The Squire of Willow Creek

Confutus

Charles Phillips has just moved into Crick Cabana, in the Foundry neighborhood of Willow Creek. By personality, he is an outgoing, creative, quick-learning slob, with an aspiration to be a Renaissance Sim. How far and how fast can he rise in society?

I'm using no mods, no cheats, with Expansion packs of "Get To Work" and "Get Together". I'm using mostly premade characters, in rotational play; each household gets one week of play. Aging is turned off except for the active household. I have kept their aspirations the same, no changes until they are fulfilled. I've given suitable jobs to the unemployed. I am letting the premade characters be mostly autonomous, although I do some direction of social interactions in order to develop a social network, and direct the fulfillment of reasonable whims. The characters are accepting all reasonable social requests (An invitation to a club gathering in the wee hours of the morning when the Sim is recovering from exhaustion is not reasonable, and neither are invitations that occur during working hours) and going home if needs that can't be fulfilled where they are drop into the red zone (e.g. no bathrooms, beds, showers). I may modify these rules as the story progresses. Each Sim week gets one post, outlining the progression and major events in the character's lives.

Confutus

Week 1

Foundry Cove

Charles Phillips

Charles has elected a career as a Detective in the Willow Creek Police Department. He quickly completed training and advanced to the position of officer, but so far lacks the patrol experience to advance to Corporal. He has made the acquaintance of numerous other Sims from his work in the Police Department, but so far his only friends are his neighbors Trevon Reaves and Travis Scott.

Corbett Family

Lives in Streamlet Single. Erica Corbett, a romantic, snobbish, domestic glutton aspired to be have a big Happy family, but she was already too elderly to to make much progress. She took a job in the Culinary industry and was promoted to Head Dishwasher. Unfortunately, she died of old age this week before achieving much. Goopy Corbett, a mean, neat, domestic art lover, also aspires to be a family sim, but wasn't doing much about it. He was depending on his mother for finances and only got a part-time job as a Lawnmower, while he spent much of his time at the Art Museum. His mother's death was a serious wake-up call. He attempted to befriend the Grim Reaper and managed to established an acquaintance, but had no success in persuading him. He quit his part time Lawnmower job and went for using his best skill in Cooking as the basis for a culinary career. Goopy has made several acquaintances among visitors to the Art museum, but so far his best friend is Clara Bjergsen, who helped comfort him after his mother's death.

Reaves Family

Lives in Daisy Hovel. Trevon Reaves is a good but gloomy art-loving genius, who aspires to be a Leader of the Pack. To this end, he joined the Avante Gardes club and to the dismay of his wife, spent most of his time there to the point of exhaustion to the neglect of his new job as an author, where has not progressed beyond the position of Blogger. His wife Kinsley Reaves, an athletic genius muser Bro who aspires to become a Painter Extraordinare rose rapidly from a Palette Cleaner at 1000 words Art Gallery, through Hungry Artist to Art Book Collator, in spite of catching fire while cooking a meal. Trevon had come home exhausted from a club meeting and was passed out on the floor while she was burning, but the firefighters came in time to save her. Perhaps prompted by revenge, she spent a long and exhausting night in the gym, but overall has been more responsible than he was. She extracted a promise that he wouldn't overspend time at club meetings anymore and would at least come home to sleep, while she would do the same.

BFF Household

These three, Liberty Lee, Summer Holiday, and Travis Scott live in Garden Essence. Liberty is a Geek, Clumsy, Bookworm, Quick Learner, who aspires to have a Nerd Brain. Liberty concentrated on improving her professional career and was promoted twice, to the rank of Technician. She achieved the Prudent Student milestone. Summer is Cheerful, Outgoing, Active, Gregarious, and aspires to be a Friend of the world. He has concentrated on her Culinary career and rose quickly through the diswhashing ranks through Caterer to Mixologist. Travis is a Self-Assured outgoing geek who aspires to being a Computer Whiz. He began in Quality assurance at Rainy Day Enteprises in the Tech Guru career, and has risen quickly through Code Monkey to Ace Engineer. In spite of their reputation the name of their household, these three are barely more than acquaintances. Their differing career tracks, ambitions, and schedules have left them little time for interaction and none for romance. They do help each other out in household tasks: Summer has shown a decided preference for doing her share of the cooking outdoors on the grill instead of in the kitchen.

