The Andrews Decadynasty (Complete)

[Alex]

House 1

Beau and Victoria Andrews are used to looking out of the window and seeing their neighbour Christopher get asked to join dynasties. This time it’s their turn.



No doubt you’ve met them before, what with them being residents of Sunset Valley, but for the uninitiated: Beau is a slobby, inappropriate couch potato who can’t stand art, but who does have a good sense of humour. Victoria’s his polar opposite: she’s artistic, ambitious, good, a hopeless romantic and a bookworm. She wants to be a journalist; he’s a gold digger.

For the really uninitiated, Beau’s the one on the left:



Their first move was to increase their household a bit:

First, Mysterious Mr Andrews...



(The collection for this house is gnomes, and somebody needs to bark at the fridge. I’m not sure what kind of dog he is, but he seems to be part bear cub.)

And you can fill in the second part for yourselves...



That done, they set about establishing their legacy, um, dynasty.

Beau spent most of his time learning inventing and gardening, and then rummaged for things to sell when he had time. I was hoping he might find a gnome or three in the bins, but it didn’t happen. He also spent a lot of time on chemistry in pursuit of Young Again potion, as he and Victoria both start as Adults.



Victoria, meanwhile, did writing and charisma (I hadn’t found the laptop in her inventory yet, hence the delightful Lord Sponge computer). When she had some free time, Mysterious Mr Andrews helped her practice for motherhood.



And a short time later, Viola made her appearance:





Followed shortly after by two new household members.  At home, Beau and Viola adopted a cat, the Rt Hon Kitty Andrews, MP. Meanwhile, at the library, Victoria was having contractions:



Kitty and Vaughan were very welcome, I’m sure.



When she wasn’t being attacked by Somewhat Honourable kittens, Viola made her own entertainment. An outdoors-loving party animal, she spent most of her time playing in the sprinkler and dancing.



As a teen, she mostly did laundry and taught Vaughan his toddler skills.



And in the meantime, Beau and Victoria had got older and older.

Beau was given Young Again potion. Victoria wasn’t.



And just to rub it in, Grim came back for Mysterious Mr Andrews later in the day.





Without Mysterious Mr Andrews to growl at her, The Honourable Member for Sunset Valley was very lonely, so Beau spent his time playing with his cat (and catching her fleas repeatedly). Vaughan helped out with the garden, fixed broken plumbing and took up cooking so that Viola didn’t get any ideas about learning skills. And she played guitar. Constantly.



I’d never supermaxed guitar before – in fact, I’ve had one-skill Sims die of old age without getting a single guitar opportunity. However, this computer’s random number generator seemed to like guitar better: she supermaxed just into adulthood, at about the same time as she became a Rock Star. I missed the screenshots, so instead, I offer an insight into what Rock Stars do on their days off:



While Beau started ordering pizzas, schmoozing the maid and assuring the mail carrier that Mysterious Mr Andrews wouldn’t be able to chase her anymore, Viola went in search of Jose Keaton, an old friend.

She found him:





And with all the requirements completed, she married him.




House 1

Townie founders: Victoria and Beau Andrews
Address: 378 Skyborough Blvd

Heir: Viola Andrews
Traits: Loves the outdoors, Virtuoso, Party animal, Lucky, Ambitious, Workaholic (nerd influence)
LTW: Become a rock star
Maxed career: Music – rock branch
Supermaxed skill: Guitar



Both parents living together at time of birth.
Heir on the honour roll at both grade and high school.

10 Opportunities completed by heir:
1. Musical Assembly (guitar)
2. Raise the Fun(d) (guitar)
3. Play for Egypt (guitar)
4. Play for France (guitar)
5. Guitar Up! (guitar)
6. Tons of Tips (guitar)
7. I Got Your Back...Up (guitar)
8. Sorting the Section (guitar)
9. Local Musician Showdown (guitar)
10. Music Class (music career)

10 NPC friends:
1. Grim Reaper
2. Zaki Taymur (tourist)
3. Abraham Le (policeman)
4. Vera Vogul (mail carrier)
5. Hasan Parker (repairman)
6. Shawn Angel (babysitter)
7. Amanda Gerstein (repo [wo]man)
8. Doreen Workman (maid)
9. Tammy Duming (proprietor)
10. Candy Barker (pizza deliverer)

10 Household best friends:
1. Jose Keaton
2. Parker Langerak
3. Ethan Bunch
4. Michael Bachelor
5. Malcolm Landgraab
6. Sam Sekemoto
7. Amanda Gerstein
8. Emma Ursine
9. Holly Alto
10. Betty Dickens

Fully upgraded property: Maywood Glen (redesignated to dog park)
Fully upgraded building: Bistro

Large tombstone: Victoria Andrews

Collection: Gnomes; total value §10,030



(Viola, the ten ‘official’ gnomes who were left behind, and some spares in the background.)

Vacation days used: 3

[Malley]

Congrats on completing your first house! It's nice to see some new townie starters for a decadynasty 

[KRae]

Love it! The Decadynasty is my favorite.

[Lisa46]

Yay for more sims 3 stories!

[hazelnut]

Yay!  You started posting it .  Good luck with the rest.

[Alex]

Thanks for reading and commenting, all Here's House 2...


Jose took Viola home to 325 Oak Grove Road. I’m not sure why Story Progression thought he needed four beds for one person, but I wasn’t going to complain: it’s one of my favourite houses, and has plenty of room for gardening and skilling objects. (The house was pure coincidence, by the way: Viola had been getting wishes about him since high school, so Jose was always going to be the spouse.)



They celebrated their wedding in the traditional fashion...



...And then settled into married life. Viola played for tips, held autograph sessions, and performed concerts. Jose already had sufficient logic skill for tutoring children, and so began establishing a garden to keep him occupied.



Beau came over to visit his daughter and hear some exciting news. He spent the night, but probably didn’t sleep much, what with all the panicking and the screaming and the baby being born.



Jose did the bulk of the work in teaching Verbena her toddler skills:





Viola was a little busy being pregnant with Verbena’s younger brothers.

You’ll have to take my word for it, but those really are two different babies. The oldest is Vincent, destined to help out in the garden and fish. The youngest is Victor, named after Viola’s Mum, who will follow in her footsteps and become a writer. They both love the outdoors (along with Verbena and both parents); Vincent is brave, and Victor is a couch potato. Victor was conceived hours after Vincent was born, and then one of them lost/gained a day somewhere, so they ended up almost the same age.



Pointless child spam. That’s Vincent on the left playing peek-a-boo and being attacked with the claw, and Victor being taught how to say ‘Divorce’ by his adoring big sister.



Jose took a day trip to China to pick up some fruit for his garden. He wanted to see the Terracotta Army while he was there, and then seemed to think they’d want to see the School Cheer -- I’m not sure why.



Back home, Verbena began to learn nectar making: there was a lot of spare fruit lying around, and she was bored.



Meanwhile, Vincent played with the blocks, and Victor took up writing on a laptop that was far too big for him.



And Jose’s time came to an end



Verbena aged up to young adult, and selected Perfect Garden as her lifetime wish. Thanks to Jose’s prep work, she got that immediately, so she started gardening with Super Green Thumb and a nice big moodlet to help her out.



Almost immediately afterwards, Viola died, leaving Verbena in charge of her teenage brothers.



Left alone, they all threw themselves into their respective tasks: Verbena looked after the garden, Victor wrote, and Vincent caught fish and took care of the cooking.





It wasn’t all work, though. Socially awkward Vincent, of all people, made things official with his high school girlfriend, Deanna Anders:



Not to be outdone, both Victor and Verbena also found significant others.

Verbena’s partner of choice is Buck Edmonson, an artistic virtuoso she met at school. He normally has better clothing: this was his ‘Dress to Impress’ outfit for Vincent’s bachelor party. I’d hoped for an original townie descendent, but they’d already died out: Buck came closest, as his parents and brother had been family friends for ages.

Victor popped the question to his own high school girlfriend Leilani (who also happened to be Deanne’s sister: story progression hooked up both couples at the same prom). Victor decided he wanted an NPC friend a child, so Vashti was promptly adopted.



And I began to worry.

