Maxis vampires are overrated.
Basically, Maxis vampires suck.

Maxis witches, however, are dead useful.

I give all my CAS Sims Vampirism as a turn-off. (Except for Andrew, my very first CAS Sim -- he doesn't like beards or moustaches.) I think that shows what I think of vampires. I also ban them from community lots.

I really don't want witches in my game. Of course I've got a family of fairies in Veronaville, which may seem a bit odd in a (sort of) realistic game. But I have to admit I rather like them. I may one day persuade Oberon and Puck to give up their face paint, as it really doesn't do anything for them. In Strangetown Buzz Grunt thinks that Olive is a witch. He may have a point -- having carnal knowledge of Death really does sound rather like witchcraft to me. He also thinks she should be burned, but I don't hold with that sort of barbarism. I'm not really wild about Strangetown anyway -- it's a sort of sci-fi neighbourhood with medieval attitudes. It has a bit of a 1950s Roswell vibe too.

. . .

When I start up my game I nearly always start up CAS and let it generate a few Sims to randomise the randomisers. I'll usually take one of the later ones and "individualise" them. Today I got this girl:
Her name was Cora Leslie. I always give them names, which is probably a mistake, as it then makes me feel bad when I don't save them to my game. Calling a Sim by name makes them sort of "real" to me. She generated in this outfit consisting of two Maxis base game separates, but I think it coordinates well. She generated with Face 18, which I tweaked a bit to make her unique. She has green eyes. Originally she had that awful Maxis hair with the sticking-out ponytails, but I changed it to this custom hair, which I think is a great improvement. She also generated with the Cancer birth-sign, which I tweaked a little to make her a little nicer but not quite so neat. I also changed a couple of her other outfits -- she had generated with the same simphany.com green bikini for both undies and sleepwear. By the time I was finished, I really liked her and wanted to keep her in my game. I reckoned she'd be an asset for any neighbourhood. But I'm now trying to play through my Sims to get my game ready to add the Pets EP. And about the last thing I need is more Sims. I've already got several new Sims in the Family Bin, waiting to get into my game. So I exited to the neighbourhood without saving her. And I feel bad about it! To get her into my game I'd have had to either make her into an adult or give her a parent. At least I've got a picture of her and a description (in this post), so she might still get into my game in some form in the future.

Why do I get so emotionally involved with my Sims -- even ones who never make it out of CAS!

In my game, Heri Shin is an Atrociously Evil Witch (without the green skin or the green glow) who curses every sim that crosses her (of which thankfully there are few). Ripp Grunt is her live-in consort (three lightning bolts) and he is an Infallibly Good Warlock (for Benemoodus Populous and Apello Simae). Tank Grunt (who also moved out of the general's house with Inteenimator, so he can pursue his dream of being a world class ballet dancer) is Heri's enemy (even though they have three lightning bolts for each other), meanwhile Ripp and Tank have made up. (But Buzz is enemies with Ripp, Olive, Pollination Technician #9 and Lyla [who has custody of Buck].) Johnny is also enemies with Tank.

I kind of like Strangetown (even though the terrain is boring), and I especially like La Fiesta Tech for the Davis brothers and Stella Terrano. I intend to turn Lazlo or Ajay into a werewolf next, to see how I like werewolves.

I'm thinking about attempting to recreate the GTA2 "Anywhere City" within TS2. While GTA2 isn't the most popular entry in Grand Theft Auto series, it has always been my favorite and I've always wanted to see more from it's lore/universe.

However, I don't think there is much retro-futuristic content for TS2 around so I'd have to wing-it for most of it. In fact, I'm not sure a retro-futuristic neighborhood has really been attempted all that much. If you can't tell already, I rather enjoy making unique themes for 'hoods.

I like Strangetown, and I love the Davis brothers. I also like playing werewolves. I like to lean into the chaotic aspects. They live in packs with dogs as pets, they have big yards, and their houses are very messy. Sometimes they attack people who pass by or come over. In my Strangetown, all male Travellers are werewolves. I think Lazlo would make a particularly good werewolf with his sloppy and playful tendencies, and I know he would love becoming one!

Wow... it's absolutely heartbreaking to hear your sims whine when their fun need goes low. You hear the desperation! The voice actors did a good job. I don't feel this sorry for them in any other Sims game.

edit.
Honestly, I keep getting impressed by the attention to detail of the Sims 2. The way they actually put bait of the fishing rod before fishing is the most recent example.

Does anyone else have a sim or family that they just can't seem to "connect" with? Marcelina got pregnant by a townie and had a baby, but now he's left her because she had an affair and took the child with him. The dad and kid I really enjoy playing (he has a new girlfriend and they're super cute together), but I just can't seem to get into playing her household at all. As a character she just doesn't interest me and I have no idea what her storyline could be. What do you do in this situation?

You can always make her a townie. Or drop a satellite on her. Life's too short to play boring sims.

However, there's usually a way to make a sim interesting. Any experiments you've been wanting to try? I got a lot of mileage out of Bad News Bev of Drama Acres when I made a rule that I should always fulfill as many of her wants as possible, in the least responsible way, and never lock a want. She was a complete disaster, which is always fun to play, and not only created chaos but had the interesting side effect of attaching two other sims -- her brother, and one of her many dates who eventually married her and even fathered one of her three kids -- whose characters got much better developed dealing with her than they would have been without her. Maybe there's a ruleset or a random event generator or something that's right for this sim.

I would leave her alone for a while, go back to her later. See what she gets up to on community lots in the meantime

I would look at her relationships panel and see if there are any Sims she's close enough to come round if she invite them. If a Sim is nearly close enough, get her to talk to them on the 'phone, and then invite them. Look at her Interests and see if there are any pointers there. Maybe she has (or could make) a friend with whom she share an interest (or interests). Send her to an interesting community lot, either with friends or on alone, and see what happens. Keep your mind open to unexpected possibilities. Remember there's a lot more to life than just procreation!

If I find a Sim boring I tend to assume that the fault is probably with me rather than with them. No doubt some of my Sims think I'm boring!

Golden Anniversary is a ridiculously easy LTW to achieve compared to the others.

But you need to make your sims old.