Aaroc's Official Legacy Rules- Updated for WA (Dec 13)

[Aaroc200]

Aaroc's The Sims 3 Legacy Challenge
Written By: Aaroc200, with the help of ideas by KaintheSlayer
Inspired By: Pinstar’s The Sims 2 Legacy Challenge

I tried to balance the game by making points for certain things be worth more or less depending on the Life Span by which you are playing your Legacy. That being said, certain things are worth more with shorter life spans and worth less with longer life spans. I hope these rules are to your liking and not too difficult to follow. Any and all suggestions will be taken into consideration.

Table of Contents
(1) – What is a Legacy?
(2) – Getting Started
(3) – The Rules of Play
(4) – Scoring
(5) – Penalties
(6) – Handicaps


(1) - What is a Legacy?

But to give a simple, straight answer, a Legacy is a challenge in the Sims games to play through ten generations, starting with Humble Beginnings, and without using cheats that The Sims players enjoy using so much.

(2) – Getting Started
2.1 - Choose your neighborhood. At the time this was written, the only neighborhoods available were Sunset Valley, and Riverside. You can choose either one, or any other neighborhoods you may have downloaded/made.

2.2 – Create your founder. Your founder must be either an elder, adult, or young adult (keep in mind that some handicaps require your founder to do something before becoming an elder, and thus cannot be completed if your founder is made as an elder). You can use any custom clothes, hair, skins, or any other Custom-Create-A-Sim objects you can find. You may choose any traits, favorite colors, music, and food as you please, unless any handicaps you’ve chosen rule otherwise. Create only one founder in the CAS. No siblings, parents, children, or any other family members to go with him or her.

2.3 – Choose a lot to move your founder into. This must be an empty lot when you move your founder in. It must cost at least $14,700. There is at least one of these lots in Sunset Valley and in Riverview. The reason for choosing this lot is because the point is to start from Humble beginnings. You will have enough money left over to get what you absolutely need for what can't be done in town.

(3) – The Rules of Play
These rules apply to any and all Legacy Families, no matter what, if you intend to keep score.

3.1 - You may not use any cheats, except for the following:
- Moveobjects on/off (used for fixing glitched items)
- Any cheats needed for advanced building
- ResetSim (For broken/stuck sims. Use Resetsim [firstname] [lastname])
- If there is a glitch that disrupts your playing of the game, and the glitch can be fixed using a cheat, or some combination of cheats, you may use these cheats, as long as doing so won’t give you an unfair advantage over another player.

3.2 - You may only use official objects from the core game, expansion packs, or objects bought from the Sims 3 store. Any hacked objects, custom objects with special properties or price, or 3rd party content is not allowed.
(the exception to this is that if the object is identical to an in-game object, in all ways other than appearance, it is allowed)

3.3 - No hacks may be used that alter gameplay at all. Hacks that serve a completely cosmetic purpose (Such as the old pregnancy clothes hacks in the Sims 2) are still allowed. Pescado's Awesome Mod, which fixes several bug within the game is also allowed. Keep in mind, however, that you will most likely only be able to have one mod installed.

3.4 - Sims may not be moved into the household directly from the neighborhood screen. They must be invited into the household from a Sim that currently lives there. Non-townies are allowed to be moved into, and married into the household, as there aren’t many (or any at all) townies to move in.

3.5 - When you are allowed to choose traits for a sim growing up, you may choose them as you please. The game makes you work to choose traits. So if it’s allowing you to choose a trait for your Sim, chances are, you’ve earned the right to choose that trait. If you’d like to randomize it (I know I usually do), there’s a dice icon in the prompt to choose the trait that will randomize it for you.

3.6 You may move in any sim of your choosing, however doing so may incur a Penalty Point. Sims born into the Family MAY NOT be moved OUT until they become a Young Adult. Young Adults moving out of the household may not bring any other sims who are younger than Young Adult, unless that sim is a child of the sim moving out. You may not "Make Room" for more children by having them move out with a sibling.

3.7 – The Challenge Ends upon the birth of the 10th generation. However, you may continue to play the family if you’d like, just remember that any points earned after the birth of the first child in the 10th generation do not count towards the Legacy’s scoring.

3.8 – The 10th generation child must be able to trace its heritage back to the founder (The founder must be the 10th generation child’s great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, grandparent). Adopted children only count if they are adopted as Newborns.

3.9 – Story Progression must be turned on and aging must be enabled for all families. You must choose a life span BEFORE you begin playing your Legacy Founder, and must stay at that Life Span for the duration of the Legacy.

3.10 - You are not allowed to play another family while the Legacy family is around. If you have twins or triplets born into the Legacy household, you must raise them yourself. Lots of bad things can happen to your Legacy family if you play a different family due to story progression, and you don't want that to happen.

(4) – Scoring

- You score Legacy points in several different categories. I disliked Pinstar's rules (for TS2) that placed a limit on points, so I am removing that point limit.

Categories:
4.01 – Legacy

- You gain 1 point for the founder, and 1 point for every generation born after the founder (Just playing the Legacy, continuing throughout the generations, and the birth of the 10th generation will earn you 10 points)

4.02 – Portraits

- Painting a portrait of any sim in the bloodline, and hanging it somewhere on the lot will earn you one point. A sim is considered part of the bloodline if they marry an heir or founder, or are a direct descendant of the founder. A spare's spouse is not part of the bloodline, however, their children are. The sim must live in the house at the time their portrait is completed in order to score a point. If the sim dies before the portrait is completed, it does not count.

