#TSR Wanderer

[oldschoolfrp]

Hellhounds roam the war-torn lands on the western edge of the Republic (Keith Parkinson, D&D Expert adventure module X4: Master of the Desert Nomads, TSR, 1983)

[anxietytwist]

𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐧 𝐕𝐚𝐥'𝐡𝐚𝐢

[ 𝟸𝟻 | 𝟼'𝟸" | Agender | Queer | ❤︎𝐌𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐤 ]

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⧼Style⧽

𝙃𝙖𝙞𝙧

Chin-length, curly, & brown

𝙁𝙖𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙤𝙣

Shirt & trousers

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⧼Notes⧽

ᴘʀᴏɴᴏᴜɴꜱ➙ They/Them ʙᴜɪʟᴅ➙ 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 ꜱᴄᴀʀꜱ➙ Cuts down their forearms to wrists ᴀʙɪʟɪᴛʏ➙ Psychokinesis & Psychometry ʜᴏʙʙʏ/ᴘᴀꜱꜱɪᴏɴ➙ Plushies 🧸

𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐧 wears a binder (which they've been able to replicate, & improve upon, in this new world due to their ability) 🏳️‍⚧️

Their hair started greying after the trauma of finding every member of their family brutality slaughtered

𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐧 was absolutely livid when they woke up after achieving their goal & finally getting to die (how dare the universe prolong their suffering in a new world where none of their friends know them)

While the scars on their forearms are “work” related, those found closer to their wrists were all self-inflicted 😔

Because of the dystopian world they grew up in, 𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐧 has always been interested in soft toys (+ they never had any as a child)

...

𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐧 means “𝐶𝑜𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑑” (Latin)

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𝐼𝐹: @lilac-den

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Picrew used:

[lilac-den]

can we have a little ✨spíce✨ with maverick doting mc while they're placed on his knees? and he just can't help but tease them since mc is all shy and gentle? (I reckon I'll miss all TSR ROs, but nah, I'm all weak for cool guy🤣🤣🤣

A little snippet of Maverick x Shy!MC

I can't stop my heart from beating so much.

It started yesterday, when Sylphina and I decided to visit the Whisht estate after receiving an invitation. It started raining quite late in the evening, so Sylphina and I ended up sleeping over for the night. After waking up and having breakfast, one of the servants quietly asked me if I could see their master, Maverick, for 'something of utmost importance'.

I had expected Maverick wanting to discuss about the Princess. Or Sylphina. Or even advise me about my etiquette training that I had been doing so slowly on.

But none of what I imagine came as I feel my cheeks heat up at the hand that rests on my lower back.

"Are you alright, Wanderer?"

The question was asked in such a casual tone, it almost baffles me on how this stone-faced prick had the gall to ask me such.

How? How can I be alright when I'm sitting on your lap, you dummy?!

"I'm...fine." I barely muster out the second word, hoping I didn't sound too breathy. The hum that escapes Maverick sends a tremor along my body. That tremor grows even more after Maverick grips the hand on my lower back onto one of my hips, pulling me close to his body.

I bit my lower lip and feel fire lick within my belly. Fuck.

"Do let me know if you feel too much discomfort," he says, his quill waving about in movement of his handwriting.

I barely give a nod, my toes curling and uncurling in an attempt to settle down the glee within me for being this close to him. To feel him hold me.

I mentally smack myself. Stop it. He's not holding me. This is...just...

What was it that Maverick needed me for?

When the servant told me Maverick needed me for something important, I rushed my way over here without running (harder than it looked but the servants either didn't notice or ignored it). I only got the question "What's the matter?" out of my mouth before Maverick gestures me to come closer.

And before I knew it, here I am - sitting on Maverick's lap very intimately.

I glance over to his face and take note of the features. Glacial blue eyes focus on his work, white bangs barely reaching above his eyes. His lips are a line, serious and straight. Even his glasses are perfectly perched on the bridge of his nose, settled and fitting to his diligent appearance.

Then I see his eyes widen and they turn to me. It took me a hot second for me to realize my hand is on one of his cheeks, something I retract quickly as if I touched fire itself.

"S-Sorry!" I swallow, the touch of his skin still embedded against my fingers. "You just...you..." The attempt to bring up a reason dies on my tongue.

But Maverick, with a curious gleam in his eyes that I'm far too familiar with, tells me, "you are welcome to reciprocate."

A skip occurs inside me. "What?"

Maverick puts his quill down and leans back against his chair, providing me more room. "You are welcome to touch me."

I was so ready to laugh it off, to take this as him making a joke. But two factors stop me.

One: Maverick doesn't joke easily. Sure, he has his quips and jabs with the occasional sass, but he wouldn't joke about intimacy, consent or anything of that order.

And two...I have fought too long to not tell when there's an opening. And right now, sitting on his lap, Maverick has his guard down almost entirely. A part of me begins to itch and after so many years, I give in.

"Please excuse me."

My words barely come out in a whisper to my ears, but Maverick nods with understanding. I reach up for one of his cheeks, hesitating when my fingertips are just centimetres away. My heartbeats are loud and pumping with vigor, forcing me to hear and feel just how nervous I am.

I touch his porcelain skin. Then I cup his cheek.

His face is warm under my touch. I watch him close his eyes and sigh, something in the mix of relief and ease. I move my other hand to cup his other cheek, examining him up close.

His eyes, while shut, display a bit of dark circles underneath as signs of having less sleep than one should. His snow white hair shines under the soft sunlight behind him through the window. His lips are parted, full and a soft pink shade.

I brush my thumb gently along his cheek. Reacting, he leans into the palm of my hand and relishes in my touch. Something lodges in my throat in that moment.

When was it?

When was the last time I saw Maverick like this?

He opens his eyes and my eyes sting.

They're vibrant and blue, sparked with intelligence and watching me with its gaze.

Something I prayed so hard for, the last time I saw those beautiful eyes close. When I only had them in my dreams and hallucinations in my previous life since the incident.

"Wanderer?"

And in that word, cold water splashes onto my trance.

I let him go and scramble to leave his lap. "I'm sorry, my lord. I..." I brush down my clothes and perform a bow/curtsy "Sylphina is calling."

Maverick frowns and moves to stand. "But Wanderer-"

It was a poor excuse. Even just hearing Maverick's 'but' is enough of an indication that he doesn't believe my lie. But I have to get out of here and build a bit of distance before I do something foolish.

So I run. I run out of the office, down the hall and let my blood pump with adrenaline.

But my heart continues to rattle and beat against my chest, even as tears fill my eyes.

