With the recent launch of horse ranch, I felt like doing a new farm focused rags to riches. Unfortunately I can't get horse ranch just yet, hopefully in a sale at the end of the year. So my rags to riches is focused on cottage living.
I wanted to do something different than just taking a new sim straight out of CAS. I really like to play sims with unique inherited traits. So I started of with a spellcaster who was destined to fall in love with a sulani island elemental. The result would be a child with the sulani mana trait and the weak spellcaster bloodline. But why stop at 2 traits if I could also get a 3rd one like the dormant werewolf trait. So the sulani spirit happened to become a werewolf. Now this is where the plan went wrong. I didn't get a dormant werewolf trait for a few tries. I got tired of exiting without saving until I had the trait. So I told myself the next time, I will keep the sim no matter what. And that's how I ended up with a werewolf for my rags to riches.
Of course a werewolf alone was not enough. I decided she would start the rags to riches as a teen for a bit more challenge. I also applied all lot challenges available to make it even more difficult. So far I am enjoying my rags to riches. My teen has a modest garden, a tent and is on her way to find the cure for lycanthropy.
Here is part of Emma's story.
Her name was chosen by my daughter.
Emma started as a cheerful young toddler and grew up in a loving home with her mother Paulien.

As a child she was curious to learn more about the stars. She occasionally had angry tantrums because of tooth aches or an unexplainable bad mood during the full moon. This didn't stop her from becoming an A student at primary school and participating in the local scouts.


But then came her Birthday to become a teen. All the bad signs were there. Her birthday party was a full moon with a thunderstorm (I didn't plan these circumstances btw) Before the party was over, poor Emma manifested as a werewolf.

She wrecked havoc in the otherwise quiet town centre of Henfor on Bagley, only to wake up alone and bewildered in Moonwood Mill. Too ashamed to return home, she took refuge in the remote bramblewood and tries to survive of the land.

