What's your storyline?

I just started a new save because of Businesses and Hobbies.

I've been thinking about an old game lately, missing all the characters in it, and it dawned on me that I could recreate them in The Sims 4. Businesses and Hobbies seemed like a perfect pack to get it started.

The game is called VA-11 Hall-A. The main protagonist is a bartender named Jill Stingray, but my focus is her boss, Dana Zane. Dana recently purchased this dive bar called The Dive. But it's not Va-11 Hall-A (Valhalla). It's just a cheap bar she is using to earn money to buy Va-11 Hall-A, which is a pricey property atop a skyscraper in San Myshuno.

The best part of this is I get to rotate around and play all the characters I want--way more immersive than the original game.

As for game play, I initially started it just as a bar business, but it was quickly obvious that I would have to do something else to earn the amount of cash she needs. So I started making her own nectar brand. I thought I would sell it in the bar, but it brings in way more money to sell it through the inventory system. The place has some lot challenges since it is a dive bar. It grimey and accumulates trash and junk objects. So I started recycling the stuff and I use the bit and pieces to create voodoo dolls of all things. They go for 500 simoleons a pop.

The nectar alone will make all the money she needs to buy Va-11 Hall-A. I am letting it age and selling the bottles as they mature. In the meantime I am just enjoying playing these sims and their stories.

Very cool storyline. I love dive bars they hold so much history and character.

Nice build. 🙂

I currently have 1 story line based on The Pack Legacy Challenge by rosannatxt. So far I'm on my second generation but am still catching up with writing the entire first gen story. I also caved and bought the Business and Hobbies pack (I was going to actually try to hold out for 31 generations!) xD My alternate save file is to play test all the packs including B&H. It's such a contrast playing between these two files alone! 

Brooke Grove (Founder) and Chompy the Cowplant. 

I am currently playing a save file I started when Lovestruck came out. I call it my "accidental legacy" because this particular starting Sim was originally just plunked down in the town to be part of the eligible dating pool. I hadn't intended to actively play her. I was focused on three other couples to explore the Lovestruck features. But alas, my original file got that corruption bloated save thing that was fixed in a later update, so when I eventually recovered a usable version of my file, the progress of the 3 couples had been erased and I just wasn't that enthused about going through it all again to get them back to being partners. So, I decided to focus on this random Sim I'd created, Megan Ritchie.

Megan dated a lot (exploring all those Lovestruck features like Cupid's Corner and the dating events etc) but she eventually found long lasting love with Manuel Aquilar of all people. That was NOT my original goal, but they seemed to keep gravitating back to each other so I decided, why the heck not. Let's have them get married. So they did, after having a child first, though, I think. Megan wasn't sure Manuel was the marrying kind to be honest. He did have an eye for the ladies. LOL! And honestly, their relationship has been completely up and down, but they seem to be in it for the long haul. 

They ended up raising 6 daughters and one son together in Cuidad Enamorada. So now, Manuel is a playable ghost, top of the good ghost tier (so handy!!!). He is a celebrity pianist, level 10 of all the musical instruments and top of the entertainer career. He's currently still employed, but also running a small music school on his days off, thanks to the new EP. 

Megan is a world renowned painter, top of her career. Masterpieces just fall off her brush left and right. She also still has her day job and runs a small business, teaching painting to the locals in her home studio. She drank the potion of youth just before she became in elder, so she's not (hopefully) going to die anytime soon. 

Their youngest daughter Jade (a teen) and son Ramin (child) live at home with Megan and Manuel. (Both of these children were the result of someone discussing expanding the family since Manuel was a ghost already). 

Their other daughters:

Frances married and moved to Henford, and now had two kids. She's a master chef.

Twins Etta and Leanne moved to Willow Creek and Henford, respectively. Etta is married with three children and is a fashion stylist.

Leanne wanted to be a street musician, maybe following in her father's footsteps, but ended up living on a small ranch with her boyfriend, so now she's pretty much a rancher and runs a small business at the ranch, inviting tourists to come and experience farm life with all the animals. She and the boyfriend got engaged and have a daughter together. One day they'll get married. 

Daughter Ariel married a vampire and lives in Forgotten Hollow. She's a mixologist.

Daughter Miracle (I randomize names so they aren't always typical LOL!) married the last remaining Goth in my game, Nehemiah Goth (I have neighborhood stories on so the original Goths all aged up and died off--no idea how he's related to Mortimer). He's a politician and she's a mortician. This family has been used to explore all the features of the Life and Death pack. They have three daughters and live in Ravenwood, the Mourningvale neighborhood. I'm thinking their oldest daughter, who is about to graduate high school, might be the one to explore the reaper career. She has the macabre trait, just like her mother. (I randomize traits in the game too, when the opportunity arises). The middle daughter seems best suited to try out the Ghost Historian aspiration. 

ck213Wow, incredible atmosphere you've established. Love the backstory too.  

