Mayfield: A Saga

Hello there everyone! So I’ve finally done it! I’ve made a brand new challenge and so far I am having tons of fun testing it out! I hope you all enjoy it too and I hope you all participate! I’ve called it the “Westward Ho!! Challenge”, and it is actually focused on story-telling rather than game play. So, read on to see what it’s all about! Enjoy!

This challenge is for everyone who loves historically themed neighborhoods and who loves story-telling using your simmies! It can also be adapted for modern neighborhoods (if you want me to do this, let me know). The original time period I have in mind for this challenge is 1840s-1870s, a new little town during the time of settlement (when covered wagons loaded with settlers were still heading out). A lot of this challenge is based on story telling, not so much on actual game play. The jobs I have listed are all the basic jobs that a small town in this time period would have. Use them in your story telling any way you’d like. The careers I have listed for each job are for gameplay, b/c even historical neighborhood simmies need money. This town will be perpetually caught in this time period, meaning all 5 generations will be in the same setting (same clothes, same furnishings, same jobs, etc.) unless you choose to progress your story through the years which you then should take your family to the 10th generation (challenging but very do-able and exciting!) The more generations you have, the more points you get. But you only have to make it to the 5th generation.

Setup
Setup for this challenge is somewhat like the Prosperity Challenge.
-Make a brand new neighborhood and name it whatever town name you want.
-You must make at least 13 families using CAS.
-The professions you must have are as follows: Mayor, Preacher, Sheriff, Sheriff’s Man, Doctor, Midwife, General Store Owner, School Teacher, Banker, Hotel/Restaurant Owner, Rancher, Farmer, Saloon Owner, Entertainer, Seamstress and Outlaw.
-The Midwife, the Seamstress, and the School Teacher must be females, and you are allowed to have them as wives of some of the other jobs. (i.e. the Midwife in your town may be the wife of your Farmer.) So, you don’t have to have 3 separate families for the Midwife, the Seamstress, and the Teacher.
-The Blacksmith job is totally optional.
-You can have more than one family for Sheriff’s Man, Rancher, Farmer, Entertainer, and Outlaw if you’re up for a real challenge; but you only have to have one of each.
-To make things super exciting for your story, you have the option of creating some Indians as well. But this is totally optional.
-Once you’ve decided on how many families you want to start with, roll a dice for each family to see how many members that family will start out with. (maximum 6, minimum 1).
-Begin to create the families one at a time. Roll the dice for each member of the family to see what age they will be. 1-toddler, 2-child, 3-teen, 4-adult, 5-elder, 6-roll again.
-Make a placeholder adult sim for a family that does not roll a 4, and kill the placeholder as soon as you begin play with that family. (this does not count as a point for non-old age deaths in scoring)
-For each sim that is to fulfill a certain profession, choose one of the two aspirations as detailed below for that profession.
-For each sim that is not to fulfill a certain profession, roll the dice to pick their aspiration. (by the time a child is ready to turn into a teen, you should have some idea of what profession they are going to be. Pick their aspiration accordingly.)
-Do this for each family.
-Write down the family names in a numbered list. This will be the order in which you play them. (Play List)
-Move each family onto any size lot and begin play.

Gameplay:
-Play each family for the same amount of time per round. (i.e. play each family for 5 days and then move onto the next family.)
-For YA’s in college, play two years of college as one play round. (i.e. play the Baker family for 5 days, play Joanie Baker in college for 2 years which is end of sophomore year, play Johnson family 5 days…When you get back around to Joanie Baker, finish out her college…then the next time you get around to her, move her back home or get her married and add her new family to the playlist.)
-For new households where the sim just moved out on his own, add him to the end of your playlist as a new family.
-For new families introduced through CAS, add them to your playlist at the time they enter the town. (i.e. after playing 5 days of the Hoopers you made a new family in CAS named the Eddisons. Add the Eddisons to your play list right under Hoopers, and play through their 5 days before going to the next family.)