After a rought start, her little garden is slowly growing and bearing fruit

Is anyone else playing rags to riches? Do you have any additional challenges or rules to make the challenge even more challenging?
Comments
I did.
I always quickly build a 4x4 home so that I could take advantage of the tiny lot traits advantage. I would quickly earn enough money to spend days in vacation homes to take a real bath and do some baking. But you want challenge, not tips to make it easier.
I will be following this thread. Thanks for starting it. Long story that is too offtopic for this thread, but I unexpectedly got forced from Sims 3 back to Sims 4 at least for the short-term and I am BORED. I think I need to go back to my default game style of a teen werewolf, but with a new twist. Extra challenge sounds perfect.
I have never tried the earthquake lot trait. You do not make it sound appealing.
I have just began a new save that I'm quite excited about. It's a spellcaster rags to riches save. I haven't figured out all the later details yet, but to make it a bit different, as part of her training my spellcaster would be required to travel and seek out magic/occult in other worlds and bring back a specific item from each place. I had to think what would be a suitable way for her to make money as she travels so I have settled on busking for now, and perhaps selling collectibles she finds on her journey.
So you also played a teen werewolf rags to riches.
I want to make it a bit challenging so I am not going for a tiny house. On the contrary, I might turn the lot into a haunted house lot. I will wait until there is actually a house (or at least one room) to be haunted. Besides Emma has a skill bonus from being a top notch toddler and a scout so that is enough advantages.
I am wondering if playing a werewolf makes the challenge easier or harder. The rampaging is definitely a challenge but on the other hand some perks make the challenge super easy. My sim can fill hunger by hunting, bladder by marking territory and hygiene with the personal grooming perk. All 3 are low tier perks as well.
As for the earthquake lot challenge, it has very little impact on gameplay. It is alright. I just don't like to watch my screen shake. It is more of a nuisance to me as player than it is to my sims.
That sounds like an interesting and long rags to riches. I haven't really done much with the father winter trait yet.
I like your spellcaster story. I think I might incorporate this into my game as well, in this story or the next one. Visiting all worlds and bring a collectible home from each world sounds like fun.
The child alone is fun for me only when it is Father Winter's Baby. This Russian Fairy Tale is part of my backstory. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_Frost_(fairy_tale) She is a total bad 🐸🐸🐸🐸 and all the townies let her do anything she wants. With the Ravasheen fork mod, I can spawn food at all the bars for free, and I pretend that all the bartenders give her a free meal whenever she goes to a bar. She loved METAL Music so is LOUD. With the erratic trait, she is a mess, but happy. There are bunch of tweaks and mods and cheats that I gradually added into my gameplay. With the Ravasheen bus mod, she can hang out in Littlesimsie's castle on top of Mt Komorebi. Sometimes I add a butler or robot up there for her. She is friends with lots of stray and rabbits and birds and the scarecrow. She homeschools herself at the library instead of going to school. Sometimes she sleeps in the lighthouse museum where I added an antique bed and a mini fridge. There is a kids book about a runaway that lived in a museum. https://www.amazon.com/Mixed-up-Files-Mrs-Basil-Frankweiler/dp/1416949755
But back to werewolf teens. The lonewolf aspiration requires sparring 5 teens and Jacob is the only werewolf teen. I have to make some teens for my teen to spar, which is a bit of a nuisance. They need to be cheated or played until they are advanced enough to spar.
Having a dog is a major challenge. Maybe that is exactly what you want. This Lets Play helped me so much at the beginning, and it includes the teen adopting a stray dog.
I'm missing some vital packs for what I'd like to do with this occult save, such as the werewolf and paranormal packs. It may be a bit of a stretch, but I think I should be able to come up with enough places for my spellcaster to travel to that would qualify as supernatural.
I think the Father Winter Baby trait is a very underused trait. It is a subtle trait, and is most interesting when it is combined with other traits and gameplay. The Russian Fairy tale begs for the girl he saves to be a werewolf or spellcaster and to have come home pregnant as well with some money. And what happens after her sister dies? Especially if she is pregnant. How do the townies react to this scandal and the child that is born? How many illegitimate children does Father Winter have?
All this leads to an interesting child-alone or teen rags-to-riches story.
The traits that I pair with the father winter baby trait are cold acclimation, waterproof, and stormchaser. I also use observant and add a mod to make it even more useful, because Father Winter knows "everything" and in my game that is an inherited trait. Sometimes I also cheat in brave and dauntless. I do not like how much of the dauntless trait is centered on dating, so I often cheat that trait instead of having Sims earn it. This combination is such a powerful advantage along with earning extra reward points, that I usually also cheat in infant_unhappy and erratic as a counter balance. I have Spa Day and my Father Winter Baby spends a lot of time working on wellness activities and skills to stay mentally healthy. This is my version of the Father Winter occult. I sometimes forget that I made most of this up and that it does not automatically come paired with the Father Winter Baby trait.
Those are good packs for occult play but if you already have spellcasters, you could have a good start. Seeking out something magical in every world sounds fun. The more I think about it, the more I want to do this in my game as well. Perhaps as a kind of magical globetrotter that takes pictures/selfies in every world and then displays them in a museum. I am already thinking about a list of possible locations. Most worlds have a beautiful or special location going for them without the need for an occult pack.
willow creek: sylvan glade
Oasis springs: forgotten grotto
newcrest: ?
Magnolia promenade : perhaps a trip to sixam which came with the same pack, but it is a stretch because it is more sci-fi than fantasy
Windenburg: von haunt estate with its ghosts or the ruins
San mychuno: the park?
Forgotten hollow: perhaps a picture with a plasma fruit tree
Brindleton Bay: the pet cemetery on the island
Del Sol Valley?
Strangerville : collect one of the bizarre fruit to grow the plant at home?
Sulani: near the active volcano on the island of Mua Pel'am
Glimmerbrook: near the magical portal or anywhere inside the magic realm
Britechester: the circle in Gibbs Hill where the secret society offers to the sprites
Evergreen Harbour:?
Mt Komorebi: the temple on the hiking path or the actual top of the mountain (spellcasters can use the transportalate spell to avoid the actual climbing)
Henford on Bagley: visit Sophie the snail in the bramblewood, or the ruins nearby
Tartosa: a picture near the waterfalls
Moonwood Mill: the top of the mountain where you can collect a flower that only blooms on the full moon nights
San Sequoia: the arboretum perhaps?
Chestnut Ridge: the secret cave or near an impressive rock formation (I don't have the pack yet but there is a rock formation that reminds me of a horse)
A magical lot from the gallery can help in some worlds that don't seem suitable at first. I once added a magical dorm to britechester and it felt as if my sim was studying at a magic university. A magical library, school or pub can be a focus in those worlds. For example a magic castle in the pinnacles in del Sol Valley.
I started a new game. I want to see what an erratic werewolf teen is like. I have seen an erratic child with dormant werewolf, but I have not seen fullblown werewolf with almost fullblown erratic.
That's a great list, thanks for sharing! I made a list too, and some are quite similar to yours! I am missing the last four worlds on your list though, but I did include the 'rental' worlds. Some of the places had me stumped as to what to retrieve so taking pictures is a great idea! I added on to your list here:
Oasis springs: forgotten grotto - I came up with fishing for the violin at the park. I figured that's enough of an oddity, lol, not to mention a means of earning for my sim
newcrest: ? - none for me either
Magnolia promenade : perhaps a trip to sixam which came with the same pack, but it is a stretch because it is more sci-fi than fantasy - Another fishing task for me - fish for the voodoo doll
Windenburg: von haunt estate with its ghosts or the ruins - same here, but not sure about object yet
San mychuno: the park? - perhaps the Geek Con to go on the space ship, but I'm not sure if I should include aliens in my save
Forgotten hollow: perhaps a picture with a plasma fruit tree - same, but to retrieve the fruit itself
Brindleton Bay: the pet cemetery on the island - same! I can't think what to retrieve though, maybe harvest a catnip
Del Sol Valley? - I got nada
Strangerville : collect one of the bizarre fruit to grow the plant at home? - same here, and I'm actually mulling over doing this challenge again, haha
Sulani: near the active volcano on the island of Mua Pel'am - my task here is to find the mermadic kelp
Glimmerbrook: near the magical portal or anywhere inside the magic realm - this is my spellcaster's home base, so I didn't actually consider this, maybe I'll add a task here as well!
Britechester: the circle in Gibbs Hill where the secret society offers to the sprites - same, but not sure what to retrieve
Evergreen Harbour:? - still not sure, though there's certainly lots of objects that can be retrieved here, but nothing magical that I can think of
Mt Komorebi: the temple on the hiking path or the actual top of the mountain (spellcasters can use the transportalate spell to avoid the actual climbing) - I was also thinking of reaching the peak, and perhaps collect a kodama
Henford on Bagley: visit Sophie the snail in the bramblewood, or the ruins nearby - I was thinking either receive a gift from a bird or bunny and/or get the mysterious mushroom as a reward from the Creature Keeper
Additional ones:
Granite Falls - retrieve the will o wisp from the secret location
Selvadorada - bring back a treasure from the temple
Not really a place, but if the plantsim is still doable without doing the scenario, I may add this on and grow the tree somewhere in Glimmerbrook
Also not a place, but maybe collect an essence from the cowplant, or just grow a cowplant