Story Blueprint For Your Sims Legacy Family Path

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[00:00:00] Gloria from Yellow Llama Co.:

Welcome to Sentimental Simmer, a podcast made for emotionally attached simmers and storytellers with wild imaginations. I’m your host, Gloria, and I run Yellow Llama Co, a planner shop made to help simmers play with purpose. Every week, I talk all about things, sim life planning, storytelling, and memory keeping. I’ll also brainstorm new ways to obsess over our pixel people, whether they be in the Sims or another live sim game. And now let’s get into it. Today’s episode is all about how you can create a legacy family storyline that can live throughout the generations. Hands down, the best legacy Families are the ones with a strong identity and story. Those are the ones that you look back on with nostalgia and just think, oh my god.

Gloria [00:00:50]:

All the great things I’ve experienced with them, where their lives just fell full and had meaning. An important part of the story of a legacy family are the common goals that family strives to. It’s the red thread connecting the generations, a dynasty of sims all following the same path or maybe not. Maybe the next generation bucks against the family vision, which creates a cleft in the family, and you can have a lot of fun with that where things don’t always align and there’s some conflict. To create this conflict, though, for it even to have it Be a conflict. You need to give the family a constant direction so you can throw those stones in their way. I myself fondly think back to a family I played in this since 3 years ago. The dad and mom were down and out.

Gloria [00:01:31]:

The kids needed they had 2 kids that they had to feed. While the mom tried to earn honest living by selling her garden produce. The dad worked long hours as a security guard or to be honest, I don’t really remember what he did, but I think it was Well, whatever it was, he wasn’t wasn’t happy about it. Okay? Years went by, and the kids grew into adults. The mom was hoping that she was modeling a An honest life and how, you know, rewarding it can be and, you know, that would help steer her kids in the right direction. She hoped, you know, she raised them right. And turns out that the daughter ended up making quick cash as a dancer before getting hitched to a famous rich rapper, and she did this without a prenup. So I think, I guess in the end, all went well for her.

Gloria [00:02:12]:

The son, though, he definitely wanted to stay on the straight and arrow. He wanted to make his mother proud and continue a legacy of honest Earnings, that’s what he did. I don’t remember what he did, career wise, but it wasn’t anything criminal or anything like that. Okay? He wanted to carry on an honest legacy, and He also, had a an honest relationship with, a policewoman that he was actually engaged to, but that was until the dad took up a job with the mafia. So Those playing with this really cool mod, from NRAS called the mobsters mod or something like that. I’ll link it in the show notes. Basically, To prove his loyalty, the father has to do the unthinkable. And first item of business was basically to assassinate his son’s fiance.

Gloria [00:02:51]:

And it was a shame, you know, if he didn’t do this with a happy face. He did want his son to be happy, and he knew she made him happy. And he didn’t have Any issues with Vowel, but business was business. So he pulled the trigger and consulted his son after. Son didn’t know that, you know, dad had done the deed. So, yeah, dad had took his the lovers of his life away, and now he was, like, in shambles. So sad. I didn’t really play the family after that.

Gloria [00:03:15]:

I don’t know. I think probably was your standard laggy, save file issue that stood in the way. But I’m sure if I had continued with this family, I think it would have been fun, for the dad to corrupt his son and bring him in as, like, an ally to the mob. And the honest life the mom had planned for the family would have been ruined, like, by and destroyed by the greed of the dad and the sorrow of the son. Like, moving forward, loyalty and greed would have been The family’s path moving forward. The dad would have blamed, I think, like, a rivalry mob for the death of the fiance, which in turn would motivate the son to really, you know, Go head on into the Mob family and help them get back at the other family so we’d have, like, a misinformed revenge plot thrown in there for good measure. And, of course, later down the line, there would be a snitch in the mob family that would let the son know the truth behind, you know, the murder of his fiancee. And, Unfortunately, by then, the sun would have already been, like, knee deep in some criminal misdoings.

Gloria [00:04:15]:

So, yeah, that’d be very much drama. And that would just be, like, generation 1 or 2. Right? So Super story could have been gold, but maybe I’ll, get into that family one day. But I feel like if you do something like this, if you How about your storyline, like an overall theme for your legacy family from the get go? It really will make them more fun to play. Like, in this case, they went from honest to dishonest to criminal and, You know, moving forward, the dad and his son, they would preach that. Like, they would want that to be, I guess, their family direction moving forward. I think if you give your legacy family some form of direction, it’ll make playing new generations even easier because at least you have kind of like an idea of where things should go or where you can throw the stones in the way and make things, you know, spicy. And then I’ll make each legacy in itself unique because it’ll have its own story, its own background, It’s all motivations that will only get better and deeper with each new generation.

