A new Sloth, a new playthrough

I recently switched computers, and in the switch-over, lost a lot of my old saves — including the Deadly Sins Challenge playthrough I’d played to the second generation. Alas Pride! In a poll, I asked my community if they’d like us to start over, recreate the first iteration, or scrap it altogether, and they overwhelmingly voted for a do-over with a new Sloth. Sloth 2.0.

Kori Cutler is the wooooOOOOoooorst.

She can only afford her apartment because of an insurance scam — she pretended to get hurt on an escalator and won a handsome settlement. BUT she finally ran out of cash, and instead of getting more than part-time retail work, she instead scored a far more ambitious roommate.

Damion Callaway was created by my friend and fellow streamer Kast. He’s a wannabe entertainer with an eye toward comedy and filmmaking. Right now, he’s a fledgling comedian and musician just trying to make it in a rough industry. He gets drunk when he’s happy. When he’s drunk, he hooks up with Kori. When he’s sober, he regrets it SO MUCH.

Kori also loves to steal things, gaslight her neighbor Penny Pizzazz, and give horrible -horrible- customer service at her night job. Hail to the sloth.

Deadly Sins redux (Oct. 2020)

(Oct. 19, 2020: Hey there! In honor of starting this challenge on my own stream, I thought I’d incorporate some of the suggestions and updates in the Sims since I first wrote this in January!)

(Note: Neighborhood Action Plans from EcoLifestyle are NOT addressed, since I hate them and instantly disable them. However, if you’re using them in YOUR game, just pump up the generations’ existing issues! Remember, it’s a challenge about SINNING — you can literally do nothing wrong. Cheat, skip, and misbehave with aplomb.)

The Seven Deadly Sins Legacy Challenge leads your Sims through the worst traits, careers, and aspirations Sim-kind has to offer. In seven generations, experience sloth, pride, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and finally greed.

There aren’t a lot of RULES (it’s a sin challenge, after all), just guidelines and suggestions to help you really lean in to that sinful Sim life. This is a super tongue-in-cheek challenge, given that your Sims will be horrible children, parents, partners, employees and friends. Just horrible. If a generation or a task disturbs you (or bores you!), skip it.

And, because I’m even more of a builder than a player, each generation has a build challenge. Not a builder? Give it a try, or just break the rules and skip that part of the challenge. Who’s going to stop you? I’m not your MOM!

Generation 1: Sloth
No real career. No degree. No spouse. Your Sim has to make and raise an heir, but beyond that, they just slide through life. Enjoy napping, drinking juice on the beach, sleeping, neglecting your heir, and going with the flow.

Aspiration:  Any.  They just won’t care.  If you have Island Living, “Beach Life” is a great option.
Starting Traits have to include: Lazy, Slob
Suggested Career: Odd Jobs and Part-Time Jobs only.
Build Component: Build humble, build cheap! Try starting with 5k instead of 20k, and build whatever you can build! In your future Sloth dwellings, try to keep to that slothful, don’t-care, meh style of housing!
Additional Slothful Suggestions: Never use “Work Hard.” When people come to your Sim’s house, never ask them to leave. Sleep on the beach. Skip work and/or school whenever your Sim is in the mood. Leave bowls of food on the ground for your toddler heir. Back float in the ocean. Don’t amass a personal fortune of more than 5k or so (excluding house/possessions). Sleep.
Update Notes: If you aren’t in the building mood, add your Sloth to an existing household of roommates! Leech off their constant baking, never clean anything, lie on the couch in the living room in your underwear. Another potential storyline? Lazily find the Sim who will take care of you! Neat/Good/Foodie? I don’t know why they’d be with YOU, but you can dream!

Generation 2: Pride
Maybe it’s because their parent was such a lump of nothing, but this generation wants to sparkle. This generation’s Sim will be famous, beloved, and better than you — and they’ll do anything to achieve that.

Aspiration: World-Famous Celebrity
Traits at aging into Young Adult should include Self-Absorbed and Self-Assured
Suggested Careers: Acting, Entertainer, Style Influencer, Social Media
Build Component:  The lounges in the game are nowhere NEAR cool enough for Pride. Make a better lounge!
Additional Prideful Suggestions: Give them “plastic surgery” with cas.fulleditmode when they become a teenager. If you have Get Famous, rule Drama Club with an iron fist. Only make an heir with another celebrity. Send them to multiple Starlight Accolade ceremonies and make them throw tantrums when they lose. Steal the Stars of other celebrities. Spread rumors. Win.

