Hello fellow Simmers
I'm taking on the
Build A City Challenge, using Appaloosa Plains and no mods.
As the town grows, you'll see different Sims' stories emerge. From the town's first community lot to each household and unlocked rabbit hole, watch the drama unfold as I rebuild Appaloosa Plains.
I'll be posting previews of each chapter in this thread, with links to the full versions on my website. You can also follow along on
Blogger and
Archive of Our Own.
Chapter List:ProloguePart One
Part One begins with a community garden founded by Bridget Tevellyn -- a young Sim hoping to build a family away from the bustle of the city and the catty small towns she grew up in -- and shares the stories that arise as each new home and community lot are built.
Chapter 1: Community GardenChapter 2: Bridget's CabinChapter 3: The Tevellyn HouseChapter 4: Cinnamon Crest FallsChapter 5: The Boarding House / Community GardenChapter 6: The Tevellyn HouseChapter 7: Cinnamon Crest Falls / Rukiya's LotChapter 8: The Tevellyn HouseChapter 9: Cinnamon Crest FallsChapter 10: Rukiya's HouseChapter 11: The Tevellyn House / Emery's LotChapter 12: Sims in Arms Training OutpostChapter 13: The Tevellyn HouseChapter 14: Emery's StudioChapter 15: Cinnamon Crest Falls / Matthew's LotChapter 16: The Tevellyn House / Button Ranch
Chapter 17: Champs Les Sims -
Part 1: Bienvenue -
Part Two: L'amourChapter 18: Rukiya's House
Chapter 19: Cinnamon Crest Falls
- coming soon
Chapter 20: The Tevellyn House
- coming soonPart Two
The town will continue to grow alongside Bridget's grandchildren in Part Two, as new faces move in and more venues pop up.
Comments
The place was a ghost town. Despite its breath-taking locale, Appaloosa Plains had become a shadow of what it once was. The residents of the "sleepy ranching town" had drifted off, leaving behind shells of homes, crumbling remnants of Victorian architecture and empty streets.
The city tried to save its existence by offering a funding assistance program for repairs, but the program collapsed when it was discovered that nearly all the buildings were contaminated with asbestos, had unsafe lead piping, needed all-new roofs or their foundations completely redone. Historical building legislation delayed construction work to such an extent that people opted to sell their homes to the government at a loss so they could move away from the red tape and renovation nightmare that their neighborhood trapped in.
Now almost no residents were left and there was no city government to speak of. Appaloosa Plains was nothing more than a mess that needed to be cleaned up. Luckily, cleaning up messes was something Jada Walker did best.
She drove slowly along the empty, crumbling streets until she saw the drab Victorian manor she was looking for. Workers had already set up safety barriers and brought in the dumpsters. She looked up at the building: rotting wood, patchy shingles, peeling paint. By some miracle it seemed the majority of the windows were intact even though they hadn't been boarded up. Still, was this really the place the Governor saw potential in?
Click to continue reading
Rebuilding Appaloosa Plains
Prologue & Chapters 1-18 out now!
Origin ID: Mourning-Stars | Simming since 2000
(This is the first chapter of the relaunched version. Posted Oct 18, 2018.)
Rebuilding Appaloosa Plains
Prologue & Chapters 1-18 out now!
Origin ID: Mourning-Stars | Simming since 2000
(This is the second chapter of the relaunched version. Posted Oct 22, 2018.)
Rebuilding Appaloosa Plains
Prologue & Chapters 1-18 out now!
Origin ID: Mourning-Stars | Simming since 2000
(This is the second chapter of the relaunched version. Posted Oct 25, 2018.)
Rebuilding Appaloosa Plains
Prologue & Chapters 1-18 out now!
Origin ID: Mourning-Stars | Simming since 2000
Rebuilding Appaloosa Plains
Prologue & Chapters 1-18 out now!
Origin ID: Mourning-Stars | Simming since 2000
I loved all the detail you put into the chapter. The walkthrough and the dialogue between the characters felt like something that could actually happen.
I'm off to read chapter 1!
