strangetomato | Ummm... what?! (A slight legacy-related problem)

I'm really blowing this legacy thing, guys. Like, really, really effin' it all up. Well, for one, I'm still playing, and it's supposed to be done on Friday, but I think I can get it all together by them. It's really near the end. But... well, I'm doing something a little unconventional, and making my own judgement call on how to work it. I think it all still works out fairly by the rules, but I've had a last-minute "oops" and I'm wondering what to do.

Okay, I'll cut right to the chase. Some of my potential heirs are plantsims. I assume it's "legal" because the ideal plantsim is Maxis stock, just like the PT. The way I made it fair from a character development point of view, is to have the plantbabies born much later than the other candidate for heir (who was a teen before they were sprouted). I decided to allow the plantsims to continue to linger on as adults until the "normal" sim became one. I figured it was only fair that they could continue to live and develop their stories too, since they have such a short lifespan from toddler to adult (though, obviously, they have a clear advantage in the skill point department, so I'm not intentionally skilling them much).

So that seems fair, right? If not, well I've blown it already, but we'll just have to deal with it.

The REAL issue here is this:

Freakin' Ira Inada. (Cool name, though.) He's the sort of modified Face One, Michael Stipe look-alike cowboy who gets summoned out of the magic wishing well to be your sweet little baby boy's true love. Oh, and his BABY DADDY too. Cy was a TODDLER only days earlier, and I had no idea he was gay (he wasn't set, so the well decided for me... or maybe it was ACR). I completely forgot that I added the Preg For All Genders hack for the purposes of alien and half-alien breeding, and, well, I really didn't expect Cy to TRY FOR BABY his very first time.

They weren't even in love yet. o_O

But his secondary aspiration is family, and he seems to have had a 62% chance of wanting to try for baby. Did I check that? No. Did I remember that I set the risky woohoo at it's max level? No. (Not that it mattered. I NEVER get the risky woohoo babies. It's always the sneaky "try for baby" ones.) I wasn't even thinking about him getting mpreg, because I haven't been playing with that hack in place much... at least not with many same sex couples, so it didn't come up.

This is what I get for trying to be clever and using plantsims, but I really wanted the pointy ears and Nyssa didn't get knocked up by any of the townies I generated that had them. I even had that gothic fairy downtownie guy, but she didn't meet him. So plantsims seemed like such a good idea at the time.

So... what would you do here? I love the twist, and the sim breeder inside me refuses to just abort the pregnancy. It might be a bit much to try to work into the story, but I'm sure I could (the story is WAY convoluted as it is, so it should fit right in). Do you think this is okay, as long as the baby stays behind? I think I could make it make sense.

Or... I could let him have the baby, but keep it completely out of the story and "official" legacy entry.

Advice? I'm all ears.

P.S. Ira Inada is one of those extra downtownie templates, so you could spawn one of your very own, if you like him. Watch out, though. He has those sneaky "creep out of the well and impregnate your innocent plantsim" ways. And he rocks a cowboy hat like nobody's business.

Yessir... ACR sure does make things interesting.

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Yeah, that's right. Cy's her son.

I was thinking more like he'd have the baby, and then move on as heir without it (leaving him/her behind with Mom and the rest of the crew). I wouldn't send him on pregnant, since thet would be hard to work out anyway. This would just be like a past thing, just like a teenage romance, except slightly more complicated.

OR... I could just pretend it didn't happen. Have him move on, just like the other three potential heirs. He might not get picked, either way, but letting him have the baby gives him a more detailed backstory. I don't know if that really matters, though. The next person can choose to ignore it, or explain it away, or they might even want to work it into their own story as history.

It's hard to know what to do, because I really didn't see prenancy as something I would have to contend with here.

So you're thinking secret babby? I could do that, and it would be less drama heaped on drama. This story is all over the place as it is. :P It's been a fun ride, but what a mess.