The plan for the house was for the collection to be omni plant fruit (I wasn’t sure whether masterpiece novels, perfect deathfish or the books Jose had stolen from base camp would be worth the most, but I was going to experiment – although I suspect it’s probably the stolen books, which depresses me). However, the garden was glitchy and I had terrible luck with the weather: a lot of the plants never became harvestable – although they still demanded weeding and watering – and the plants kept going dormant in the summer (even, occasionally, in indoor planter bowls). Verbena was diligently planting and fertilising steaks, but she was also increasingly close to elder, with omni plants looking less and less likely.

I had a collection of books, thanks to Victor, and the simple option would have been to order 10 copies of his best-selling masterpiece. However, I’d also had a vague back-up plan since Pauline Wan gave Viola a §55K fountain as a wedding present. (Don’t tell Victor, but getting enough wedding presents for a collection was also the only reason I made them have a third child.)

Verbena had supermaxed and completed her career. However, she still needed an opportunity that didn’t involve steaks, so off she went to university for a day to complete an easy BlackOpp.



Back at home, her brothers and the Anders sisters were setting new fashions in wedding attire:





(I’m not quite sure what’s wrong with Leilani, but possibly she’d just realised that she was marrying a man who wears playing-in-the-sprinklers-wear to a formal party. Either that, or she was channelling my panic about the collection.)

Both sisters moved in, along with Vincent and Deanne’s son, who she and story progression had named Gene. I happened to spot ghost-Beau reading his great-grandson a bedtime story. He spent some time playing with Vashti, too: for a Sim with such awful traits, he’s great with kids.



Content that her brothers, sisters-in-law, niece and nephew (and resident ghosts) were settled, Verbena hurried off to the Consignment Store, more than ready to move on with her own life (and possibly plant an omni plant one day).



There was no time for wedding parties or formal wear: elder status was days away, and a couple of their household best friends were getting dangerously close to expiring. They exchanged rings, and then Buck led the way home.


House 2

Parents: Viola Andrews and Jose Keaton
Address: 325 Oak Grove Road

Heir: Verbena Andrews
Traits: Loves the outdoors, Loves the heat, Eco-friendly, Over-emotional, Green thumb
LTW: The Perfect Garden
Maxed career: Gardener
Supermaxed skill: Gardening
Other maxed skill: Nectar making



Both parents living together at time of birth.
Heir on the honour roll at both elementary and high school.

10 Opportunities completed by heir:
1. The Research Project (high school)
2. Ingredients Ripe for the Eating (gardening)
3. Seed Spittin’ Made Easy (gardening)
4. Pure Pomegranate (gardening)
5. Excellent Veggies (gardening)
6. A Bag of Produce (gardening)
7. Uncommonly Good (gardening)
8. A Just-In-Time Harvest (gardening)
9. Outstandingly Rare (gardening)
10. Day Job: Get Paid to Play Video Games (day job)

10 NPC friends:
1. Russel Phan (pizza deliverer)
2. Kia Morey (proprietor)
3. Quan Pei (tourist)
4. Marion Franklin (maid)
5. Jerri Starnes (elixir store consignment specialist)
6. Gloria Gentry (adoption worker)
7. Charlotte Sleater (babysitter)
8. Ferby Case (repairman)
9. Sugar Free (party dancer)
10. Lynette Crouch (DJ)

10 Household best friends:
1. Marion Franklin
2. Russel Phan
3. Sugar Free
4. Leland Pullen
5. Karina Rodrigues
6. Buck Edmonson
7. Kia Morey
8. Jerri Starnes
9. Sunshine Bain
10. Tori Reed

Fully upgraded property: Sunset Institute of Modern Art
Fully upgraded building: Doo Peas Corporate Tower

Medium tombstone: Jose Andrews né Keaton
Large tombstone: Viola Andrews

Collection: Wedding presents, total value §68,700



Vacation days used: 2 this generation; 5/20 total

[Malley]

I had one of my heirs marry the Keaton boy and they ended up in the same house; go figure 

Congrats on completing the second heir!

[Alex]

I had one of my heirs marry the Keaton boy and they ended up in the same house; go figure 

Congrats on completing the second heir!

Perhaps Keatons just really like their space, then!

Thanks

[CeresIn]

In my games the Keatons always move to larger homes, most of the time to that house.

Congratulations on the two heirs

[Alex]

In my games the Keatons always move to larger homes, most of the time to that house.

Congratulations on the two heirs

I'm pretty sure he didn't move there until after Justine and Marty died, though - I was really pleased when I noticed he'd moved.

Thanks

[Alex]

House 3 was 270 Sunnyside Blvd, formerly owned by the Working Friends household.



Not ideal: this is the horsey house, and it has about five empty squares of garden....

However.

Verbena was very pleased that there was so little room she could be forced to garden in. Instead, she finally handed in the Omnificent Plant opportunity, planted an omni plant just to prove she could, and began enjoying her retirement:





She resumed her old interest in nectar making, and Buck set about his ambition to become a Master of the Arts.



The peace was temporary.





Pregnancy with Veronica extended Verbena’s adulthood a little, but she and Buck were soon elders. Very sweet, head-over-heels-in-love elders. Every time I left them alone for a moment, I came back to find ‘Verbena thinks Buck is extremely irresistible’.



And Veronica grew into an adorable (if cloney) child, so I took a lot of screenshots which I will proceed to spam you with:









However, once she aged up to teen, the real work began. I think it’s fair to say that Veronica was fonder of extra-curriculars than school.



Not that there wasn’t still time for fun as well. That’s Hugh Barbosa, a member of one of two unrelated Barbosa families in town. (To add to the confusion, while his mother is a Barbosa, her husband and Hugh’s brother Perry both have the surname Escobedo. Story Progression makes my head hurt.)



And Verbena’s time came to an end. She had unfinished business: her one and only omni plant (yes, the one she planted just after she moved in) had been dormant for so long that she hadn’t been able to harvest it yet. Grim was unsympathetic.



Buck promised to harvest it for her (and also keep an eye out for Veronica). The next day, he visited Vincent and Victor, ate some of Vincent’s carefully preserved ambrosia, and then started learning to garden.



If the thirteen arrests are anything to go by, Veronica took her mother’s death hard:



(Also, I think the police officer in the bottom left picture needs to retake his driving qualifications.)

(I had a very glitchy equestrian centre: Veronica would start her second competition of the day at around 6.30pm, but not get to leave until after curfew. The local cops didn’t seem to understand that it wasn’t her fault, and there wasn’t a teleporter to get her home quickly. I did try sending Buck to accompany her, but he kept wandering back home, and then grounding her when she finally arrived.)

However, Veronica didn’t let her growing criminal record stop her: she liked riding, and she was self-employed, so her dad’s dire warnings about nobody wanting to hire felons didn’t worry her. Besides, if Princess and Cobalt were happy to fraternise with a convict, then who cared about the rest of the world?



Nevertheless, we were all very relieved when she won her third international competition, and supermaxed riding.



And the omni plant became harvestable! Grim must have been waiting: moments after it had been harvested, he came to fetch Buck.



(Also, have omni plants been patched, or is it just my glitchy game? That one’s supposed to be growing deathfish, but they look a lot like sardines to me (the same graphic as when you put a fish on the floor).)

Veronica took to fishing in pursuit of opportunities. She’d begun fishing as a small child, and went on to supermax before she finally got enough Black Opps (and even then, she had to count a gardening one.)



With all the long-term requirements done, she rushed around meeting NPCs, begrudgingly sold her horses back to the equestrian centre, and then took a moment to Mind Meld with Grim (kids, do not try this at home).



And with her moving requirements finally complete, she invited her boyfriend Hugh Barbosa over, and made an honest man of him:






House 3

Parents: Verbena Andrews and Buck Edmonson
Address: 270 Sunnyside Blvd

Heir: Veronica Andrews
Traits: Loves the outdoors, Brave, Snob, Equestrian, Angler, Diva (nerd influence)
LTW: The Jockey
Maxed career: Horsewoman
Supermaxed skill: Riding
Other maxed skill: Fishing (supermaxed)



Both parents living together at time of birth.
Heir on the honour roll at both elementary and high school.