Professions and Requirements:
Mayor- Roll Dice: 1) Pleasure, 2) Family, 3) Romance, 4) Knowledge , 5) Fortune , 6) Popularity
-must attend college: Political Science
-career track: Politics
-there must always be a mayor, so if the mayor dies or retires, one of the other unemployed men in
town must become the new mayor, or make a new sim in CAS and introduce a new family to town

Preacher- Knowledge, Popularity
-must attend college: Psychology, Philosophy
-career track: Business, Politics
-there must always be a preacher, so if the preacher dies or retires, one of the other unemployed
men in town must become the new preacher, or make a new sim in CAS and introduce a new family
to town

Sheriff- Popularity, Family
-cannot attend college
-career track: Law Enforcement
-once the sheriff dies or retires, one of the Sheriff’s Men becomes the new sheriff

Sheriff’s Men- Pleasure, Romance
-cannot attend college
- career track: Law Enforcement
- if a sheriff’s man is promoted to sheriff or dies or retires, he must be replaced by either one of the
other unemployed men of the town (playable man), or make a new sim in CAS and introduce a new
family to town

Doctor- Knowledge, Family
-must attend college: Biology, Physics
-career track: Medical
-there must always be a doctor, so if the doctor dies or retires, one of the other unemployed men in
town must become the new doctor, or make a new sim in CAS and introduce a new family to town

Midwife-Knowledge, Family
-cannot attend college
-passed down through female generations
-career track: Medical

General Store Owner- Fortune, Popularity
-can attend college: Economics, Mathematics
-passed down through male generations
-career track: own business, Business

General Store Employees- Romance, Pleasure
- teens only, hopefully there will always be an abundance of playable teens to fill this role

School Teacher- Knowledge, Family
-must attend college: Literature, Mathematics
-career track: Science, Business
-there must always be a teacher, so if the teacher dies or retires, one of the other unemployed
women in town must become the new teacher, or make a new sim in CAS and introduce a new
family to town

Banker- Fortune, Pleasure
-must attend college: Mathematics, Economics
-career track: Business, Politics
-there must always be a banker, so if the banker dies or retires, one of the other unemployed men in
town must become the new banker, or make a new sim in CAS and introduce a new family to town

Hotel/Restaurant Owner- Popularity, Fortune
-can attend college: Economics, Mathematics
-passed down through male generations
-career track: own business, Business, Culinary

Rancher- Family, Fortune
-can attend college: Biology, Mathematics
-passed down through male generations
-career track: Natural Scientist, Athletic

Farmer- Family, Pleasure
-cannot attend college
-passed down through male generations
-career track: Business, Science

Saloon Owner- Romance, Pleasure
-can attend college: Economics, Mathematics
-passed down through male generations
-career track: own business, Business

Entertainers- Romance, Pleasure
-can attend college: Drama, Art
-career track: Show Business, Artist, Slacker
-there must always be an entertainer, so if the entertainer dies or retires, one of the other
unemployed men or women in town must become the new entertainer, or make a new sim in CAS
and introduce a new family to town

Outlaws- Romance, Fortune
-cannot attend college
-career track: Criminal
-there must always be an outlaw, so if the outlaw dies or retires, one of the other unemployed men
in town must become the new outlaw, or make a new sim in CAS and introduce a new family to town

Seamstress- Fortune, Popularity
-cannot attend college
-career track: Business, Slacker
-there must always be a seamstress, so if the seamstress dies or retires, one of the other
unemployed women in town must become the new seamstress, or make a new sim in CAS and
introduce a new family to town

Blacksmith- Romance, Fortune
-cannot attend college
-career track: Business, Athletic
-optional job, do not have to have a blacksmith

Indians- Roll dice, same as for Mayor
-cannot attend college
-career track: Medicine, Military

Marriage
Sims may marry ANY sim in the game. Townie, NPC, or Playable…all are totally fine. The diversity really adds some room for creativity in your storytelling. (i.e. If you are playing in the Civil War time period and your caucasian sim falls in love with Joe Carr (African American), you now have a forbidden love between a white and a slave….you get the idea.) Even Mr. Big and the Diva are totally open for marriage. Let your imagination run wild with the possibilities that all the different sims in the neighborhood bring to the table. The vampires open up a whole new line of story ideas, incorporating the mystical superstitions of the time period into reality. All these possibilites add up to a very interesting and exciting neighborhood! All women must take the man’s last name.