- These points may be earned using the “Paint Still Life”.

- The portraitee must be at least a Young Adult.

4.03 – Lifetime Wishes
- You gain 1 point for completing a Unique Lifetime Want for each sim in the household. The definition of Unique in this case means that no other sim in the family has completed that Lifetime Want before. In other words, you only gain one point per LTW, even if it is repeated.

4.04 - Perfect Upbringing

- If you are able to choose all five traits for a sim born into the household, teach them all of their toddler skills (this only includes their essential toddler skills, Walking, Talking, and Using the Potty), and reach the top of a part time career while a teenager, award yourself one point. The teenager must stay at their part time job and still be at the top level when they have their Young Adult Birthday in order to gain this point.

4.05 Bad Seeds

- If you are unable to pick a single trait for a sim, award yourself one point. You may only gain this point once per generation (from generation 2 through 9), but if you are able to accomplish this for each of the applicable generations, you gain 12 bonus points, for a total of 20 points in this category. If you are ever able to pick any trait at any life stage, you do not gain the Bad Seed bonus point for that sim, but you may still try with another sim that generation.

4.06 – Careers

- If a Sim reaches the top (level 10) of an adult career, you earn 1 point. Each sim may only gain one point in this category, but may do so regardless of if that career has been topped by a different sim before.

4.07 - Lifetime Happiness

- If a Sim in the household manages to accrue a large amount of Lifetime Happiness, you gain one point in this category. To find out how many Lifetime Happiness Points your sim has accrued, go to the Lifetime Rewards panel and mouse over the treasure chest. A small popup will show how much LTH your sim has accrued over their entire life.

- The requirements for gaining these points depend on the Life Span you have chosen for your sims and are as follows:
- Very Short: 25,000
- Short: 50,000
- Normal: 100,000
- Long: 200,000
- Epic: 1,000,000

4.08 – Money

- You gain points for having the family be worth more money. Each Life Span has different requirements to gain one point and they are as follows:

- Shortest:$25,000
- Short:$50,000
- Normal:$100,000
- Long: $200,000
- Epic: $1,000,000

- Money is calculated at the birth of the tenth generation by adding the Furnished Value of your sims' house to their Family Funds.

4.09 – Skills

- Every time a sim in the household maximizes one of their skills, and masters all challenges with associated skill (to include collections) you gain points.

- For example, in order for a sim to get a point from the Charisma skill, they must get ten points in the Charisma Skill, meet at least 25 sims, befriend at least 20 of them, become best friends with 10 of them, learn 50 personality traits, and tell 100 jokes to get one point.

- The Collection Skill does not have an actual Skill related to it, so your sim must simply accomplish all challenges associated with Collecting in order to get points (i.e. find all gems, metals, space rocks, butterflies, and beetles.)

- Adventuring: If a sim gains level 3 Visa in each location, and completes all challenges in the Adventure Journal, award yourself one point in this category. (Requires World Adventures)

-There are two exceptions to this rule: Gardening* and Guitar. Gardening does not require the Master Planter Challenge. Guitar does not require the Guitar Star Challenge. The reason for this is that these challenges require opportunities in order to complete, and it takes luck, not skill, to get these opportunities to arise.

*If you have World Adventures installed, you do require the Master Planter Challenge to get a point.

- The number of points gained depend on the Life Span you have chosen for your Legacy:
Very Short: 2
Short: 1.5
Normal: 1
Long: .5
Epic: .25

4.10 – Collections

- Supernaturals (Base Game): There are 5 ghost types to collect. You may do so by either having a ghost baby with a ghost of the appropriate color, or by killing your sims in the appropriate fashion. If you collect all five types, award yourself 10 bonus Points.

- Supernaturals (World Adventures): There is one additional Ghost Color to collect. You must also collect a Mummy, and a Ghost-Mummy in order to gain the Supernatural Bonus Points.

- Lifetime Wishes: There are 32 (or more, if you have World Adventures or other Expansions) Lifetime Wishes in the game. For each 10 LTWs you accomplish with your sims, award yourself 5 bonus points. For example, if you complete all 32 LTWs in the base game only, you get 15 bonus points. If you complete all 40+ LTWs in World Adventures, you gain 20 bonus points.

- Careers: There are 14 total career Tracks to master (This includes the separate branches of Law Enforcement, Music, and Criminal). There are also 5 part time job carer paths*. If you manage to top all of them , give yourself 10 points. (*The part time jobs must be completed by a teenager in order to add to the collection, before they become a Young Adult)

- Skill challenges: There are 11 Skill Challenges to Master (15 if you have World Adventures); One for each Skill plus one each for Collecting and Adventuring. If you manage to Master all of the Challenges for each skill, as well as Collecting and Adventuring, award yourself 10 points.

(5) – Penalties

5.01 - Life Extension

-1 for each sim prevented from death by use of the Death flower.

-1 For each sim brought back to life using the Science Center.

-1 for each use of Ambrosia on any sim.

5.02 Neglect

-1 For each trait you are unable to choose on any sim who is not a Bad Seed. (If, however, you are able to choose any trait for a Bad Seed, you must incur these penalty points for every prior trait assigned.)

-1 for each infant, toddler and child taken by the social worker.
Care for your children, no explanation needed.