They fall the moment I allow myself to imagine, just a little bit, that his eyes called my name with the familiarity of the past.

Something that is no longer there.

[mmmakeovers]

A New CC Haul! Children/Toddlers/Infants

I've been keeping a beady eye out for infant cc ever since the update but in general my sim kiddies needed some love. This cc haul covers male- and female-framed children, toddlers, and infants.

Make sure to watch the video to see all the assets in game 🖤

My username on all my platforms is mmmakeovers, links here.

Thank you so much to all the talented creators @zurkdesign @sehablasimlish @ravensim @saurussims @nekochan-simmer @stardze @superflare @simiracle @boschianacc @powluna @birksche @nicatnite88 @mossylane @onyxsims @georgiaglm @madlensims @renorasims @sims4sue @jellypawss @littletodds @springsims1 @maytaiii @plumbaleena @zorteh @goodchillsstudio Patreon/TSR only creators: SpaceCadet Lillka

CC Links under the cut, in order of appearance in the video 🖤

Teresa Hairstyle for Girls

Bantu Knots Hairstyle

Smaller Bantu Knots for Kids and Toddlers

Parted Braid for Girls

Riley Hairstyle and Bow for Girls

Bairn Do's Collection

Arethabee Lydia Hair Conversion

Karly Curls for Girls

Nadia Hairstyle for Girls

Jordana Hairstyle for Girls

@imvikai x @greenllamas Glitter Age Conversions

Chick Tee

Lil' Wanderers

Weekend Mood - Set for Girls

Sis Set

@trillyke After Midnight Top - Kids Version

Jeans Collection

Skirt Collection

Kids SwimWear

Ruffle Shorts & Tucked T

Dungaree for Girls

Namika

Valeria

Nicky

Toadstool (Updated)

Arlo Socks

Bow Shoes for Girls

Aneska

@trillyke Heartbreaker Loafers

Shaggy Toddler Hair

Rainy Days

Froggy Outfit

Rex - Toddler Top

Princess

Piper Overalls and Penelope Dress

Hoodie-less Onesies

Anastasia

BG Plain Janes (TF)

Tyler

Camila Curls for Infants

June & Linn Hair (Updated)

Boo Hair

Infant Outfit Set

Infant Headwrap and Onesie Recolours

Infant Outfit Set (a different set!)

Infant Outfit Set (another one!)

Infant Outfit Set (another one!)

More Baby Clothes

Infant Conversions

Infant Outfit

Baby Jammies

Little Onesies

Millie Dress

Infants Mismatched Socks

Rosie Shoes

Bo Shoes

[butterflydm]

The news about Tanchico does confirm that when Rafe said a closer adaptation of TSR, he really meant a close adaptation, because that was definitely the easiest storyline to shift to another city that would appear again later on if he wanted to combine storylines (Perrin's plotline could only happen in the Two Rivers, and Rand's plotline can only happen in the Aiel Waste).

So I think a reread of TSR is in my future, lol, so I can refresh myself on the story beats.

Tanchico means Egeanin, I would guess. Otherwise you'd move their story closer to everyone else's action. So the show likely plans to keep the pressure on re: the Seanchan.

It does make going to White Tower feel even less likely (and I already had the likelihood of it pretty low) because that would be a LOT of ping-ponging for Elayne and Nynaeve, to go from the west coast to the middle of the continent and then back over to the west coast in the space of something like two or three episodes purely dedicated to traveling around. At least for Egwene, the White Tower is kinda 'on the way' to the Waste. The White Tower is definitely NOT on the way to Tanchico from Falme, lol.

The biggest question that I have is how long we'll get before the characters split up into their various plotlines and if any of them come back together again at the end of the season. From what else Rafe said at NYCC, it sounds like they are not dipping very far into TFoH at all, because he talked about focusing on a single book this season. There will definitely be things from books 1-3 in there, because we know Elaida, etc. have been cast and need some kind of introduction, but the main focus will be book 4.

A pretty good chunk of TSR does take place before anyone goes to the Waste, so I wonder how much of that we'll get. I do expect us to get the official final breakup of Rand & Egwene, though I doubt it will be comedic like it is in the books. I feel like they shouldn't rush right into Rand & Elayne afterwards (which is a major reason that I do hope they're planning to reunite Elayne & Nynaeve with Rand's side of the storyline at the end of the season, because that gives some space in between the breakup and then Rand and Elayne having serious emotions about each other), and Rand & Aviendha are built for a slow-burn. Plus I would expect Lan and Nynaeve to get some time together (their only time together in s2 was Nynaeve's vision in the third archway) before they split up (for the rest of the season?).

If Doman is the one who carries Elayne & Nynaeve to Tanchico, then that's the set-up for him to meet Egeanin there. Then Elayne and Nynaeve could potentially take a Sea Folk raker at the end of the season to reunite with Rand's half of the cast? But that really depends on how quickly Rand's side of the story is moving.

I definitely don't remember all the plot beats of Nynaeve & Elayne's side of TSR, so that reread is in order, yeah. But their TFoH plotline of having Nynaeve and Elayne just wandering the continent for most of s4 because Nynaeve can't remember the word 'Salidar' would feel like such a random & pointless sidequest especially since Rand & Elayne and Nynaeve & Lan still need a lot more weight in their romances at this point (and I'm saying that as someone who likes a lot of their circus arc in TFoH).

Even with knowing that they'll be following TSR more closely, I am definitely expecting a lot of surprises in s3. They did a really good job in putting in some elements in this season that I was not expecting but that I really loved (having Mat be the one to give Rand the wound in his side was so galaxy-brained of them; and having Elayne be the one to heal it really tied together her original meeting with Rand into the different way that the show has introduced her).

[indierpgnewsletter]

Playing Metamorphosis Alpha (1976)

(This was originally published in the Indie RPG Newsletter)

This week, we officially kick off a year's worth of intermittent posting about games from 1975 to 1985. We start off with Metamorphosis Alpha, a game by James Ward, published by TSR in 1976.

The pitch of Metamorphosis Alpha is wild. You play people aboard a giant starship that on its journey through space was irradiated and turned into a wacky wonderland. The ship is huge - 50 miles long and 17 levels. It's a megadungeon with whole biomes in it. The people aboard the ship have essentially had their society break down with mutated folk and non-mutated folk separating and fracturing into a thousand different communities. A lot of knowledge of the ship has been lost and now, life is mostly about survival.

