Mastermind Dynasty - The lazy writer edition - Chapter 11

[Curveball]

Mastermind Immortal Dynasty: Generation 1

Introductions

So, Sims 4 is very pretty but also very bare. It made me miss how full of stuff Sims 3 is… It also made me feel bad for not doing the Dynasty Challenge in Sims 3 even though I’d planned to, so while EA develops another 17 add-ons and our wonderful sim challenge-makers make the new challenge rules for Sims 4, I’m going to remember the wonderful days of Sims 3 and finally do all those things I told myself I’d do with the game.

Before we start, a warning: this isn’t going to be a real story, with plot and dialogue and all those things creative people on the forums do so well. I know if I start something like this I’ll just get too lazy to complete it and it’s going to end up in the graveyard. So this is just a straight-up accounting of the things that went on in my game.



This is our founder, Master Mastermind. He is Evil, in case you can’t tell His other traits are Family-Oriented, Ambitious, Proper and Genius. He’s also a witch, because I’ve never actually played with supernaturals and those are the only ones that are allowed. This challenge is a way for me to try out the things in the game that I never got around to, so as much as possible I'm going to go with the flow.



In the spirit of trying new things I’m starting this thing in Union Cove. It’s very pretty, and I can feel all the rich sims living in all those large houses judging us from afar. A good thing about the town is also the fact that I don’t know anyone in it, so I sent Master to knock on doors and meet new people. I wouldn’t have let the guy who just moved in across the street with only a sleeping bag and a mini-fridge in, but sims are forbidden to be sensible by EA overlords, everyone knows that.



There’s a wonderful blue lady across the street by the name of Thea Voice, who looks simply stunning. She got bored when we talked about etiquette and family and I almost decided to pass on her, but just as Master was leaving she revealed that she is artistic. See how smug her expression is in the second shot? She knows I’ll be back.



Another candidate, also living not far away. Cons: crazy eyes. Pros: adorable puppy.



The rest of the day was spent gaining gardening skill, registering as self-employed and planting a garden. Master’s supermax skill is actually alchemy, but we need the garden for the life fruit and the ingredients, so that made more sense. I bought some Red Bean seeds for my coffee plantation, planted them and that was pretty much the end of the day.



I’m used to playing with Relativity, so having time go by so quickly is definitely new. This is our lot, as I mentioned nothing but a bed roll and a mini-fridge. There was no money for the bathroom, even. I could have gone to the fire station or moved someone in, but I wanted to start on my own and be dirt-poor for a while, like in the olden days.



What I forgot, though, in my nostalgic slumming on the front lawn, is that Seasons means hot weather during the summer. Master became dangerously overheated while he slept, so I got him over across the street to visit Thea to cool off indoors. But just as he was ringing the doorbell he caught on fire.



Yeah. On fire. Thankfully the pool was there and he was able to extinguish himself – only to be caught on fire again when he got out.



Perspective thus gained, I talked to Thea some more and moved her in. She brought no money but had a car in her inventory that paid for a roof over their heads and a fence around Malcolm’s garden.



And if you think I let him take a shower after almost burning to death twice instead of bringing him to tend to his wilting plants you are clearly a more empathetic person than I.



In case you think I’m cruel only to the sims of my own creation, here’s a shot of a deer looking in on Thea, who now spends her days locked in our shack, painting and sculpting. Her LTW is Arc builder: have two of every pet. Just as a joke played on her, the neighborhood’s pets are always running through our lot on their own pet business.



All together now: aaaaw.



I started a bug collection for her to get the Stir-crazy moodlet off her. Maybe I’ll actually accomplish her LTW, in the spirit of trying new things. We have place for it… for now.



This is basically Thea’slife: painting and talking to the plumber. Her traits are Artistic, Charismatic, Insane, Kleptomaniac and Natural Cook, and she is obviously supposed to be a star of her own stuff, but she is forever relegated to the painting monkey slot. I thought about it and I’m not really feeling her and Masters' romance, so he'll have to find a new wife.



Master’s life is knocking on doors and trying to hit it off with women. Since I literally know nothing about anyone in this town I devised a test for their eligibility: discuss matters of etiquette and talk about family interactions. If they get bored by those, they’re not eligible. Scarlet here didn’t seem too thrilled by either of them and seemed to have a daughter, so probably not.



I would have loved to marry Morticia, but her husband was playing on the computer right there. Le sigh. The pink blond lady was a contender too, if only for the delightful juxtaposition. And then… then I saw Her.




I had noble intentions about compatibility tests for future spouses and roleplaying and other things, but when I saw her I just had to have her. She is just too pretty. Her name is Liz Tuder, and she registered as a Workaholic right away, but that’s not important.



Cannot resist the pretty.



Also, the Adams family is as adorable in Sim form as it is on TV. Notice how dashing Master looks, pining after his only true love. *Master opens his mouth, but Curveball slaps her hand over it* True and only love I say! Pretty!



Good thing about Liz and Master is that they’re attracted to each other and hit it off just fine right from the start. She’s a Workaholic and Charismatic, but at this point I don’t care.



Bad, but also sort of adorable thing about Liz and Master is that the moment I stop controlling them their dates devolve into reading salons.



I got them out of the house and away from the allure of the bookcase, and can I just mention again how good Union Cove looks? A lot of the time Master will be running to the consignment store and I’ll be following him with my camera going ooohh and aaaah at the views.



Another thing that is pretty: Liz. Especially Liz’ eyes.



I’m not sure I want to know what’s in that drink to give him a face like this. He’s pretty high on both his gardening and alchemy skills at this time, so who knows…



For Thea the life is still dreary. She got her Painting up to 7 and is now on Sculpting. I’ve given up on the Stir-crazy moodlet. Her only friends are the repair technician and Master, and Master is… not great at being a friend.