-1 for each visitor that dies on the legacy lot.
Unless they are an infant or a controllable sim, a sim counts as a ‘visitor’.

-1 Per Repo Man Visit
Pay your bills. Enough said.

5.03 Other

-5 For each sim moved into the household who is not a spouse of the Bloodline. A Sim may be moved in to the Household without being a spouse, without incurring a penalty, as long as that sim contributes to the next generation or a spouse is not otherwise moved in that generation. In other words, you may only move in one new sim per generation or you incur this penalty.

-1 per reload
If you don’t want your legacy to end abruptly because of the accidental death of a heir, or something happens that completely cripples the family. Rather than re-start a new legacy, you may reload from your last save. Every reload carries a -1 penalty. If you have to reload to recover from a glitch or bug, there is no penalty.

(6) – Handicaps
- You may choose as many, or as few handicaps as you like. They make the game harder, and give you bonus points in a scored Legacy.

- Points earned through Handicaps are not earned until the end of the Challenge, assuming you have succeeded in following the rules set forth by said handicap.

6.1 - Skills - The Founder and all heirs must reach ten points in the skill associated with the following Handicaps. They do not need to Master the Challenges with each skill, but they must gain ten points in it, as well as adhering to the associated limitations.You may only choose a certain number of these handicaps based on your Legacy's Life Span, and the points awarded for each handicap are dictated by the same:
- Very Short: 1 Handicap worth 10 points.
- Short: 2 Handicaps worth 5 points each.
- Normal: 3 Handicaps worth 3.3 points each (For a total of 10 if all three are met).
- Long: 4 Handicaps worth 2.5 points each.
- Epic: 5 Handicaps worth 2 points each.

- If your founder or an heir dies by accident or of old age before completing each requirement set forth by the handicaps below, that handicap is null and void, even if they are brought back to life and complete the requirements before going back to the Netherworld. You lose the points for that handicap.

- Since the challenge ends with the birth of the tenth Generation, the Tenth Generation Heir is exempt from these rules.


6.1.1 - Green Thumb:
Your founder has stumbled upon a fertile plot of land to build his or her house on, is very close to the earth and cares about plants and nature in general.

- Your Founder must be created with the “Green Thumb” trait.

- The Founder, and all following heirs must max out their “Gardening” skill before becoming Elders (This does not mean you must master all gardening challenges. The sims need only gain ten gardening skill points for this handicap).

- Your Founder must plant at least 20 Garden plants/trees before becoming an Elder, and after this, it is required that there be at least 20 living plants and trees on the legacy lot at all times.

6.1.2 - Angling All Day:
your Founder loves fishing and thinks it's a great way to pass the time; alone, with family, or with friends. They love fishing so much that they encourage their family to love it as much as they do.

- Your Founder must be created with the "Angler" Trait.

- The Founder and all heirs must maximize their "Fishing" Skill before becoming Elders.

_ Your founder must build and stock a pond on the home lot. Each heir must stock the pond with a new kind of fish.


6.1.3 - Do It Yourself:
Your founder has instilled a strong sense of self-reliance in the family (or a strong distrust of service workers).

- Your Founder must be created with the “Handy” trait

- The Founder, and all following heirs must max out their “Handiness” skill before becoming Elders

- Your sims may never hire any sims from the “Service” menu on the phone.

- The one exception to this rule is the family may use Adoption Services.

- You may still have service or delivery sims move in or marry into the family. Although meeting them may be difficult.

6.1.4 - Livin’ VERY Large:
Your founder is larger than life. Food is king. “Exercise and ‘eating right’ are evil myths, like the greenhouse effect.” is what your founder teaches their family.

- Your Founder must be created with the “Couch Potato” or "Natural Cook" trait, and must have their fat Pushed all the way to the max on the slider in the CAS.

- All Heirs born after the Founder must be noticeably overweight before becoming Young Adults, and they must remain noticeably overweight until becoming Elders.

- The Founder, and all following heirs must max out their “Cooking” skill before becoming Elders.


6.1.5 - Presidential Physical Fitness:
Your founder has a strong love of physical fitness. They insist that everybody in the family work out and keep in tip top shape.

- Your Founder must be created with the “Athletic” trait, and must have their Muscle Pushed all the way to the max on the slider in the CAS.

- All Heirs born after the Founder must have be noticeably Muscular before becoming Young Adults, and they must remain that way until becoming Elders.

- The Founder, and all following heirs must max out their “Athletics” skill before becoming Elders.

6.1.6 - Reasoning Through the Ages.
Your Founder sees Logic as the one key skill, and they insist that everybody in the family value Logic as much as they do.

- Your Founder must be created with the "Genius" or "Computer Whiz" trait.

- Your Founder and each heir must gain at least one chess rank before dying.

- Your Founder and each heir must max their "Logic" skill before becoming Elders.

6.1.7 - Everybody Loves Music
Your Founder values Music and encourages everybody in the family to do the same.

- Your Founder must be created with the "Virtuoso" trait.

- Your Founder must purchase a personalized guitar before their first birthday after being created. This guitar can never be sold, and must remain on display somewhere in the lot after the founder dies until the end of the challenge.

- Each heir must buy a personalized guitar on or before their Teenage Birthday. These guitars can never be sold and must remain on display somewhere on the lot after their owner dies until the end of the challenge.

- Your Founder and each heir must max their "Guitar" skill before becoming Elders.