10 Opportunities completed by heir:
1. Aquarium Fishing (fishing)
2. Say Hello to My Little Fish (fishing)
3. Crocodile Hunting (fishing)
4. Equestrian Lovers’ Meet and Greet (special)
5. Funny Looking Fish (fishing)
6. To Hunt a Dragon (fishing)
7. Fishing for Suits (fishing)
8. Great Plums (gardening)
9. Robot Fish v2.0 (fishing)
10. No Warts, Please (fishing)

10 NPC friends:
1. Loretta Pullen (maid)
2. Leslie Naylor (repair technician)
3. Wang Lu (tourist)
4. Lauren West (mascot)
5. William Langford (elixir store consignment specialist)
6. Chadd Ortega (proprietor)
7. Denny Cotton (tattoo artist)
8. Harvey Hamel (acrobat)
9. Nathaniel Kwinn (pizza deliverer)
10. Judith Wong (newspaper deliverer)

10 Household best friends:
1. Wild Horse
2. Cobalt Horse
3. Garnet Horse
4. Danny Horse
5. Princess Horse
6. Gopher Horse
7. Starlight Horse
8. Jenny Alford
9. Hugh Barbosa
10. Cori Barbosa

Fully upgraded property: Old Pier Beach
Fully upgraded building: Equestrian Centre

Large tombstone: Verbena Andrews
Medium tombstone: Buck Andrews ne Edmonson

Collection: Nectar, total value §35,780



Vacation days used: 3

[Malley]

Congrats on supermaxing riding! I did that once and it was not pretty 

[hazelnut]

(Also, have omni plants been patched, or is it just my glitchy game? That one’s supposed to be growing deathfish, but they look a lot like sardines to me (the same graphic as when you put a fish on the floor).)

Must be a patch, I think.  I've just tried growing deathfish for my Household Skills family and found the same thing.  The old graphics were much better .

Also, mind-melding with Grim?!

[Alex]

Congrats on supermaxing riding! I did that once and it was not pretty 

It's definitely not my favourite skill... Not sure which is worse: the international competitions, or the endless wild horse-watching. 

Must be a patch, I think.  I've just tried growing deathfish for my Household Skills family and found the same thing.  The old graphics were much better .

Also, mind-melding with Grim?!

That's a shame I wonder if it's just fish, or whether all the graphics have changed.

I was both curious and terrified about what she might learn from him (level 1 soul-reaping?), but actually she didn't learn anything.

[Alex]

House 4 is the one I always think of as ‘That ugly green triangle one’. Yay.



Veronica took a look at all the grass her horses could have grazed on if only it had been one house earlier, and sighed. She bought a haystack and put it in the back garden in the hope of attracting a few wild horses to adopt.

She attracted something.



And soon she was expecting a little foal of her own.



This is Vanessa. She’s the first baby to be born in the Decadynasty who doesn’t love the outdoors. Instead, she’s excitable and insane



Obligatory cute toddler pics:



Alas, she soon had to go to school, and Operation Get-Vanessa-on-the-Honour-Roll commenced in earnest. Vanessa didn’t understand why her dad thought he was qualified to tutor her: he was so stupid he thought sandpits were meant to be used for studying in. He also had no idea about fashion.



She still found time to indulge her newfound rebelliousness, though.



With chairs, showers, toilets and sinks far more hazardous than usual, it was probably no wonder that Veronica and Hugh kept finding excuses to go out. Hugh was trying to become Super Popular. Veronica fished.



The rebelliousness continued: as a teenager, Vanessa channelled it into ranting about everything that was wrong with the political system, and brightening up her parents’ house. Well, if they wanted their bedroom walls unvandalised, they shouldn’t go out so much.



She also began organising protests.



One of them was attended by Verbena I sent Vanessa over to say hi.



And her insanity frequently made itself known. I left her alone for two minutes in the house with Hugh’s new boss, and came back to find her talking madness at him. Maybe she was trying to help out Hugh’s career with her schmoozing skills?



Veronica had her appointment with Grim.



And Vanessa had her YA birthday, and a decision to make.

Her rebellious side wanted to take up that offer of a career in Art Appraisal, but she also had Principles. And those Principles told her that her first port of call should be to sort out the political system.

She looked for an Undermining Politics internship, but couldn’t find one advertised, so instead, so decided to Take Them Down from Within.



Hugh saw his daughter named Valedictorian. Grim decided to ruin the celebration. Hugh had been in his early hundreds: I think having a dependent* kid was the only thing keeping him alive.

*don’t tell Vanessa I said that



Now orphaned, Vanessa threw herself into completing her moving requirements.

She supermaxed street art (and became Street Credible).



She began climbing the ranks of the politics career, taking the opportunity to rebel wherever possible:



She collected donations towards her newly-formed Sticking It to the Man Party:



And finally, she was elected Leader of the Free World. And her classmates thought she’d never amount to anything more than Most Likely to Offend Others...



She found a man whose fashion sense was nearly as bad as hers, and befriended him. Oh, and popped the question. As you do.



There was really only one problem: despite having a rabbit-hole career and the charisma skill, she was missing three Black Opps. And so, like Verbena before her, she headed off to do a single day at university.

Although this is a sorority, word may have got around about Vanessa’s choice of First Day At Uni clothes, judging by all the male residents. I’d never seen her wear sleepwear before: she usually goes for formal or sportswear.



Vanessa liked university a lot: lots of lovely juice, a place where being a rebel was encouraged, and no sign of those pesky classes she’d be warned about.



Alas, she had a fiancé waiting at home, and so she packed her bag again. The inevitable wedding followed.




House 4

Parents:  Veronica Andrews and Hugh Barbosa
Address: 15 Maywood Lane

Heir: Vanessa Andrews
Traits: Excitable, Insane, Rebellious, Avant garde, Party animal (rebel influence), Photographer’s Eye, Dramatic (honorary communications degree)
LTW: Street Credible
Maxed career: Politics
Supermaxed skill: Street Art
Other maxed skill: Charisma



Both parents living together at time of birth.
Heir on the honour roll at both grade and high school.

10 Opportunities completed by heir:
1. Research Project (grade school)
2. Lots of Drama (drama club)
3. Commissioned Street Art (street art)
4. Bestest Friends (charisma)
5. Speaking Engagement (politics career)
6. Chat with the Police (politics career)
7. A Party of Large Wigs (politics career)
8. Dare to Imply Someone’s Mother is a Llama
9. Dare to Keg Stand
10. Day Job: Botanical Test Subject

10 NPC friends:
1. Khahlila Witherspoon (barista bartender)
2. Irene Patel (tourist)
3. Lex Dance (party dancer)
4. Trevor Singletery (pizza deliverer)
5. Joel Mooney (repair technician)
6. Spencer Gossett (babysitter)
7. Aleksey Pruitt (acrobat)
8. Sarah Dorsey (policewoman)
9. Donovan Horton (magician)
10. Harold Himes (university mascot)

10 Household best friends:
1. Corey Olivares
2. Kristi Olivares
3. Mackenzie Olivares
4. Donovan Horton
5. Lydell Steed
6. Lex Dance
7. Carlton Ash
8.Bobbi Lapointe
9. Julius Fagan
10. Tragic Clown

Fully upgraded property: Performance Park
Fully upgraded building: Landgraab Industries Science Facility

Large tombstone: Veronica Andrews
Medium tombstone: Hugh Andrews ne Barbosa

Collection: Fish, total value §12,430 (all deathfish)



Vacation days used: 1

[Trip]

Insane sims arrive in travel destinations in their pajamas, and don't wear them any time else. It's a pretty universal thing.

Her fashion sense was pretty awesome, though.

[Lisa46]

You are getting through this so fast!

[Malley]

Vanessa was pretty awesome  I love how she posed in her Leader of the Free World outfit. Totally fitting of the new leader of Sim Nation 

[Nettlejuice]

Vanessa and Veronica are both so pretty. I love the policecar/horse mess ^•^

[Alex]

Vanessa and Veronica are both so pretty. I love the policecar/horse mess ^•^

Part of me wishes Veronica had looked more like Verbena (and therefore like the founders), but I like where they ended up instead (even if they are a bit cloney).

Poor Cobalt! (Although being run over didn't seem to do him any harm.)

Vanessa was pretty awesome  I love how she posed in her Leader of the Free World outfit. Totally fitting of the new leader of Sim Nation 

Yep. Poor citizens 

Insane sims arrive in travel destinations in their pajamas, and don't wear them any time else. It's a pretty universal thing.

Her fashion sense was pretty awesome, though.

I'm not sure what clothes she actually arrived in (probably was PJs), but after looking around, she did one of those series of clothes-changes that insane sims sometimes do, and then clearly decided that PJs were best suited to meeting a bunch of strangers. On the plus side, there were probably lots of new students panicking about whether people would think they were odd, and she probably made them feel a lot better.

