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Careful, the email and site link are wrong. I did not updated this pdf.
Really, the writers have to say something for DMs willing to be flexible, to give them something to work with to a help players that really, really want to play a "dead" race. They can't just leave all the work entirely to DMs.
If you don't want those races then *poof* they're not there.
"You missed a spot."
Simple. Tell your players before they make characters which races are not available in your Dark Sun campaign. If this goes against the words printed in the Dark Sun Campaign Guide, so be it. As a DM, you have that power.
But your own bias does not need to restrict everyone else. The times, they are a changing, you can change with them, or stagnate. The whole point of 4E was to be familiar, but different. If you embrace 4E, I don't see how you can still be a grognard when it comes to Dark Sun races.
But then, I just read a weird food related story about a person who loves chocolate, and loves ice cream, but can't eat chocolate ice cream because it tastes like chalk to him. We all have different tastes, and nothing says they need to line up. What you can't stomach (OMG!!! Gnomes on Athas in 4E!!! They were all murdered in 2E Dark Sun!!! Unacceptable!!!), may be just fine to most of the rest of us.
More options is almost always better. For example, I will let my players decide if they want to have Divine classes in Dark Sun. Why? Because the return of the Divine to Athas will make for a great, totally epic story. I will leave it to my players to decide as a group because the presence of only one Divine character will wind up driving the story, if they don't want one character's background to become the focus of the story, then they can agree to not play Divine characters. If they don;t mind, then Divine is a go in my Dark Sun.
Make your Dark Sun a complete clone of the 2E setting if you want, I'll be making new Dark Sun stories, with new guidelines.
I hope that the 4e setting makes not effort to support certain races (such as gnomes), and simply says "those races are extinct." Same for Divine classes. If certain DMs want to include races or classes that have no place in Dark Sun in their Dark Sun games they can add those races or classes back into the game at their own table. That doesn't mean the officially published product should support the inclusion of those races or classes (with anything but a sidebar that says "you are the DM, and if you want to add non-thematic Dark Sun races or classes you can think up a reason why they might exist in your version of Dark Sun and add them yourself").
As I recall, a few official Dark Sun adventures used the "you missed one" plot, as well.
Which adventure and what race was it?
At least one troll survived in a Dungeon magazine adventure.
Dark Sun is defined by its genocidal wars, the destruction those wars caused, and its lack of gods (as a source of power or hope). You start adding gods back to Dark Sun willy nilly, allowing "executed" races to pop up in pockets left and right, and you may as well start adding forests to Dark Sun's geography. Liking the rules of 4e doesn't mean that you want to see a great setting totally butchered for the sake of inclusion. The core theme of Dark Sun, the theme of a world destroyed by war, largely devoid of hope, should be kept in tact. Part of that theme was the extinction of certain races. Part of that theme was the lack of gods to grant divine power. That is my 2 cents.
Nowhere did I suggest adding gods back to Dark Sun willy nilly. I said that a Divine character in Dark Sun would be the focus of an epic storyline. The fluff for the Divine in Dark Sun has already been rewritten. In the original Dark Sun, the gods were locked out of Athas by the same magic that turned the Sun red and hardened the Crystal Sphere around Athas. In Dark Sun 4E, the gods lost the Dawn War, and, instead of the Primordials being imprisoned or slain, the gods were. Neither scenario prevents the telling of a Divine story in Dark Sun, but it does mean that any Divine character becomes extremely important to the Dark Sun world, and thus becomes the main focus of the story. This focus on one character is why all my players would need to agree to allow a Divine character before I would do so. Allowing a Divine character in Dark Sun is not something I would undertake lightly, but nor would I outright refuse to allow one.
The same goes for races. We did not even know about the genocidal wars until Rise & Fall of a Sorcerer King and Dragon Kings of Athas. It is just that the "extinct" races were never even mentioned. They never explained why there were no Gnomes or Half Orcs, they just didn't mention them. It is entirely likely that the genocidal wars were created because someone demanded an explanation, whether that be a TSR exec, an author, or the players. By the by, this is why American horror movies often fail in comparison to Japanese horror movies. We Americans always feel this need to explain things, we can never take it on faith that things are the way they are just because they are. (see also: The Force and midichlorians).
