In my 60s Strangetown, I was having to do a bit of juggling to keep a pregnant Lazlo alive and Vidcund from getting into similar straits, but I was doing all right when Vidcund, on his way to bed in the middle of the morning, announced that not one, but two babies were on the way!

Rosalind and Franklin were born without major complications, but Pascal - who was skipping work that day anyway - decided it was time to call in reinforcements, and since he wanted to get engaged to Nervous, he made the call he'd been wanting to make anyway. While Nervous was on his way Pascal, who had all-green motives, got the twins down into new danglemasters and started to fill the empty pet bowl (they have two pets and I'm damned if I let them get lost in the shuffle); meanwhile, Lazlo, redlining fun and orangelining hygiene and energy, decided he needed to get up to feed Rosalind and Vidcund, orangelining energy, couldn't sleep until he'd fed Franklin. The twins, of course, did not need to be fed, they needed their diapers changed. Pascal ran out to greet Nervous and ask him to move in right now please, but Nervous walked past him, picked up Rosalind, where Vidcund had placed her on the floor next to her bottle, and changed her diaper!

It took a lot of micromanagement and boy was I glad I'd already enclosed part of the second story, but by the end of the session Pascal and Nervous are engaged, Vidcund just gave Tycho smartmilk, Nervous is all moved in and looking forward to a private non-legally-binding wedding as soon as things calm down, Pascal and Vidcund rested (and somebody will remember to pay the bills pretty soon, I just thought of that), Lazlo is thinking of Crystal Vu for the first time since play started, Nervous has begun potty training, they have a lot of baby stuff, and poor Lazlo is about to play redhands with Vidcund and hopefully get his fun out of the red before he gives birth, too. The TV is broken (Lazlo broke it and Nervous lectured him; I cannot think of anyone more humiliating to get a lecture from than Nervous!) but honestly that's just as well, since Tycho's toddler bed is in the same room.

So my sim Walter Thomason is a popularity sim and I made him achieve his Celebrity Chef LTW aswell! During the time I also got him to make 14 BFFs, of which six of those are his lovers! Apparently, two of them don't have a problem with Walter sticking to the two, since I had both invited in his house and Walter was seen kissing with one and another and they didn't care at all. I don't know about the other four but perharps it will either turn into something big or something bad.

I was able to finish the Beakers and the Smiths up to Friday morning.

Monday:
Loki gave Circe a kiss before she went work, leaving him in the house with Nervous. After they had their lunch, the welcome wagon came, which consisted of Chloe Curious, Ajay Loner, and Bella Bachelor. It was a disaster; Chloe kept bullying Nervous, and Nervous and Loki kept bullying her in return. Bella and Ajay just kept locking lips the whole time for some reason; their chemistry isn't even that high. Circe got home and immediately 'relaxed' with Loki.

Tuesday:
Loki went to work and got promoted, as did Circe. Circe practiced on the biotech station and it was going well until she contracted the mystery disease... She immediately went upstairs and locked herself in her room, aware of the risk she'll be to Loki. Nervous made friends with Bella over the phone and began being at odds with Loki.

Wednesday:
With Circe being sick, she had to stay in bed and have her food in her room. It was a pain for her, as she constantly wanted to jump rope. She kept throwing up and needing to sleep. Loki kept going to work as normal, but was missing his wife and there was nothing he could do about it. Nervous kept looking after his needs and chatting with Bella on the phone. When Loki got home, he and Nervous began fighting again, giving them the enemy title.

Thursday:
Circe was still ill, so she was confined to her room. Loki and Nervous kept fighting.

Friday:
Circe recovered within the early hours of the morning and went shopping for clothes. Meanwhile, Loki was getting ready for work. When Circe got home, she shared a kiss with Loki before he left for work. She got mad at Nervous for leaving puddles, so sucked a logic point out of him, which frustrated him. Loki and Circe woohooed. Circe got pregnant and since both Beakers wanted a baby, they're over the moon. They watched the stars together before going to bed.

Saturday:
Loki kept doting on Circe and if he wasn't doing that, he was picking on Nervous. It was a pretty chill day outside of the fighting.

Sunday:
Circe is in the second trimester, due to give birth on Tuesday morning. The Beaker's relationship with Nervous has worsened. Nervous has had enough of the Beakers, and hearing of Olive's passing, he ran away to check, leaving the Beakers behind. He got his true personality back, 10/1/10/2/2, and changed his name to Norman Specter. He is now staying with his cousin.

And that was the Beakers for this round. Now onto the Smiths.

Monday:
Johnny threw a party, inviting all of his family and friends. It went well, Johnny even woohooed with Zidane not long after the party started, and the welcome wagon joined the party. After the party was finished, Vidcund yelled at Johnny for some reason and Jenny and Pol woohooed and got pregnant. Since Johnny has the LTW to be a Rock God, he got an easel to make a start on that dream. Tank kept kicking the bin over and Vidcund kept picking it up until he left.

