Greetings and Welcome to Gnome Play!
Gnomes are magickal, mythical and sometimes whimsical beings found in folklore around the world. They are earth spirits who protect nature and precious treasures hidden within the earth. i.e. sacred keepers of hidden knowledge.
Garden gnomes came into the scene around the late 1800’s as clay statues. And there have been thousands of books written on the topic of Gnomes ranging from folklore, fantasy, comical and even the magickal/spiritual. Two favorite books in my personal library are Gnomes by Wil Huygen and Among the Gnomes: An Occult Tale of Adventure in the Untersberg by Franz Hartmann, MD (1896 print).
So no, they aren’t just short characters who have an high intelligence. A statement I’ve seen people post quite often (Cue the eye roll).
Enter the Age of Dungeons & Dragons and Gaming!
The first playable Gnome race can be found in the original D&D Player’s Handbook (1978). They were later removed as playable in 4th edition (2008) and made a Monster (seriously WTF), but then added back again in 5th edition(2014). Freaking leave the gnomes alone!
Since then, gnomes have found their way into numerous PC/Console games and I’ve been trying to play them all!
My first gnome play was in 2001 when I was introduced to Everquest. Wickiewac the Gnome Mage was born out of a need to laugh and not be so serious. If his name didn’t spark a giggle then his whimsical antics would. He was a delight to play and any mundane stress would simple fall away.
After Everquest came Everquest 2, and then World of Warcraft and other games in-between.
My question for any new game would always be, “But are there gnomes?“.
I, of course, play PC games that don’t have gnomes (playable or otherwise) but the question persisted. I eventually kept a list of gnomish games and continue to search for more. This site will be the result of my searching and reviewing. Gnome Play will grow over time and always be a work in progress. I hope you enjoy the humor and love I have for gnomes and our gnomish ways.
-Wickie
P.S. If you generally love gnomes as well then follow my All Things Gnome facebookpage.
Also visit my Link Tree of all other links: LINK TREE
