SIMS IN BLOOM CHALLENGE - CH 1 - GEN 1
Meet DAISY BLOOM, our Generation 1 Founder. Challenge rules state that the founder has to have the Cheerful, Clumsy, and Loves outdoors traits, and that she has to max the wellness, fishing and gardening skills, complete the Freelance Botanist Aspiration, and have a job as a gardener. Likes the colors white and yellow. She can marry, but that sim must have the loves outdoors trait. My own additional rules are that Daisy must have a fully functional house with a basic bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and living area before she can move her potential spouse in. I also downloaded one of the Maxis pre-made spa builds in Newcrest. ~ ~ ~ Playing Rags to Riches in Spring (30 days). Moved Daisy onto a vacant lot - 2 Olde Mill Road in Henford-on-Bagley. She sold all the trees and rocks on her lot and got $648 simoleons. I then downloaded a 0 simoleon Abandoned Cottage (it's a debug house), and added the debug toilet/shower stall from the Jungle Adventure pack. I also placed a debug contemplative stool (rental) for meditation. (This actually works to increase wellness skill). Lot traits are Simple Living, Penny Pixies, Homey, Wild foxes and Off-the grid. With the funds she had from selling the rocks and trees on her lot, she bought a dumpster (her bed for now - lol), and an Always Has a Snack Bag. She also purchased 2 inground garden patches ($10 each). After this, she had $4 simoleons left. She then got a job in the gardener career. It was now time to make some simoleons to purchase some garden seeds. She found a frog, some upgrade parts, a MySims trophy, and did some fishing at the pond. The welcome wagon came and never placed the food on the ground. So whatever it was, they took it back with them. She then headed to Finchwick and did some fishing...during a thunderstorm...and egads, she was struck by lightning. Deciding that she had enough fishing, she headed to the Gnome's Arms Pub to see if there were any eligible bachelors who also loved the outdoors. She feasted on free chips and water and made several friends, but no-one with this trait. She napped on the couch in the Gnomes Arms Pub and so ended Day 1. ~ ~ ~ Notes: Sims in Bloom Challenge Rules - go HERE. Abandoned Cottage by Quakeers. I had done a preliminary run-through for this challenge and found it difficult to find sims with the loves outdoors trait. So, bearing that in mind, I randomly downloaded some sims from the gallery, and also used some of the pre-made Maxis sims for potential love interests. I moved them into an empty lot in Newcrest, so Daisy will randomly meet them. Here they are. From left to right - Barry Varner (by nengster65), Terence Thayer (by nengster65), Brenton Ferguson (by Gods Treasure), Edmund Leighton (by Rickchikchik), Tristen Palmer (Maxis pre-made), Rémy St. Feu (Maxis pre-made), Kurt Lumberjackson (Maxis pre-made), and Pierce Coombs (Maxis pre-made),
Rebuilding Worlds Challenge: Vol. 3 (wip)
Starter Guide Create your founder/founders Select the starting world based on what packs you have available Choose a lot to either remodel or demo to rebuild When a new sim is born you must randomize their traits and aspirations Select a skill from one or both parents to pass on to the next generation each time a new sim is born Once the heir is old enough and ready to move on select a new world as their home (repeat steps 2-5 until you reach generation 10) Genetics Create a founder and friend a spouse from the general population who is genetically diverse from them OR Create a founding couple that is genetically diverse Then from generation two onwards choose their spouse from the Genepool The genepool can be foundherein the official doc Builds - Pick your starting world. Choose any lot and do one of the following: remodel the existing house as you see fit (this includes adding walls or basements to fit your family) download a house shell for that sized lot and decorate it use a floor plan for that sized lot and create your house free build your sim's dream home! These same options will apply to any of the future worlds. Once you have finished a generation choose a new world/lot to move to and start the process again :) You can go to any world you like! Pick your favorites, choose worlds you haven’t played much in before, or use a randomizer to pick for you. Optional Challenges pick one or all for funsies Try to stick to the following budgets when creating a home Small lot §40,000 - §50,000 (§20,000 - §30,000 for remodel) Medium lot §60,000 - §75,000 (§40,000 - §50,000 for remodel) Large lot §80,000 - §100,000 (§70,000 - §80,000 for remodel Keep the eye, hair, or skin color of the founder throughout the legacy When remodeling try to keep all the walls as close to the original floor plan as possible Have a trait(s) that a sim has to have to become hier or perhaps keep an occult going through all generations (ie spellcaster) Each generation has to complete a collection Roll for the number of children in each generation Decorate the houses/lot using as much of the relevant pack (to the world you choose) Turn Newcrest into a destination world filler with community lots by placing 1-3 per generationThe Whittaker Saga: 1940s: Thomas enlists (updated 9/10)
