Forum Announcement, Click Here to Read More From EA_Cade.
A new Legacy Challenge! The Fairytale Legacy.
Steffstar
Posts: 1,354 Member
The Fairytale Challenge
The Premise:
Once upon a time, there came into being a new Legacy Challenge for Sims 3. For each of the ten generations of the legacy, each will re-enact a fairytale (or more). With hundreds of fairytales in existence and even more ways of interpreting how the story shall flow, this challenge demands the weaving of at least ten separate fairytales into one, long, cohesive legacy.
The Scenario:
The founder of your legacy is the main character in the fairytale. He or she is the one destined to marry into royalty, slay the giant, or find the answer to the unanswerable riddle. All this person desires is his or her own happily-ever-after. Not all fairytales have a happy ending, so will your founder and heirs find that peaceful, wonderful happily-ever-after, or will there only be tears as the book closes?
The Challenge:
This legacy will require a bit of pre-planning. People who like to plot out the lives of their characters will have fun with this. You can have heir votes if you want. The real challenge is to make ten fairytales flow one after another in a way that reads like one continuous story. This is why I suggest it's a good idea to have all ten (or more) picked out. You can do more then one fairytale for a generation and mix them together to form a unique story. When I planned out my fairytale legacy, I had a few generations that would be a mix of two fairytales: such as Hansel and Gretel with Rumplestilskin.
While a lot of the more well-known fairytales have female leads, don't let that discourage you. You can have a male Cinderella or male Little Mermaid. Have fun and see how it changes the story. Sometimes, your character won't be the star of the story, but an important character nonetheless. For example, if you are doing the story of Trusty John, the title character is a personal servant to a prince and not the one who marries the princess in the end. So, if your previous heir has a child not of the gender as the next fairytale, don't let it discourage you. Roll with it and see how it changes the story.
Speaking of characters and importance to the story, you can decide to not be the main character. Say for instance, you decide to do one generation as Rumplestilskin. Instead of playing the greedy prince or the idiot miller's daughter, you play Rumplestilskin and decide to give the reason for why he wants the baby so badly and what happens when he stomps off. Or she stomps off.
Also, a bit of a warning: Due to the nature of fairytales, you might have to kill your darlings between generations. For example, you use Cinderella for Generation One and start with Cinderella and a stepmother. However, you pick Snow White for Generation Two. The stepmother is a huge part of the story, so you have to create a stepmother by killing off the new heir's mother. Or mix it up and have an evil stepfather. The point is, a stepparent is important to the story of Snow White. You can kill off the original parent, move them out, or find some reason for them to not be in the story, but the object is to have the stepparent if the stepparent is important to the plot.
The Set Up:
1. Create your Founder. This can be a boy or a girl, starting at any age. When he or she becomes a young adult, the bulk of the fairytale begins. This is where Jack finds the beanstalk or Cinderella learns of the ball. You can play out their childhood, but the story begins in earnest after the Founder becomes a young adult.
2. Create your Founder's family. Depending on the fairytale, you might need to make a mother or father or both.
a) There are exceptions. If your Founder is starting off as part of a journey, you do not need to create the parents unless you are including home life. Fairytales such as The Brave Young Tailor, **** in Boots, and Bearskin all have the main character traveling away from home for the bulk of the story, or the main character is an adult who no longer lives at home. If the fairytale you are starting with falls under these cases, you only need to make your founder.
b) If your fairytale starts off with home life or the Founder still lives at home, you must create the family. Fairytales like Cinderella, The Frog Prince, or Red Riding Hood all need at least one parent for the story to work.
c) Since some stories require the use of a stepparent, I do suggest holding those fairytales off until the second generation. They are many, so it might not be easy. Below you'll find links to some good lists of fairytales, and I'll mark the ones don't have stepparents for easy access. You do not need to use them, it's just a suggestion.
