In the beginning...

I know there are tons of TS3 stories and legacies out there already, but my TS3 simmies really weren't moving me to blog or write about them in any way. After an unexpected and rather sad hiatus, I'm wandering my way back among my simmies, to see who talks to me still and who doesn't (most aren't). My active stories (The Holldums, Patrick's Farmer Wants a Wife, and the Shmeaus) all have blogus interruptus comments/warnings/updates on them and with no motivation driving me to pick up my TS2 stories, I thought I'd instead try my hand documenting a TS3 legacy. Nothing fancy. Probably more "X did this. Y got this job. Z married A." than anything plot driven. But I figured it might help me get a feel for storytelling in TS3.

So I decided to pull a Captain Angelia and dump my sim!self onto a lot in Riverview (or Riverwhatever it is) to see how things go.

Check the Side Bar for updates; I haven't decided yet if I want to post a table of contents on the home page or not. Likewise, if I keep with this I probably will eventually put up a stats page and a links page... but we'll see what the future holds.

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There's a pseudo - faq over there

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Pseudo - FAQ

*Kettie walks in with a steno pad filled with scribblings.* Hey, you've got a few comments and questions that came in that might go better as a little FAQ. Saves you from trying to remember to answer them in comments or where-ever.

Gee thanks for the vote of confidence towards my ability to remember to make comments on comments there.

*Kettie shrugs* Hey, just telling it like it is. *she shakes the steno pad* So, you ready for some of these?

Sure. Fire away.

*Kettie whips a mechanical pencil out from behind her ear, flips open the steno pad, and taps the pencil on the first page.* "Ooo! You're doing the Legacy Challenge?! I love legacies! What handicaps are you using?"

*sigh* Legacy. Something transmitted by, received from, or related to an ancestor, predecessor, previous version, or from the past. Also a gift or bequest.

In my game the land, household, monies, family name, and focus of the story pass to the heir when they reach majority. This is their legacy, the gift from the previous generation to the current one. They hold it in trust, build it, and will pass it to the next generation in time. No fancy rules, no requirements, no if-then-elses... unless I decide on them. I am playing a legacy, but not the Legacy Challenge.


*Kettie skims the page and taps on a paragraph farther down.* "You're not playing by the rules! What sort of Challenge player are you? Cheater!"*

*points to the "No fancy rules, no requirements, no if-then-elses... unless I decide on them. I am playing a legacy, but not the Legacy Challenge." part up above*

I'm playing this for me, for fun. I'm writing this for me, for fun. I was there when the Legacy Challenge was first proposed, and followed the Legacy Challenge rules for the first five generations of my very first legacy. By that generation, I found that the rules were cramping my play style, my enjoyment of the game, and as the rules got more complex the less interested I was in following them. So I kicked the rules to the curb and play with my own set... some of which are loosely based on Pinstar's brilliant challenge. All props to him; he totally changed the way we play the game. And major kudos to those who do faithfully follow the rules of the TS2 and TS3 Legacy Challenges


*Kettie flips a page in the notebook.* "Play by your own set of rules? Does that mean you use hacks and cheats and stuff? That's not playing a challenge. That's cheating. Cheater!"

If the cheat, hack, or mod keeps me from headdesking my keyboard into tiny pieces, I'm all over it. Don't like it? There are hundreds of other stories out there, many closer to the Official Legacy Challenge Rules than mine. Feel free to go read those.


*Kettie skims the page.* "Okay okay, maybe that was a bit harsh. What rules are you playing by?"

In TS3, I've been starting my pseudo-legacies either on a bare lot (of any size) or in a starter house that uses the majority of the starter funds (yes, I've done several of these already *cackle* It's how I know 3 gens are doable). My sims start from the ground up and need to either earn money or marry it.