Gloria [00:05:07]:

Now you might be wondering, oh my god. Okay. Cool. That sounds really nice, but Where do I start? Like, I don’t have the energy to think up a a story now. Like, how do I do this? You know, you just need a a few pieces. You need Key factors to build that story. And so I’m gonna share, like, a a basic template, which is really just a few key points you have to hit to jump start it. And I’m also gonna share some examples of how I’ve used these little details to build a starting story and how you can do the same.

Gloria [00:05:37]:

Like, it’s really not that hard. So I start with the founder backstory and vision. So where’s the founder coming from? You know, humble beginnings or you grew up in a a rich family. What whatever could be relevant to the life path that they’ve chosen for the family moving forward. And, like, do they have a vision? What beliefs are behind this vision or behind that life Path that the founder has chosen for this legacy, are there any favorable features that the founder could have or, you know, they could demand on their heirs to have? You know, it could be traits, skills, careers. Are there any expectations they have on the heir? Are there any potential conflicts? So in in particular, How can future generations do things differently to add, like, twists and turns and maybe make it hard for the, legacy family path to be fulfilled. And, also, what kind of heritage can be built? What can the founder or future generations create that support the legacy family’s vision. So, you know, to summarize, we have the founder backstory vision, the belief that the founder has That is the foundation basically of the legacy family storyline going moving forward.

Gloria [00:06:44]:

What are favorable features that the founder or, you know, members of the families can have? That being, like, traits, skills, whereas you can think of more things as well. What are expectations on the heir to be even chosen as an heir? What are potential conflicts that can be introduced, that, you know, can stand in the way of that path that was chosen for the family, and what heritage can you build. This might seem like a lot of points, but you don’t have to come up with all of them yourself. So for example, for some of the storylines I’m gonna share with you now, I came up with only a few bits and bobs, and then I let chat gbt actually fill in blanks, or I found inspiration from the Sims community. Literally, I actually found an article in the Sims community that inspired me for the last story line, which is hilarious. And if you let that direct your story line and help You build that legacy theme. And so my first story is all about or my 1st storyline, my first legacy family path is supernatural world domination. The founder background and vision is that they the founder feels alone in the world as a vampire.

Gloria [00:07:51]:

They’re the only vampire. They just now lost their true love who was mortal, and all they have left is a child. This child is luckily of vampiric bloodline, but they don’t want their child moving forward to ever have that feeling of loss and being alone. And so their goal, their vision is to have a a family legacy that whose main goal in life is to fill the world with other vampires, basically to transform everyone into vampires. And the belief behind the founder, Why they actually want this for their family and for, their their children is, in their mind, creating a world filled with vampires prevents their bloodline from fading into obscurity and ensures that there’s a society where everyone shares the same struggles, and no one has to ultimately endure the pain of loneliness. So that’s his belief. That’s or her belief. That’s why, they’ve made this decision, and that’s why that’s gonna Focus of this family legacy.

Gloria [00:08:49]:

Favorable features would be, you know, ambitious traits. Obviously, they have to be a vampire. Skills that would be favorable are learning all about vampire lore, maybe being a politician. So choosing that as a career path can help Them have influence over other sims, and, obviously, they would expect their heir to carry the occult genes so they’d have to be a vampire And any conflicts that could come about so for example, what if a spare without the occult gene feels like an outcast in their own family, which What? Mind blown. That’s, like, totally against what the founder want in the 1st place. They want everybody to feel belong like they belong and not lonely. But In this case, they’ve actually created the opposite. The spare feels left out because they don’t carry the gene.

Gloria [00:09:34]:

And so this outcast spare, They actually end up turning against the family and their values and their vision, and they do everything in their power to make sure they save other sims from being turned by their sibling. Or What about a rival family? Maybe we have a family of werewolves in town as well, and they make it their mission to stop the family from taking over and transforming everybody else into vampires. So it could be in conflict with the other family’s goal of turning everybody into werewolves. And what kind of heritage could be built in this scenario? So perhaps, the family owns a club that at least it’s not known to the, you know, your everyday sim joe, but they know that it’s where they I like to lure in unsuspecting Sims for transformation. So that could be, you know, a club that is hopping and bopping and popping every night, And that’s why Sims go there and that’s where the deed is done, to where Sims are turned, and that’s where they fulfill that family vision. So that would be supernatural world domination. Next legacy family path idea would be something along the lines of a royal family, a royal legacy. And so founder vision here is the founder himself or the herself is from humble beginnings.