Exhibit A: Master’s high-five face.



Yes, darling, I know your pain. Well, I don’t, but I inflicted your pain so that means I sort of know it? Right? *shifty eyes*



Another friend Thea made is a cat named Leia Marsden. She pretty much moved in, staying for days on end, providing Thea with Social boosts and me with endless supplies of cuteness. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out a way to adopt her but sadly she’s a neighborhood cat and I haven’t been able to figure out a way.



I just couldn’t anymore. I felt so bad for Thea and her inability to cat-nap Leia from her neighborhood masters I adopted her a cat. His name is French Fry, and he is the cutest. I’m leaning toward doing her LTW with elderly animals. 6 major Pets will still leave us a place in the household for a child…



We end on an obligatory wedding photo. Winter was coming, and I decided it was time to tie the knot with Liz. In the background you can see Thea painting, as always. But she has a cat now, and a dream… so maybe things won’t be so bad.



Bonus screenshot of Master getting lightningbolted while gardening during the autumn thunderstorms. Yes, this is what he wears to bed, and since gardening in your pj’s is par for the course in my games, this is also the outfit he wears until at least noon…

_____________

So this is the end of the introductory chapter, folks. This is probably where I'll be posting the challenge things to keep track of all the requirements, but I don't have anything done yet, so it's easy to track  Hopefully this made at least some of you chuckle.

[Trip]

This is pretty awesome for something made lazily, though. Seriously, I had a few good laughs. Keep up the good work!

[saltpastillen]

Keep it coming, I need a sims 3 fix after playing 4 this afternoon. Nothing beats an ID for that

[Malley]

Great start!  Master Mastermind is just an awesome name 

[KRae]

My "stories" make your story look like a masterpiece, and I like your attitude.

[notjustabook]

I like your style this looks to be pretty interesting - you have a very fresh writing style, so keep 'em coming

[Curveball]

First, Trip, saltpastillen, Malley, KRae and notjustabook - thank you for your kind words I've made a mistake of playing further than I've written, so now I'm trying to catch up... so let's start now. It seems silly to have a recap at chapter 2...



We start off here with Thea, cheering for her own transition to adulthood. Master still has days to his own transition, and it’s too close to call if she’d be able to make it with the ice challenge by then.



And yes, I got her another cat. I’m going to try for the Arc Builder LTW. It requires her to have two dogs, two cats, two horses and two of each minor pet. I’m adopting elder pets and feeling like a monster for hoping they die in time to allow future generations.



Speaking about future generations. Liz brought in a lot of money, so I pulled together a house for them to live in. You can see the greenhouse in the back of the lot, and the original shack is going to be the home of Thea and her zoo.



Now Liz. Liz is Ambitious, Brave, Charismatic, Genius and Workaholic, and she’s pretty high on the Political career ladder. Her LTW is Renaissance Sim, so I don’t have to keep her career, but I just couldn’t make her quit, I knew it would make her miserable. While Master and Thea slaved in their newly barely furnished shell of a home Liz prowled Union Cove for new friends and acquaintances.


I honestly have no idea how people ever did this challenge without alchemy. Master made his wife a few Friendship Elixirs and she went out throwing them at random people, getting the friends she needed to advance her Charisma skill in no time. (Actually as I’m writing this, I do remember starting out with a Politics sim one of the times I attempted a Legacy; as long as you do it in the right order the skill is easy to max. So Alchemy just made me lazy. Lazier )


While Liz was busy with her career I decided to move more pets in for Thea’s LTW. I got two elderly dogs and two horses (one elder and one adult because there was no more elders available and I was on a roll). I waited for the spring for the spawners to come out and then used the lifetime reward points I scraped together from Master to buy a collection helper. I got two more butterflies, two snakes,  two rodents, two birds to add to the two beetles… And nothing. I went around the forums and found out the Arc Builder LTW is notoriously buggy, tried some fixes, it didn’t work… So I ragequit. If I’m not going to have the satisfaction of fulfilling Thea’s LTW having all those pets running around will drive me nuts. I call do-over.

Do-Over Magic Activated

So we’re starting from scratch. Not as pure an experience, but I figure everyone’s entitled to one ragequit early in Gen 1. Another version of Union Cove got created and another copy of Master Mastermind got moved into the large empty lot.



This time he didn’t knock on the door of the house across the street. Hopefully Thea will live a happy life off the Dynasty lot, and we need someone to sucker into being miserable with us all over again.



I abandoned all pretense of spontaneity and just went for the power-gamer start this time. The guy across the street lived alone, so we got to be friends with him and moved him in the next morning. He’s a Couch Potato Computer Whiz with Commitment Issues and a Good Sense of Humor, and he Loves the Outdoors. He wants to be a professional author, which will probably never happen with his art slave duties. Sorry, Rob Kennedy. I’ve been burned by trying for art slave LTWs before, and my heart is now an empty, frozen thing that knows no pity.



This is how the Mastermind house looks on day 2 of the Dynasty, courtesy of the Kennedy household. I had to rebuild it a few times because of a weird floor glitch but Rob had enough money to pay for our landscape leveling mistakes.



What I realized after that is that I have no idea where Liz is. We’d met in the coffee shop and she always came over or we went out, so I had no idea where her house was. And yeah, buddy, that stinks.



I found her, of course, by frantically searching every house in the area looking for her last name, but I had an oh crap moment there. They do continue being the cutest, dorkiest couple I ever saw in the sims.



And Liz continues to use her dates with Master to skill up… In case you’re wondering about the bed, no funtime activities went on there. The raciest interaction Master is allowed before marriage is Dip Kiss.



Yes, this one. I decided not to wait to move in Liz this time since she has to get a good start on her career. She does seem very presidential, so I want her to finish it.



