Humble Beginnings
The premise
of this challenge is to play a family (or neighborhood) from very humble
beginnings to the height of opulence through whatever means possible. It is heavily inspired by challenges such as:
The Nickel and Dimed Challenge, Rags to Riches, Boomtown, The Prosperity
Challenge, The Poverty Challenge, and many others that I’ve played over the
years. I have borrowed various
rules/restrictions from these challenges and molded them into a challenge of my
own design. All credit for any
similarities goes entirely to the original creators.
Now that we’ve
got that out of the way, on to the rules of the challenge. I wanted to make it very customizable, so I’ve
color-coded some rules in either green or red to indicate an easier or harder
version. Feel free to mix and match to
suit your own play style. Or just go
ahead and edit whatever you don’t like to make it your own. Let’s get started.
Setup
This
challenge is designed to be played as a neighborhood
challenge, but you can do it with only a single
household if so desired. Simply
ignore any rules that reference interaction with other playable sims.
Create a single adult sim or a family. If creating a family, roll a d6 for the
number of family members, then randomize age/gender of each family member by
whatever means you like. Avoid having
more than two children of the same age, as only twins are possible within the
game (unless, of course, you have a mod/hack that allows for higher
multiples). If you get a family with no
adult, you may create an adult for the purpose of making the family, then kill
them off immediately upon moving in. If
your family does have an adult, the only rule is that none of the children can
be older than toddler (because an adult at 29 days to elder wouldn’t be old
enough to have an older child).
Primary
aspirations are assigned according to zodiac sign:
Romance = Libra or Leo
Family = Gemini or Cancer
Fortune = Taurus or Scorpio
Knowledge = Capricorn or Virgo
Popularity = Aquarius or Pisces
Pleasure = Sagittarius or Aries
Secondary aspirations
are selected randomly for CAS sims (born in sims can be random as well or
choose one of the parents' primary aspirations as their secondary).
Your sim or
family may start as Homeless, Poverty, or Working Class.
Move them into their designated home and give them $0 if Homeless, $500
if Poverty, or $5000 if Working.
Sims will
age up a day early for every life phase except when aging to elder (let them
age naturally) and to adult (send teens to Uni at 8 days to elder, drop them
out, move them back home {deducting the free $20,000 of course}, and give them
2 drinks of elixir (as soon as possible – they may not have enough points or
may not be in a high enough aspiration), so that their starting adult age is 35
days to elder.
If
playing as a neighborhood challenge, play each family for the same amount of
time, and create new sims/families at regular intervals (at the end of each
week or season perhaps?) New
sims/families may start at any class level that has been unlocked so far. If you want to make it interesting, randomize
which class they get.
General Rules
Since this
challenge is primarily about climbing the ladder of social status through
wealth, there will obviously be many restrictions on how money can be earned
and on skilling, as that’s a big part of earning money.
·
Skills
may not be learned from the bookcase unless the sim has a degree (see below).
·
Jobs
available are restricted by class/degree (see below).
·
Teen/elders
may have jobs (except for Homeless).
·
Only
Lower Middle Class or higher may go to hobby lots or keep life insurance
payments.
·
Only
Upper Middle Class or higher may attend private school.
·
Mr.
Humble’s computer may not be kept or sold.
·
No
one is allowed to perform music for tips, dig for treasure, or sell crafted
cars (they can still be crafted to use, however).
·
Paintings
may only be sold if the sim has level 8 creativity.
·
Crafts
from the crafting benches may be sold (toys, robots, etc.) and novels may be
written if a sim owns a computer.
·
Townies/NPCs
can’t be moved in just for their money.
They must become part of the household and follow the rules of the class
they’ve joined. If they have the
required entry skills needed for the job they have upon moving in, they may
keep it.
·
Pets
may not have jobs. Only Wealthy or
higher may breed pets to sell. Middle
Class sims may own pet stores.
