Belladonna 8/14/21

 Dec 2003

Justin Cleveland just barely passed another semester, while all the rest of his frat brothers got expelled.  If Justin can make it through one more term, he'll graduate with a degree in history.

Jan 2004

Jessica Peterson is doing everything she can to keep busy these days.  She goes to work, cleans her trailer, watches movies, and reads books, all while waiting for the phone to ring.  Unfortunately, when the phone does ring, it's never Carlos.  She's beginning to worry.

Justin began his final semester of college and he's short quite a few points in charisma and logic.  Since he doesn't have a want to skill, nor do any of his traits encourage skilling, and he hasn't rolled an ROS that compels him to do so, the only way he's going to get those points is autonomously.  Charisma can't be gained autonomously, so that leaves logic.  There's a telescope at the frat house, but Justin has shown absolutely no interest in it.  So I took him down to the shops, where there's a chess board to see if he'd bite.  He did play for a while, earning one point, but then he lost interest and went off to play pool instead.  He still needs two more points, so we'll have to wait and see if he manages to get those before the end of the term.

Happy Simming!

Belladonna 8/13/21

 Aug 2003

Armand DeBateau is a successful businessman with a teenaged daughter, Tara, who he adopted right after his divorce from Jessica Peterson.  Two years ago, he fell in love with and married Kimberly Cordial.  They've been trying to have a baby ever since, but Kim is suffering from fertility issues that may prevent her from ever conceiving.  Even with the fertility treatments that Armand was happy to provide, the chances are slim.  They could always adopt, but Kimberly really wants a child of her own.  They're both young still and can afford to try for a while longer before making the decision to adopt.

Justin began his first semester as a senior at SSU.  All of his frat brothers are on academic probation and there's a good chance he'll be here alone during his next term.

Sept 2003

Ramir and Ana Patel have been married for over a decade, but have only just recently started their family.  Their son Bharat is just three years old and they just found out they're expecting their second child in June.  The timing might not be great for a job switch, but Ramir has always wanted to be a chef and when the opportunity came up, he couldn't pass it up.  It will mean less money for the family, particularly if Ana quits her job to care for the children.  Not to mention they'll likely need to start looking for a house, as their apartment will be cramped once there are four people (and a cat) living in it.

Oct 2003

Carlos Contender is (inexplicably) 86 years old and a confirmed bachelor.  He's a former athlete and Isabel Baldwin's uncle.  Recently he started dating Jessica Peterson, but he must have an inkling that she's a gold digger because he rarely puts forth any effort in the relationship.

Justin continues to coast through senior year.  He's not too focused on skilling or studying, but since his hobby is tinkering, he might eventually break (and then fix) enough things to gain a mechanical point that he needs to pass.

Nov 2003

The Baldwin family recently moved out of their apartment and into a house (their household was corrupted and wouldn't load, so they kind of had to move), where they have a lot more room and some very nice amenities, like fireplaces and a swimming pool.  Money is pretty tight though, since Benjamin had just started a new job working for the mayoral campaign.  Although Isabel has always been a stay-at-home mom, she took a job to help bring in extra cash to help with furnishing the house.  Lately she's also been thinking about having another baby, even though she's 45 and her kids, Sofia and Marcus, are 12 and 7, respectively.  It may not happen, but it's now or never because time is running out, so she and Ben are officially trying.

Happy Simming!

Belladonna 8/12/21

 May 2003

Gabriel Green and Chastity Gere have been living together for a while now, but neither is in any rush to get engaged.  Gabriel has always dreamed of being a doctor, but the lack of a college degree prevents that from becoming a reality.  Consequently, he moves in and out of dead end jobs, never being satisfied with any of them.  He's currently unemployed, which gives him time to study up on fire safety, argue with the neighbors, and try to befriend stray animals.  Chastity doesn't really mind her job as a record store clerk and tries to put her best effort forward no matter what.  She hopes her boyfriend will develop some ambition soon because one income won't keep them afloat for long.

Justin Cleveland just barely squeaked by, fixing a shower and earning a mechanical point he needed to pass just hours before his final exam.  In any event, he's now finished junior year and will soon begin his final year at SSU.

June 2003

Geoff Rutherford is on his own now that his roommate Connor moved out to live with his girlfriend.  His dog Otis keeps him company, but he'd really like to make a connection with someone, even if it's only a casual dating situation.  To that end, he attended a speed dating event at the park.  He met some guys, but didn't particularly hit it off with any of them.  Earning a promotion at work didn't even cheer him up; he's still feeling pretty down in the dumps.

July 2003

Timothy Riley and Vivian Cho got married at long last.  They've been together for a while now, took things slowly, and made sure their daughters got along with each other before making the decision to take the plunge.  Vivian is quite a bit older than Tim and her biological clock is ticking.  She really wants to have another baby, though Tim is on the fence, feeling their family is great the way it is (his daughter Sally is turning 10 in December and her daughter Etsu will be 7 in August).  Nevertheless, Viv has begun taking fertility treatments in an effort to maximize her chances of becoming pregnant, though at her age it isn't very likely that she'll conceive again.

Happy Simming!

Belladonna 8/11/21

 Mar 2003

Samantha Cordial has been living alone ever since her twin Kimberly got married a couple of years ago.  However, her recent engagement to Connor Weir has led to him moving in while they plan the wedding.  While they may never be as wealthy as Kimberly and Armand, they should be comfortable with two professional incomes (she's in Medicine, he's in Business).  If she's concerned at all about Connor's somewhat abrasive personality, she's keeping it to herself.

