I actively follow several Sims communities and a common complaint I see is getting bored with the game. I get it. Who hasn’t started up a Sims game and eventually gotten bored with the monotony of getting up, going to work, taking care of children, eating and going to sleep. Or wait, is that real life?
To spice things up, I like to add a level of randomness to build a foundation on which to develop a story. I use MC Command Center, a hugely popular mod that adds more automation and the ability to control (or not) the NPCs and your own sims in the game. I also use random challenges, like the random legacy challenge (which I’m modifying a bit for a new random challenge, launching soon!). When things get really dull, I let things run automatically and see what happens.
I’m currently playing and writing about two different legacy challenges, one is a decades challenge and one is a more standard legacy challenge. In many legacy challenges, you can randomly decide things like how many children are born in a generation or which child will be heir. I do that, but don’t stick to it too strictly if something different works with the story. Let me give you some examples from the
Randomness, Children and Heirs
MCC Command Center lets you use risky woohoo, which I love. Then I don’t have to be so worried about having x number of children. What I do instead is roll for which child (out of a max of six) will be heir. If the sixth child is the designated heir, then I have to keep trying for a baby until we have that number of children. Or, I might use science, depending on the storyline I’m going for. For example, in the decades challenge I’m working on, I had to have a boy be the heir. Three girls later, I was worried about not having a boy and I factored that into the storyline where both the parents are worried about producing an heir in different ways.
In my Romero legacy challenge, the current generation’s heir needs to be a girl and needs to be the second child. They’ve had their first child and are working on their second, which feeds into the storyline as the current heir longing for children. At some point, I will use the “discuss expanding the family” interaction and see what happens. Whatever happens, that will feed into the next part of the storyline.
Another thing I’ve done is play around with gender, which is fun and provides a great opportunity to explore experiences that are not my own. In the Romero legacy, it’s a matriarchy, meaning, of course, that the heirs must be girls. What happens when an heir is a boy? I have a choice of adjusting and just letting the next girl be the heir, but I’ve chosen, in two different generations so far, to have the heir transition from male to female. I’ve found this has created some interesting storylines, for the children and their parents and for the children as they grow into adults and navigate life as a transwoman. I’ve had to make some decisions about who they’re attracted to and had to do some research. I have some friends who are transwomen, but not close enough to ask about their love lives. I’m grateful for the information that’s out there that’s informed my stories.
Using randomness in building relationships
I know some people build sims that are meant to be together. I usually find a townie or I’ll build a few random sims and sprinkle them in places. Then I have people meet and get to know each other. The traits these people have can create some interesting dynamics. The sims I create also have randomly generated traits, using the legacy trait generator. I use the wants and the moods to create a storyline. For example, just a few days ago, my heir’s girlfriend got the “break up with” want. Well, breaking up didn’t work for my storyline, but considering it did, so I had the girlfriend get all anxious about their relationship and consider leaving because she wasn’t good enough.
Automated actions and how they drive the story
When you’ve got random traits and allow autonomy, anything can happen. What makes it a story is when you decide the motivation for the action. Why would that sim flirt with a rando at the bar when they’re happily married? Why would a wife yell at her husband? Why would a sim get sad? In your story, your sim can be drunk and caught up in the moment or they can be maliciously cheating on their wife. These take you down different paths for your story. Once you decide the motivation, often that means you have to start driving the story in a certain direction. Automated actions can create dynamics that you need to resolve in some way through your own actions.
I had siblings in my legacy challenge who didn’t like each other and were mean to each other, but I decided they needed to reconcile. When I let them be autonomous, they would insult or yell and then I’d have to step in and have them apologize. Or I’d have their parent step in and discipline them. I ended up grounding one of them. It created some interesting tension within the family that was good for the storyline.
Using rules to drive interactions and stories
I sometimes set in-game rules for myself so that my sims will do things that are interesting. For example, I’ll tell myself that my sims can’t woohoo unless they’re both flirty. Or alternatively, if I have a sim who’s got a romantic trait or something, I’ll say that that sim has to start flirting with the other or can initiate woohoo or something. I’ve also had things for jealous or mean sims where if they’re “missing their spouse” and tense, they have to call their spouse or share their insecurities. Or if a sim gets an angry mood, he or she will have to yell at someone. Or, I’ll tell myself that I can only use the initial interactions that pop up when I click on the sim I want to interact with. These are good ways to drive action and create stories since sometimes sims won’t automatically interact with each other even if they are flirty or angry. You know, they go yell in the mirror.
Other tools and resources for random fun
I started my random legacy using the rules I found on this website. It was a bit outdated, so I’ve had to add some things, but this served as a good foundation. Once I finish playing through all the generations, I’m going to try to update it a little.
I use random.org to “roll the dice” for different things. So, when each heir ages up to young adult, I roll for their careers, spouses, etc. I’ve sometimes rolled the dice to decide what to do next.
The sims community site has a good article on storytelling in the sims. Many people use mods that allow custom poses. I don’t do that–yet. And I don’t have all the packs and kits and expansions. Obviously, adding new things creates new ways to build a story.
I hope this gives you some new ideas. Bottom line, try to get in your sims’ heads and do what they would do, not what you would do. And just have fun!