Courtyard Lane
Mata family

The Riddle Rose house. Christa Mata, an active, outgoing goofball who knows something of the Essence of Flavor, is the single mother of teenage Shannon Mata, a c-student in high school. Christa aspires to be a Master Mixologist, and to this end, as well as to support the family, she joined the Culinary career. Shannon is materialistic, gloomy, and gregarious. He is interested in being a party animal. Christa accepted an invitation from Liberty Lee to the South Seas Coffee Inn in Windenburg, and took her son, where they made numerous acquaintances. They missed the Welcome Wagon visit from neighbors and have not met any of them. Christa has since been promoted to Head Dishwasher. In Shannon's first attempt at cooking, he set fire to the stove, which was quickly extinguished. He had a minor reward for his honesty at school. Serena Starks, a High School classmate, became a frequent visitor and a good friend. While visiting Liberty at the BFF household, he witnessed another fire, this one spotted by her roommate Travis Scott and extinguished by firefighters. After being late for school one day he got a call from the principal warning him of his low grades, and at least temporarily resolved to start doing his homework. Liberty became a good friend. These friends and his friendship with his mother, with all the people he has met, was enough to make him no longer New in Town, and he may start attempting to host parties.

Pancakes family

Bob Pancakes is a young adult, gloomy, loner, slob who has the Essence of Flavor and aspires to be a Master Chef. He is employed as a Mixologist at Make a Dish. He started as an Assistant dishwasher, and was quickly promoted to Head Dishwastern, Caterer, and Mixologist. He was invited to Avant Gardes, but interacted with no one and quit at the end of the first meeting. He has completed the Aluminum Chef milestone. His wife Eliza, also a young adult is a neat, perfectionist, businss savvy materialist, who aspires to be a Mansion Baron and was first employed as a Watergirl at the Other Sports Team, but has since risen to Locker Room Attendant. Eliza in her first attempted at cooking set the outdoor grill on fire. She and Bob panicked and were unable to either extinguish it or call the fire department until the fire burned itself out. The Welcome Wagon brought Christa Mata, Aliyah Posthuma, Autumn Posthuma, and Chasity Pereira. Bob avoided the meeting. Eliza tried making a knife block but was unimpressed by her own efforts. Of her neighbors, she liked Autumn Posthuma best and went visiting. Eliza was promoted to Locker Room Attendant. Eliza completed the ‘Estate of the Art’ and ‘Great Landscaper’ milestones of the Mansion Baron aspiration. Although the couple are quite romantic, Bob somewhat disapproves of his wife’s aspiration and didn’t entirely trust her business savvy. For a while he forbade any expensive purchases, but since their finances have improved after the first difficult days, he has relaxed his position.

Posthuma family

Autumn and Aliyah Posthuma are not actually sisters, but cousins, both young adults. Autumn is a noncommittal but gregarious art lover and goofball. She aspires to be a party animal and was employed as an amateur entertainer at Limelight, where she was quickly promoted to Open mic seeker, and then to C-lister. Aliyah Posthuma is a music loving, domestic, family oriented kleptomaniac who aspires to have a successful lineage. She is employed as a fan favorite at Walrus books. To date, she has only written one of the books she is famous for, a children’s book, “Tigers Don’t Take Naps”. The remainder were secretly ghostwritten by staff at Walrus books, while she was presented as the author, to give them a public face. An assistant (not one of the actual writers!) who claimed to have authored some of her books was exposed as a fraud. She is trying to put substance behind her image and do her own writing, but has a long way to go. As a kleptomaniac, she has swiped a couple of books from work. She has joined the Avant Gardes and at a party where she was dazed by the experience, more or less blundered into the DJ mixer’s station and acquired the rudiments of the skill.

Pereira Family

Chasity Pereira is a young adult genius who is gregarious but jealous and hates children, (except, perhaps, sometimes, her own two). She aspires to be a party animal and was first employed as a Lab Technician at FutureSim Labs, and has since been promoted to Apprentice Inventor (2) and has four breakthroughs to her credit: the Momentum Conserver, Synthetic food serum, the SimRay, and Red Hot Serum. The Welcome Wagon didn’t come, but Sergio Ramos did, and she was invited twice to Partihaus and met all the residents. (Jade Rosa, Marcus Flex, Paolo Rocca, and Eva Capricciosa). She visited with Autumn Posthuma outdoors and met Leona Bird (a pizza delivery Girl). Her daughter Laura Pereira is a teenager and is good but a loner. Laura faced a difficult challenges at school. She was invited by Mortimer Goth and overcame her reserve to begin a friendship with Cassandra Goth. Her son Arvin is a mean child who is a C student. He dodged a couple of academic mistakes at school, and was invited to the Knights of the Hedge, where he spent the initial meeting playing chess.

