Deep Gnome same-sex relationships (incl. spoilers)

[brendan_in_china]

I don't know man, but there's something weird about _all_ the deep gnome relationships in BG3 being same sex. Here they are:

- Philomeen with the rune powder has a disliked ex at the cave in.
- Gnome leader 2 has a husband digging him out.
- Barcus Wroot obsesses over a friend who doesn't care for him (echoing Philomeen).
- And Yrre the gnome lightning magic-item creator is the gnome lover of Lenore (underdark mansion). This name isn't gendered, but going by trend and context, they're likely same sex.

I know we're talking a small sample here, but come-on writers, don't make gnome relationships cliche. Surprise me, make some friendships friendships. Thank you.

[Kryldost]

Aight so I finally reached grymforge, wanted to clear everything above ground first. Wulbern is their leader so Barcus has a sense of loyalty to him. It's his friend. Lenore and Yrre, Yrre ain't forcibly a girl. Seen one factual couple there, the rest is not really proven to be. The deep gnomes are very tight knit that's for sure, consideringthey are enslaved I can understand why. There's no concrete proof the deep gnomes have the extreme open-minded opinion on relationships you claim they have. I wouldn't care either way though, there's nothing abnormal in having homosexual tendencies :P

[brendan_in_china]

Barcus' loyalty seems extreme and out of place. No one else shares it. There's some personal information missing here. I'll refer to context to inform me.

Yrre has no mention of gender at all in any of their magic items. That's not normal for a man, hence the woman conclusion. Again, I'll refer to context to inform me.

There are two gay couples amongst the deep gnomes, Philomeen and the woman digging at the rockfall, and the gnome leader and the man digging at the rockfall. There are no straight couples among any of the deep gnomes. This is the context.

How accepting of gayness you are is irrelevant, the point I'm getting at is that most people in a society are not gay. I expect BG3 to adhere broadly to this. They can shake things up, surprise me, that's fine. But when they turn this on its head, they risk looking like pushing something political - which is the exact opposite of fun.

I enjoy BG3, so when Larian does something like this. I point it out.

[Sonic Titan]

Автор сообщения: brendan_in_china

Barcus' loyalty seems extreme and out of place. No one else shares it. There's some personal information missing here. I'll refer to context to inform me.

Yrre has no mention of gender at all in any of their magic items. That's not normal for a man, hence the woman conclusion. Again, I'll refer to context to inform me.

There are two gay couples amongst the deep gnomes, Philomeen and the woman digging at the rockfall, and the gnome leader and the man digging at the rockfall. There are no straight couples among any of the deep gnomes. This is the context.

How accepting of gayness you are is irrelevant, the point I'm getting at is that most people in a society are not gay. I expect BG3 to adhere broadly to this. They can shake things up, surprise me, that's fine. But when they turn this on its head, they risk looking like pushing something political - which is the exact opposite of fun.

I enjoy BG3, so when Larian does something like this. I point it out.

How many gnomes are there in that group? Majority of people overall is one thing, finding a very small group that have minority preferences isn't unheard of at all, though.

[brendan_in_china]

Role play game-worlds are representative when it comes to passage of time, length of land traveled and numbers of people in a community. They have to be, otherwise you travel for days IC, meeting no one, then meet 1000 people in a common village, each needing scripts.

BG3 is curated for time, distance and people. The goblin camp is tiny compared to expected numbers. Back in 2E D&D goblin villages were something like 40-400. Look at how few gnomes are working the rock fall, only four!

Is on the writers to have these dilated numbers represent the larger body they're describing. Sure, it's a small sample pool, but writers have total control of who is who and what. So when the writers all reach for the same schtick, it stands out.

That these gnomes are gay is no reason to cut the writers slack. I'm treating the characters normal by calling this out.

(And no, my Tav isn't going to kill gnomes just because they break immersion.)

You know what would work for me? Keep it as is, and have a companion comment on what are the odds. Done. The world-building would be intact and minimal change.

[Kryldost]

The gnomes at grymforge all piled up near the start, there Is few left in grymforge since they took the rest to moonrise tower.

[Sonic Titan]

Автор сообщения: brendan_in_china

Role play game-worlds are representative when it comes to passage of time, length of land traveled and numbers of people in a community. They have to be, otherwise you travel for days IC, meeting no one, then meet 1000 people in a common village, each needing scripts.

BG3 is curated for time, distance and people. The goblin camp is tiny compared to expected numbers. Back in 2E D&D goblin villages were something like 40-400. Look at how few gnomes are working the rock fall, only four!

Is on the writers to have these dilated numbers represent the larger body they're describing. Sure, it's a small sample pool, but writers have total control of who is who and what. So when the writers all reach for the same schtick, it stands out.

That these gnomes are gay is no reason to cut the writers slack. I'm treating the characters normal by calling this out.

(And no, my Tav isn't going to kill gnomes just because they break immersion.)

I think you're really making it more of a big deal than you need to; it never even crossed my mind until this post.

Автор сообщения: brendan_in_china

You know what would work for me? Keep it as is, and have a companion comment on what are the odds. Done. The world-building would be intact and minimal change.

You can RP your own character commenting on it - they're not new to realms. Done!

[Whut]

Cough shock wave into lava cough

[Ereghor the Enigmatic]

What irks me quite a bit more is how there seems to be a large (decades at least, and gnomes live for quite a while longer than the average ~100 years) age gap between Wulbren and Lunkbug based on their looks and voices.

I am not sure what the intent behind that was. Wulbren does seem to be a manipulative bugger (in every sense of the word?) with his anarchist clique, so him using Lunkbug in more ways than one has implications that I may be making up at this point because modern writing and settings may have ruined my expectations and perceptions of characters.

[brendan_in_china]

I wouldn't quite phrase it that way Ereghor, but you're right about the age gap being problematic for long-lived races like deep gnomes.

It's not the difference between a 40 year old and 20 year old, it's likely much greater. There is probably a huge gulf between experience and naivety.

That said, Lunkbug is an adult. It's okay, but there's good reason to disapprove.

****

You could be onto something about this being an anarchist (or even nihilist) clique!

If they are the bunch of fringe lunatics that Barcus says they are, they're all going to be some sort of bat-sheet crazy. If so, it could averting expectations and casting both gay gnome couples in poor light. 1) uses his relationship to shore up loyalty in a terrorist group, and 2) uses her relationship to secure a needed alchemist specialist.

No wonder then Philomeen wanted to get away from them.

[brendan_in_china]

Автор сообщения: Sonic Titan

I think you're really making it more of a big deal than you need to; it never even crossed my mind until this post.

...
You can RP your own character commenting on it - they're not new to realms. Done!

It was really on-the-nose in one of my play-throughs. These encounters happened 1,2,3 and 4. When something makes me stop and shake my head, it's overdone.

I'm not going to bag on fan-fic, if you're writing a log, great. But in regular solo-play I can't express myself like that. I suppose I could put on a bad voice and pretend, but if I do that I might as well play TT D&D.