Tuesday:
Early in the morning, Pol made breakfast and started a fire. The firefighters came and put it out; only Pol knew about it, as Jenny had gone to work, Johnny was painting, and Jill was jumping on the bed. The kids went to school, leaving Pol on his own; he gained a cooking skill in that time. At 13:00, Johnny arrived home and brought Fricorith Tricou with him, who promptly ran away because of the sun. Since his dad was busy, he did his homework on his own. Jill got home and was able to receive homework help. Jenny got home and went straight to bed. When it was dark out, Johnny gave Fricorith a call to have a chat, painted for a bit and went to bed.

Wednesday:
Kids went to school, Jenny had something to eat and went to bed, and Pol just relaxed all day. Johnny got home at 13:00 and didn't get homework help, because his parents weren't up for it, so he did it on his own. Jill got home, did her homework and played with the dollhouse. Johnny gave Fricorith a call to chat after it went dark.

Thursday:
Same as the past couple days, except when Johnny got home, Pol was able to help him with his homework and Jill brought Venus Curious home. Johnny invited his whole friendship circle to visit and invited Fricorith after it got dark. Johnny made best friends with Ripp, Ophelia and Skipp fell in love with each other, and Jenny gave birth to a little girl called Janet Smith. Johnny and Zidane almost went into the parent's room, but I had to put a stop to that, so I could send the guests home and get the Smiths to bed.

Not the best update. I'm feeling a little off, so I didn't add as much flavour to the text as I'd like, but I hope it was fun to read regardless. Next time, I'll be playing the Smiths from Friday to Monday morning and if I have time, the Grunts.

Well, it's gotten to that point in Strangetown when my adult premades are leaving us. This time, it was the General. He went on the last day of the rotation, and although he was pretty happy, he didn't get a platinum grave. He had a huge family, all boys: 5 sons total, 3 original and 2 with Chloe Curious; and 4 grandsons, 3 are Buck's (1 with Klara and 2 with Stella), and 1 is Ripp's (with Blossom). He was very close with Tank and his two youngest sons, he left Chloe a huge inheritance so she is set, and the only grandson he remembered in his will was Buck's eldest son with Klara, probably because the General was good friends with Klara and worked with her. Buck and Ripp did not inherit, no surprise there. The last thing he did before he died was play catch with his youngest son, Angus.

Chloe truly loved him, but life goes on. She is an elder now, so she spent some time getting to know a few of the more attractive elderly men in the neighborhood. She's set on having a free and easy elderhood with plenty of hot tub woohoo. Tank is working hard in the business career; he is a serial dater, never gets serious with anyone, and it doesn't look like he intends to get married or have children. He barely tolerates Chloe but he's best buddies with his two youngest brothers--he pretty much helped raise them--and Ethan wants to be just like him.

General Buzz crashed Johnny's birthday party to attack Olive. Johnny didn't move out with enough money to move into the new efficiency apartments, but fortunately Aunt Lola and Chloe know a guy with a spare bedroom so he's rooming with Ajay for now. He helped out at the store (and made a sale to General Buzz!) and then they went to the Burger Bowl to eat and meet girls. Technically they did. Jill was there with a townie girl and they got Johnny and his new friend to bowl with them. Johnny went down for a nap when they got home and Ajay went to the swimming pool, but his highest bolter is still Lola and he's not that dumb. The only straight girl next door is Chloe and he may yet be that dumb but she's also the only one he's not friends with yet. Erin is bi, but it's only a single bolt and he hasn't made up his mind to it yet. Johnny found a job as a gumshoe when he woke up and celebrated with a party, which bid fair to founder on the shoals of smustling in the front yard, but pulled it out in the end.

Kristen got promoted, Lola had to go into the store by herself but got a business level anyway, Kristen came home and took her on a date to the Burger Bowl but couldn't find a romantic, private place to propose and eventually came home and did it in the back yard. They then borrowed Chloe's hot tub. Chloe and Kristen have made an effort to be nice to each other for Lola's sake so it's not even a cause for dissension that they got to use it for woohoo before Chloe did. Kristen had bought a juicer at Ajay's store so Chloe's growing tomatoes in the back yard now. Erin went to the store and the game froze on me - that's twice in two days. It froze when Frances Worthington went to the revamped Mirage Shopping Center, too. I don't know why my machine suddenly hates shopping centers.

Luna Canyon had its first wedding!

Charles Wolff awoke in his bachelor pad with a want to marry his fiance, Winnifred Germain. He knocked on the apartment next door where she lived with her best friend Eleanor Dane and asked her to move in with him. Winnifred moved in along with her German Shepherd, Beatrice. Now Charles, Winnifred, Beatrice, and Charles' schnauzer Shaggy are all packed into a tiny apartment with rent under $600. Both of them are completely broke with no vacation days racked up yet, so they decided to rush to St. Catherine's Chapel at 8 AM to get married. St Catherine's was newly paid for by Catherine Piccolo herself, and she even named the chapel - who else would call her a saint? The service was quick and small, with only Eleanor as a witness. They had a quick picnic in the chapel garden. It started to rain and Win knew it was good luck, so she wanted to dance with her new husband and didn't give a crap about her dress getting wet. Their morning was perfect, but they both had to go to work as soon as they returned home. They were too exhausted afterwards to Woohoo, and Win is turned off by the hula girl lamp in their bedroom anyways. She insists that they move into a new apartment as soon as they can afford it.