This is our Gen1 couple’s days. Master’s coffee plantation is bringing in some money, although not enough to progress him up the career ladder fast enough. Liz’ career of throwing things at people and running away is also progressing nicely.



2 days before Master’s adult age transition, this is Rob’s 25th ice sculpture. The guy himself is off, drunk on freedom after days of mainlining invigorating elixirs and petting the cat for Social gain.



There was actually a possibility of a lady love for Rob. We got the good camera from the consignment store and he went out to take photos and met Koda Chrome. He even rolled a wish to take a photo of her. And even though she didn’t like him much, I planned to have him get to know her better if just to give him something to do now that the mad sculpture rush is done… Sadly, a bit after that fateful meeting the game crashed.



This is Rob’s answer to me not seeking out Koda Chrome to meet her again. These exact portraits were actually lost in another crash (I now know to save diligently, thanks for reminding me, Sims 3), but the new ones weren’t much better.



This is a screenshot of Liz leaving the City Hall as Union Cove’s new mayor.



This is a screenshot of Master getting up in the middle of the night to cheer for his own Adult age transition.

Do you know what that means?



What is this suspiciously rectangular red liquid, Liz?... *the players that use Alchemy in their games extensively collectively gasp in horror*

Yep, I was trying for triplets with the elixir here, but sadly failed. I forgot the old trick of watching kid TV and just put my faith in the magic, and they had only one child. A life lesson in there somewhere.



Here’s the new addition to the Mastermind Dynasty being aged up to toddler after the uneventful baby days. His name is Angelus, and yes, I am going with Buffy villains as my naming scheme. I can do 15 generations of sims and never run out of names that way



I like having a bit of randomness in my games so I rolled for traits, and Angelus rolled Eccentric and Neurotic. I would be cranky too if my fate was sealed for 7 future generations, I have to say. His supermax skill will be Sculpting, with Painting and Photography as other max skills. I was planning on Visionary LTW, but since he got Eccentric I might try for Descendant of DaVinci.



I have to say I forgot about Master’s Family-Oriented trait, but he keeps rolling rolling wishes to do stuff with him and interacting with him automatically (when he is not busy slaving away in the greenhouse or at the alchemy station).



We end here with an ominous pregnancy picture. I’ll remember to watch kids TV this time *shakes fist*.

[notjustabook]

Ha, ha, before I read all of your chapter I was going to go 'You're brave to go for the Arc Builder - always bugged for me'... I see that I was too late for that XD So sorry that it bugged out for you, too. I can't stand that LTW now

[Malley]

Sorry to hear about the do-over.  I love Master's cute little kitty slippers.  What an evil and scary guy with those fuzzy kitty slippers 

[KRae]

Buffy villains, yes! There are enough for several dynasties.

[saltpastillen]

Rage quitting - a classic!

Yes, elixirs make us lazy...have fun teaching Angelus the traits...

[Curveball]

Thank you for the comments, guys I'm pleased to say no more ragequits occurred 

Mastermind Immortal Dynasty Chapter 3



I think Rob lost his fighting spirit. Master’s adult portraits are much less horrible than his YA ones. Rob became an elder, by the way, and I felt horrible when I realized I don’t even have pictures of that. I remember pregnant Liz was in attendance, and I thought I snapped a picture, but apparently not.



To celebrate his elderhood Rob went out to max his Photography skill. A neighbor had pets up for adoption so I decided to pop in to take some pictures. Here’s another shoutout to Union Cove’s prettiness. Very nice house.



And they have the cutest pure while cat in existence.


And three beautiful white kittens… I had to cover my eyes and run off as soon as I got pictures, or I’d have adopted one for sure.



This is Liz’ “Like a boss” face after maxing Logic. The plan is for her now to tutor Rob in logic, and then have him pass on his painting, sculpting and photography skills to her since he’s getting on in years. Why is Liz not pregnant, you ask?



She gave birth to twins. Here you can see all the three kids. Angelus is in the toybox, Darla is contemplating the toy boat and William (after William the Bloody) is playing with the dollhouse. Darla is an Insane Genius and William is Good and Easily Impressed. He’s the only that has Liz’ hair and Master’s magic.



This is a shot of Angelus’ evil birthday face.



Angelus has his mother’s eyes, which is a source of endless delight to me. His traits are now Eccentric, Neurotic and Perfectionist (that last one I chose).



Master finally grew his first life fruit. He’s far too low on his gardening career, but I’m taking him out now to throw elixirs at people to complete the Alchemist Anonymous challenge. He’s getting to know a lot of people, that’s for sure



With Liz’ maternity leave finally over, she’s heading out to conquer the world just as her firstborn is heading out to his first day of school.



And then Liz is heading out to conquer the fishing skill. We almost have everything completed for Master, except the properties, which are easy, and the opportunities. Those are the ones worrying me. He’s now on Outstandingly Rare, and this is only his 2nd opportunity. He didn’t get the Alchemy opportunity after maxing that skill. At first I thought it was because he maxed out Gardening around the same time and the Gardening opportunities used their base game cred to muscle out the Alchemy opportunities, but then I read somewhere that you only get that if you have the Ancient Library rabbithole in your neighborhood, and Union Cove doesn’t have that. So now I’m worried…



We interrupt this program to bring to you the unsung hero of this Dynasty, Mr. T. He’s the cat that moved in with Rob Kennedy, and he’s always been around to give the madly skilling people a Social boost when they needed it.



I feel sort of bad for him and for Rob. When I’m done with the Dynasty they’re getting resurrected and released into the wild for sure…



Angelus’ faces worry me. He went on a field trip to the science center and the teacher pop-up came up saying “Get out of that Faraday Cage!”. I’m wondering if he’s plotting anything.



His paintings are also… Unique. I think it’s the Neurotic trait.



