Unconventional Ways To Play With Heirlooms In The Sims

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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 gonna be all about heirlooms, but a bit different than maybe you’re used to. We’re not gonna be talking about families today. Heirlooms, by definition, are objects that can hold sentimental value and represent a shared history or connection between, you know, maybe a couple sims or maybe even within a community, and they carry the stories and the memories of those who possess them.

Gloria [00:00:59]:

Heirlooms can be something that often is passed, down within a familial relationship, but they can be passed down outside of the family as well. I wanna talk about in which ways those could be because I think it’s really fun, and it’s another way to deepen the relationships that sims have outside of the family unit. I’m gonna be a bit more liberal with my definition of what can function as an heirloom since Doesn’t really have to hold, you know, the story or memory it represents. Similar to my requirements from the episode, I think 1 or 2 before, where it was about, You know, items that, you know, are great to collect memories. It’s the item itself in terms of an heirloom that, you know, is symbolic of the story or memory is attached too. So it really can be anything. Again, I think it could be fun to, you know, come back to the ink for yourself journal And keep a log of the heirlooms you collect in the game, or outside of the game. You know, you can do that with your own notes, which I recommend anyways, always, to keep notes and, you know, track of your sims and their memories so you can look back on on them without having, you know, load up the game.

Gloria [00:02:02]:

You can definitely use that mod to Have your Sims keep track of those as well. I think there are 3 different categories I wanna talk about today where heirlooms can play a role outside of just, You know, the family category, and I’m sure there are many more ways that you can maybe even think of. You know, maybe this inspires you to have some outside family heirloom gameplay as well. 1st, let’s talk about mentorship or professional legacy. So this Very well lends itself to an heirloom. So for example, you have a mentor that is passing on their knowledge and their trust onto their protege. They they’re training them and then ultimately this person is being worthy of that profession. The mentor can give them something, can pass something down to them to maybe help them further in their career.

Gloria [00:02:51]:

You know, it doesn’t even have to be functional, though. It could also just be symbolic of that mentors trust, and belief and respect for that trainee who’s now grown in their, journey. So it could be, for example, recipes that are passed down from a star chef to their protege. There are a lot of custom recipes, for example, that you can download for the game, and you can download one maybe specific for this situation. So maybe it’s something super exotic or traditional, that you think only a certain amount of students would even know. So you can find something unique and imagine that that recipe is known only to that star chef and is now being passed down to their mentee. Obviously, we have to play a little bit with imagination here because I don’t think anything can block another sim from actually cooking that recipe as soon as it’s installed in your game, But you can play it that way that basically only the Sims, like the star chef or their prodigy or whoever he shares that recipe with can actually cook that meal. I really loved, and this is 3, the martial arts skill.

Gloria [00:03:51]:

That’s also another skill where another sim can teach another sim. And so why not have, like, a kung fu master pass down their training dummy to the next prodigy? That would be fun. Or maybe your sim has learned from their favorite yoga and meditation instructor and they’re about to open up their own studio. This yoga yogi can pass on a special art piece from their own studio maybe to that up and coming yoga instructor, and And that can maybe start even a new tradition in your game. Maybe this is going to be a line of yoga instructors, and every time they open up a new space, The previous owner or previous the mentor basically gives them something from their own space to christen the new space. Perhaps, You know, a business can be passed down as well and doesn’t have to always be within a family. Maybe all the sons and daughters of one Family restaurant mogul, they’re all not great, and so he’s like, nah. I’m gonna pass on this business.

Gloria [00:04:50]:

I’m gonna choose a different for this business because I want it to actually succeed. So they actually pick, like, their head waiter because they’ve actually proven that they have a a correct work ethic and whatnot. Or not. So that could be something that is passed down. Career rewards, I think, are an excellent item to used to pass down as an heirloom from 1 mentor to their protege or which are their, you know, next in line. It could be a functional item or it can just Be something symbolic of importance like a decoration item. So I personally never really am motivated to work for these career rewards and and play towards them. But anytime there’s a reason to tie something into a story, then I’m game, then it becomes interesting.

