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The Novelcy Chalenge--Official Rules Posted on Page 2--Come try it out!

KyrstenAKyrstenA Posts: 1,893 Member
edited March 8 in Nominated Threads
The Novelcy: A Legacy Born of Inspiration

After reading many, many Legacy, DIFT, Berry Sweet and so on stories, a seedling of an idea became implanted into this English major's brain. Many of the authors of these stories are incredibly talented, imaginative and dedicated to their stories and after reading a few of them, I have decided to attempt to plant my own little seedling into the many heads of these amazing authors and those who are still in the process of getting there.

Seeing the magically influenced CAW worlds like Hogwarts and the beginning of Forks or the incredibly realistic and intrinsically detailed CAW worlds like London and Paris, I started thinking about how awesome it would be to create a Sim picture-based story based off of a recreation of something that has inspired me—songs, movies, shows and books especially—and twisting them to fit the awesome Sim community that I’ve been a part of since I was a tot back during TS1.

I introduce to you: The Novelcy.

You see, after reading through a few of the many Legacy stories I follow, I decided to take a break from the forums and mosey on down to the pool that inhabits the condo-community that my aunt lives in in Las Vegas. You would think a 21-year-old girl would be experiencing more incredible and awe-inspiring sights while exploring the masses of Sin City, but no. The inspiration came from my little, old Nora Roberts’ Irish Rebel that accompanied me alongside the 4-foot deep pool. While sunbathing in the 100+ degree weather, was I thinking to myself about how scrumptious the leading male role sounded? Or how envious I was about how gorgeous the lead female role seemed in my mind?

No.

I was thinking about how in Berry's name I was going to tie horses into a Sim story without an expansion pack....

This is where the Novelcy comes from





The simple rules of a Novelcy are as follows:

1. You will create a "Lead Role" (i.e. your legacy founder).
2. This Lead Role will then find his/her "Opposite Lead Role" (i.e. the spouse/co-founder of the legacy).
3. The Difference: Should you choose to share your legacy's story, you will base each generation off of a novel, song, movie, show, music video, video game, YOU NAME IT!
4. As the family grows, you should name children based off of novels, songs, etc that you plan to potentially use for each next generation.
5. Because the Novelcy has the potential to take a mass amount of time, the requirement is only 5 generations. 10, however, is still encouraged :D
6. Have a blast playing with your favorite author, director or artist's work while manipulating it into something you wish it would have been!


And a couple hints to get you started :wink: :

"Family Author"--Edgar Allen Poe, Dean Koontz, Nicholas Sparks or J.D. Robb fan? How about Jane Austen or Charles Dickens? Write a whole Legacy based off of one author!
"Genrecy"--Love Fantasy? Cheesy Romances? Thrillers or Mind-Numbing Mysteries? Use a mixture of your favorite authors, directors or artists to create a Genre-Legacy!


These, of course are only the most basic rules and tiny hints/tips. There will be more intricate, detailed rules soon and of course a point system for those who like to keep track :D I hope at least some people find the idea enticing, as I plan to start mine as soon as I get home from vacation!


Stories:
TurtleyAwesome:
Gen.1 (The Hunger Games) Chapter 1

The_Lady_Grace:
The Darcy Legacy: A Regency Legacy
Post edited by EA_Solaire on

Comments

  • TurtleyAwesomeTurtleyAwesome Posts: 511 New Member
    edited August 2010
    ... This is awesome. And you are awesome. I am definitely going to try this sometime.
  • CouriervaughanCouriervaughan Posts: 20,570 Member
    edited August 2010
    Good ideas
  • Spongeb0bSpongeb0b Posts: 1,196
    edited August 2010
    I thought i posted already.. huh that is really werid.

    Anyways, I said it looks like a great Legacy challenge. ;D
  • crg1999crg1999 Posts: 6,252 New Member
    edited August 2010
    Ooh. . . While I was reading this. . . I thought of my favorite genre/author and I have the perfect idea :mrgreen:


    Thanks much, Krsyten!
  • KyrstenAKyrstenA Posts: 1,893 Member
    edited August 2010
    Spongeb0b wrote:
    I thought i posted already.. huh that is really werid.