6.1.8 - Art is Good
Your founder values good art and encourages everybody in the family to do the same.

- Your Founder must be created with the "Artistic" trait.

- Your Founder and each heir must paint a Masterpiece of any size before they die of old age. These paintings must remain on display somewhere on the lot until the end of the challenge.

- Your Founder and each heir must max their "Painting" skill before becoming Elders.

6.1.9 - Friends are the Key to Success.
Your founder is Charismatic and believes that the only way to truly succeed in life is to surround yourself with friends; a value he encourages all family members to uphold.

- Your Founder must be created with the "Charismatic" trait.

- Your Founder and each heir must max their "Charisma" skill before becoming Elders. (No further requirements for this handicap, considering you must obtain ten friends in order to max this skill)

6.1.10 - The Written Word
Your Founder loves to read and write books, and he encourages everybody in the family to do the same.

- Your Founder must be created with the "Bookworm" trait.

- Your Founder must purchase a computer before their first birthday after creation.

- Your Founder and each heir must Write at least one Bestselling Novel, of any genre, before dying of old age.

- Your Founder and each heir must max their "Writing" skill before becoming Elders.

6.1.11 - I Know Sim Fu
Your Founder is crazy about Sim Fu... and it's genetic.

- Your Founder must be created with the "Disciplined" trait.

- Your Founder and each Heir must max their "Martial Arts" Skill before becoming elders.

- Your Founder and each heir must break a space rock bar that yields a gem of any sort, cut that gem in any fashion, and those cut gems must remain on display for the duration of the Legacy.

6.1.12 - A Photo is Worth a Thousand Words
Your Founder believes that in order to properly preserve memories, one must take tons of pictures; a sentiment he or she passes down to their children.

- Your Founder must be Created with the "Photographic Eye" trait.

- Your Founder and each heir must max their "Photography" Skill before becoming elders.

- Your Founder and each heir must complete at least one photo collection in the photography skill journal.

6.1.13 I'm not an Alcoholic, Honest

- Your Founder and each Heir must max their "Nectar Making" Skill.

- Um... since EAxis neglected this skill, I'm going to as well. There are no further restrictions for this handicap, unless somebody gives me a great idea.

6.1.14 Adventure Around Every Corner

- Your Founder must be created with the "Adevnturous" trait.

- Your Founder and each heir must reach Visa Level 3 in each location.

- Your Founder and each heir must complete at least one collection of special relics.

6.2 - General Base Game Handicaps: You may pick as many of these Handicaps as you want.

6.2.1 - Noble Composure:
Points: 1
Your founder is very concerned about the composure of the family. The founder would never want to see anything happen to bring embarrassment to the household.

- You must go the entire 10 generations without a single member of the household having a bladder failure or passing out from lack of energy.

- The actions of infants, toddlers and guests do not impact this restriction.


6.2.3 - Fearless (Opposes the Paranoid Handicap):
Points: 2
Your founder isn’t afraid of taking chances and has promoted risk-taking over playing it save in the family’s culture.

- Whenever an electric object breaks in the house, you may not call a repair man to repair it. A member of the household must repair the object.

- Your sims may not purchase a burglar alarm or fire alarm

6.2.4 - Paranoid (Opposes the Fearless Handicap):
Points: 2
Your founder insists that something is out to get them. This paranoia seems to ease with age, but it always seems to rub off on the next generation.

- Burglar, and Fire Alarms must be placed in every room of the house, even if there’s no way a fire could start in the room, or a burglar could reach it.

-The founder may not go to sleep until they have shooed all visitors on the lot.

-When the 2nd generation grows to be a teenager, the founder is no longer under the ‘no visitors when sleeping’ restriction. That restriction is now on the teenage heir. This restriction is passed from generation to generation at teenagehood.

-The family may not adopt children of any age.

-If any children are taken by the social worker, this handicap is broken.

-The only sims that can be moved in/married into the house are sims that will produce the next generation. No other sims may join the home.


6.2.5 - Obey Your Sims:
Points: 1
Your founder is a very demanding type, and passes this demanding attitude down to each of the heirs. You must work hard to keep them happy.

- Every day, you must fulfill a wish for your Founder/Youngest Heir. This can be a trivial wish, but it must still be fulfilled.


6.2.6 - Behind The Times:
Points: 1
Your founder is very old fashioned and technophobic and discourages the whole family to use these ‘new fangled contraptions’

- Items from the Electronics category may not be bought or used, except for phones, and the very cheapest computer, however it may only be used for Writing purposes.

- Your Sims may not make calls from their cell phones. They may still receive calls, but they have to use a house phone to send any outgoing calls.

6.2.7 - Strict Family Values
Points: 1
Your founder, for personal, ethic or religious reasons, thinks that interrupting the natural course of life is wrong and has prohibited the use of contraceptives in their family. Your founder feels that only a marriage provides a stable enough environment for children. Sims may only woohoo and have children with sims they are married to.

- Whenever your sims woohoo, they MUST “try for baby”.

- If “try for baby” is not an option, the sims may not woohoo.

- The two exceptions to this are sims that are already pregnant or too old to get pregnant.
Sims who are not married may not “woohoo” or “try for baby”.Married sims may only woohoo or try for baby with their spouse.


6.2.8 - Hands Off:
Points: 4
The founder and anyone who joins the family has a supernaturally strong willpower. Your sims are very resistant to the commands of you, the sim god.