I'd been looking forward to Vanessa since Victoria and Beau's time, just for the clothes.

You are getting through this so fast!

Perhaps I just have no life

[Alex]

House 5 was just across the road from House 4: 16 Maywood Lane, once home to the Bunch household (and the squeaky swing that drives me mad every time I move a Sim onto the empty lot next door).



If you read the summaries, you might have noticed that Vanessa has the photographer’s eye trait, and so it will come as no surprise that this house was going to collect photos.

My original plan was for Vanessa to have several children, and for each of them to collect a few high value photos. However, Corey’s household was even better: he had two adult sisters, giving me four photographers who were likely to die and increase the value of their photographs (Yes, I know, I’m heartless.)



On the left is Mackenzie, a friendly musician. On the right is Kristi, a cop who’s afraid of technology and the dark, which you’d think might be problematic for police work. They both got makeovers to buy them a few extra weeks.



Corey got really minor plastic surgery instead, although with the same effect on his age. Both Veronica and Vanessa were distinctly cloney, and I fancied shaking up the genetics a bit. I left his hair and everyday clothes alone: Vanessa probably liked them that way, and it amused me to see him head off to work at the hospital with that hair.

And they tried for a nooboo:




The early game was manic, but not in a very screenshotogenic way.

I took advantage of multitabs and the brain enhancing machine things to get everybody to level 10 photography as quickly as possible. Once they were near the top of the skill, I started knocking out Photog and Architectural Eye, and Corey, Kristi and Mackenzie each traded their most useless trait for Photographer’s Eye.

Then they each travelled to Egypt, and got a photo each of the Sphinx, Abu Simbel and a pyramid.

Vanessa was the last to go. She had to stop being pregnant first.



This is Vivienne. She’s artistic and friendly, and was mostly cared for by Mackenzie while her mother ran around Sunset Valley taking photographs.

Viv was quickly followed by Virginia (hereafter always called Ginny), a good genius. (I only realised I’d forgotten to change Vanessa’s formalwear when she went into labour.)



And then the adults were all very responsible, and went off to China for photos of the Dragon Cave, leaving the two children in the care of a completely incompetent babysitter. (Unfortunately, I appear to have entirely failed to get any screenshots of ay of their travelling about.)

Vanessa grew up to elder. Her, um, style was harder to produce with elder clothing. She compensated by dying her hair and rebelling as much as possible.



The whole household chipped in to teach toddler skills and tutor Viv. Mackenzie (who wasn’t actually Family Oriented, but might as well have been) always got to the kids first when they cried, and Kristi became the family tutor.

Vivienne spam:





And Ginny:



Mackenzie started to get wishes about one of her colleagues, Vera Hanson.



Lots and lots of wishes.



She was also so good with children that I began to feel really guilty about stopping her have any, so I let her adopt Vance.



The teen years were surprisingly quiet: there were very few pranks, and a lot of studying. Gin and Vance are both bookworms, but I’m not sure what Vivienne’s excuse was.



Viv joined the art club, but otherwise left skilling alone. Gin and Vance were subjected to the same torture as their parents, and were made to speed through photography. (For the sake of my sanity, though, they were spared Photog. There are only so many times I can scream ‘It’s a ***** Flame Plant! Why must you insist it’s My Main Squeeze?!’ in one generation.)

And at 89, Kristi (who had never previously shown any interest in anything outside skilling and dynamic DNA profiling) found a romantic interest in the form of her new partner, Marcus.



There was a run of deaths.

First Vanessa:



Then Corey. Then Kristi.

[Alex]

Vivienne had a quiet YA birthday party, and became very busy. She joined the Stylist profession, and started work on her supermax skill, painting.



She too blitzed through photography (including the accursed Photog challenge), and then she, Ginny and Vance took one-day trips to China and Egypt to collect high value photos. Viv also picked up (low value) duplicates for Black Opps.

Here are Vivienne’s holiday snaps. That’s Ginny at Abu Simbel, and Vance at the Sphinx, but you might have to squint rather to spot them. Viv says she sees enough of Vance and Ginny anyway, so why waste film on decent photos of them?





The photos joined an amassing collection in the basement. I love No Bills Ever.



Back at home, Vivienne began to progress through the Stylist career. She developed an approach to schmoozing clients that could only work in The Sims:



And a style reminiscent of her mother’s.



I started by putting in some effort, but those makeovers all went down badly. Once I started using the weird stuff, all the clients seemed much happier. I’m sure it was more to do with Viv’s growing experience and the random number generator, but I choose to believe otherwise.

Mostly, she worked from her bedroom, what with all the graduations and festivals stopping her from going to work. On the left is her becoming a Visionary. On the right, although you’d never know it, she’s becoming a Fashion Phenomenon and completing her moving requirements. She timed it beautifully – it was the day before her adult birthday.



Ginny, who’d become a rather senior doctor while I was ignoring her in favour of Viv, introduced her sister to one of her colleagues, Westley. He has terrible traits, but was also the only single male adult in town, and he gets bonus points for not having greenish hair.



Vivienne proposed.

Westley seemed rather surprised: most people didn’t think a grumpy klepto mooch was such an amazing catch. Also, they’d only known each other for about three hours.

He accepted though, only saying, “As you wish.”



Vivienne had a quick birthday cake before her siblings left for work:



(Very obligingly, she began a Mid-Life Crisis and wanted to move house immediately.)

Mackenzie, who was still sprightly at 107, had a quick Young Again Potion:



If my file had been up to it, I’d have married her off to Vera and let her move out, and then let Ginny and Vance have their own happy endings. It wasn’t, so let’s just pretend they all lived happily ever after.

Vivienne had a quick wedding to Westley. He’d managed to age up overnight (even though I’m sure he was once younger than Vivienne).



The newlyweds made a quick stop at 98 Landgraab Ave to pick up Westley’s mother (only 7 days older than he is, which I tried not to think about too hard.)



And then Vivienne called the estate agents to arrange another move.




House 5

Parents: Vanessa Andrews and Corey Olivares
Address: 16 Maywood Lane

Heir: Vivienne Andrews
Traits: Artistic, Friendly, Photographer’s Eye, Charismatic, Ambitious, Perfectionist (nerd influence)
LTW: Visionary
Maxed career: Stylist
Supermaxed skill: Painting
Other maxed skill: Photography



Both parents living together at time of birth.
Heir on the honour roll at both elementary and high school.

10 Opportunities completed by heir:
1. Pile of Permission Slips (elementary school)
2. Archaeology Exhibit (elementary school)
3. The Art-a-Thon (art club)
4. The Sphinx (photography)
5. Local Artists Gallery (painting)
6. The Pyramids (photography)
7. The Importance of Sculpting (sculpting)
8. A Medium Painting (painting)
9. Interior Decor (painting)
10. Charismatic Cash (charisma)

10 NPC friends:
1. Lindsey Nettles (mail carrier)
2. Sarah Dorsey (policewoman)
3. Elissa Davies (university mascot)
4. Lex Dance (party dancer)
5. Jill Jasper (elixir store consignment specialist)
6. Emilie Morrissey (newspaper deliverer)
7. Kelsey London (proprietor)
8. Simon Goodson (barista bartender)
9. Winter Fernandez (repair technician)
10. Nick Deal (pizza deliverer)

10 Household best friends:
1. Westley Cromwell
2. Vera Hanson
3. Naomi Vest
4. Vivian Trotter
5. Kelsey London
6. Kyle Galvan
7. Kindra Guerrero
8. Simon Goodson
9. Jill Jasper
10. Malcolm Post

Fully upgraded property:Consignment Store
Fully upgraded building: Bookshop

Medium tombstones: Corey Andrews ne Olivares, Kristi Olivares
Large tombstone: Vanessa Andrews

Collection: Photographs, total value §114,261



Vacation days used: 14

[Nettlejuice]

Those makeovers have given me a good laugh!

[Malley]

Vivienne was super pretty! Glad she was able to find a spouse without the puke green hair. That color tends to stick around for a while in dynasties...

[Trip]

Viv's pretty! I like her lips.

I'm usually pretty serious with my makeovers when I play stylists, but where's the fun in that when you can make a town of superheroes?

[Lisa46]

That was funny! I hate photography sometimes, especially when the photos don't register. And only 7 days older than Wesley.

And you are also a fan of Princess Diaries.