Gloria [00:10:45]:

And I was thinking along like, what my inspiration here was was That Disney movie, The Prince of Egypt, where the prince was found as a baby in a river, but the people didn’t know at the time that that was, you know, a child of royal heritage. And so the kid grows up in poverty and that’s all they know and, you know, all the experiences, the difficulties of being in that environment and having nothing. And so when they grow up, they’re actually having a lot of empathy and emotional intelligence. But once that royal background becomes clear, they actually want to use that Power that they have to dedicate their life and legacy to helping others and to be charitable and to have, like, philanthropic, I I can’t say the word philanthropic values. Favorable features here would be that they are proper and good and friendly. Being a politician would be helpful as well here, but you could also make them into a proper king, via the royalty mod from LizzyNeff. And their beliefs here could just be that everybody should be treated equal and everybody deserves to enjoy the spoils of life and nobody should be less have less than the other. And that’s why it’s important for them to share.

Gloria [00:11:48]:

And that’s important for them that their legacy, that they leave behind, that that’s It’s also the belief instilled in further generations and that they continue to do the same. And so that would be also what they expect from their heir. The heir is sociable and giving and definitely non greedy or maybe materialistic. Those could be conflicts, though. So what if the heir is greedy, Or what if the heir is a kleptomaniac and rebels against the giving spirit of their family? That could really make things difficult. Or maybe the heir is socially awkward and doesn’t really like people. Like, doesn’t really like Sims very much, and so they’re not really motivated to do anything charitable. And the heritage that you could build in this psych philanthropic family would be maybe a community space that, you know, has plenty of garden lot plots and places where sims can get food and shelter at any time, or it could be a recreational space, dedicated to helping other simmers.

Gloria [00:12:42]:

So that could be The life or the the legacy family path of a royal family. Another idea I had would be, like, what if you had a business module dynasty? The so this isn’t just any legacy. It’s a dynasty. So it’s all about making that moola and pass it on business from 1 generation to the next. And so here, The founder, his backstory, they started off with nothing. Then they grew an empire. What they expect from their kin is that They are just as ambitious and hardworking as they are, and that they’re all about making that money. So that’s what’s important.

Gloria [00:13:16]:

The belief here is money makes the world go round, and it’s the only measure of success. And so favorable features, so you can have, you know, ambitious traits, a self assured sim, a materialistic sim is definitely something, the founder would support. They support, you know, if their children or themselves are in business as a career or own their own business, and they expect their children to be driven, hardworking, and focused on making that money, and also, of course, continue the family business and build upon that empire. Now, of course, it could be difficult if you have an heir that’s lazy or if you have an heir that would rather find purpose in the relationships that they cultivate than collecting money. Or you could have an heir that just wants to be an artist and just or travel, and they don’t really care for the family business. Well, that would be tricky for a founder or, you know, maybe an heir if their Future heir went against the overall family vision. Obvious heritage that you could build here would be any owned properties or businesses in town. So in sim 3, for example, you can actually buy out the spa or, other venues in the town.

Gloria [00:14:26]:

You could also own a property in, sim 3 sims 4. You can own a restaurant. You can own a veterinarian clinic, things like that. You can also have a basement full of treasures in the family home or maybe, you know, in a family museum. So these are all things of of, like, wealth and luxury that you can leave behind for future generations. Another idea, which can be quite fun and lets you actually use a lot of features from packs that you might not have used much before would be a family that lives off with grid and aims to be one with the earth and, like, they love animals and stuff like that. So the backstory here of the founder is that they were once a successful lawyer, but yearned for a more simple life. But after winning a case for an evil oil company, which doesn’t exist in The Sims, but we’re making this up now.

Gloria [00:15:11]:

Okay? They felt guilty, and they vowed to make up for their part in this scandal and this oil company, you know, getting away with what they did. And they make wanna make up for this by changing to a simple and more humble life, and they dedicate all their energy and their legacy to saving the natural world. And so their belief here is basically pushing them to, you know, make this vision happen is that they’re driven by the belief that their legacy should be one of positive impact on the environment. They aim to leave behind a legacy that future generations can be proud of, emphasizing the importance of responsible and ethical choices. So that’s what this founder is all about. That’s their jam. Okay? And they want their areas to follow suit because They do not wanna be responsible for some bullshit. And so some favorable features here.