- You may only issue each sim 3 commands per sim, per day.

- If a command is not performed because of a temporary path block or it gliches out (sim can’t get up the stairs because another sim is in the way) you may re-issue the same command.

- Commands that are not performed because the sim is in a poor mood are wasted

- When you issue a command, you may cancel a sim’s current action. You may also cancel your own commands. (Such as ordering a sim to work out and telling them to stop when you want them to). You may not cancel a sim’s action otherwise. Your sims gain one additional command on community lots that may only be used to return home.

Notes: Commands issued indirectly to other sims, such as “Call to meal” and “Ask to join” still count as commands. “Call to meal” counts against the command limit of the sim that prepared it. “Ask to join” counts for the sim currently engaged in the activity.

- Unused commands do not carry over to the next sim day.

- Your command quota is refreshed every night at midnight


6.2.9 - Tight Job Market:
Points: 2
For one reason or another, the sim’s part of the country is deep in an economic recession. The job market is terrible and work is scarce.

- Sims may only take new jobs on Mondays. Only the first job in the newspaper and the first job on the computer are available. The jobs behind them may not be selected. Only one sim in the family may choose the same job listed in the same paper/computer. No jobs may be taken by anybody on any other days of the week.

- Sims may not take part-time jobs.

- Sims may not apply for a job by visiting the lot and applying there. It may only be done on the paper, or computer.


6.2.10 - Patriarchy/Matriarchy
Points: 1
Your founder believes in the older traditions, where only one gender can bring honor and glory to a family and the other cannot.

- Only Sims of the same gender as the founder may carry the family line. Opposite gender sims are still considered part of the family, but may NOT be heirs. If the founder is male, only males can be heirs. If the founder is female, only females may be heirs.

Notes: If an heir has an opposite-gender child, they must continue to have children until they have a same-gender child.

- A male-run family is called a Patriarchy

- A female-run family is called a Matriarchy


6.2.11 - Service Lover
Points: 1
Your founder has an odd attraction to service sims, and is completely turned off by any Sim that isn’t a service Sim. This attraction is genetic in nature, and carries over to each heir.

- Your founder, and each heir may only marry in a Service NPCs (Maid, Pizza Driver, Mail Carrier, Police Officer, Fireman, etc). They do not have to be a Service NPC at the time you married them, but must have, at one point in their lifetime been a service NPC (example: The NPC that delivers the paper will begin as a child, and continue delivering paper until they become young adults, at which point they no longer deliver the newspaper. They may still be married into the family after becoming Young Adults.).

-The only sims that can be moved in/married into the house are sims that will produce the next generation. No other sims may join the home.

- The NPC does not have to be from a different “service” each time (for example, you may marry in two maids).


6.2.12 - Opportunist
Points: 1
The founder is, simply put, an opportunist. He jumps at every opportunity to get ahead in life, and encourages all of his descendants to do the same.

- Every member of the Legacy Household must accept any and all opportunities offered to them, and complete them before the deadline.

- Failure to complete an opportunity before the deadline will cause your to fail this handicap.


6.2.13 - Favorite Color
Points: 4
Your founder, like everyone else, has a favorite color! Unlike everyone else, he will only allow an heir to follow in his footsteps that shares this favorite color.

- Your Founder’s favorite color must be a prominent theme throughout the design of the house.

- Only Sims who share the founder’s favorite color may carry the family line. Sims with another favorite color are still considered part of the family, but may NOT be heirs. If the founder’s favorite color is red, only heirs who also share red as their favorite color may be heirs.
(Yes, this means you will most likely be forced to have lots of babies. Hence the large point value of this handicap.)


6.2.14 - Legendary Host
Points: 1
Your founder believes that social gatherings are an integral part of life, and insists that great parties be held for every major event of a sim’s life.

- Your founder must throw a house party within a week of beginning the Legacy. This is a “housewarming party.”

- A party must be held for every birthday, and marriage in the family.

- All parties held in the family must be “Great" parties.
Notes: The “Party Animal” trait and “Legendary Host” Reward are not required for this handicap, but they both help a lot (actually, they make this handicap quite easy).


6.2.15 - Storyteller:
Points: 1
Your family’s story is told to the world.

- At least one novel must be written and completed per generation by that generation’s heir, excluding the 10th. It does not matter how well or poorly these novels sell or the writing skill of the heir.

- You must write a story for your family.
This handicap is very hard to define by hard and fast rules. I cannot say what exactly constitutes as a ‘story’ or not. The purpose of this bonus is to reward those who write stories for their families. I’ll let you be the judge yourself, if what you write counts as a story. It does not matter how many people added your story to their favorites. It is recommended that you upload your story and family lot once per generation, but it’s not a requirement. This part of handicap is left 100% to interpretation. (The first part must be followed to earn the points, however. That much I can clearly define).

6.2.16 - Family Trait:
Points: 1
Your Founder has a very dominant trait that he passes down to all of his offspring.

- Pick one trait that your Founder possesses. Every sim born on the Legacy Lot who is a direct descendant of the Founder must be given this trait on or before their Young Adult birthday. If any sim is unable to obtain this trait before becoming a Young Adult causes you to break this handicap.

6.2.17 - Random Traits:
Points: 1
Your sims personalities are resistant to being manipulated by You, The Sim God.