I don't think the genocidal wars are half as important to Athas as the fact that there used to be 15 champions of Rajaat, and they turned on each other as soon as Rajaat turned around. That 15 became seven Sorcerer Kings and the Dragon, and the whole story was swiftly erased from history so that the Sorcerer Kings could claim to be immortal. The battles between those champions are far more important to the way Athas is today than the war of genocide they were supposed to be fighting, even to them.
I hope that the 4e setting makes not effort to support certain races (such as gnomes), and simply says "those races are extinct." Same for Divine classes. If certain DMs want to include races or classes that have no place in Dark Sun in their Dark Sun games they can add those races or classes back into the game at their own table. That doesn't mean the officially published product should support the inclusion of those races or classes (with anything but a sidebar that says "you are the DM, and if you want to add non-thematic Dark Sun races or classes you can think up a reason why they might exist in your version of Dark Sun and add them yourself").
I think that the Divine classes will be excluded in the published Dark Sun setting, as "The Gods Are Silent" is one of the "Dark Sun in Seven Sentences" blurb explaining the core conceits of Dark Sun. However, another of those sentences, "Familiar Races Aren't What You Expect," and the explanation that follows it, leads me to think they will be far more inclusive when it comes to the races. Nowhere in that blurb does it say that any race is extinct, just that each race has a distinctive, Athasian flavor.
I'll get my Athasian flavored races, and you will get your "Divine Characters in Dark Sun" sidebar. This is called a compromise, and I am satisfied with it.
OK, I'm not really infuriated, just making a point about all claims regarding what the "real" Dark Sun is and is not "defined" by. I am, however, really a first-edition boxed set purist with a deep and abiding hatred of the later-published setting history.
As such, I see no problem at all in allowing any given race to exist on Athas, given a decent reskin/reconceptualization for Athas, since the setting history the grognards are pushing never happened, and things are the way they are for different reasons each group can decide on in play themselves (a far more fascinating and creative exercise than everyone adhering to and being trapped by the same canon history). Nearly twenty years of the Cleansing Wars and Rajaat and the same cookie-cuttter Athas has bored me stiff.
VARIETY! I demand it.
As a first-edition boxed set purist, the claim that the Cleansing Wars, Champions, Rajaat and genocide defined Dark Sun infuriates me. None of those things were remotely a part of the original boxed set and they should all be treated with the same respect as used toilet paper as far as I am concerned (ie: suitable only for giving a nasty look and then flushing from sight).
OK, I'm not really infuriated, just making a point about all claims regarding what the "real" Dark Sun is and is not "defined" by. I am, however, really a first-edition boxed set purist with a deep and abiding hatred of the later-published setting history.
As such, I see no problem at all in allowing any given race to exist on Athas, given a decent reskin/reconceptualization for Athas, since the setting history the grognards are pushing never happened, and things are the way they are for different reasons each group can decide on in play themselves (a far more fascinating and creative exercise than everyone adhering to and being trapped by the same canon history). Nearly twenty years of the Cleansing Wars and Rajaat and the same cookie-cuttter Athas has bored me stiff.
VARIETY! I demand it.
Well, I too am a sort of 2e purist; I liked the setting as it was presented in the original box set. Though, I did enjoy the '95 Revised Dark Sun because of the expanded map; I love what is beyond Tyr: the lost City-States, Ur-Draxa, Kreens, Last Sea, etc.
Though at first, I did see Dark Sun as an AD&D post-apocalypse(which it kind of is), I saw it as a metaphysical mumbo-jumbo with pscionics and crystals etc.
It's odd Lizard Men were chosen as a species whereas Thri-Kreen were not; Lizard-Men and Thri-Kreen, from an evolutionary stand-point, are ancient species; much more so than Halflings.
As I recall, a few official Dark Sun adventures used the "you missed one" plot, as well.
Which adventure and what race was it?
At least one troll survived in a Dungeon magazine adventure.
Yeah, also known as "The Last Troll" eradication complete.
