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Mystery Mansion Challenge

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KaduMcFadu80KaduMcFadu80 Posts: 57 Member
Inspired by the famous Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California, the Mystery Mansion Challenge is a build challenge that encourages you, the player, to construct the largest, most eccentric and intricately designed house imaginable.

It begins with a matriarch who is cursed with an irrational fear of gnomes. Having watched her father get electrocuted by a gnome-spawned lightning bolt when she was very young, after he failed to appease one of the mischievous garden statues visiting that day, she believes that the only way to keep herself safe is to perpetually build an elaborate maze of a home in order to confound and confuse any gnomes that may come to harm her.


GETTING STARTED
  • First, set aging to normal in the options menu, then create one young adult female sim in Create-A-Sim. You may give her whatever name you’d like, but her first name must have the word “Lady” in front of it. For example: Lady Jane.
  • Give her the aspiration of Mansion Barron and assign her with the following two traits: “Erratic”, and “Creative”. You may choose any trait you’d like for the third trait.
  • Buy an lot 50 x 40 or larger. If you need to evict and bulldoze another sim’s property for your mansion, feel free to do so.
  • Use the Set Household Funds Money Cheat and set household funds to zero.


GAME PLAY RULES
  • At no point can the matriarch’s aspiration be changed before it is completed-and it must be completed before she dies of old age-after which, you are free to choose a new aspiration for her while she’s still alive.
  • You may not extend the matriarch's lifespan with either the Potion of Youth or turning her into a vampire. All building must be done throughout her one and only normal life.
  • Your matriarch may never have a job or, if you have Get to Work or Dine Out, run a business. She must start earning money to build her mansion by either fishing, collecting, and/or gardening (no money trees!). Later on, when she can afford it, she may earn additional income through the creative arts such as painting, sculpting, writing/publishing books, creating/publishing music, knitting (Nifty Knitting) and juice fabrication (Eco Lifestyle). All crafted items must be sold directly from the matriarch's inventory; that means no conducting yard sales using a sales table (City Living, Jungle Adventure, Eco Lifestyle) or selling your wares at the flea market (City Living) or at a community space marketplace (Eco Lifestyle). The more she earns, the more she builds.
  • Your matriarch is allowed to marry another sim, but her spouse can only move in after they are married! She is not allowed to keep her spouse's money when he/she moves in-use the Set Household Funds money cheat again to subtract the incoming amount. You are also not permitted to invite any other sims to come and live with you (butlers are fine).
  • Spouses and teen children, should she choose to have any, are not permitted to have a part time job or career. They, like the matriarch, can only earn income through digging, gardening, fishing and using their creative skills. Once her children become young adults, they must immediately move out of the house.
  • Bonus: If you have Seasons installed, create a holiday in each season called “Gnome Attack” with the Holiday Gnomes tradition applied to it. When that day comes, the matriarch will have to defend herself from the attacking statues by kicking and destroying them when they come to visit. If you don’t have Seasons, don’t worry. Just hide 13 gnome statues in unusual places throughout the build instead.


BUILDING RULES
You are free to build her mansion in any architectural style you’d like so long as her home contains ALL of the following details:
  1. 3 hidden passageways
  2. 3 balconies
  3. 13 total rooms--a room is anything with 4 walls that sims can access via a door or archway. In order for a room to be considered complete, it must be decorated with wallpaper on all 4 walls, flooring and at least 1 piece of furniture in it.
  4. 13 windows on interior walls
  5. 13 total stairs-this can include porch stairs, deck stairs, main staircase, stairs that go nowhere, etc.
  6. 13 dead ends-these can be halls that have no exit, doors that open to a blank wall, corners that turn toward nothing, etc.
  7. An altar for the matriarch with a painted portrait of her hanging above it (have a spouse or family member paint it for her)
  8. A “door to nowhere”-a randomly placed door that opens to the outside but isn’t connected to any porch, balcony or stairs.
  9. A gazebo
  10. Attic space that sims can access
  11. Basement
  12. 1 free-standing tower 2-4 stories high connected to the main house via bridge/catwalk on one of the upper floors
  13. A fountain
Don't be afraid to go a little crazy with the design. You are trying to build the most labyrinthine mansion possible, after all.


FINISHING THE GAME
  • Upon the matriarch’s death, all building and decorating must stop immediately and her urn must be placed on the altar you created for her. If she has any family, move them out of the house and change the lot type from Residential to Museum in build mode.
  • The Mystery Mansion Challenge is won when the mansion contains all the items from the list above, everything that is involved in the Mansion Barron aspiration, and the interior and exterior of the build are as close to finished as possible before the matriarch dies of old age.