·
If
a genie lamp is obtained, it may be sold or sims may wish for anything except
wealth.
·
Career
rewards are not allowed.
·
Aspiration
rewards are allowed, but the money tree and the counterfeit machine may only be
used by Criminals.
·
You
must make a choice on chance cards.
Sims can
have relationships with anyone they choose.
When moving playables in or out with one another, their funds will
determine which class they belong to.
Handle this however you see fit.
There’s a lot of storytelling potential here – a gold digger looking to
snag a rich spouse, a wealthy heir marrying for love, rather than money…so many
possibilities, have fun with it. If you
have ACR, I would recommend adjusting the settings to make is more likely for
poorer sims to have unplanned pregnancies.
If not, you can do what I do which is always try for baby anytime
someone (Homeless, Poverty, or Working) rolls a baby or woohoo want and for the
higher classes try for baby on a baby want or according to their aspiration on
a woohoo want (roll d6 – Romance only on a roll of 1, Pleasure 1 or 2,
Fortune/Knowledge 1-3, Popularity 1-4, and Family 1-5). If sims divorce/split up, their class will be
determined by the funds in each new household.
Again, you can handle this how you see fit. I like to keep the original sim who owned the
house in the house and move the other sim out.
If there are children involved, I decide who gets custody by a three
point scale – whichever parent has the “best” aspiration for parenting (in my
opinion - #1 Family, #2 Pop, #3 Fortune, #4 Knowledge, #5 Pleasure, #6 Romance)
gets a point, whichever parent has the “best” job (subjective, I know) gets a
point, and whichever parent the child likes best gets a point. Whichever parent has the most points gets
custody.
Classes
There are
seven social classes that exist solely for the purpose of assigning rules and
conditions for advancement.
Friendships/relationships may develop across social classes without
restrictions – the heart wants what the heart wants, after all.
Homeless:
Sims of this class live together on a sparsely furnished lot (either
residential or apartment), perhaps a public park or small shop that has been
converted? There should be minimal
shelter, minimal sleeping arrangements, and minimal bathroom facilities. You should keep track of each individual
family’s money for the purpose of advancing to the next class. The only jobs open to this class are begging
and “escorting” (i.e. freestyling for tips and going on dates for money
{selling date flowers}). Only NPCs may
be moved in (no regular townies). Sims
of this class are not allowed to take any aspiration benefit points except for
the one to assign a secondary aspiration.
Once a family has saved $500, they can move up to Poverty Class.
Poverty:
Upon moving up to this class, the family must buy an object worth $50 to
be placed in inventory and passed down from one generation to the next. This is the family’s emergency fund. Should they ever have to tap into this fund
to pay bills/rent/buy food, etc., they will immediately be demoted to Homeless
and will need to move to a Homeless lot.
Sims of this class live in small motel rooms or abandoned warehouses
converted to tiny apartments (should be apartments, because they need to pay
rent). In addition to begging and
escorting, sims may now work as baristas, bartenders, and dj’s, as well as in
the Culinary, Slacker, and Criminal careers.
Barista, bartender, and dj jobs consist of the sim going to a community
lot and working at these activities for a maximum of 3 hours per day per job
type (i.e. only one barista shift, one bartending shift, and one dj shift
allowed per sim per day). In addition, a
sim must have at least one mechanical point to be hired as either a barista or
a bartender and to be a dj they must have at least one creativity point. In order to take a job in Culinary, a sim
must have 2 points in either cooking, creativity, or logic. For Slacker they need 2 points of either
creativity, mechanical, or charisma. For
Criminal, it’s 3 points of either body, creativity, or mechanical. (There are additional consequences with working
in the Criminal career. See below.) *Note:
Any jobs performed on community lots must be worked around the sim’s
regular job, if any. In other words, you
can’t take advantage of time not passing on the home lot and send a sim out to
work three shifts on a community lot, and then come home where it’s still 7:00
a.m. and go off to their regular job. If
they do a shift before work, they must leave and go home before their regular
job begins. Vacation days are not
allowed. If a sim misses a day of work,
they must quit before the vacation income is paid. Only NPCs may be moved in (no regular
townies). Sims of this class are not
allowed to take any aspiration benefit points except for the one to assign a
secondary aspiration. This class also
has an additional struggle – the crime syndicate that has a strangle hold on
the neighborhood. Each family must pay
$500/week to the crime syndicate (give a $500 object to the landlord?), unless
there is an adult in the household working as a Criminal (teens and elders may
work as Criminals, but they don’t qualify the family for exemption from this
payment). Non-payment will result in
consequences (see below). Once a family
has saved $5000, they can move up to Working Class.