I was vastly inspired when reading the decades challenge, and as a history teacher, I could not stop myself from giving it a try. Of course, true to my nature or refusing to do things by the book, the first thing I did was break the rules. How? By creating as my protagonist a single, working woman living on her own! Gasp! Why? Partly because a story popped into my head, but also, partly, to honor the many women who - by choice or necessity - actually worked, and worked hard for their living in the 1890s. We tend to forget them, but the working women were there - from the hard working farmers that we often downgrade by calling wives, as if they weren't an essential part of the economy of the farm, to the working class women working as domestic help or in the factories where they were only payed half of a man's wages. So with that, I introduce Abigail Spencer, a single, working, middle class woman in 1890s Willow Creek: As middle class there is only a few jobs available to Abigail, that of governess or that of teacher. Abigail is therefore a teacher, teaching at Willow Creek Elementary School. She lives right next door to the school, in a small shotgun house with a few chickens and a patch of land to help her make ends meet (teachers really were not payed a lot during this time either). Obviously, her biggest goal in life is to find a husband, get married and start a family so that she won't have to work. (In fact, a teacher, as well as many other working women, automatically lost their job if they got married during this time.) But to get married, she needs to find a husband. Meet Willow Creek's eligible bachelors: Matthew Godeau: Matthew is one of the richest men in Willow Creek. A bit too old to still be a bachelor he lives with his widowed mother in Ophelia house (yes, eventually this family changed their names and became the Goths. Ophelia house is named from Matthew's mother). Pro: Matthew is creative, just like Abigail, as well as a romantic and would be sure to bestow lots of attention on a wife. He lives in one of the biggest houses in town, and is a wealthy business man. Abigail would have a good life with him. Con: His mother. Ophelia is a woman set in her own ways and she is not about to let some silly girl interfere with how she runs her house! Ophelia is mean, materialistic and an overachiever. She is not likely to see some middle class teacher as good enough for her son. Add that she has raised her son to be not only creative and romantic, but also incredibly self absorbed and the household may prove hard to be comfortable with. Joseph Whittaker: Joseph is a novellist, living in the stately Whittaker house, which with time, will be turned into the well renowned Willow Creek Archive. He has no mother (a definite pro), but two very young children. A son and a daughter, from a previous marriage. Pro: Joseph is a bookworm, just like Abigail and is sure look favourably on her past as a teacher. They are also both family orientated which means they are a good match in personalities and would likely find a lot of common ground. The house is ripe with books, and Joseph's two motherless children desperately need a mother to tend to their needs. With two live in maids it's a comfortable life focused on the family and the books she so loves. Con: Joseph very much mourns his dead wife, and keeps her picture on the wall over the fireplace. Can he ever truly love again, or will Abigail forever live in the shadow of the woman he loved and lost? Loyd Brennan: Loyd is the owner of Brennan's Groceries and Dry Goods, the biggest (only) shop in town. He lives with his sister Mary and their dachshund above the store. Pro: Loyd is outgoing and friendly and easy to get along with. He's self assured, but unlike Matthew, not self absorbed. He works hard and provides a good home. As a working man he does not mind a working wife, so Abigail would do more than sit around being pretty. He loves dogs, and anyone who does cannot be bad - right? Con: Living in a store would mean working in the store. There is no way the wife of a store owner is not in that store working along side her husband. Without money for a maid, this involves not just working in the store but running the household as well. The apartment isn't really big enough for a large family and unless Mary gets married, it's bound to be crowded. Then there is the fact that she and Mary does not really get along well. Paul Heydale: Paul is a farmer, living with his entire family at Garden Essence, a farm with a cow, chickens and a whole lot of crops. They're a tight knit family who works hard for what they have. Pros: Paul, like Abigail is both creative and family orientated. He dreams of becoming a painter rather than a farmer. By marrying him, Abigail would be wrapped up in a large family who would be there for her, something she'd never had before. His family is also very friendly, and Abigail teachers his younger sister and has already met and chatted with his mother and father and really likes the entire family. Con: Marrying a farmer would be a step down the social ladder, and the life of a farmer is hard! Is Abigail cut out for working out from early morning to late evening without ever more than making ends meet? And the house is crowded as is, with Paul's parents and two younger siblings (so far). Where would more children live? Is Abigail prepared for the hard life that accompanies this choice? Now I wanted to make a poll, but apparently you cannot do this in this section of the forums. So I'll leave you with