@AuzzPanda hahaha I stinkin love it!!! I have not seen this meme yet to funny! I love Arya she is really the best I named my youngest after her lol my two year olds name is Arya Michelle lol
Not the best captures, because I have yet to figure out how to unlock the camera to get in at better angles. But this story arc was fun.
My Bard, Thiobalt, and his landlord, the tavern alekeep, whom he has dragooned into staging his comedic play, "The Cook, the Thief, his Witch and her Wardrobe". Sadly, the theater critic felt it lacked a certain je ne sais quois. So he had to put himself through all manner of trouble to find his inspiration for a masterpiece.
The squire he had be courting was a stickler for courtesy and propriety in romance, so in order to fulfill the quest stage requiring actual woohoo, Thiobalt had to go all in. He proposes, and Squire Alain accepts. "Two hearts that burn as one!" That's what too much Onion Soup will get you.
The Peteran faith seems happy to preside. I was a bit disappointed that the game did not tap my Peteran Priest, Prior Jevon, to preside. Am I the only one who, when he plays TSM, hears the voice of the Grand Bishop from The Princess Bride: "Mawwiage!"
Alain has some annoying combination of traits that had made it impossible to simply ask him back to Thio's room at the tavern. So instead they just stated at the monastery, and made use of Prior Jevon's bed.
Many adventures later, Thiobalt finally presents a tragic masterwork that satisfied the critic. The town crier rang her bell and shouted throughout the entire performance of his supernatural, monarchial, conspiracy, murder thriller, "MacDeath".
Thiobalt's next epic may well be about a town crier who is mauled by bears.
I have been a Sims 3 player for years and, while I have been aware of TSM and kind of had my eye on it, I only just bought it (with birthday money, that I could justify spending just on fun).
I really am appreciating the structure that responsibilities, quests and ambitions bring to the game even though - or, perhaps especially because - I am usually a really open-ended kind of player.
I may have just shot myself in the foot doing "Hard Workers" by taking the royal assassination quest, and hence needing to start a new monarch about halfway through. But it was a great quest for levelling my Physician (level 1 to level 7 in one quest) and I really needed to boost my kingdom's wellbeing. Also, I had made an unsympathetic, chinless and weaselly king and was tired of him. Here he is condescending to my bard, Thiobalt.
King Simrey IV turned out to be less than satisfactory. Upside, Kingland now has its first reigning queen. Simrietta I is (in my internal storytelling) the sister of Simrey III, and thus the assassin victim's aunt. She's no spring chicken, but is interested in the kingdom as seen here visiting with my blacksmith Devon (last name, obviously, Smith. ).
Never having expected to rule, she is determined not to let Kingland or its people down, and is working hard to repair the damage done by the pretender. Thankfully the kingdom already has capable women in positions of authority, like her Captain of the Guard, Dame Valeria, who is ready to help.
I am desperately stretching out "Hungry, Hungry Hamfast" as much as the Quest timer allows to try to get Queen Simrietta up to speed quickly - I don't have anyone to 10 yet, and haven't even started playing my Spy, Peteran, Jacoban or Merchant! But the challenge is what makes it fun.
OH that is so cool! I loved that quest. It actually made me tingly! I love the story line you gave it.
Everyone needs A Blacksmith Devon Smith heheheh
And I love how the Monarchs have Sim in their names, that's so creative!
Well, "Hungry, Hungry Hamfast" got my new monarch at least to Level 5. I have a few more potential quests for her to complete down the road, including annexing Aarbyville for the XP per quest gain as I try to catch everyone up. But my guiding principle right now is "lowest-level Hero who can advance the lowest kingdom aspect the most", so right now, that's my Jacoban Priest, improving our culture with "Jacoban's Day Out".
Shepherd Augustin is a simple man of the cloth. His favorite cloth is purple samite, but even wool is welcome if its tapestry weave is fancy enough.
Coming to Kingland late in the game, he's eager to convert all the right people - like wealthy merchants who don't look like they miss many meals. I haven't played Shopkeeper Bernard yet, but he's one of the Heroes I plan to make Jacoban, so I had Augustin rope him in when he stopped by.
Here, he approaches the monarch for funding for his prospective pilgrimage to the holy land. While he is at it, he asks if she has considered a more suitable burial for her late nephew.