Should you choose to upload your mansion to the Sims 4 gallery, please do so with the hashtag #mysterymansionchallenge.

Thank you and good luck!
Post edited by KaduMcFadu80 on

Comments

  • IllusoryThrallIllusoryThrall Posts: 1,335 Member
    Oh my gosh. I think I just found a new challenge I must try. *pulls hair out* But I already have enough challenges....!!! .. Nevermind. I love the Winchester House, and this is a GREAT idea!
  • IllusoryThrallIllusoryThrall Posts: 1,335 Member
    @KaduMcFadu80 Question.. what's the rule on the young again potion to give her more time to build the house?
  • DebraF63DebraF63 Posts: 230 Member
    Same question I was wondering about.
  • KaduMcFadu80KaduMcFadu80 Posts: 57 Member
    @KaduMcFadu80 Question.. what's the rule on the young again potion to give her more time to build the house?

    Excellent question! I totally forgot about including a rule about that when typing up the challenge.
    Unfortunately, players won't be allowed to extend the matriarch's lifespan to get more time to build. All building must be done during her one and only normal lifespan.
  • PebblycatPebblycat Posts: 861 Member
    Wow! The Winchester Mystery House looks very intriguing and I’ll be getting my hands on the movie!

    I’m definitely going to try this challenge at some point 😊

    Can you use the aspiration awards and potions that they earn?
    My Origin ID: Pebblycat
    Visit Pebblycat's Showcase to see what I've created
  • nerdfashionnerdfashion Posts: 5,947 Member
    I probably won't do the challenge immediately, but the house seems good for an asylum challenge... all crazy and whatnot...
    funny-gifs20.gif

  • KaduMcFadu80KaduMcFadu80 Posts: 57 Member
    Pebblycat wrote: »
    Wow! The Winchester Mystery House looks very intriguing and I’ll be getting my hands on the movie!

    I’m definitely going to try this challenge at some point 😊

    Can you use the aspiration awards and potions that they earn?

    You sure can. I got the Marketable and Free Services reward traits when I got enough points. As far as potions go, everything is okay except for Potion of Youth.
  • PebblycatPebblycat Posts: 861 Member
    Thanks @KaduMcFadu80 . I've started this challenge even though I have two others on the go :D:# I also added spooky spirit to the Gnome Attack Holiday to match up with Sarah Winchester's belief in ghosts.

    Another question... Can we use bb.showhiddenobjects and bb.ignoregameplayunlocksentitlement cheats so we can use all the items available in game? Would love to use things like the hidden bookcase door
    My Origin ID: Pebblycat
    Visit Pebblycat's Showcase to see what I've created
  • KaduMcFadu80KaduMcFadu80 Posts: 57 Member
    Pebblycat wrote: »
    Thanks @KaduMcFadu80 . I've started this challenge even though I have two others on the go :D:# I also added spooky spirit to the Gnome Attack Holiday to match up with Sarah Winchester's belief in ghosts.

    Another question... Can we use bb.showhiddenobjects and bb.ignoregameplayunlocksentitlement cheats so we can use all the items available in game? Would love to use things like the hidden bookcase door

    Of course! If it gives your mansion more character, why not?
  • IllusoryThrallIllusoryThrall Posts: 1,335 Member
    I'm finding this challenge really difficult. I'm so used to building sims homes that make sense it's very hard to break out of that! I'm going to keep trying, but wow is it hard for me!
  • PebblycatPebblycat Posts: 861 Member
    @KaduMcFadu80 great! I watched the Winchester Movie today to get more inspiration.

    @IllusoryThrall I agree with you, it's so hard when normally builds make sense. I think it's hard because we normally have rooms that are functional
    My Origin ID: Pebblycat
    Visit Pebblycat's Showcase to see what I've created
  • LunarBritneyLunarBritney Posts: 41 Member
    This sounds like a really cool challenge! So going to try it out.
  • Qnshr5Qnshr5 Posts: 459 Member
    I love the Winchester house. There was a movie or mini-series (can't remember which) that came out years ago. I believe it was called Red Rose or something like that. It a horror by Stephen King. The house in the movie was based off the Winchester house. I remember being terrified watching this when I was kid (but it's probably pretty cheesy if watched now). When I later, years later, found out the house was real, I freaked out afraid that the whole horror thing was real! The story behind the real house is so intriguing. This challenge sounds difficult, but fun.
    7YZVoCi.png
  • AjaGioAjaGio Posts: 262 Member
    this sounds so awesome!!! plus it would be cool for people to post their houses!!!! I will have to do this one in the future :D
  • Caimar11Caimar11 Posts: 21 Member
    I started this one since I figured it would be manageable with my legacy challenges I've been doing. Because it only lasts as long as her lifetime.