a question instead - who do you believe Abigail will most likely fall in love with and why? Matthew Joseph Loyd Paul Finally, here is my Willow Creek in 1890: *** An important note about the future postings in this story: After trying and fighting the forum to get the posts up and running as they are supposed to work, I have now decided that it's simply too much work. Instead, I have started a blog that (hopefully soon) will contain all of the chapters from here and the old forum. I am currently at 1891 and moving forwards quite rapidly. Here the posts of each chapter will be replaced by a link to the chapters in the blog as I move forwards, though I will leave any comments as they are. The massive perk with this is that I do not need to worry about editing in all images manually, and the loading time will decrease enormously without them. The process of reading is also easier at the blog - and while the blog itself is in the wrong order, I have set up a list of all chapters in chronological order for new readers as well as a search function if you are looking for a specific chapter. Another perk is that I have some new options, like character pages where you can get a summary of each of the main character in the story (warnings for spoilers) and a separate page about the challenge, how time moves. I hope I will be able include a link to the family tree as well. It will take some time to get everything set up, and I do appreciate input in the process. I do promise that the story will go on, and hope you will keep reading it and commenting on it either here or on the new blog. Link to the blog.
Random legacy - McIntosh family part 1
I got inspired by videos of other simmers and decided to give random legacy challenge a shot. Oh boy, is it hard! Random really didn't like me this time: permanent barista career (or at least I think that it has to be permanent and no other income allowed? Or maybe I'm just a fool...), no helpers, idle careers (can't help w school or career/job), single with 3 kids. Okay, I don't have 3 kids yet, only 1 because I'll lose it honestly if I have all 3 kids at once 😭😭 Btw, I used a special website designed for this challenge apparently to random things but there are also lists with careers etc on some kinda sims forums. And you know what? There was no barista career in the list I've found... But I guess playing as barista and having no other income other than that is kinda fun. Fun because it's hard and I think I've never been challenged in Sims like that ('cause I never bothered to) The unlucky one is Janet McIntosh (name and surname were randomized as well as her appearance and style). She reminds me of Cassandra Goth, probably because of ponytails lol Janet lives in Oasis Springs and collects stuff every day, as per the random rule I got (but she can't sell her collection as far as I understand. Maybe I'm wrong tho?). She hates her job since she doesn't like any kinds of commitments and she's afraid that she will be stuck with it forever. Janet's not wrong on that one... Poor girl. She's also mean and mischievous, but that's fun. She's almost sworn enemies with Geoffrey Landgraab (I did that on purpose) and I personally cackle because of that. As for her third trait, Janet's romantic. Also welcome father of the family — Quentin what's his surname. Well, he's biological father of our dear heir Robin alright, but he can't live with them or be married to Janet, as per the rules (she has to be a single mom). Shame, because of Janet's encouragement Quentin changed careers and after being a nanny became an entertainer and could have brought us actual money :( Fun fact is that Robin must become an entertainer one day too, because random wished so (which is very interesting coincidence. Kinda like a plot element). And there's our little heir Robin. His present random aspiration is to be creative and he's an art lover (random was very consistent with that). He also was a top notch infant and a happy child, hooray! Despite the fact that their living conditions have always been less than satisfactory (they don't have an actual house, just the needed utilities and beds...). Let's see if I can survive for longer! lol Btw, I've already randomized what second gen rules are gonna be, which include: 2 kids; comedian career (secondary careers: astronaut, culinary); two live-in partners, at least 1 kid with the first one; sims have to get in fights at least once a week; teens in the family have to work AND max their part time jobs before 3rd gen starts, even if they will become young adults That's definitely easier and pretty entertaining, if you ask me! You know, Robin's mother is a meanie and all he ever saw was her getting into fights and badmouthing people. So... I guess it's logical he and his future siblings will get into fights as well. It's just fitting. And like I said, Robin's father works in entertainment too. Maybe we can imagine that our little boy decided to follow in father's footsteps? Even if he was an absent one. Fun fact: Quentin and Robin actually met each other because Quentin came on our lot to celebrate HIS birthday on the same day Robin became a child. Can't say why he chose our lot, I was honestly surprised when that happened after he invited Janet via phone 🤔Let's imagine he actually cares about his son (we all know tho that the reason he's not a top notch dad is purely technical...)