The cathedral has some nobles on the north side of the nave where I converted some redundant altars, but a deceased monarch would really give the place some social cachet.
The Queen reminds him that she is - and the entire royal dynasty to date have been - Peteran. He says that will present no obstacle, and that the monument will be very tasteful. Here lieth Simrey, Fourth of His Name, of Kingland and all its Subject Realms King. May the Watcher have mercy upon his soul.
About this time, two sermons a day, relentless absolution of Sims, a conversion drive and daily proclamations pay off, and Augustin receives a promotion from the mother church in Yacothia, and is named High Shepherd of Kingland.
Having been to court, he realizes he really needs to bring his A-Game to the vestment stakes if he's going to compete with a royal blue silk and cloth-of-gold jacquard. "What I need is a better crown than she has."
There. That will teach those Peteran swineherds who the Watcher likes best! For Kingland and for Jacob!
Thanks for your kind words. The "dollhouse" aspect of Sims play is something I have always enjoyed. I like to do things fancy where appropriate, as in the Jacoban cathedral as well as, of course, Her Majesty's boudoir. It is good to be Queen!
But as you say, it is also possible to have things look humble, but still give a really nice boost to focus. Here's what I have done with Master Smith Devon's loft (the only part of his domicile he keeps private - he knows not to get his muddy boots on those rugs, but who would trust Washerwoman Wilma or whoever?):
For the in-between range, the Merchant's house has that huge yard, but the interior is really awkward and tiny. Previously, I had taken my cue from how it comes if you select "furnished", making the living space upstairs and the lower room a shop. But after playing it a few times, I could see no need for the lower storey to be public space. Consequently, my super-bourgeois Merchant Bernard has made his lower floor a space for private entertaining - which mostly means extravagant amounts of food.
Bernard is my first foray into Gluttony, and I wanted his kitchen to reflect that. He has a roasting pit, too, but that is outside. With the larder, it worked out pretty well to just have him make something Large - he ate half of it in one sitting, the other half the next. The bedroom is significantly plainer - Bernard isn't as wealthy as he'd like folks to believe.
Really not all that much fancier than Thiobalt's cozy garret at the Tavern - but once one has the Jeweled Lute of the Watcher, the Simoles really do roll in. Then again, I couldn't fit a fireplace in here, so Thiobalt has to wear his lucky head-sock to keep warm.
Lastly, not an interior, but just a fun moment. On her way to patrol the road to Crafthole (someone has to do it), Her Maj came across Knight-Commander Valeria. With only an hour or so left on her combat readiness, it was time to spar. Queen Simrietta is in Lord's Plate, wielding Jacob's Tooth, Dame Valeria is in Darkstone Bulwark, wielding a Flaming Mithral Longsword. (This is not only why but how we level our Blacksmiths!)
FWIW, Her Maj won - I think the game favors the active Hero. At this point, she was still two levels behind but caught up, since.
Witness the feeding-power of this fully armed and operational refectory!
Blacksmith Devon grabs a bite to eat before the morning service - only fair, as he supplied the bread. The sweet porridge is courtesy of Abbot Jevon, face cropped at the left of the image because he doesn't want to be a poor role-model, quaffing his morning ale. My Peterans are all about making sure everysim is fed.
So, I have a few bear heads and deer head trophies from hunting, but hadn't realized the dire chinchilla encounter granted a placeable as well if your hero manages to capture it. Spymaster Fabius did, however, and it looks great on the crates in the prison-side of his spy tower.
Thank you guys for more inspiration! I'm going to have to go redecorate some of my throne rooms now!!! Beautiful. I usually stick with the themed ones for Barbarian, Royal Etc. Now I want to change them to noble, but hate to give up all my clutter! LOL
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
TS4 without Terrian Tools is like Windows 8 or 10 without the Start Menu.
I am taking a bit of a breather so I don't burn out, but I plan to continue.
Thanks for your kind words. I wish one could share builds and hero sims through the Exchange, but I think the closest we can do is look at and imitate - in which case, feel free! And if you need to know what anything is, or how things fit outside the frame of the image, just ask - I don't mind sharing at all.