Gloria [00:16:00]:

Some traits would be that, you know, loving the outdoors, A recycled disciple, a friggin, a green fiend, those are like some 4 traits, or, you know, being a technophobe. Those are all things I think The founder would be very much in support in or support of some skills that would be, would contribute to this vision, would be, of course, gardening or herbalism, and I think also being a conservationist. So following that career path would also be great for this family. Those would be also expectations on the heir that they maybe follow a career path that’s all about saving the earth, that they make sure to take care of the earth, that, you know, maybe they’re even vegetarian and, you know, they just follow a lifestyle that is conducive to being ecologically sustainable and possible. Potential conflicts could come into play here. Maybe the heir doesn’t care. He wants to sell a family farm. He doesn’t wanna bother with all these animals.

Gloria [00:16:55]:

And with The all the gardens and all that stuff, he just wants to live a life of luxury. You know? He knows that if he sells the family farm, he’s Can we make in that moola, and that’s all they care about. And so that could be difficult, obviously. That’s, like, part of the heritage also that you can build here as a family farm or a community garden. And if the heir wants to just sell it off, well, then the family not only loses their way in sense of their, you know, legacy See family path, but they also lose their heritage, like the the tangible part, you know, the the family farm that was built and cultivated maybe for generations. And now, like, Error number 4 comes in and wants to, you know, mess everything up for everyone. So, what are we gonna do there? You decide. And yet another story idea, man, I just We’d come in with them, would be, a family legacy path all about criminal intent.

Gloria [00:17:46]:

So here, the founder background envision. Here we have a once skilled gambler known for their luck and strategy, but their addiction led them into debt with dangerous individuals. Again, a little bit made up because you don’t really have these things in the game, but we’re playing make believe half the time. That’s okay. And so they’re faced with mounting losses. They were forced to, to make up for these losses to transition from the casino to the criminal underworld. Actually, you can play with a casino in Sims 3. There’s like a Extra pack you can get for that, but I digress.

Gloria [00:18:18]:

So basically, this high stakes world of gambling instilled in this founder the belief that life is just a game of chance and strategy, and that pushed them to embrace a criminal lifestyle where they could control the odds in their favor. And So here, just to summarize again their belief is that life is just a game. You’re either the player or get played. And by all means and at all costs, always be the player. Always be winning. That is what this founder’s all about, and they want their legacy to stand strong moving forward. They don’t Ever wanna be the, you know, the loser in the equation, and so they make sure that moving forward, that is instilled in their ears. Their children need to know this.

Gloria [00:18:58]:

You know, they’re raised that way. And so favorable features, adventurous. I’m thinking somebody like this sounds like they could you know, they’re not afraid of some Adventure maybe they’re daring. Kleptomaniacs would be perfect. You know? Loyal is important here. So loyalty. And I think A similar competitive spirit would also be very much welcome in the family. Since goals could be juice fizzing, you can imagine they’re creating moonshine.

Gloria [00:19:22]:

And, obviously, following a criminal career would be very much, you know, to the liking of the founder. One mod that I think would be particularly great for this type of storyline will be the mobster career from NRAS, which, you know, allows you to play the family, which is, of course, all about criminal stuff. Also, the Basemental Drugs and Gang mod by Basemental Themselves would also be a good one to add and to, you know, add some criminal features your game. And so some expectations that could be on the heir would be that they have unrelentless loyalty to the family, the family in capital letters because, you know, We’re not talking about a family anymore. We’re talking about the mafia. Potential conflicts could be sibling rivalry that splits the family. You know? It could be, 2 siblings that they both wanna be the heir, and they both wanna be the new one to control the family. So they’re both very much criminal, Totally open for the vision.

Gloria [00:20:14]:

Totally wanna push that forward, but they aren’t in line of who’s gonna be the the top dog here. So that can create some conflict. Maybe they both, like, unalive each other and then it’s like, oh, man. Fanta got to start all over again with new you know? Because if you don’t have an heir, family won’t move on. Heritages that could be built within this type of family path would be criminal headquarters maybe that is disguised as a dive bar or casino where illegal business is done. So that could be an important important staple to the family. The next story idea I had would be maybe a a family path all about knowledge. So the founder’s backstory and vision could be basically a sim driven by a fear of mediocre and failure, and they place a premium on academic excellence.

Gloria [00:21:01]:

They themselves never had the opportunity to pursue an education and believe That is why they are where they are now. So there’s some where not great. I mean, they maybe don’t have much money. Maybe they live in, like, a shabby apartment with cockroaches and mold and that doesn’t have it with life. And they blame it on, the lack of opportunity when they were growing up. And so they’re convinced that success is only possible through rigorous education and careers, like, in medicine, law, or science could really be the only way to succeed in life, and that’s what they expect of their children as well. So they don’t want them to follow the same path. They want them to actually get a college degree and all that good stuff.