- When a sim has an age transition, you must hit the trait Randomization button once and give whatever traits are rolled to your sims.

- The only exception to this rule is if you are using the Family Trait handicap. If you are using the Family Trait handicap, you can only give the Family Trait when a sim turns into child or older. This is to prevent you from overwriting a trait assigned randomly when the child is born if you are able to pick both traits at birth.

6.2.18 Tradition:
Points: 1

- This is basically just an open handicap, meant to encompass any special rules you want to place on your sims.

6.3 General World Adventures Handicaps: you must have World Adventures to choose any of these handicaps.

6.3.1 Local Hater
Points: 1
By some strange genetic malfunction, your Founder, and all of his or her descendants are turned off by the local populace. They only find foreigners attractive.

- Each generation can only be brought in by sims from overseas. Local sims may be moved into the household, and may even parent children in the household, but in order to be considered an Heir, that sim's parent must be from overseas.

6.4 - Don't Bite off More Than You Can Chew: You must choose at least two handicaps to fulfill this restriction. If you complete the challenge without breaking any handicaps that you've chosen, award yourself with 5 points.

[PnkPnthr334]

These rules are definitely better than the "official" rules. Good job.

[hugaloaf]

I'll definitely be using these rules Great job!

Edit: One question about this

- Your Founder and each heir must become friends with all of their coworkers and reach the top of at least one Career Track.

Since friendships can fade, at what time does the sim need to be friends with all of their friendships? Can it be at any time, and then the point is locked in, or is it at the time of their retirement/death?

[Aaroc200]

Uh, really, I didn't think about that, but I wanted to throw in -something- to do with friends without having to actually complete any of the skill challenges, so I'll say they have to be friends with all of their coworkers when they finally retire or leave that job while at the top level.

If this proves to be too difficult for the shorter life spans, I may change the job level requirement. I'm also open to changes to that rule altogether, but I really couldn't think of anything better.

As a side note: Playtesting is highly encouraged for the non-normal life spans. I think I balanced the points decently, but would like to know if any are too difficult or too easy for the life spans other than normal, especially the Skill Challenge points, Skill-related Handicaps, and Career points. Of course said testing should be done without ambrosia, to see the typical amount of skill challenge points that can be gained while on non-normal play, as well as normal play, I suppose. Go play a few generations and report back here. Essentially, I want you to be able to accumulate the same amount of points regardless of what life span you play on. I think the Skill Handicaps may need the most tweaking. (My main goal there is to pick one for very short, 2 for short, 3 for normal, 4 for long, and 5 for epic) I'm almost certain I'll need to adjust the points for those though. I'm trying to make it so that each sim in the household can earn a mostly flat amount of points. Granted, some sims may gain skill points faster because of their traits, or gain promotions faster, or whatever, but basically each sim should be able to pull in the same number of points regardless of Life Span (without using any life extending tactics). I think the most problematic Life spans for point imbalance will be Very Short or Epic. And I may need to rebalance the handicap points for the Skill based handicaps.

[Taliwog]

Thank you! Now I'm actually excited to start a legacy! This is what I've been waiting for!

[CatherineSimmer]

Since these are very similar to Kanetheslayer's rules, I will be following them in my legacy, more or less.

I like the way you added options for scoring different lifespans. I would really be interested to hear about someone who played a legacy on Epic. However, I do NOT want that person to be me.

[Fairyindia2]

Great ruleset, Aaroc! Definitely one of the best I've seen around. I especially like the handicaps you've thought of, since the official version doesn't have any handicaps at the moment.

[Aaroc200]

Most of the handicaps are verbatim from KaintheSlayer's Unofficial rules.

I simply added in one for each of the remaining skills, and removed the trait requirements for the heirs in all of them, and removed traits requirements for everyone in the rest of them, since requiring traits is rather limiting.

I still think playing on Epic will be rather unbalanced, considering that Epic life spans are roughly 1000 days long while very short is only about 25 days long. the rest of the lifespans ought to be roughly in line with eachother, and as I said, I'm going to have to evaluate the points awarded by the skill based handicaps.

[CatherineSimmer]

If it helps you, I am documenting my scores on my blog. I am playing on normal, but still, it might give you some idea of how the rules are working out. Link is in my siggy.

[Aaroc200]

Thank you, I'll try to keep up with your Legacy then. I'm thinking I should also start trying to test out how well my sims perform on a Very short or epic life span, but I really dread the Epic Life span, to be perfectly honest.. just takes sooooo much time, and I would never remember to change the life span between play sessions.

[KaintheSlayer]

This is definitely a good set of rules (as much as I'm tooting my own horn when I say it). There's a few glaring issues I have, as well as a few things I'm a little bit iffy on. I think I'll do a little more work. After all, the more effort more people put into it, the better the rules become.

[Mel]

I definitely prefer these rules over the ones Pinstar posted. I'll be using them if I ever start another TS3 legacy. The one I'm playing now has already broken so many rules that I don't even want to bother with trying to come up with a score for it right now.

[strangerhood7]

These rules are definately very good. These rules seem more from a player's perspective which I think helps.

Only one thing bothers me - the fact that you can pick traits. I see it as sort of like picking an aspiration and I fear that if we're allowed to pick traits everyone will end up controlling their sims. Part of the best thing about reading legacies was the fact that the creator couldn't control all their details. I'm afraid that now it might end up like "I want you to be evil. [Picks evil trait.]" It might just be because I'm not that familiar with the game, but maybe you should have to do something to get the "right" to pick a trait. I dunno though, because like I said, I'm not that familiar with the game and I don't know how hard it is to pick traits when sims grow up (it's not something I've managed to do in the game yet).