The twins are finally aging up, with the whole family in attendance. It’s around 4 am, though. I can never get their sleep schedules anywhere close to realistic, especially with the good beds. Not that many of them sleep…



William and Darla. Master’s mouth and eyes, but we do have red hair! I rolled for traits, and William is now Good, Excitable Virtuoso (he’ll be the one to do the art/sculpting/photography after Liz passes on), and Darla is an Insane Genius that Loves the Outdoors.



The twins aged up on Leisure day so Liz took them out to the festival for some family time. Family time that sadly doesn’t include Master, since he’s chained to his garden/consigning/elixir-throwing. By the way, do you know why Master’s Gardening career went so slowly? I was selling stuff out of his inventory because I forgot how much money consigning brings… I’m now consigning religiously.



This is an interesting way of deciding who momma’s favorite is, guys.



Especially since momma’s favorite is clearly her career…



I’m being mean. Liz is a great mom – was all through the kids babyhood/toddlerhood, actually. She’s one of those sims that are always on top of things.



Family time ended with Liz riding off to fish some more while kids got home on their own. I like this picture because twins became instant best friends the first day they aged up and Angelus is the heir, so he’s always away doing heir things, never in on the game. D’aaaaw… I think I’m putting more thought into it than I should.



Keeping the flame alive is hard in a Dynasty household, but Liz and Master carved a couple of hours in the evening after Liz came home from fishing for angelfish. Master’s elder birthday is coming up soon, and he’s at Level 9 of his Gardening career with a lot of money still to earn. The cheese plants for the second gardening opportunity are also growing very slowly, but aside from those two things everything else is on track.



This is a bonus shot. Remember my Logic plan? It happened. Liz maxed out Logic, then tutored Rob in it, and then Rob spent four days passing on his knowledge of Photography and Painting to her. But since we had two toddlers at the house and Master was always in the garden or throwing elixirs at people they had to stay in the nursery so that whenever Darla or William needed something they’d be on hand. They had apples in their inventories and subsisted on that, invigorating elixirs and elixirs of bliss. 

[Malley]

Congrats on your Logic plan working.  That was a really good idea 

[Curveball]

Malley, thanks I've only just tried the tutoring system now, and I can't believe I played without it...

Mastermind Immortal Dynasty Chapter 3



Welcome back to the Mastermind household, where gardening is done in footie pajamas or formalwear, and fishing is done in your mayoral duds. For Dynasty historians and connoisseurs out there – Liz’ boss is Bubblegum Dreamweaver. And since Darla rolled Loves the Outdoors she’ll be our deathfish procurer and collector.



And do you hear the cheering? 6 days to his elderhood Master maxed out his Gardener career. I’m enrolling him into Science career to get some opportunities for him before it’s too late. He’s still not done with his last skill challenge, has more opportunities to complete, friends to make and a property to purchase. The last two will be easy, though.



This is our newly upgraded property, Upper Lake Fishing Spot. We made a place there for the Vault of Antiquity rabbithole. The tower thing is a shell for now, until I figure out what to put there…



And this is Liz catching her first deathfish.



Just as gardening in footie pajamas is a tradition for Master, painting in footie pajamas is a tradition for Angelus.



And it’s another tradition for Rob to be just out of shot with these pictures… Another metaphor, I suppose.



Still his mother’s eyes. I’m not quite sure about the makeover, but this is how I imagined an Eccentric, Perfectionist and Neurotic teen to look like. By the way, I chose Savvy Sculptor as Angelus’ fourth trait, trying to trigger the Descendant of DaVinci LTW. He’s been rolling money LTWs and pet LTWs, but I click out of those…



Darla rolled a Master Magician LTW, and I agreed. Why not?



Rob is getting on in years, so I rushed his sculpture/portrait taking… Let me know how you feel, rob, why don’t you



On Week 6 Day 1 I got a message that Master and Liz had a 1-year anniversary that day… I took them to the Zen Park where they’d gotten married a year before, and they celebrated with an obligatory Dip Kiss.



Week 6, Day 2. We have ingredients for Ambrosia and a cook to make it… Only those potions and opportunities to go, Master!



Master finally finished growing the cheese for the Outstandingly Rare opportunity, and the first one he got after that was Free Vacation. I looked at it for a full minute before finally taking it. Can’t be choosy.



That meant Gardening 0 Angelus was left with the greenhouse… I considered just demolishing one of the walls and letting the plants go dormant (it was autumn and already chilly) but in the end I didn’t want Master’s planted steaks and patties to skip growing time, so I left it.



The common mythology is that while the parents are away the kids are going nuts, but it went a little bit like my own experience at staying at home alone went… The same stuff, only with less noise. Angelus rolled a want to throw a teen party, but the problem with that was that he knew no one of teen age.  I’m not sure there ARE kids in this town, to be honest… Whenever I choose ‘meet new friends’ at school for any of the Gen2 children they never meet anyone…



The greenhouse took Angelus forever to even water so the plants didn’t wilt, which resulted in him missing two days of school. But the plans stayed alive, and Gardening is a free skill, so it’s okay. And he might have missed two days of school, but he didn’t miss his prom! According to the pop-ups he got in a fight, got crowned King, got rejected for a dance, went through a prom backdrop, and is now in a relationship with Hubert Jordon. And in case you’re wondering, yes, Hubert is a guy’s name. Curiouser and curiouser 



Rob came back from the vacation 91 years old, so first order of business was to pass on his cooking skill to Liz, who became a knowledge holder for all the stuff the households needs to be able to do. She knows Fishing, Sculpting, Cooking and Photography, which is basically everything, since Painting is very easy to skill up and Master has a handle on Gardening. Since Darla is a Genius I’m thinking she’ll hold a similar position later.



The twins got aged up in front of their respective skilling objects the same day their parents got home.