Gloria [00:21:42]:

And so they expect top grades from the heirs. They expect in the follow ambitious career paths. And, ultimately, this is because the founder wants to shield their children from, you know, any Disappointments in themselves, and they want them to go for be the best that they can be. So the belief here is that the sim is basically driven by a deep seated fear, of unfulfilled potential. And they believe that getting a good education and going for really top Ambitious careers is the only way to maximize your capabilities, and so that’s what they expect from their kids. So they’re pretty uncompromising here. Some favorable traits or features who would be geek, a perfectionist sim, an overachiever. If they had any kids with, good logic skills, they might favor them.

Gloria [00:22:30]:

Following in a career as a After a lawyer or scientist, they’d also like to see in their kids. And that’s what they expect. So excellent grades, they expect them to go to university and excel in their career in medicine, law, or science. Here, potential conflict could be that the heir wants to be an artist. They don’t want to have good grades. They wanna do what comes natural to them, and that is being a painter. Heritage that could be built would be simply a collection of certificates of rewards for those academic achievements. So that’s if you wanted to play a family that really their focus is solely on education and knowledge and, like, being a Renaissance family.

Gloria [00:23:06]:

Last but certainly not least, my absolute favorite idea, I did not entirely came up with myself. It’s the story of a legacy family that is following the path of becoming the next best cult. So this is very much heavily inspired by an article written on a Sims community blog by Snarky Witch. They built this Absolutely phenomenal cult comp compound and accompanied with that hilarious read of an article. I just thought, wow. That would be a great Overarching goal of a family to just build a cult and then ride with that. So my founder, Backstory and Vision, is a founder that is lazy but charismatic. They’re sick and tired of working for their money, so they decide to use their natural charm to woo over some unsuspecting sims and convince them of a better life behind a white wall, for a few, of course.

Gloria [00:23:57]:

And so the belief this founder is sharing is caring, but only if the member is sharing, not the other way around. So only if they’re getting and not giving. And so favorable features, I just thought, what would be a cool cult leader? Like, an erratic one, a self absorbed one, and a paranoid one? So that they go a bit, you know, Kooky or something like that every once in a while. Obviously, charisma is an important skill to have here and career, none because they don’t wanna work. Everybody else is gonna be working for them. And so I guess the most work they’re gonna be doing is in the form of a landlord on this cold compound. Genius. Their expectations on the heir is, 1st and foremost, keep up the facade.

Gloria [00:24:33]:

Storyline is here that we’re doing good for them, so they need to pay up. We’re not exploiting anybody in any way and form. Okay. Ideally, also, the heir should be charismatic and all that good stuff. Potential conflicts. What if the heir fell in love With one of those, like, cult members, due to that love, they don’t want to like, they feel dishonest then. So they don’t want to be a part of the system was taking advantage of their love anymore. And so they, like, mess things up somehow.

Gloria [00:24:59]:

Or maybe the founder finds out in time and can, Replace the heir with a spare. Heritage that can be built here, obviously, that, like, magnificent cult compound that you could just download from the gallery from Snarky Witch. I where it’s like already done for you, but, you know, to make it your own and make it part of, like, this family heritage. You can have a special room with portraits of the founder and their heirs, you know, with rewards and achievements and stuff like that, and maybe some gold bars represent all that money that they’ve been earning through their members. And so those are some ideas on how you can build, like, a solid fantasy family path or storyline direction, whatever you wanna call it, like a vision from just a few little elements. So, again, that template was just basically, you know, founder backstory and vision, their belief, some favorable features, Expectations on the heir, potential conflicts, and what heritage can be built as a result as a of these family goals. For me, it was a lot of fun to even come up with these these storylines, and so I hope you’ll have just as much fun coming up with 1 for your upcoming legacy family, or maybe one you’ve been playing for a while. And I think this could be wholesome.

Gloria [00:26:09]:

This could be chaotic. This could be anything you wanna be, But I feel like it’ll definitely give your legacy family more purpose, and it’ll give them plenty of things to do, and it’ll give fodder for conflict later down the line. So I think it’s gonna be a lot of fun. In the next episode, we’ll explore the most fun ways to choose a family heir. So, obviously, here’s some value, some storyline pass can play a role here, but what else can you do? What other ways are are there to choose that heir? So we’ll dive more into that in the next episode. Until then, Happy Simming!