At any rate, everyone really needs to end this petty bickering. With every RPG game system I have ever encountered to date there has always at least one sentence somewhere near the front that roughly goes something like: "If you don't like some part of this rule book, change it" this has also come to be known as "Rule Zero". Learn to understand that RPG's are for your enjoyment, not for total uniformity - only players of the RPGA have to worry about that. Be creative, yet fair, why else would there be house rules and table rules - its your game after all.
In my own games of D&D's past I have even gone so far as to add sub-species of humans (every other race had them why not humans), removed core classes (try a zero-magic campaign), added and altered class features - and yet I've never tried to force any of those rules on anyone not seated at my kitchen table to play. Before any new campaign I always made certain to explain the house rules and campaign changes before any characters were started, and when someone would ignore those rules I'd disallow that character or ability. Not to stifle creativity but to enforce the campaign's feel, its very nature.
There's also a difference between the mechanics and the fluff. I'd be totally cool playing a Jozhal character who used the gnome mechanics, or maybe a Tarek using Minortaur or Half-Orc stats. The Cleric or Invoker class could be turned into sun priests or Oronis' templars with the right power choices.
The seeds of Rajat's genocide and the arcane apocalypse are present in the original box, but are far from the only possible history of Athas.
As I recall, a few official Dark Sun adventures used the "you missed one" plot, as well.
Which adventure and what race was it?
Grave Circumstances, Dungeon #56. It was, I believe, an undead troll.
We did not even know about the genocidal wars until Rise & Fall of a Sorcerer King and Dragon Kings of Athas. It is just that the "extinct" races were never even mentioned.
The genocides were mentioned very clearly in the Prism Pentad.
The genocides were mentioned very clearly in the Prism Pentad.
He might have been one of the lucky ones who didn't read the PP.
It's odd Lizard Men were chosen as a species whereas Thri-Kreen were not; Lizard-Men and Thri-Kreen, from an evolutionary stand-point, are ancient species; much more so than Halflings.
I think it's even more odd that Rajaat said "lizard-folk," but ssurans, pterrans, and silt runners somehow didn't qualify (although pterrans got their very own genocidal maniac).
Likewise, I still find the idea ridiculous that an entire race could be wiped out to the individual without, say, the arcane equivalent of Cerebro.
Likewise, I still find the idea ridiculous that an entire race could be wiped out to the individual without, say, the arcane equivalent of Cerebro.
I find it much more entertaining to believe that, having seen what happens when Rajaat gets impatient with a champion, some were like, "OK, I'm pretty sure I got the last of them. I can deal with survivors that pop up before my master notices. Time to report my success!"
I can also see the complete loss of a race being a strong plot element.
Fence sitter for the win!
Lol, powerful rituals were used to fathom the death of each cleansed race, guys. They didn't wing it. Why equally powerful psionics were required to hide the last surviving lizardmen in Saragar's sea.
...but the rituals were geographically-oriented and didn't account for the deep subterranean stronghold of whoever.
...but those enacting or aiding in the rituals were sympathetic to the plight of the whatever and risked their lives in order to create a deliberate loophole through which a scant few survivors could slip.
...but an entire city of whatever managed to mask their presence via a powerful ritual of their own.
...but the psychic turbulence of the great whatever clouded the ritual and rendered it blind to the region in which the whoevers lived.
...but a powerful sage of the whoever used the ancient artifact of the whatever to transform the entire tribe into another race so that they would not be detected by their hunters. As this change was in form but not in blood, the subsequent generations were born in their true form and the transformed ancestors have since died off, leaving an entire surviving clan of whatevers.
...but the champion tasked with the destruction of the whatever felt that they could be useful in a subsequent bid for power, forcing their allegiance by sparing their lives and falsely reporting their destruction.
The plot need only be as airtight as you need it to be. It's possible to circumvent it six ways from Sunday and not only preserve the standing plot of Athas, but improve it by making it more eventful.
The plot need only be as airtight as you need it to be. It's possible to circumvent it six ways from Sunday and not only preserve the standing plot of Athas, but improve it by making it more eventful.
Yep, you can bet that if Dark Sun were the basis of a TV show or a movie franchise, sooner or later you could bet that there would be the episode where the heroes ran into something like, say, trolls. Some charactacter would point out "Trolls? But weren't they wiped out millenia ago?" and part of the subsequent plot would be figuring out why THESE trolls are still alive and well. Canon is sometimes best observed in its breach.