Generation 3: Lust
With all the resources passed down by their famous parent, this generation wants to have fun. They never settle down, they enjoy the thrill of cheating and they break hearts with glee. It’s about pleasure and conquest. Feelings? What?

Aspiration: Serial Romantic
Traits at aging into Young Adult should include Romantic and Noncommittal
Suggested Careers: Any freelance career, Entertainer, Artist, or Athlete
Build Component: Your Sim probably has a bunch of cash by now. Build them their perfect woohoo-inspiring boudoir.
Additional Lustful Suggestions: See how many kids your Sim can bring into the world. If you hire a nanny or a butler, find out if they’re up for seduction. See if your Sim can achieve every WooHoo option in the game. Find out how long it takes for any of your partners to realize they’re only one of a crowd. When someone breaks up with your Sim, win them back — and then cheat again, because that’s just the sinner you are.
Update Notes: OK, I will talk about a N.A.P. here. “Free Love” is great, but it makes this Sim not terrible as opposed to terrible. It’s your sinning challenge — you do you! But Free Love takes the suspense out of finding out who’s doing who!

Generation 4: Envy
Whatever someone else has, this generation wants. They’ll lie, cheat, steal, dig, and plunder tombs to acquire important objects, just so no one else can have them. They’re special, and they show it through their possessions.

Aspiration: Curator
Traits at aging into Young Adult should include Kleptomaniac and Jealous
Suggested Careers: Any. Work through as much of the Jungle Adventure gameplay as possible.
Build Component: Between the items your Sim steals, buys, and plunders, they’re going to end up with a lot of stuff. Before they become an Elder, build them a museum (could be just a room in your Sim’s house) featuring the best of their belongings!
Additional Envious Suggestions: Why would you steal TVs and chairs when you could steal things that are important to other people? Look for art, cultural artifacts, and personal items. If you don’t have Jungle Adventure, really lean in to that kleptomaniac life — steal from every museum, beat up Father Winter for gifts, and never give anything back. This generation is all about taking.

Generation 5: Gluttony
If the previous generation liked to take, this generation likes to consume. This isn’t necessarily about food — it’s also about overdoing it with juice, woohoo, travel, partying, and whatever else tickles your Sim’s fancy. This generation doesn’t think enough is ever enough.

Aspiration: Master Chef
Traits at aging into Young Adult should include Glutton
Suggested Career: Culinary (either branch)
Build Component: Build them an over-the-top restaurant that embodies the spirit of “gluttony.”
Additional Gluttonous Suggestions: Try to learn all the recipes in game. Throw Gold-rated dinner parties. Create a club dedicated entirely to food, drink, woohoo, and revelry, and see how long your Sim can keep a gathering going. If you have Island Living, earn the elusive Gold at a kava party. Skill all the way up in Dance. Throw every possible Social Event. Celebrate, regardless of the consequences!

Generation 6: Wrath
This generation isn’t content with consumption — it wants to conquer. This generation takes what it wants through violence, scheming, and other nefarious activities, and if everyone hates them, that’s just fine. Wrath doesn’t want any friends.

Aspiration: Public Enemy
Traits at aging into Young Adult should include Mean and Hot-Headed
Suggested Career: Criminal (either branch)
Build Component: Make a hideout for your criminal and their crew (residential or non-residential, you decide)
Additional Wrathful Suggestions: See how many enemies your Sim can acquire. If you have Strangerville, buy a ton of listening devices and bug everyone. Blackmail all the way! Make prank calls, send chain letters and spam money requests, cheat on your partners. See how many deaths your Sim can inspire! Whatever is rude, vile, uncouth, or smelly, do it.
Update Notes: Consider vampirism! It’s violent, jerky, and lets you turn people you don’t like into immortal blood-drinking monsters. Talk about Wrath! Also, your Wrath Sim will be around to annoy Generation 7 for their *entire lives*.