Mutation is at the heart of this game. It's both a worldbuilding principle (anything is possible! just say it's a mutation!) and an invitation to make off-the-wall weirdest bunch of freaky little guys you could hope for. Character creation is easily the most fun part of the game. You can play a normal human (boo!), a mutant person, a mutant animal, or, wait for it, a mutant plant! Yes, my green friends, you can absolutely play a plant. In my game, which we dubbed the Preposterous Adventures of Peacock and Plant, the two players were, you guessed it, a peacock and a plant. Or rather, a peacock-person and a plant-person. Or to be even more precise, a peacock with six hands and a levitating ficus.

While stats are randomly rolled (3d6 down the line), you get to pick your mutations. For physical mutations, you could pick having wings or gills. For mental mutations (usually limited to one), you could pick precognition or telekinesis or telepathy or... death field generation? It's a gonzo buffet.

I don't particularly like the term "lonely fun". I think "lonely" stopped being a synonym for "alone" a while ago and now it's mostly used to mean "sadness about being alone". There's nothing sad about sitting by yourself and playing a game. For both the GM and players, Metamorphosis Alpha's big gift is solo fun. The GM is invited to make this big starship, piece by piece, stocking it with whatever nonsense they can imagine. The players are given this toy box with pretty clear rules so they can spend all the time they want making the choicest weirdo.

How does it play? Good question, disembodied voice! Well, it doesn't really. The actual rules of the game felt like little islands that you could visit but if you didn't, you were wandering adrift. There are six stats. Radiation Resistance, only used when exposed to radiation. Mental Resistance, used for psychic attacks and defending from them. Leadership Potential, which is used to see if someone will follow you and join your party. And then Strength, Dexterity and Constitution which are for combat.

So outside of being irradiated, trying to recruit a follower, or fighting, the game doesn't really have any rules to invoke. There is no core mechanic as you're probably used to. People who have played OD&D will recognize this but for others, I have to explain how weird that feels. You don't just roll the dice when making a jump or when trying to persuade a person or examining a door or literally anything outside the situations mentioned above. There is no ability check or saving throw. It was honestly like playing a PbtA game with four very specific moves and nothing else.

I didn't want to just ignore this in play so I didn't houserule it away. We stuck to the text and anytime the characters wanted to do something dangerous or tricky, we just talked through it. This wasn't great. Not just because we missed rolling dice. For me, this was tough because there was the stark tonal shift from character creation to play. When we made characters, it seemed like a saturday morning cartoon. But when we played, the primary method for progress was getting the GM to agree that your action should succeed. You can't just roll for success, you have to convince the GM. But on what basis is the GM supposed to decide? If I was being an impartial referee, thinking about physics and realism and so on, my job is to say "no" to wacky ideas that would be home in a saturday morning cartoon. In the end, I didn't want to spend my time saying no and chose to embrace my players' wacky ideas. We had a fun game and since the players wanted to avoid all the combat, we basically never touched the dice.

I'm not sure what to make of this. Is this one of those "objective successfully failed" situations? I'm really interested in hearing from folks who played this game or its successor, Gamma World. Which way did you fall? Survival dungeoncrawl or saturday morning cart

PS: This is how stats like Radiation Resistance are used. When the situation arises, you look down at a look-up table! Radiation level on the x-axis and your stat on the y-axis. The result is the amount of dice you take as damage, I think. If you get a D, that's instant death. But every turn when you're exposed, your stat temporarily goes down by one. So you have to keep rechecking the table every turn.

[markantonys]

for the LOVE of GOD, the girls are NOT going back to the tower in season 3!!! what about "season 2 is an amalgamation of books 2&3 and season 3 is book 4" do people not understand! they have completed their Tower Arc Amalgamation! they have no in-world reason or narrative need to return! their next step is to embark on their TSR roadtrips! it is not efficient storytelling to hurtle them all the way back to the tower from falme, have them stay for one (1) week and half (.5) an episode just so that egwene and elayne can take the accepted tests they DO NOT ACTUALLY NEED TO TAKE in order for the rest of the story to work, and then hurtle them off again on their roadtrips, rather than just going straight off on said roadtrips from falme! especially since the entire rest of egwene's travel party is already conveniently gathered with her at falme and ready to head out! do you want the poor woman to wander around the desert for ages looking for the rest of the party since she went there separately from them?

tldr: "the girls will return to the tower in s3" is the Poorly-Thought-Out Reader Assumption That Makes Me Irrationally Angry of season 3, in the same way that flicker flicker & portal stones were for s2 djfkgh i become arthur clenching fist meme every time i see it said! (note that this outburst is 100% brought to you by r/wotshow, i haven't really seen much of this assumption on tumblr. you guys are safe from my wrath!)

(also, same for mat - this is less prevalent but i've seen a fair number of people saying recently that he will get dagger-sick AGAIN and go back to the tower AGAIN, purely so that he can meet gawyn & galad and have his fight with them, even though said fight could be made to happen in literally any place & time and it would make no sense to shoehorn mat back to the tower for s3 when he's already completed his Tower Amalgamation Arc and is ready to go to the waste)

(also also, same for "3x01 will open with them taking the stone of tear." NO!!!! why would they hurtle everyone over to tear and construct a giant-ass set for a single episode before sending everyone off on their roadtrips? be serious! tear will not appear until a later point in the story, when there is time to spend multiple episodes there!)

[chronotsr]

Pre-G1 Modules, part 1 - Temple of the Frog

So we're going to blow through this really fast cus there's a lot to cover -- I have 9 modules to go through before we hit G1.

G1 enjoys the reputation of "first DND module", but the reality is a little more complicated than that. G1 is more properly, "The first published standalone TSR adventure module". Which, as you can guess by the number of qualifiers, means it's not the first anything, really.

In the beginning, Tactical Studies Rules was Don Kaye, Gary Gygax, and Dave Arneson in a design capacity. They flopped around for a while, stealing copyrighted shit for money, releasing mediocre wargames, and eventually shrug and release DND anyway. It does very well. Don Kaye dies, they reorganize TSR into TSR Hobbies because Don's wife didn't like being involved, and we have enough preamble to get to Temple of the Frog.

TSR Hobbies had pole position to win the race to first adventure, and it worked, although for a variety of reasons (like Gary not really getting why someone would want to buy a premade adventure), they didn't publish discrete adventure scenarios. The first published, commercial adventure is technically in the original D&D ("Little Brown Booklet") supplement #2, Blackmoor: Temple of the Frog, and the dungeon is Arneson's.

Keeping in your head that Temple of the Frog is the literal first adventure is the very first adventure because this is basic as hell. There's a cult to the frogs, they're trying to make the most bestest amphibian monsters, and 1.0 twists.