[hazelnut]

On the right is Kristi, a cop who’s afraid of technology and the dark, which you’d think might be problematic for police work.

Only in the Sims  .  The same goes for Corey's wonderful outfit .

There are only so many times I can scream ‘It’s a ***** Flame Plant! Why must you insist it’s My Main Squeeze?!’ in one generation.

 

The newlyweds made a quick stop at 98 Landgraab Ave to pick up Westley’s mother (only 7 days older than he is, which I tried not to think about too hard.)

See first comment    .

[Alex]

Those makeovers have given me a good laugh!

Viv's pretty! I like her lips.

I'm usually pretty serious with my makeovers when I play stylists, but where's the fun in that when you can make a town of superheroes?

I don't know where she got those lips from - neither of her parents have them. Random variation, maybe.

Well quite  . Easier on the file size, too.

Vivienne was super pretty! Glad she was able to find a spouse without the puke green hair. That color tends to stick around for a while in dynasties...

I'm glad too - I got stuck with five generations of puke green in a legacy once. Westley's hair is much nicer

And you are also a fan of Princess Diaries.

Is that in Princess Diaries? I thought I was quoting The Princess Bride, but perhaps I've got my princesses mixed up.

The same goes for Corey's wonderful outfit .

Not so - I saw an outfit just like that in real life. Just not on a World Renowned Surgeon.

[Alex]

Vivienne, Westley and Erika moved to Riverview. Specifically, to 310 Cypress Lane.



You know the next part.





Meet Venus. She’s athletic and disciplined – wonder what the plan might be for her...



And her sister Valerie, who is artistic and disciplined.



Venus got that red hair I was coveting



So did Valerie.



(Also, that’s the last you’ll see of Erika: she died at about that point, and I forgot to get a screenshot.)

Unable to start her supermax yet, Venus spent her childhood playing



and doing things that she claimed were extreme.



On her first day of teen, though, she went to China.



And work on the Martial Arts skill commenced.





Valerie divided her time between being chained to an easel and sharing her sister’s new hobby.



Poor Vivienne was almost entirely chained to an easel – I realised I have no screenshots of her as an elder. Except these



When she reached young adulthood, Venus became an acrobat and was finally allowed to start seriously learning athletics (which she’d been trying to do every time I concentrated on anybody else).



And the next few weeks looked like this:



Her ‘trapped in a box’ is rather scary.



Venus picked out her own spouse at a gig. I’d had my eye on Dimitri Ivanov, but he’d grown up to dislike children, and he and Venus hated each other. Maximus McDermott, however, seemed to find her dirt-eating attractive, so he was perfect (if mental).



Venus maxed both of her skills in quick succession, and achieved her LTW of physical perfection.



And she focused in on acrobatics and sparring. They seemed to use similar skills.



She finally won the Tournament on her third trip in China (she also squeezed in an adventure chain, since it involved martial arts and nobody else would be able to do it).



Vivienne and Westley died At least it made the collection more valuable.



Venus did one last gig and maxed the Acrobat career.



Valerie used the wonders of social networking and My Best Friend to finish off the moving requirements. I know I could have used social networking for the 10th best friend, but I have a soft spot for Simbots . His name is Stephan, which he shares with about 60% of the Simbots my game generates

[Alex]

Venus had her Adult birthday.



And she was ready to move. TaDa!



First, I let Valerie have a big wish she’d been holding onto:



(Yeah, I know. Weird. Try not to think about the rust.)

Then Venus invited Maximus over.



And inevitably:



House 6

Parents:  Vivienne Andrews and Westley Cromwell
Address: 310 Cypress Lane, Riverview

Heir: Venus Andrews
Traits: Disciplined, Athletic, Daredevil, Ambitious, Natural Born Performer
LTW: Physical Perfection
Maxed career: Acrobat
Supermaxed skill: Martial arts
Other maxed skill: Athletics



Both parents living together at time of birth.
Heir on the honour roll at both grade and high school.

10 Opportunities completed by heir:
1. Stinky Bugs (grade school)
2. The Muscle Hustle (sports club)
3. At the Health Seminar (athletic)
4. Showtime in the Park (acrobat)
5. Advanced Training (martial arts)
6. Learning from the Master’s Palm (adventure)
7. The Sparring Report (adventure)
8. Meditation is Key (adventure)
9. Talking Mimes (acrobat)
10. Meditation Benefits (martial arts)

10 NPC friends:
1. Billy Ryan (babysitter)
2. Daniel Wang (singer)
3. Grim Reaper
4. Tami Stinson (pizza deliverer)
5. Cherry Kanto (elixir store consignment specialist)
6. Aaron Koch (newspaper deliverer)
7. Claire Maurer (proprietor)
8. Lucas Hitchcock (university mascot)
9. Imelda Barry (magician)
10. Nuwa Shin Yi (tourist)

10 Household best friends:
1. Lucas Hitchcock
2. Stephan Andrews
3. Dallas Shallow
4. Aaron Koch
5. Claire Maurer
6. Grim Reaper
7. Cherry Kanto
8. Tami Stinso
9. Billy Ryan
10. Daniel Wang

Fully upgraded property: Aleister’s Elixirs and Sundries
Fully upgraded building: County Care General Hospital

Large tombstone: Vivienne Andrews
Medium tombstone: Westley Andrews ne Cromwell

Collection: Paintings, total value §48,968





Vacation days used: 7

[Malley]

Maximus McDermott, however, seemed to find her dirt-eating attractive, so he was perfect (if mental)

In the Sims, that qualifies as a perfect spouse 

[hazelnut]

...and doing things that she claimed were extreme.

Daredevils, huh.  Gotta love 'em (or else they'll be extremely displeased, no doubt ).

Venus' arms were scarily thin as a teen.  (Were you worried they'd fall off?  )

Also, snogging a SimBot?!

[Lisa46]

You're right about the Princess thing, I just typed it out wrong. Sorry!

[Nettlejuice]

Kissing a Simbot.. That is just too weird for me  The acrobat career looks fun and combining it with martial arts is genius - I didn't think of that at least.

[Alex]

In the Sims, that qualifies as a perfect spouse 

I think it probably does

Kissing a Simbot.. That is just too weird for me  The acrobat career looks fun and combining it with martial arts is genius - I didn't think of that at least.

That simbot seems to be ridiculously attractive - Venus had a crush on him too, as have every other playable sim (male and female) who has seen him. Maybe they can sense his Great Kisser trait.

I did the martial arts/acrobat combo in my immortal dynasty, too. They go together really nicely. Also, I hate the criminal and professional sports careers, so acrobat seemed a good bet!

Daredevils, huh.  Gotta love 'em (or else they'll be extremely displeased, no doubt ).

Venus' arms were scarily thin as a teen.  (Were you worried they'd fall off?  )

Also, snogging a SimBot?!

Daredevils are extremely weird.

She's scarily thin in general (even her hair).

See above on the simbot...

You're right about the Princess thing, I just typed it out wrong. Sorry!

Ah, okay, so it was a Westley - no need for me to change that line then

[Alex]

Venus moved into 180 Bounty Drive with Maximus, his brother Travis, and Hal Breckenridge (not sure what he was doing there), plus an elderly dog named Lulu. Hal and Lulu were kicked out: they were already on borrowed time, and I didn’t want the Mourning moodlet messing up any pregnancies that might be coming up.



First, Maximus took a trip to China. He bought a board breaker for Venus, and spent the rest of the day skilling.



Then Venus made a start on the collection...



...but was soon forced to take a break...



...for a nice relaxing maternity leave.



Travis insisted on watching Venus drive herself taking her to the hospital for the birth, where he wasn’t much help. That was pretty typical for Travis: I moved him out a few days afterwards, after he caused another fire by being absent-minded.



This is Verity. Against the odds, she isn’t a redhead (her colouring is all from her grandmother, Vivienne). Otherwise she looks a lot like Maximus. She’s a genius and a couch potato.



As a toddler, she was mostly found playing with the pegbox, or with her doll, Vesper.



Her hobbies as a child were similar.



And Vesper formed the basis of Verity’s first BlackOpp:



(I love how Sim parents don’t seem to notice (or mind) suddenly having an extra kid to look after.)

Maximus died at 90 days, just before he could max logic and become a Renaissance Sim (and so he got the flat tombstone)



Verity was an easy kid to care for: give her a book and a games console, and she entertained herself.