Bridget seems to be such a successful, independent woman. Much more confident in herself then I could ever be.
Her cabin looks great (at least from the outside, haven't seen the inside yet!), and the community garden seems to be coming along well.
Off to read chapter 2!
Chapter 2 was just so sweet and cheesy (in the best way possible lol).
The little cabin is so cute.
Can't wait for chapter 3!
Rebuilding Appaloosa Plains
Prologue & Chapters 1-18 out now!
Origin ID: Mourning-Stars | Simming since 2000
Never mind. You said so in your post.
Book O' Spells: The Life and Times of Lady Ravendancer Goth
The Shadow Over Newcrest - Revised Story Blog
Well, we know the number she wants! We'll see, haha... But so far she seems to get her way
Rebuilding Appaloosa Plains
Prologue & Chapters 1-18 out now!
Origin ID: Mourning-Stars | Simming since 2000
(Broken link fixed Sept 7, 2020.)
Rebuilding Appaloosa Plains
Prologue & Chapters 1-18 out now!
Origin ID: Mourning-Stars | Simming since 2000
Rebuilding Appaloosa Plains
Prologue & Chapters 1-18 out now!
Origin ID: Mourning-Stars | Simming since 2000
Emery's 13th birthday originally arrived on a "beautiful autumn day" but this doesn't make sense given the timing of Bridget's pregnancy in Chapter 3 nor the age differences in the kids, which will become more obvious in Ch. 6. Her birthday is in the Spring, and the description of the leaves changing color was updated accordingly to read:
"The winter cold had thawed and seemed like a distant memory now that the warm summer air was starting to move in."
Rebuilding Appaloosa Plains
Prologue & Chapters 1-18 out now!
Origin ID: Mourning-Stars | Simming since 2000
Book O' Spells: The Life and Times of Lady Ravendancer Goth
The Shadow Over Newcrest - Revised Story Blog
Rebuilding Appaloosa Plains
Prologue & Chapters 1-18 out now!
Origin ID: Mourning-Stars | Simming since 2000
Rebuilding Appaloosa Plains
Prologue & Chapters 1-18 out now!
Origin ID: Mourning-Stars | Simming since 2000
I sometimes had my Sims talk to Altman, but never paid him much attention until I really needed to get a move on with Bridget's love life if she was going to have 5 kids and fulfill her LTW Now he's got a special place in my heart - and not just because he has some great traits for a townie
Rebuilding Appaloosa Plains
Prologue & Chapters 1-18 out now!
Origin ID: Mourning-Stars | Simming since 2000
Rebuilding Appaloosa Plains
Prologue & Chapters 1-18 out now!
Origin ID: Mourning-Stars | Simming since 2000
And now, onto the important stuff...
Gosh! I love this story so much! It's hard for me to explain... it's really calming to me. I think it's the way you craft your sentences. Also, your writing is kind of interior, like we see inside the people, and I love that!
I had a little bit of a stressful morning with a dentist appointment, so before I buckled down to do some work, I wanted to de-stress, and reading chapters 6 and 7 were perfect for this!
Also... now the gossip!
And... I don't know. At first I really liked Dorothy, but I'm wondering now if she's the best friend for Matthew. I felt she was a little dismissive of his revelation about the unicorn--it seems like she wants him to be "normal" and not too imaginative or too on-fire about anything. Maybe that's OK, since she can offer some balance, but I want him to have a friend who believes in him and gets excited with him about big and little things.
Of course I wonder about Dorothy's secret! How fun it will be to see this eventually revealed!
How far in advance do you play? How far in advance have you plotted out what happens?
How much comes from the game, how much (in-game) from your direction, how much from the Sims or random game-stuff, and how much from your staging things?
Thanks again for writing what's become one of my favorite stories!
Do you also play The Elder Scrolls Online? You can find me there as CathyTea, too!
Thank you so much!!!
And now onto a more comprehensive response ...
