- Site Map >
- Community >
- Sims Discussion >
- Sims 3 >
- Sims 3 Challenges >
- Main Character - The Man from Earth Challenge
- Site Map >
- Community >
- Sims Discussion >
- Sims 3 >
- Sims 3 Challenges >
- Main Character - The Man from Earth Challenge
Replies: 4 (Who?), Viewed: 824 times.
#1
3rd May 2026 at 11:23 AM
Last edited by Thanathan : 4th May 2026 at 10:56 AM.
Posts: 43
Since the original challenge has some overlaps with one of my favourite movies, I decided to adapt the challenge to that movie, The Man from Earth.
This challenge is quite soul crushing and heartbreaking at times, but also very beautiful, in my opinion, and, depending on your nature, it can be quite a tear-jerker.
A word in advance:
This challenge requires you to have 10 different (reasonably) playable worlds at your disposal, whether these be custom worlds or from EA does not matter. You will only stay on each world for one whole generation, so if you have maps that run stable for you up to generation X, before things break down, then they are still perfectly suitable. Imaginary bonus points, if you have maps from different Eras, like Roaring Heights, or even some medieval map or the like. Look here or on the exchange. You will find medieval and 50ies themed worlds, among many others, some of them pre-populated. It really is up to you how much time passes between the individual chapters. You could even use some pre-historic, sci-fi or dystopian map.
A nice side effect of this challenge is that you might be playing maps that you have never or barely touched before, and might also interact with Sims you never encountered.
The overall length of this challenge is somewhere between 600 and 700 Sim days (ten lifetimes starting at young adult, basically, taking into account your mate's starting age on each world).
The main premise:
Due to a genetic anomaly, the main character (which I will call the protagonist) has perfect cell regeneration that will never start failing, not unlike the real-life Hydra or some Jellyfish, and stopped aging beyond a certain point. The protagonist has been around since the early days of man and is effectively immortal, but can of course still die from accidents and the like (unless you give them the unlucky trait, which is perfectly allowed).
The goal is to play through ten different episodes of the protagonist's life time. These episodes can, but don't have to be, in chronological order and how much time has passed between the episodes is entirely up to you. It would make sense to do it chronologically, due to the skills and such acquired over the run of the game.
Each of the episodes will represent a chapter of the protagonist's life, in which they found a mate, a person they decided to stay with. The protagonist is painfully aware of their inability to die from old age and as such is carrying around a reasonable amount of survivor's guilt. They also know that they have all the time in the world at their disposal, so rushing headlessly into things is not really their thing. The lives of others pass for them in the blink of an eye and people come and go like waves of grain. But we all know that love can strike at any time and even an immortal does not want to be alone forever. So, on occasion, they will find that one person they want to spend a life time with.
And a life time is all they will get, since their mates will be anything but immortal:
The Heartbreaker lifetime wish in this challenge refers more to the protagonist's heart than anyone else's, as they will repeatedly have to watch their partners age and die, and then leave everything and everyone behind. There is something devastatingly beautiful in seeing the partner die with the last unfulfilled wish being to go on another date with the protagonist.
Preparing for the challenge:
You will obviously need your protagonist, who can be any gender you like, but needs to be human (witch would reasonably work, as well, since they have the same lifespan). They can have any traits that you want, but needs to have the "Heartbreaker" life time wish (Due to the constant map changes it might not be achievable, as the game keeps track very wonkily across maps, but it doesn't matter). Starting age is highly recommended to be Young Adult, since you will need quite a bit of time to rack up the required Lifetime Points to buy the Age Freeze Potion for the whopping 65.000 points.
Activate the option "Exclude active household from celebrity system". You can keep it deactived for an extra challenge, but the protagonist is trying to stay under the radar and becoming famous is the opposite of that.
Whether you want to disable or limit the supernatural population is entirely up to you, just keep in mind that your mate will always have to be human, as well. Your protagonist will have an easier time staying undetected with other long-lived creatures on the map, if you want to explain away inconsistencies, but it's not a requirement.
