notes to the dwarves, which are listed among the reinforcements that PCs could purchase and bring in from the Great Kingdom. Under the fantasy subcategory, it says "Dwarves (Gnomes)." This seems to indicate that dwarf and gnome reinforcements have the same cost, the same maximum troop number, and the same number of dwarves or gnomes in each troop company. But it could also imply that gnomes do not exist in the realms of Blackmoor, and they only exist in the Great Kingdom.
Beyond these two brief references, I don't think there is any evidence of gnomes being part of Blackmoor until later editions of D&D, as discussed earlier here. Gnomes certainly don't seem to be a prominent part of the setting at all. But they exist in large numbers in Greyhawk.
This leads me to believe that Gary Gygax may have introduced gnomes into D&D in the Great Kingdom and his own Greyhawk setting, and maybe Dave Arneson later added gnomes to Blackmoor in a very limited capacity. Maybe Gary loved the concept of gnomes and liked the idea of them being a big part of his setting. But it's interesting that they weren't a playable race until 1E. However, I could see Dave liking gnomes as well, especially given his sense of humor and affinity for quirky ideas or characters in his game.
In Supplement II: Blackmoor, there is only one mention of gnomes. It is a single line that seems to suggest that they live in air-enclosed cities on the bottom of the sea and connected to the surface world via tunnels. But the context is unclear because there is no other discussion. However, gnomes are presented in the same section with the sahuagin and a bunch of sea creatures and monsters, so when it says "on the bottom," I assume that this means the bottom of the sea.
In the FFC, I believe gnomes are only mentioned in parenthetical notes to the dwarves, which are listed among the reinforcements that PCs could purchase and bring in from the Great Kingdom. Under the fantasy subcategory, it says "Dwarves (Gnomes)." This seems to indicate that dwarf and gnome reinforcements have the same cost, the same maximum troop number, and the same number of dwarves or gnomes in each troop company. But it could also imply that gnomes do not exist in the realms of Blackmoor, and they only exist in the Great Kingdom.
Beyond these two brief references, I don't think there is any evidence of gnomes being part of Blackmoor until later editions of D&D, as discussed earlier here. Gnomes certainly don't seem to be a prominent part of the setting at all. But they exist in large numbers in Greyhawk.
This leads me to believe that Gary Gygax may have introduced gnomes into D&D in the Great Kingdom and his own Greyhawk setting, and maybe Dave Arneson later added gnomes to Blackmoor in a very limited capacity. Maybe Gary loved the concept of gnomes and liked the idea of them being a big part of his setting. But it's interesting that they weren't a playable race until 1E. However, I could see Dave liking gnomes as well, especially given his sense of humor and affinity for quirky ideas or characters in his game.