The plot need only be as airtight as you need it to be. It's possible to circumvent it six ways from Sunday and not only preserve the standing plot of Athas, but improve it by making it more eventful.
Yep, you can bet that if Dark Sun were the basis of a TV show or a movie franchise, sooner or later you could bet that there would be the episode where the heroes ran into something like, say, trolls. Some charactacter would point out "Trolls? But weren't they wiped out millenia ago?" and part of the subsequent plot would be figuring out why THESE trolls are still alive and well. Canon is sometimes best observed in its breach.
And yet, when too many exceptions occur exception becomes the norm. At that point in time, it is as if nothing was eradicated at all; as a result, suddenly the world seems a lot less damaged that it would have otherwise.
And yet, when too many exceptions occur exception becomes the norm. At that point in time, it is as if nothing was eradicated at all; as a result, suddenly the world seems a lot less damaged that it would have otherwise.
Unless you're talking about so many thousands of exceptions that the entirety or even vast majority of the members of the original races are still around, I fail to see the sense of your post. Even if enough exceptions are made that a Dark Sun game has as many Gnomish player characters as, say, an Eberron game, that doesn't mean the difference has been undone. Each of those Gnomes still remember the dark days, have still lost virtually everyone, know the agony of losing virtually their entire race, have to duck their heads when the templars go past, etc. Unless we're talking hundreds of thousands of Gnomes, we're still talking about exceptions to the genocide. The theme remains intact.
I would say that a surviving Gnome in Athas is not far off from a good-hearted Drow in FR. According to the theme they really shouldn't exist at all, but exceptions happen (and make good story in the process). If you had a hundred such exceptions happen, or even a thousand such exceptions happen, you have not changed the face of the Drow. The greater Drow culture is still as evil as ever.
All you have to do is play 'No Gnomes' as the theme. Never describe Gnomes in the background of a scene. Have young NPCs ask what a Gnome is. Make it apparent that no, there are no Gnomes anywhere, and however many you know to have existed are still the very very very small minority compared to the 99.9% of the race that was eradicated.
All you have to do is try to make it work instead of trying to make it fail. Give it a shot.
And yet, when too many exceptions occur exception becomes the norm. At that point in time, it is as if nothing was eradicated at all; as a result, suddenly the world seems a lot less damaged that it would have otherwise.
So don't make the exceptions occur too often. Easy peasy. There is a lot of wiggle room between never encountering a troll/gnome/kobold/whatever at all and encountering one behind every corner. Enough to mean that there really is no race "CANNOT be used", as per the thread title.
This is similar to the "oh no everyone can have a dragonmark now!" issue that came up when 4e eberron was released. Only the DM can saturate the world with extinct races. The pcs would simply have a unique group if they picked nearly extinct races. On average, that's five characters. Not a big deal. And unless you always run world changing campaigns, it probably won't have a lasting effect on future adventures.
So, as a DM, with the exception of the unique plot device, I will not be including cleansed races as npcs or monsters. As a player, If I ever get to a point where I'd like to play out a cleansing war survivor background, I'd like the opportunity. It could be a very fun experience for everyone involved.
For example, if I ever run a three part adventure series that ends with the players killing Nibenay, there could be a gnome npc in the campaign. Beyond that, I doubt I would include a gnome npc for any other adventure series. And "how" I would include the npc is unknown. Might be a living slave or a rebel or an undead minion or a sentient piece of the terrain or a spirit trapped in an artifact. I'v no idea. Completely depends on what would have the best effect for that adventure.
And if I recall right, there ARE Gnomes in 4E Darksun. I think I recall one in the "Bloodsand Arena" Free RPG Module when we ran it this weekend.
Hey! I didnt know that I would create such a fireburning while I went on a 3 days trip hehehehe
I have no trouble with GM and only GM to add and remove things from their vision of Darksun. What I dont want is the Darksun setting editor to put things that shouldnt be there. If YOU want to add things, so be it, if it please you, I will do as well. THOUGH, things shouldnt be there "like gnome", but if you want a gnome? No trouble! But dont put it in the OFFICIAL material.