Justin is still facing academic probation, given that he's not studying at all.  His focus has shifted to getting new pledges and getting them to do his work, but he doesn't actually have any friends outside the fraternity, so no one's really interested in his pitch.

Apr 2003

Jason and Marissa Cleveland have been married for over 20 years and they're very comfortable in their routine.  Marissa's parents always looked down on Jason, who they didn't think was good enough for their daughter, but he's proud of what he's achieved - a beautiful home, making vice by the age of 50, and a son who will be the first Cleveland to earn a college degree.  Marissa sometimes finds it hard to fill her hours now that Justin is away at college and Jason is always working, but she's content with her life.

Happy Simming!

Belladonna 8/10/21

 I've finished a round in Belladonna, made a few tweaks and have some others in mind that I still need to work out, but it's functional as is, so I'm going to keep going while I continue to ponder those changes.  Here's a synopsis of what I've got so far:

--I kept the aging system and am recording ages as actual ages rather than the way the game records them (i.e. a sim is 35 years old as opposed to 19 days to elder).

--I kept the trait system from Sullivan, but fleshed it out a little so that it has more concrete definitions and actions to be taken for each trait.

--I kept the idea of ROS's, but took inspiration from other simmers' ROS lists for a broader range of events.

--I kept the risky woohoo, fertility, and cheating percentages, but also added more correlation to traits with them.

--I modified the depression outcomes.

--I greatly simplified the college/career system.

--I kept a handful of the financial costs, letting the others go because this was the main complication that kept me from playing, since I don't have any mods or hacks in my game to simplify the payments.

--Finally, I'm playing a round as 12 months, switching the season for the whole neighborhood every three months, and each household gets randomly assigned to a month during which they'll be played for one day and age one year.  The exception is for pregnancy, in which I play those households during the months that they'll have their "pops' and give birth as well, just with aging off to keep ages in sync.  Uni is also played intermittently in between other households, so that it lines up with the way a school year actually works, and so that I don't have to play so long in Uni all at once because I really hate playing Uni for the most part.

All that being said, when I started playing Belladonna years ago, I decided to start them off in the year 2000 and figured all their birthdates/ages accordingly.  For the upcoming round, we'll be starting in Jan 2003 with Ms. Jessica Peterson.

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Jan 2003

Jessica Peterson has a rocky history in Belladonna Cove.  She was briefly married to Armand DeBateau (a very wealthy businessman), but that ended when she cheated on him and now she lives in the Main Street Mobile Home Park.  She doesn't really have any friends in town (I guess everyone heard about the scandal), but she's recently snagged the attention of Carlos Contender, an elderly former athlete who happens to be quite wealthy.  Though the relationship is new, it could move quickly due to Carlos' age, which is just what Jessica is hoping for I'm sure.  At 36, she's not getting any younger and she needs to secure her future if she doesn't want to be living in a trailer park for the rest of her life.

Justin Cleveland is just starting the Spring term of his junior year at SSU, where he's majoring in history.  He lives at the frat house and was engaged to Phineaus Furley until last semester when Phineaus broke things off after a misunderstanding with a cow mascot.  Phineaus was expelled shortly thereafter due to poor performance and I imagine Justin was relieved not to have to see him every day (Phineaus was also a member of the fraternity), but I think he misses being in a relationship because he's been goofing off and thinking about finding someone new rather than focusing on his studies.  If he's not careful, he could go on academic probation.

Feb 2003

Nathan and Mary Gavigan live in the Sentinel Apartments complex with their two sons, Isaiah, who will be 9 in April and Noah, who is 3 months old.  Nathan works as an athlete and is determined to create the perfect family environment, despite Mary's emotional problems.  Nathan is always in motion, working, cleaning the house, helping with homework, caring for the baby, and keeping fit.  He spends very little time sleeping.  Mary struggles with depression and mood swings and is often too tired to do much more than read the paper and take care of Noah's basic needs while Nathan is at work.  The couple is holding things together at the moment, but it will eventually have an effect on their marriage if something doesn't change.

Happy Simming!

Belladonna 8/4/21

 I'm moving on to my newly revamped Belladonna Cove.  Since I haven't played this 'hood in literal years and have just updated the rules extensively, I'm going to play a round or two before updating so that I can get into the swing of things and make any necessary changes as I play through.  The original rules were heavily copied borrowed from sullivansims.blogspot.com and, though I still love the way she plays, it's too much for me to keep up with, so I saved some parts of it and modified others to better fit my personal style.  I currently have 12 households, plus one Uni student, so I estimate it'll be a week or so before I finish a round.  Until then, Happy Simming!

Boomtown 8/1/21

 The drama continued for Trish Leonard and company.  Trish worked at Oresha, but it didn't rank up.  Dixie had the day off, Nick got fired from a bad chance card, Kenny got promoted, and Dagmar did not.  Dixie decided to move on from Nick and invited Bill over.  Nick came home early after being fired and caught them in bed together.  Since he was still in love with Dixie, he got jealous and slappy and now they're both furious again.  I don't think they're going to get back together.  Trish gave birth to a baby girl named Malia, but didn't pursue a relationship with Nick.  Guess she's happy being the mistress?

End of round.

Happy Simming!