For Kettie's story:
I want to write/blog 3 generations, minimum. If the spirit moves me, I may go more.
Minimum 2 kids (heir and a spare) each generation
At least one trait given at birth must come from a parent. If I don't get to choose a trait at birth, at some point they must receive a parent's trait
Sons -- or at least male heirs -- will have S names
Daughters -- or at least female heirs -- will have K or M names
Now that they have the "family farm", heirs cannot move off the lot
Gravestones stay on the lot... for as long as I can tolerate it (I'd bring Sam Bagley's tombstone here too, but the game won't let me pick it up)
Cheats and hacks? Oh HELL yeah! Nothing obnoxious however.
There may be more rules I add in here. We'll see


*Kettie nods and flips the page again.* "Geez, learn some camera skills lady! You've got plumb bobs and dropped walls all over the place. How amateur!"

I'm playing this pseudo-legacy for fun and not really giving a rat's hat for rules, restrictions, or camera skills. If you have a problem with dropped walls and plumb bobs, go read someone else's story. Or read one of my other stories; I'm very good at avoiding dropped walls and plumb bobs in most of those. Heck, there are a few where I've photoshopped in entire walls, to hide the fact I forgot to raise the walls before I took pictures or where an inappropriate plumb bob snuck in. I challenge you to find 'em *evilgrin* I'd recommend the Shmeaus and FWAW for those who are driven bat shiat crazy by dropped walls and plumb bobs; those same folks will want to stay away from my asylum challenge (Wainwright Aslyum) as I blatantly announce in that one that I'm taking pictures with the walls down. The early Holldums have wall and bob issues, but it gets better.

And before anyone comments... let's not get started on spelling, grammar, or missing words. I do a lot of writing at work, which means I write in short spurts at moments when I'm not busy. This leads to misspellings, missed words, and all sorts of fun stuffs. *chuckle*


*Kettie skims the page and taps her pencil on a paragraph.* "Dude, what's with the random lyrics? They don't make any sense or don't fit with the chapter!"

If I've put lyrics at the start of a chapter, they're most likely out a song that was popping up in random play on my iTunes while I was writing. Yes, it may seem that they do or do not fit with the chapter (much less make sense) but I've found some connection between the two. That or they were just stuck in my head while writing.

Before anyone asks, yes my music library is rather complex, eclectic, and occasionally warped. iTunes goes into a fit of apoplexy when I log into the store to download music because the 'recommended for you' section has no idea WTF to recommend for me. *cackle*


*Kettie flips the page one more* "I love [Specific Sim]! Are they available for download?"

The base version of Kettie is available on my Sims page over at the Exchange. If folks are interested in other sims, I may be able to arrange something. Just let me know.


*Kettie glances at the page and looks back up* "Oooo! I love that [custom content hair/clothing/object]! Must have!!1one Where did you find it?"

Beats the hell out of me Roy.

With my TS2 stories, I can tell you where I found what piece of custom content that I'm using and probably even track you down a link to it. With TS3... I have no clue where I got most of my stuff. My brain just isn't making the link between a piece of CC and where it came from. In some cases, it's probably because it's hard to tell -- once you're in Buy/Build or CAS mode -- what's custom and what's from EA. There's not always (rarely) a little doohickey showing you it's custom.


*Kettie glowers.* Sheesh. What is it with the language? Some people may be kinda turned off by that and not want to read.

Um... hello... writing this story for me, because I want to and feel like it. I make no bones about the fact that I can outswear a sailor in RL if I choose to, though you're just as likely to hear me drop a frack or a frell as you are an f bomb. I do try to keep things under control when writing the updates (in fact, in some of my stories impolite language is few and far between). The closest to a true f bomb you'll see in my blogs is WTF; in many places inappropriate language is censored (###, @*$^#, etc.) out or replaced with something else (like Ruby's favorite, Boop). There's still a good assortment of colorful language (d##n, a##, h#!!, you get the picture) so if that bothers you, might I recommend a different TS3 story or -- if you really want one of mine -- I'm pretty sure the Shmeaus are virtually profanity free. Gods know that anything with Orrin in it isn't.

Oh, and the "beats the hell out of me Roy" is a line from a song, so nyah. *chuckle*


*Kettie shakes her head* You're a right wench, you know that?

My family uses the phrase "selfish, spoiled b###h". *shrugs* Same difference.




