Greetings people!
After being encouraged to post a guide on gnomes recently, I've kept thinking about it. Finally, here I am!

First of all, I'd like to point out that this is a GUIDE. That means this text is no way a strict way to "roleplay" gnomes, neither is a strict source of information. I'll be using wowwiki if I need information that I'm not sure of or when I lack the info.

Let's start with general attributes and game mechanic explanations.

Stats and Racials Explained
They have high Agility and Intelligence, low Strength and around average Stamina and Spirit.
Physical attributes are pretty much obvious. They're usually not so strong physically due to their small "stature", but they're quite nimble. Their keen mind is furthermore presented by their racial passive, Expansive Mind and their dexterous nature is presented by their racial active skill, Escape Artist .
In addition to that, they receive arcane resistance and engineering bonus. These may be simply explained as gnomes' affinity with arcane magic and technology. But then we'd be missing a very important point: Their curiosity and versatility! Most races are keen on either technology or magic since either of the subjects need a background and accumulation of knowledge, know-how and experience to be an aspect of a race. Gnomes on the other hand have improved in both. This shows us how capable they are when it comes to accumulation of knowledge and how curious they are to try out different things.


Enough about racials. Now there is an issue that is to be considered: Misconceptions! I had actually posted this on forums of a guild I'm in. I'll do some editing on that.

Misconceptions

Gnomes are a joke race. They have pink beard and green hair.

This definitely is not the case. Sure, Blizzard uses gnomes as a part of their humor and becouse of the capability of having unusual hair styles and color, people keep making funny (or not-so-funny) gnome characters. But this does not mean they are a joke race. Think of scissors. You can kill a man with it. But are scissors weapons? Only if you want them to be. But if you don't push them into someone's guts, you can make wonderful things with them by cutting cloth or paper!

Another misinterpretion is their eccentricy. It is a part of them. I mean, it's normal for them. Laughing at a gnome becouse of eccentricy is the same as gasping at an orc becouse it's green. An eccentric orc is a joke. An eccentric gnome.. is a gnome. Of course this does NOT mean ALL of them are eccentric.

Gnomes seem intelligent but they're absent minded fools.

What happened in Gnomeregan was a tragedy caused by a betrayer. Sicco Thermaplug (current boss in Gnomeregan) was a visionary but too ambitious engineer. He went crazy when his friend, Gelbin Mekkatorque (gnome leader) was chosen over him for the High Tinker position. When trogg invasion occured, he tricked Gelbin into releasing the radiation bombs; convincing him that no more than a small number of gnomes would perish (which would be a tragic but worthy sacrifice to save the whole race). Gelbin's fault was his naivity. He trusted his friend and did as he suggested.

If you want to bad-mouth gnomes and are gonna say "lol m8 they lost a city becouse of a betrayer olol nabs", I'd like to point out a few other betrayer/power-hungry/gone mad cases: Gul'dan, Nerzhull, Illidain, Kil'jaeden, Archimonde...
At least it caused gnomes their city, not total destruction of a world!

Everyone knows dwarves are the real deal! They have giant forges and they are the ones who build and invent stuff, they even got explorer's league!

Dwarves probably are the race that explores most. However, when it comes to inventions, that is not the case. When dwarves were amused at their discovery of gunpowder, gnomes already had automated cities (which blew dwarves' minds).


Now that the misconceptions are cleared, let's talk about their history!

Gnomes Historically

Let's talk a bit about the race.

Their legacy had been unclear for quite some time. Now that WotLK is out though, we have some clues. Although not certain, it is thought that gnomes were once mechagnomes, who were transformed via Curse of Flesh. Considering the "head" mechagnome, Gearmaster Mechazod is a creation of titans, it is clear that gnomish origins go WAY back.

About their closer past, noone really knows about gnomes, not even gnomes themselves. The first "known" gnome is a mage named Erbag, a part of Order of Tirisfal (about 8 centuries ago). Other than him, it was dwarves who first discovered a gnome mecha-settlement about 2 centuries ago. Two races became allies quickly. Shortly after dwarves let gnomes build Gnomeregan, War of Three Hammers occured. Gnomes helped the alliance during the second war directly. In Third War, their weapon and vehicle designs helped the alliance, but gnomes shut themselves in Gnomeregan due to guile of Sicco Thermaplug.

Nowadays, they're bent on retaking their capital city.

Gnome RP opportunities

So how do you RP a gnome? The answer is simple, however you like it. Gnomes are a curious and a very capable race. They are daring and fearless when it comes to testing their curiosity. A gnome is ready to take it to the end. They are also creative and imaginative. This allows them to make wonderful and incredible inventions... and sometimes, it causes over-complex solutions (like World Enlarger, which enlarges whole world where it could only shrink the target).

A gnome is what others cannot understand. They will mock your hair becouse they're tied to their traditions. They will mock your imagination and creativity, becouse they have limited their minds. They will mock your height, becouse they're too afraid to look at things at a different angle. You, on the other hand, will be a testament to freedom of thought and imagination!

Classes
Class-wise, World of Warcraft allows you to pick Warrior, Rogue, Mage, Warlock and Death Knight.

Gnome warriors are the defenders of their cities, sturdy gnomes who are strong in muscle as they're strong in heart.
Gnome rogues have various jobs in the society and sometimes are loners. It's very common for them to be lore/treasure hunters and explorers. Unlike other races typical "solo" rogues, as a gnome, they have great faith in others, especially other fellow gnomes.
Gnome mages are the sharpest mages on the world. They invent their own ways to devise new spells, call and shape energy and master the arcane.
Gnome warlocks are a good example of where curiosity can take a gnome to. Probably less evil inherently compared to other warlocks, they are nevertheless as deadly as them.
For death knights, it's a [pick a gnome story]+[pick a death knight story].

Also consider other classes, RP-wise. It is known that some gnomes revere the holy light for example. Even if they are not religious as a race, there can be priest individuals.

Flavor
To flavor your character up, you can add a background story, various ambitions and general behaviour ruleset.

For background stories, a gnome is quite free. First of all, unlike other races, they were isolated from the Third War. Although this looks like narrowed options, it actually leads to a completely unique option: Gnomeregan! Who were you in gnomeregan? A mage? A tinker? A guard? How did the invasion and "incident" happen for you? Did you fight? Run away? Suicide? Ask for power even if it means you'd sell your soul? How do you feel about Gnomeregan now? Up for a fight to take it away? Think it should be abandoned? Think it should be destroyed?
And also do not forget that you are NOT limited to gnomeregan. Becouse all (about all) gnomes were in Gnomeregan and there wasnt a gnome unit in warcraft III doesnt mean there weren't ANY gnomes out there! Be imaginative! A very simple solution is that you could be a mage in Dalaran, for example! Or a representetive in any city!

As for ambitions of your character, I'll leave that to you. Two very easy-to-think ambitions would be retaking of Gnomeregan and learning your legacy to full extent. Since you're a gnome and meant to be curious, it could be anything! You could be a gnome who wants to learn the secrets of druidism, for instance.

Aand behaviour. This part is pretty fun really. You can add up any sort of eccentric behaviour to a gnome and in fact, you should! It's great fun. Don't think it's a bad thing that people laugh at you when you behave that way. Gnomes ARE eccentric and others DO laugh them (sometimes from their back). When you combine it with your normal RP actions, you'll be respected enough.

I've left many points open, but that's becouse I want this to be a guide, as I've told. I'll tell about my character, Mnemosi, as an example.

This thread has been added to the “Informative & useful threads for Roleplayers” compilations sticky: Informative & useful threads for Roleplayers