Eleanor Dane was very happy for her friend, but felt that her apartment was much too empty without Win or Beatrice. She went and adopted a German Shepherd herself, named Pluto. She then rolled a want to marry her fiance Amin Sims, a townie. Eleanor lived vicariously through Winnifred when she started seeing Charles. Hearing about their dates and Woohoo (which Eleanor never experienced) made her desperate to not only find someone, but to settle down and start a family too. Win warned Eleanor that she worried Eleanor and Amin might be moving too fast. Eleanor didn't care- she was going to do what she wanted. Amin moved in with almost 20K, more money than most Sims in Luna Canyon have ever seen. If Aemilia Romana could raise 9 kids with an income of $300, imagine what Eleanor and Amin could provide for their future kids with those savings! They had a small wedding party at the apartment and got married on the roof, overlooking the growing city of Cliffrose Heights. Eleanor and Amin didn't care too much about their guests and went to Woohoo right away. Eleanor knows she's socially awkward anyways, and was fine leaving her guests to entertain themselves. She already wants to have a baby. Luckily for her, ACR kicked in and the two of them have already conceived their first child.

Viola Monty and Tybalt Capp tried for a baby, and she got pregnant, as you do. However, when she got her first baby bump Antonio started yelling at her, and got furious with both her and Tybalt?? Tybalt is understandable bc he's been insulting him ever since he moved in, but Viola's technically done nothing wrong at all! It can't be the Monty-Capp thing either, I don't think, because Sebastian did the same thing with Ariel and Antonio had nothing to say about that, even though she got pregnant before the wedding. What is this game even, I don't know.

Im so tired of University, and I’m only in the sophomore year! I’ve downloaded a shorter university time mod so that will help. I do plan on pausing after sophomore year and playing a round so it’s like a few years past while the college kids were away. But for now I’m stuck at uni.

I always wondered how people claimed their wants play style caused a few sims to fail university. Now I see how. Ophelia is in danger. She is just barely passing. She never rolls wants to gain skills or do anything that raises skills aside from logic. She’s obsessed with games. She only rolls wants to play chess, Marco Polo, computer games. It’s painfully realistic. I knew many folk who got kicked out of college for gaming their grades away.

I think I didn’t properly set up Tanks jealousy. He’s very much in love with Stella the alien. He and Ripp line up to flirt and kiss her. She likes Ripp better. She only rolls wants to be with him. She rolled a want to become engaged. I wish I took the opportunity to have her ask him, but she lost it quickly.

It’s kinda sad. Tank chooses more romantic and sweet things to do with her, like cuddle under the stars and dance kiss. She and Ripp just goose each other, makeout and woohoo on the couch. (Which isn’t so obscene looking with underwear. The censor blur made it more racy seeming). But she only rolls wants to be with Ripp — who is obviously a bad choice.

But it’s funny seeing those two line up to Stella and take turns kissing and flirting with her. I will definitely have her propose to Ripp next time she wants it. Ripp doesn’t have the option to propose to her, so i think that means he’ll reject her? Hehehe

Ripp is also dating a cheerleader and one of the sorority girls. He’s such a scoundrel!

I think it will be interesting to see who gets married to Stella— and considering that she’ll be marrying into the Grunt family! What will General Buzz have to say about one of his kids marrying an alien??

So I was playing the most boring household on earth, that of William Williamson and Kristen Loste and their brat of a daughter. William had just made Business Tycoon and spent the bonus on a bunch of new stuff for the living room. And the new TV broke. So William thought, "Why hire a repairman? I've been around a while; I know what I'm doing. I can fix this myself."

And then he proceeded to electrocute himself and set the whole living room on fire. Kristen managed to call the fire department but by the time they got there, all their nice new stuff had burned up, every stick of furniture in the living room. Then Kristen caught on fire. The firemen tried to put her out, but she ran into the bathroom and they couldn't get to her. So she died. (Sorry, Kristen, although not that sorry to see you go.) Their daughter then comes home from school with an F report card to find her mother dead, her father looking the worse for wear, all their stuff gone, and the living room floor covered in ashes. Oh yeah, I think that pile of homework she hadn't done burned up too. Really livened things up for me!

Julien Cooke whistled a merry tune as he strapped the last of his belongings to the travois and got Sarah and Cocoa hitched up. It was a bright autumn morning and he felt sure they would cover many miles today. The dogs set out at a run, but after a quarter of a mile or so he pulled them back to the steady, loping gait they could maintain easily for hours.