While TSM definitely is more limiting than, say, TS3, I do like to try to make an effective and appealing setting for my heroes.
Even before I get back into regular play, however, there are still stories and pictures I can share! My screenshots folder has nearly 600 images in it so far - I am just cherry-picking, here. My last big adventure was with my female Dame Commander of the Guard, doing the "Gilded Guilds" quest - I wanted the spifftastic armor you can get by defeating the guild leader at the end, as seen here, dead on the ground:
Plan is to actually give that armor to my monarch (I think it looks regal) when Dame Valeria gets a set of Angelguard (a tad bit better - she is after all the champion of the realm). But what I was doing (new or new-ish to me) here really was letting Dame V have a bit of an actual life. The part of the quest where she has to train one of the novices (I can't remember the novice blade's name - we'll call him "Justin"), and learned he'd been in the Aarbyville skin-trade made me go "Did the game just really say that?" and made Valeria go, "I'll show you my tricks, if you show me yours!" Just because a woman is athletic and outdoorsy and wears the Kingland analog of flannel shirts and workboots does not necessarily mean she's only interested in other women.
Justin can't seem to believe he just admitted that, either. Or maybe he's not sure about getting involved with a woman who can lay him out on the floor whenever she likes. Or, then again, that actually sounds pretty good! Heh. But I did decide he needed a bit of a makeover, to look like a proper Aarbyville rake-hell (EDIT - Seriously, EA? H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks is censored? Hades. The Infernal Abode. Anyway...). Besides which, I was playing with my sister co-piloting, and she loves playing dress-up. I don't even recall at this point if they ever actually tied the knot, or just had a whirlwind affair, and I don't have any hearts-over-the-bed pics of their carrying on, much less of a wedding, but can provide at least this evidence that they did the deed:
All of this, mind, while I was letting the Quest timer, run - and you can't spar, let alone duel, while pregnant. I think I missed some responsibilities along the way. I may have clicked off the debuff as that was unavoidable, but I think I just plum it up* because Valeria is tough like that. And pregnancy doesn't last terribly long.
Justin autonomously chose to plum-coo** the little guy as well, and that made me feel a lot better about the impromptu leap from casual fling to "We're having a baby!" I seem to have moved the cradle - maybe I thought the spot by the door was a bit drafty. Also, I added a couch to the room here, since there are no child-size beds, but the kid can nap there if he needs to, once he outgrows the cradle.
Surely this was after that Quest finished, because here the baby has aged up to a child. Family dinner upstairs at the Commandery - most likely Fowl Pie, because I always imagine a chicken pot pie, and who doesn't love a chicken pot pie? "Call family to meal" - is there any other way to get a shot like this?
Justin remained in my kingdom after the Quest ended - apparently, if you form a lasting romance/start a family, you get to keep him. Point of which, I guess, is I am becoming confident enough of my ability to finish Quests at platinum to go off-mission a bit, and see what else one can do and explore along the way. And that strong, brave Knights win the hearts of the fair, even if the trope is gender-flipped.
EDIT 2 - really, the profanity filter is out of control. Notes beside censored words to perfectly safe-for-work links to actual Oxford Dictionary entries for the entirely appropriate, ordinary, non-vulgar English vocabulary I was using. Crikes!
Haha, aw these are all great. SKIN trade LOL. I don't remember reading that. That's flipping hilarious!
- (Are you referring to the vocabulary in the forums?)
Comments
ARYA! *Faints*
That was the best meme ever haha. Have you seen it?
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OH what an honor for your child! That is SO cool!
I love Arya too, she's my favorite, hehehe!
My Bard, Thiobalt, and his landlord, the tavern alekeep, whom he has dragooned into staging his comedic play, "The Cook, the Thief, his Witch and her Wardrobe". Sadly, the theater critic felt it lacked a certain je ne sais quois. So he had to put himself through all manner of trouble to find his inspiration for a masterpiece.
The squire he had be courting was a stickler for courtesy and propriety in romance, so in order to fulfill the quest stage requiring actual woohoo, Thiobalt had to go all in. He proposes, and Squire Alain accepts. "Two hearts that burn as one!" That's what too much Onion Soup will get you.
