Something else I made for the upcoming game with the family. I also have frogmen. I see potentially a set up where there is a bit of an ongoing conflict between the frogmen and the Gromes. The girl likes faeries, and is playing an elf fighter. I think potentially this might appeal in a game. I like how they can potentially be friends or foes, and not just a foe to kill.
There is some interesting (at least to me) ideas that came while writing it up, especially with a Druid in the party. I left it a bit open ended to see what develops in play.
I may not use them at all, depending on what happens but want to have some prep in case I need it.
I called them Gromes vs. Gnomes to evoke something a little different from the tropes of gnomes that have grown about DnD in its various incarnations.
I appreciate no one will probably read this as everyone is on MeWe or somewhere, but I believe in sharing what I develop. I will put out the very brief dungeon starter after session 0, when it is more developed.
I feel obliged to reply simply because I’m not planning on moving to MeWe any time soon 🙂
I think Terry Pratchett’s “Nomes” in his Truckers/Diggers/Wings book series used the trick of spelling the name differently to make them their own thing. It’s quite an effective technique.
Re: your comment about “the girl likes fairies”: When I first started roleplaying with my kids about a dozen years ago (playing D&D 3.5) my daughter played a wizard using a custom “fairy” race I came up with. She loved it, because the fairy was so tiny that it got a massive size bonus to AC, and combined with the ability to fly, it meant that she was nearly always able to keep safely out of harm’s way.