If you want to play it chronologically, now is a good time to lay out your map order.
Set the Sim lifespan to 90 days, but you can adjust individual stage duration as you see fit. The total must be 90 days.
I, for example, have it set up the following way, which works quite well:
- Baby - 2 days (No one wants to deal with that Burrito nonsense for longer, I am sure)
- Toddler - 5 days (reasonable time to teach them what is required)
- Child - 7 days
- Teen - 10 days
- Young Adult - 25 days
- Adult - 31 days
- Elder - 10 days
Goals:
The protagonist's main goal is to give their mate the best life possible, for their children to be well-prepared for the life that is ahead of them, and to learn as much as possible about their own past (aka humanity's past, hence them being locked to education career exclusively), before they finally have to move on:
- Find and marry a mate. This can be any character in the world, but you are restricted to partners with a normal human lifespan.
- Have at least one child with that mate and have the children know everything there is to know for each life stage, aka teach to walk, talk, drive, etc. Who effectively teaches them those skills in the household is not important.
- Reach level 10 in your career (Protagonist can only be in education), before your mate goes into retirement
- Help your mate to reach level 10 in their career. If they do not have any, help them find a career that somewhat matches their traits and previous education. This can be any type of career or profession. Self-employed counts, as well, but they need to max it out.
- Help your mate fulfill their lifetime wish. If they have a lifetime wish that is incompatible with the challenge's theme, like Heartbreaker, Gold Digger, or anything related to celebrity status, feel free to change it to anything else via MasterController.
- Stay with your mate until they pass on.
- Move on. Once it is time to leave this life behind (which is latest two days after your mate has passed away), the protagonist will quit his job, if they haven't already, sell or donate any possessions that are not mementos (more on that later), change their name, load up their car (which they get to keep) and leave.
Should the rare case occur that there still are minors in the household, the protagonist will also leave them behind (you can Edit Town them into another family, best would be a family of close friends that could act as god parents and the like).
Rules:
- Starting. Once you start a map, you have seven days to find and marry a mate of your choice from that world. The rule here is that the mate has to be either a human, or can be a supernatural with a human lifespan, like a witch. You can edit the mate's lifetime wish, if it is incompatible with the rules of the challenge, but you are not allowed to change traits or the like. The mate has to be at least Young Adult.
- Housing. The protagonist will not live in a high rise or apartment building and will always have a fireplace in their home. It is just something that stuck with them.
- Services. No Services like a maid or a butler are allowed. The protagonist does not want anyone external to be that close to the family and snoop around in their house. Babysitter and such are fair game, if necessary.
- Lifetime Rewards. The very first Lifetime Reward you buy for the protagonist HAS to be the Age Freeze Potion. This is perfectly achievable before hitting adult stage, but I recommend taking the potion itself, when the protagonist has reached adult stage. It makes more sense.
- The only career the protagonist may and has to join is education. Having hobbies like painting, sculpting or similar that generate income on the side are perfectly allowed for everyone in the household.
- University attendance is allowed, but only right after the moving on phase between mates. If you do, your next mate has to be from that university attendance, meaning, once back from university you have to immediately invite them over and marry them. The time spent in university does not count towards the seven day requirement for the marriage (UNLESS you use a home world uni), but once you finished your degree, the first thing you have to do is invite your college partner over and marry them. And yes, you are allowed to attend uni twice this way right in succession to actually be able to finish your degree, before starting your proper life in the new world. Your mate can not attend university after joining the household. If they do not come with a degree already, that is what you will have to work with.
Unless you have custom unis or home world unis at your disposal, I recommend doing this only once, since the characters don't change. Relationship will be reset between maps, but the characters still will always be the same. - Vacations are possible, but only for the max 3 days and only as a honeymoon right after marriage. No adventures, tomb explorations or anything of the like can be done (they are money printing machines). Those vacations are simply meant as a honeymoon, enabling you to buy recipes, special items, learn songs, and have a nice time. Keep in mind that your mate will still age here, so it takes away from the time available for reaching any of their goals.