Generation 7: Greed
This generation takes materialism to an extreme. While nearly every sin contains some aspect of greed, it’s time to spend your last generation securing your Sim’s financial and material legacy.  Build a fortune and a mansion so amazing that the family will be remembered forever.

Aspiration: Fabulously Wealthy OR Mansion Baron
Traits at aging into Young Adult should include Snob and Materialistic.
Suggested Careers: Business (either branch), Politician (Politician Branch), Tech Guru (either branch)
Build Component: Build a mansion worth at least $250k simoleons.
Additional Greedy Suggestions: Never waste a simoleon. Keep those lights off when you’re not in the room. Go to the Flea Market and Haggle. Try to eat at other people’s houses and events, not on your own dime. Take advantage of bar specials. Sell whatever you scrounge or make, unless it fits your Sim’s vision of their legacy. If you have Get Famous, buy a Vault and enjoy all the money-loving activities it allows.
Update Notes: Screw. You. Knox. If you have EcoLifestyle, just yawn and roll your eyes at all those eco-freaks running around with air vacuums. You’re in your air-conditioned mansion, and when someone has to go cough in the smog, it’s your butler, not you. Totally have a butler.

#SpringCollab!

(Gallery link here. Thank you so much to the Spring Collab crew for the invite and the amazing chat and company over the last couple of months. Hearts all around!)

Rain let out a sigh before setting a marble in the center of the kitchen floor. He watched with no surprise as the marble wobbled, then rolled eastward toward the gap beneath the fridge. His shoulders sagged, then hunched as warm arms encircled his waist from behind.

“I didn’t marry you for your level floors and right angles,” Juniper said, and Rain’s shoulders eased slightly at the warmth in her tone.

“Good thing,” he muttered, then sighed again.

“Need me to say it?” she asked. A kiss brushed against his shoulder blade. One of the kids crashed through the room and out into the chilly spring morning. He half-expected Juniper to rush out after her, but his wife’s embrace remained firm. When he nodded, he felt her smile against his bare back.

She launched into the reassuring speech they’d worked out together. “We’re fine. The kids are fine. The crops are fine, the farmhouse is fine, the bees and fish and trees are fine. We’re fine.”

Some days, the words lacked power, but not today. He let them wash over him like sunshine, and patted her hands where they rested over his stomach. “Right,” he said. “We’re fine.”

The Seven Deadly Sins Legacy Challenge

Originally published on Feb. 4th, 2020 by sim_michele

The Seven Deadly Sins Legacy Challenge leads your Sims through the worst traits, careers, and aspirations Sim-kind has to offer. In seven generations, experience sloth, pride, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and finally greed.

There aren’t a lot of RULES (it’s a sin challenge, after all), just guidelines and suggestions to help you really lean in to that sinful Sim life. This is a super tongue-in-cheek challenge, given that your Sims will be horrible children, parents, partners, employees and friends. Just horrible. If a generation or a task disturbs you, skip it.

And, because I’m even more of a builder than a player, each generation has a build challenge. Not a builder? Give it a try, or just break the rules and skip that part of the challenge. Who’s going to stop you? I’m not your supervisor!

Generation 1: Sloth
No real career. No degree. No spouse. Your Sim has to make and raise an heir, but beyond that, they just slide through life. Enjoy napping, drinking juice on the beach, sleeping, neglecting your heir, and going with the flow.

Aspiration:  Any.  They just won’t care.  If you have Island Living, “Beach Life” is a great option.
Starting Traits have to include: Lazy, Slob
Suggested Career: Odd Jobs and Part-Time Jobs only.
Build Component: Build humble, build cheap! Try starting with 5k instead of 20k, and build whatever you can build! In your future Sloth dwellings, try to keep to that slothful, don’t-care, meh style of housing!
Additional Slothful Suggestions: Never use “Work Hard.” When people come to your Sim’s house, never ask them to leave. Sleep on the beach. Skip work and/or school whenever your Sim is in the mood. Leave bowls of food on the ground for your toddler heir. Back float in the ocean. Don’t amass a personal fortune of more than 5k or so (excluding house/possessions). Sleep.

Generation 2: Pride
Maybe it’s because their parent was such a lump of nothing, but this generation wants to sparkle. This generation’s Sim will be famous, beloved, and better than you — and they’ll do anything to achieve that.

