“Do I need a new challenge? No. Should I start a new challenge? No. But I want to get back to blogging in the worst way, and I'm afraid to jump back into existing stories until I get the hang of writing again... At least, that's what I keep telling myself. I've started this particular challenge before, and didn't get very far... so it deserves another look. Then I have this young family from yet another challenge that didn't get very far (because I mis-read the rules and missed something rather massive)... and I am absolutely in love with them. So I figured, why not restart the Simerican Settlers Challenge... and bend the rules just far enough to allow me to start with an existing family instead of just the one founder.” So, that's the plan. I can't promise that I will be updating this regularly, nor can I guesstimate how long I'll play it before feeling confident enough to pick up my old stories where I left off... so don't ask. I just don't know. Now, on to the challenge. The challenge I picked for the young McPherson family is the "Simerican Settlers" Challenge. It's not one I wrote, nor have I done any updating to it.... so some changes may have to be made along the line, as I am approaching this mostly from a story standpoint.
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First of all, welcome to my new challenge!! I've been looking for a "do everything" challenge for The Sims 4, and have been working on one save with just that intention... but I've been increasingly disappointed that the challenges I was trying to mash together just didn't follow what I was hoping to do. So.. when in doubt.. write a new challenge. And that's just what I did. I could have used my old save, but for some reason, my sim didn't trigger the achievement she should have, and the whole save in general was annoying me.. so I'm starting over. My old save wasn't blogged, but I feel like I'll enjoy it more if I blog it, so here we go. This is a brand new save for me, made on the heels of publishing my Master Simmer Challenge. It sounded like so much fun, I had to get one started right away. Update: this is still active. When I have time. Still have so much to do!!
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So, I made the mistake of getting bored and reading a link someone else posted to another challenge I was working on – and I was immediately intrigued. The more I read on the “Through the Ages” challenge by ericanoelle (https://ericanoelle.tumblr.com/post/188701427438), the more hooked I got, and the more I wanted to update things a little and make the challenge my own. I eventually branched off and made my own rules for the challenge, and gave it a new name. Originally I called it “Exploring History Challenge”, and a lot of people were confusing it with the actual “History Challenge” - which I assure you, is a completely different thing. I didn’t 100% know whether this playthrough was going to be be story or commentary, and I wasn’t sure I’d know from one generation to the next, either. I was just playing for fun (and to test out my rules adaptation), and going to go with whatever mood struck me at the time. I did decide to blog it, though, so that’s where this page comes in. This particular playthrough of the challenge was abandoned when I started streaming on Twitch, and I decided testing out my new “Timeline Adventure Challenge” (what I finally renamed the challenge to) rules was the first Sims save I played live on Twitch. The rules have been changed fairly extensively since this original Plumbob playthrough, but this particular challenge attempt holds the distinction of having some of the strangest sim genetics of any of my challenges.
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I have very much missed my Sims 3 ISBI (I'm Surrounded by Idiots) Challenge, and instead of starting a new one (since I can't get the old save working) I'm starting a new family on Sims 4! I'm going to go with the same theme as before - starting with a fiery haired Irish girl, and seeing how far I can get the red hair to go. I'll be following the rules pretty closely - it's fairly simple. Basically you have one sim to control - called a torch holder. All other sims in your household function more like NPCs and only get ONE controlled action per age state. Once the next heir gets to young adult age, the "Torch" passes to them, and they become the controlled sim. Easy, right? .. Try again. Taking care of a whole family by controlling only one sim is an interesting juggling act, as you will see. Update: this challenge is definitely still being played. I love to hate the scoring system, so it keeps pulling me back.
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This has been completed for a long time, but when I was wanting to look back on the adventure, I found that even finding the posts was difficult. So here I am, making a new page on my blog for ancient history. When I went through the full testing process, I did so with two different saves and families - one for the "Normal" difficulty, the other for "Extreme". On this page I'll collect all the posts and index them, mostly just so anyone (including me) who wants to look back at all the work that went into The Apartment Switch, can. For more information on the Apartment Switch, see this page in my Challenge Rules section.
