Hi all! As of late I've been finding it harder to hold interest in my poor little simmies (as I'm sure you are too, if you're here). I've always been more into the decorating/building aspect and playing around with a few cool Sims than playing legacy challenges or anything of those sorts. After some searching around, I did find some "fixer upper" challenges that seemed interesting -- but I wanted to put my own spin on it!

This challenge is a mixture of several different survival and fixer upper challenges. For the full experience, you'll at least want the Outdoor Retreat (for outdoorsy objects) and Vampires (for cobwebs, cracks, damaged walls etc) packs.

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"My dear grandchild,

I know your parents and I never really got along, but I want you to know that my love for you is eternal. I haven't got money to give you, or fancy things, but I do have one thing. There is a little cabin in the woods, a real fixer-upper that I was never able to finish myself. I want you to have it. Inside this envelope you will find the deed to the property and the key. Do with it what you will.

Love,
Grandpa"

A tear rolls down your cheek as your eyes scan over the letter, and when you are finished, you retrieve the deed and the key from inside the envelope. Oddly enough, the contents smell faintly of the cigars your grandfather used to smoke even though he must have written this letter quite a while ago... before his death. Plopping down the papers on the table, you stand and reach for your coat. The clock ticks closer and closer to the time you're supposed to be at your desk job, but you just stand there, tuning out the sounds of the city outside your crummy apartment.

"I'm an idiot," you tell yourself as you drop your plastic briefcase to the floor and pull your coat on, pocketing the envelope.

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So, as the story goes, your Sim is an ex-yuppie from the city who decides to leave everything behind and start anew in the cabin your late grandfather left for you in his will.

For starters:
1. Make a single sim of your choice. He/she can be young adult or adult, with any traits you would like and any appearance. The only requirement is that your initial aspiration cannot require that your sim has a career. He/she is done with boring desk jobs!
2. Purchase any empty plot of land. Personally, I like to use Mid-Nowhere (bulldozed, of course) in Windenburg because of the look of the place, but it really can be anywhere.
3. Use your remaining funds to build a one-room cabin. Only use the cheapest, most necessary amenities: a single bed, one counter, a stove, a fridge, a sink, a table, etc. Having the Outdoor Retreat pack really helps if you want a camping aesthetic. Make the house look as grungy as possible, and if possible, give the lot traits like "filthy", "gremlins", "haunted", etc. Really anything that makes it worse. Save the nice traits for later, because right now, this place is a dump! If you have any remaining funds, add as many trees and weeds as possible outside. Don't use any pretty trees, shrubs, or flowers, because you will want to upgrade those later.
4. Now that you've built your cabin, use cheats to remove the rest of your funds. From here on out, your Sim is going off the grid!

If you don't want to build your own cabin, I've taken the liberty of doing it for you. You can find it in the gallery under "Grandpa's Cabin" by lily-josephine97.

Money:
1. As I somewhat stated before, your Sim cannot have a real job. Instead, he/she will have to make money by gardening, selling artwork, writing, etc. However, this will be difficult because you will not have access to an easel or computer for a while and your Sim cannot travel somewhere to use one.
2. Your Sim can only cook their own food: this means no quick meals! He/she has to cook actual meals (since they usually cost money), and if possible, fresh ingredients are preferred.
3. Your Sim CANNOT get married or have someone move in until the cabin is complete. They're free to have friends/romantic interests and are welcome to be a part of clubs, but must be on their own for the entirety of the challenge. I want this to be fairly difficult; that means no financial help from anyone else!

Dice:
Now for the fun part! What, did you think you could get away with simply foraging and saving up money? Of course not! Every Sunday in the game, you are allowed to make one change to the cabin/land based on what you roll. If you don't have the funds to complete a task, oh well -- you'll have to wait until next week to roll again!
You're going to want to use twelve-sided dice; you can easily download these on your phone or computer if you don't have any. Here are the possible rolls.

1: You've finally been able to locate some construction materials and you may add a room of any size onto the cabin. You can decorate it any way you want so long as the cost doesn't exceed your funds.
2: Oh, so that's where you put your broom! Go ahead and remove all of the cobwebs in the cabin.
3: It's a nice, sunny day. Get outside and pull some weeds! Remove all of the unwanted plants/rocks outside the cabin to your liking.
4: Time to pay taxes! Remove 1,000 Simoleons from your household. If you don't have that much, change your money to 0.
5: The paint you ordered finally came in. Repaint the inside walls of the cabin and remove any cracks/wall damage.
6: It's time for a much-needed change! Renovate your bathroom and kitchen as you see fit (and as you can afford).
7: Your parents decided to send you some cash. Add 1,000 Simoleons (using the "kaching" cheat) to your household.
8: It's springtime, and that means you can finally do some gardening. Fix up your garden anyway you like, with a budget of course.
9: Today is your favorite holiday! Take the day off and throw the prestige party of your choosing. You can either sell your reward item for cash or use it to decorate the cabin.
10: A flood hit and all of your stuff got wet. Place all unnecessary furniture/decorations into your family inventory for the week.
11: Time for a trip to Ikea! Redecorate one room in the cabin any way you like.
12: You've got a nasty cold and can't do much today. Try again next week!

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I hope you all enjoy this challenge as much as I have. Feel free to post pictures of your completed cabin and let me know if you face any challenge-breaking issues!

Tell me, please, what does point 6 mean? What kind of changes are needed? I dropped this item from the very beginning, I had to move the bones, because I did not understand this position :

I only have the base game, but it still sounds fun. Just to make sure I'm clear on this, we ARE allowed to travel/leave the lot, we just can't use easels, computers, and other skill/money earning objects that we don't own?

And margo7778: #6 just means that you can redecorate the bathroom and kitchen if you can afford to.

This sounds like a lot of fun, I'm excited to try it!

Well, this took most of the day to put together, but here is my "base game" version of Grandpa's Cabin (very CC heavy, though!). I'm working on a backstory for my sim, but mainly I want her to find Grandpa's cabin exactly the way he left it (filthy, and not wired for electricity ) Now I'm contemplating filling all of Newcrest with abandoned, dilapidated shacks !

BTW: I've never tried posting images here, so if there are no images, I screwed up.

I'm going to try this. It sounds interesting. Thanks.

I'm not bored yet with my Simmies, but still love this challenge. I have a lot of things I still want to try in my game, but this is going on a list of things to try. It's the exact kind of game play I enjoy. Thanks for the idea!

This challenge sounds pretty cool. I would get started right away, but I need a clarification. Can I own a restaurant further along in the challenge?? or is that a no-no?

I am playing Stardew Valley right now, and this feels very Stardew/Harvest moon. I like it.
I don't play challenges, but maybe I'll do this someday.
Nice.

Hey all, I haven't logged on in a while so I didn't know that this challenge got approved! I'll try to answer your questions, if you're still interested:

@natwulf666
Yes, you MAY leave the lot to socialize if you would like. You cannot, however, forage, go fishing, or use skill-building items outside of your lot.

@Astrocake7
You may own a restaurant, retail store or have a job once you complete the cabin. Any money-making during the challenge must be through skills such as writing/art/fishing, or you must forage and garden.

OK. Thanks for responding!