HYPERBOREA / Nasarong (Hyperborean gnome)

**Posted by bat** 7/26/2015 12:48 pm

With the disclaimer, 'Not by demand' so nobody would accuse you guys of wanting it.Nasarong (Hyperborean Gnome) The ragged group entered the shabby tavern on the edge of the Striped Gulf.'We don't allow their kind in here!' barked the innkeeper as he jerked a dirty thumb towards the shortest member of the group.
'This little man here took down an orc warband by himself, he has earned his right to drink with us,' one of the men said, a wizard of some sort by the looks of it.The innkeeper grumbled then finally nodded. The six adventurers found a table and later room in the common area for the night.The innkeeper slept well, drunk on his better mead. He didn't notice the tiny footsteps as the Nasarong crept up to him.'I destroyed the orc warband by killing their war-boss in his sleep!' hissed the eerie gnome. The innkeeper opened an eye just as the poisoned dagger plunged into his chest.
Nasarong (Hyperborean Gnome)No. Enc.: 1d4 (1d10)Alignment: Neutral (Lawful Evil tendencies)Movement: 120' (40’) (50 in AS&SH)Armor Class: 6Hit Dice: 1Attacks: 1 Damage: 1d4 or by weaponSave: F3 (Saving Throw 14 in AS&SH)Size: SMorale: 8Hoard Class: XIV (Treasure Type Cx2 in AS&SH)XP: 55
Very rare are the Hyperborean Gnomes, known as Nasarong, shifty and clever, these diminutive creatures plague many a town and adventuring group alike. With a bit of coaxing and the promise of a decent reward a Nasarong will work with a group of dungeon explorers. These weird little men have a natural ability to spot anomalies, traps/weak areas and veins of precious metals or gems 65% of the time while underground. In addition, Nasarong can teleport once per day up to 60' away, either alone or with up to 120' lbs of non-living material (i.e. cannot teleport others). Their location does not need to be visible, but the Hyperborean gnome must have been to the location they are 'landing' in.

As Player Characters in Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea: These sometimes vicious creatures can be a player option with the following modifications:
Physically weak: -2 to Strength, -1 to Constitution. Clever: +1 to Intelligence, +1 to WisdomClass: Unlimited advancement as Thief or any Thief subclass, Level 8 in Cleric or Any Cleric subclass, Level 7 in any other class or subclass.

**Posted by Chainsaw** 7/26/2015 12:57 pm

Interesting. capitalbill played a gnome briefly in our old AD&D campaign, but other than that, I have rarely seen them get much air time even in their native setting to be honest (except maybe at a convention as a pregen). Regardless, thanks for sharing!

**Posted by bat** 7/26/2015 1:12 pm

Thank you! Problematically, Ghul is responsible for a game that stands above a lot of others and has an awesome presence. So I am not making these to be a jerk, but because I am adding them to my game of AS&SH. If others use them, feel free to tweak as needed, but please let me know if they see action in your game.

**Posted by Chainsaw** 7/26/2015 1:17 pm

bat wrote:
So I am not making these to be a jerk, but because I am adding them to my game of AS&SH. If others use them, feel free to tweak as needed, but please let me know if they see action in your game.

No one thinks you are a jerk for sharing your campaign ideas, my friend. Someone will end up using the gnome, I'm sure, even if just as a monster.

**Posted by bat** 7/26/2015 1:35 pm

I am always a bit timid around some quarters of our hobby because some people do get offended. I get not liking some things, but AS&SH is too awesome not to run, but I need demi-humans myself. I love the classes as is, the setting is superb, I just really love the game, I wish I had found it sooner!

**Posted by Blackadder23** 7/26/2015 2:07 pm

Welcome to the forum! No one here will be offended by your ideas, least of all Jeff.
I personally quite like gnomes in AD&D, although I don't know if I'd use them in Hyperborea. Anyway, I always enjoying reading ideas of any kind for Old School games; if nothing else, they may spark new ideas of my own. And that's what the Internet's for, right?

**Posted by bat** 7/26/2015 2:12 pm

Thank you very much for the welcome and yes, that is what the internet should be about! I always pepper my games with the work of authors like Dunsany, Leiber or CAS or Glen Cook and even they hinted at weird little things here and there in the corners.