Although, there are a lots of interesting points all over this thread. Surely, seeing a race you shouldnt see can be something interesting like greyorm said about more options, but still, the peoples on athas are superstitious, vindictive and mob slaying when someone that shouldnt exist happen (could be magic!).
Would you accept to you have a darksun that accept magic everywhere? Should it exist something that SHOULDNT happen? Should there be a limit of these "diversities"?
Really, the writers have to say something for DMs willing to be flexible, to give them something to work with to a help players that really, really want to play a "dead" race. They can't just leave all the work entirely to DMs.
If you don't want those races then *poof* they're not there.
I have no trouble with GM and only GM to add and remove things from their vision of Darksun. What I dont want is the Darksun setting editor to put things that shouldnt be there. If YOU want to add things, so be it, if it please you, I will do as well. THOUGH, things shouldnt be there "like gnome", but if you want a gnome? No trouble! But dont put it in the OFFICIAL material.
Although, there are a lots of interesting points all over this thread. Surely, seeing a race you shouldnt see can be something interesting like greyorm said about more options, but still, the peoples on athas are superstitious, vindictive and mob slaying when someone that shouldnt exist happen (could be magic!).
Would you accept to you have a darksun that accept magic everywhere? Should it exist something that SHOULDNT happen? Should there be a limit of these "diversities"?
but still, the peoples on athas are superstitious, vindictive and mob slaying when someone that shouldnt exist happen (could be magic!).
Except that a majority of Athasians have deliberately been deprived of their history and are unaware of the Cleansing Wars. Given how many completely bizarre things live on Athas, a gnome would just be yet another bizarre thing to anyone that's not a thousand-year-old sorcerer-king, right?
This is similar to the "oh no everyone can have a dragonmark now!" issue that came up when 4e eberron was released. Only the DM can saturate the world with extinct races. The pcs would simply have a unique group if they picked nearly extinct races. On average, that's five characters. Not a big deal. And unless you always run world changing campaigns, it probably won't have a lasting effect on future adventures.
So, as a DM, with the exception of the unique plot device, I will not be including cleansed races as npcs or monsters. As a player, If I ever get to a point where I'd like to play out a cleansing war survivor background, I'd like the opportunity. It could be a very fun experience for everyone involved.
For example, if I ever run a three part adventure series that ends with the players killing Nibenay, there could be a gnome npc in the campaign. Beyond that, I doubt I would include a gnome npc for any other adventure series. And "how" I would include the npc is unknown. Might be a living slave or a rebel or an undead minion or a sentient piece of the terrain or a spirit trapped in an artifact. I'v no idea. Completely depends on what would have the best effect for that adventure.
Pretty much sums up my thoughts on this.
I have no trouble with GM and only GM to add and remove things from their vision of Darksun. What I dont want is the Darksun setting editor to put things that shouldnt be there. If YOU want to add things, so be it, if it please you, I will do as well. THOUGH, things shouldnt be there "like gnome", but if you want a gnome? No trouble! But dont put it in the OFFICIAL material.
I think this here is what I have an issue with. From a game design perspective, the designers are charged with making a setting that is as open-ended as possible, and it's up to the individual DMs to restrict as they see fit.
I would consider the following ideal in the official campaign setting:
Gnomes
Gnomes were wiped out in the Cleansing Wars. If you wish to include gnomes in your Dark Sun adventure, consider the following plot hooks: A, B, and C. gl;hf!
This is not a conversion guide. It is not an update. This is a reboot.
This is not looking at the books and asking, "How do I do this with the new rules?" This is looking at the basics and saying, "If we invented Dark Sun, what would it look like?"
This is NOT going to be the original Dark Sun where the dragon kings gave elemental powers to their templars though they couldn't use those powers themselves. This is NOT going to be the Dark Sun where halflings weren't Rajaat's champions because they were incapable of learning magic. The rules are different, the setting accommodations are going to be different.
I for one welcome this new Dark Sun - as long as they keep the basics. Everybody hates magic, metal is rare, the sorcerer kings rule the land with an iron fist, even the damn vegetation can kill you. Life is both rare and worthless.