Master’s mouth can look quite unfortunate, I found >_> But William rolled Irresistible for his fourth trait, so it doesn’t seem to bother him any. Darla looks like I spent hours in CAS fiddling with sliders creating her… Just stunning. She rolled Hopeless Romantic as her fourth trait. This is going to be interesting…

In case anyone’s keeping track: Angelus – Eccentric, Neurotic, Perfectionist, Savvy Sculptor; Darla – Insane, Genius, Loves the Outdoors, Hopeless Romantic; William – Good, Excitable, Virtuoso, Irresistible. Also, our Dynasty heir is gay. o_O It will be an interesting generation…



Master aged up too, and sadly lost both his spiffy creature of the night everyday duds and footie pajamas… I had to make do with bunny ear slippers. Here you can see him already madeover, playing with Mr T while Rob keeps instructing Liz in cooking even though she’d gone invisible.



Angelus’ birthday present is a guitar to go along with his Virtuoso trait. He immediately rolled Master of the Arts LTW, which I promptly locked in for him.



I took Angelus out to meet his prom sweetheart. This is Hubert Jordon. He has a certain bad boy appeal… By which I mean the cowboy hat makes him look like a douche. The traits that Angelus figured out were Flirty and Family-Oriented. Angelus got his first kiss and then immediately got a wish to brush his teeth three times. I guess that’s Neurotic sims for you


I missed the shot with the LTR points, but this is Liz maxing out her Cooking skill. Rob doesn’t have anything else to do in the Dynasty house. At 94 years old he finally gets to pursue writing… Sorry Rob. There will be a lot of free time to write in the afterlife, and I promise you get your LTR when I resurrect you.



This is Ayame Jin. A Jar of Potent friendship thrown at her was our 49th elixir.



And this was the 50th. Yes, I decided to make Angelus a witch too. Well, I mean Master decided, obviously. Because he is a true evil mastermind. *shifty eyes*



I honestly have no idea why I never tried to tutoring thing before. It’s so much easier! One conversation and William almost maxed out his Photography and Angelus got his grades back up after his 2-day greenhouse slavery.



Speaking of the greenhouse, Master now has help with it, which is good, considering he has to leave for work at 8 am. He only has one more opportunity to go (he’s completed Alchemical Mastery and Outstanding Tasting Ingredients). So next time we’ll find out if he does complete his requirements or if I throw my computer to the ground and run off into the night, sobbing.



I forgot doing Inventing could set you on fire… But Angelus is still a very respectful young lad, he doesn’t forget to say hi to the Dynasty helper passing by in his underwear…

At this point I’ve written as far as I’ve played, so the updates will come slower now… Also, in the next chapter: Rob’s devious plan to sabotage the dynasty…

[saltpastillen]

Oooo, sounds ominous. Keep it coming

[Lisa46]

This is really a funny dynasty! Good luck with Master...

[Curveball]

Mastermind Immortal Dynasty Chapter 5



Who is it there, standing in front of the City Hall, looking mighty presidential? And not a day too soon. Liz finally got promoted to Leader of the Fee World on the last day of her adulthood. I made her change into her final career outfit before heading out home for the customary kitchen celebration.



I find it adorable that she’d stared at Master all the way through aging up, but then it’s nothing new; I find everything about Liz adorable.



Also, I have to say, it was wise of her to age up in a career outfit…



In other Dynasty news, I realized I don’t have Master’s museum pieces done. At all. So Rob had to stop writing his second novel and go photograph, paint and sculpt again…



I think that was the final straw. At 96 days he was supposed to be free from Dynasty art slavery, but even now he couldn’t have any peace… So he decided to leave at the most inopportune moment.

I have to mention now that while Angelus and William both have decent sculpting skills, neither of them is anywhere near Ice Personality. So I was already planning a lengthy vacation fuelled by invigorating elixirs when the second terrible thing happened.



Mr. T got the Grim to leave Rob alive. And the point of the Immortal Dynasty is no prolonging mortal sims’ lives. So if not mess up my museum pieces, the Kennedys decided they’d just disqualify me from hall of fame…



Thankfully I was allowed to continue. Which meant Rob got to finish the sculpture and then I just stopped controlling him altogether, leaving him to his own devices.



Whatcha doing, Rob? Why aren’t you writing your book like you wanted to?

“I can’t write it autonomously and you didn’t direct me to do it, you dream-murdering sadist.”

Oh, so being controlled is good for something. Good to know. *whistles innocently*




This is Master, with what I thought was his final opportunity ringing in his pants. He picked up the phone, then put it down with disgust. I could have smacked him through the screen… He did get an opportunity in the morning, though.



This is the reason I normally dislike parties, but Gen 1 heir turning adult seemed like a good occasion to get over myself.



I love how above it all he looks. His fifth trait (rolled, funnily enough) is Proper. This is really not proper attire, though. Angelus is thus the first sim to get outfit-shamed in this dynasty. I did choose the Descendant of DaVinci LTW.



While everyone else was eating cake Master had his own special meal prepared. He completed his last requirement the day before. So, for posterity:

Master Mastermind

Traits: Evil, Family-Oriented, Proper, Genius, Ambitious
Lifetime Wish: Alchemy Artisan
Supermax skill: Alchemy
Career: Gardening
Investments: Disavadero Book Store, Upper Lake fishing spot
LTRs: Collection Helper, Suave Seller, Fertility Treatment
Best Friends: Liz Mastermind, Scooter Johnson, Atria Maroon, Pietro Gepetto, Chikano Jin, Ayame Jin
Black Ops: Uncommonly Good, Outstandingly Rare, Free Vacation, Alchemic Mastery, Outstanding Tasting Ingredients, Great Greens
Other maxed skills: Gardening
Immortality Achieved – Week 7 Day 7

Only 7 of those to go. Yay!