It's kinda charming though. This could be anyone's first map. My first maps looked kind of like this, in fact my first dungeon map was also a big church. A lot of early conventions are already here: a map is provided, on grid paper. Rooms are keyed, evocative descriptions are given (although this is actually pretty ho-hum, stating things as boring fact). The preamble is adequately interesting, but doesn't really establish any important context information about the actual conquering of this temple (the key system would be nice to have first, rather than buried halfway in, but be nice it's the first one). Conspicuously missing: any information about suggested starting level or party size. Now there is a old-school tendency that the levels of a dungeon should increase in difficulty about one level per….level.

In traditional Arneson form, there's some scifi bullshit going on. Here's some fast tidbits about this module:

The new head of the temple is an alien. His magic devices are all technological devices. There's spaceships. It's not my jam, but you simply have to accept that scifi/fantasy fusion was the trope of the time, it is completely ubiquitous in 70s fantasy books.

There is a weirdly complicated system of magic (technology) rings that control doors. There's a hierarchy to them that takes a whole page. It's clearly very important to Dave!

There's something about timeshifting that is, frankly incomprehensible to me. I do like hiding the big secret lair under a giant organ, though.

After you get through the first floor of so, so many people wandering around, we finally have monsters. A room of medusae (former captives), gargoyles operated with scifi bullshit, magic chains that turn off traps, giant rats and skeletons.

There's some very fun verbiage here, "each [medusa] taking 16 hit points". Like, taking 16 points worth of hits. It makes sense but there's something very fascinating of seeing this period where the metaphor of hitpoints is not just A Thing That Has Always Existed, but clearly something you have to explain to people and they are still thinking of it in less abstract ways.

Some further fun verbiage is that at this point, "Dungeons and Dragons" is a specific book that you can reference in the way you nowadays would say "Check the Dungeon Master's Guide". Check the Dungeons and Dragons! (Fun fact: the titular Dungeon with Dragons is, in fact, Blackmoor Castle's Dungeons.)

This sentence drove fear into my heart. You are bolder than me if you're gonna run an encounter that has 1,200 enemies in it. In what I can only describe as rank cruelty, cloudkill expressly doesn't work on them. And then the adventure just kind of ends. Dave, buddy, you can't tell me that the alien-priest reports back to the mothership and give me no means to go there. That's malpractice man! It would be my literal first port of call if I was rewriting this. I NEED TO SEE THE FROG FANDOM ALIENS' SPACESHIP.

Overall, the vibes are still very wargame. The building is a castle that feels like it's meant to be sieged more than raided. But it's the first! Anyone who runs this in 2024, and in a modern game engine, deserves a kiss on the forehead for their hard work.

[howtofightwrite]

My character learned to fight with staves and spears, what would it be better for her to take to a “DnD style” dungeon? (The world is similar to DnD world, although the spear is seriously underpowered in the rules)

So, I'm going to start with a couple nitpicks.

As someone with tabletop RPG experience, labeling it as, “D&D world,” is a really weird thing to read. D&D is primarily three distinct things. The rule systems themselves, and at this point we're up to the sixth or seventh major rules iteration. D&D as settings, except you'll almost never hear this one phrased that way. Finally, D&D as branding, which is extraordinarily nebulous, and tends to pick iconography out of the rules or settings. Simply identifying something as D&D could refer to any of these.

Officially, D&D has roughly 20 campaign settings. Any one of those could be categorized broadly as, “a D&D world.” Depending on the edition, the default setting is either Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms. These are entirely different worlds. Greyhawk is more of the conventional medieval fantasy world, while Forgotten Realms is a setting with mountains (in some cases, literally) of fallen empires, and the world is filled with ancient ruins, in addition to the current civilizations. Both of these are extremely detailed settings with thousands of pages of background lore.

Beyond that, Dragonlance, Dark Sun, Ravenloft, Planescape, Ravnica, Eberron, Spelljammer, and Urban Arcana, all come to mind as official TSR/Wizards of the Coast settings. And it's extremely likely that even players with an extensive familiarity with the ruleset missed at least one of the above names. This isn't even counting a lot of minor settings, or the fact that Planescape and Spelljammer are both multi-world settings, and the fact that a lot of these settings technically cross over. There are Spelljammer ports on Faerun (the main continent of Forgotten Realms), and races native to Planescape (in particular the Tieflings) have become a mainstay of the games, as they wander across the planes, to the point that Planescape's Tieflings and Aasimar exist in Pathfinder.

So, “The D&D world,” doesn't really say much.

With a lot of tabletop RPGs, the setting is analogous to the ruleset. When you're talking about running a Shadowrun campaign, or a Vampire: The Masquerade chronicle, those are specific worlds. The biggest ambiguity is which edition. However, when you say you're participating in a D&D campaign, that doesn't tell you much on its own.

If you're asking from a rules perspective, that's going to depend on the edition, and this is where stuff gets a little complicated.

If you're working with the idea of a D&D style dungeon, it's probably best to consider what era of game design you're looking at. There are a couple ways you can approach dungeons.

So, basic thoughts on dungeons.

Small dungeons are designed to be finished in a single session or two. You're probably looking at a few combat encounters. But, the main arc is that your characters travel to a dungeon, they do whatever they were planning to, and get out. You might have as many as four rooms, but generally these are pretty compact spaces.

Large dungeons can either be designed around the adventurers spending multiple days in the dungeon itself, or they may be traveling in and out and resting somewhere outside. (In some cases, you'll even have towns or inns set up over the dungeon. So your adventurers are all in one compact space.)

Additionally, large dungeons can be designed around the idea that the players will penetrate a few levels at a time, gradually working their way deeper over time (as they deal with other events and problems), or it can be a very long excursions, with adventures scavenging and hunting in the dungeon for days or weeks as they progress.

In the case of truly monstrous dungeons, they might even be bringing enough personnel and resources to set up various base camps and have a full supply lines running back to the outside world, as they gradually expand their control over the dungeon.