**Posted by Ghul** 7/26/2015 4:33 pm

Yes, sir, let the ideas fly! I'm excited that you like the game enough to give it a try and even put your own stamp on it. Now, mind you, there are dwarfs in the game, but they are not J.R.R.T.'s dwarfs; however, they are inspired by the same source material, which is to say, The Sagas: greedy, venal, lecherous.

**Posted by bat** 7/26/2015 4:48 pm

And I like your dwarfs-twisted and very Norse, using magic. I was planning on elves next, making them different from Tolkien elves by making them Silmarillion type elves, which are fiercer and stranger with a few other touches, and halflings would pretty much be a walking food source unless they had a specialty. Plus I would like to incorporate a couple of other options, although are many humanoid options in opening up the Bestiary.

**Posted by Blackadder23** 7/26/2015 9:57 pm

Your idea sounds really cool!
Personally, if I were going to add gnomes to Hyperborea, I would probably do something totally out of left field with them. For example, they might actually be aliens who crossed the Black Gulf in search of "tellurian crystals and alloys". Their seeming powers of illusion and vanishment could be "a simple application of eleventh dimensional physics". Their burrow-mounds could conceal their flying saucers, and so forth. But I admit a personal bias in favor of science fantasy.

**Posted by Chainsaw** 7/27/2015 8:27 am

Blackadder23 wrote:
Your idea sounds really cool!
Personally, if I were going to add gnomes to Hyperborea, I would probably do something totally out of left field with them. For example, they might actually be aliens who crossed the Black Gulf in search of "tellurian crystals and alloys". Their seeming powers of illusion and vanishment could be "a simple application of eleventh dimensional physics". Their burrow-mounds could conceal their flying saucers, and so forth. But I admit a personal bias in favor of science fantasy.

Variant on the Greys? I like it!

**Posted by bat** 7/27/2015 10:45 am

For my mostly fantasy games I go for dark and eerie, and these gnomes are inspired by the William Allingham poem, 'The Faeries'-
"Up the airy mountain,Down the rushy glen,We daren't go a-huntingFor fear of little men;"

Now my science fantasy game is like this: I took Warriors of the Red Planet as the core engine and added bits from the Games Workshop Realms of Chaos books and the Mutant: Year Zero game. My demihumans there are certainly twisted, in place of gnomes there are Doffs, short humanoid fly people with a leaning towards shadow magic (WofRP has a sorcerer class) and while an independent race, all must heed the call of Overlord Fly, one of 21 gods awakened by a diplomatic mission that was actually a ritual and prophecy from 300 years before.

**Posted by Blackadder23** 7/27/2015 12:54 pm

Chainsaw wrote:
Variant on the Greys? I like it!

Yeah, a lot of aliens are described as dwarfish, so why not go with it? You could have Greys (or Zeta Reticulans, as your more discriminating crazies call them) disguising themselves in fake beards to get the gems they need to power their flying saucers. Or here's a sketch from a report of a "sighting" in Brazil in 1969 where the alleged ET literally was a freaking gnome:

(From which evidence I conclude there are jugs of corn liquor in Brazil as well as West Virginia. Also, either the Hatfields or the McCoys were from outer space.)

**Posted by Blackadder23** 7/27/2015 1:02 pm

bat wrote:
For my mostly fantasy games I go for dark and eerie, and these gnomes are inspired by the William Allingham poem, 'The Faeries'-
"Up the airy mountain,Down the rushy glen,We daren't go a-huntingFor fear of little men;"

Now my science fantasy game is like this: I took Warriors of the Red Planet as the core engine and added bits from the Games Workshop Realms of Chaos books and the Mutant: Year Zero game. My demihumans there are certainly twisted, in place of gnomes there are Doffs, short humanoid fly people with a leaning towards shadow magic (WofRP has a sorcerer class) and while an independent race, all must heed the call of Overlord Fly, one of 21 gods awakened by a diplomatic mission that was actually a ritual and prophecy from 300 years before.

That sounds great!
Just ignore my bizarre digressions...

Last edited by Blackadder23 (7/27/2015 1:03 pm)

**Posted by bat** 7/27/2015 1:14 pm

Oh no, all ideas should be given a fair shake and be discussed! No bizarre digressions do I see!

**Posted by Rastus_Burne** 7/29/2015 8:05 pm

Blackadder23 wrote:

That is so bizarre it's truly awesome.

**Posted by Chainsaw** 7/29/2015 8:44 pm

Rastus_Burne wrote:
Blackadder23 wrote:
That is so bizarre it's truly awesome.

Truth is stranger than fiction, as they say.