    Anyways, I said it looks like a great Legacy challenge. ;D

    I think you did, too haha. I posted this on the Stories and Legacies one and the General Discussion one. I hope that's allowed...
    crg1999 wrote:
    Ooh. . . While I was reading this. . . I thought of my favorite genre/author and I have the perfect idea


    Thanks much, Krsyten!

    You are so very welcome! I'm so happy you're as excited about it as me! Am I allowed to know what you're thinking of?? :D I just want to hear everyones' ideas! Haha.
  • Skip45Skip45 Posts: 19,876 New Member
    edited August 2010
    Hehe, I sorta do this already. I've got my literature legacy, which I name after characters from books. ^.^
  • crg1999crg1999 Posts: 6,252 New Member
    edited August 2010
    KrystenA wrote:
    You are so very welcome! I'm so happy you're as excited about it as me! Am I allowed to know what you're thinking of?? :D I just want to hear everyones' ideas! Haha.



    Sure! Well, my favorite author writes ghost stories. . . So I was thinking that the heir/heiress should be a ghost :XD: Sound okay-ish?
  • KyrstenAKyrstenA Posts: 1,893 Member
    edited August 2010
    Skip45 wrote:
    Hehe, I sorta do this already. I've got my literature legacy, which I name after characters from books. ^.^

    Oooh! You do? I didn't realize people were doing this already :? Are you basing them off of the books or just using their names? I usually name my characters off of book characters, too 8) It makes it more fun that way
  • Skip45Skip45 Posts: 19,876 New Member
    edited August 2010
    Well, the founders were based off the looks. Romeo and Juliet baby! :lol:
    But the kid's, I just name them off of books, because I can't control their genetics, lol.
    And it's no problem! I think it'd be insteresting to see a video game one. 8)
  • KyrstenAKyrstenA Posts: 1,893 Member
    edited August 2010
    crg1999 wrote:

    Sure! Well, my favorite author writes ghost stories. . . So I was thinking that the heir/heiress should be a ghost :XD: Sound okay-ish?

    OMB, that's brilliant! I would have never thought about that! I love it! Ooooh, the possibilities are endless...
  • crg1999crg1999 Posts: 6,252 New Member
    edited August 2010
    KyrstenA wrote:
    crg1999 wrote:
    Sure! Well, my favorite author writes ghost stories. . . So I was thinking that the heir/heiress should be a ghost :XD: Sound okay-ish?

    OMB, that's brilliant! I would have never thought about that! I love it! Ooooh, the possibilities are endless...


    I know right! The idea just kind of popped in my head and I was like, "Woah..." So yeah :D
  • KyrstenAKyrstenA Posts: 1,893 Member
    edited August 2010
    Skip45 wrote:
    Well, the founders were based off the looks. Romeo and Juliet baby! :lol:
    But the kid's, I just name them off of books, because I can't control their genetics, lol.
    And it's no problem! I think it'd be insteresting to see a video game one. 8)

    Oh, Shakespeare would be a great "Family Author," too!
    Haha, and yeah that's a good point about the genetics. I'll need to make a note about those kinds of things in the rules...
    And yeah, I thought of a video game one at the last second. I feel like something like Final Fantasy or ... I don't really know what else. Maybe even the bare basic plot of Pokemon or something haha. I think I'm making myself sound way way too nerdy right now... But Ash and Misty! haha, that'd be so awesome.
  • KyrstenAKyrstenA Posts: 1,893 Member
    edited August 2010
    crg1999 wrote:

    I know right! The idea just kind of popped in my head and I was like, "Woah..." So yeah :D

    Hahaha, that's awesome!