The bright sunshine didn't last, however. By noon the skies were fully clouded over, the temperature was dropping and the wind was beginning to pick up. Julien decided not to bother with lunch, but stopped just long enough to check the dogs' paws, give them a treat each, and switch Cocoa out for Popsicle - Sarah could pull all day, but the pups weren't really up to it yet. Even in the short time that took, the clouds darkened and the air turned sharp. So much for covering a lot of ground, he thought; he'd better start looking for a place to sit this out, because it had the feel of a big storm coming in. It was not a night to camp in the open.

The dogs ran on, and Julien watched for an abandoned barn or an old campsite that might offer at least a bit of shelter, but the desert stretched unbroken to either side of him. The first flakes of snow began to flutter down as he reached the bottom of a hill, and he knew he'd have to stop very soon.

"I'll take a look over this hill," he thought, "and see if there's any better shelter that side; otherwise, I'll just have to hunker down and hope for the best."

He was glad he did. Cresting the hill, he saw lights in the valley below. Could this be the fabled Respite? He urged the dogs onward, wanting to hurry ahead of the falling darkness, but not wanting to go too fast and lose control of the travois on the steep slope. By the time he reached the village and went into the store to ask directions, the wind was howling and the snow was coming down in earnest; by the time he let himself into the little cabin across the way from the store, the ground was already blanketed in white.

The cabin was tiny, especially with five big dogs inside, but at least he was snug against the storm.

Okay so this project I just finished for my game was something that was inspired by @BeckyBoo8 and @Zarathustra from a conversation in the random thought thread alllll the way back in June regarding trying to simulate backwoods trails, remote camping, and hiking in sims 2.

The goal was to place a series of lots (7) around Three Lakes that were just camp sites and no modern lighting, plumbing, etc. The sims that partook in this multi-day backwoods hike were not allowed to visit any community lots, therefore entertainment had to come from their inner-selves or environment appropriate activities. Also I threw in some vacation memento-getting things so they had a chance to pick those up since they couldn't visit community lots. Obviously they couldn't learn the Mountain Massage because there are no masseuses' up in the remote backwoods.

I played a family of four on a 7-day vacation through all the camp sites and it did a lot for their personal relationships as well as nature enthusiasm. Below are some pics of the camps and if you are curious to how the vacation played out, the rest is detailed in this Imgur Album

Charmful that is breathtaking! I wish I had the skills to create a space like that. It reminds me of this resort I stayed in at the Shawnagunk Mountains, NY. It really has the same trail vibes (lookup Mohonk Mountain House if you're interested). I love it so much. Great job!

@Charmful
I love it. Just awesome. You did a wonderful work and have amazing building skills.

Wow, Charmful, that looks amazing! It's really beautiful.

I only had time to wrap the Smiths up yesterday.

Friday:
The morning was a usual one; everyone went to work and school, leaving Pol on his own, except this time, he had little Janet to care for. He spent the day pottering the house and taking care of his needs, while checking on the baby.

At 13:00, Johnny came home and went straight upstairs to do his homework, and changed Janet's nappy afterwards. An hour later, Jenny got home and got straight in the shower, before watching TV. An hour after that, Jill came home and brought a townie girl with her, and she briefly went upstairs to do her homework.

While Jenny had begun working on dinner, Johnny called the repairman before giving Zidane a call to ask him on a date. He accepted. On his way out, Johnny took the rubbish out to the bin and hopped in the taxi.

They went Red's Famous '50s Diner in the Downtown area, an area where the friendship group visits frequently. They got their table, sat down, and ordered. It didn't take long for things to go slightly awry. Not even a second after he received it, Zidane got his baked alaska nicked by some random elder, who had the audacity to eat it right behind him. Johnny ordered him another one, getting a second helping of crépes suzette himself. While their second order was pending, Tank showed up, glaring daggers at Johnny before taking a seat on the table behind them. After the meal, Johnny and Zidane went straight to the photo booth and it wasn't to take pictures, though they did go back to take some goofy pictures later on. The rest of the date went smoothly, even if Tank was trying to slap, shove, poke, and attack Johnny the whole time, who just ignored him. There was one time where he grossed Tank out, while his date was in the bathroom, but other than that, Tank was ignored. They had a dream date. Johnny chilled at the restaurant for a bit and had a chat with Fricorith who was there. Ophelia showed and played games with Zidane for a bit, while Tank got yelled at by the same woman who pitched Zidane's food.

Meanwhile, Jenny had finished the dinner and served it. Her, Jill, and Jill's classmate were the only ones eating, as Pol wasn't hungry and Johnny was out. After finishing her meal, she went straight to bed, while Pol put the leftovers away and Jill went to wash the dishes. She promptly aged to a teenager, where she got the popularity aspiration.

Saturday:
Jenny went to work, while everyone else had a chill day. Johnny returned home at 8am,  much to his parent's relief, got showered and went to bed. Pol wanted to get a job, so he looked for one in the paper. He now works in Law. Jenny came home at 14:00 and wanted a promotion, so began working towards that. Johnny woke up in the early evening, had something to eat, and called Fricorith for a chat; they became best friends.