3. Create a fairy godmother. This is the person that will show up throughout the legacy to grant wishes and give advice. He or she is not a money machine and cannot give you any money cheats. The function of the fairy godmother is to give Cinderella her clothes for the ball or give Jack the magic beans. He or she only exists to help move the story along.
a) To make it more interesting, create two fairy godmothers: one is good and the other bad. While the good fairy godmother does everything to help the story along, like giving Cinderella her dress for the ball, the bad one will do everything to ruin the story, such as suggest to the stepsisters how they can fit the glass slipper. The bad fairy godmother can have a grudge against the good fairy godmother, which is why he or she is trying to ruin the stories. Or, it could be the bad fairy godmother works for another family and just wants a happily-ever-after for that Cinderella instead.
4. Move your Founder (and family) into their new home. Please keep your fairytale in mind when you do so. If the fairytale says the family is poor, please do not move them into a mansion. Characters like Hansel and Gretel or The Brave Little Tailor are poor and would live in the smallest house on a small lot. Characters like Cinderella can live in a better house due to their story. This house is only important in the first generation, as you can move them into their spouse's family's home after the wedding if you so desire.
5. Pick out or create the other characters in the story. Cinderella needs her prince, while Snow White will need at least seven friends to hide her. These characters go into their own respective houses, and you will have to switch active households to play them when the time comes. So keep an eye on them.
6. Play out your fairytales. It's important that you know which ones you will be using before you start so they can all flow together. If you can, try to remain as close to the original version as possible and not the Disney version. There are also many versions of the same stories, so have fun.
The Rules:
1. No cheating after the game starts. When you are choosing first home and decorating it, you may use one motherlode cheat. This money will decorate (or create) your first home and give you some money afterward to pay for bills since your main character might not be able to work and do the story at the same time. After the story begins, you may not use any cheats.
2. Age and story progression should be at normal. Trust me, anything else just ruins the game. If you have some kind of story mod or awesome mod, you can use those as long as they don't give you an unfair advantage.
3. Your founder and heirs will be the primary “active household”. Due to the nature of this legacy and the storytelling element, you will have times when you will have to change active households to get their side of things. For example, Cinderella is the active house, but you might need to see what the prince is doing for story purposes. Just be sure to always go back to the primary house. This does mean you will continuously lose wishes and wants, so it's best to not get too attached to the idea of reaching a lifetime wish. You can do that after the story ends and you're in the limbo phase between the past generation's “the end” and the next generation's “once upon a time”.
4. No stopping Sims from dying. No ambrosia, no resurrecting ghosts, no life fruit and no death flowers. Your Sims must either die a natural game induced death or disappear for the sake of the story. You cannot extend their lives. The only time you can cheat is if you are doing something like Red Riding Hood and you know that Grandma's life is near the end. In a case like that, you may turn off aging just long enough to play out her part and then once the issue with the wolf is finished, return to the normal aging and let her die a natural death.
5. While you don't have to, it's probably best to give a quick summery of the fairytales you are using. Either before each generation, after each generation or on a forum thread for your legacy (however you want to do it). Given how many fairytales you can choose from, some of the more interesting ones aren't as well-known. You might know the plot of Donkey Cabbages and how it relates to your generation, but not everyone will. And it's a great way to learn something new.
6. Above all else, have fun.
The Fairytales:
As I've mentioned, there are hundreds of fairytales to choose from. Below, you'll find three links to lists of fairytales. Some of them will overlap, that's only to be expected. You will find more fairytales than you knew existed.
Here is a list of fairytales from around the world. There are some really neat ideas in this list.
Here we have a huge list of fairytales as printed by Andrew Lang. His collection of fairytales is one of the most complete collections I've come across, and he has many of the Grimms fairytales.
Here is a list of Hans Christian Anderson's stories on the bottom of the page.
As promised, a quick list of a few fairytales that start off with just the Founder and no mention of home life, in case you want to start your legacy with only a Founder.
The Brave Little Tailor
Aladdin
The Master Thief
The Emperor's New Clothes
Donkey Cabbage
The Boy who found Fear
The Princess and the Pea
The Shadow
The Steadfast Tin Soldier
*Let me know if you have any questions or if any of my links no longer work. I had typed this up months ago and finally decided to share the joy of this challenge.*
The Premise:
Once upon a time, there came into being a new Legacy Challenge for Sims 3. For each of the ten generations of the legacy, each will re-enact a fairytale (or more). With hundreds of fairytales in existence and even more ways of interpreting how the story shall flow, this challenge demands the weaving of at least ten separate fairytales into one, long, cohesive legacy.