Aspiration: World-Famous Celebrity
Traits at aging into Young Adult should include Self-Absorbed and Self-Assured
Suggested Careers: Acting, Entertainer, Style Influencer, Social Media
Build Component:  The lounges in the game are nowhere NEAR cool enough for Pride. Make a better lounge!
Additional Prideful Suggestions: Give them “plastic surgery” with cas.fulleditmode when they become a teenager. If you have Get Famous, rule Drama Club with an iron fist. Only make an heir with another celebrity. Send them to multiple Starlight Accolade ceremonies and make them throw tantrums when they lose. Steal the Stars of other celebrities. Spread rumors. Win.

Generation 3: Lust
With all the resources passed down by their famous parent, this generation wants to have fun. They never settle down, they enjoy the thrill of cheating and they break hearts with glee. It’s about pleasure and conquest. Feelings? What?

Aspiration: Serial Romantic
Traits at aging into Young Adult should include Romantic and Noncommittal
Suggested Careers: Any freelance career, Entertainer, Artist, or Athlete
Build Component: Your Sim probably has a bunch of cash by now. Build them their perfect woohoo-inspiring boudoir.
Additional Lustful Suggestions: See how many kids your Sim can bring into the world. If you hire a nanny or a butler, find out if they’re up for seduction. See if your Sim can achieve every WooHoo option in the game. Find out how long it takes for any of your partners to realize they’re only one of a crowd. When someone breaks up with your Sim, win them back — and then cheat again, because that’s just the sinner you are.

Generation 4: Envy
Whatever someone else has, this generation wants. They’ll lie, cheat, steal, dig, and plunder tombs to acquire important objects, just so no one else can have them. They’re special, and they show it through their possessions.

Aspiration: Curator
Traits at aging into Young Adult should include Kleptomaniac and Jealous
Suggested Careers: Any. Work through as much of the Jungle Adventure gameplay as possible.
Build Component: Between the items your Sim steals, buys, and plunders, they’re going to end up with a lot of stuff. Before they become an Elder, build them a museum (could be just a room in your Sim’s house) featuring the best of their belongings!
Additional Envious Suggestions: Why would you steal TVs and chairs when you could steal things that are important to other people? Look for art, cultural artifacts, and personal items. If you don’t have Jungle Adventure, really lean in to that kleptomaniac life — steal from every museum, beat up Father Winter for gifts, and never give anything back. This generation is all about taking.

Generation 5: Gluttony
If the previous generation liked to take, this generation likes to consume. This isn’t necessarily about food — it’s also about overdoing it with juice, woohoo, travel, partying, and whatever else tickles your Sim’s fancy. This generation doesn’t think enough is ever enough.

Aspiration: Master Chef
Traits at aging into Young Adult should include Glutton and Foodie
Suggested Career: Culinary (either branch)
Build Component: Build them an over-the-top restaurant that embodies the spirit of “gluttony.”
Additional Gluttonous Suggestions: Try to learn all the recipes in-game. Throw Gold-rated dinner parties. Create a club dedicated entirely to food, drink, woohoo, and revelry, and see how long your Sim can keep a gathering going. If you have Island Living, earn the elusive Gold at a kava party. Skill all the way up in Dance. Throw every possible Social Event. Celebrate, regardless of the consequences!

Generation 6: Wrath
This generation isn’t content with consumption — it wants to conquer. This generation takes what it wants through violence, scheming, and other nefarious activities, and if everyone hates them, that’s just fine. Wrath doesn’t want any friends.

Aspiration: Public Enemy
Traits at aging into Young Adult should include Mean and Hot-Headed
Suggested Career: Criminal (either branch)
Build Component: Make a hideout for your criminal and their crew (residential or non-residential, you decide)
Additional Wrathful Suggestions: See how many enemies your Sim can acquire. If you have Strangerville, buy a ton of listening devices and bug everyone. Blackmail all the way! Make prank calls, send chain letters and spam money requests, cheat on your partners. See how many deaths your Sim can inspire! Whatever is rude, vile, uncouth, or smelly, do it.