The Peteran faith seems happy to preside. I was a bit disappointed that the game did not tap my Peteran Priest, Prior Jevon, to preside. Am I the only one who, when he plays TSM, hears the voice of the Grand Bishop from The Princess Bride: "Mawwiage!"
Alain has some annoying combination of traits that had made it impossible to simply ask him back to Thio's room at the tavern. So instead they just stated at the monastery, and made use of Prior Jevon's bed.
Many adventures later, Thiobalt finally presents a tragic masterwork that satisfied the critic. The town crier rang her bell and shouted throughout the entire performance of his supernatural, monarchial, conspiracy, murder thriller, "MacDeath".
Thiobalt's next epic may well be about a town crier who is mauled by bears.
Had you never played before? It's really so much fun, make sure to keep sharing!
I really am appreciating the structure that responsibilities, quests and ambitions bring to the game even though - or, perhaps especially because - I am usually a really open-ended kind of player.
I may have just shot myself in the foot doing "Hard Workers" by taking the royal assassination quest, and hence needing to start a new monarch about halfway through. But it was a great quest for levelling my Physician (level 1 to level 7 in one quest) and I really needed to boost my kingdom's wellbeing. Also, I had made an unsympathetic, chinless and weaselly king and was tired of him.
King Simrey IV turned out to be less than satisfactory. Upside, Kingland now has its first reigning queen. Simrietta I is (in my internal storytelling) the sister of Simrey III, and thus the assassin victim's aunt. She's no spring chicken, but is interested in the kingdom as seen here visiting with my blacksmith Devon (last name, obviously, Smith.
Never having expected to rule, she is determined not to let Kingland or its people down, and is working hard to repair the damage done by the pretender. Thankfully the kingdom already has capable women in positions of authority, like her Captain of the Guard, Dame Valeria, who is ready to help.
I am desperately stretching out "Hungry, Hungry Hamfast" as much as the Quest timer allows to try to get Queen Simrietta up to speed quickly - I don't have anyone to 10 yet, and haven't even started playing my Spy, Peteran, Jacoban or Merchant! But the challenge is what makes it fun.
OH that is so cool! I loved that quest. It actually made me tingly! I love the story line you gave it.
Everyone needs A Blacksmith Devon Smith heheheh
And I love how the Monarchs have Sim in their names, that's so creative!
Shepherd Augustin is a simple man of the cloth. His favorite cloth is purple samite, but even wool is welcome if its tapestry weave is fancy enough.
Coming to Kingland late in the game, he's eager to convert all the right people - like wealthy merchants who don't look like they miss many meals. I haven't played Shopkeeper Bernard yet, but he's one of the Heroes I plan to make Jacoban, so I had Augustin rope him in when he stopped by.
Here, he approaches the monarch for funding for his prospective pilgrimage to the holy land. While he is at it, he asks if she has considered a more suitable burial for her late nephew.
The cathedral has some nobles on the north side of the nave where I converted some redundant altars, but a deceased monarch would really give the place some social cachet.
The Queen reminds him that she is - and the entire royal dynasty to date have been - Peteran. He says that will present no obstacle, and that the monument will be very tasteful. Here lieth Simrey, Fourth of His Name, of Kingland and all its Subject Realms King. May the Watcher have mercy upon his soul.
About this time, two sermons a day, relentless absolution of Sims, a conversion drive and daily proclamations pay off, and Augustin receives a promotion from the mother church in Yacothia, and is named High Shepherd of Kingland.
Having been to court, he realizes he really needs to bring his A-Game to the vestment stakes if he's going to compete with a royal blue silk and cloth-of-gold jacquard. "What I need is a better crown than she has."
There. That will teach those Peteran swineherds who the Watcher likes best! For Kingland and for Jacob!
And the way you decor is utter perfection!
But as you say, it is also possible to have things look humble, but still give a really nice boost to focus. Here's what I have done with Master Smith Devon's loft (the only part of his domicile he keeps private - he knows not to get his muddy boots on those rugs, but who would trust Washerwoman Wilma or whoever?):
For the in-between range, the Merchant's house has that huge yard, but the interior is really awkward and tiny. Previously, I had taken my cue from how it comes if you select "furnished", making the living space upstairs and the lower room a shop. But after playing it a few times, I could see no need for the lower storey to be public space. Consequently, my super-bourgeois Merchant Bernard has made his lower floor a space for private entertaining - which mostly means extravagant amounts of food.
