Adventureland - #1 - My version of build a city.

 I must be addicted to building cities. I decided to go to Adventureland and delete all the buildings. It was already free of sims with the exception of two pre-mades living in two of the houses by the beach. When I started this project, I didn't realize they were there, and placed the Glover household from the bin into Mosquito Cove to access the town. The Glover household consists of Gwen Glover and Holden Wonzy, two friends who have quite different temperaments and interests, but have the potential to become more than friends. I basically left them standing on the lot with the game on pause, while I built this Random House Generator house based on the following description:

"This enormous house looks like an old castle and is in excellent condition. The interior is done in colors that remind you of a mocha coffee. The yard is enormous and resembles a meadow. Also, it was one of the filming locations for a well-known romance television series."

This got me thinking of two things: Downton Abbey and the name of a quilt I have in one of my quilt books named "I dreamed I danced in marble halls." Here are the results of that build.

I planned out a household and storyline for this one.

The house is called Beaumont House, and is presently owned by young Alexander Beaumont II, who inherited the place from his uncle. His uncle had let the place fall into disrepair and Alexander poured his financial resources into fixing the place up. This left him cash-poor, so when a producer from Plumbob Studios offered a deal for using the place to film "The Balderdash Legacy" he jumped at the opportunity. One of the actresses, Korie Devine, needed a place to stay while the series was being filmed, so Alexander, somewhat smitten by her, opened his home to her, her husband Cliff Fillmore (a professional bodybuilder), their two daughters Tracy and Annabelle, and their nanny Maggie Stone. This family has stayed on, paying him rent after the end of the first season, while Korie is between gigs. Maggie noticed an unusual closeness between Alexander and Korie, but is keeping her own council about it. Cliff and the kids seem unaware that something might be up. Will the family hold together, or will Korie fall for Alexander?

The next house I built was also from a Random House Generator that my Sims 3 group is doing:

"This tiny house is in average condition, and the interior is decorated in colors that remind you of a temporal forest. The yard is enormous and resembles a meadow. Also, there are mysterious lights on at night."

I created a lonely old woman named Daisy Kadukin, who is neglected by her grown children. One day a young man knocks on her door and tells her he's her grandson Roger, and he needs a place to stay for awhile. Daisy vaguely remembers that her son Philip had a son, but can't remember his name, and some things about this young man would set off alarm bells for most people, but Daisy is trusting and lonely, and thrilled to have some help around the house, so she ignores any doubts that arise about him. Roger is really a fugitive from the law and the mob and needed a place to lie low for awhile. He mostly hides out in the attic reading books, but sometimes ventures out of the house to get some sun as the little house is pretty secluded, which is why he approached the woman in the first place. Here's the house.

They have had a terrible time with the stove in this place. As I was using them to play-test it, this burglar came along and stole the first one.

Then later, Roger tried to cook something and the kitchen caught fire.

It spread really fast. The most interesting feature is the bookcase Roger installed to hide the passage to the attic.

Roger makes no qualms about making the attic his own. But Daisy often comes up here to get a book and read as she's a bookworm. I wish the bookcase door also worked as an actual bookcase. 

Roger is not a fan of Daisy's taste in decorating, but it's a place to land, and she's pretty good company.

I need to register Roger with some kind of self-employment as Story Progression placed him in the military and he's supposed to be hiding out. Pinochle Pond is nearby, so maybe he can be a fisherman. 

Speaking of the military, that is the one rabbithole I overlooked, and Jack Ransone, one of the premades, skipped off and joined up. I want to move him from his house and bulldoze it anyway, so I thought I'd make an apartment lot for military housing. It consists of 5 units for the cadets to occupy. I was in the middle of building it and only had showers and no furniture, yet, while I was occupied elsewhere, three women moved in! I thought no one would move in if there were no fridges or beds, but I guess that doesn't apply to apartment lots. They had varying ideas of what they wanted to do for a living, but I marched all three of them down to Fort Gnome to join up. If they insist on living in military housing, they must be in the military. I'll be moving Jack Ransone in with them as well.  

Fort Gnome military housing. No yet landscaped in this picture.

Robin Mitchell, one of the women who moved in, is a vampire. I gave her a mini-makeover, making her skirt match the top she's wearing, and I may have adjusted some of her other outfits, but that's all. I felt her hairstyle suited her. Her traits are absent-minded, social butterfly, virtuoso, natural cook, and nurturing. Her favorite color is violet, and she wants to "turn the town" into vampires. 

Jenni Adam, I think, is the dark-skinned woman with the classy fashion-sense and the appalling blonde dye job. 

She seems to be interested in supernaturals, wanting to meet them and socialize with them, so despite this first meeting, I think these two will be good friends. I had to give Jenni a more appropriate hairstyle, but most of her clothes looked good - she has a definite sense of style I wanted to perpetuate. Anyway, I didn't do a lot with her other than a little make-up and a better hairstyle. I think she's very pretty.

Jenni is over-emotional, a technophobe, irresistible, a genius, and handy. She wants to have maximum influence on all social groups.