Vesper was a little more rebellious. Her hobbies included booby trapping the plumbing, egging houses, toilet papering the principal’s office, and copying Verity’s homework. Verity wasn’t fond of that last one, and it led to a lot of ignorance-berating and snubbing.



Perhaps wisely, Venus focused on covering the garden in gems until the teens aged up.



A level 10 nerd, Verity joined the Video Game Developer career on graduation, and began working on her supermax skill, writing. (Don’t ask me why the screen is blank on that first picture – it stayed that way for the whole novel.) She became a Professional Author.



Vesper joined the police: she wants to be an International Super Spy.

Venus trained her in the athletic skill, and she spent a lot of time looking for a spouse for Verity interviewing suspects.



Grim came for Venus I needed the tombstone, but she was probably the heir I was most attached to.



Verity befriended Grim while he was there – and discovered that he doesn’t like it when you beat him at Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock.



Verity maxed the game developer career, and got to finish off her supermax instead of celebrating.



She aged up to adult – and her eyes got stuck (not the usual birthday cross-eyes, either – this lasted several hours until I made her Change Appearance). Maybe it was eye strain from trying to see black text on a black monitor? I used to have a doll whose eyes stuck rather like that, and it was creepy.



Eyes back to normal, she popped the question to a man in a hot dog costume. Who wouldn’t?



She became Mrs Hot Dog Guy in a quiet ceremony watched by Vesper, who came over uncharacteristically sentimental.



And Verity moved out, leaving Vesper looking rather wistful.




House 7

Parents: Venus Andrews and Maximus McDermott
Address: 180 Bounty Drive

Heir: Verity Andrews
Traits: Genius, Couch potato, Bookworm, Ambitious, Family oriented (nerd influence), Computer whiz
LTW: Professional Author
Maxed career: Video game developer (via the engineer branch)
Supermaxed skill: Writing
Other maxed skill: Logic



Both parents living together at time of birth.
Heir on the honour roll at both elementary and high school.

10 Opportunities completed by heir:
1. When Dreams Come True (special)
2. The Gossip Column (newspaper club)
3. After School Employment (high school)
4. Puzzle Panic (logic)
5. Deliver a Book to Egypt (writing)
6. The Reference Library (video game developer career)
7. To Boldly Go (writing)
8. Offsite Brainstorming Sessions (video game developer career)
9. The Advertising Partner (video game developer career)
10. Photo Contest (photography)

10 NPC friends:
1. Grim Reaper
2. Torrance Ridley (magician)
3. Billy Ryan (babysitter)
4. Carisa Herrington (repair technician)
5. Jeffrey Hogue (university mascot)
6. Aaron Koch (newspaper deliverer)
7. Belinda Arnold (pizza deliverer)
8. Gina Castillo (maid)
9. Rainer Kowling (acrobat)
10. Anwar Shoemaker (tattoo artist)

10 Household best friends:
1. Carisa Herrington
2. Oscar Alphender
3. Jody Nunez
4. Woodrow McGowan
5. Torrance Ridley
6. Belinda Arnold
7. Aaron Koch
8. Rainer Kowling
9. Locke Hanna
10. Stephan Andrews

Fully upgraded property: River Front Swim Club
Fully upgraded building: EverFresh Delights Supermarket

Large tombstone: Venus Andrews

Collection: Gems, total value §437,322



Vacation days used: 2

[Malley]

I loved the fact that she proposed to the man in the hot dog suit. Now that is true love!

[Lisa46]

Verity was pretty much the cutest toddler ever!

[Alex]

I loved the fact that she proposed to the man in the hot dog suit. Now that is true love!

Ah, but Verity writes the occasional romance novel, and can see beyond the ketchup-coated exterior to his inner beauty 

Verity was pretty much the cutest toddler ever!

She says thanks

[PeregrineTook]

Sorry, I arrived late to this party.  Really enjoying your decadynasty.  I'd tried one with Beau (giving a backdrop that his wife dumped him for the handsome fellow across the street) and he re-married and failed the dynasty by having his heir miss honor roll in elementary school.  Yep.  Pretty embarrassing amount of failure there.
Anyway, I like how you give us nice glimpses of the characters in these short bursts.  I'm trying to get better at having more time covered in each post rather than cramming in too many details, which I have a tendency to do.  I hadn't considered the martial arts and acrobatics combo.  Clever idea there.
Anyway, I'm glad I got here before it was over.  Looking forward to seeing where it goes next  :=)

[Nettlejuice]

Someone sure likes costumes 

[Alex]

failed the dynasty by having his heir miss honor roll in elementary school.

Surely that's the heir's fault rather than Beau's? (Or was he meant to be the tutor?)

Oh, and welcome to the party!   

Someone sure likes costumes 

Better a hot dog costume than the patient gown...

[Alex]

Hot Dog Guy is actually called Locke Hanna (well, Locke Andrews now). He’s a young adult who wants to swim in cash. He lives at 50 Long Island Drive (Meadow Carpenter-Rhodes’ old place) with his big brother Markus, and his dad Roland.



Roland had the horrible Klepto LTW, bad traits, and about 1 day left to live, so he got kicked out. Markus has nice traits and Living in the Lap of Luxury, so he got to stay.

This is partly a picture of them producing an heir, but also serves as a warning about the interior decorating that will follow in this chapter. I’ve left all the houses as they were, but this one was especially, um, delightful.



See?



This is Valentina. Verity’s weird sticky eyes appear to be genetic.



She’s basically a clone of Verity:



She had a happy toddlerhood, occasionally let down by a glitchy potty.



When they weren’t training a toddler, Verity wrote, and Locke and Markus took up sculpting.



(I built them a basement with a nursery, extra bedrooms, and a hobbies room in it: I couldn’t fit them in the original house, and I didn’t like to delete any of the plants). Locke didn’t like the stairs and preferred to levitate through the ceiling )



There was a fire. Verity was not impressed.



Valentina aged up to child. Verity and Locke immediately missed potty training (or something) and decided they wanted another kid.



This is Viva. Venus’ hair lives on



And this is their next child, Verona.





Verity aged up to elder, but she and Locke wanted one more kid, so Locke made a quick call to the adoption agency. This is Venetia, who is two days older than Viva (I’m not sure whether that makes her child number two or four). Although she’s not biologically related, she’s the only one of their kids that looks much like Locke.



With four kids in the house, there were a lot of pranks, which poor Verity seemed to get the brunt of.



Sometimes it all got a bit stressful.



So it was probably a relief when one of them became a young adult and started endlessly sculpting.





The other three kids, who were basically happiness points for their parents in Sim form, got to do as they liked. I rolled for most of their traits, and let them fulfil wishes as they got them.

Venetia is a keen angler and prankster extraordinaire. (She’s also neat and family oriented, and therefore spends huge amounts of time doing the laundry.)



Viva is artistic, and mostly paints. Verona is an aspiring singer, and her doll is her biggest fan.



They also spend a lot of time dressing up, having inherited Locke’s love of costumes.



And all three of them like Gnubb best of all.

[Alex]

In sadder news, Verity was reunited with her old Rock Paper Scissors foe.



And Valentina met somebody.

Since childhood, she had dreamed of meeting a tall, dark, handsome stranger and falling hopelessly in love.



Instead, she was introduced to the only male homeowner in Riverview.







Anxious to be free to marry her beloved, Valentina supermaxed sculpting, and then churned out endless topiaries until she maxed her career.



She finally completed her moving requirements with two days to go until her birthday. She had a lot of help from her sisters: between Verona’s school friends, Viva and Venetia’s colleagues, and flirty Venetia running around town chatting up NPCs, Valentina didn’t have to do any friend-making of her own.

While I was waiting around for her birthday, Grim came for Markus.



Valentina finally aged up.



And she got her hopelessly romantic wedding - although the groom did appear to have cut himself quite severely while shaving.





Dr Viva quickly bandaged up Mario’s neck for him, and then he and Valentina drove off to their new home.




House 8

Parents: Verity Andrews and Locke Hanna
Address: 50 Long Island Drive

Heir: Valentina Andrews
Traits: Easily impressed, Excitable, Ambitious, Hopeless romantic, Savvy sculptor
LTW: Swimming in Cash
Maxed career: Sculptor
Supermaxed skill: Sculpting



Both parents living together at time of birth.
Heir on the honour roll at both elementary and high school.