*Sighing, Kettie flips the page yet again* Okay... moooooooving on..... *she clears her throat* Almost done here. Next question. "So is He going to make an appearance ever? Is He available for download?"

He who?

*Kettie blinks* If He doesn't hurt you, Ruby and Lisa probably will.

*evilsnickers* Heh



*Kettie starts to close the steno pad, then stops* Whoops, missed one. "So what's the deal with the date?"


Oh, I don't know... I feel an apocalypse coming on.

*evilgrin*


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Don't call it an Update!

Don't Call it an Update!

Er ya, it's not really an update. It's more just wrapping up what pictures I do have squirreled away for these folks. Because a couple people asked what happened next.

So if you recall... our pseudo legacy revolves around the smexy Sherman Bagley...

The Godmother of Riverview, Ma Bagley.

"You got that one right. Word to my peeps."

*sigh* Ma!

The adorably cuddly first born and heir, Sloan Bagley.

And this grumpy, Don-deprived bitch.

"Hey!"


Anyway, don't look for much real story here. Mostly it's just pictures and comments, most of which are in the actual order they appeared in game.

Last chapter Sloan toddlerfied and is proving to be a precocious little goober who's adored by just about everyone.

I mean, really, how can you not want to scoop and snuggle this little guy?

Even Ma can't resist his charms.

Of course, Sloan is Ma's favorite grandchild too. Rhoda's popped out one and had another on the way, but I'm not sure that Ma even knows they're alive. It's all about Sloan.

"Not to talk bad about your father, boy, but he's a namby pamby policeman. I can't rightly leave the power and control of the Organization to him. His presence in the Board Room is hardly apt to make the subordinates quiver in fear. But if you start on the right path, now while you're young..."

"But GwandMa, I want to bwe a doctwore."

"Er, well, that works too. I guess I'll leave it to Rhoda then."

A doctor, huh Sloan? A good choice. You'll make lots of money there...

... the gods know your Mom's not bringing it in with the smut novels she's been writing.

"It's a contemporary fiction series!"

pfft.

As his mother ignored his budding young mind to write domestic engineering pr0n, Sloan's grandmother stepped in to teach him his A-B-Cs and the finer points of lockpicking. But Ma's time wasn't only spent on her grandson's education.

She also kept busy with making sure the household was in tip top shape...

... and wooing herself a new man, since her last romantic interest stuck his spoon in the wall shortly after Kettie moved in.

Unfortunately, her luck wasn't much better this time around. In the biffy? *wince* What a way to go.

I'm beginning to wonder, though, if Ma is on the take with Grimmy. Prepping herself a male harem for the afterlife or something.

"Really winner of a son ya got there Ma."

*sigh* "Tell me about it Mags. My daughter has more balls than he does. I'm beginning to wonder if Kettie knocked boots with the neighbor and Sloan is really Don's kid."

"Ah, she wishes Ma."

"Excuse me, do you children's parties?"

Funny you should ask about that Kettie...

Since there are a few parties coming up. First is the dual birthday for Sherman and Kettie, both taking that bold step in to full adulthood.

Sherman didn't seem to weather the change so well, but that could just be the default skin I'm using. Kettie... er... I swear Kettie's nose got larger.

"Hey!!"

Party outtake: Don's appearance at the party was not well received by the Bagley siblings.

But it's this guy who has the important birthday. And it's only right that Sloan is brought to the cake by his favorite family member, Grandma Ma.

And with the traditional birthday sparkles and exploding toddler crotch this cute little toddler...

...grew up into a cute young man, er boy. Yes, that's the outfit he grew up into. It's okay but the hair needs to go.


Don't ask me what trait he got. I don't remember.

While the rest of the adults pigged out on cake, Sloan ran off to play with one of the bazillion Crosby children who was very excited when he asked if she liked parties. That's cool, because Sloan is excitable himself.

Sloan also likes rocks. Seriously. He's constantly thinking about them or rolling up wants to find them.

Once Sloan got done chatting up the Crosby girl, he headed out to the living room for a birthday surprise, this one from his grandma.

"EEEEK!"