Sunday:
Jenny went to work, while everyone else did their own thing. Johnny gained another creativity skill point, Jill just played video games and watched TV, and Pol studied parenting. Jenny came home with a promotion. Johnny invited his friends over to hang out. Ophelia tried to remain composed, but lost it at random intervals; she kicked over the bin, stomped on the plants, and destroyed Jill's dollhouse that she was keeping for sentimental reasons. Pol had to throw it in the bin, while Jill was sleeping. Janet aged to a toddler and she looks interesting, I'm excited to see how she looks when she gets older. Johnny and his friends just played videos games until midnight, and then he bid them farewell so he could go to bed.

That was the Smiths for this round. Next time, we are with the Grunt family.

Last round started off with a bang.
Dante Steel decided that he just *had* to lose his virginity and woohoo'd with his new school friend Melissa Patch. Except both of these dumb teenagers have the desire for large families and the ignorance to not use any birth control. So a baby they will be having, or rather have had, since I already started the new round and played Dante's household and Melissa up to the birth, they had a son Melissa named Jason Patch. He's got his father's uber pale skin, but his mother's dark hair and eyes. We'll see how she manages with the rest of this round, she's in a small attic room apartment in Port Carlisle. The very same one Daphne Adler and Jim Lajoie lived in before they left for college with their baby Oliver. But Melissa has 0 interest in cleaning, so their apartment is quickly becoming unsafe. She isn't comfortable asking for help from Dante and his family since she's a child of the streets. She wasn't even going to tell Dante since they weren't particularly close before their little tryst, but his cousin Canon was her friend and discovered the situation early on. (Which totally surprised me but I love that this game did that, as soon as I made her a playable character Canon was calling her constantly.) Anyway, we'll see how she manages. Dante and his family are head over heels in love with Jason, and now that Dante's an adult he's interested in moving out of the family home and getting his own place for Jason. But he might need their support as a possible single-father if he happens to get custody of Jason beyond the 3 months a year he gets. (my year is 4 days, he gets the baby 1 day per round).

Hattie and Florence Ledger are both rebelling hard from their mother's conservative controlling thumb. Which surprised me of Florence as she was always the one more likely to obey her mother but she was the one who has gone even further than her older sister! Florence and Canon Steel developed a secret romance far away from her mother's eyes (aka, sneaking over to his house since boys aren't allowed over). And chose to partake in some ACR woohoo. I'm just thankful that their mother Chiara put Florence on birth control since she wants both her daughter's to go into college before they find a husband and begin a family (Hattie's personality makes her ineligible). But Hattie learning of Florence's behavior has forged their relationship to be even stronger, with Hattie protecting Florence, and Florence learning that Hattie is bi and paying no mind to the girlfriends she brings over. I'm excited for these girls to go to college, hopefully they won't be the only ones there, I think Oliver is going which would be good for Florence as they have a crush on each other. Hattie isn't that much of a fan school, but it's the easiest way to get away from Chiara and as graduating two children from college is Chiara's LTW, I don't see her allowing Hattie not to go.

Harley Steel, bachelor extraordinaire has finally settled down. After years of focusing on his career as a Surgeon, and going on various dates, he finally discovered that it was long-time interest Meadow Trottier that he wanted to share his life with. He proposed, and they made plans to move in together in his small apartment for a short while before they splurged on their forever home. Of course, as things tend to happen, they accidentally started their family a bit sooner than anticipated. Upon discovery of the pregnancy they pushed up their move in date, finding a townhome in Venzor City to move into, a block away from Harley's step-sister Lorelei and her family which pleases both of them greatly. Harley and Meadow had a gorgeous backyard wedding with the entire family invited, and shortly after welcomed natural triplets, Axel, Blue and Maddox. Both of them have very important careers they don't want to take too much time from, (she's an astronaut) so his parents and aunt have been huge helps in rearing the triplets.

Austin Lockhart and Marcy Adler are still making waves in the men of the city. Both of them are serial romantics, looking to find their one but being a bit too picky in what that means. So there are a LOT of broken hearts around. (Even when I altered jealousy to only occur when steady/engaged, but it's fine ACR, you don't need to work). Marcy is still hopelessly in love with Austin, but she knows she could only ever be his best friend and has accepted that beautifully, they make the best roommates and I can see them being in each other's lives forever. Marcy has moved on from Emory Peck since he's moved to Port Carlisle to help his brother and sister-in-law with their children, so she's allowing herself to explore her attraction to his other brother Cyprus. There might be some competition there if she decides to actively pursue him, as he's hit it off great with Iris Steel, even if there's quite a bit of an age gap between them.

Oh, I can't believe I almost forgot what happened to Jim Lajoie! After many days of battling the flu he picked up from work, he passed away in the middle of the night. His wife Brooke has yet to realize she's pregnant with their first child after many years of trying. It's going to be a bittersweet moment for sure. Hopefully Oliver copes well with all of the changes, especially as he's off to college in the coming round.