10 Opportunities completed by heir:
1. Outside Reading (high school)
2. Captain Bandsaw (shop club)
3. After School Reward Ceremony (high school)
4. Help the School (sculpting)
5. Sims on Ice (sculpting)
6. Larger than Necessary Doorstop (sculpting)
7. An Old Ruse (sculpting)
8. Personal Sculpting (sculpting)
9. Oh Scrap! (sculpting)
10. Sculpt a Suspect (sculpting)

10 NPC friends:
1. Tate Sisk (babysitter)
2. Celia Vaughan (maid)
3. Catrina Ricketts (university mascot)
4. Zachary Vandyke (newspaper deliverer)
5. Chelsea Wheatley (repair technician)
6. Glenda McNutt (pizza deliverer)
7. Anne Kelly (firefighter)
8. Lola Parker (elixir store consignment specialist)
9. Paula Coe (proprietor)
10. Isaac Hull (magician)

10 Household best friends:
1. Mario Frantz
2. Herman Joseph
3. Zachary Vandyke
4. Lola Parker
5. Herbert Schaeffer
6. Ariana Barrera
7. Clark Alaya
8. Maureen Knowles
9. Colleen Ferreira
10. Celia Vaughan

Fully upgraded property: Old Town Cemetery
Fully upgraded building: Hogan’s Deep Fried Diner

 Large tombstones: Verity Andrews; Markus Hanna

Collection: Lifetime happiness rewards, total value §480,000



(With thanks to Verity, who purchased 8 of the things and therefore missed out on all the normal happiness rewards.)

Vacation days used: 0

[Nettlejuice]

The interior designer for that house had interesting choices, lol. Verity and Locke certainly were busy  Oh, Valentina. I almost thought there would be a dall, dark stranger for her 

[PeregrineTook]

Loved the wit of that chapter:  particularly the tall, dark, and handsome stranger part.
Must say, the heart-themed outfits actually worked quite well for her.  Seems it could have been tacky, but against the backdrop of that house, it was nice to have something pleasant and charming  :=)

[Alex]

The interior designer for that house had interesting choices, lol. Verity and Locke certainly were busy  Oh, Valentina. I almost thought there would be a dall, dark stranger for her 

They were very, very busy - it took three days of trying to finally produce Viva.

In his defence, Mario was quite attractive once... back when he was at school with Verity (He aged rather slowly, otherwise he might have been the father of the previous generation. Which is rather a creepy thought.)

Loved the wit of that chapter:  particularly the tall, dark, and handsome stranger part.
Must say, the heart-themed outfits actually worked quite well for her.  Seems it could have been tacky, but against the backdrop of that house, it was nice to have something pleasant and charming  :=)

And there I was going for tacky and hideous with Valentina's outfits

Thanks

[Malley]

This chapter was too funny 

Eight down, two to go! Looking forward to the last two heirs.

[Alex]

Riverview was showing signs of getting buggy, and so Valentina and Mario were relocated to Twinbrook and moved into 6 Willowdale Lane. It’s a house I’ve often meant to play in, but hadn’t got round to yet.



This next part does not require a commentary.



This is Velma. After the previous household, she will be an only child.



As Mario was getting on a bit, I let him focus on his LTW of Perfect Mind, Perfect Body.



That left Valentina to teach Velma her toddler skills.



And Mario got the Ruining-Velma’s-Birthday-By-Making-Her-Study duties.



With her dad working out and her mother sculpting behind a locked door, Velma tended to end up playing by herself. She liked her dolls best.



The playing came to an abrupt halt when she aged up. Science equipment appeared on the deck, and she started being made to analyse things.





Mario got his lifetime wish of being able to balance a football on his shoulder blade.



Valentina’s days were an endless blur of sculpting drudgery.



Mario left an extremely boring meeting only to encounter Grim on his way out of the business building.



Velma maxed science just as the camera panned over to Mario dying, so instead here she is testing out her new Group Science Project.



Velma had a birthday and graduated. Her classmates voted her ‘Most Likely to Write a Best-Selling Novel’, so they clearly haven’t read the DecaDynasty rules. Instead, she joined the Private Investigator career.



She immediately set about restoring law and order to Twinbrook.



Although some criminals weren’t daft enough to set off her ‘Can Apprehend Burglars’ spidey senses, and she had to do a bit of detective work.



DeAndre Wolfe always seemed to be up to no good. She began to suspect that he was the Mastermind behind the wave of crime and corruption that had suddenly hit sleepy Twinbrook.



But the Boss turned out to be the last person she would ever have suspected.



He’d have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for that meddling Sim.

The Mayor was delighted to have Twinbrook safe once more, and presented Velma with the Key to the City.



With the killer pony safely locked away in a secure stable, Velma returned to her first love, and Supermaxed science. That done, she liked to sit near her pretty shiny plaque, and preen.



Once preening got dull, she took up inventing because I she was bored. And because she’s a Renaissance Sim and she needed a third skill, of course.



And I let her have a wish she’d been holding on to since her YA birthday.



As one Sim entered the household, another one left.

[Alex]

With Valentina gone, Scooby and Velma became inseparable.





He was the only guest invited to her birthday party (which didn’t stop the maid joining in the celebrations).



However, while Velma was quite happy alone with her puppy, the rules were quite insistent about that whole spouse thing. She actually had a romantic interest from her prom, but I’d been hoping not to have to use him. Notzo Curious is a bit Twinbrooky for my liking.

However, he was the only single male homeowner left (thanks, Story Progression), and so a Twinbrooky spouse it was.

The maid seemed to share my views on Notzo.



Fortunately for the progress of the Decadynasty, Velma is less shallow than me and the maid.



I didn’t think any wedding dress could be pretty enough to make up for Notzo’s trousers, so I just went the quick wedding-in-the-living-room route.



And now we await the inevitable Twinbrookyness of Generation 10... (Although I have finally caught up with my game, so there will be a delay.)


House 9

Parents: Valentina Andrews and Mario Frantz
Address: 6 Willowdale Lane, Twinbrook

Heir: Velma Andrews
Traits: Perceptive, Genius, Bookworm, Socially awkward, Dog person
LTW: Renaissance Sim
Maxed career: Private Investigator
Supermaxed skill: Science
Other maxed skills: Logic, Inventing



Both parents living together at time of birth.
Heir on the honour roll at both elementary and high school.

10 Opportunities completed by heir:
1. Old Ladies Crossing (scouts)
2. Badging Ceremony (scouts)
3. Scavenger Hunt: Precious Metals (special)
4. The Case of the Aloof Academic (private investigator)
5. The Bad Call (private investigator)
6. The Mystery of the Stolen Credit Card (private investigator)
7. The Case of the Wayward Jalopy (private investigator)
8. A Spook Story (private investigator)
9. Construction Equipment Needed (inventing)
10. Logic 101 (logic)

10 NPC friends:
1. Pierre Chevalier (tourist)
2. Ismael Kane (pizza deliverer)
3. Melisa Emmons (pet adoption worker)
4. Cara Goodman (babysitter)
5. Mack Leal (repoman)
6. Cherry Blossom (party dancer)
7. Lydell Arias (repair technician)
8. Darrick Hines (maid)
9. Devin Posey (social worker)
10. Dee Liver (newspaper deliverer)

10 Household best friends:
1. Notzo Curious
2. Pansy Prudence
3. Graciela Jones-Brown
4. Edna Bourque
5. Cho Sonwhun
6. Lucy Ferne
7. Betty Wills
8. Gala Ball
9. Cherry Blossom
10. Emerald Greenwood

Fully upgraded property: Lakeside Community Library
Fully upgraded building: Bachelor Stadium

Large tombstone: Valentina Andrews
Medium tombstone: Mario Andrews ne Frantz

Collection: Sculptures, total value §134,651



Vacation days used: 0

[Malley]

I loved the fact that Velma's outfit was so true to the original character's outfit 

[Alex]

I loved the fact that Velma's outfit was so true to the original character's outfit 

The original Velma was my favourite character

[Nettlejuice]

I see what you did there with Velma, clever idea.

[PeregrineTook]

Jinkies!  You really got Velma spot-on!  Fantastic job.
Loved the logic behind the living room nuptials.  Comedic genius!

[hazelnut]

Wow!  You’re getting through this so quickly.  Random responses:

House 8

Playing in that house must have been quite a strain on the eyes (or did you keep the walls down?)  Very distinctive décor.  Well. Meadow C-R is insane, of course.