    I have to go for a while, but I'll probably check back in later tonight and start on some of the rules, too :mrgreen:

    Night everyone, and thanks so much for the encouragement!
  • CouriervaughanCouriervaughan Posts: 20,570 Member
    edited August 2010
    You are welcome
  • TerraCooperTerraCooper Posts: 2,300 New Member
    edited August 2010
    If I wasn't so utterly swamped with all my stories, I'd totally do this right freakin' now. At the moment, I have a bunch of challenges going on, but as soon as I finish one I'll be back here =D
  • RaeNicRaeNic Posts: 767 Member
    edited August 2010
    Oh how neat!! I already like using the names of my favorite characters from books but I never thought about playing out their stories via Sims!! I'm gonna have to try this :)
  • MissGeminiMissGemini Posts: 1,678 New Member
    edited August 2010
    This is cool. If I didn't have a legacy going on already I would try it! :D
  • CLM1227CLM1227 Posts: 517 New Member
    edited August 2010
    I love this idea. Its probably the only Legacy that I've seen so far that I could actually take somewhere!

    However, I would much rather build my legacy with a CAS couple rather than a CAS founder and hunt down my spouse >.< Then I could be more true to the story-line... And what about giving the next generation the traits based off the character in the story instead of random traits?
  • KyrstenAKyrstenA Posts: 1,893 Member
    edited August 2010
    CLM1227 wrote:
    I love this idea. Its probably the only Legacy that I've seen so far that I could actually take somewhere!

    However, I would much rather build my legacy with a CAS couple rather than a CAS founder and hunt down my spouse >.< Then I could be more true to the story-line... And what about giving the next generation the traits based off the character in the story instead of random traits?

    I'm so glad you like it!

    I am actually working on the Rules now and I should have them up sometime in the next couple days, but I am definitely going to hint at a few of these exact things--i.e. You don't necessarily have to use community sims.
    I'm also thinking of traits that may be helpful for your storyline. i.e. If you wanted to do a "Romantasy" for instance, you could have a "Flirty" or "Hopeless Romantic" Family Trait, just as if you were to do a "Mysteracy" you could have the "Perceptive" Family Trait. Just a couple hints of what's to come :wink:

    Also, all other suggestions will definitely be taken into consideration! So if anyone thinks of anything else, please let me know! I'm so excited to try this out with you guys
  • Charlie12309Charlie12309 Posts: 1,544 Member
    edited August 2010
    I really want to try this and I will once I finish the two legacies I have already got on the go lol :)
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  • TurtleyAwesomeTurtleyAwesome Posts: 511 New Member
    edited August 2010
    I think I've got some books that I could work with that would make for a very interesting legacy. Hooray for distopias!
  • KyrstenAKyrstenA Posts: 1,893 Member
    edited August 2010
    Starting out
    Create a brand new game file. You may choose any neighborhood/Create A World (CAW) world. Feel free to populate this neighborhood with whichever and however many Sims you choose right now; they do not need to be the EA default Sims. You will be able to re-populate your town up to three more times. After that, you will have to deal with the offspring of these Sims and the other Default Sims that come and go.

    Create your Novelcy Founder in Create A Sim (CAS). Your Novelcy Heir must become the “Active Household” immediately after he/she is created. His/her looks, personality traits, favorites, ambitions, etc. should mirror those of the lead role in the novel you are choosing to base your 1st generation off of. He/she may be either male or female. Custom Content (CC) may be used.

    ***He/she may be ANY age (besides a Baby)***
    Because many stories either start their lead role off as a youngster or base the story off of a youngster’s point of view, you may choose the age of your Founder. If you choose to create a Founder younger than a Young Adult, you must also create a “guardian” to accompany the Founder. You may create up to six other "guardian" or household members. Remember, though, that they must fit into/mirror your story! (see the rules and restrictions regarding the Founder’s age, guardian(s) and other “family members” under the “Rules” section).

    You may choose all of your Founder’s possible Traits in CAS. You may choose all other household members’ Traits in CAS


    Next is the Co-Founder. You have three choices:
    1. You may create the Co-Founder in CAS and start him/her in your Founder’s household (this option would be most useful for Founders/Co-Founders who are already married or who start off with exceptionally high friendship levels).
    2. You may create the Co-Founder in CAS and plant him/her in the neighborhood (this option would be most useful for Founders/Co-Founders starting off as Toddlers, Children or Teenagers).
    3. You may find a random potential Co-Founder in the neighborhood as you would in the traditional Legacy Challenge (this option would be most useful for novels/movies where there is no pre-existing love interest).