But aside from that, these rules (and the handicaps) are great.

[hugaloaf]

These rules are definately very good. These rules seem more from a player's perspective which I think helps.

Only one thing bothers me - the fact that you can pick traits. I see it as sort of like picking an aspiration and I fear that if we're allowed to pick traits everyone will end up controlling their sims. Part of the best thing about reading legacies was the fact that the creator couldn't control all their details. I'm afraid that now it might end up like "I want you to be evil. [Picks evil trait.]" It might just be because I'm not that familiar with the game, but maybe you should have to do something to get the "right" to pick a trait. I dunno though, because like I said, I'm not that familiar with the game and I don't know how hard it is to pick traits when sims grow up (it's not something I've managed to do in the game yet).

But aside from that, these rules (and the handicaps) are great.

Well, you don't always get to pick their traits. In fact, I've found that it's extremely difficult to get to pick both traits for a newborn baby. And I've also found that unless your sim is on the honor roll in school, you usually can't pick their trait. And progressing in school (especially if your teen has a part time job) can be very difficult in this game.

But maybe there can be a handicap to always randomize the trait?

[strangerhood7]

These rules are definately very good. These rules seem more from a player's perspective which I think helps.

Only one thing bothers me - the fact that you can pick traits. I see it as sort of like picking an aspiration and I fear that if we're allowed to pick traits everyone will end up controlling their sims. Part of the best thing about reading legacies was the fact that the creator couldn't control all their details. I'm afraid that now it might end up like "I want you to be evil. [Picks evil trait.]" It might just be because I'm not that familiar with the game, but maybe you should have to do something to get the "right" to pick a trait. I dunno though, because like I said, I'm not that familiar with the game and I don't know how hard it is to pick traits when sims grow up (it's not something I've managed to do in the game yet).

But aside from that, these rules (and the handicaps) are great.

Well, you don't always get to pick their traits. In fact, I've found that it's extremely difficult to get to pick both traits for a newborn baby. And I've also found that unless your sim is on the honor roll in school, you usually can't pick their trait. And progressing in school (especially if your teen has a part time job) can be very difficult in this game.

But maybe there can be a handicap to always randomize the trait?

Oh, okay. Thanks - I didn't know that.

One of the handicaps Pinstar did that I particularly liked was the "Family Trait" rule. I know it's quite similar to some of the ones here (like Livin' Large), but I think it would be a cool handicap to do.

[CatherineSimmer]

I agree with Hugaloaf. In fact, he summed up my opinion so well, I don't need to add anything of my own on that point.

On another point - Just a quick question to clarify scoring. My founder's husband just achieved one of the challenges for the charisma skill - the first one, where you have to have x number of acquaintances. He only has two charisma points. Because he is not maxed in the skill, and also because he only did one challenge, he does not get a point for the challenge, correct?

And - if he was maxed in the skill, and managed to complete all challenges, he would get two points, right? One for the skill maxing and another one for all the challenges?

One more and I'll shut up - Is the matriarchy/patriarchy handicapped scored differently if you refrain from eating gender-controlling foods? (In other words - please give me a bonus point. LOL)

[Aaroc200]

Strangerhood: I personally do not like not choosing my sims' traits. I hated rolling for aspirations in TS2, and so I simply did away with it in my rules, after all, like Hugaloaf said, you do actually have to work to get to choose traits for your sims, though I have almost always been able to choose all my sims' traits, aside from a few times when they were born and I was only able to pick one trait. I'll add a handicap for always having to randomize your sims' traits though, as well as a Family Trait handicap. Keep in mind that the Skill Handicaps do not require the traits to be picked up by every heir, only the Founder. I did this because if you play an epic Legacy with 10 founders/heirs who are Athletic, Charismatic, Angling, Artistic, Green Thumbs, things would get very boring very quickly.

Catherine: In order to get points in the skill challenge, currently, your sim must maximize the skill and complete all Skill Challenges associated with said skill. Since you are playing on Normal Life spans, upon maximizing the Charisma skill as well as completing the associated Challenges, he would gain one Point for the Legacy.

For Example, in my legacy, Tanaris, my founder currently has maximized his charisma skill, he has met over 25 sims, thus completing the Celebrity challenge, he knows over 50 traits, thus completing the Personable Challenge, 20 friends, completing the Friendly Challenge and 10 Best friends, thus completing the Everybody's Best Friend Challenge. The only Challenge he has not completed under Charisma so far is the Comedian Challenge, because he's only told 54 jokes at my last count. If he dies before telling 46 more jokes, he will not gain any Skill Challenge Points (and since he's over 90 days old at the moment, it's very possible that he won't get this point for me). He will, however, still give me a point for being the founder, a point for gaining over 100,000 aspiration, a point for reaching his Lifetime Wish, and a point for reaching the top of the Business Career.

The reason I decided not to include just maxing a skill for these points is simply because I don't want the Skill Handicaps to be essentially worth an extra X amount of points.

General: I am dropping the Coworker requirements for the "Friends are the Key to Success" handicap, seeing as you need to get ten friends in order to maximize your Charisma skill anyway, thus making any further requirements for this handicap perhaps a bit too difficult either to do or keep track of.