Sort of in parallel to this, it's worth thinking about what the dungeon is. The basic concept is often, as the name implies, some kind of semi-ruined castle prison. But, you'll also frequently see crypts, and caves as dungeons. Especially as small ones. At the same time, it's worth considering expanding your concept of a dungeon a bit. Ancient ruins, old fortresses, necropolises, abandoned mines, and sewers are common. (Sewers are a little unrealistic, as real ones don't tend to be massive underground pipes you can walk in.) What's less common are massive shipwrecks, overrun cities, entire islands with dangerous flora and fauna (or just pirates), fallen cities (where entire city districts collapsed during an earthquake and now exist below ground), plague ridden city districts (plagues can actually be a lot of fun, because it will let you transform familiar territories into hostile ones as the campaign progresses. Pathologic does this extraordinarily well.) In a rather famous D&D adventure (Expedition to the Barrier Peaks), one of the dungeons is a downed spacecraft. This is before we consider dungeons with impossible geometry, such as ones that leak over into another dimension (possibly as a result of magical experiments gone wrong, or ones that exist in the dreams or psyche of an individual. (For the record, I'm not a huge fan of psychic dungeons as a play experience, but they can be done well. I've simply had some bad experiences with the concept.) Shadowrun had a related concept, with cyberspace (called, “the matrix”), as a parallel space where hackers would engage in combat parallel to the events happening out in the real world. It's weird concept, but one that you might get some millage out of, and having a parallel battle on the astral plane wouldn't be that weird for D&D.

Moving beyond that, there are some semi-common dungeon settings that you don't often see in D&D, for obvious reasons, but might fit if your setting accommodates them. Abandoned research labs, abandoned industrial areas, abandoned villages or suburban areas at the edge of a city. Bonus points if the reason it's abandoned is related to why your players are wandering into it now. City districts under lockdown, usually this will either cater to a stealth focus, and might work if you have a group of thieves or something similar, (though, at that point, Blades in the Darkmight be a better RPG pick), this setting also works when the group enforcing the lockdown are acceptable targets, such as gangs or cultists, and for bonus points you can organize these setups with multiple factions and your characters may even be able to play groups against one another, all of this also works for feral cities (which also work as large area dungeons.)

With any dungeon, you probably want to consider how it fit into the world before it became a dungeon, and how long it existed as a dungeon before your players wandered in and started ripping the place apart.

So, ultimately, the question is about the spear and staff in the rules, as you're probably looking to approximate the rules to some extent. The problem is the rules have changed a bit over the years. One problem is that the default spear is not a reach weapon, meaning you can't use it to hit targets more than a space away from you. D&D splits that into the longspear, which is a reach weapon, and you can hit targets two spaces away from you, though you do need to use a 5ft step to back away from someone in an adjacent space before you can attack them. Both spears and staves are simple proficiency weapons though some editions do let you use the staff as a double weapon (meaning you can effectively treat it as dual wielding, if you have the feats.) If you do have a second attack with the staff, or you expect to be dealing with enemies that resist non-blunt damage (like skeletons) the staff starts to become a lot more attractive.

If you're using a different ruleset from standard D&D, there may be other considerations. I'm thinking of Total War's Anti-Large rules in particular, which do make spears very attractive against larger foes as they'll deal additional damage, similarly if you have some kind of homebrew piercing damage bonus against armor, that could make the spear conditionally more appealing. And, if your character is expecting to face down minotaurs or giants, then a longspear would be a much better choice with those modified rules. Though, this comes with another consideration, back in 3.5e the longspear was a simple proficiency weapon (just like the staff and spear), but was upgraded to martial proficiency in 4e, and seems to be missing in 5e (or it was replaced with the pike, which is also a martial weapon.) The longspear (and pike) do have special rules which allow them to be braced against a charging foe dealing increased damage. So, that might be worth considering for your choices. But, again, unless you're getting proficiency for the entire spear family, this might not be a practical option.

Usually, when you're arming characters for D&D, the primary consideration is going to be the overall thematic style of the character. Sometimes you do need to go out of your way to ensure a character gets the relevant proficiency (such as a rapier wielding wizard), but generally speaking, that theme is going to inform whether a character gets a spear or staff. If you've got a druid, then the spear might make more sense. If you have a wizard or sorcerer then maybe the staff is preferable (particularly if you can use it as an arcane focus.) (Though, wizards and sorcerers don't get spear proficiency in 5e, so, that's a factor.)

That said, you're not wrong, D&D has not done a good job with the spear. Part of that is because the default D&D spear is remarkably short. In 5e, the weapons are mostly interchangeable aside from the damage type, but the staff has more potential utility (specifically the ability to get staves crafted as arcane focuses, and a wider range of enchantments for staves.) Both are 1d6 with 1d8 versatile (if wielded with 2h the damage die is increased.) This is in contrast to 3.5 where the staff was 1d6, but was a double weapon, while the spear was 1d8, had the ready against charging characters action baked into the item (without the reach keyword), and had an increased crit multiplier (x3, meaning the weapon did triple damage on a crit, though it shared this with most axes), but it was a two-handed weapon.

I suppose if your character is a spellcaster, the staff is a better choice, as it gives you more options. But, when you're talking about someone who spends a lot of time out in the wilds, a spear might be a better thematic choice. If you're working within some version of 3rdedition, then the spear does look more valuable, but in 5e it is an underwhelming choice.

-Starke

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[amemoryofwot]

Ok final TSR wrap up and thoughts moving into S3 below

Whatta book damn. RJ is genuinely funny to me and there’s a lot of like, physical and situational comedy that I hope carries through to S3 (Nynaeve throwing the collar at Moghedien, Elayne and her 2x4, nobody knowing what the hell anyone is ever doing). He’s also so good at just like, desperate crushing character moments, like the AoL Aiel, Aram taking the sword, the final Battle of Two Rivers.

Even more so than Rand this is really Perrin’s book. He has the most complete storyline, which is great for S3 but a challenge moving forward as he is literally not in TFoH, and doesn’t do much until Dumai’s Wells. He also fights a lot of Trollocs, like a lot. Every second chapter someone is fighting Trollocs. For timing purposes the show could easily cut it down to Perrin’s failed ambush, and the final battle. That would still get him to the Tuatha’an and the Whitecloaks while cutting out two or three skirmishes. Whether CGI or practical i’m sure the Trollocs would be expensive and they already got dragged for 1x08’s PS2 Trollocs, so i’d personally rather have them less but better quality. I could see him and Faile having a whirlwind “omg what did we just do” kind of wedding in face of all the Trollocs and not expecting to live, but I can also see that being pushed. I think this will be the bulk of the S3 time.

Rand’s storyline could really be two eps, there’s actually not a lot there once we get rid of the Stone (for now). One for Cold Rocks Hold leading to Rhuidean, and then one for the journey to Alcair Dal. Of course he’s gonna have more to do like argue with Moiraine about prophecy, and hopefully everyone will get some bonding time in Falme, but he’s mostly travelling which the show doesnt really focus on with their wild back and forth, and he also gets attacked by a lot of Trollocs. Lan also has nothing to do this book so sword and toxic masculinity lessons being pushed to S3 will smooth that out at least.