I'm so glad that you've found the story comforting Hopefully even as more drama comes in, reading it can still help you de-stress
Re: your spoiler-covered comments:
I try not to decide my Sims' sexualities in advance; I just don't really think about it until potential partners start coming into their lives. Emery's crush felt so natural based on my gameplay, that I decided to see where it went. Since I don't play with mods, obviously their relationship would be limited (at least at first) since Emery is a teen and Rukiya is a Y.A. when they meet. Rukiya is super awesome -- maybe Emery's crush only felt natural because I might have one if she were a person I met in real life You'll have to wait and see how their storyline(s) play out!
Loved reading your thoughts on Dorothy. The next chapter will reveal more about Matthew & Dorothy's relationship, so I won't say anything about it right now
And finally the answers to your questions
How far in advance do you play? How far in advance have you plotted out what happens?
I've played my challenge save through to the end of Part One in the story; the vast majority, if not all, of Bridget's grandchildren are in the town. So before I relaunched the story in this format, I already knew who each of her children would end up with, where they'd live, and if they'd have kids/how many.
The story's plot is a bit flexible in terms of the other details and when exactly certain things happen. For this version I've gone back to stage things and get more screenshots. This overlaps with your next question
How much comes from the game, how much (in-game) from your direction, how much from the Sims or random game-stuff, and how much from your staging things?
The story is primarily gameplay-driven. I play on low free will, so the Sims are mostly controlled by me, but I tend to play according to their traits and wishes. My gut feeling tends to affect it, too - whether a Sim "feels" like they're a good match for another affects how I view and write their story. I don't have a set path for Sims' lives beyond a few in-game weeks, and they're always subject to change.
I'm adding staged scenes to add depth - for the characters, the town, and to provide more tangible set-up for what happens down the line. These are mostly for the enjoyment of the reader and to bring to life the plot that was going on in my head while I was playing.
For example, my play-through screenshots sometimes don't capture the personalities or relationships of characters that I had in my head. This is especially true for Sim children, since the 'normal lifespan' number of days seems like it has too many for toddlers and too few for children (I'm considering tweaking this for my play-through for Part Two). Several scenes coming up with Dorothy in them were staged for these reasons.
I also didn't have the Seasons expansion active during my initial play-through, so some screenshots I've simply been taking to feature the seasons changing. The teaser image for Chapter 3 is one of my favourites in that respect
Almost all the chapters that are set at the boarding house will have to be staged, as well, since it serves as the "NPC lot" for my Build A City Challenge. The rules don't allow you to play/visit the NPC lot. Although I created the NPC Sims (Rukiya and 7 others we'll meet later) and have some ideas for backstories for them, their traits and Lifetime Wishes had to be randomized, so I won't know "who they are" until they're in my gameplay. In Rukiya's case, she and Bridget bonded over their mutual Green Thumb traits. Since I was also lucky enough that Rukiya has the Friendly trait, they were best friends in no time and she lived with the Tevellyns for about one in-game week, hence her working for them in the story. Technically, it was the Tevellyns' funds that were spent on buying Rukiya's house. In order to introduce her to the story and give her some of the background I imagined, I staged Chapter 5 to that end.
Finally, shots featuring empty lots, builds and renovations will be staged throughout Part One. In my game, I simply built homes and venues as I normally would, but for the story, I wanted to add depth by featuring the 'build' aspect of the challenge more. The Prologue and Chapter 1 (building the community garden) were entirely staged. Certain shots, such as the first screenshot in Chapter 3 where Bridget is waking up in an insulated-but-not-drywalled room, were staged for storytelling purposes and to add a sense of authenticity to the idea that they were building the new house themselves in steps, rather than rooms magically appearing while time was paused
Thanks so much again for reading, as well as for your valuable feedback and reflective questions! I really appreciate it!
Rebuilding Appaloosa Plains
Prologue & Chapters 1-18 out now!
Origin ID: Mourning-Stars | Simming since 2000
Chapter 8: The Tevellyn House
Rebuilding Appaloosa Plains
Prologue & Chapters 1-18 out now!
Origin ID: Mourning-Stars | Simming since 2000
Your last chapter made me feel sad, yet so happy for Bridget and Altman. It was so heartwarming to read about the love they share for each other.