"EEEEK!"


Sheesh ya cowards.

Yes, Grimmy decided it was time for Ma Bagley to shuffle off this mortal coil, right in the middle of her grandson's party. I think next time Kettie sees him, she will not ask if Grimmy does children's parties.

"Don, if I hear yew make one comment about how ya've never ded gal before, yer gonna be sleepin' in the barn."

"We already sleep in a barn Ruby."

Our birthday boy was understandably distraught. I felt terrible out having Ma die on his big day but hey, isn't this the sort of stuff that's supposed to happen in Legacies? As it was, people were so crowded around the spot where Ma died, that Grimmy had to go to the kitchen in order to reap her.

"Hey, where's my drink?"

"Pardon?"

"Aren't I supposed to have a frilly drink? And Hula Girls? And a one way ticket to the great Luau in the sky, complete with luggage?"

"Oh. Sorry, the union changed the rules on us. You'll have to make do with a firm handshake."

"Bugger."

Ma's death put a damper on the rest of the party and guests started wandering off. Kettie was not amused by the whole situation and was looking for her arch nemesis to shove around a bit.

Ruby Broke-Lothario had left already, dragging her husband off before he humped the ottman or something, so Kettie had to be content with terrorizing a perpetually-expecting Heather Crosby.

Grimmy, however stuck around for a while, cleaning up and basically trying to avoid getting underfoot. At one point, while he was in the bathroom washing up, Sheman had an attack of the vapors and fainted... right in front of the door.


"WTH? Geez, lady, can you move your husband? He's going to make me late. I've got a reaping at the Babii household in 20 minutes."

::I hope Ma's happy in the afterlife. Sloan's sure gonna miss her though.::

You're close Kettie. Sloan is inconsolable. He's lost his best friend. And on his birthday too. That's gotta scar a kid.

Gratuitous close up so you can see how cute the little goober is. He looks a lot like Sherman, but I think he got Kettie's eyes. And I'm pretty sure that's her nose.

I lost this hair in the great World Adventures CC purge. I really need to track it down again.

Sherman continues to wander around and lose it various places around the house, while Kettie followed him, looking annoyed. I love the "OMG I'm torn up over Ma's death too but really... WTH did you marry me off to?" look from her here.

But time and tide wait for no man, and morning soon came and the school bus was honking for Sloan's first day at school.

From which he quickly returned with his first homework. So Sherman decided to give him a hand...

And Sloan questioned everything his Dad told him. Apparently he questioned him too much because even through they finished the homework it never registered as complete and his grades immediately became teh suk.

After failing to help his son with his homework, Sherman went inside to console as still heart broken Kettie

One thing led to another and soon he was suggesting that he could console her a little better in bed winkwinknudgenudgeknowwhutImeanVern

She knew quite what he meant and immediately whipped out the invertebrates.

"That's a hand held massager!!"

And since feather dusters and jellyfish means romance for these two, you know the smooching wasn't far off.

I'm not sure about the thinking of Ma as you're off to woohoo your hubby though Kettie... unless she's wondering if Ma's getting some in the Afterlife and then that's just weird. ew.



But that's all the pics I have from my last major play session with these guys. Then Brewfest happened World Adventures came out and I pulled all my CC and I wasn't sure if their hood would work without all the CC. I've just started toying around with a test copy of their save so who knows, maybe they'll make the move to Ambitions.





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Whirlwind Infancy

"Who's your daddy.... who's your baby...."

Last time we were in Riverview, there was a distinct lack of cowardice from Sherman, Kettie split her time between writing trashy fanfic and rumpling the bedsheets with her husband, and Rhoda beat our happy couple to the punch and provided Ma Bagley a grandchild before Kettie and Sherman.

Not to be put off by this, Kettie and Sherman continued with their plans to increment their family by one.

Hey! I'm having a child here, not running an If - Then loop.













While everything went well with Kettie's pregnancy, apparently everything didn't go exactly perfectly. I didn't get to choose both trails for the newest addition to the family, but I did get to choose one. Oh, and of course we had to name the rugrat too.