Working:
Upon moving up to this class, the family must replace their $50
emergency fund with a $500 fund. Should
they need to tap into it, they’ll be demoted to Poverty Class and must move to
Poverty class housing. Sims of this
class live in small rental homes (could be individual townhouses or row houses,
as long as they are apartments that require rent to be paid). Begging and escorting are no longer allowed,
but all other jobs remain with the same requirements to enter the job. In addition, the following jobs will open up
with the requirement of at least 3 skill points pertaining to the job before
being hired: Law Enforcement (logic, body, or cleaning), Military (body,
mechanical, charisma), Athletic (body, mechanical, charisma), and Entertainment
(body, creativity, charisma). Sims of
this class may also work as employees in sim-owned businesses. Vacation days are still not allowed and the
$500 payment to the crime syndicate is still required (except for
Criminals). Only NPCs may be moved in
(no regular townies). Sims may now take
Needs and Jobs benefit points after taking the point to assign their secondary
aspiration, but they must be chosen randomly.
Once the family has saved $25,000, they can move up to Lower Middle
Class.
Lower Middle:
Upon moving up to this class, the family must replace their $500
emergency fund with a $2500 fund (demotion if tapped into). Sims of this class will own their own homes
(no more rent!), but will now be required to pay 10% of their lot value each
week for property taxes (it may be useful to create a “tax collector” sim who
owns a community lot where sims can go to give away an item worth the value of
their tax payment). Criminals may choose
not to pay property taxes, but may face consequences for doing so (see
below). Businesses may now be owned,
either home or community lot. Employees
may be hired from Working Class families or from the townie pool. Business perks must be selected at
random. Families no longer need to pay
the crime syndicate and vacation days are now allowed. Townies may now be moved in. Sims may now take all benefit points (still
assign secondary aspiration first), but they must be chosen randomly. Once the family has saved $100,000, they can
move up to Upper Middle Class.
Upper Middle:
Upon moving up to this class, the family must replace their $2500
emergency fund with a $10,000 fund (demotion if tapped into). Sims of this class will own their own homes
(they may stay in the home they already own or move to a larger home, as
desired). Property taxes still apply and
all other conditions of Lower Middle Class remain in effect. Once the family has saved $250,000, they can
move up to Wealthy.
Wealthy:
Upon moving up to this class, the family must replace their $10,000
emergency fund with a $25,000 fund (demotion is tapped into). Sims of this class will own their own homes or
live in luxury apartments (their old homes will no longer do and they should
upgrade to a more expensive house or move to an upscale apartment
building). Property taxes (for those in
houses) still apply, etc. Once the
family has saved $1,000,000, they can move up to Elite.
Elite:
Upon moving up to this class, the family must replace their $25,000
emergency fund with a $100,000 fund (demotion if tapped into). Sims of this class will own their own homes
or live in luxury apartments (they may remain where they are or moved as
desired). Property taxes (for those in
houses) still apply, etc.
Higher Education
I find
University tedious to play, so I’ve made a different system for higher
education here. Uni will still be used
as a means for growing teens into adults, but that’s it. If you really love playing sims through Uni,
by all means, feel free to edit these rules to suit yourself.
