LOREhammer | Gnomes in Warhammer

If you want to know about Warhammer Gnomes, or the Gnomes as they'll appear in LAWhammer, you've found your video! Prepare for a deep dive into all things Gnomish with the author of the most recent version of Warhammer's Gnomes, Andy Law.
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[@LAWhammer]

If you want to know more about Dark Deeds, the mailing list is here: www.modiphius.net/pages/dark-deeds If you want to check-out the LAWhammer extra Gnome Settlements, they can be found here: www.patreon.com/posts/gnome-72383022 Also, when I said 'Elves and Dwarfs' on the Warhammer 4E box, I of course meant 'Elves and Goblins'. D'oh!

[@tinstargames]

This also reminded me that good settings are fun to talk about and explain just like history is

[@LAWhammer]

They absolutely are!

[@nickmaggs1803]

I remember the article for gnomes back in White Dwarf when they were introduced as a 1st Edition WFRP character. Very much a joke that fell pretty flat with my group. As a GM I allowed them as a player race, but in something like 15 years only one was played (briefly). Fast forward to 4th edition and I actually bought Rough Nights and Hard Days for the Gnome section. They work now (and actually feel more Grimdark than Halflings). I'm really glad to see them back and I'd love to see more Gnome lore. Weird innit ;-)

[@LAWhammer]

It's not too hard to feel more GrimDark than a Halfling, though... :D

[@Runenmensch]

Man that was great! Loved every minute of it! Thank you for your input.

[@LAWhammer]

Thank you so much. It was a super fun wee stream.

[@tinstargames]

That moment of raw power of going "I CAN BRING THE GNOMES BACK". Next we can get the zoats and the fimir. I have so many ideas to reboot the fimir... But I really like how you talk about this decision because I have often had these kind of discussions with myself - putting aside how I play WFRP and going "who out there loves this, why do they love it, how can I write for them". I so didn't want to work on the vampires but you dig down and figure out WHY they are beloved. Fist bump.

[@LAWhammer]

Fist bump in return!

[@leogunnemarsson4178]

I really disliked gnomes before. It was mainly for having no effect on the world in any version (even when they were part of it they didn´t have any events in the world they affected). Their role in Waaagh! Grom was when I changed from "No" to "Maybe". I have tried bringing them into my homebrews to give them a chance. Has added some gnoblar rivalry, a gnome NPC (who works for a vampire, quite a great choice of servant really, older and some magic for hiding) and even a gnome career.

[@LAWhammer]

Marvellous. Really happy to read that they’ve gained some traction in your campaigns! Best of luck using them more in future.

[@daniel__clark]

Thank you for this. I think the shorter format works really well and would love to see more sessions for other less well known races, places, concepts and pieces of history. I'm off to check out the new board game.

[@LAWhammer]

Thanks for the kind words. I'll admit that I quite enjoy having chats where the limits of the lore aren't the official publications, which is the case for Lorebeards. It allows for a broader conversation, and one that veers more into personal takes.

[@Quintus_Fontane]

I always seem to be busy when you do these streams so I can't turn up and say this at the time, but I just want to say thank you for doing them, and thanks also for putting them up for us to watch after the fact. Always fascinating and entertaining. 🤘

[@LAWhammer]

Delighted you enjoy them - one day you'll catch a stream live! :D

[@paidabodyndwp5357]

Wow! Fab discussion. I’m 1000% behind your reimagining of the Gnomes in wfrp. Along with Mark Gibbons you hit them note perfect ❤ brilliant work

[@LAWhammer]

Thanks so much! Delighted you enjoyed it all. Always good to stop an extra Gnome discussion or two on the internet.

[@paidabodyndwp5357]

@@LAWhammer Gnomes are gift that keeps on giving

[@LAWhammer]

@@paidabodyndwp5357 They absolutely are!

[@Erika_Redmark]

1:12:34 Engels is 3 Gnomes in a coat CONFIRMED 😂

[@LAWhammer]

100% He's also Ladrielle.

[@johnhatton4290]

I really enjoyed this. I had read the gnome section of RNaHD but hadn't taken in the possibility of a gnome thief/pickpocket who was actually using magic to hide. That is definitely now a possibility for my next party lineup, or maybe as an npc that a character with second sight notices as a ghostly figure pickpocketing patrons of a tavern.

[@LAWhammer]

Delighted you enjoyed it. Good luck with any gnomes you use!

[@Blastercadre]

For the LAWHorde!