Pendula View

Goth Family

Mortimer Goth is an outgoing, creative bookworm who is a quick learner, and who aspires to be a Renaissance Sim. He was employed as a Freelance Advice Columnist at Walrus Books. He was visited by the Welcome Wagon with Bennett & Katrina McCarroll, and Dominique 🐸🐸🐸🐸. He was stiffed by a client but later promoted to Advice Columnist. He was visited by Laura Pereira and Charles Phillips, and needed to call a repair technician for the kitchen. Bella Goth, his wife is good, family oriented, Romantic, and gregarious, and aspires to be a Party Animal. She is employed as a Secret agent at S.I.M.S. She interacted more with the Welcome Wagon than her husband or children did, and at work was promoted to Agent Handler. Their daughter Cassandra Goth is a teenager, a creative gloomy muser who aspires to be a musical genius, a C student in high school and employed as a Fast Food employee, as a Table Cleaner. Cassandra twice found mystery goop while cleaning tables, and was caught unprepared for test at school. Later she was promoted to Fry Cook. Their son Alexander Goth is a bookworm like his father, who aspires to be a Whiz kid. He was pestered by a monster under the bed, and later by a bully at school, who got caught. Alexander was invited to Powerhouse by some adult friends, and nearly flunked a test in school.

🐸🐸🐸🐸 Family

Dominique 🐸🐸🐸🐸 is a single adult perfectionist bro who hates children and is a collector. He aspires to be the Collector, and is employed as a Sales Floor clerk. Almost the first thing he did was to destroy the dollhouse in his mansion. He has been promoted to Customer Support and earned a raise, did a little bit of collecting, and has begun to make friends with the McCarroll family, but otherwise did little of interest.

McCarroll Family

Bennett McCarroll, an elderly lazy, clumsy, dastardly genius who aspired to be a Chief of Mischief began a Criminal career with Mobwives as a Tough Guy, had a couple of adventures, and was promoted to Petty Thief before he died of old age on the way home from work. His elderly wife Katrina, a Jealous, Family Oriented, Alluring, Bookworm, who aspired to be a Serial Romancer, was employed in the Entertainment career as an Open Mic Seeker, and won promotion to C-Lister. In spite of her age, she joined Powerhouse, although she was more interested in showing off in her bathing suit than in exercise. She also died of old age, but her son Bernard successfully pleaded with the Grim Reaper to spare her, and she survives, for no one knows how much longer. They lived with two grandchildren, Bernard and Kamryn. Bernard McCarroll, a young adult Jealous Muser, Loner, and Geek, who aspires to be a bestselling author, was initially employed as a Writer's Assistant but has won promotion to Blogger. Bernard set the stove on fire learning to cook, but has otherwise not distinguished himself. His cousin Kamryn McCarroll was a child, a squeamish insider, who was frequently visited by her friend Detective Haley Turner (who avoided confrontation with her elderly grandfather and only came by when he wasn't home). Kamryn had a grand and successful birthday party and is now a young adult, and has become a music lover. Notably, the entertainment at her party was supplied by a ghost who played the violin so badly that all the guests avoided that floor. When the party was over and everyone went to bed in exhaustion, leaving the cleanup for the next day, her grandfather's ghost came in to do the job.

Spencer-Kim-Lewis Family

This three story mansion was occupied by Vivian Lewis, an elderly cheerful, domestic, family oriented foodie who aspired to have a big happy family. She started a late life culinary career as a lowly assistant dishwasher. She won promotion to Head Dishwasher before she died of old age. Her daughter-in-law's father Dennis Kim, a neat, domestic, outdoor loving perfectionist who aspired to a successful lineage, was in the Scientist career as a lab techician. He made a couple of breakthroughs before he also died, only a day after Vivian. Vivian's son Eric Lewis, a self-assured, materialistic, business savvy glutton, had begun a Business career as a Mailroom technician, and was promoted to Office Assistant. After a failure to repair the copier at work, he began doing home repairs rather than calling a technician. Dennis's daughter Alice Spencer-Kim, a childish, creative muser who loves the outdoors and aspires to be a Painter Extraordinaire, found employment as Palette Cleaner and won promotion to Art book Collater and then Hungry Artist. Eric and Alice's daugher Olivia Kim-Lewis is a child who is and aspires to be a goofball. Nothing of note occurred to her.