Generation 7: Greed
This generation takes materialism to an extreme. While nearly every sin contains some aspect of greed, it’s time to spend your last generation securing your Sim’s financial and material legacy.  Build a fortune and a mansion so amazing that the family will be remembered forever.

Aspiration: Fabulously Wealthy OR Mansion Baron
Traits at aging into Young Adult should include Snob and Materialistic.
Suggested Careers: Business (either branch), Politician (Politician Branch), Tech Guru (either branch)
Build Component: Build a mansion worth at least $250k simoleons.
Additional Greedy Suggestions: Never waste a simoleon. Keep those lights off when you’re not in the room. Go to the Flea Market and Haggle. Try to eat at other people’s houses and events, not on your own dime. Take advantage of bar specials. Sell whatever you scrounge or make, unless it fits your Sim’s vision of their legacy. If you have Get Famous, buy a Vault and enjoy all the money-loving activities it allows.

Thanks for playing along! I’d love to hear about how the challenge went for you. You can leave comments here, or find me on Twitch at twitch.tv/sim_michele or Twitter at @micheleblue14. Date at the top of the post will reflect the most recent revision. xoxoxo

Crime Family Cheat Sheet

Curious about my multi-generational crime family, now in its third generation? Here’s a quick guide to the characters & goals of each generation so far!

First generation:

Rosita Hernandez started out as a government agent in Brindleton Bay, running low-level intelligence operations and living in a tiny little trailer.  She always had a taste for the high life, and a little bit of cash from treasonous information-selling was too much to resist.  When the choice of good v. villain arose, she didn’t hesitate in choosing the villainous path.

She assembled a crew:  hacker Chastity Belt, intern Todd McGoodbody, and scientist Dr. Claude Fairweather.  “Assembled” is a strong word re: Claude, since she initially kidnapped him in an effort to create a robot army.  Operation Robot Army failed, but Claude’s sudden feelings for Rosita made him a sadly temporary member of the crew in truth.

Their time together was brief and torrid, and ended up with Rosita catching Claude in her money vault, showering in HER hard-earned cash.  Back to kidnapped status he went, though by then, she was already pregnant with their child.

Eventually, Rosita rose through the ranks to Supreme Villain status.  She was known for her beauty, fitness, ruthlessness, and total thing for freeze rays.  Claude was freed in his later years to bond with his son and hang out with his good friend Todd Mc Goodbody.  When he passed away, Rosita replaced Claude with alien scientist Kurt Erious as the new “sciency” member of the team.

This whole generation is deceased, though the ghosts are very much active.

Second Generation:

Todd Jr. didn’t exactly have a stable childhood, what with his neglectful mom building robot armies and his scientist dad mostly kept in a locked room in the basement.  He wasn’t even named after his dad — Intern Todd ended up doing the bulk of childcare, so Todd Jr. he became.

Perhaps inevitably, Todd turned quickly to a life of crime.  His young adult years were spent both loathing his mom and craving her approval, while building a huge art scam crew (we call the crew club “Art Appreciation”) and spreading his DNA far and wide.  Todd has eleven children by four women, including two sets of twins with his wife Valerie.

Valerie and Todd’s marriage was arranged, given that they both came from prominent villain families.  Whatever positive feelings might have arisen between them were dashed by Todd’s constant infidelities, and now that the oldest twins are off to college, Todd and Valerie’s relationship is icy at best.  Valerie is romantically involved with the family’s long-time butler Pansy, while Todd has *publicly* cleaned up his act, given that he’s switched from mob crime to a life of politics.

Now that we’ve moved on (mostly) to the next generation, the three main adults raise a bunch of kids while seething in low-level dissatisfaction.  Fun!

Third Generation:

The oldest kids in Todd’s very large child pool are Claude Jr. and Claudette, his oldest twins with wife Valerie.  Claude Jr. and Claudette are the undisputed heirs of the family (not that Todd seems at ALL ready to give his daughter the reins).  To make sure the twins are prepared, their parents sent them to Foxbury U.

Claudette is cunning, bright, ruthless, a kleptomaniac with massive ambition.  She’s getting her distinguished degree in Villainy, of course — and when she’s done, it’ll be time for her dad to GO.  Claude is more physical, a hot-headed lunk who loves partying, soccer, and fighting.  Both of them have an A average, which is *inexplicable* given all the cheating.