Growing Up and Moving Out
When it is time for teen sims to grow up, they have a few options regarding the rest of their lives:
Option 1: Continue in the family business.
-this option is mandatory for one teen of each family that has an occupation that must be handed
down to the next generation. These professions are: Midwife, General Store Owner,
Hotel/Restaurant Owner, Rancher, Farmer, Saloon Owner.
-this option is optional for teens of families with these professions: Mayor, Preacher, Sheriff’s Men,
Doctor, School Teacher, Banker, Entertainer, Outlaw
Option 2: College.
-this option is mandatory for teens that will be filling a profession that requires college. These
professions are: Mayor, Preacher, Doctor, School Teacher, Banker. They must major in one of the
required majors for that particular profession.
-this option is optional for teens that will be filling a profession that can attend college. These
professions are: General Store Owner, Hotel/Restaurant Owner, Rancher, Saloon Owner,
Entertainer. They must major in one of the required majors for that particular profession.
-this option is not allowed for teens that will be filling a profession that cannot attend college.
-this option is not allowed for female teens that will not have a profession. If they are to be
housewives/mothers with no job, they cannot attend college even if they are the daughter of the
doctor.
Option 3: Live at home with parents and start a family.
-this option is mandatory for the son who is inheriting the family business. This also makes that son
the legacy heir.
-this option is mandatory for all unmarried adult daughters. They must remain living at home until
they get married, and then must move in with their husband.
-this option is not allowed for any adult son who is not the heir, and is not allowed for any adult
daughter that is married.
Option 4: Move out of town (no longer played….erased)
-this option is not allowed for the heir.
-this option is not allowed for unmarried adult daughters. If you wish to erase an unmarried adult
daughter, simply write it into your story that the daughter married a man from another town and
moved out of town.
-this option is optional for any adult son that is not the heir and for any married daughter. May also
write it into your story that they died.
-while you do not have to play out the lives of every single child in this challenge, there will be an
award for the town with the most families…so if you only play out the heirs, you will most likely
not be able to win this award.
Option 5: Move out of parents home and start a family.
-this option is not allowed for the heir.
-this option is not allowed for unmarried adult daughters.
-this option is mandatory for any adult son that is not the heir and for any married daughter.
-must add the new family to your playlist and continue playing their family throughout the rest of
the challenge (or until the family dies out).

Hacks (Game Modifications) and Cheats
Some hacks are allowed, some are not. The teenage woohoo with pregnancy hack IS allowed in this challenge. Teenage pregnancy was totally normal (and in most cases, expected) in this time period. Even if you’re not playing in this time period, teenage pregnancy is a real occurrence from EVERY time period and adds for interesting story lines. New Job/Career/Major hacks ARE allowed in this challenge, as like I said before, the actual careers of your sim in the game itself are not the purpose of this challenge. They are just there to give your sims money in the game. (If your sim in the game is a Garbage Man, don’t include it in your story telling!) Aspiration and Mood hacks ARE NOT allowed. Period. Money and Aspiration hacks ARE NOT allowed. Use your common sense (and conscience!) to distinguish between allowable and non-allowable hacks and cheats. If the hack gives any sort of benefit to your sims, it is most likely NOT allowed. If it is a hack that enhances the real life effect of your game, then it might be okay.

Story Telling Ideas
-To show the sims at work (i.e. the School Teacher teaching a bunch of kids in the school house), make a big lot with one random sim in it. Go into that big lot and build your school house. Save the lot (just in case). Then use a Spawn cheat or hack to spawn the school teacher and students in the lot. DO NOT SAVE THE LOT AFTER YOU SPAWN SIMS TO IT. Take the pictures you need for your story and then exit the lot without saving. Your game will keep the pictures you took, but nothing else will have been remembered/affected. Think of the possibilities: a picnic, a ball or social dance, church services, a judicial hearing, etc…

-For believability and authenticity, do not include pictures of the beginning days of love and romance with townies or NPCs. Instead, have them fall in love and get married, then “stage” pictures by changing the townie/NPC appearance (time period clothing, hair, etc..) and re-enacting the romance and wedding. It will hurt your story if you have the pizza delivery guy kissing your pioneer!!

Downloads
Downloads are going to add a whole lot of believability and authenticity to your story telling. Noone is going to believe that a family in the 1800s was watching a cooking show on their plasma television. Try to play the game as realistically as possible. Instead of watching TV, have your sims read, or play games together (like they actually used to have to do in the ol’ West!) Poker was huge back then, and families loved to go out and swim in the creek. Scour every download website you can to find some really great downloads. For skins, my favorite site is All About Style. Check under the Prairie Theme. And The Sims Resource has some great old fashioned furniture. Mod: The Sims 2 also has some great items including covered wagons and horse-drawn carriages. You’ll be surprised at how much historical custom content you can find!