Community College:
Community college classes are only available online, so a computer must
be owned (even though nothing will actually be done on the computer). A sim will pay $500 per “class” they
take. The “classes” are the special
skills available on the bookcase (fire safety, etc.) Classes will be taken in the following order:
Parenting, Fire Safety, Anger Mgmt., Lifelong Happiness, Physiology, and
Couples Counseling. Once a sim has
learned all six of these skills, they will have earned their degree and the
following jobs will be opened to them with the requirement of at least 5 skill
points pertaining to the job before being hired (even if they are otherwise
restricted by their class): Gamer (creativity,
logic, mechanical), Music (charisma, creativity, mechanical), Adventurer (body,
charisma, mechanical), Dance (body, creativity, charisma), and Architecture
(mechanical, logic, creativity).
Additionally, sims with a degree may now study skills from the bookcase,
teach children/teens to study, and take vacation days (even if otherwise
restricted by their class).
University:
University classes take place in person at a residential or apartment
lot that is designated as the University.
Sims will need to move to this lot to study. The lot can be designed any way you wish, but
make sure to put lots of skilling items in the communal area for all students
to have access to. Classes will work the
same as in community college, but the cost for each class is $1000. Once they’ve finished their classes, students
will also need to write a “thesis” (a novel) in order to earn their degree. A University degree opens up all the jobs
from Community College (with the same skill requirements), as well as the
following with the requirement of at least 7 skill points pertaining to the job
before being hired: Journalism
(charisma, cooking, creativity), Politics (logic, creativity, charisma),
Science (logic, cooking, cleaning), Medicine (logic, mechanical, cleaning), Oceanography
(body, mechanical, cleaning), Business (logic, creativity, charisma), Law
(charisma, cleaning, logic), Education (charisma, cleaning, logic), and
Intelligence (logic, mechanical, cleaning).
Additionally, sims with a degree may now study skills from the bookcase,
teach children/teens to study, and take vacation days (even if otherwise
restricted by their class).
*Note: Teens
who earn scholarships may keep the money to apply to classes, but must take at
least one class. They may not keep the
free $500 the games gives them upon moving to Uni, as they are only going there
long enough to age up and drop out.
Crime Syndicate
Sims
required to pay the crime syndicate (i.e. Poverty and Working Class sims) will
face severe consequences for non-payment.
The head-of-household (oldest sim in the family) is responsible for the
payment. Should the family be unable to
pay what is owed, they will pay as much as they have and the head-of-household
will not be able to work the next day (if he/she is off the next day – lucky break,
if staying home from work results in vacation pay being paid – deduct it from
their funds). The second time a family
fails to pay what is owed, they will pay as much as they have and the
head-of-household will be unable to work for five days (same conditions as
above). Three strikes and they’re out,
literally. The syndicate does not
tolerate continual offenses. Pay what
they can and then kill off the head-of-household. The next oldest sim in the family becomes the
new head-of-household and the count resets (the syndicate doesn’t hold the
previous family member’s crimes against them, isn’t that nice of them?)
Criminal career:
If an adult sim in the household is working in the Criminal career, the
family is exempt from paying the crime syndicate. (This sim does not need to be the
head-of-household.) However, there are
risks associated with being a Criminal.
Every day the Criminal sim goes to work, roll a d20 – a roll of
1-5=death (the streets are tough), 6-10=arrest, and 11-20=safety. (At levels 6-9 of the Criminal career it will
decrease to 1-3=death, 4-6=arrest, and 7-20=safety, and at level 10 it will be
1=death, 2=arrest, 3-20=safety.)
Arrest:
If a sim is arrested, they may hire a lawyer (if they can afford one) to
represent them. A good lawyer costs
$20,000, a lousy one costs $5000, and a public defender is free. Once they have retained counsel, roll a d6 –
with a good lawyer, 1=conviction and 2-6=acquittal, with a lousy lawyer,
1,3,5=conviction and 2,4,6=acquittal, and with a public defender 1-5=conviction
and 6=acquittal. (Author’s note: This is
in no way a criticism of public defenders.
