I'm getting so frustrated with this! It seems every time I try a new file, (necessitated by various computer mess ups and needs to reinstall), I get a bunch of different gnomes but can't seem to be consistent on any of them except the sculpture gnome and the inventing gnome, and even those are showing up at different levels of skill.
This time around I'm playing in Aurora Skies, which I alternately love and hate. I have three Sims in my household, a married couple and a singer. All three are doing quite well in their various endeavors, but........I'm just not getting the gnomes!
Kirk Olaffson, handsome hunk that he is, has maxed and supermaxed several skills. He loves to travel to the past and future, (no gnomes), is very adept at sculpting, (gnome named Clay made out of clay so he came along early), inventing, (gnome named Rusty who came along after he maxed out inventing) and he loves to dig with his miner, (gnome named Fred, a troglodyte from tunnel and gnome named Gimli picked up by miner). His painting and guitar playing, (to satisfy his ltw) won't get him a gnome anyway so he spends a lot of time at festivals. He has the Festival Frequenter reward and while he has tons of tickets he has yet to get an Autumn gnome by visiting the Haunted House. He entered every day for several times and zip. He did turn into a ghost once which about gave me a heart attack.
Ginger Peachy, his wife, is at the peak of her gardening career. One hot day in summer it was just too much to be in the garden so she took a nap on her deck and acquired a summer gnome. She is an avid fisherwoman, (no gnome), loves to go to the festivals, (no gnome), has a scarecrow in her garden, (no gnome) and is currently frustrated with the gardening bench and sunflowers although they are helping supermax gardening. No one has traveled further than the outdoor market where they picked up Louis Phillipe, (French gnome) and Jean Louis, (second French gnome), Yao, (Chinese gnome), and Tut, (Egypt gnome).
Chantal Musique is doing very well and is pretty much a superstar singer. (No lounge lizard gnome but I haven't given up hope). Really, it's all she does besides read skill books in her spare time.
I had expected the summer gnome, (he's adorable), and an autumn gnome. Why I haven't gotten the autumn gnome is beyond me, since every other file with a scarecrow in the garden netted me at least one, and then two with two scarecrows. I did get a laundry gnome after 3 loads of laundry but no vampire gnome with plasma fruit plants. That one is still in test mode. No gnome with one plant, or two, or three. We're at 4 now. No gnomes from sending out ores and minerals. Going to try a fried banana and peanut butter sandwhich eventually.
My Monte Vista file has an equal number of puzzles for me. Again, acquired gnomes via the outdoor market, (consignment store one that Anushka built), got one in a tomb in China, got several from plasma plants, got several of various types from mining, got one or two from both sculpting and inventing but none from the Seasons because I did not have Seasons installed there and once again, none from sending out gems and ores which has always netted gnomes for me before.
In short, my conclusion is either my pc REALLY sucks, (which I already knew), or acquiring gnomes really is totally random and unpredictable.