The rest of the hood has been progressing as normal, many children being born. Three to Nickolas and Samantha Adler, they're probably going to miss Aubrey's help once she leaves for college. I can't wait for her to be free to connect with Daphne and her family, as she's already close to her nephew Oliver unbeknownst to her mother of their family relation. Nickolas has an interest in reconnection as well, but he's a bit busy with his own wife and children now, and still fears disappointing their mother. Wyatt and Brooke Peck have been juggling their careers, extra work from home duties, and raising their 3 children. They both want more children, with Wyatt really interested in adoptions as Brooke has had a tough go with the back to back pregnancies. Thankfully Emory was more than down to move into the guest suite of their gorgeous home (which i may have to admit I made too large, but c'mon he's a celebrity chef, she's an Icon, and they want 4-6 children).
Sorry for the super long post! I didn't realize how much had actually gone on until I started going through my spreadsheets haha. I'm doing family photoshoots this round for the larger households, so expect those in the photos forum soon if you're interested

@Charmful, I loved your pics. It looked like a fun vacation!

Erin Beaker Curious also passed away of old age this rotation. She and Lazlo spent her last day woohooing in various places until exhaustion. They had a great marriage, and he is going to miss her a lot, especially once Aaron goes to college and it's just him and what is seriously the crankiest cat I have ever seen.

Also, Klara and Aldric bought the house that belonged to Ajay and Lola. It is definitely an upgrade and fully furnished with very nice things, but they spent four days cleaning up the ashes from the wildfire even after hiring a maid. So that's all they did.

I've got five young adults in college now, and they brought two townies with them. In brief, they are:

• Atticus Beaker (Knowledge), son of Loki and Circe, turned himself around to get into college with two scholarships after nearly failing out of high school.

• Isabelle Curious (Family), daughter of Vidcund via alien abduction, kind of wild in high school; we'll see if she settles down in college. She and Atticus are a couple.

• Charlotte Terrano (Romance), daughter of Stella and Johnny Smith. Her dad raised her alone, and she was very close to Ophelia growing up. In high school, she thought all the Strangetown boys were too small-town for her so she never dated; she couldn't wait to get to college and meet some quote-unquote real men.

• Jacob Vonderstein (Family), son of Buck Grunt and Klara Vonderstein, raised by Klara and Aldric Davis. He's kind of reserved and has a hard time getting to know people. He values order in his life and is my only non-straight YA (he is bi).

• Benjamin Moonbeam (Popularity), son of Ripp Grunt and Blossom Moonbeam. His mom raised him alone, but he takes after his dad (before the resurrection). He had a long-time girlfriend in high school plus a couple of girls on the side just for woohooing.

• Caryl Draga (Fortune), townie who was Benjamin's high school steady girlfriend and came to college with him.

• River Smith (Knowledge), townie friend of Benjamin's who came to college with him and has caught Charlotte's eye.

Thanks everyone! It was a fun project to make! I want to give a special shout out to terrain paints because that's what really makes these lots look like they are in the wilderness. The various pine needles, dirt, rock patterns splashed around really sold it. Pond and Sea overhaul helped a lot too

So much going on! Finally back to Strangetown Proper

I came back to the Curious house and it was a wreck. The Cleanbot malfunctioned in the snow and I couldn’t find it for several hours. It spewed so much trash that Lazlo and Pascal spent forever picking up trash. Neither of them had enough skill to fix the bot and Vidcund was sleeping.

Both of the alien babies aged up. I also took Vidcund out to see Crystal Vu. I forgot she was a townie and figured we’d meet up at her place. He had a dream date with her, got engaged right before his dream date ended. Then he never ever rolled another want about her. Ever.

Sigh...

—-

Nervous Subject and his former dormie husband (Shane) are very happy together. They just bought a womrat and adopted a kid who showed up in the duck floaty swimsuit. Perfect.

For anyone wondering — most people hook up Pascal and Nervous, but he was very “Meh.” about him. He did have the hots for Loki. Turns out he has a thing for blondes in my game. Shane likes Loki too. They both talk about him over breakfast— little pink hearts everywhere.

In my game story, Nervous has had his memory and nearly all his personality wiped by Loki and Circe. They released him because they didn’t think he’d be safe alone with a baby. Pascal is his friend and feels sorry for him, but didn’t trust him with the girls at home either. The only one who had any faith was Shane.

Nervous is extremely naive and scared of everything. He has a very low level job in the military that lets him come home before his new son gets home from school. So he’s got a man, a boy and a womrat. Life is good.

—-
The Loners have a baby girl. Lola survived the triple crazy shift in the medical career (the ones where after promotion, the next shift starts 2-3 hours later) other than that, things were dull.

I didn't get an awful lot done, I only played the Grunts through to Wednesday morning.

Monday:
With the bus not due for another hour, Tank went to work on the obstacle course, Ripp practised his romance in the mirror, and Buck gave Jill a call. Tank finished up just as the school bus showed and got on, whereas Ripp was a little too into what he was doing and Buck was a little deep into conversation. Buck's conversation wrapped up an hour after the bus left, same goes for Ripp's practice. Buck realised the time and began walking to school. Ripp had to wait for Buck to leave, before he could make a start on walking.

