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SIM STORYTELLERS! Here's a new Challenge Series for you: 6 Degrees of Separation Challenge!
buckeygirl80
Posts: 795 Member
Hey all! You may remember me, I'm the one who created the All My Wishes challenge, or "WISHACY".
Well, I've been working on a new idea for a challenge, and I'm ready to share it with you! Here goes!
6 Degrees of Separation Series/Challenge
I was trying to think of an idea of a fun way to play and story-tell with your sims, but without it having to be a "Legacy" as it seems most challenges are. But my favorite part of the whole legacy thing is the connectedness between each generation. Those who are creative story tellers usually like to tell an interesting an unique story with each generation, but it seems we're always limited to telling the story of the children of each heir/heiress. I think the story-telling aspect is one of the most enjoyable aspects as a reader of other people's legacies. So, how could there be a way to keep the creative story-telling aspect and connectedness without having "generations" to connect them? That's where I got my idea.
This is really not a rule based challenge. The challenge only lies in the creativity of the one telling the story, and deciding who should be the main character for the upcoming "degree" instead of a generation. Maybe a better word would be 'series' instead of challenge.
It works like this:
1. Choose a founder. It can be anyone, premade, or your own sim. They kick off the 6 degree story.
2. You tell a story with them, just as you would a legacy, but there is no rules as to what that founder "has" to do. They don't have to have kids. They don't have to get married. They don't have to complete a LTW. It's really all about a story with their life. It can contain as many chapters as you want. It can be a child, teen, adult. As long as it's ONE sim that is the main character of the story.
3. When you are finished with their story, you move on to the 2nd degree. Someone that is connected to your founder in some way. Maybe it's their best friend. Maybe a random aquaintance. Maybe a neighbor. It can be anyone, as long as they have made some sort of appearance in the story line of your founder. Shoot, it could even be the pizza guy! But he/she has to have been mentioned in the story somewhere before. Not just in a picture. But it only has to be a brief mention.
4. You start a new story with them. Of course, you can pull in elements and story bits from your founder's story, as a way to round out what happened previously, or you can totally go off on a whole new tangent, and leave all the previous characters behind.
5. Somehow, in the current "degree" you are writing in, you must reference the previous main character at least once. So, in the 2nd degree story, somewhere you would mention or include the founder.
As far as requirements, this is all there is. A mention of previous degree, a mention of future degree in each "degree" or story.
It keeps on going this way, 3rd degree, 4th, 5th, and then finally 6th. On the 6th degree sim, you could find a clever way to tie them into the founder's life or not, that's up to you.
Only ONE time in the challenge are you allowed to use a child of one of the main characters as a next degree. The whole idea is that it is different from a legacy.
There is a lot of freedom here as a story writer. You can really take the story anywhere you want, with any of the characters you want. I know we all have fallen in love with 'side' characters in our own and other people's legacies, and this is a way for them to be more than just a side story! Your 6 Degree Series could be one story, told from 6 different points of view, or 6 completely different stories, only connected by the 6 degrees. It's all up to you!
You could even collaborate with some of your sim-writing friends, and let them take a degree from your series and write it for you. Or you could swap degrees with someone if you get bored, and let them write one of your stories, and you write theirs. Then, when you return as the writer for the next degree, hopefully it would be fresh and new, because someone else wrote the previous story line, and you can use pieces of their story to spark creativity in your own.
That's pretty much it! Hope it sounds as fun and unique to you as it does to me! Feel free to post links to your 6 degree stories here, and ask any questions you like!
Well, I've been working on a new idea for a challenge, and I'm ready to share it with you! Here goes!
6 Degrees of Separation Series/Challenge
I was trying to think of an idea of a fun way to play and story-tell with your sims, but without it having to be a "Legacy" as it seems most challenges are. But my favorite part of the whole legacy thing is the connectedness between each generation. Those who are creative story tellers usually like to tell an interesting an unique story with each generation, but it seems we're always limited to telling the story of the children of each heir/heiress. I think the story-telling aspect is one of the most enjoyable aspects as a reader of other people's legacies. So, how could there be a way to keep the creative story-telling aspect and connectedness without having "generations" to connect them? That's where I got my idea.
This is really not a rule based challenge. The challenge only lies in the creativity of the one telling the story, and deciding who should be the main character for the upcoming "degree" instead of a generation. Maybe a better word would be 'series' instead of challenge.
It works like this:
1. Choose a founder. It can be anyone, premade, or your own sim. They kick off the 6 degree story.
2. You tell a story with them, just as you would a legacy, but there is no rules as to what that founder "has" to do. They don't have to have kids. They don't have to get married. They don't have to complete a LTW. It's really all about a story with their life. It can contain as many chapters as you want. It can be a child, teen, adult. As long as it's ONE sim that is the main character of the story.