If it means we have to put up with a few gnomes, so be it.
Hey! I didnt know that I would create such a fireburning while I went on a 3 days trip heheheheReally, the writers have to say something for DMs willing to be flexible, to give them something to work with to a help players that really, really want to play a "dead" race. They can't just leave all the work entirely to DMs.
If you don't want those races then *poof* they're not there.
I have no trouble with GM and only GM to add and remove things from their vision of Darksun. What I dont want is the Darksun setting editor to put things that shouldnt be there. If YOU want to add things, so be it, if it please you, I will do as well. THOUGH, things shouldnt be there "like gnome", but if you want a gnome? No trouble! But dont put it in the OFFICIAL material.
Although, there are a lots of interesting points all over this thread. Surely, seeing a race you shouldnt see can be something interesting like greyorm said about more options, but still, the peoples on athas are superstitious, vindictive and mob slaying when someone that shouldnt exist happen (could be magic!).
Would you accept to you have a darksun that accept magic everywhere? Should it exist something that SHOULDNT happen? Should there be a limit of these "diversities"?
Bollocks to your 'cannot be there'. Any race can be on Athas, full frelling stop. Yeah, there was mass genocide. Do you know how much work it takes to allow cleansed races in spite of that theme point? Four words.
"You missed a spot."
love it, perfectly put
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Question: how/why did Uyness of Waverly/Ablach-Re kill Dregoth?
Side note: I believe it was mentioned that there were strange robed cultists wandering around Raam in the Revised boxed set. I always interpreted these as servants of Dregoth trying to overtake the city and resurrect Ablach-Re as Dregoth's undead servant (so Dregoth could finally get the revenge against her he must have craved so much, that Sadira stole from him...)
I think this here is what I have an issue with. From a game design perspective, the designers are charged with making a setting that is as open-ended as possible, and it's up to the individual DMs to restrict as they see fit.
I would consider the following ideal in the official campaign setting:Gnomes
Gnomes were wiped out in the Cleansing Wars. If you wish to include gnomes in your Dark Sun adventure, consider the following plot hooks: A, B, and C. gl;hf!
On the other hand, I'd question whether putting in sample plot hooks for a race that is supposed to be extinct is worth the page or word count it would consume. Far better in my opinion to say "yeah these are all extinct" and also NEVER state in the rules "you can't do this".
It'd be like publishing a setting-specific feat for a race that isn't supposed to exist. Why bother? Keep in mind how valuable page & word count is when designing one of these books.
... and a half-giant devotee of Dregoth's false message of hope.
I remember him... I never realized he was one of Dregoth's.
On the other hand, I'd question whether putting in sample plot hooks for a race that is supposed to be extinct is worth the page or word count it would consume. Far better in my opinion to say "yeah these are all extinct" and also NEVER state in the rules "you can't do this".
It'd be like publishing a setting-specific feat for a race that isn't supposed to exist. Why bother? Keep in mind how valuable page & word count is when designing one of these books.
While I get where you're coming from, I think it's worthwhile because, specifically, it's an issue that will come up a lot. It's a very traditional, iconic D&D race, and there's always going to be a player that wants to include it or a DM that wouldn't mind the considerations of the designers in that regard.
Providing support for gnomes isn't like including support for goblins, shardminds, warforged, or fairies (each for their own reasons). It's a special case (I'd say the same for half-orcs, for example).
Honestly - just tell everyone you're a halfing - or a human (I remember humans being very varied in appearance on Dark Sun due to being so genetically malleable or some such.)
Well - if I were the last gnome - I guess I'd just stay the hell away from Nibenay.
Honestly - just tell everyone you're a halfing - or a human (I remember humans being very varied in appearance on Dark Sun due to being so genetically malleable or some such.)
The only problem with that is that Halfling's faces never age; Gnomes do...
There's a way around that, though: remind yourself that, just like in our world, the inhabitants of fictional worlds are fallible and never have a complete picture of what's going on. Real world history is FULL of debates about things that most people take for granted as obvious fact. Just look at the writers of the text in the original Dark Sun game as not being omniscient narrators, but instead as the accounts of scholars who don't have access to the total "truth," and never can.