    I'm doing fairly well! I'm a new member and I can't share images yet, but Lady Amelia is halfway through her young adult stage and halfway through her baron aspiration. I moved in a butler when the house started getting quite large to "help out". Plus I didn't intend to have her marry nor have kids so I need someone to paint her portrait.

    I have about half of the list completed. I've been working on the bare bones the house, as well as painting the walls and flooring but not so much decorations, my thought was if I focus on the structure of the house and the check list then I'll work on the furnishings when she's an elder. It's been fun.

    However, the strangest thing happened. She's been gardening, she has 30 or so plants, lilies and rosebushes, then I planted two dragonfruit plants, and now I have tons of tiny ash piles all over the plants. In build mode if I move the plants there are about 10-15 ash piles clustered around and under each plant. I've been searching but I can't find any info on it. Anyone familiar with this? I have a screenshot but I can't post yet. I've been working on deleting them in build mode since having the sim throw each one away is time consuming... So strange!
  • Qnshr5Qnshr5 Posts: 459 Member
    @ajadra I would LOVE to see people's photos of their houses. Each one would be so crazy yet completely unique. @Caimar11 I don't know what's going on with the ash piles. I've never planted dragon fruit before. Thank you for sharing what you've done so far. It sounds awesome.
    7YZVoCi.png
  • PebblycatPebblycat Posts: 861 Member
    @Caimar11 Well done on your progress and for doing it in a logical order. I've been doing mine in bits and pieces - building the shell, fully decorating some rooms and not others, working on the outside :D
    I have noticed the ash piles too. I also get them in San Myshuno and I haven't been able to grow or find Dragonfruit in a very long time. I've just put it down to a glitch *shrugs shoulders*

    @Qnshr5 once winter is over I'll post a progress pic of mine. Can't really see much with all the snow!
    My Origin ID: Pebblycat
    Visit Pebblycat's Showcase to see what I've created
  • MaiynaMaiyna Posts: 13 New Member
    > @Pebblycat said:
    > Thanks @KaduMcFadu80 . I've started this challenge even though I have two others on the go :D :# I also added spooky spirit to the Gnome Attack Holiday to match up with Sarah Winchester's belief in ghosts.
    >
    > Another question... Can we use bb.showhiddenobjects and bb.ignoregameplayunlocksentitlement cheats so we can use all the items available in game? Would love to use things like the hidden bookcase door

    That is a brilliant idea for the Gnome Attack Holiday!!

    I get swarmed with gnomes everytime I kick one haha.
  • PebblycatPebblycat Posts: 861 Member
    edited June 2019
    So this is what I've built so far and very much a work in progress! I may have deviated from the challenge slightly by adding more than what I need instead of focusing on the rules :p
    The house is currently 4 floors with accessible attic spaces. I've only partly furnished one floor
    Front
    mLPHpHM.png

    Back
    R2mOcCo.png

    Ground Floor
    VcR26yd.png

    Edit: put the pics in a spoiler
    Post edited by Pebblycat on
    My Origin ID: Pebblycat
    Visit Pebblycat's Showcase to see what I've created
  • Becka28Becka28 Posts: 1,870 Member
    What an interesting challenge. Are they allowed to make vlogs if you have get famous? it earns royalties similar to writing books but isn't a career - so it seems like it should be allowed - if painting and book writing are.
  • KaduMcFadu80KaduMcFadu80 Posts: 57 Member
    @Becka28 I don't see a problem with making vlogs to earn money.
  • KaduMcFadu80KaduMcFadu80 Posts: 57 Member
    @Pebblycat OMG! I love your house. I can't wait to see what it's like when it's finished.
  • Becka28Becka28 Posts: 1,870 Member
    Thanks. Will have to give this a go 😀
  • Caimar11Caimar11 Posts: 21 Member
    edited June 2019
    Nice house! Heres mine so far, I will try to post a link since I am a full member now:
    https://imgur.com/a/qaUbzoG

    ETA: Well I got the link to work, but not the embedded image.

    So I moved in a butler to help her, but he's been a handful, he's always sad because he doesn't have friends. I should've given him the loner trait!
  • Caimar11Caimar11 Posts: 21 Member
    Also, I have no windows in the house yet, they are too expensive! Just the interior wall ones. I keep checking if I have gameplay on long, but it's on normal. I think it's because we spend so much time in build mode that it seems to extend her lifetime. I am enjoying the challenge !
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