Also, I am adding in a Collection point for "collecting" a sim who has mastered each skill challenge, worth 10 points.

Edit: I have also changed the points and clarified some thing for the Family Skills Handicaps.

[Scallywag]

I really like your rule set... it falls very much in line with some of the tweaks I had in mind. One thing that struck me... your offering poiints to anyone who caps a career.. even multiples per sim. I think an additional 10 for maxing all of them is an easy gimme. With 10 generations x MINIMUM 3 sims ( wife husband and child) it should be no problem to get all the careers. Just a thought.. I havne't event tried all careers yet so who knows.

I'd like to see the points for getting all 32 lifetime wishes be a bit higher. Some of them are gonna be really hard to do and it should be worth it to try.

Great job!!!!

Vixen

[Aaroc200]

I was just thinking about the LTW points actually. There are 32 of them, which means you'd need at least 3 per generation. Since you're really only playing through 9 generations of sims, that's more like 4 per generation, so I think maybe the 10 points for "collecting" all of them might be a little meager.

As for the Careers, maybe the bonus for collecting all of them should be smaller, but I see it as a way to encourage players to try out all of the different career tracks. I'm still offering points for maxing a career regardless of whether it's been maxed by another sim or not simply because there doesn't seem to be a way to start anywhere but the bottom of a career track. Of course, I haven't tried getting a job through the computer yet, so maybe I'm missing something. I'm anticipating my first born for generation three to have quite a bit of skill points by the time he becomes an adult, so I suppose we'll see once that happens. If I find that it is possible to start anywhere but the beginning of a career track, I will reevaluate these points. Of course the main reason I'm offering the career and skill challenge points, even repeatably, is because I want to balance the game more for playing the different Life Spans. Using Pinstar's rules, it would be ridiculously easy to get the max points that you can for each sim in the family if you played on Long or Epic lifespans and very difficult for playing the shorter Life Spans. With my rule set, I think it makes it a bit more strategic, like do you really want to invite that sim in to the household and try to milk him for points with that move in penalty? Do you really want to use Ambrosia or the Science Center to try and milk a few more points out of sims already in the house? Will the points they bring in make up for the penalties incurred?

By my estimate, a sim who simply lives out their life in a Legacy, with a normal life span, should bring in 1 Point for their career, one for their LTW, one for a skill challenge, 1 point for Getting 100,000 Lifetime Aspiration points, 1 for a portrait if they are part of the bloodline, and one more if they are an heir or the founder. That 5 points per Sim. Now, if you're good you can milk an extra career and skill challenge out of them, and if you're really good, you might be able to milk another career and/or skill out of them, so you'll end up with somewhere between 5 and 10 points per sim. you can expand the points you get by having more sims in the house each generation, but can you actually handle juggling so many sims with their jobs and needs and skills?

Plus there are a few Skill challenges that won't be able to completed by as many sims, like the Handiness Skill. You need to have a Teleporter and a Body Shaper before you can even attempt to get those Skill Challenges, because you need those in order to complete all upgrades. Granted, this will be easier in the longer life spans because you'll have more time to accumulate the requisite aspiration points, but that's why they are worth less points in the longer life spans.

That's why I have the rules the way I do. So a really great simmer, who can juggle all those sims and manage to get them to climb to the top of several careers and achieve several Skill Challenges with all of them can really shine in a way they can't with Pinstar's rules. I never did like the point limiting factors in his post university TS2 Legacy Rules because you could probably get the max amount of points within the first five generations if you were really good, and then what? Once you've attained the max score, what's the point in continuing the legacy? With my rules, you can excel in what you're good at, but there's also a good incentive to try the things you're not so good at.

[Scallywag]

I like it a lot.... definitly gonna mull this today whilst I pretend to work hehe.

I had an idea I'm debating for a handicap- maybe you will like it.

My Heiress is a snob and I'm thinking I'll use that as my family trait- a matriarch with all daughters having the snob gene. Taking that thought and running with it, I've been nursing an idea too have her be tooooo "snobby" to get a job. The heiress can never take a job outside the home. She can garden, mine for gems, even write books etc but the point being her "job" is to stay home and raise the children/ boss the help around. ( maybe count opportunities as charitable works that MUST be done...)

This would put a lot more emphasis on the spouse and the need for spares. The spares and spouses would be the only ones who can top a career. The heiress' can still handle some of the lifetime wants such as perfect gardener, the tinkerer etc. Hopefully this will also cut down on the completely insane amounts of money legacy's have by the 4th or 5th chapter.

I am one that tends to have one child - why bother with extras? So this was a method of forcing me to expand that thought and still make the challenge harder. I'm a self admitting apoca nut so i need something a little meetier then a plain vanilla Legacy. So what do you think? Anyone?


Another thought... I think I want to run with a varient on the pick your trait option- Hows this "You can choose 1 trait per sim, you must roll for the rest- If you are using family trait you may add 1 choice for that trait- giving you 2 "picks" and 3 randoms. " I really love playing with random, just had a baby born with friendly and insane- cant wait lol. But I also like the idea of shaping your story just a little. If a kid does nothing but play with the music toy his whole childhood I want to be able to declare him a musician- If he constantly screams and generally causes havoc- Let me pick grumpy. The idea being I can pick 1 trait based on what I observe about the sim and feel would be appropriate.

Vixen