- Adult children. Children reaching the Young Adult stage will move out of their parents home. You are free to take one or two days to marry them off or otherwise secure a future for them, but they will move out.
- Short-term wishes. Any positive short-term wish in regard to the mate has prevalence. If that "Go on a date with..." wish appears and your list is full, remove one of the existing ones not related to the mate. Same goes for the mate themselves.
- Retire. Once your mate reaches Elder stage, they WILL retire latest 5 days later. Once they do, the protagonist will quit their job to spend the last years at their mate's side.
- Move on. Latest two days after your mate passes on, the protagonist will leave. For that purpose they quit their job, if they haven't already (You will start your new life as an entirely new person with zero clout and, let's face it, your reference of holding a chair at Oxford in 1292 will not help you in 1997), change their name (via MC or any other means available), sell or donate everything that doesn't reasonably fit in their car, and then move to the new town/state/country/etc (a new world in game terms). So, empty that family inventory, you heathens

- Mementos. The protagonist will keep at least one item as a memento for every mate and child. This can be anything that is reasonably small enough, like portraits, photographs, the mate's first written book, a child's favourite toy, home videos, you name it. Don't take that giant Nectar maker along, because your "mate loved it".
- Lifespan extensions. For your mate, no lifetime extending rewards or items can be used. The protagonist knows that this is the way things have to be, no matter how much they hate it. Time for them has long become relative. No Ambrosia, Death Flower, Fountain of Youth, Young Again potions, etc. are allowed for your mate.
- Divorce. The protagonist will never actively pursue a divorce. They have all the time in the world. Should your mate get a midlife crisis and have the wish to divorce the protagonist, it is up to you, if you want to go through with it. It will negatively affect your score and the protagonist will not take a new mate in this world. Instead they will move on immediately, leaving all children with their former mate.
- Ending the challenge. The challenge ends once your 10th mate dies (or has divorced you) or the protagonist dies by accident.
- Have fun. There are many things that will remain unwritten about this challenge. Will you tell your mate or close friends about what you are, will they believe you, will they still stay with you after learning the truth, all these things. It is up to your imagination to fill those gaps as you like, as long as they do not alter the mechanics for the game play. This is not a min-maxer challenge. It is meant to be for "the ride".
Example: One of my family's first friends was Fjord in Aurora Skies. She later turned out to be a fairy. On the last day we met, she looked exactly like on the first day we met. She would have understood. Inside the lore of my playthrough, I still never told her. I left her behind without explanation like anyone else.
Scoring (absolutely optional, since the main goal is the experience):
- 10 points for every lifetime wish any of your mates fulfilled.
- 10 points for every mate that reached level 10 in their career.
- 5 points for every time the protagonist reached level 10 in the education career.
- 5 points for every skill any of the mates maxed out
- 5 points for every mate the protagonist stayed with until the bitter end.
- 5 points for each mate or child at least one memento was kept for (not per memento!)
- -5 points for every required skill not taught to a toddler, child or teen.
- -10 for every time a mate's lifetime wish wasn't fulfilled.
- -10 for each celebrity level gained, if you play with celebrity on.
- -20 points for a mate the protagonist has no child with
- -50 points for every child dying during a lifetime chapter, no matter, if they were still part of the household at their time of death (The one thing the protagonist always tried to avoid having to witness)
Movie quotes for inspiration and to set the mood:
"John Oldman: I suspect I saw the British Isles from what is now the French coast. Huge mountains on the other side of an enormous deep valley that was shadowed by the setting sun. This was before they were separated from the continent by the rising seas as the glacier was melting.
Harry: That happened?
Dan: Yes, the end of the Plasticine Period. So far what he says fits.
Art: [incredulous] Oh get... from any textbook...
John Oldman: And that's where I found it. How can I have knowledgeable recall if I didn't have knowledge? It's all retrospective. All I can do is integrate my recollections with modern findings."
"Edith: [Angry] Where were you in 1292 A.D.?
John Oldman: [Calm] Where were you a year ago today?"