We play Crime College on my Twitch channel every Monday morning from 9-11AM Pacific time.  Come join us!

Sloth

Trisha Bernstein skipped her high school graduation (which was iffy anyway) to attend a music festival in Sulani. She hitched a ride on a cargo ship, spent two weeks sleeping on the beach…and when the time came to leave the islands, she realized she had neither the money nor the will to do so.

Her little shack is blue, drafty, and right on the beach. For money, she picked up a night shift at a shrimp shack for tourists. Things were going just fine until a super buff Glimmerbrook guy in town for the weekend showed her a good time, and long story short, her new baby Miranda keeps her awake way too often. At least daycare’s free.

Creating a Challenge

I’m working on a Sims 4 challenge based around the Seven Deadly Sins. Here’s the first draft. Thoughts?


The Seven Deadly Sins Challenge takes your Sims through the worst traits, careers, and aspirations Sim-kind has to offer. In seven generations, experience sloth, pride, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and finally greed.

In each generation, try to embody the Sin as much as possible, and if you think of extra details to make your Sim’s journey more sinful, go for it!  Take your time, enjoy it.  Lean in to sin!  And because I’m a builder, every generation includes a building task to embody the particular sin.

Sloth:
No career. No degree. No spouse. Your Sim has to make and raise an heir, which means their child has to eventually join their household. But how it happens? Meh. The Sim doesn’t care much.

Aspiration:  Any.  They just won’t care.  If you have Island Living, “Beach Life” is a great option.
Starting Traits have to include: Lazy, Slob
Suggested Career: Huh? Odd Jobs. Occasionally.
Additional challenges:  Place your new Sim in a lot, bulldoze the lot, and use the Money cheat to set their wealth to 5k simoleons.  Build them an under-5k house for their lazy slob life.

Pride:
Maybe it’s because their parent was such a lump of nothing, but this generation wants to SPARKLE. Think celebrity, having their name in lights, being known by everyone! It’s all about fame and influence.  Their heir is an accessory, just like a gorgeous handbag or a great pair of shoes.

Aspiration: World-Famous Celebrity
Traits at aging into Young Adult should include Self-Absorbed and Self-Assured
Suggested Careers: Acting, Entertainer, Style Influencer, Social Media
Additional challenges:  Orchid-A-Go-Go?  Orchid-A-No-No.  Make them a lounge worthy of their fame.

Lust:
With all the resources passed down by their famous parent, this generation wants to have FUN. They never settle down, they enjoy the thrill of cheating and they break hearts with glee.

Aspiration: Serial Romantic
Traits at aging into Young Adult should include Romantic and Noncommittal
Suggested Careers: Any freelance career
Additional challenges: Build the perfect boudoir for your Sim, and let it inspire your Sim to have children with more than one partner.

Envy:
Whatever someone else has, this generation wants. They’ll lie, cheat, steal, dig, and plunder tombs to acquire important objects, just so no one else can have them. They’re special, and they show it through their possessions.

Aspiration: Curator
Traits at aging into Young Adult should include Kleptomaniac and Jealous
Suggested Careers: Any. Work through as much of the Jungle Adventure tombs as possible.
Additional challenges: Steal at least $50k simoleons of STUFF over the Sim’s lifetime.  Build a room or museum where you show off your ill-gotten gains!

Gluttony:
The previous generations’s collecting wasn’t enough. This generation is all about excess. They do whatever they want, as long as it’s WAY too much.

Aspiration: Master Chef
Traits at aging into Young Adult should include Glutton and Foodie
Suggested Career: Culinary (Chef Branch)
Additional challenges: Build them an over-the-top restaurant that embodies the spirit of “gluttony.”

Wrath:
This generation isn’t content to just consume — it wants to CONQUER. This generation takes what it wants through violence, scheming, and other nefarious activities, and if everyone hates them, that’s just fine. Wrath doesn’t want any friends.

Aspiration: Public Enemy
Traits at aging into Young Adult should include Mean and Hot-Headed
Suggested Career: Criminal (Boss Branch)
Additional challenges: Make a hideout for your criminal and their crew.