Cantrell: The Early Years
And So We Moved, a Cantrell: The Early Years Save “Lulu,” Joseph said. Seeing her frown at his chosen nickname for her, he began again, gently taking her by the shoulders. “Louise, I know you’re in your second trimester, but not that far into it. Besides, the journey normally only takes about two months’ time. This is a tremendous opportunity for us,” Joseph continued. “Here I get peanuts for doing the same job I’m being recruited for. I’ve already been promised over 200,000 Simoleons up front, if I take the job. The only catch, it’s on Vulcan. I served some of my time as a Marine on the red planet. It’s really a lovely place. Good people, if not a tad stiff in some manner, but you’ll adapt to it. I promise. I personally know Ambassador Sarek. Oh, and his wife, Amanda, is human. She’s also a teacher.” “But we’re to live in a compound? They keep all of the human residents in a compound? I don’t like the sound of it. Joseph, I don’t.” “It’s not what you think. The Vulcans rely on Logic and have trained themselves to avoid emotional statements as much as possible. Neighborhood implies emotion by the very nature of the word. It’s a very nice neighborhood, I’ve been there. We’ll likely not see too many Vulcans there. So, you’ll have the opportunity to make some friends. Human friends.” Louise lowered her head for a moment and let out a long, audible sigh. She really didn’t want to go. Gazing up again at him again, she said, “I’ve got one very active baby with another baby on the way. Being cooped up in a small spacecraft spells nightmare for me.” Joseph’s light blue eyes were aglow at the prospects of finally getting ahead in his chosen career. Another look at Joseph and Louise relented. She did love him so. Against her better judgement, she found herself saying, “Oh, all right. We’ll give it a try. But, if things don’t work out, please tell me you have an exit strategy.” “Exit strategy? Oh, sure. Yes Ma’am.” His smile was tentative, since he had already signed a two-year contract, renewable if he performed well at the job at hand. *~~*~~*~~*~~* The trip was long and arduous. The craft, already old, had several breakdowns along the way. Having to be towed, via Tractor Beam, to a Space station equipped to make repairs took way more time than expected, its location drawing them several parsecs off course. Again, due to the availability of out-dated parts. The advanced simoleons were meant to cover their housing. Sadly, the almost ancient Skiff took most of it just to get there. They could not afford the costs of repair, let alone the expenditure of time. Repairs took weeks. Waylaid as they were, virtual prisoners in their own ship, the repairs notoriously slow, suddenly Louise found herself in labor. “Oh, Joseph, this isn’t gas at all. This is the real deal. This baby is coming now. And I mean, right now.” “But we’re still parsecs away from Vulcan. The mechanics have assured me we’ll be on our way again very soon. Can’t you wait for another hour?” “Yes, Mr. Genius, I’ll just tell the baby to put things on hold,” she said, the humor curiously lacking from her pretty face. Then narrowing her eyes as if in contact with the baby inside of her, she shook her head. “No . . . no, somehow, he’s just not listening. He says he’s done baking and wishes to come out, now.” Joseph gazed at his young wife, “I’m in trouble, huh.” *~~*~~*~~*~~* True to their word, the mechanics finished up their work and bid the Cantrell family a Bon Voyage. The ship was still slow, which left Joseph in a near panic. Soon their toddler, Aaron was walking. Louise having to chase after him, who seemed to have a very bad case of the wanderlust. Or, perhaps he was just Inquisitive. At any rate, Louise was certain the mite was intent on exploring every nook and cranny of this sad vessel. She longed for the moment she could beam down and check out the only house they could afford with the leftover funds. *~~*~~*~~*~~* Five months after their second child arrived, their craft all but drifted into Vulcan’s atmosphere, where again, a Tractor Beam was used to pull them into the active space port where they offloaded. A crew was there to secure their luggage and little Aaron’s stuffed bear, that lay neglected on the