"John Oldman: Remember, it's one man, one place at a time, my solitary viewpoint of a world I knew almost nothing about."
"Will: As one grows older, the days, weeks, months go by more quickly. What does a day or a year or a century mean to you? The birth-death cycle?
John: Turbulence. I meet someone, learn their name, say a word, they're gone. Others come like waves. Rise, fall. Ripples in a wheat field, blown by the wind."
"John: I have ten degrees, including all of yours...
Except yours, Will.
Harry: That makes me feel a trifle Lilliputian.
John: That's over the span of 170 years. I got my biology degree at Oxford in 1840, so I'm a
little behind the times. The same in other areas- I can't keep up with the new stuff that comes along.
No one can. Not even in their specialty.
Art: So much for the myth of the super-wise, allknowing immortal."
"Edith: Do you always travel this light?
John: It's the only way to move."
"Will: Have you ever wished it would end?
John: No."
"(John makes himself comfortable between Sandy and the fireplace.)
Will: You like the fire, John.
John: Everywhere I've lived, I've had a fireplace.
Childhood fixation, I guess. Helps me to feel secure.
Sandy: (smiling) There are predators out there.
"I've done it before, and I'll do it again." — John explaining his necessity to move on and leave friends behind.
"Sandy: So, John Oldman. What other pun names have you used?
(Will is slowly exiting, inadvertently sneaking up on them.)
John: Lots. John Paley for John Paleolithic. John Savage. Got really crazy about 60 years ago, when I was
teaching at Harvard, I was John Thomas Partee.
John T. Partee- Boston tea party.
(Will who is right behind them now takes a step back with a look of shock on his face)
Sandy: I get it.
John: Yeah, I know.
Will: Wait, wait, wait. B-Boston? 60 years ago? J-John Partee?
(angrily) You did not teach chemistry! I do not believe you!
John: (putting his arm on Will's shoulder) Your mother's name was Nola.
Will: No. No! Yea- Yes, Nola. (crying) My mother!
(angrily) I reject this!
My- My- My dog's name. We had him before I was born.
John: (smiling and nodding) Woofie.
Will: Woof- Woof- Woofie... (sobbing)
John: Gruber. She remarried?
Will: (sobbing angrily) She said you abandoned us.
John: Sorry, I had to move on. You know that. I left enough. I left enough.
Will: I-I'm cooold!
John: (putting his arm around him and
escorting him inside) Chilly Willy, always cold. Never could stand the cold.
Will: (Sobs) Wait, you- you had a beard! (stroking his face)
John: Yeah, you used to tug on it to see if it was real.
Will: (sobbing) Agh! (clutching his chest in pain)
John: Will! God. Call an ambulance, now!
(Will gasps, collapses with John holding him)"
"Sandy: "You never saw your own child die..."
John Oldman: "No."
Feel free to have a eulogy for your mates here, if you feel the need to. I, for sure, have done the same and I won't judge.
I am AuDHD, so these things hit quite different and a lot harder for me.
#2
3rd May 2026 at 8:25 PM
Last edited by Thanathan : 3rd May 2026 at 8:55 PM.
Posts: 43
"My beloved Feli,
I can not thank you enough for this one wonderful life that you gave and dedicated to us.
You chose the poor teacher, and you never once complained. Not, when you had to take care of the house, or our son, while I was out, teaching other people's children.
We did never live large, as you were obsessed with saving money for the retirement. And we managed.
In fact, we managed it so well, that once Emil moved out, we could buy that cottage by the sea for you.
While I never agreed with your career, I was very proud when every newspaper was full of headlines about the latest high profile heist, and I knew it was you.
The day before you retired, I quit my job, since I had reached my ceiling there anyway. I wanted to spend your last years exclusively with you.
All the following years were like an endless single date. You taught me to take nothing for granted and enjoy the small things in life. Thank you for that.
You died two days after Love Day, the day after holding your epic birthday party for our son Emil, at the age of 96. Wanda died later that same day.
I buried you in your garden, which you loved so much.
Your grandson, your son, and, most of all, your husband miss you dearly.