To the right you can see Angelus in his new YA duds. I’m still not sure how Neurotic, Eccentric, Perfectionist, Proper sim who is a Savvy Sculptor should look, so that’s the best I could do.

Oh also, there’s a Grim Reaper visiting again.

This time he came for Mr. T, the cat that almost ended the dynasty. You were adorable but far more evil than Master, Mr. T. I will miss your cuteness but not your treachery.

And now I know what to make of the tower on our first owned property.
 


Generation 2 becoming YA meant only one thing to me – vacation! After the frantic sculpture/career/opportunity rush the change of pace was welcome.



Not that Angelus or William had much of that. After William took a few photos of landmarks he was locked in the basecamp with a skill book alongside Angelus, who was maxing out Inventing for his LTW. Maybe with a book he won’t max Handiness as well, leaving it as a backup skill for future generations…



Liz had an opportunity from work to complete, and it took her most of a day to do it. I’m not sure what it is with China, but it takes three or four tries to get targeted interactions with the locals, like turning in adventures or Liz’ “Chat Up” thing that she needed to do. After that she spent her time fishing and reading recipe books. I also planned to use this vacation for relationship building, but since Liz is perfect she is already at ‘best friends’ status with all her children. Obviously.



Since Master ate ambrosia there’s not much for him to do except practice magic in front of epic-looking landmarks.



Darla was the one having the adventures. She got to visa level 2.5 and collected a truly impressive amount of metals and rocks. I don’t plan on using them to make money, I just think they’re pretty and want a complete collection



Another thing Darla did was fight people in swimsuits and meditate on top of bridges to provide me pretty photo ops.

Where was Rob, you ask? Rob was home. Because Rob doesn’t like being dragged into dynasty business

*grumbling is heard off-screen*


Soon after returning Darla and William were heading off to prom…



And then heading off to adult life.



I invited Angelus’ high school boyfriend to the party and it turned out he aged up into another version of Angelus. It is a little bit creepy. They even have the same nose.



But, the twins. I largely left them with their earlier sense of style. I chose Good Sense of Humor for Darla’s fifth trait, because with traits like Insane, Genius, Loves the Outdoors and Hopeless Romantic as a spare in a Dynasty household she’s going to need one. Her LTW since childhood is Master Magician.



William is taking up Master’s fabulous hair dynasty in this generation. He rolled Easily Impressed. So he’s Good, Excitable, Easily Impressed, Irresistible Virtuoso. I think he’s the male version of the ‘talented but ditzy’ pop star trope. His LTW is Master of the Arts.

At graduation William was voted Most Likely to Be Mediocre and Darla Most Likely to Offend Others. Oh game, it’s like you know me.



After all the outfits were changed and all the hair was styled all three of the Mastermind children, who were finally children no more, gathered around their new pool table.

“So, bro,” Will said, staring intently at the table, “have you been getting out of the house, you know, meeting me some future sister-in-laws?”

Angelus cringed.

“Don’t call me that. And no, I haven’t been out much. Sculpting’s been keeping me pretty busy.”

“You do know you’re supposed to get married and have a kid, right?” Will poked at him with a cue. “That’s what ‘heir’ means. You’ve been an adult for 5 days and the only action you got was kissing your old high school boyfriend at our birthday party. Not cool.”

“I’m sure in a few days I’ll feel an inexplicable urge to go for a walk in the park,” Angelus shrugged. “Or Mother will use that SimFinder application to find someone suitable.”

The twins sighed and rolled their eyes at each other in perfect unison.

“This is pointless,” Darla said, turning to William. “I’m not even sure he’s real.”

“Well he’s getting there,” William replied, exasperated. “Just really slowly.”




Angelus stared. His sister was unstable, so he wasn’t surprised at her speaking nonsense, but Will was usually sane, if a little bit over-enthusiastic.

“Don’t you get it yet?” Will asked. “We’re having dialogue for the first time in our lives. We’re turning into real characters!”

Angelus shrugged. He didn’t feel very real, but even if that was happening, he failed to see what the matter was.
“If we’re turning into real characters,” Will continued, “then Dad must be, too. And if you don’t find yourself a wife he’ll have to be evil about getting you a new one, that’s just the law. Do you want to be the target of an evil scheme?”

“No?” Angelus said uncertainly. He could feel a strange tremble in his chest at the thought, and the desire to polish his screwdrivers.

“Well then,” Will smiled, meanwhile. “It’s decided. We’re going to university to find you a wife. There has to be at least one girl there that will like you there.”

“I don’t think that’s quite the problem,” Darla muttered, lining up her own shot. Her words made Angelus turn to her.

“And you? Do you think I should go?”

“Me?” Darla looked startled. “I don’t even like you. I’m just playing pool.”

Will laughed and put an arm around his brother.

“Come on. Let’s put that big brain of yours to use. I got the aptitude test bucket out of storage.”



And so they went.

Up next chapter: will the Masterminds becomes real characters? Will Angelus find a future wife? Will I be able to load my game after a trip to University?



A bonus shot of our first Dynasty burglar getting thoroughly trounced by Ms President. I forgot she was Brave...
 

[Malley]

“I can’t write it autonomously and you didn’t direct me to do it, you dream-murdering sadist.”

Oh, so being controlled is good for something. Good to know. *whistles innocently*

That made me laugh 

And congrats on your first Immortal!

[Curveball]

Mastermind Dynasty Chapter 6



So, the plot hook from last time was a bad move on my part. The story turned into an epic of love and loss that demanded me to get back into old saves and re-shoot things, and it just spiraled out of control with dialogue and storyboards. So I decided – no. This thing will eat me alive if I let it. I’m only doing field reports, no drama.