3. When you are finished with their story, you move on to the 2nd degree. Someone that is connected to your founder in some way. Maybe it's their best friend. Maybe a random aquaintance. Maybe a neighbor. It can be anyone, as long as they have made some sort of appearance in the story line of your founder. Shoot, it could even be the pizza guy! But he/she has to have been mentioned in the story somewhere before. Not just in a picture. But it only has to be a brief mention.
4. You start a new story with them. Of course, you can pull in elements and story bits from your founder's story, as a way to round out what happened previously, or you can totally go off on a whole new tangent, and leave all the previous characters behind.
5. Somehow, in the current "degree" you are writing in, you must reference the previous main character at least once. So, in the 2nd degree story, somewhere you would mention or include the founder.
As far as requirements, this is all there is. A mention of previous degree, a mention of future degree in each "degree" or story.
It keeps on going this way, 3rd degree, 4th, 5th, and then finally 6th. On the 6th degree sim, you could find a clever way to tie them into the founder's life or not, that's up to you.
Only ONE time in the challenge are you allowed to use a child of one of the main characters as a next degree. The whole idea is that it is different from a legacy.
There is a lot of freedom here as a story writer. You can really take the story anywhere you want, with any of the characters you want. I know we all have fallen in love with 'side' characters in our own and other people's legacies, and this is a way for them to be more than just a side story! Your 6 Degree Series could be one story, told from 6 different points of view, or 6 completely different stories, only connected by the 6 degrees. It's all up to you!
You could even collaborate with some of your sim-writing friends, and let them take a degree from your series and write it for you. Or you could swap degrees with someone if you get bored, and let them write one of your stories, and you write theirs. Then, when you return as the writer for the next degree, hopefully it would be fresh and new, because someone else wrote the previous story line, and you can use pieces of their story to spark creativity in your own.
That's pretty much it! Hope it sounds as fun and unique to you as it does to me! Feel free to post links to your 6 degree stories here, and ask any questions you like!
Post edited by EA_Solaire on
2
Comments
Anyway, good idea and I hope to see some new stories come from this! I love finding new stories to read
Good idea Buckey I really like it!!!! - I was thinking while reading this that this would have been a wicked idea for the kandice / chase / lex triangle i had in my wishacy
mmmmmmmmmm :thumbup: brain ticking
Are you going to be doing a 6 degree story???
100 Little Weeds - 100 baby challenge
Julie- Yes, I'll be starting my own soon, but I promised myself I wouldn't start it until I've finished Generation 5 of my Wishacy.
AIMeg- You start the next degree when you've finished the previous one's story, or brought it to some kind of conclusion in some way.
Oh, and thanks too, Cami for checking it out! I'll be checking out your City Limits story!
Of course, each "degree" main character has to be a different person.
This would actually be wicked for someone to run along side a wishacy or legacy
you know when you get siblings that you like that are not the heir.
You would not have to mess up your legacy by skipping houses - just copy the town for the "degree"'s point of view -
I really wish you thought of this when Kandice was in reign
I might get down to trying this one of the days but i have my ugly wishacy to do when i have finished this last swan generation - plus i have been test driving for a while a new legacy / challenge idea that i have come up with to see if it is possible
100 Little Weeds - 100 baby challenge
Yes, they sure can!
Julie- Yeah, that's true! You could take any of your spares and copy the file like you said, that's a fun idea!
hmmm.. interested to see what challenge you're working on..
I have been mulling an idea for a follow-up to my garden legacy, when it is finished in another generation and a half. I was going to import the 10th generation heir in to start just another legacy, but this idea has promise for a different approach!
Hi Kira! I'd be so excited if you tried this out with your 10th gen heir! If you do, post the link here!
They are hidden in the mist and in the silver rain...
I am looking at starting my own 6 degree story in a few weeks, but I'm super excited to see what you guys all come up with!
So, I've decided I'm going to do my 6 degree story when the new Hidden Springs comes out, because they have done such a great job at giving the new households/sims in the town some cool back-stories. I think they are going to make some great material for a 6 degree story!
But not sure if I'll go with it though, I wanted to use SimRealtor's Anne Harbor which is awesome. I'm a bit torn.
EDIT: Okay so I said I wouldn't do a story but then my head got brewing with your idea and I've been thinking of this all day. What do you think?
Snowflakes: 6 Degrees of Separation Series
Prologue
In every life our actions, thoughts and even decisions can be affected by the influence of someone else. Some of these associations are deeply bound to our character by years of interaction with a brother, a best friend or even a neighbor. Others are fleeting and short as butterflies but can leave a deep mark on the soul it landed on.
This is the telling of such individuals who's presence fell on each other like dominoes driving each life ever forward. The first domino of our series is a recently bereaved girl named Jady Snow. With the loss of her famous film star mother and the nagging suspicion that her new step father knew more then he let on, Jady felt the need to wipe the slate clean and start her young life on the other side of the country. With her newly acquired inheritance (a smaller sum then it should have been had her mother not remarried) she purchases a modest but spacious home in the city of Anne Arbor.