Egwene kind of has nothing to do this book so S3 will surely be her Dreaming, although I wonder in what capacity. Verin, Siuan, or the Wise Ones or even Aviendha could really be intro points. I also don’t believe she would pass by the Dominion Band two or three times without realizing what it is, so her intro Dreaming sequence is largely filler except for meeting Amys. Nynaeve has a line about Egwene waking up screaming from nightmares so i think she of all people would recognize it. She also has a few moments with Moiraine so Moiraine’s story will probably be focused on Egwene and Rand versus her own S2 storyline.

Much of Tanchico is through Elayne’s perspective, which pulls her into our main group. Nynaeve takes a slight backseat in PoV to balance it out. There will be a lot going on between Thom, Min, Liandrin, Moggy, and possibly Mat, (Egeanin?) but I think it will also be the smoothest to adapt as everybody has something to do already, instead of having to make stuff up to keep them moving together.

The leftover bit is the coup. Min not being there to rescue Siuan doesnt really matter except that someone will have to take her spot, as i dont think Siuan can do it herself. Gawyn seems a good choice to set up his inner conflict/indecision. The Blues could also just sweep them out on their way to Salidar. Siuan does spend a LONG time looking for Salidar, and as much as i love a good depression roadtrip this would cut time AND spare us Gareth if they could just go right there. Especially if LoC plotlines are coming in S4 we dont have time to wander the countryside and burn down a barn.

Anyways my inexperienced opinion is its actually not that much to get through, if you imagine one intro episode, 2 for each Two Rivers, the Waste, and Tanchico storylines, and maybe even one Andor/Tower focused. Two Rivers will wrap up in ep 7, and the rest in ep 8. I’m imagining the coup and Couladin will be the big season cliffhangers.

[oldschoolfrp]

Wandering monsters in OD&D, from Dungeons & Dragons Vol 3: The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures by Gygax and Arneson, TSR, 1974:

Each movement turn in the underworld is 10 minutes, at the end of which the referee rolls 1d6. A wandering monster encounter occurs on a "6." (Note the use of "referee" throughout the original rules. The term "dungeon master" was introduced in the California gaming scene and made its way back to Lake Geneva by 1975.)

Monsters are divided into 6 "monster levels" for purposes of determining the encounter type. The referee first rolls 1d6 to determine which monster level table to consult, then rolls a different die to determine the exact monster type. It is possible to encounter a level 4 monster like a group of ogres on dungeon level 1, or a level 2 monster such as zombies on dungeon level 3.

Many of the encounters are with NPCs, described by the titles of different classes and character levels -- Thaumaturgists, Myrmidons, Superheros.

The "Thoul" on the level 2 table was not mentioned anywhere else in the original OD&D set. Moldvay's Basic Set (1981) seems to be the first core book in any version of D&D to describe this "magical combination of a ghoul, a hobgoblin, and a troll."

Among the level 4 monsters we find "White Apes," the 6-limbed creatures of Barsoom in Burroughs' John Carter stories that also could occur in the wilderness, and which still exist in 5e as the girallon. (Edit: Stats & descriptions of these also are missing from these rules, leaving the referee to adapt them from literature. Moldvay included white ape stats in his 1981 Basic rules, though he did not describe them having extra arms.)

The "Balrogs" on the level 6 table are one of several references to balrogs, hobbits, ringwraiths, etc that TSR mostly removed from reprints after receiving notice from the Tolkien estate, though some mentions in tables were overlooked and remained through all printings.

Further rules explain how to adjust monster numbers to suit the party level and size, when surprise occurs, how the party might avoid combat, and possible reactions of intelligent monsters to the party.

[kisavatore]

Day 4 of @maadsimming 31 days of simblreen cas challenge: Ghost

CW: Meantion of death | Meantion of poison | Meantion of cheating | Short Horror Story

"The ghost of the once beautiful and young brid is rumored to be wandering around at night at the ancient ruins in Windenburg, from the stories told from the locals is known that the ghost is weraing a beautiful white dress-hence the name Ghost Brid, the white color of the dress is supposedly so intense and clean, that it seems to be glowing in the dark...from this who saw her...and didn't mysteriously disappear, say that at first you hear crying tha becomes louder and louder, then echoey moaning for someone, and the moment you hear that... you run... don't look behind, don't try to find the source of it...just run and pray that she dosen't find you.

No one knows how she died...one storie says she got killed by her future husband, other storie says she was poisoned by her fiancé ex-lover...another one says that she saw her fiancé cheating and die from despair and heartbreak. No one knows which story is true, if any of them...but don't try to find it yourself...I mean it is just a rumor! right?...happy simtober!"

cc credtit: @kijiko-sims @yooniesim @pyxiidis @sentate @obscurus-sims @tamo-sim @lutessasims @miikocc @elainasewell Caroll91 (TSR) @northernsiberiawinds

cc used: eyes , eye bugs , eyelashes , eyelids , nosemask , mouth preset , lip-slider , eyebrows , teeth (default) , veins , overlay , skinblend , cleavage overlay , eyeshadow , lips , tears , dress , hair

poses credit: @helgatisha

poses used: Vicious Vampires (erratic trait)

[lilac-den]

So I think you stated that the TSR RO's will have no memories of their past lives like the Wanderer does.

But is there something like an echo, something that did cross the barrier into the otherworld?

For angst maybe they've something like a phobia or aversion that could be linked to what happened to them in the previous world. A transdimensional trauma if you had to give a word for it.

Or for more something slightly lighter or positive; a hobby or preference to certain sights/sounds and the like. A reminder of the days were the previous world wasn't all doom and inevitable gloom.

You're digging up the lore here and I love it

To answer this: Yes, there can be little fragments of crossing through the barrier and the like.

Each world has their own specialty, so to speak. I'm not gonna dig deep about it but in the world MC is in, Reincarnation is a possibility. People can die in one world, like MC's previous one, then reincarnated into Sylphina's world. Those who die in Sylphina's world can reincarnate to other worlds (tho which is an rng thing) - then it's a cycle of sorts.

Trauma has been proven the strongest impression on a person's soul - strong enough and it will pass on. Certain triggers/actions/events can activate these traumas but the person won't have a clue as to why (they will chalk it up as something they developed in their childhood or as an irrational fear of sorts).

The hobby, preferences to certain sounds or sights are more of the person themselves and people usually chalk it up as 'oh, it's just what I like' or something they found in their childhood and become part of their current life's memory.