I can't believe you named my child Sloan. Isn't that the name of the chick in Ferris Bueller?

Umm... I think so. Honestly, I didn't even think of that when I named him.

Hmmrph.

Anyway, Sloan was born with the Friendly trait...

Just like his daddy.

And a roll of the dice decreed that his second trait would be excitable. I don't think I've had an excitable sim yet.













I wonder why that is.

Hmmm... *looks uncomfortable* Maybe because in my other hoods I have a proliferation of evil sims. I didn't make them that way -- well, not most of them, just the green one -- they were born that way.

*raises an eyebrow* Mmm-hmmm. Right.

Anyway, after leaving the hospital following a swift and apparently problem-free delivery, Kettie and company climbed into a cab and headed for home. I thought this was a cute shot of the three of them... although Sherman does look a little shell-shocked there.

He's just tired.













Well, give me just a moment to get you some nursery items purchased and three of you will be able to hit the hay.

*sighs* I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you haven't purchased any baby furniture yet.

Neither your nor Sherman spun up any wants for any. I'd wait until you do, but I would really prefer you not to raise your kids on the kitchen floor. This isn't TS2.












Sherman, I know you're a new parent and all, but I'm pretty sure they explained to you somewhere that the bottle needs to go in your child's mouth in order for them to drink.

I tried to tell him.

Sherman: *coos and talks baby talk to Sloan*


Now, in my other households, the moment a baby's portrait dips below solid green the poor thing gets zergswarmed by residents (and guests) trying to care for him. This tends to lead to none of the baby's needs being taken care of and other mass chaos. So, needless to say, while I was excited about the newest little addition to the Bagley household I wasn't looking forwards to the swarms of people trying to care for him all at once.

I shouldn't have worried.













After all, Grandma Ma was on the job. Seriously, as soon as little Sloan popped up in her queue, everyone else quit trying to head up to take care of him.

"Well of course. It's a grandmother's prerogative to have first dibs on taking care of the grandkids and all."

And a lot of new parents see grandparents-in-residence as live-in babysitters.

*Grandma Ma delivers "The Look"*

Heh. Okay, so you've made it abundantly clear to the happy couple that you're not in-house childcare.

"Only when I want to be."














Hey hey hey! While I want you guys to have a spare or two, do you think you could wait until Sloan's at least a toddler?

Guys?

*sigh*

If you get pregnant, I hope you have twins. Triplets even.













Gratuitous cute picture of mom and toddler.














Okay, we've had our cute overdose for the next few chapters, so... moving along.

Just as Kettie needs to write reports for the journalism career, Sherman needs to write reports for... um... whatever position he has with the police. And like Kettie, I could have him wander around and question the neighbors, or... I could just have him rummage through The Don's trash.

Guess which one I chose *cackle*














So after scampering back to the house with his trash and other assorted discoveries, I sent Sherman off to Ma's room to type it all up on her laptop. I was hoping that since he was good friends with Ruby, and that Ruby lives at Don's place (she is his wife, after all) that the info he found in the trash was hers. No such luck though. It was still all Don.













Boy, you really have it made, don't you?

Whatever do you mean?

I mean, here you are, a new mom, and not having to lift a finger to take care of your little one. Other new moms run themselves ragged trying to handle and cope with everything. But not you. You just kick back, relax, and write your trashy novels. *chuckle*

Hey now! I've tried to help out with my son, but he's got an over-possessive grandma! Other than the occasional snuggle or two, Sherman and I haven't been able to get near him.














Is that true? Are you a Helicopter Granny?

"I'm just making sure my only grandson is well and properly cared for. Not that I doubt my daughter-in-law's childcare skills or anything, but..."

Only grandson? Did you forget that your daughter gave birth to a son not too long before Sloan was born? Remember little Israel McDermott?

"Hmmph. Well then, I'm just making sure that my grandson and heir to the Bagley legacy is well cared for."

I don't know if Sloan is going to be the heir yet! I'm sure Kettie and Sherman aren't done popping 'em out.

"And I'd like to thank you for keeping with the family tradition."