So here is Darla, planning out her own Immortal Dynasty. The founder will supermax Bunnies. That’s very important.



Darla was basically the star of this show. She fished, collected rocks, learned cooking and science, and got DNA samples from people I only later found out would not survive the trip home.



She was also busy with other important things.



Angelus sculpted. That is all Angelus did.


Then Angelus sculpted some more.



Then Angelus took a break from sculpting that was unproductive but made me feel better about making him continue the family line.



Will’s whole stay at university was nothing but an extended break. He finished his ice challenge and then it was open season on everyone. His newfound Social Networking powers made dating a breeze.

The reason for Will’s newfound social network skills is that I thought it would help me find Angelus’ future wife. That didn’t work all that well (see exhibits A through C above for why that was), but then I remembered an important concept.

The concept of a beard.



So meet Millie Grubb, a Hopeless Romantic Virtuoso that will be coming to Union Cove to bring in the third generation of Masterminds. Yes, she’s Darla’s girlfriend and they’re both Hopeless Romantics. Yes, it’s a bit (a lot) incestuous – but that’s the sims for you.



I had a cunning plan of meeting all the hot university students, getting Will to make Darla friends with the most interesting-looking ones, and then bringing their DNA samples back to clone future spouses from them. There was even a DNA party halfway through the semester.



Ha bloody ha. This is a shot of the Masterminds returning from university – a thing that almost didn’t happen, by the way. I had to take out all my custom content and lower all my graphical settings to get the game to load. And of course I came back without the DNA samples. I later found out that even inviting the university people back and getting the samples again doesn’t work – the sample gets corrupted as soon as the person leaves. So theoretically if I wanted to try cloning someone I have to do it in the brief window they’re there. And when they leave I have no idea if the child won’t just pop out of existence.



Anyway, Union Cove is the same. People are protesting unicorns. Master gardens, Rob bumbles around the house not being controlled and therefore making no progress on his book – man, I wish I had a person controlling me sometimes that would make me do hard things like exercise and pursue my dreams instead of playing computer games… Sorry, lost my train of thought. Liz’ fulltime occupation is being awesome, Angelus saved his university sculptures and after a trip to the consignment store he is now Level 9 Sculptor. Will accepted a job as a band manager…



And Darla gave her first magic performance at a unicorn rally, wearing her graduation robes. It seems insane (Insane, haha, like the trait, get it – oh nevermind) that she spent all that time studying technology things but came back to her old childhood LTW of Magician but it makes sense to me. She can disappear you with magic AND also poison you with radiation. Good thing she didn’t inherit Master’s Evil trait.



The town is actually getting pretty old and people are starting to pass away. I’m so used to playing with story progression mods I didn’t realize this is going to be a problem until now. I’m not even sure how EA story progression works… But, well, we only need five more spouses, so hopefully it will be okay. *maniacal laughter heard in the background*



Never let it be said, though  that Darla misses a chance to perform for an audience.



Another elder that died was Rob the treacherous dynasty helper. You can see what he thinks about all of it by looking at his face.



That means redecorating time! I wanted to do the whole house but could barely finish the first floor, and it took me a week of game time. Here we have a living room, kitchen/dining room, two bedrooms, a study, and a nooboo room. You can see in the far left corner the master bedroom and bathroom still have the ‘default’ wallpaper and floor. That is mainly because Angelus still hasn’t grown a personality. Maybe it was a bad idea to name my first heir after my least favorite character in the whole wide jossverse…



It always takes me a lot of time and fiddling to redecorate, so I’m going to now take up valuable picture space with my interior design shots. This is the sitting room/party room/event room. The rogue bookcase that doesn’t match anything snuck in there for utilitarian reasons and needs to be replaced, but I got overwhelmed by an attack of laziness, so I just left it for now.



Kitchen and dining room. This was the first room to get done mainly for the birthday pictures, and I didn’t change much. I’m contemplating making a separate kitchen, but Cooking is my backup of a backup of a backup plan supermax skill, so I’m not sweating it for now.



This is Darla’s room. I went with the Asian theme mainly because she went to China and I’m unimaginative. And no, it’s not Darla sleeping in the bed.



This is the storage hallway. The art on the walls are things that I liked and that I intend to hang somewhere someday, and the chests hold perfect seeds/adventuring equipment/alchemy ingredients/ambrosia ingrediants/etc. Color coded for your convenience



This is going to be a permanent nooboo room. It looks like the contents of the SimsStore exploded in it; I rarely get to use this stuff so I went a bit nuts. I’m not going to remodel it, this will just be the room for every arriving Mastermind kid from now on.

There is also a library/study area that I forgot to take a shot of and a large undecorated master suite I already mentioned. The idea is it’s big so the heir’s skilling objects can be there for midnight supermax sessions.

There is the second floor too, and a greenhouse, and the treasure basement, but those are pretty bare. The whole house will probably get finished by gen 6 or so, with the speed I’m building >_<



So, with our household one person lighter I moved in Millie. I actually like what she was wearing, but  it was summer so I made her a summer outfit, and may I just say she’d been hiding some stunning legs under those baggy trousers. Adding some muscle definition to the family genetic pool will certainly be welcome.



Since we’re still roleplaying a bit, the younger Masterminds and their co-conspirator went to the laundromat in the dead of night to plot their evil plots. Because the laundromat is totally an acceptable evil plotting sight. Millie and Darla said goodbye for a few days…



Social networking magic.



I have to say even with Millie and Darla being just friends and Angelus being set as her love interest, and even with cinnamon it took a while to get them going. And Millie is a Hopeless Romantic; she supposedly has an easier time of it…



But eventually demented simmers prevailed, like they always do. Master and Liz had a wish for Angelus to be married locked in for a long, long time…



Aaand here it is, fulfilled. It would have been a really dramatic story, full of intrigue, lies and heartbreak, if I’d stopped being lazy and written it.