    If you are creating the Co-Founder in CAS, he/she should look like, dress like and have the same Traits, favorites and voice as the lead role’s spouse/mate/friend in your novel/story. If you are not basing the Co-Founder off of a pre-existing spouse/mate/friend, you obviously don’t need to worry about his/her looks etc. and may create him/her however you would like.

    Placing the Founder/the Founder’s household. You may place the Founder’s household wherever you want. Because this challenge is more focused on the plotline of the story behind the family’s legacy and not as much on the progress of the humble beginning that amounts to the wealthy and prosperous ending, you should set your scene to match the appropriate setting of your story. If your story is based on a farmer, make sure his land is equipped with a vineyard, orchard or garden of choice. If your story is based on a wealthy, young widow, her house should probably be somewhat luxurious.

    Once you’ve built your Founder’s house, you must delete a certain amount of their simoleons. You may have between 200 and 1,000 simoleons to officially start the game. If your Founder is supposed to be an average Joe, equip him/her with the 200. If he/she is supposed to be wealthy, equip him/her with 1,000. If he/she is somewhere in between these standings, equip him/her accordingly. Be honest to your story.

    Once you have decided how many simoleons your Founder needs, you may have an additional 100 simoleons per additional household member. Thus, if your Founder is a Teenager and must be accompanied by an adult, the adult is going to contribute an additional 100 simoleons. If you choose to have 2 extra adults and 2 siblings, you may add an additional 400 simoleons to your Founder's total.
    Challenge: Add more "family members," and start with 200 simoleons.

    Keep in mind that you will most likely need to either create or download other “settings” (i.e. your Co-Founder’s original house, places where characters may meet or other key settings in the story you've chosen) in order to make your story seem realistic.

    Tip: When you start your story, have it begin with the original opening sentence/paragraph of the story you're basing it off of. When you're ending the story, end it with the closing sentence/paragraph of the story you've chosen. Make sure you use quotation marks!
    Post edited by Unknown User on
  • KyrstenAKyrstenA Posts: 1,893 Member
    edited August 2010
    The Goal
    Play through 10 generations of your family line. At least 5 stories based off of novels, movies, shows, songs, etc. should be retold. Each generation should have it's own story.
    Challenge: Re-tell a new story for each generation. 10 stories total! :D


    Rules
    Money Cheats. You may use money cheats ONLY while creating settings. Otherwise, there are no cheats allowed (aside from moveobjects on or glitch-fixers). Once you have decided on how many simoleons your Founder deserves and have deleted the excess money, you are no longer allowed to use money cheats If you need more money, you will need to get a job. If your lead role is supposed to be homeless, poor or jobless, then don’t get a job.

    No collecting unless it is in your storyline! If your Founder is a fisherman, he may catch and sell his fish. If he is a farmer, he may sell his crops. No one catches butterflies, collects stones, etc. to sell, though. If the lead role in your story does do this kind of stuff however, he/she can be a scientist. If your lead role plays an instrument, he/she may play for tips. However, most lead roles don’t earn 2,000 simoleons a day in tips, though, so keep this in mind. Children may paint, play the guitar, etc. as long as they would do this in your story. This is meant to be a challenge. Please use your discretion.

    You may accept any Opportunities that would be natural to your storyline. If your Founder is homeless, he may not travel to Egypt to collect Pomegranates.

    Your Founder’s Household. If your Founder is younger than a Young Adult—in which case he/she will need to be accompanied by an adult in the household—you may create up to six other Sims to place in your household. However, you MAY NOT control ANY of these other household members. If children get taken away by the Social Worker: You’ve just lost. You may choose to start your Novelcy over. If you run out of money and have no way of obtaining simoleons while you are still a Toddler, too bad. You will need to wait until you’re a Child a hope that your storyline will permit you to earn money.