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As some of you have known, I've been struggling with writer's block for a while. Then, recently, I was contacted about adopting an orphaned & abandoned challenge. My first instinct was to say no, I have more than enough on my plate at the moment. However, upon perusing the original challenge rules, I was hit with a wave of inspiration. Therefore, it quickly became obvious to me that I did need to adopt the challenge, and - for that matter - I also needed to start my own attempt at it. So that's where this is coming from. The challenge is called the "Build a World Challenge" and it is 100% up my alley. It's complicated, long, and difficult. I have begun the painstaking work of updating and adapting the challenge, but I couldn't resist starting the challenge while my inspiration was hot. Hence, I will not be providing the rules right away, because they're still in progress. I will provide a link to the previous rules, and my version is coming - but it's going to be a MONSTER to finish. (Previous rules: pdf here / spreadsheet here) Basically, the premise of the challenge is that you start with one sims world at a time, and eventually fill your entire save, including the "locked" and "secret" lots with your own sims and builds. This is done by "unlocking" lots and actions and careers - basically everything - by completing skills and aspirations (among other things). For example, the required starting community lot for Oasis Springs is a Fishing Spot Lot (Park lot), and it takes getting three sims to max fishing to unlock it.
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I found this challenge on Mod the Sims.. (here) and liked the look of it, so I started playing. I found it 1.. too easy.. and 2.. lacking in rules for the expansions. So I’m modifying it for my uses. I don’t plan to blog the story of my “colony” (town), but I may post some build pictures and stuff as I go. I’m almost done with the first generation currently and I have 3 families (14 total sims) living in my town. Anyway, Back on topic. I wanted to write down my variation of the rules.. mostly so I don’t lose them. I ended up changing more than I originally intended to. However, it’s a fun challenge, and one that I think others would enjoy, so I’m leaving the rules up here. My attempt at the challenge was mostly done off-blog, so I didn’t take a lot of pictures, and I didn’t really start taking great records until the second generation. Eventually, I got tired of it. I think maybe part of it was due to not blogging it fully. Will I go back to it? I honestly don’t know. We’ll see.
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This is a challenge I found recently, and knew immediately it was something I wanted to start. Each "house" is a challenge in itself, and has mini challenges to (hopefully) introduce you to things you haven't seen in Sims 4. At it's heart, it's a generational building challenge, and each house requires you to earn enough starting from nothing to build a certain value house. At certain houses, you also "unlock" venues that you can then buy or build for your growing town. The first blood related child of each generation is the heir, and the challenge stops and starts based on when that child reaches young-adulthood. All in all, this should be a fun challenge! Update: This challenge is now retired. Please see my Ramblers challenge for my currently played Drifter challenge.
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**ON HIATUS** Because I’m me… I couldn’t stand doing a 100 baby challenge without making it more difficult on myself. (laughs) So, to make things.. More.. interesting?.. I changed it up. Instead of a “Matriarch”, I made a male sim. And he has to get abducted to get pregnant. So all the babies are aliens. And they live in what looks a bit like a spaceship. Which is fun. Only - the challenge still seems SUPER boring and repetitive to me. So it’s going to be a struggle to get through. Expect this to take a while.
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I really missed my "Falconvale" "Nothing is Free" challenge, and I really wanted to get a new traditional "Nothing is Free" challenge going (rules on Mod the Sims here) - as opposed to my "Spectres" challenge, which is combined with an Apocalypse challenge. Plus, I had just gotten the Island Paradise expansion, so the thought of building my own Island Paradise had plenty of merit. Coming up with a story for such a world wasn't a real stretch of imagination, either... a castaway was completely obvious. So.. Castaway Shores was born. I gutted the town, and "fished" around for an appropriate starting lot, which took some doing.. originally, I picked a land-locked one, but that seemed like a stupid idea, so I moved him to a beachy lot. My founding character is a guy, named Micah McCloud. His traits are: Loves to Swim, Loner, Handy, Excitable, and Eco-Friendly. His favorite music is Island Life, he loves Grilled Salmon, and he likes the color red. With all that being said, that's pretty much all you need to know to start reading! I always wanted to go back to this, in fact, I think I still have the file. But I just don’t play Sims 3 anymore. Maybe someday.