But.

I will provide one spoilery thing.

The ROs who interact with MC long enough might get 'echoes' of bygone 'visions'...

Why? That's, unfortunately, a very major spoiler. 🙊

[foggypeacestrawberry]

The 10-Things-Challange

(Sims 3 only)

Hi y'all !,

a few days ago I startet a little "Challange" for myself:

To Create a room in Sims 3, by combining random things I find within the Sims-Community. So I will download the first 10 things that I see on this day, if I like them, or at least don´t dislike them, and put them together with 5 other things that I can choose freely.

The goal is, to create with just 15 objects a room that makes some kind of sense. For example it can represent a certain style, or a theme, or an idea, or even tell a little story, whatever comes to my mind.

Turns out, this is so much FUN!, to put stuff together that I normaly never would consider to combine :-) !

So I don´t know if someone had this idea before already, it happened while I was sorting CC-files, and this element of coincidence was so appealing to me, that I decided to give it a try.

Now I want to show you my first outcoming, and how I decided which objects to choose, or how the objects chose me; and what rules could be useful or not.

First I visited TSR, to see what's new there. The newest entry was:

1) Emporia Livinigroom-Set, from ArtVitalex

So that are 7 objects already - meaning I have to leave this site now (?) .

--> Working on the rules:

Would be much to easy if most ot the 10 objects would come from the same set, but I think 3-4 objects from one set will be OK.

And I wonder if I should leave a source after finding the first "thing", or if its OK to stay on the site, and just go back in the timeline to the next entry of another creator? I guess it depends on how often I will do this challange - 3 times a week, 3 times a month...

BACK TO THE CC -

Then I went to tumblr and chose the first of my sims3-tags that are CC-related, it was #s3ccfinds (some of the first entrys were reblogs from wandering sim).

I skip all CAS-Stuff, just looking for objects to put in a room.

I counted until I had "10 things" = single objects:

2) My Wedding Stories Trees, Set with 5 objects, from @bioniczombie

3) Venyl-Collection, 1 object, from @johziii

4) Tombstones, 2 objects, from @lolabellesims

5) Some Weird Posters, 1 object, from @wanderingsimsfinds

6) Out In The Yard, Set with 4 objects, from @Itssimplythesims

So this time the 10 objects will be from 6 diferent creators.

Plus the 5 "wild objects" I can chose freely.

--> Some more specifics about the rules:

For example them posters from wanderingsim, thats 1 object, but its a huge collection of 33 posters = items. In a case like that, I might use 3-4 different looking items, I treat this object like a set.

The Screenshots I put in a new blogpost.

During this first challenge, I changed some stuff I a bit, that shows in the pics: added windows; changed styles; changed postition of the poster + sofa.

I will lead you through the scenery pic-by-pic, counting the objects up to 15.

[allycryz]

Back on my Strahd hyperfocus planning for a possible campaign this summer and am once again annoyed at Tracy Hickman's foreword to CoS 5e.

I'm going to paste it below in full under the cut so no one can say I'm taking it out of context, but I will bold the parts I find especially annoying:

----

We turned the corner, and there was a vampire.

I groaned and rolled my eyes.

It was 1978, and I was playing in one of my first dungeon adventures. It was being run by a friend I had known in high school, John Scott Clegg, and it was typical of the type of adventure that people played in those days. It was all about exploring a hodgepodge collection of rooms connected by dungeon corridors, beating up the monsters that we encountered, searching for treasure, and gaining experience points.

Now we were face to face with random encounter number thirty-four: a vampire. Not a Vampire with a capital V, but a so-many-Hit-Dice-with-such-and-such-an-Armor-Class lowercase vampire. Just another monster in the dungeon.

I remember thinking at the time, What are you doing here? This creature seemed completely out of place with the kobolds, orcs, and gelatinous cubes we had seen thus far. This was a creature who deserved his own setting and to be so much more than just a wandering monster. When I came home from that game, I told all these thoughts to Laura.

That was when Strahd von Zarovich was born.

Strahd would be no afterthought—he demanded his own setting, his own tragic history. Laura and I launched into researching the mythology and folklore surrounding the vampire. We started with the vague, black-and-white image of Bela Lugosi in 1931, but found so much more.

The first "modern" literary foundation of the vampire was penned by John William Polidori based on a fragment of a story by Lord Byron. It was while at the Villa Diodati—a rented house next to Lake Geneva, Switzerland—that Byron and Polidori met Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin and her husband-to-be, Percy Shelley. One night in June, Byron suggested that they each write a ghost story. Mary Shelley's contribution to the effort would later become Frankenstein. The short story "The Vampyre," published in 1819, was Polidori's contribution. He was Byron's personal physician, and the first of the so-called "romantic" vampires under Polidori's hand was actually modeled after Lord Byron.

Byron—like the fictional vampires that he inspired, from Polidori's Lord Ruthven down through the penultimate work of Bram Stoker—was a decadent predator, an abuser hidden behind a romantic veil. He was a comely and alluring monster—but a monster nevertheless. The romantic vampire of the earliest years of the genre was not just a spouse abuser but a spouse killer, the archetype of abuse in the worst kind of destructive codependency.

For Laura and me, those were the elements that truly defined Strahd von Zarovich—a selfish beast forever lurking behind a mask of tragic romance, the illusion of redemption that was ever only camouflage for his prey.

Initially we were going to title the adventure Vampyr—one of a series of games we called Nightventure that Laura and I were self-publishing back in 1978. The castle was called Ravenloft, and when Halloween came around each year, our friends asked us if we could play "that Ravenloft game" again... and so the better title won out. It was, in part, because of this design that I was hired by TSR, Inc., to write Dungeons & Dragons adventures in 1982. Soon thereafter, I6 Ravenloft was published.

Since then, fans of Ravenloft have seen many different creative perspectives on Barovia (a country which, by absolute coincidence, is featured in a 1947 Bob Hope movie called Where There's Life). It continues to be one of the most popular Dungeons & Dragons adventures of all time. In its various incarnations, each designer has endeavored to bring something new to the ancient legend of Strahd, and to each of them we are grateful.

But the vampire genre has taken a turn from its roots in recent years. The vampire we so often see today exemplifies the polar opposite of the original archetype: the lie that it's okay to enter into a romance with an abusive monster because if you love it enough, it will change.

When Laura and I got a call from Christopher Perkins about revisiting Ravenloft, we hoped we could bring the message of the vampire folktale back to its original cautionary roots. The talented team at Wizards of the Coast not only graciously took our suggestions but engaged us in a dialogue that delivered new insights on the nightmare beyond the gates of Barovia.