    You will only ever be able to control you Novelcy Founder and any future sims—spouses/mates, children, etc. even after the Founder has become an adult. Thus, choosing a Toddler as a Founder may be extremely challenging since you will have to rely on the parent/guardians’ free will to feed you, change you socialize with you and put you to bed.

    Challenge: To make your Novelcy more like the traditional Legacy Challenge, use a story where your Founder/lead role is homeless! :D

    Aging. Story Progression should be on and Lifespans should be set to Normal. If this is impossible for your storyline, you may alter it.

    Mods. As Pinstar said: “You are allowed to play with any Mod that does not give you a signifigant advantage over a player without the mod.”

    Moving in AND out. The Novelcy family must be the “Active Household” at all times (if you want to take a break from this Novelcy Challenge, you should play a different game file). The Co-Founder and the future generations’ mates/spouses do not have to move into the house (just as it is in the traditional Legacy Challenge).

    You may create future spouses in CAS and plant them in the neighborhood for 4 total generations (including your Co-Founder). All other Sims who contribute to the bloodline must be found around town. You may not pre-plan your future spouse/mate except for these 4 times. Thus, you are only allowed to “re-populate” your neighborhood 4 times (this is including the original populating when you create your Founder).

    All Sims who move into your family’s household must be asked to “Move In.” You are not allowed to Merge Households.

    You may move out of your family’s house anytime you want.
    Challenge: No one lives in the same house through 10 generations! :D Move 5 out of the 10 generations out of their parents’ house (this means you’ll have to redecorate each time. However, the money that you bring with you is the money you are allowed to spend. There is no “decorate and then have 1,000 simoleons left over deal like there was for your Founder).

    Your heir must always be the “Active Household.”

    Ambrosia/Life Fruits/Resurrecting Dead Sims/Death Flowers. These are only allowed in special conditions. None of these are real and would most likely only be present in Sci-Fi type stories. Use your discretion.

    Aging Sims Up. “You may age sims up via the birthday cake only once the game prompts you with a reminder of their impending birthday, not earlier. You do not have to use the birthday cake to age sims up, you can wait for the game to force the age transition if you wish” (Pinstar). If your story has a gap in the ages—i.e. Harry Potter starts with him as a baby, but jumps to him at eleven years old—you must wait it out until your character is old enough to follow your chosen story.

    The Generation Gaps. Say you choose to do a Jane Austen-based Novelcy. You’ve picked your favorite three Austen books that you want your first three generations to be based off of. The first one is Pride and Prejudice. Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth have just been married. Yay! The End! You did an awesome job of recreating the story and making it more contemporary (or not :wink: ), Hooray! … … … Okay, now what?

    In between stories, you will have gaps where you don’t necessarily have anything to base your family’s progress off of. Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy have kids… Well, how many? Mr. Darcy cheats on Elizabeth after they were married? Oh no! … but, so what?

    Have fun with these inbetween-story stages :) Nothing should be 100% structured all the time. The only thing I would recommend keeping in mind is the idea of children. If your next Austen heir is going to be Emma from Emma, you might want her to be an only child, since that’s what she is in the novel (I think… I haven’t read it in a long time, haha). Plan accordingly! Or don’t :wink: Small details can always be played with.

    Have FUN!
  • KyrstenAKyrstenA Posts: 1,893 Member
    edited August 2010
    Vocab (Most of these are taken straight from Pinstar. Bolded terms are either altered or new)
    Generation: Order of birth in relation to the family at large. Your founder is generation 1, your founder’s son/daughter would be generation 2, the grandchildren of the founder would be generation 3 and so on. The challenge ends the moment generation 10 is born.
    Founder: The sim you create in CAS who starts the family.
    Heir: The sim belonging to the family bloodline who is slated to bring in the next generation once he/she is old enough and finds a mate.
    Spare: A sibling of an heir, who can become an heir should anything happen to the current heir. Spares may be fed to the time stream or kept on the lot if you wish. They are eligible to earn legacy points for the family.
    Fed to the time stream: Moving a controllable sim out of the legacy house. A sim fed to the time stream no longer can generate legacy points for the family, but still may be interacted with. Legacy points that have already been earned by this sim still count towards your total, even after you move the sim out.
    Legacy Points: Your score for the challenge, earned in a variety of ways described below. The goal of the challenge is to get as many legacy points before the 10th generation.
    Legacy House: The lot initially moved into by your founder.
    Bloodline: Any sim who can trace his or her family tree directly to the founder. Adopted sims are NOT part of the bloodline. Sims that are moved in are only considered part of the bloodline when they contribute to the birth of the next generation.
    Spouse/Mate: A sim brought in from outside the family to reproduce with the current generation’s heir to produce the next generation. When the next generation is born, the mate becomes part of the family bloodline and eligible to earn points.
    Lead Role: The character or characters in the novel, movie, etc. that take on the main role(s) in the storyline. Each of your heirs will most likely resemble the lead role of the generations’ chosen novel, movie, etc.