[@tuckerbad]

im so so sure they said on the comunity website gnomes were incomming as part of the old world setting

[@LAWhammer]

If you have a link for that, I'd be very, very happy.

[@tuckerbad]

@LAWhammer seems I got some of my Intel wrong - I get sent things due to where I work. was probably a heads up on bloodbowl I had read a bit early lol

[@ChapterGrim]

I'd love to hear about Ubersreik, but this has made my day! 😍

[@LAWhammer]

I’m sure we can get to that!

[@ChapterGrim]

I'd also thought Sam Manley did all the Gnome artwork in RN&HD... 😮 I'm guessing he built off of Mark's work then... 🤔

[@ChapterGrim]

Kinda like Ringil over Ringol, but mostly because it's a throwaway reference to the sword of Fingolfin, that wounded Morgoth seven times in the Dagor Bragollach... 😅

[@LAWhammer]

@@ChapterGrimNot just Mark's! Sam only did Gnome two pieces - 1 corner-image pickpocketing illustration for the first adventure and 1 Gnome playing cards with others in the pub games section. Victor Leza did the NPC image of Glimbrin for the RNatTFI NPC blocks. Victor was given Mark's work to reference. Sam was given both Mark and Victor's work to reference for his two images.

[@LAWhammer]

@@ChapterGrim Hahah! Yeah, that's nice, but it wasn't the intention.

[@dalelowery3164]

Thanks champion

[@LAWhammer]

A pleasure. I hope you enjoyed it.

[@jameschristophercirujano6650]

Gnomes are probably even more familiar to people than the Halflings now because of Warcraft, Gnomes have a niche fan base, much like the Forsaken, even though a lot of people meme hate on em 😅

[@LAWhammer]

Absolutely. There is a lot of Gnome hate in the Warhammer community because of their past, but I feel they've landed in a fun place for others to develop in new ways.

[@LinkLegend0]

Thank ye Loremasta.

[@LAWhammer]

I pleasure, LinkLegend!

[@MrDidz]

I completed my Gnome Project in 2014, five years before the publication of Rough Nights and Hard Days, and so I didn't have access to your take on the Gnomes and what they were about. However, I did my usual deep-dive into the Warhammer Lore at that time including all the fan articles like "With a Little Help from My Friends,” Adventure by Graeme Davis, 'Out Of The Garden' by Phil Gallagher and Warpstone Magazine #30 articles 'What's in a Gnome?, 'Gnomes: 'Shelter from the Storm' and 'Nobody's Gnome' I also did a deep-dive into the folk-lore of gnomes in Celtic and Irish mythology and drew a lot of inspiration from their portrayal in various media particularly by J. K. Rowling (although strictly speaking here gnomes are not supposed to be gnomes, they just happen to look like gnomes) I'm going to have to update my version now to include your additions in particularly the additional Gods which were not in the original sources. Hopefully, I shall be able to discuss this with you on Lorebeards once my ban expires. I just hope it doesn't get me banned again for doing so.

[@LAWhammer]

Seems we used the same sources. The additional material I wrote for RN&HD should be easy to add to almost any version of Gnomes if it suits YOURhammer. On that, the additional LAWhammer material may also interest you. I'll drop a link as a pinned message in the comments if you're interested.

[@MrDidz]

@@LAWhammer Adding the two extra gods will be simply enough. I found and included Morris, the Gnome God Of Dreams and Fancies during my research so that will give me four Gnomes gods in my world. Morris seems to be the god that inspires the building of The Great Machine by 'The Morris Men' though Ringil doesn't seem to like him very much. This is all from 'Gnomes: Shelter from the Storm' by Robin Low. the big difference between our respective takes seems to be that I treat Gnomes as magical beings or at best heralds of a Lawful/Orderly God and so they appear in my world as mentor NPCs rather than playable characters. As such they live on another plane of existence (probably the warp) and only pop into the mortal realm to try and save ut from their rival gods influence by humour and rigid adherence to following protocol.

[@rossrussell487]

One of the characters in our Enemy Within campaign is a Gnome... an Ashen Blade, or Tynghedau... tasked by Whispering Monks to serve the melancholy Ashen Queen, maintaining 'the Gloom', which masks the presence of Gnommi, their pathways and settlements... the Tynghedau also have a shadowy reputation in Dwimbarrow, for hunting down errant Gnommi who leave the barrow without good reason, and don't keep their mouths shut about Gnommi business!