Now we invite you again as our guests to pass through the Svalich Woods if you dare. For here the romance is tragically dangerous... and a true monster smiles at your approach.

----

It's just so

Patronizing

It would be an entirely different post to talk about the meaning of the vampire figure in folklore and literature and what it represents; because you cannot pin it to simply one meaning. Vampiric folklore can speak of fears of disease and death and plague, Dracula can represent xenophobia AND classism AND sexuality, Polidori's Lord Ruthven can be a high society predator AND an emblem of repressed queerness

But even if Tracy was correct that the vampire has one specific meaning...so what? Why can people not subvert and change the stock characters of fiction? Is there really a problem if Interview with a Vampire turned tropes on their heads? I'm no fan of Twilight but its sin is absolutely not "it made Vampires hot and romantic"

This is especially galling because when you release a ttrpg story or system out into the world, it's going to be changed at every table. For every group that runs a module as is, there are dozens making it their own.

I do think Strahd as written, as a monster who cannot recognize his faults is fascinating. I also think there are a lot of possibilities to mine if you have a table who likes romance and intrigue. My most frequent table plays a lot of Good Society and they get very excited when similar options show up in other systems.

And, honestly, at the end of the day Tracy just sounds like every guy whining that they made vampires sparkly and those aren't reaaalll vampires and every internet user handwringing over oh no there are people who find villains hot

[skaruresonic]

Metal definitely suffers from OVA nostalgia when Heroes came out, though there are some things

-Chaotix manual (Japan) notes that Eggman transfers Metal's AI to new builds. Incidentally, the term "Hyper Metal Sonic" didn't originate from OVA: it came from Chaotix

Though fans mistakenly interpreted too literally (Kai means upgrade or rev. here) for the demonic transformation

This would, if assumed to repeat, mean Metal has to deal with constant failure, and being aware of such, as well as potentially "death"

-In Adventure Metal noticeably is in a tube in the same room Gamma is activated

While it doesn't do anything in stasis, the development of the E Series in the franchise is actually a huge deal; these are newly mass produced robots with utility already eclipsing Metal's, alongside the upper sentience. For once, competition for Metal, and it languishing to nothing if it accepted that. We already see Gamma come to terms with Eggman's narcissism and simple acceptance of scrapping "defective" models for newer builds, despite false praise earlier

-Heroes this is similarly mirrored for Omega. Omega was well aware it was abandoned as guard, and was aware of later E-2000 robots in Egg Fleet. The idea of Eggman just dumping/rejecting earlier bots for newer ones would be daunting to sentient bots. For Omega, this led to anger at its creator, though thanks to Rouge, used incidentally for the heroes

Feelings of inferiority wouldn't even be just to Sonic for Metal at this point...it'd be to Eggman as well

I didn't know that. That's really interesting to think about.

This would, if assumed to repeat, mean Metal has to deal with constant failure, and being aware of such, as well as potentially "death."

I mean... maybe yes, maybe no. This is where I feel the waters start to get muddy and we wander more into conjecture-ish territory.

It would mostly depend on how much sentience we can assign Metal at any given time; Eggman recovers the CPU, but does he wipe it before he upgrades it? Like is it the robot form of recovering the black box following a plane crash? Stuff like that.

In some games, he shows hints of sentience but not much more, which would explain the differences between him and the E-series. In Heroes he's a full-blown person with emoshuns, while in Rivals 2, he's a silent machine with the barest hints of sentience sprinkled here and there. And in TSR he's just. A walking toaster. So.

Again, the key word is "assumption." Metal has that weird line in the Overlord fight about how he's "no longer afraid of anything," so we have to assume he once felt fear; the most important questions become when, what, and how?

Did he learn to fear death after his defeat in CD? So then, why would he fear it if he knows Eggman can revive him at any time? That would imply he fears Eggman as well, which may be an interesting idea, true. But again, because none of the games hint at anything of the sort, it's pure conjecture on my part.

Also, now that I'm thinking about it: does this imply Chaotix takes place after Sonic 4: Episode Metal? It has to, since the Chaotix manual implies Eggman recovered Metal's CPUs after "a" previous confrontation with Sonic (doesn't have to be the Stardust Speedway race), and... Well. Eggman revived the Metal he abandoned on Little Planet with a huge electric shock.

---

For once, competition for Metal, and it languishing to nothing if it accepted that. We already see Gamma come to terms with Eggman's narcissism and simple acceptance of scrapping "defective" models for newer builds, despite false praise earlier

As much as I hate to cite the Encyclospeedia as a source, if his character entry in the Encyclospeedia is anything to go by, apparently Metal runs "fuzzy logic operations," which allegedly means he runs protocols roughly using the same problem-solving processes as a human being.

However, I have my doubts about that since he seems to operate pretty binarily in the games. His transformation into Neo Metal in Heroes seemed to have begun as an act of pragmatism, then morphed into some form of megalomania along the way. Metal's line of thinking may have been something along the lines of, "I cannot defeat Sonic in base form; therefore I will change it by copying data which will allow me to transform myself." Sounds simple enough.

Heroes is weird, however, because while it almost sort-of implies an existential crisis, that part is mostly obfuscated by megalomania, with all of his talk of becoming the "ultimate overlord" of a "robot kingdom." Absolute power corrupts absolutely and all that. While he transformed himself for the express purpose of defeating Sonic, we don't really know when or how he made the leap from "defeat Sonic" to "take over the world."

It's not that the existential crisis stuff isn't there, per se; just that it's not Metal's main focus.

I have to agree with @beevean here and say probably the one (1) cool idea IDW put forth wrt Metal's character was that he copied Eggman's genius in his search to find his creator. I felt like that idea really had the potential to go somewhere, explore the paradox of Metal's existence as an Eggman robot created to outclass Sonic. Or at the very least, present a solid threat: can you imagine a version of Metal that matches Sonic's speed and Eggman's genius?

---

-Heroes this is similarly mirrored for Omega. Omega was well aware it was abandoned as guard, and was aware of later E-2000 robots in Egg Fleet. The idea of Eggman just dumping/rejecting earlier bots for newer ones would be daunting to sentient bots.

I feel like Metal's reaction to seeing Omega for the first time runs more along the lines of bemusement than jealousy tbh:

He exclaims "You must be Omega!" in a surprised tone before remembering to stay in-character. I'm guessing it's because he wasn't counting on Omega ever being released.