A couple of weeks ago I started playing with 4 teen Sims from a previous file: Marjorie Carlson, Alaina Collier, Denis Lin, and Nate Pancake (yes, Bob and Eliza's son). Marjorie brought her baby sister with her when I merged her in. My intent was to use them just to explore the new B&H pack, but I've been getting attached...

Denis again had a strong relationship with Luz Lopez, so I had the two of them marry when he became a young adult. He graduated from high school early, so he completed his degree in physics 2 or 3 days after he became a YA. Luz has set up a jewelry store using materials that Denis collects at work. They just had a baby, Theresa Lin. Denis has been abducted once, but so far has not become pregnant.

Marjorie Carlson and her sister Felicia moved to Nordhaven. Felicia runs an afterschool play area in the afternoon and on weekends. She makes a little money when other children come over to play Voidcritters, marbles, or Simbles. Marjorie has completed the Painter Extraordinaire aspiration and is now working on the Mentor one. 

Alaina decided to move to Chestnut Ridge because she wanted a horse. She bought the lot that used to belong to her father, Don Gooseman. She doesn't have enough money for a horse yet, but she has made her first bottle of nectar. And she moved in Jeb Harris and removed his paper bags. Despite his being unflirty and she being romantically reserved, they've become engaged and plan to marry as soon as they can afford a wedding in Tartosa.

Nate Pancake has the bucket wish to become a parent, but he hasn't found a girlfriend yet. He was laid off from his job as a tech guru but found another job a couple of days later. He also wants to become an expert guitarist and to serenade 4 different Sims.

Perhaps I'll have 4 different legacies going; right now I'm just having fun.

Where do I start... I created my current save almost two years ago, with a couple named Jamie and Ben. They met at the military base in Strangerville where they both worked as recruits, quickly fell in love with each other and moved into a small house in Strangerville. While Ben stayed in the military after reaching the top rank, Jamie eventually quit her job as Sim-in-Black, dabbled in professional e-gaming for a while and became a somewhat professional streamer before quitting again and taking up a job as a scientist. They moved to Del Sol Valley after a while, lived there for years and kept adding new cool rooms to the house (Inner Circle), mostly because Ben pursued the Mansion Baron aspiration. Then their first daugher Flora came along, and when they decided to have another kid, they moved to Brindleton Bay because their current house wasn't exactly child-safe and they didn't want to redo it again.

They still live in Brindleton Bay (Hound's Head) and ended up having five kids, two of them twins. Their oldest kids Flora, Daisy and Simon are all grown up by now and have started  successful careers after graduating from college. Flora is a mechanical engineer, lives in San Myshuno and just had her first kid, Earving, who she'll raise on her own. Daisy is an accomplished musician, lives in Windenburg and has opened a small music school while Simon has become a botanist and owns a small cottage in Henford, complete with a nice garden, a chicken coop and a stable currently housing a cow named Clara. The twins, Sophie and Jonas, are still in high school and a bit undecided when it comes to their future. Jonas is thinking about moving to Sulani or maybe Britechester to become a professional athlete while Sophie is toying with the idea of becoming a manager and moving to Chestnut Ridge because she loves horses.

She's currently dating Fabio, the son of Sam and Maeve Abernathy who happen to be both her parents' neighbours and best friends. Fabio wants to be come a stylist and is already successfully creating and selling outfits on Trendi. He just loves fashion and flashy clothes, and he has amazing hair 😁 His parents are working full-time, Sam aspiring to be a secret agent and Maeve going for the chef career. They're both one step away from achieving that and are still debating whether or not to have a second child. Sam thinks this time Maeve should go through the pregnancy because the first time around, it was her turn, so they're still not quite sure whether to go down that road and deal with sleepless nights all over again. 

There are other households in that save, too, eleven in total, but the others aren't as interconnected as the Ripleys and Abernathys, though most of them know each other. There's Hughie and Annie January with their son Adam over in San Sequoia, with Annie being one of Flora Ripley's closest friends (Flora was her maid of honour at her wedding), then we have Billy and Becca Butcher in Moonwood Mill who are about to get a divorce. Becca is still on the fence of whether or not to give this failure of a marriage another try but I think eventually, she'll throw in the towel, maybe start an affair and move to Tomarang. Billy, on the other hand, is very comfortable even though everybody hates him because he is a nasty person, gets into fights all the time and works towards becoming a top criminal as well as Enemy of the State. 

Over in Ravenwood, we have Desdemona and Vincent Poe, and I think they will end up getting a divorce at one point, too. I suspect Desdemona, who has the morbid trait, might move to Forgotten Hollow, find herself a nice vampire and become one herself while Vincent will probably stay in Ravenwood and open his own funeral parlour.