I guess this is the only picture I have of Natalia Cheek so far (the one with the attraction thought-bubble. She is a daredevil, athletic, a natural cook, easily impressed, and artistic. She wants to be an acrobat someday.

I moved Jack Ransone, the pre-made explorer, onto the lot with the ladies and bulldozed his house. He's ambitious, friendly, athletic, brave, and charismatic. He's into the martial arts, which is something I thought they could all stand to learn as they are military, so I put a training dummy and board breaker on the lot along with a bookcase that has some skill books that all have access to. I assigned each of them an apartment and locked to door to the others, so each has their own space as well. I wonder if Jack will make a love connection with any of his neighbors. 

I turned off aging, but left Story Progression on, hoping some of the characters would develop some skills and establish some relationships, but it really can interfere. Back at Mosquito Cove, while I was play-testing the other lots, Gwen Glover and Holden Wonzy fell in love, got married and were expecting a baby boy. I used one MrsFlynn's shell challenge to create a family home for them. It is called "The Craftorian" as it started as a Victorian but a lot of Craftsman elements came along. Overall, I'm quite happy with it. I designed the bottom level before I decided who was going to live here. The upstairs, however, incorporates the couple's favorite colors and has a nursery for their new arrival and a kid's room for when he gets older. It also has an additional guest room. 

 

The Wonzys seem quite happy with their new home.

I was too slow at demolishing Mosquito Cove. By the time I remembered I needed to do that, an elderly couple moved in. Denny Pyle happens to be a werewolf, and his wife Naomi wants to be an alchemist. 

I decided Denny was bitten by a werewolf and his affliction lead to their economic woes, and Naomi is trying to learn the elixir for the cure, so they can get him back to being human. For now they are lying low. I decided to let them stay at Mosquito Cove for now and not bulldoze it. 

Another house I built was for a group shell challenge. It's a Victorian, and Story Progression moved in a family for it. Here's the house. I call it the "Painted Lady."

I think the brick might be a little too pink, and I might adjust it at some point. The dining room is my favorite room in this build, but I also like the kitchen - especially the floors.

The Russo family lives here. It consists of Anwar, who is unemployed last I checked, his wife Dina, who is a fairy, their teenage son William, and their daughter Dayna. I think Dina married Anwar for his money as Gold Digger is her lifetime wish, and she's a young adult and he's older. She must have had William when she was very young - or he's from a previous marriage between Anwar and another woman. I think the tree shows him as being Dina's son, however. I'm going to assume Dina is William's step-mother and that he is Dayna's half-brother, as Dayna seems to be a variation of Dina, which would make sense if Anwar and Dina are her parents. Here are some pictures of them at home.

Dina and Anwar

William. He and Maggie Stone are the only teens in town so I'm going to try to get them together. 

Dayna. I don't know much about this family yet.

I decided to put in a courthouse and built a walk-in with a rabbithole rug, wedding venue, employment office, courtroom, cafeteria, mayor's office, and boardroom. I'm struggling with the roof. I'd like the dome with a pinnacle on the top, but the game won't let me build that high so these are my options.

or

I was using Denny Pyle to playtest the building, but everyone pretty much showed up and Gwen went into labor. She later had a baby boy and named him Willie. 

I sorted out the Kadukin's job situation both Daisy, an elder, and Roger her imposter-grandson, were in the military, and it fit neither of them. I sent them down to the courthouse - Daisy registered as retired, and Roger registered as self-employed, I think he's a "collector," but I don't remember. 

At any rate, Roger went home right away, but Daisy hung around and met some people. It turned out to be a full moon, so things got a little lively. Actress Korie Devine, turned into a zombie, 

and so did Dina Russo, who was a fairy-soldier-zombie. Then as Daisy was talking about the weather with Naomi Pyle, Naomi's husband Denny transformed into a were-wolf.

The whole ordeal was a little too much for Daisy, who ended up fainting.

A few days later, the Pyle's threw a costume party on Spooky Day. They had a good turnout.

The cheerleader is Korie Devine; the "Smokejumper in flip-flops" is either Jack Ransone or Holden Wonzy; the ninja fairy is Dina Russo, and I think the Zebra is Gwen Wonzy. 

They even had trick-or-treaters stop by - Annabelle and Tracy Fillmore arrived with their nanny Maggie Stone, who always looks like she's wearing a costume.

Little Dayna Russo also showed up to trick-or-treat. 

Her mom was at the party, but I switched to Dayna, and she autonomously hopped on her bike and rode all over town trick-or-treating! I never saw that happen before. I could never get the trick-or-treating to work very well. She changed from an alien to a cowgirl (or probably her outerwear if truth be told, before she got on her bike. (I guess it was too hard to see in that mask.) She next went clear down to the beach area and trick-or-treated Sally Hardy, the other premade adventurer.

Then she biked all the way up to Beaumont house and almost got to ring the bell when she was called back to her mother! (Too bad, I bet Mr. Beaumont had the big full-sized candy bars.) 

William stayed home, but wore a cowplant costume while cooking his mac and cheese.

My next order of business is to build a school, so Dayna Russo can get to know Annabel and Tracy Fillmore, and William can get to know Maggie Stone.