    Point System
    You earn points for your family in the following ways (pay attention, most of these differ from Pinstar’s):
    Generations. Each generation earns you 1 point. You automatically earn 1 point for your Founder and gain each additional point when the first child of each generation is born in the bloodline. Each additional child per generation does not earn you any additional Generation Points.
    Lifetime Wants. As Pinstar states so nicely, “You gain 1 point for every unique lifetime want fulfilled by a family member. The sim in question must be living in the legacy house and be part of the family tree to earn this point. Once a specific liftime wish has been fulfilled by a sim, further sims fulifilling that wish will not earn you a legacy point for doing so. There are 32 unique liftime wishes in the game, meaning you could earn a maximum of 32 points in this category.”
    Portraits. 1 point for every portrait that is created of any particular lead role in the novel, movie, etc. that has been chosen to represent the generation. You may have up to two lead roles per generation—mostly this will be your heir and your heir’s mate, however, it can also be an heir and his/her child, sibling, etc. The Sim that the Portrait is painted of must be a part of the family tree. You earn the point after the portrait is completed. It does not have to be a quality portrait. You must take these portraits with any future generations to their future houses in order to keep the points. They may, however, remain in the Family Inventory and do not need to be displayed.
    Aspiration Rewards. As Pinstar says, “If a sim is able to earn 100,000 points worth of aspiration rewards, they earn your family 1 legacy point. You are free to spend aspiration points as you gain them, it is your lifetime total, not your current total, that matters for this point. Like the other sim-based points, this may only be earned by family members. You may earn an additional point in this category from a sim if they somehow earn 200,000 points in their lifetime.”
    Story Telling. Because this is a Novelcy and storytelling is a must, if you choose to re-create the story using the Exchange, a Blog, etc. and make it available to the community, you may gain 1 point for each generation. Each generation should have a unique novel, movie, etc. that it is based off of in order to gain each of these points. Telling a story that is only based on the generation and not based off of a novel, movie, etc. will not gain you the additional point.


    Optional Additions:
    Family Author
    Use a different story one author for each generation. The author should have written either five or ten stories depending on how many novel-based generations you will have.

    Genrecy
    Use one genre of story throughout your family—i.e. you can create a Science Fictacy, Horracy, Mysteracy, Romantacy, Thrillacy, etc.

    Time Period-acy
    Use only stories that were created during a certain time period.

    Family/Genre/Author Trait
    Similar to the traditional Legacy Challenge, you may also have a Family Trait. These traits may differ, however, depending on the type of Novelcy you choose to do. For instance, if you choose to create a Romantacy, you may want to use the Flirty, Hopeless Romantic or Dramatic Traits. If you choose to create a Mysteracy, you may want to use the Perceptive Trait.

    Second hand roles
    Your heirs and other characters don’t necessarily need to be the “lead role” in the novel/story you choose. Maybe you really liked Hannah Abbott from Harry Potter or Sam from the Twilight series and would prefer to create your own story from their perspective. When doing this, use what details you know about the second hand role and the setting, etc. in order to create an effective and convincing side-story :)
  • KyrstenAKyrstenA Posts: 1,893 Member
    edited August 2010
    Just a teeny weenie bump.

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