Family tradition?

"That boys in the Bagley line carry S names. Like my dear Sam. Sherman. And now Sloan. You obviously wouldn't have given him that name if he wasn't destined to be heir."

*sigh*

"Now that the future of the Bagley line has been assured, do ya think you could be turnin' your attention to hooking me up with someone young and sexy? Like a Simmydale dancer or something?"


*headdesk*














So what uses beyond simple dusting have you found for your....

Psst... WTF are you doing?

Hsst! GTFO. I'm gathering ideas for my next Cleaner of Hearts book.

By harassing the hired help?

What better place to get information than from a man maid himself?

He doesn't look very excited to be talking to you.

Well, it's better than him slacking off and playing on the computer or eating our leftovers.

True... true... carry on harassing him.













Apparently Sherman's report on The Don really impressed his boss, because he got the critical pop up for his career plans. As much as I would really love to have him pursue the life of a Special Agent, his LTW lies down the forensic analyst path. I tried having him change his LTW, but special agent wasn't one of his options. I just canceled the change and stuck with what he had. So with a deep breath we punched the button and ventured down the path of Riverview CSI.














Thanks to attentive care of Grandma Ma, Sloan's birthday rolled around with very few issues or incidents. Seriously, I don't think the boy slipped out of the green. Every time I turned around, Ma was feeding him or changing him or playing with him or just toting him about the house as she did stuff like watching her stories.

I'd given Sherman the perk for being a great party host, so I had him ring up a bunch of friends and throw a party for little Sloan. Imagine my surprise when Rhoda showed up pregnant. I guess she's a bit miffed over her son Israel losing the 'favourite grandson' title to Sloan, so she's trying to make up for quality with quantity.














Seeing as how Sloan is attached to Grandma Ma's hip, it was no surprise that Ma was the one who brought him to the cake.

"I'm just makin' sure my grandson and pride of the Bagley family is being well taken care of."

I'm not faulting you Ma. I'm tickled at all the attention you're showing him. It's just... if you keep heaping all this praise and stuff on the boy, he's going to develop a complex.














So Ma helped Sloan blow out his candles, then set him on the floor so he could grow up. *sighs* *facepalm* I really hate the infant to toddler transition. Why couldn't they have kept the "toss the baby in the air" animation? Or heck, used the "change the nappy" spin animation and have the kid spin from an pupa infant into a toddler?













Anyway, here's our golden boy, Sloan, in all his toddlerhood. Cute little guy, isn't he? Of course, I swear that all toddlers look alike -- or damn near alike. Anyway, while he didn't age up into terrible hair and clothes, I did get him send to a mirror to change when I got the change. Those pics will be in the next chapter though.













After the cake was cut, everyone barreled off with a plate. Well, everyone but Odin, who ignored the entire rest of the party to read. Most people ate their cake nice and politely (mainly because there was no room on the table to set their plates down) but Billy... Billy just picked his up and shoveled it in his face. And here I thought they told us our sims were supposed to be neater in their dining habits in TS3.














And one last shot of our little guy as the party winds down and everyone heads home. The party was a blast too, so everyone got good moodlets for it.

As mentioned above, Sloan is friendly and excitable. His favorite music is kids' tunes, he can haz cheezburger (favorite food is hamburgers) and his favorite color is... hot pink? Bwah?

Are you criticizing my son's choice of favorites?

No. Just commenting on the WTFishness of the random generator.

Well stop it. You'll give my son a complex.

Oh, if he doesn't get one from Grandma Ma, I'm sure you and Sherman will be able to do that without any help from me *cackle*

*grumbles*

Sloan inherited Kettie's hair, or a shade slightly darker than Kettie's hair. I have no idea where those gray eyes came from. Kettie has a greenish/yellow-hazel sorta color and Sherman and Ma have green.

Maybe they came from his grandfather.

I don't know. I wonder if they'll stay gray as he grows up. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Lemme guess... that'll all be in another chapter.

Yup. Aren't you just dying with excitement? Think about it... next time we get to deal with... potty training!

Yay. *roll eyes*

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