Bernard is my first foray into Gluttony, and I wanted his kitchen to reflect that. He has a roasting pit, too, but that is outside. With the larder, it worked out pretty well to just have him make something Large - he ate half of it in one sitting, the other half the next. The bedroom is significantly plainer - Bernard isn't as wealthy as he'd like folks to believe.
Really not all that much fancier than Thiobalt's cozy garret at the Tavern - but once one has the Jeweled Lute of the Watcher, the Simoles really do roll in. Then again, I couldn't fit a fireplace in here, so Thiobalt has to wear his lucky head-sock to keep warm.
Lastly, not an interior, but just a fun moment. On her way to patrol the road to Crafthole (someone has to do it), Her Maj came across Knight-Commander Valeria. With only an hour or so left on her combat readiness, it was time to spar. Queen Simrietta is in Lord's Plate, wielding Jacob's Tooth, Dame Valeria is in Darkstone Bulwark, wielding a Flaming Mithral Longsword. (This is not only why but how we level our Blacksmiths!)
FWIW, Her Maj won - I think the game favors the active Hero. At this point, she was still two levels behind but caught up, since.
"King for a Day" got him to Level 10 - and that's "Hard Workers", at Platinum.
Blacksmith Devon grabs a bite to eat before the morning service - only fair, as he supplied the bread. The sweet porridge is courtesy of Abbot Jevon, face cropped at the left of the image because he doesn't want to be a poor role-model, quaffing his morning ale. My Peterans are all about making sure everysim is fed.
Behold, chinchilla dirus:
TS4 without Terrian Tools is like Windows 8 or 10 without the Start Menu.
Thanks for your kind words. I wish one could share builds and hero sims through the Exchange, but I think the closest we can do is look at and imitate - in which case, feel free! And if you need to know what anything is, or how things fit outside the frame of the image, just ask - I don't mind sharing at all.
While TSM definitely is more limiting than, say, TS3, I do like to try to make an effective and appealing setting for my heroes.
Plan is to actually give that armor to my monarch (I think it looks regal) when Dame Valeria gets a set of Angelguard (a tad bit better - she is after all the champion of the realm). But what I was doing (new or new-ish to me) here really was letting Dame V have a bit of an actual life. The part of the quest where she has to train one of the novices (I can't remember the novice blade's name - we'll call him "Justin"), and learned he'd been in the Aarbyville skin-trade made me go "Did the game just really say that?" and made Valeria go, "I'll show you my tricks, if you show me yours!" Just because a woman is athletic and outdoorsy and wears the Kingland analog of flannel shirts and workboots does not necessarily mean she's only interested in other women.
Justin can't seem to believe he just admitted that, either. Or maybe he's not sure about getting involved with a woman who can lay him out on the floor whenever she likes. Or, then again, that actually sounds pretty good! Heh.
All of this, mind, while I was letting the Quest timer, run - and you can't spar, let alone duel, while pregnant. I think I missed some responsibilities along the way. I may have clicked off the debuff as that was unavoidable, but I think I just plum it up* because Valeria is tough like that. And pregnancy doesn't last terribly long.
Justin autonomously chose to plum-coo** the little guy as well, and that made me feel a lot better about the impromptu leap from casual fling to "We're having a baby!" I seem to have moved the cradle - maybe I thought the spot by the door was a bit drafty. Also, I added a couch to the room here, since there are no child-size beds, but the kid can nap there if he needs to, once he outgrows the cradle.
Surely this was after that Quest finished, because here the baby has aged up to a child. Family dinner upstairs at the Commandery - most likely Fowl Pie, because I always imagine a chicken pot pie, and who doesn't love a chicken pot pie? "Call family to meal" - is there any other way to get a shot like this?
Justin remained in my kingdom after the Quest ended - apparently, if you form a lasting romance/start a family, you get to keep him.
EDIT 2 - really, the profanity filter is out of control. Notes beside censored words to perfectly safe-for-work links to actual Oxford Dictionary entries for the entirely appropriate, ordinary, non-vulgar English vocabulary I was using. Crikes!
- (Are you referring to the vocabulary in the forums?)