They work very hard for very little pay.
It’s a criticism of the system that gives them too little time and
resources to do their jobs effectively.)
Jail:
If a sim is convicted, they will be sentenced to 3 days x their current
job level, and must be moved out of the home and into the prison lot (you can
make this lot however you want, but sims should not be allowed to interact with
sims outside the jail except by phone, they shouldn’t be able to leave the lot,
etc. – basically just make it prison) for the length of their sentence. While a sim is in jail, their family may
still benefit from the exemption of crime syndicate payments as long as the
jailed sim retains their job (remember, they can’t leave the lot, especially
not to go out and commit more crimes!)
In this instance, it’s okay to use vacation days, as the prison lot will
be getting the money anyway, and it will only serve to (possibly) allow a sim
to keep their job until the end of their sentence, at which point they’ll move
back home (obviously, they can’t bring the free $20,000 they’ll get from moving
out back home with them). If they’re
fired while in jail, their family back home must begin paying again, unless
there is another adult sim in the household working in Criminal. For simplicity’s sake, teens and elders who
are convicted of crimes will pay a $200 fine and be forced to quit their jobs
rather than going to prison. (They earn
very little money anyway and it’s a hassle to move teens around, so we’ll just
say the courts are lenient on them.)
Job
levels: 1 – Pickpocket
2 – Bagman
3 – Bookie
4 – Con Artist
5 – Getaway driver
6 – Bank robber
7 – Cat burglar
8 –
Counterfeiter
9 – Smuggler
10 –
Criminal mastermind
Parole:
(Optional) If you want, you can
allow sims to be paroled after 2/3 of their sentence has been served. The chances of getting paroled go down with
subsequent sentences. Roll a d6 – if it’s
their first time in jail, 1=no parole and 2-6=parole, if it’s their 2nd
time, 1,3,5=no and 2,4,6=yes, 3rd time, 1-5=no and 6=yes. After 3 times, no parole will be granted as
they are obviously a career criminal. If
paroled, the sim may return home immediately; if not, they must serve the rest
of their sentence before returning home.
Tax evasion:
Criminals may choose not to pay their property taxes, however the
consequences for non-payment are as follows:
roll a d6 – if 1,3,5 they’ve been caught and must pay their taxes plus a
50% penalty, as well as a 3 day jail sentence; if 2,4,6 they got away with it
and there are no consequences. For each
subsequent offense add 2 additional days to their jail sentence. (Many of the most famous criminals in history
were imprisoned, not for their other crimes, but for failing to pay their
taxes.)
Kidnapping/Ransom:
A Criminal Mastermind may choose to kidnap any member of a Wealthy or
Elite family that walks by their house.
Greet the sim and then lock them into the house. Roll a d6 – 2,4,6=successful
kidnapping/ransom, and 1,3,5=unsuccessful.
If successful, add $100,000 to the household funds (deduct this amount
from the victim’s family when played).
If unsuccessful, the Criminal Mastermind gets arrested (follow the
normal procedure) and if convicted, add 10 additional days to their sentence
for the charge of kidnapping. Either
way, release the victim.
Miscellaneous
You may need
to create a sim at some point to be a foster parent to children whose parents
are in jail or you could use a family you already have in play.
When a
parent is released from jail, perhaps they should be required to take a
parenting class before getting their kids back?
Or if one of their kids ages out of the system before they get out,
perhaps they will take the parenting class and take on raising their
siblings? Possibilities to consider.
What about a
homeless shelter? Maybe wealthier
families could donate funds to build one?
Or taxes could fund it?
These are
just some ideas that you could put into place.
Feel free to do whatever you’d like with this challenge, including
editing it as much as you like to suit your own play style. Most importantly….have fun!!!