Judging
The most exciting part about this challenge (for me at least!) is that not only will you score your own game, I will be judging the stories of all the participants as well! There will be different categories of which you can get 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place:
Most Authentic: best downloads, scenery, buildings….awarded to the blog that most looks like you’ve stepped back in time (or forward in time, depending on how you play)
Best Page Turner: awarded to the blog who has the most interesting story line, the story in which you just can’t get enough
Most Supreme Author: awarded to the most well written story. If I feel like I’m reading an amazing novel, you’re in the running for this award
Best Photography: highest quality photos, the most pleasing pictures, exciting scenes and unique angles
Longest Surviving Town: awarded to the town that has survived the longest: 5, 10, 20 generations…keep it going and your likelihood of winning this award goes up tremendously!
Largest Town Population: awarded to the town that has the most individual families in it due to teens growing up and starting families of their own, or new families introduced
Best All Around: the best big picture story….meaning the best accumulation of the challenge and story telling in total
Highest Personal Score: the participant with the highest personal story score (which you keep track of yourself based on actual game play.) If you cheat, your Sims 2 game will automatically self-destruct and you will be entered into a Sims 2 Offender national database in which you will never be allowed to play the Sims 2 ever again. So NO cheating!!!

How to enter your Westward Ho!! Challenge for judging:
Step 1: Start a blog. If you already have a blog, move to step 2. If you do not already have a blog, register for a free one with any blog site. (Blogger, Blogspot, Blogsome, Livejournal, etc.)
Step 2: Email me. Send me an email with your blog name, blog address, and your first name. Make the subject line say: Westward Ho!! Challenge, so I know you want to be entered for judging. Any other comments/complaints are also welcome. Here’s my email address: mayfieldsaga@gmail.com
Step 3: Start the challenge!
Step 4: Post your stories/entries on your blog. I will check all participants at least once a week to read all the wonderful stories (of which I know there will be a lot!)
Step 5: Get to at least generation 5 of each original family. Your challenge must be at least 5 generations to be considered for judging.
Step 6: Post your score sheet, include your total score. Once you feel you have completed your challenge and no longer wish to make more entries on your blog, make one last entry including your score sheet and your total score.
Step 7: Email me your score sheet and total score.
Step 8: Sit back and agonize profusely while I do the judging!!! *evil grin*

Personal Scoring
There’s not a lot of scoring for this challenge, simply because this challenge isn’t all about the specifics of the game. It’s more about the stories and families you come up with! But, to make it a true challenge I’ll give a basic score sheet:

Westward Ho!! Challenge specific:
+2 every new CAS family introduced
+5 for reaching the 5th generation with all original CAS family
+1 for every generation after 5 with all original CAS families
+5 for reaching the 5th generation with all CAS families introduced after beginning the
challenge
+1 for every generation after 5 with all CAS families introduced after beginning the
challenge
+2 for still having every original CAS family name after 5 generations
+1 for every death that is not because of old age (having everyone die b/c of old age gets boring!)

Regular Game Play:
+1 every platinum headstone
+1 each different colored ghost
+5 alien birth (yes, they had telescopes back then!)
+10 twin alien birth
+2 every lifetime want achieved
+4 every impossible want achieved
+1 every sim that graduates with 4.0
+1 private school (1 point for each family per generation that gets all of its kids into
private school)
+1 each vampire
+4 marrying a burglar
+3 every adoption

Penalties:
There are no penalties! A lot of the bad things that happen in the game make for some VERY interesting stories! So I encourage you to kill off a couple of sims, get some kids taken by the social worker, have the repo-guy show up and take some stuff! This challenge is all about the story!

Time Allotment
At this time, the judgment date is not determined. I want to see how many people are interested in this challenge and how many participants there are. So go ahead and enter the Westward Ho!! Challenge and begin to play and post your stories! I will let each participant know when the deadline has been decided!

I hope you all enjoy this challenge! I sure do, and I can’t wait to see some of your stories! Feel free to post with any comments or questions. You can also email me and I will be happy to help in any way I can! Good luck and have fun!