That was quite a shaving cut that Mario had.  He must have been really nervous about the wedding.  Also, nice car .

House 9

I have to join in the admiration for Velma’s appearance.  Scooby’s not bad, either (if a bit undersized ).

But the Boss turned out to be the last person she would ever have suspected.

I actually sat and giggled at this.  My family thought I was mad (mind, that’s nothing unusual).

[Alex]

Velma-the-sim says thank you, but resents the idea that she might not be totally 100% original

Loved the logic behind the living room nuptials.  Comedic genius!

I figured there was no way on earth anybody would look at Velma's dress anyway, if they were busy vomiting/hiding their eyes from the sight of those trousers.

Wow!  You’re getting through this so quickly.  Random responses:

House 8

Playing in that house must have been quite a strain on the eyes (or did you keep the walls down?)  Very distinctive décor.  Well. Meadow C-R is insane, of course.

That was quite a shaving cut that Mario had.  He must have been really nervous about the wedding.  Also, nice car .

House 9

I have to join in the admiration for Velma’s appearance.  Scooby’s not bad, either (if a bit undersized ).

I actually sat and giggled at this.  My family thought I was mad (mind, that’s nothing unusual).

I mostly kept the walls down (but then, I often do anyway), and then I wore sunglasses.

I Velma staked out the pet adoption agency for ages looking for big dogs, but they didn't seem to have any. Scoobs was the only dog I could find who wasn't an elder, and is actually a bulldog under the paint job.

[Alex]

Here is House 10:



‘Tis a dark and gloomy place. Or I forgot to get a screenshot in daylight. One or the other.

Velma immediately started playing around with radiation, as she’s responsible for this house’s collection.



And Notzo and Scoobs got acquainted.



Velma produced Generation 10 ()



This is Vianne. For once, I really appreciated the baby stage, before all those Twinbrook genes could kick in....



They grow up so fast.



Outside, Notzo planted one of Velma’s science experiments:



This is Verna, the last baby of the DecaDynasty.



Vianne aged up to child, and made an early start on her Supermax.



And Notzo followed her example, and also started skilling. (In addition to gardening, he took up guitar and Velma tutored him in logic, to knock out Renaissance Sim.)



Plantlet spam:



Vianne aged up to teen, and acquired a hairstyle that covered her face... She started working seriously on cooking, and trying to make it onto the honour roll.



I also let Vianne have a pet. Or at least, Pantoufle is supposed to be Vianne’s pet, only nobody told Velma.



I acquired the final tombstone. Sorry, Notzo.



And Velma had Young Again potion, as a lot of her NPC friends were still alive and I was hoping to recycle them



Vianne became a young adult. She cooked. A lot.



She also joined the culinary career, and befriended her boss...



(He’s actually married to another of her colleagues, which probably makes things a bit awkward at work. Fortunately for Vianne, she’s never liked the idea of commitment anyway.)

The Sim deaths haven’t really bothered me as much as I expected, but this one upset me RIP, Scoobs.



And then I got two simultaneous bugs and thought I was going to have to call this a loss with one week to go 

Vianne was at level 9 of her career when I got that bug that stops their career progress bar increasing. On the same day, her relationships panel went blank and she lost all her friends. The relationships panel sorted itself out, but I had to use some LTHP to buy some instant social group influence, turn her into a Workaholic, then she spent her four-day break between work days alternating between working from home and the motive mobile until the bar was full.



Fortunately her progress bar stayed full during her last shift, and she became a Five Star Chef, which was her final moving requirement. Phew.

And just after midnight:




House 10

Parents: Velma Andrews and Notzo Curious
Address: 6 Knothole Lane

Heir: Vianne Andrews
Traits: Good, Friendly, Ambitious, Commitment issues, Natural cook, Workaholic (nerd influence)
LTW: The Culinary Librarian
Maxed career: Culinary
Supermaxed skill: Cooking



Both parents living together at time of birth.
Heir on the honour roll at both elementary and high school.

10 Opportunities completed by heir:
1. Quest for the Lead (ballet)
2. Ballet Recital (ballet)
3. Scavenger Hunt: Butterfly Bonanza (special)
4. Cultural Interview (high school)
5. I Need a Date (adventure)
6. Create-a-Crepe (culinary career)
7. Super Stir-Fry (cooking)
8. Allow Me To Introduce Myself (charisma)
9. Falafel Portfolio (culinary career)
10. We Love Falafel (cooking)

10 NPC friends:
1. Santos Worrell (mail carrier)
2. Ismael Kane (pizza deliverer)
3. Melisa Emmons (pet adoption worker)
4. Cara Goodman (babysitter)
5. Mack Leal (repoman)
6. Grim Reaper
7. Richie Apablaza (singer)
8. Darrick Hines (maid)
9. Devin Posey (social worker)
10. Dee Liver (newspaper deliverer)

10 Household best friends:
1. Darren Newby
2. Kelsey Crabtree
3. Ariel Arrendondo
4. Horace Beard
5. Tawanna Hankins
6. Cara Goodman
7. Charissa Robb
8. Terry A. Keyes
9. Cherry Blossom
10. Alisa Dove

Fully upgraded property: Cleanesque Laundromat
Fully upgraded building: Wilsonoff Community Theatre

Medium tombstone: Notzo Andrews ne Curious

Collection: Beetles, total value §34,000



Vacation days used: 3


Finish: Week 89, Day 3 (or Day 25 for me)
Watermelons consumed: c. 290
Total value of collections: §1,376,142

Family Tree

[Lisa46]

Her face is not that bad... Except for the eyes. I bet she'd look great with normal eyes.

[Alex]

Her face is not that bad... Except for the eyes. I bet she'd look great with normal eyes.

The hair helps - I had to be really careful selecting it, because she looked awful with most styles (her nose is also a bit odd, but that hair seems to balance it out). But yes, she could have looked so much worse... I was dreading her inheriting Notzo's huge sticky-out ears.

[Trip]

The hair helps - I had to be really careful selecting it, because she looked awful with most styles (her nose is also a bit odd, but that hair seems to balance it out). But yes, she could have looked so much worse... I was dreading her inheriting Notzo's huge sticky-out ears.

Oh you're so lucky. I got three generations of big Curious ears in my immortal dynasty.

I'm also moving this to the Completed Dynasties board!

[Alex]

Oh you're so lucky. I got three generations of big Curious ears in my immortal dynasty.

I'm also moving this to the Completed Dynasties board!

I'd like to say I put Twinbrook at the end due to Strategy and Planning - but really it was to avoid multiple generations of those ears 

[PeregrineTook]

Loved the choice of the pretzel bench for the cook.  Very clever. 
Congrats on finishing the dynasty!  Here I sit still in generation 1.  Thanks for showing me it can be done  ;=)

[hazelnut]

Vianne aged up to teen, and acquired a hairstyle that covered her face

I also notice she was never facing the camera, except in that last shot in the summary  .

Verna is a great name for a PlantSim.  And there was a Pantoufle (although I was expecting him to be an imaginary friend)  .

Congratulations on finishing!

[Alex]

Loved the choice of the pretzel bench for the cook.  Very clever. 
Congrats on finishing the dynasty!  Here I sit still in generation 1.  Thanks for showing me it can be done  ;=)

Thank you! Good luck with yours.

I also notice she was never facing the camera, except in that last shot in the summary  .

Verna is a great name for a PlantSim.  And there was a Pantoufle (although I was expecting him to be an imaginary friend)  .

Congratulations on finishing!

Pantoufle would have been an IF, except that they were causing me horrible glitches all the way through. Uncle Riley(!) sent both Verna and Vianne IF dolls, but they stayed in the mailbox and then Velma's inventory.

Thanks   

[hazelnut]

Uncle Riley(!) sent both Verna and Vianne IF dolls, but they stayed in the mailbox and then Velma's inventory.

Well, if Riley sent them, no wonder they were causing trouble  .

[Alex]

Well, if Riley sent them, no wonder they were causing trouble  .

He sent quite a few towards the end of the game - Velma and Viva also got a Riley Mini-Me each. (Viva's looked just like him, too  )

[Nettlejuice]

Congrats on completing  this and getting the bugs worked out 

[Alex]

Congrats on completing  this and getting the bugs worked out 

Thanks!   

[Malley]

A belated congratulations on completing your decadynasty 

[Trip]

And another congrats on officially getting entered into the Hall of Fame!

[Alex]

Thanks both!