Greed:
This generation takes materialism to an extreme. While nearly every sin contains some aspect of greed, it’s time to spend your last generation securing your Sim’s financial and material legacy.  Build a fortune and a mansion so amazing that the family will be remembered forever.

Aspiration: Fabulously Wealthy OR Mansion Baron
Traits at aging into Young Adult should include Snob and Ambitious
Suggested Careers: Business (either branch), Politician (Politician Branch), Tech Guru (either branch)
Additional challenge: Build a mansion worth at least $250k simoleons.

Two Factions, One Town

The Count in his hilltop mansion leads the vampires of Forgotten Hollow. So I am told every time I meet another of my kind, whether casually or otherwise, and I can only infer that my sire and I offer the Count some great disrespect by not presenting ourselves for his approval. Ordinarily, a vampire would do so when settling in a new nexus. It’s only polite.

However. Apuleius is not a vampire who bends the knee, and he cares little after all the long centuries for niceties. When the Count meets my sire, he will understand. Apuleius has seen the legions of Rome, the arrival of the barbarians, the rise and fall of knowledge, the darkness of plague, the shining glory when art and industry became once again important in the mortal world. I spent the first decade of my new life sitting at his feet and hearing his tales.

Our exile from our last nexus was…unfortunate. I am sorry, truly. But Apuleius seeks to be a father of many, and so we have come to a place where our kind is able to live freely. Yes, others were here before us. We plan no disruption of their ways, only the chance to live as we have chosen.

The girl has given herself to our side, not theirs. Will that be the feather on the scale that tips all of us into bloodshed? Perhaps. I am not concerned. Apuleius protects us. Who is this Count to think himself worthy of our time?




Patrice at 50

In “Rags to Riches with Patrice/the Carvers,” Patrice Carver is a nearly-senior owner of a flower shop and plant nursery. She’s a mother of one (the adorable Eddie), and she has *never* been lucky in love. She’s spent most of her life yearning after her (now married) best friend Akira, to the extent that her only intimate relationship has been with Diego, Eddie’s father.

Diego Lobo and Patrice Carver, who just can’t quite make it work.

Diego’s a slightly older art critic who left San Myshuno in middle age to come live with Patrice and Eddie in Oasis Springs. In doing so, he sold his huge city apartment and committed fully to his son and his ex, even renovating their house and buying Patrice her flower shop.

It hasn’t been easy, learning how to depend on someone.

Dear Mom,

Wheels just keep spinning around, don’t they? Did you and Dad ever feel like things were slipping away and then somehow coming around again? I’ve given these men too many years of my life, but here come the little hopes, the tiny little hopes that never survive reality.

He’s just more humble these days. I can surprise him. He’s gentler. He’s not kind. I don’t think he’ll ever be kind. But he loves Eddie and he walked away from a date the other night to come talk to me. To be surprised by me.

I don’t know. I’ve got too much to do for all this nonsense. But wheels just keep spinning, that’s all. I probably shouldn’t trust one more time.

xoxo
Patrice

Lucy and the Vampires

I’m loving my current Let’s Play, “Rags to Riches with Patrice,” but two other concepts have been rolling around in my thoughts since I returned to the Sims. I even recorded one episode of Lucy’s adventures, but I had no idea what I was doing and it didn’t work out, so…I’m retconning!

I’ve been preparing “sets” and characters, and for fun and my own memory, I’ll show the planned characters here! All of these are in addition to the game’s NPCs and a few vampires that friends “lent” me through their galleries to give the world some texture.

Lucy Cabrillo: Our Heroine

Lucy’s had dreams her whole life — dark, recurring dreams that foretell frightening paths. She’s also too smart for her own good.

Her family: Hector, Louisa, and Ian Cabrillo

Hector’s a minor league athlete, Louisa’s a renowned artist, and Ian a kid who wants to be a baseball player just like his dad. Louisa is very much in charge.

Her immediate neighbors now that she’s moved out of the house: Apuleius Numidius and Penelope Masters

An ancient tactician and scholar, as well as a bemused observer of mortal foibles.
A Regency socialite clinging to the last vestiges of her former vivacity.

The strange artist across the square: Philippe L.

Beautiful, vain, troublesome, and ambitious.