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**ON HIATUS** Yep, I'm starting a new challenge. Again. Don't ask, it's probably better that way. I'm calling it "The Diversity Experiment" or "TDE" for short. This challenge is based on the "Rebuild|Renew" and "Rebuilding Worlds Vol. 2" Challenges by OJenn on the Sims Forums. I'm going to be putting them together.. and, instead of picking ONE town to play, I'll be rebuilding ALL of them. My ultimate goal is to get to 100 generations (which is a Sims 4 Achievement I would love to have said I've gotten once) starting with a mixed race couple and continuing through the generations, keeping genetics / races / gender identities / etc as diverse as I possibly can. I will be using the genepools provided by the Challenges, or making my own, depending on whether the genepools exist or not. Per the Challenge Rules, each sim will roll for aspirations, hobbies traits, and aspirations. Also, I will be setting up some sort of way of rolling for each sim's gender and partner preferences, although I haven't 100% decided on how, yet. Obviously, these rolls don't apply to the founders, as I'm using made-over versions of the one of the provided sim families - The Greenes. I specifically did not touch any face or body sliders, or skin tone/eye or hair colors. I only "made over" their clothes and hairstyles. I'll introduce them a little better in the first chapter.
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This was my latest attempt at a Sims 3 apocalypse Challenge. I still want to do one, but it’s probably going to have to be a Sims 4 one. I don’t think I got nearly as far as I wanted to in this challenge, but it was still fun, and since I still have all the pictures, I figured I might as well leave it on this blog. Enjoy!
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From my original page on this story: "First of all, I know it's mis-spelled. I did it on purpose. Poetic license! Second, the title will be explained in due time. I came up with the idea after downloading a beautifully evocative world called "Silent Hill" (yes, based off the games) from the Sims Exchange - found here if you're interested. I promptly tossed the idea out and kept looking. Hours later, after coming back to the idea many times, and finally having a brainstorm session with my husband where the story was fleshed out some more, I finally decided this was what I was going to go with. I really wanted to get another "Nothing is Free" challenge going (rules on Mod the Sims here) .. and this time I wanted to START with a story, not the challenge itself. (I started with the challenge last time, and then had to come up with a semi-lame story after the fact when I decided to start blogging it.) However, this was where the complications showed up. For the story to work, I'm going to have to get a bit.. well.. creative. The world is a lovely sad and ruined world, perfect for a lonely sim who thinks they just might be the last sim alive to try to rebuild humanity... er.. simanity. However, that means the play is going to be a bit more complicated. I've always wanted to try an Apocalypse challenge (rules found on it's wiki here) .. but never been brave enough to actually start one. I read over the rules fairly carefully, and if I modify several key things (the big one is going to be the fact that there ARE no rabbit holes to start with in the world - and I'm going to make a really tough choice to also force a NO OTHER SIMS! in the world to start with as well.) Not to completely spoil the story, I will let you discover that as we go.. but this challenge could very well end before it begins if the random chance gods of sims don't help me out before my founder dies. (yikes!)" This is the only Sims 3 game I’ve attempted to go back to since Sims 4 came out. I still have the save file, but the issue is still the same. I was going to need to force the save past bugs with cheats, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to just for the sake of the story. Maybe someday.
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**ON HIATUS** I've been planning on starting this for a while, but have been holding off. Testing my willpower, I guess. Obviously, it didn't work for long, because here I am. This is a challenge from the Boolprop forums that is sorta like a history challenge mixed with an apocalypse challenge mixed with a choose your own adventure book. At this time, my plan is to blog it in sorta a cross between diary entries and commentary. We'll see how that goes, though. This page is set up as the index of all chapters, and the Prologue will delineate the challenges and mini-challenges for the whole process. Each Generation's first chapter will go through the goals for that generation. With that being said... here goes nothing. Update: this is more or less on hold due to streaming full time now. I do want to get back to it, but it may take me a while.
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**ON HIATUS** I couldn't resist. With what seems like everyone in the boolprop discord server starting Name Games, I broke and started one myself. I chose to start with my Simself, and on an expensive lot.. so we'll see how this goes. Wish me luck! What’s a name game, you ask? Well, you start with a founder. Whatever their name is, you have to have that many kiddos. So my founder, Wyld - needs four kids. One each starting with each letter of her name. Multiples only count as one letter. The goal is to get through the whole alphabet with kids with names starting with each letter in the shortest amount of time you possibly can. It’s.. interesting. This challenge is currently on hiatus, because my priorities lie in my other challenge attempts for now. It’s also the challenge in which I learned that it is absolutely possible to win the lottery with your sim. How? .. I won it. (LOL) Eventually, I will be picking up this family again.