There's a shared house in Evergreen Harbour, housing Marvin, Serge and Kimiko, all still struggling a bit with their respective careers because I tend to neglect them a bit. Marvin is climbing the career ladder for detective, Serge is a scientist and hence one of Jamie's colleagues, and Kimiko is working hard to become a famous actress.

Then there's Rowena MacLeod, a spellcaster who lives in Glimmerbrook and works towards opening her own store so she can sell all things magical. The store already exists but she lacks the funds to buy it, so she works as a freelance writer at the moment. Last but not least we have Dean and Sam Winchester living in Oasis Springs, Dean going for a career as a paranormal investigator while Sam's aspiring to become a teacher. They're doing pretty well, all things considered.

Most of these households are connected one way or another, either because they're friends or because they're in the same club. It's challenging to manage all of them. Most of them are based on characters from TV shows, which is why I keep coming up with new ones all the time. Also, my goal is to have one household in every world 😁 I noticed that there are a few households that don't get as much attention as they should while I tend to spend a lot of times with others. I think I'll abandon my rotational pattern of one Sim week per household eventually, or maybe change it to playing my favourite households first and the others second instead of in alphabetical order. 

I have yet another Journey to Batuu save going on. My sims are Resistance members who have captured a First Order officer and the story revolves around re-awakening the man's humanity, turning a former enemy into an ally. Everyone in the household is based on a canon Star Wars character, but I changed a few things around and then the game added to that.

The first two weeks (aging is off, one ingame day equals about one in-story day) I took it easy, letting the rebels live on the park lot in Henford and build some basic skills. This is the lot now (zoned residential):

A - dorms and command center / B - outdoor kitchen (with invisible roof) / C - recreational area / D - workshop / E - washrooms and infirmary

The Resistance sims advanced in the military and engineer careers and those who have them also built their spellcasting skills. Meanwhile the prisoner sim, by name of Armitage, was in the Civic Designer career, what on the first levels meant that he had a lot of trash collecting and recycling tasks to do - fitting I'd say! 

Of course there's also "Present community concept", what let to this dialogue:

"The defense readiness of this base is deplorable. Here's a concept how to improve it using only resources that you can easily get in the forest."

"You're helping us make our base safer?!"

"I live here now. Do you think I fancy getting shot as collateral damage when the First Order attacks?"

Still very much making everything about himself... But that was to change!

At one point a space battle occured. Before leaving, the Resistance sims locked up their prisoner. Armi attacked his jailor, but not to escape...

“Now you listen, rebel-scum! You bring the others back to me! Alive and in a condition with many more years ahead of them! I don’t care about the cost. If it means your stupid Resistance winning this encounter, then so be it. If it means you having to let the First Order win, then you swallow your pride and do that. Fail to protect my friends and I’ll find a way to haunt you for all of eternity.”

I sent my sims (sans the prisoner) into the rocketship they had built and declared everyone who returned with a bad result captured. Two sims and a droid had to bite that bullet.

For extra drama a couple got separated - the left sim got captured.

If you've played the Resistance storyline, you may recognize the left sim. It's Corra, who will later help the rebels. I thought it would be neat to stage a few scenes with my playable copy of Corra early on, so that she doesn't appear out of nowhere, but already has a bit of history with my sims. 

Anyway, by then Armi had befriended the other household members, so he pledged allegiance to the Resistance for the purpose of freeing the three missing ones:

“I was taught that we need to dump the weak and value the strong for what they can do. But I don’t miss Poe’s, BB-8’s and Rey’s expertise, I miss them as persons. I’d still want to rescue them if they were too crippled to contribute. Our way of living, the First Order’s, I mean, is wr… flawed. I hereby give you an opportunity to convince me of yours.”

"i give you the opportunity", lol. Armitage has the ego of a titan and the situational awareness of an amoeba. Watch the first or so ten minutes of The Last Jedi to see what I mean (or just trust me on this) ;-)

I'm working Armi through the Batuu questline and aspiration now, he has only two missions left to do. The catch here is that the second to last Batuu mission is a prison break, so when my sim frees the scientist he is supposed to free according to the Batuu questline, he will also have freed the three missing household members.

Playing a defector instead of an idealistic sim is fun, because some tasks hit so much harder:

The first time wearing the former enemy's uniform... still grudgingly at this point, but Rose got them matching caps afterwards, so it was worth it.

Recruiting new members into the Resistance - that took a serious change of heart! Also talking to aliens on an equal level was a big challenge.

Or discussing all the change with former fellow officers:

No goals, just a female sim living on her own with a pink unicorn plush for company.

Love that place, it looks fab!