Tomorrow I will leave, without telling anyone. I will take with me our photos, the portrait I made of you, the videos I took of you and Emil, and the memories of a beautiful life at your side.
With endless love,
Your husband"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmBxseBs_E8
I can not thank you enough for this one wonderful life that you gave and dedicated to us.
You chose the poor teacher, and you never once complained. Not, when you had to take care of the house, or our son, while I was out, teaching other people's children.
We did never live large, as you were obsessed with saving money for the retirement. And we managed.
In fact, we managed it so well, that once Emil moved out, we could buy that cottage by the sea for you.
While I never agreed with your career, I was very proud when every newspaper was full of headlines about the latest high profile heist, and I knew it was you.
The day before you retired, I quit my job, since I had reached my ceiling there anyway. I wanted to spend your last years exclusively with you.
All the following years were like an endless single date. You taught me to take nothing for granted and enjoy the small things in life. Thank you for that.
You died two days after Love Day, the day after holding your epic birthday party for our son Emil, at the age of 96. Wanda died later that same day.
I buried you in your garden, which you loved so much.
Your grandson, your son, and, most of all, your husband miss you dearly.
Tomorrow I will leave, without telling anyone. I will take with me our photos, the portrait I made of you, the videos I took of you and Emil, and the memories of a beautiful life at your side.
With endless love,
Your husband"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmBxseBs_E8
#3
3rd May 2026 at 11:36 PM
Posts: 137
Thanks: 443 in 1 Posts
Quote: Originally posted by Thanathan
| Due to the constant map changes it might not be achievable, as the game keeps track very wonkily across maps, but it doesn't matter |
Just FYI, using Master Controller along with the Master Controller Cheats mod, you can fix the count if your LTW count gets reset. I ran into this with one of my current sims that wants to rescue 50 sims as a firefighter. Every time I reset the town, their count gets set back to 0.
nraas > Sim > Advanced > Lifetime Wish: Change Tally
Just enter in whatever the correct count is. It might take a few minutes real time for it to show up. Unpause the game if paused, switch to a different sim, switch back, and check your LTW. It should show the correct count now. If you don't have any other household members yet that you can switch to, wait a few minutes.
#4
4th May 2026 at 10:11 AM
Last edited by Thanathan : 4th May 2026 at 10:54 AM.
Posts: 43
Quote: Originally posted by FreakyRufus
|
Just FYI, using Master Controller along with the Master Controller Cheats mod, you can fix the count if your LTW count gets reset. I ran into this with one of my current sims that wants to rescue 50 sims as a firefighter. Every time I reset the town, their count gets set back to 0. |
Indeed, that would work. It is not really essential for this challenge to actually fulfill the protagonist's lifetime wish, but if you are a completionist and would want it to trigger, using MC will absolutely work. The Heartbreaker lifetime wish in this case is more meant to give a theme and to block out the lifetime wish instead of filling it with something easily achievable. The protagonist is immortal. Would be sad if he fulfilled his lifetime wish in 10 years, cause then what is he gonna do for the rest of eternity

I mean, let's face it: By the end of this challenge you will probably have so many lifetime reward points already, you won't know what to buy with them anymore. The only real challenge in regards to the lifetime rewards is getting the initial age freeze potion, but even that is normally easily achievable in the run of the first 30-ish days, especially if you run a mod like Relativity and have the game time run at half speed, which is perfectly allowed. Just keep in mind that the overall length of the challenge is around 700 Sim days depending on your settings, so you'll be playing it for the better part of a month on half speed.
I was thinking long and hard, if I should restrict mod usage, but I believe people should play this the way they enjoy it the most and I am running a ton of mods myself. The only one you'd be cheating is yourself. Hell, I'd even be okay with people giving themselves enough points to chug that potion right away, if they so desire. The protagonist has been around for a while and did not just turn immortal yesterday. But starting the first chapter with the regular starting money and a clear goal to achieve with your lifetime points adds to the feel of that first chapter already. Also, it would make the most sense for the protagonist to have reached adult stage before downing that age freeze pot. But if you want to start out as an adult already, by all means, give yourself enough points to get that age freeze (Don't simply buy it via MC. It won't spawn in your inventory).