deck. When his parents were able to interpret his anxious squawks, it was soon recovered. “Heaven forbid, Bear should get left behind,” Louise said, presenting it to the tot. By the iron grip the child had on the brown, stuffed replica of the Terran mammal, peace reigned once again. Their second child, another boy they named Erik, was no longer a newborn when they finally reached Vulcan space. Emerging from the craft in the hangar, a small delegation of Vulcans and Humans greeted them. Joseph had kept them apprised of his travel woes, which phased them not at all. He was given the day off to get his family situated in their new home. The couple only saw it virtually and had contracted a builder to make an archway between the two smaller bedrooms the boys would share. Among a few other alterations. Getting a chance to tour it, though soon brought Louise almost to tears. Beaming down to see the house in person shattered her expectations. If she found being cramped in a small spacecraft for nearly eight months was a nightmare, these quarters were equally small if not smaller. Two bedrooms, as per their changes, one bath, but the entire place was just small, the rooms cramped, not at all like the pictures online. Being rather adept at photography she should have realized the angle used was in an almost deceptive way. The kitchen was a bit of a joke. Strictly speaking a one-butt kitchen--- if it was even large enough for one. They had a small island added, for more working surfaces. No laundry room, whatsoever. She had the movers place the stackable washer and dryer in the corner of the main bedroom. There simply wasn’t anywhere else it could go. Joseph quickly settled into his new job, taking over the recently vacated 5th grade class at Province Elementary School, serving the Human Compound. So on top of having to adjust to the stronger pull of gravity on this planet, the thin atmosphere, which made breathing a bit harder for them, the hotter than blazes temperature, even in winter, which dropped to nearly unbearably cold temperatures once the sun went down; she also now had a new challenge before her. Louise found herself confronted headlong with Sibling Rivalry. Being an only child herself, this was foreign to her. Yet, Aaron was clearly jealous. He had a nasty case of it, she noted. So far he contented himself to pull at little Erik’s feet whenever Louise sat down to breast feed him. Louise had to be on her guard to make certain her toddler didn’t further act out his feelings *~~*~~*~~*~~* Having learned of such beasts as the Sehlet, often domesticated to her confusion, the bear-like animal had six-inch fangs. Or worse, the known predator called Le-matya, which bore poisonous claws. She worried Aaron would wander off someday and they would forever lose him in this almost hostile and alien world. She still just didn’t understand what it was Joseph found so enchanting about this place. Despite it all, Louise found a job in the Painters Career. She was something of a prodigy, herself, when it came to translating images to canvas. She painted to relax. The more she created, the better she felt, as if driven to express herself in this manner. The fact that her work was drawing notice was nice and it did help to keep her at the easel. When she wasn’t running after Aaron, that is. He was most certainly a handful, that boy, with his rather reckless desire for adventure. She was already making her mark on the Art world, having achieved the status of Proper Celebrity. She refused to let it go to her head, and instead decided the Paparazzi who hung around outside of their little dwelling, would be her first friends in this alien place. Busy taking care of her two children, in between dealing with Morning Sickness again, she soon realized they had been a bit on the capricious side when they ‘initiated’ their new home, shortly after moving in. What were they thinking? Faced with a third child under the age of four, she worried that the Daycare wasn’t being run as well as they promised. Often, Erik came home hangry with a wet diaper and exhausted. But, could they afford a nanny? This prompted her to produce more paintings which she sold to an Art Collector, which returned many more Simoleons that just selling it straight out. All for now. Thanks for reading! :)