So the books say Nibenay killed all the gnomes. For most inhabitants of Athas, the books seem to have it right: nobody's seen a gnome since the Cleansing Wars, Nibenay got his obsidian watch as a retirement gift from Rajaat for a job well done, it stands to reason he succeeded.
But maybe... he made it up. Nibenay's a deceitful dude, even for a sorcerer-king, and maybe he got tired of tracking down those last surviving settlements that kept popping up like whack-a-mole just when he thought he was done. So he does a secret ritual that takes these stragglers off of Rajaat's radar and kicks back with his templar-wives to enjoy his retirement.
Or hey, maybe even HE thinks he got them all, but as has been so eloquently stated, he missed a spot. Funny thing about gnomes, especially 4E gnomes - they are really, REALLY good at hiding. I mean REEEEAAAALLY good at hiding. To the point that it wouldn't be too difficult to imagine small surviving bands of gnomes who are so fanatically dedicated to STAYING hidden that they've become creepy paranoid sand-dwellers who grab and ruthlessly murder any poor soul who happens to stray too close to their latest hideout, lest he or she starts blabbing about seeing some weird desert halflings with old faces.
The key to these scenarios is that they RESPECT the original story - rather than just hand-waving and saying that gnomes didn't get wiped out, it's acknowledging the common belief, then comes up with a plausible reason for why that belief may be wrong and - most importantly - creates all kinds of interesting plot directions.
Sneaky guy allying with the sneaky people? Sounds reasonable to me!
So the books say Nibenay killed all the gnomes. For most inhabitants of Athas, the books seem to have it right: nobody's seen a gnome since the Cleansing Wars, Nibenay got his obsidian watch as a retirement gift from Rajaat for a job well done, it stands to reason he succeeded.
But maybe... he made it up. Nibenay's a deceitful dude, even for a sorcerer-king, and maybe he got tired of tracking down those last surviving settlements that kept popping up like whack-a-mole just when he thought he was done. So he does a secret ritual that takes these stragglers off of Rajaat's radar and kicks back with his templar-wives to enjoy his retirement.
I agree with everything you are saying, except one little point. According to all accounts about Gnomes, specifically Nibenay's own words in the Prism Pentad, the word Gnome is meaningless to the people of Athas. They don't believe that the Gnomes were wiped out, they simply don't know what a Gnome is (because they were wiped out). So it isn't Nibenay lying and telling everyone he did it, it is that there are no Gnomes left for people to even know what the word Gnome means.
However, like I said, I agree with everything else you are saying. I believe there still is some wiggle-room for an extraordinarily rare appearance of a solitary group of Gnomes somewhere... Ones that somehow hid from Nibenay (or rather, Galliard), and survived for a couple thousand years.
"Yeah, no gnomes here - we're halfings."
Or - we're "Kobolds" or "Grundenlanders" or "Fjordenrhast" or some other made up name that they want to call themselves.
===
Oh, and the ability for the gnomes to hide that they developed in the current mythology from the Firbolgs? (or is it Formorians.. right, the Formorians) well.. doesn't that just work perfectly for a race hiding from a genocidal maniac dragon.
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Mind you - I prefer the Cleansing Wars and extinct races - but, I wouldn't listen to a whining player ruin my night at the table just because he's gotta get his gnome fetish on and he's gonna throw a gold medal tantrum until he gets his way.
I'd just say - "Sure, you're a gnome - and that topic is not even relevant. Don't ask me to have you hunted - or make you special in any way - don't get all Superman on me and don't expect entire plotlines to revolve around how unique and special your character is."
I'd just say - "Sure, you're a gnome - and that topic is not even relevant. Don't ask me to have you hunted - or make you special in any way - don't get all Superman on me and don't expect entire plotlines to revolve around how unique and special your character is."
Heh, of course, I actually enjoy making entire interwoven plotlines around all of my players' characters -- those that want to be more involved with fleshing out their character to something more than stat lines in a game, tend to have more time invested in them by me as the DM. Those who trivialize it and simply munchkin their way through the game, often end up rerolling characters... a lot. I always love to make examples of such min-maxed characters in horrific ways.