The Scenario:
The founder of your legacy is the main character in the fairytale. He or she is the one destined to marry into royalty, slay the giant, or find the answer to the unanswerable riddle. All this person desires is his or her own happily-ever-after. Not all fairytales have a happy ending, so will your founder and heirs find that peaceful, wonderful happily-ever-after, or will there only be tears as the book closes?
The Challenge:
This legacy will require a bit of pre-planning. People who like to plot out the lives of their characters will have fun with this. You can have heir votes if you want. The real challenge is to make ten fairytales flow one after another in a way that reads like one continuous story. This is why I suggest it's a good idea to have all ten (or more) picked out. You can do more then one fairytale for a generation and mix them together to form a unique story. When I planned out my fairytale legacy, I had a few generations that would be a mix of two fairytales: such as Hansel and Gretel with Rumplestilskin.
While a lot of the more well-known fairytales have female leads, don't let that discourage you. You can have a male Cinderella or male Little Mermaid. Have fun and see how it changes the story. Sometimes, your character won't be the star of the story, but an important character nonetheless. For example, if you are doing the story of Trusty John, the title character is a personal servant to a prince and not the one who marries the princess in the end. So, if your previous heir has a child not of the gender as the next fairytale, don't let it discourage you. Roll with it and see how it changes the story.
Speaking of characters and importance to the story, you can decide to not be the main character. Say for instance, you decide to do one generation as Rumplestilskin. Instead of playing the greedy prince or the idiot miller's daughter, you play Rumplestilskin and decide to give the reason for why he wants the baby so badly and what happens when he stomps off. Or she stomps off.
Also, a bit of a warning: Due to the nature of fairytales, you might have to kill your darlings between generations. For example, you use Cinderella for Generation One and start with Cinderella and a stepmother. However, you pick Snow White for Generation Two. The stepmother is a huge part of the story, so you have to create a stepmother by killing off the new heir's mother. Or mix it up and have an evil stepfather. The point is, a stepparent is important to the story of Snow White. You can kill off the original parent, move them out, or find some reason for them to not be in the story, but the object is to have the stepparent if the stepparent is important to the plot.
The Set Up:
1. Create your Founder. This can be a boy or a girl, starting at any age. When he or she becomes a young adult, the bulk of the fairytale begins. This is where Jack finds the beanstalk or Cinderella learns of the ball. You can play out their childhood, but the story begins in earnest after the Founder becomes a young adult.
2. Create your Founder's family. Depending on the fairytale, you might need to make a mother or father or both.
a) There are exceptions. If your Founder is starting off as part of a journey, you do not need to create the parents unless you are including home life. Fairytales such as The Brave Young Tailor, **** in Boots, and Bearskin all have the main character traveling away from home for the bulk of the story, or the main character is an adult who no longer lives at home. If the fairytale you are starting with falls under these cases, you only need to make your founder.
b) If your fairytale starts off with home life or the Founder still lives at home, you must create the family. Fairytales like Cinderella, The Frog Prince, or Red Riding Hood all need at least one parent for the story to work.
c) Since some stories require the use of a stepparent, I do suggest holding those fairytales off until the second generation. They are many, so it might not be easy. Below you'll find links to some good lists of fairytales, and I'll mark the ones don't have stepparents for easy access. You do not need to use them, it's just a suggestion.
3. Create a fairy godmother. This is the person that will show up throughout the legacy to grant wishes and give advice. He or she is not a money machine and cannot give you any money cheats. The function of the fairy godmother is to give Cinderella her clothes for the ball or give Jack the magic beans. He or she only exists to help move the story along.
a) To make it more interesting, create two fairy godmothers: one is good and the other bad. While the good fairy godmother does everything to help the story along, like giving Cinderella her dress for the ball, the bad one will do everything to ruin the story, such as suggest to the stepsisters how they can fit the glass slipper. The bad fairy godmother can have a grudge against the good fairy godmother, which is why he or she is trying to ruin the stories. Or, it could be the bad fairy godmother works for another family and just wants a happily-ever-after for that Cinderella instead.