9/10 Disney Princess (2) - Zoot Legacies
Since I have a number of legacies that I play I decided rather than bombard the forum with countless individual discussions I would make an Index of them all. Up top in the title I will say which legacy is updated that day. Main Page: Zoot Playz Legacies: Fox Legacy Basic Legacy: Red Head Heir Rule Updated 07/30/24 Gaia Legacy Basic Legacy: Loves Outdoors Heir Rule Updated 08/11./24 Not so Berry:http://zootplayz.com/not-so-berry/ On Hiatus Serenity Legacy Basic Legacy: Heir Rule: Good Trait Updated 08/02/2024 Disney Princess Updated 09/10/2024 Super Sim LegacySuper Sim challenge with vampires Updated 06/09/24 Berry Pastel Rainbowcy:http://zootplayz.com/berry-pastel-rainbowcy/Updated 02/02/24 On Hiatus Pancakes Legacy:https://zootplayz.com/pancakes-legacy/Basic Legacy Based On Bob PancakesUpdated 11/19/23On Hiatus Not so Doctor Who:http://zootplayz.com/not-so-doctor-who/ Legacy Challenge by ME based on Dr Who - On Hiatus Disney Villains:http://zootplayz.com/disney-villains/On Hiatus Lynx LegacyBasic Legacy: Cat Lover Heir Rules Updated08/01./24 Flex LegacyBasic Legacy: Active Heir Rules NEW!!! UPDATED 07/31./24 Vatore Legacy Basic Legacy: Heterochromia EyesNEW!!! UPDATED 8/03/24 7/30 Note - As you can see it's been awhile but work was super understaffed for a few months and we finally got some people I'm not working 60+ hours a week and can get back to updating. 9/10 August was a tough month. Once again too many hours on top of personal issues but we should be back on form now.👽 Miller Legacy 🛸
Sul sul fellow simmers! The Miller Legacy is my first Legacy Challenge and the way I found to explore the (for me) new The Sims 4 game in the moment I decided to buy it. It's the translation of what I originally posted in Italian here, and the new chapters are being posted on my blog here. I'd also like to point out that this legacy is currently being shared also on the parallel Sim Creative forum. This small forum has practically the same template as the old one and is not buggy, making it a very cozy place where to share the old conversations we used to have in the former Creative corner. I suggest you to give it a look! ;) Back to the introduction, with this legacy I'm basically novelizing what happens when I'm playing my game, introducing as many mysteries and issues to overcome for my sims as I can. For sure, the Miller's are not a family like the others. I'm not a fan of too strict gaming rules, thus my main rule is just: "reach generation 10 without cheating". This legacy is definitively more story-driven than rules-driven. So I'm not taking track of points in any way, often instead of choosing traits or careers randomly I choose what I think would be funnier for me to play or better for the story progression, I often move the family to new houses (not built by me because I'm a horrible builder) and so forth. In particular, I'm taking a lot of freedom about a certain cat, but also in that case I found a way for doing it without technically being cheating. As for the heir, I don't follow a strict rule but just choose the one for which I can imagine the best character development and who can give more in terms of story progression. The only rule I'm following in that sense is that I want every heir to be the biological child of the previous heir, because I'm curious to see how the genetics algorithm in TS4 work over a 10 generations span (consider this as a small experiment :P ). The full story index (beware, it's long!) can be found HERE. I'm closing this premise here because I don't want to spoil the story, so I wish you a pleasant reading through the most mysterious sides of this game ;)Wyrd Tales - View from the Mountain
A Wyrd Tales Short Story This is the feedback post for View from the Mountain, the 6th story in my Wyrd Tales series. The story itself will be posted on my blog. Note for new readers, because several of my Wyrd Tales stories contain mature themes, language and content I cannot actually provide links to the blog itself. If you want a link, contact me. View from the Mountain, Part 1 View from the Mountain, Part 2 View from the Mountain, Part 3 View from the Mountain, part 4 Announcement