When the teens came home at 13:00, Tank got an A+ and Ripp got a B+, which was unexpected. Tank began to do his homework, while Ripp watched the TV. It wasn't long until, Ripp noticed Johnny outside the living room window, so went out to greet him. As Johnny was getting comfortable on the computer, Tank left the room to work on the obstacle course while Ripp, noticing the welcome wagon outside, went to greet them. At 15:00, Buck returned with an A+ and promptly did his homework.

In the evening, Tank made some burnt Mac & Cheese that everyone reluctantly ate, before turning in for the night.

Tuesday:
At 4:00, Ripp woke up to shower and empty himself, before finishing his homework. He went back to bed for an hour, before the school bus came.

At 13:00, Tank did his homework and pottered around the house, while Ripp watched TV for a bit before going to work. Buck arrived home at 15:00, did his homework and then played with his toy box. At 18:00, Tank made Mac & Cheese again, and didn't burn it this time, while Ripp arrived home and went straight to bed. Tank and Buck ate, before putting the leftovers away and turning in for the night.

That's honestly all I was able to get done with the Grunt family. Next time, I'll play the Grunts from Wednesday through to Monday morning.

@CrystalFlame360 I forget, is the General dead in your game?

William Williamson did not waste much time after Kristen's death. He wanted to go on a date, so he called up his coworker and friend Crystal Vu. The date went well, and he wanted to get engaged. Then he wanted to get married. So they did all that in one weekend. She brought a lot of nice stuff with her that helped refurnish the living room after the fire.

Tank saw them together on the date, and even though he and Crystal weren't serious or exclusive, he got jealous. He followed them home and crashed William's daughter's teen party. William finally had to beat him up to get him to leave, and even though William is portly and has 0 body points, he won the fight. Tank has been acting erratically since the General's death. Previously, he kept going over to Klara's house in the middle of the night. They had had an affair, but that was over a while ago. Anytime anyone would come outside to see what he wanted, he'd just say he'd have to get home, then he'd be back a few minutes later. Stalkerish.

At home, Tank was acting pretty normal, and he woohooed with the Diva in the hot tub when Chloe brought her home from work. Chloe had a few dates with a townie named Jeff, but then just as he was arriving for one, lightning caught the tree in front of him on fire and he ran home, yelling that she should never call him again. So that seems to be the end of that relationship.

Lazlo has had his baby, Marie, and the 60s Curious household is complete. Nobody has been able to go into the lab or get any work done in the computer room for days, the yard is a mess, and there's always somebody with some need on the verge of failing, but nobody's had a bathroom accident, the children and pets are all relatively clean and well-fed (though this is partly because nobody is stopping Tycho from getting into the pet food), and the only one who's passed out in his food at all is Lazlo. There was a stuck noise emitter on the TV, so I had to delete it, and Tycho had a fit that it was gone; but his first bottle of smart milk got stuck and somebody taught him to walk, so he's all right now. Lazlo had to go all the way to 88 on a grocery run to get his fun to acceptable levels, and he wants to date Crystal desperately, but autonomously all he does is try to feed babies. Nervous is a big help, though Vidcund is angry at the state he leaves the bathroom in. I'm hoping a little micromanagement will win them some breathing room next time I play them. This is not the most babies I've ever had in a house, after all.

Jill and Buck have both grown up to teen and rolled Family aspirations, which ought to make them a definite couple, but that's boring and Buck's turn-ons represent a preference for men. Buck did not get a party, but invited Jill and Tank's entire frat over while Ripp and the General were both at work and I was getting threatening messages about the social worker. Jill got a party that went off very well, with a period-appropriate party dress and a little brother named Jimmy.

Ajay Loner braved the difficulties of dating an apartment neighbor and now wants to get engaged to Erin. She had a nice time and fell in love first - but isn't interested in committing at this time. Lola and Kristen hope to get married on Kristen's next day off, but Kristen just got a promotion and can't very well ask for a vacation day to have a non-legal ceremony with the girlfriend it's not culturally acceptable to have. Lola's business is doing very well, though. Chloe dated Abhijeet Cho, who is a triple bolter, and he and his townie friend Alton (who looks exactly like Alan Rickman as Snape) called her for an outing, which very nearly went south when her other triple-bolter that she just exchanged virginities with showed up at the bowling alley. She had to cut things short to go to work anyhow.

Meanwhile, on campus, Ophelia has moved into a dorm and met Klara, Blossom, and Stella, and through them, the sorority. Only Jessie and Mickey have dated yet, but autonomous flirting is everywhere - especially DJ and Tank, Guy and Jasmine, and a random hippy dormie named Johnny Cake and Frances III (who is almost certainly a transman in this iteration, which explains why he looks so worried all the time). So far college is a round of parties and term papers. Since it's the 60s, I'm going to start buying anti-jealousy potions as soon as anyone can afford them and it'll be a free love fest till the engagements start.

