I always choose a zodiac sigh for my main sim and any of their potential partners (if I created them). I don't always choose their traits to agree with their sign though. But in the past I developed a Zodiac Curse Game right after Pets was released. It was fun so I may play it again. Here is an edited version of how to play it. Thanks @GabbyGirlJ for the link to a more recent list of traits. :)
The Zodiac Curse Game for Sims 3This can loosely be called a challenge, but it is more about developing sims with diverse personalities and generating an interesting story than it is about competing. In fact there are no points to accumulate and almost no rules. If people want to play by strict legacy rules that’s OK. If people want to use cheats to set up certain scenarios that’s OK too. As long as the few rules are followed any gaming style is fine.
While playing a legacy according to strict legacy rules, I discovered that although I had limited myself in the past to only using a small number of traits there were quite a few interesting traits I needed to explore. Unfortunately the random traits generated in a legacy almost never resulted in cohesive personalities for my sims. I also realized that I was very successful in getting all the points possible and accumulating the 2 million by the 3rd or 4th generation but I had a very bland story.
I looked around at the various challenges and legacies but most were too complicated and had too many rules. I was interested in the Zodiac Legacy because even if you don’t believe in astrology it is a system that can be used to get cohesive, diverse personalities for your sims. And although I thank dreamsong1968 for their initial work setting up the Zodiac Legacy (which I have shamelessly ripped off and altered) I wanted more a game guide to help get an interesting story rather than strict rules for a competition.
There are five main parts to playing a Zodiac Curse game – the cause of the curse, the curse itself, breaking the curse, assigning traits and additional rules.
The Cause of the Curse (story setup)Your founder sim must have a romantic relationship with a sim who already has a romantic relationship with another. Your sim’s zodiac sign must not be compatible with their new love interest. (Fire signs and air signs are compatible and earth sign and water sign are compatible.) The original relationship can be anything from romantic interest to spouse but your sim must cause this relationship to be broken. Either the rejected lover or a family member then calls a curse down on your sim and all their descendants. An alternate scenario could be that your founder sim just believes they are suffering karmic retribution but no one actually curses them.
Another way the setup can work is that your founder, as the last descent of their family, moves into a new town trying to escape their family’s curse. Part of that story could be that they are not even sure of why or how the family was cursed. Part of the story could be their discovery of the past.
The curse can be a voodoo curse, druid curse, genie’s curse, gypsy curse, magic spell, unicorn’s curse, fairy’s curse, elf’s curse/spell, wizard’s spell, witch’s curse, vampire’s curse, etc. It can be any kind of karmic retribution. Whichever starting scenario you use, be as creative as you like to make an interesting story.
The Curse ItselfYour sim and all their descendants are doomed to have an unhappy and/or short lived romantic relationship with any partner that does not have a compatible zodiac sign.
Breaking the Curse (winning the game)To break the curse your founder sim must have a descendant of each of the other 11 zodiac signs raised to young adulthood in the original active household. If a descendant moves out of the active household before they become a young adult they do not count toward breaking the curse. If a descendant moves out of the active household after they reach young adult they count but any of their descendants not raised to young adult in the active household do not count.
Because of recent issues with long games developing problems not only is it OK to pack up the family and move to a new town/game, as long as it is the same active household, it is recommended. Moving to a new lot in the same town/game is also perfectly fine.
If the founder raises 11 descendants to young adult over the course of their life and each descendant has a zodiac sign different from any other and from their founder parent then the curse would be broken in one generation. Although that is unlikely for normal life span. For those who want more of a challenge you can see how few generations it takes to break the curse.
Assigning Traits to Descendants and to the FounderBecause a baby’s zodiac sign is not know until after the first 2 traits are assigned, these traits (later referred to as baby traits) are not assigned from the list associated with their sign. All other traits assigned when reaching childhood, teen and young adult must be chosen from the list for their zodiac sign. (Here is
a list of Sims 3 traits for each zodiac sign.) You must push the random button, once, to get the first 2 traits. A variation is to play with a family trait that will replace one of these random traits. The family trait must be one of the founder’s original traits and it must be a baby trait. (Sims 3 traits that can be assigned to babies - Absent Minded, Artistic, Brave, Clumsy, Couch Potato, Disciplined, Easily Impressed, Eccentric, Evil, Excitable, Friendly, Genius, Good, Grumpy, Hates the Outdoors, Heavy Sleeper, Light Sleeper, Loner, Loves the Outdoors, Neurotic, Perceptive, Slob, Virtuoso. This list was made right after Pets was released so other traits may have been added with the newer EPs.)
When creating the founder make sure they have 3 traits from the list for their sign. The other 2 traits can be any of your choosing. If you plan to play the family trait variation then one of these traits must be that family trait and it must be a “baby trait”.
Additional RulesPlay the game with story progression on, either EA’s story progression or a story progression mod.
Most importantly Have Fun!