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This was the challenge that launched this blog. "Play notes: Falconvale is played based on the "Nothing is Free" Challenge Rules, which are found here on ModtheSims.com. It's the brainchild of the brilliant Avalikia, and basically takes the old Build a City Challenge for Sims 2, and makes it more suited for the Sims 3 playstyle. There have been other "morphs" of the BACC for Sims 3, but most simply take the old rules and plop them onto the Sims 3 game engine - which isn't the same style of gameplay at all... and to play the Sims 2 style you need extensive mods to change the aging and gameplay style back to the sims 2.. which seems sorta silly to me. This Challenge seems to be the best way to run BACC for the Sims 3 game engine, and I fell in love with the challenge as soon as I read it. That being said.. welcome to Falconvale." Unfortunately, this save file ultimately got corrupted by an invisible friend bug, and I was never able to recover it. Loved it while it lasted, though.
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**ON HIATUS** I "needed" more medals on the boolprop forums, so I started a Baby Boom Challenge. I didn't have much in the way of reasoning beyond that, other than that, maybe, I needed a shorter challenge that I could complete. (Shorter - as defined against the other challenges I'm undertaking. LOL.) The title of the challenge comes from 1, the family name of Hook.. and 2, my husband who came up with a nice catchy name. .. When I restarted in Chapter 2, I changed family names and, hence the name of the challenge. I then restarted - yet AGAIN - in Chapter three.. but I think this time will stick. The last restart was so I could take on extra mini challenges, and keep score this time. The basic premise is to start with a Sim couple, and get them to have a minimum of 24 kids. 12 boys, 12 girls. You’re not done until you have all 12 of each. Anything over that amount doesn’t count - so you can’t do, say 15 boys and 9 girls. At the very least, it’s an interesting challenge. I find it better than 100 baby challenge, for sure, but I had to put some of my challenges on hold for a while. So this is one of them.
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"Yes, this is my second Drifter Challenge.. Yes, I'm also crazy. That being said... I was inspired by some of the great storytellers blogging their Drifter Challenges with an actual story-line and I wanted to see if I could do it too. Bear with me as I dust off some creative muscles I haven't stretched this far in quite a while. (My other stories take little creativity, being very game-play-driven.) We'll see how this goes!" ... That’s the original introduction to the story. However, so much has changed since then that I feel like I need to add some more information to it now. I love this story. It’s a Drifter Challenge that I chose to write as a story. I had big plans for it when I started it, but some of them fell through, unfortunately, and it caused the writing to pretty much completely stall out. At this time, I do not know if I’ll get back to this story or not. That being said, it’s still a nice read (what little of it there is)... and I, hopefully, will be able to figure out a new direction to take the story since the one I had in mind didn’t pan out.
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**ON HIATUS** This challenge is an 8 generation challenge, with each generation based on a different board game, with the whole challenge being based on a monopoly board. I am a huge fan of board games, so I figured this challenge was right up my alley. I also started it during the period when I was starting to burn out on Sims, and I was desperately trying new things to get my interest back. Spoiler - it didn't get my interest back - I ended up taking a break, but I always come back - and now it's time to continue this challenge. Because, of course, I need more challenges to do. Originally, I was going to take the rules for Sims 2 and adapt them myself for Sims 4, but before starting, I found out that the challenge creator actually had a Sims 4 version of them - which was GREAT news! This is, unfortunately, another challenge that got put on hold. Simply because I hadn’t gotten very far along on it. Not enough, even, to get attached to it.
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This save came about when Realm of Magic came out and I had the bright idea to do a version of a "Supernatural Orphanage". Which - basically - is a family based on one kid from each occult. At this time, there's four occults, plus human, so there's five kids. For some insane reason, I started all the kids out as toddlers... and I only gave them one parent. Why??? Who knows. But I was clearly not thinking straight. I moved them into one of my favorite shells I've ever made and started decorating. I ran out of creative energy at about the same time I hit the basement, hence the fact that it's currently unfurnished. I plan to play them through adulthood - and beyond. I want to follow their families, see how different they all are. I survived the five toddlers, got them to the child stage.. And then just got overwhelmed with too many challenges, and this is one of the ones that got cut. It will be back. If you're interested to see what actually happened with this family, check out this page. They moved to the big screen!
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