#5
4th May 2026 at 3:33 PM
Last edited by Thanathan : Yesterday at 8:36 AM.
Posts: 43
If people need some ideas for maps that come mostly populated (some of them as saves only), here are some that would fit.
In case you do indeed want to start the challenge on a prehistoric map, you will face some issues, however, as they usually come without any rabbitholes, so any rabbithole career is impossible to do (and also doesn't make much sense). Meaning, it will affect your scoring, if you are keeping track.
I tested all the maps, except for two, and they run smooth to decent on the Win 7 potato I run the game on.
Urduna - beautiful prehistoric world with some pre-built caves to live in, but unpopulated
calinselene's Uresh - Persia inspired world. Comes with a population save.
Rabenstein - A nicely done populated medieval world. Descriptions and location names are in German, however.
Pirate Island - As it says... a Caribbean pirate island - unpopulated, afaik
Wild Wild West revisited - Pre-populated wild west world- set around the 1920ies, I'd reckon.
Forever the 50s - Pre-populated world set in, well, the 50ies
Paris - Modern day Paris - unpopulated, afaik
Lunar Lakes - A store world set in the future on a different planet, if that's your jam
Other suitable Sims 3 (store) worlds, due to their timeless feel of not being locked to a specific decade, include, but are not limited to:
Monte Vista - a historic town in modern day Italy
Midnight Hollow - my absolute favourite! Beautifully anachronistic with a touch of Victorian Steampunk and Silent Hill. Arguably the best NPC Roster of all time in any Sims 3 world. Whether it's Lucien Hyde (based on Marilyn Manson), the Laus (based on the Powerpuff Girls), or Katarina Stewart, the living doll - these characters will stick with you.
Aurora Skies - Beautiful Scandinavian world, based on Iceland. Could honestly be used for any decade after 1940/50.
Sunlit Tides - The one functional Island map we got from EA XD
Lucky Springs - a fan favourite
Starlight Shores - Also a fan favourite
Roaring Heights - gracefully representing the roaring 20ies to 40ies
In case you do indeed want to start the challenge on a prehistoric map, you will face some issues, however, as they usually come without any rabbitholes, so any rabbithole career is impossible to do (and also doesn't make much sense). Meaning, it will affect your scoring, if you are keeping track.
I tested all the maps, except for two, and they run smooth to decent on the Win 7 potato I run the game on.
Urduna - beautiful prehistoric world with some pre-built caves to live in, but unpopulated
calinselene's Uresh - Persia inspired world. Comes with a population save.
Rabenstein - A nicely done populated medieval world. Descriptions and location names are in German, however.
Pirate Island - As it says... a Caribbean pirate island - unpopulated, afaik
Wild Wild West revisited - Pre-populated wild west world- set around the 1920ies, I'd reckon.
Forever the 50s - Pre-populated world set in, well, the 50ies
Paris - Modern day Paris - unpopulated, afaik
Lunar Lakes - A store world set in the future on a different planet, if that's your jam
Other suitable Sims 3 (store) worlds, due to their timeless feel of not being locked to a specific decade, include, but are not limited to:
Monte Vista - a historic town in modern day Italy
Midnight Hollow - my absolute favourite! Beautifully anachronistic with a touch of Victorian Steampunk and Silent Hill. Arguably the best NPC Roster of all time in any Sims 3 world. Whether it's Lucien Hyde (based on Marilyn Manson), the Laus (based on the Powerpuff Girls), or Katarina Stewart, the living doll - these characters will stick with you.
Aurora Skies - Beautiful Scandinavian world, based on Iceland. Could honestly be used for any decade after 1940/50.
Sunlit Tides - The one functional Island map we got from EA XD
Lucky Springs - a fan favourite
Starlight Shores - Also a fan favourite
Roaring Heights - gracefully representing the roaring 20ies to 40ies
Who Posted
|
|
Sign in to Mod The Sims