[@LAWhammer]

Love it!

[@jacawandersmok9043]

29:50 editor Andy hat on full powwer ;]

[@LAWhammer]

That's one hat I rarely, if ever, remove.

[@primafacie5029]

Thanks

[@MarkNiceyard]

I'll incorporate a gnome into my running Death on the Reik. Every player character is getting a sidekick and the priestess of Rhya is going to get a gnome. :D

[@LAWhammer]

Ah, nice! Do tell us in our Discord how that turns out! I do love an extra Gnome tale or two.

[@tinstargames]

Sorry for the constant stream of thoughts; I remember a tiny note in I think the 8th or 7th ed Skaven book where they suggest one of the skaven clans wiped out the fimir. I'm at the 36 minute mark and I am so excited now that I know HOW the gnomes click in to a homeland. The Drakwald is so important and I've never thought about the mirror moors... It reminds me of one of the ideas I had about bringing in the Irish into an Albion book - I was going to make them all sad elves who were lost "sea elves" who had had their selkie kingdom and now just sang sad songs and got drunk on elven draughts. I also just read The Silver Chair again and the marshwiggles have a bit like gnomes in them, especially as fatalists. Using the Cornish is BRILLIANT especially since it runs back to Alphonse being Bretonnian, because the Cornish and the Bretons are historically the same culture. I wonder if this is a backdoor to bringing back the dwarven Casanova diplomat that is in the books (which presumably was something Practhett and Kim Newman talked about one time given how close it is to Casanunda). Maybe Gnomes are the way to bring back the Sun King Bretonnia? Versailles is famous for its Hall of Mirrors.... BTW I did the Halflings in the Archives, because as you are to Gnomes I am to Halflings.

[@tinstargames]

ohhhhh wait, gnomes are good at being invisble, and to their northern border are fimir who summon fog and shadow to hide their movements. We got ways to bring the gnomes into fimir lore...

[@LAWhammer]

@@tinstargamesIndeed!

[@pawekafeman5590]

In "Out of the Garden" article from "White Dwarf" #86 it was said that "Gnome smiths and engineers are accorded almost as much respect as their Dwarven counterparts". Is this still the case in your version of Gnomes? (I mean their knack for engineering, not necessary the "being respected" part). Nothing in "Rough Nights and Hard Days" seems to confirm that, but maybe this information was cut due to lack of space...

[@bypyros1933]

Could Naiads, Incarnate elementals of life and spites be included as units for the wood elves in Total war?

[@LAWhammer]

I definitely think so. There is more than enough there to bring them in as a fun extra unit if you capture certain locations, for example.

[@jacawandersmok9043]

now i want to play a gnome ;] first i wait for theat book re print in Polish adn + i think ubersrake adventure;

[@LAWhammer]

Good luck with your Gnommish ambitions!

[@tinstargames]

During 3rd ed, I was told we couldn't have female soldier characters among humans because there weren't any female soldier minis. BTW I would love to join for one of these chats.

[@LAWhammer]

It was that kind of stipulation that made me stop writing for the game for a while - I'm too old to put up with that kind of diktat. I'd rather await the next round of Games Workshop opinion - it always shifts as staff rotate and company directives change. Indeed, one of the very first things I did when producing the game was commission art of female soldiers in the Empire army - with GW support, of course. And, BTW, always happy chatting with you!

[@lexicornfell7361]

Enquiring minds want to know, Andy, to what extent are you responsible for the recent announcement that the Gnomes are getting a Blood Bowl team? Because for me, nothing says 'Gnomes are part of Warhammer now' like a Gnomish Blood Bowl team.

[@jacawandersmok9043]

uu secret stream ;]

[@LAWhammer]

Perfect for the Gnomes…

[@Vuizendrecht]

I love gnomes and have painted many alternate series gnome miniatures. I would be excited to see Warhammer release a gnome set in old world.

[@LAWhammer]

It would be brilliant, but I'm not sure that will happen any time soon.

[@Vuizendrecht]

@@LAWhammer Well, they did just announce a bloodbowl gnome team, so I am optimistic!

[@Dwarfurious]

Its so sad how often gnomes in fantasy settings are screwed and hated and never given a chance to be a real staple. Elves, who were ALREADY super popular, got THREE major factions. We didnt NEED dark elves, we could have had Shadow Gnomes, we didnt NEED wood elves, we could have had Wild Gnomes. As usual elves hog the spotlight making sure other less popular races STAY less popular