4. Move your Founder (and family) into their new home. Please keep your fairytale in mind when you do so. If the fairytale says the family is poor, please do not move them into a mansion. Characters like Hansel and Gretel or The Brave Little Tailor are poor and would live in the smallest house on a small lot. Characters like Cinderella can live in a better house due to their story. This house is only important in the first generation, as you can move them into their spouse's family's home after the wedding if you so desire.
5. Pick out or create the other characters in the story. Cinderella needs her prince, while Snow White will need at least seven friends to hide her. These characters go into their own respective houses, and you will have to switch active households to play them when the time comes. So keep an eye on them.
6. Play out your fairytales. It's important that you know which ones you will be using before you start so they can all flow together. If you can, try to remain as close to the original version as possible and not the Disney version. There are also many versions of the same stories, so have fun.
The Rules:
1. No cheating after the game starts. When you are choosing first home and decorating it, you may use one motherlode cheat. This money will decorate (or create) your first home and give you some money afterward to pay for bills since your main character might not be able to work and do the story at the same time. After the story begins, you may not use any cheats.
2. Age and story progression should be at normal. Trust me, anything else just ruins the game. If you have some kind of story mod or awesome mod, you can use those as long as they don't give you an unfair advantage.
3. Your founder and heirs will be the primary “active household”. Due to the nature of this legacy and the storytelling element, you will have times when you will have to change active households to get their side of things. For example, Cinderella is the active house, but you might need to see what the prince is doing for story purposes. Just be sure to always go back to the primary house. This does mean you will continuously lose wishes and wants, so it's best to not get too attached to the idea of reaching a lifetime wish. You can do that after the story ends and you're in the limbo phase between the past generation's “the end” and the next generation's “once upon a time”.
4. No stopping Sims from dying. No ambrosia, no resurrecting ghosts, no life fruit and no death flowers. Your Sims must either die a natural game induced death or disappear for the sake of the story. You cannot extend their lives. The only time you can cheat is if you are doing something like Red Riding Hood and you know that Grandma's life is near the end. In a case like that, you may turn off aging just long enough to play out her part and then once the issue with the wolf is finished, return to the normal aging and let her die a natural death.
5. While you don't have to, it's probably best to give a quick summery of the fairytales you are using. Either before each generation, after each generation or on a forum thread for your legacy (however you want to do it). Given how many fairytales you can choose from, some of the more interesting ones aren't as well-known. You might know the plot of Donkey Cabbages and how it relates to your generation, but not everyone will. And it's a great way to learn something new.
6. Above all else, have fun.
The Fairytales:
As I've mentioned, there are hundreds of fairytales to choose from. Below, you'll find three links to lists of fairytales. Some of them will overlap, that's only to be expected. You will find more fairytales than you knew existed.
Here is a list of fairytales from around the world. There are some really neat ideas in this list.
Here we have a huge list of fairytales as printed by Andrew Lang. His collection of fairytales is one of the most complete collections I've come across, and he has many of the Grimms fairytales.
Here is a list of Hans Christian Anderson's stories on the bottom of the page.
As promised, a quick list of a few fairytales that start off with just the Founder and no mention of home life, in case you want to start your legacy with only a Founder.
The Brave Little Tailor
Aladdin
The Master Thief
The Emperor's New Clothes
Donkey Cabbage
The Boy who found Fear
The Princess and the Pea
The Shadow
The Steadfast Tin Soldier
*Let me know if you have any questions or if any of my links no longer work. I had typed this up months ago and finally decided to share the joy of this challenge.*
Please check out my story: THE LONG AND EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF CLAIRE URSINE
0
Comments
Oh, that is awesome! I didn't think of that!
Please send me a link when you put it up. I'd love to read it.
Hey, silly question, but is your current Avie supposed to be Melinoe (Queen of Ghosts, Persephone's child by either Hades or Zeus). It looks like some representations of her with one half being light and one half being dark.
Sorry, biiiiiig mythology fan.