I decided to go ahead and play the Beaker and Curious houses, and as I predicted, it was both Circe's and Vidcund's time to go. Vidcund spent Circe's last day with her. They didn't get romantic, just more like old friends spending a day together. But he was so upset by Circe's death that when I got to his house, he went into aspiration failure and then booty-called some random townie I didn't even know he liked. That was his last day. I took the opportunity of both houses being empty to remodel them, and they have gone on the market as none of the kids want to deal with the property taxes on those monstrosities. Although if anyone purchases either house, they'll likely get some ghosts in the bargain. Loki and Circe's urns are hidden in the top floor of the tower, and Pascal and Vidcund's graves are up on the viewing platform, which is no longer accessible, close to their beloved aliens.

Yes, the General is dead in my game.

I didn't get much done today, as I'd played on the PS4 with my sister, but it was an eventful play session to say the least. I'll preface this post by saying that I gave the Weekly Arsonist mod a go, just out of curiosity. Gives you a slight clue as to what occurred...

On a more happy note, I forgot to mention that when Ripp got home on Tuesday, he got an A+.

Wednesday:
Ripp woke early to do his homework again, like 2am early. He finished it at 5am and went back to bed for a couple of hours. The school bus came, prompting the boys to leave.

At 1pm, Tank and Ripp returned home; the former watched the fish for a bit before having a shower and giving Skipp a call to chat, while the latter got ready to go to work. Buck returned at 3pm and viewed some pictures before doing his homework. Tank was still talking to Skipp when Ripp got home at 6pm. Because he was due to leave for college the next day, Tank thought that he should throw a formal going away party for himself; he invited Tiffany, Skipp, Ophelia, and Zidane. Johnny wasn't invited since he and Tank hate each other.

Everyone was chatting, joking, and playing games, while Ripp made some Mac & Cheese. The meal was more so that Buck could have something to eat and go to bed, but everyone was welcome to a bowl. The bowls were completely emptied. Buck bid everyone goodnight, while Ripp took the bowls to wash them in the sink, just so he could get away from Tank.

Speaking of Tank, he noticed a suspicious sim sneaking around through one of the windows. Not wanting to take any chances, he ran into the kitchen to call the police, who said that they'd be there as fast as they could. Shortly after Tank got off the phone, the dining room burst into flames, and Ripp, catching a brief smell of the smoke and hearing screams, ran to call the firefighters. The living room chair then burst into flames, prompting Ripp, Tiffany, and Ophelia to run upstairs. They thought the workout room was safe, but it wasn't as that too was on fire. They found out too late when Ripp caught on fire, knocking Tiffany out of her panic to whip out a fire extinguisher to try and save him. Fortunately, a firefighter had just entered the room to give her a hand, while another one went to save Buck, who was trapped in Tank's room and on fire.

Thursday:
This went on until the early hours of the morning.

At 2am, the guests left, except for Tiffany who stayed, and with the fire having died down, Ripp went to take a shower. He didn't get that far into it, as he passed out in the nude standing up. The firefighters left at 4am, and Tank left an hour later to go to college.

The house was a state; the living room furniture, a set of dining furniture, kitchen counters, most of the exercise room, and the whole of Tank's room was reduced to ash. Tiffany went to use one of the toilets, but walked in on a passed out, naked Ripp. He was promptly woken up and told to finish off his shower and go to bed; he did so after, unfortunately, having an accident.

Buck was well enough to go to school, but Ripp wasn't; he slept most of the day away and was restless due to being disturbed by nightmares, which he awoke from frequently. Tiffany stayed to keep an eye on him and to clean up most of the ash. Ripp helped when he woke up in the afternoon. Tiffany had to go home due to needing some rest herself, so Ripp invited Johnny, Zidane, Skipp, and Ophelia over to help him with the remaining ash piles, he even ordered pizza since he and Buck were starving and there was no fridge.

The house was cleaned, the boys and girl were well fed, and the Grunt kids were given enough money to replace lost necessities. Buck also aged to a teen and got given the popularity aspiration. He aged badly unfortunately. They went to bed, hoping to be ready to tackle school.

After those traumatic few days, I hope their remaining few days in this round are good for them. Next time, I'll be playing the Grunt family from Friday through to Monday, and if I have time, the Singles.

Pictures of the party under spoilers...

Sim logic means the more people are fighting and miserable, the more they enjoy it.
It means they're a bunch of masochistic sadists.
So a fire is perfectly acceptable as a means of amusement. "Don't mind me burning to death, I'll just get out of your way"

I replaced Crammy's Community TIme with Chris Hatch's. Its much better, but all my sims that were on lots seem to be gone forever. I was playing tired and forgot how to get them back. Now I know how to do it, but it soured my game. I'm going to stop strangetown and try something else for a while. Im kinda sad. Sorry not a play update. Right now in my game, I'll be working on CC. I have NONE! but I'll keep up with the what's happening thread.