Blog with pictures >>>> http://snowacy.blogspot.com/2011/08/prologue.html
EDIT: Is it okay for me to post this here or should I make my own thread?
The Chess Table
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ujaB70Kyeiw/Tk6opgSdSLI/AAAAAAAAAEA/vbg9nml3A38/s1600/jadyintro.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ujaB70Kyeiw/Tk6opgSdSLI/AAAAAAAAAEA/vbg9nml3A38/s640/jadyintro.png" width="640" /></a></div>
Today is the day that I make a difference. Once I was too late and too preoccupied with my own little life to have any clue or idea that my mother would die suspiciously. Of course I'm the only one with any suspicion in my mother's wide circle of friends. I'm nevertheless convinced if I had paid closer attention, if I had wanted to spend time with her, her new fiance and eventually too soon husband, maybe I would have had proof or know where to find some.
But I do not, so I am here in a new city far from where I was born with my most precious belongings including my mother's remains. That Douglas Grimm, my would be step father, didn't really put up a fight for them is something else I won't forget. Moving on, today is the day I start the path to helping those like me, who've had a loss and need someone to listen and hopefully get something done about it. I hop on my scooter and off I go to the police station to present my diploma and resume. I pray they need some sort of junior investigator. I'll even start by sorting out files if that's what it takes.
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-39dSAgl85L4/Tk6kelzmG4I/AAAAAAAAADw/0AiJTJLFUZ4/s1600/Screenshot-76.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-39dSAgl85L4/Tk6kelzmG4I/AAAAAAAAADw/0AiJTJLFUZ4/s640/Screenshot-76.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Surprisingly there<b> is</b> a position available! It's freelance and I'll have to do my own leg work for the most part and I sure don't get anything like a desk at the station, but it's better then filing administration. I'm given an email address where new cases will be forwarded to me.
Unable to curb my curiosity I head to the nearby college.
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OQSKop5pa7g/Tk6nRkRyxiI/AAAAAAAAAD4/ztn0PidzSew/s1600/Screenshot-85.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OQSKop5pa7g/Tk6nRkRyxiI/AAAAAAAAAD4/ztn0PidzSew/s640/Screenshot-85.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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And what do you know there is already a case waiting in my inbox. A certain Mr. Goth needs someone with considerable computer skills. I'm not a computer wiz by any means but I probably can get around whatever an older person can't.
Before going to meet with Mr Marcus Goth, I spot chess tables in the courtyard and can't resist plopping down for a game, or two. Chess is my weakness, I love nothing more then losing myself in it's intricate battle of strategy. I meet an elderly man named Robert. After we're done playing he takes me aside and comments on my avid interest.
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7nr0CIAFwTw/Tk6tiEdvJdI/AAAAAAAAAEc/fbsifyEf1Tg/s1600/Screenshot-88.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7nr0CIAFwTw/Tk6tiEdvJdI/AAAAAAAAAEc/fbsifyEf1Tg/s640/Screenshot-88.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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"We don't see many young people so interested and skilled as you are in this game. If you're looking for something special you should visit Gothique's Books and Curios up in the hills. They have a very nice medieval chess table. You should go see it."
I promise that I will but that I have to go and meet with a client right away.
Marcus Goth meets me in the lobby of a penthouse and explains that he needs some funds tracked down and put back in their rightful place.
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"It's a delicate situation you see" He says. "I'm sure I can count on your discretion?"
"Of course Mr Goth, nothing to worry about and I won't leave any trace that I was there either." I reply. He is very pleased and I take my leave of the sort of richy uppity place that used to be my life.
My last stop of the day is Gothique Books and Curios. It's sort of out of the way for me, but my curiosity just can't be sated until tomorrow.
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On my arrival it's immediately obvious to me that this is the creepiest place I've ever seen.
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<i>Medieval chess table. Crazy cool, medieval chess table. </i>Is what I repeat to myself as I enter the building. The inside is actually sort of cozy. In that abandoned haunted hotel kind of way.. There's an unhappy clerk by the door who sighs loudly as she measures me up. I steel myself and ask about the chess table.
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"Hmmmmm, a chess table? Yeah...." She sighs again "It's like right over there by the stair case." She stares at me. I turn and go over to where I <b>think </b>she meant.
Sure enough there's the table, and it's a beauty. The trip was actually worth the willies I'm going to have all night. I pay for the table and ask for it to be delivered. After some pushing and mild arguing I leave satisfied that my awesome chess table will find it's way to my house.
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JAzWnP2Z6qU/Tk6tIEjtj7I/AAAAAAAAAEE/AN6edfizxQA/s1600/Screenshot-98.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JAzWnP2Z6qU/Tk6tIEjtj7I/AAAAAAAAAEE/AN6edfizxQA/s640/Screenshot-98.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
http://snowacy.blogspot.com/2011/08/day-1-chess-table.html
As for where to post, I think posting the first chapter here is great, and then you can just post the links to the new chapters from now on, so when eventually other people post they can do the same, and it won't be too confusing.