You can tell yourself that story while I show off the wedding pictures. It seems to be a tradition for me to coo at the generation’s spouse. I just love Millie. I do hate the name though, so I changed it to Millicent in the City Hall. She’s going to be a famous composer, it’s time to stop going by a childhood nickname.

And well, that’s it for this update. Tune in next time to see what other weird thing I come up with to make my favorite sims happy
 


As a bonus shot I have an artsy depressing shot of university I randomly took following Angelus’ trek to class…



… and this. Yes, this happened. After Gen 2 came back home we had two abductions in three days…

[Malley]

man, I wish I had a person controlling me sometimes that would make me do hard things like exercise and pursue my dreams instead of playing computer games…

I second that.  I'm reading Sims stories instead of working on my grad school paper right now so I totally understand...

The house is amazing!  Even if it takes till Gen.6, I'm sure it will be well worth it 

[Curveball]

This is the painting that got Angelus to Painting 10 and to completion of his LTW – Descendant of DaVinci. I shall just leave it here, for posterity. Because art, obviously.



Darla and Millicent have each other as best friends for the week, to make sure no weird shenanigans happen with the heir, but the looks they give each other make me think they remember something they are not supposed to.



This is why I adore Millicent. Because this is her ‘I’m going to give birth now’ face.



Meet generation 3. Her name is Faith. We’re sort of stretching it pretty thin here using her name, but if I named a child after Spike-the-eternal-lovesick-woobie I can name a child after Faith. Besides, I’m doing Martial Arts this generation and no one would be better for that. I chose Athletic and Slob as her traits.



Everyone loves Faith. *grumbling about stinky diapers is heard off-screen* I said everyone!



Master and Liz had their second anniversary. I love that this pops up from time to time, it’s a reminder to go have some couple time. Especially in a dynasty household where everything skilling-skilling-skilling all the time…



And then of course I leave them for half a second to send Darla on her next round of gemstone hunting and this is what happens. I think Master is going senile in his old age. Or just choosing to be more evil…



Now that the nooboo is here Millicent and Angelus got a Social Networking divorce. Angelus immediately rolled a wish to get married but no, nope, not happening. Even though I have the space.

At Week 11 Day 6 he got (and immediately fulfilled) his last opportunity and he’s all set to eat his ambrosia now, except I’m saving up to buy the gallery. I want to turn it into a massive Mastermind Museum for future generations to store their sculptures in.



Speaking of future generations – I resigned myself to throwing birthday parties. Everyone keeps rolling wishes for them. And one day I will get the cake placement right for good shots… This birthday party is special because it’s also a gift-giving party. I wanted to try it since I’ve never done it.



So yes, this happened. Apparently Generation 3’s birthday isn’t at all exciting for Random Townie Chick.



Well this is what Faith thinks about you and your opinion.



I was all glowy and coo-y after all the toddler cuteness, and then after the guests left this happened.



Yes, Master, my feelings exactly.



I have to say I never adored a sim as much as Liz, not even one of my own. I felt genuinely upset for a while.



I even made the sims do some vaguely human things.



Why are you crying, Darla?
Darla: S-she has Mom’s eyes!



And the next day the family shrew that Darla got home from university died. More tragedy.
…
...

Okay, enough. My grieving moodlet’s ticked down on the shrew thing, I think.



Master has had the wish to see Darla married locked for a while now. But I decided to only get them hitched when they rolled the wish for it…



Which they promptly did the next day. They’re married on the winter festival lot because  they both rolled a lot of wishes for winter activities.



The reception after the private ceremony involved vigorous snowball fighting in the glitchy snow.



Not that I don’t get it, Angelus dear, but isn’t it a bit of a heavy subject to raise with your toddler daughter?



While Angelus is getting restless from loneliness Master is going a little senile. He keeps bragging about Faith to her own father…



It’s obvious she’s such a prodigy, though. Who would not be fascinated by her?



Actually a lot of people are fascinated by Faith. The Masterminds are finally falling victim to the celebrity system and the glitch paparazzi who get into the house even though they weren’t invited.



Neither were these guys!



Okay, one more cute toddler shot before aging up…



Welcome, Gen 3! You’re finally self-maintenance, whoo! She grew up with Faith hair, too. I added the Brave trait for her.



I left the hair and the cowboy boots. She does have Liz’ eyes, and what I think is also Liz’s chin, which can look a bit unfortunate… She grows on you, though.



Faith: I wonder if there’s a monster under… oh yep, yep, there is. Do not want. Do not want.



Faith: Now I want a cookie...

I remember Angelus doing the same thing as a child and fainting.



I finally gave up finishing the master suite with Angelus living in it, so I kicked him out to share a bedroom with his brother. He’s done with most of the stuff anyway, and Faith needs to get to school on time, which will be hard with half an hour traveltime between her bed and the front door. I immediately found my decorating inspiration. Observe Castle Faithingbury. I predict a lot of messing around going on here...

____

This is a bit disjointed, sorry, but I'm way over limit now. No bonus shots  this time.

[Malley]

Faith definitely has Master and Liz genes.  No doubt about that!  She should age up into a lovely YA regardless though 

[Curveball]

Heh thanks Malley I was too impatient and saved her into the sim library, then went into create-a-family and looked at her YA version... She does turn out cute, but... peculiar 

[Malley]

Heh thanks Malley I was too impatient and saved her into the sim library, then went into create-a-family and looked at her YA version... She does turn out cute, but... peculiar 

Now I really want to see what she looks like! 

[KRae]

Yes, senility does seem to set in. In my ID my founder bragged about his grand-daughter to said grand-daughter. I'm expecting witchy fire blasting of butts to start any moment now. Even sims aren't meant to live forever.