Gloria [00:05:32]:

If you, You know, give that item, that reward a higher purpose because it can actually be then therefore used to be passed on to whoever is next in line in that professional legacy, then that could be cool. Like, you know, it’s basically used for that next generation of talent. There’s so many though. Way too many to talk about, in this podcast. But we have, for example, the Executron executive desk can be passed down between management. We have the stolen necklace of the late Duchess Pinky, that is acquired in the upper allegiance of the criminal career, which can be passed down. It’s in a cool, like, glass Display case or really fancy schmancy, and any criminal would be proud to have it in their collection. Or we have the Positronic Pro magnetic knife rack in the culinary career.

Gloria [00:06:18]:

We also have the commemorative freeze rays, Freeze Ray from the villain career, which is definitely a useful item if you’re a villain. We have the Skelley sim in the doctor career, which to be honest, I think that’s a cool item to be passed down to anyone. Doesn’t even have to be a doctor. Like, I would love to have Skelly in my room. Maybe it was stolen and passed down to whoever is entrusted with that skelly. That’s just really the tip of the iceberg. There are so many different career rewards And really all the games, the Sims 2, Sims 3, and Sims 4, and I imagine there’s gonna be something equivalent maybe in Paralives and Life by You as well. So definitely look into that and how you can Tie that into your story and how it can become an heirloom, an important part of a maybe a mentorship or a professional relationship.

Gloria [00:07:06]:

Heirlooms can also be passed down within a community. So for example, you could have a monumental tree. Its care is then passed down to each following generation of residents. I was actually watching a news article from the BBC a while ago about this random tree in the middle of nowhere, Or was it a bar? It was something in the ground that was chopped down or or I think it was a metal bar, and it was removed overnight or something like that. And Everybody in that town was just devastated because, like, all these old people had such history with this random metal rod that was in the ground. It was, like, quite a tall rod. Unlike 2 people higher, that’s half I have it in my memory at least. They were, like, just so sad because, like, oh, when I was a child, I played on this rod and, oh, I have so many memories and blah blah blah.

Gloria [00:07:52]:

And it’s, like, Kind of funny to to think about them. Totally sad story, of course, people that had memory sides of that rod and whatnot, but you can have something similar in your save file too. Just for whatever reason, that tree is important and has a purpose for the people living there. They want to keep it safe. That project in itself could be the heirloom, so to say. You can also have a cow plant being heirloom passed down to the newcomers of a secret society. And so if that newcomer can keep The cow plant in well health, they can take care of it without, you know, getting any harm themselves, then they’ve earned their right to stay in the club. That could be a fun storyline.

Gloria [00:08:30]:

Heirlooms can also be passed down, within leadership. They could then symbolize wisdom or for values and obviously, of course, the legacy then also the leadership. Maybe you have a club and the club leaders are changing and there’s a special hat passed down from them. It could be an actual, like, decor object hat or it could be one that you can put on the sim and cast that they get to wear and only they get to wear If you’re the leader of that club, you could have similarly a CEO pass down or pass on a big expensive Watch, to the next in line. So you could just remove that watch from that current CEO and add it to the successor in cast. Crowns, if you have a royal king or queen, an obvious heirloom that can be passed down. What’s also important to to them and their legacy and is passed on to the next would be their throne or maybe an old rug or something ancient in their collection. I think another Fun way to use the ink for yourself journal, really, it gives long ways to do so, would be to create a law book that is in the hands of the town mayor and is passed down to each executive mayor.

Gloria [00:09:37]:

So that could be a fun way to have an heirloom in the game that has meaning within the passing or the the changing of leadership. So to summarize, 3 ways I suggested you could use heirlooms outside of just the family unit, would be, you know, within a mentorship relationship or, like, a professional legacy that’s been being passed down, within a community or a group. So let’s say a club, for example, a secret society, or maybe an heirloom that has passed amongst leaders because leadership is changing and an important piece of their role is being passed down to the next person in line. So So I think wherever there’s a succession in general, there’s a possibility to pass on an heirloom. It doesn’t have to just be within a family. I hope You have fun with these heirloom ideas and they help motivate you to actually also cultivate relationships outside of just a family unit. Ways you can create a meaningful relationship and strengthen it with an heirloom, for example, as being passed on that has even more meaning and adds more purpose. In the next episode, we’re gonna be talking about in real life tangible keepsakes that you can keep of your Sims.

Gloria [00:10:46]:

Until then, Happy Simming!