Confutus

Week 2
Let the competition begin! Charles Phillips has little idea of what he has started. All the leading families of Willow Creek have taken notice, through their network of connections, that there is a new sheriff in town. Charles has a week's head start, but whether youth and ambition can really compete with old money remains to be seen.

I have added the City Living Expansion Pack, and will begin using the new skills and careers with all households. I had let all of them besides Charles Phillips run mostly on autonomy, with some development of the social network. No more. Each Sim will pay attention to career advancement, social opportunities, aspirations, and whims. This will slow down story development, but hopefully make it more interesting, both to play and to read about. I will also begin adding each family's activity as a single reply, with a picture in a spoiler.

Confutus

Week 2 Charles Phillips

Charles began the week as a regular Officer. This week he completed the patrol requirement for his promotion to Corporal. On his weekend off, he went around the neighborhood, fishing, collecting seeds and fruits and planting them in a garden, and also finding fossils and frogs. Then GeekCon came up, and he did a little bit of everything, improving his Programming, Video Gaming, and learning Rocket Science. He has been taking care to be inspired when he prepares his meals and has progressed considerably as a cook and added Gourmet Cooking to his list of skills. When he went back to work after his weekend, he concentrated on his job and won promotion to full Detective. This left little more time for socializing or hobbies, and except for his friendship with his neighbor Trenton Reaves, his social network has not kept pace with his work. While he was visiting the Reaves house, Trenton's wife Kinsley set the stove on fire, and Charles put it out and saved her life! Charles has added a few furnishings to the house, notably in the kitchen and bathroom and improved its value, but isn't earning enough yet to fully decorate and furnish the place.

Charles' garden.

Confutus

Week 2 Corbett family
Goopy Corbett is not nearly so ambitious for his culinary career as he is to raise a family. After a day of fruitlessly chasing various women at the Blue Velvet, the Art museum, the Trade Fair, and the von Haunt Mansion, he decided that it was better to start with an existing friendship. He took a vacation day from laboring in the dishroom, and invited his friend Samantha Hoskins on a date to the Art Museum. Samantha, a gregarious, music loving, family-oriented foodie who aspires to be a Friend of the World, was a detective Corporal at the Police Department. Although Goopy is naturally mean, he can be charming when he chooses. The date was an outstanding success and she became his girlfriend. The next day, she invited him to the Ancient Ruins. Their relationship progressed rapidly. Goopy proposed, they eloped to get married right then and there, and Samantha got pregnant right away in a whirlwind courtship. Goopy was promoted to Head Dishwasher, and then to Caterer. Samantha went back to work and changed her surname from Hoskins to Corbett. With their combined savings, they had enough to remodel the house. The expanded the living/family room and moved the kitchen enough to create a small second toddler-furnished bedroom.

Samantha wears that hat everywhere...including to bed and in the swimming pool.

Confutus

Week 2 Reaves family
Trenton became good friends with his wife Kinsley. He was promoted to Freelance Article writer, and finished a children’s book: “Lions don’t eat Spinach”. He was stiffed by a client and accused of plagiarism, which answered with a stiff rebuttal. He attended a couple of Avant Gardes meetings on his days off, but was careful this week to not overstay. He is making numerous acquaintances from the meetings at the Coffee House. A fire ruined another stove when Charles Phillips came over to visit. Kinsley was visited two or three times by Clara Bjergsen. At work was promoted to Watercolor Dabbler. A couple of times at an art festival, there wasn’t room for her to set up. The first time, she tried setting up on the street and for her trouble, her stand got run over by a bike and a couple of paintings were ruined. She learned her lesson, and the next time, although she made no sales, she improved her contacts in the art world. Her painting skill increased significantly. Kinsley got pregnant. and the Reaves built and expanded a room on the second story on their house. Kinsley moved her art studio upstairs.

Confutus

Week 2 BFF Household.
The household skipped all the festivals that were held including the Flea Market, Humor and Hijinks, and Spice festival and concentrated on professional advancement, but held two parties. They are all now friends. Notable visitors included Katherine Cutler, Shannon Mata, and Eliza Pancakes. Liberty Lee was promoted to Com Center Lead, bought a book, a computer, and a telescope, created a knife block and unicorn sculpture and upgraded a sink and the toilet. At work, she scrubbed an unsafe launch, winning her ire from her superiors and gratitude from the astronauts. Summer Holiday was twice accused of theft, where other coworkers admitted mistakes, caught a cold, was accepted into the Upper Crusts, and was promoted to Line Cook. Travis Scott hacked Llamacorn and Landgraab industries, make a plug in, and got sick. Travis was promoted to Project Manager.