Ooo, once I hear you say it, I think it could work. He could just explain that he did get pregnant, but he didn't have the baby. It could work like that, even if his eventual SO (if he does get picked) would be freaked out by it.

Or he could have it. *shrugs* Either way works.

Yeah, or he had it, but left it behind with his mother to raise when he decided to go out and go to college or whatever. Something like that happened in my own family, because the mother was really young. The grandparents raised the child, and she even went off to college and everything.

If Cy was picked as heir, the next player could even have the kid from me as an extra character that could show up later, outside of their own thing, just for the story of it (not as an heir candidate). It would be interesting, if they wanted to do it. It depends on how much of a link they want to the past generation, or if they want to make a clean break. I didn't have much left after the last gen. (which went out with a bang), but I've still made reference to it. It's interesting to do that.

Then again, maybe it's too much baggage for an heir to come with? I could just keep it completely "off the books." (I'm letting him have the kid, though. Even if he's never mentioned. :P How often do you get something like this to happen in the game? It's very cool.)

That also makes sense, him leaving the baby with his mother. I had something like that happen with my cousin- he got a girl pregnant, and the girl's parents left the baby with his parents while my aunt was pregnant with twins. It was srs.

That would definitely make for some delicious plot action- the kid showing up to meet his father and other siblings.

IF Cy is chosen and IF the person after you wants to do it, it will be awesome. Although I do agree, he does have some serious baggage that someone else will be forced to deal with.

Yeah, it could be great for someone who wants to do something plotty and story-based. If not, they can ignore it and play it in a commentary style. I think it would work.

I think I'll leave it flexible enough for them to choose how they want to take it, but leave the option there, if he becomes heir. It's such a nice little twist. If I were doing this legacy on my own, I'd definitely make use of it. I'd probably choose Cy as heir because of it. But the vote's the thing, so we'll see.

This is fun. :) It's going to be tough to get it allfinished in time though. It will be like I'm doing a little mini NaNo. (And boy am I ever glad I took my notebook on the bus over the weekend to work on this too.)

I think you should give the other potential heirs a chance too, despite Cy having a baby already. I mean, we haven't even seen them yet. I think one of the things that makes this type of legacy fun is the reader participation, and if Cy is automatically heir due to ACR being silly we wouldn't be able to have that.

Oh, I didn't intend it to sound like he's automatically heir. Did it come off that way?

No, I meant that he'd still be in the running, but no more likely to move on than the other two. His unusual story might give him a little bit of an unfair advantage, but I'll just have to try to get something really interesting out of the other two now to match him, while I still have time. (THIS STORY IS CRAZY.)

Oh, there will be an heir poll, don't worry. I do need Cy to be in it, though, because I only have three potentials (unless I sprout another plantbaby). I have more than three children, but some can't be used as heirs.

Edited 2008-11-20 00:21 (UTC)

Oh, I am only being hypothetical- IF Cy was chosen as heir, it would be interesting to see. I don't even know if I'm going to vote for him. :P

Well, how could you know? You don't know who he's up against yet. ;)

EXACTLY! Someone could be delicious and awesome and make me want them as heir NO MATTER WHAT~~. :P

Yeah, I have some good kids there. *nods* They each have interesting traits from Nyssa too.

There are even some kids that you might love that can't be heir too. It's a mixed (and now quite large) family. Romance/family sims are a fun time. ;) I had a ball.

I do love me some Nyssa traits. :D

I'm sure it is! Although, will you put the other kids up for download as well? Some of us might want them, if they are THAT amazing. ;)

Nyssa's face really makes the nose look good. I'm not always a fan of the flat alien nose, but she's pretty with it. She passed it on to at least one heir candidate.

Yeah, I'm thinking of putting up everyone from the story, even the side characters. There's Constantine, obviously, who was bred in my game from shared sims, and his two siblings and their families (who will make some brief appearance).

All this talk of characters and plot details is reminding me how many little scenes I still need to shoot. *sweats* I gotta go...

:P

Ummm... what?! (A slight legacy-related problem)

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