UPDATE!! New Randomize-a-Sim program, made by my boyfriend. He deserves many thankies. Download it in the attachments and unzip it in Windows. If you encounter bugs or have suggestions about the program, let me know. You'll need Java runtime: http://java.com/en/download/index.jsp

For this challenge, you'll need a die, a random number generator, or the Randomize-a-Sim program made for me by the boyfriend.
My boyfriend is a programmer and made me a random number generator, but here is an excellent one as well www.random.org. I recommend using this because there will be instances where you will need bigger numbers than 6, but it is not needed; I will use my brain to adjust to die-users. If you fail one of the "fates" don't worry. There isn't a scoring system nor a prize for completing this, although I would appreciate seeing links of stories and pictures, or if you post about your families . I made this mostly to fix my monotony in playing sims, so no biggy if there's stuff you can't do.

I came up with this idea reading other challenges and trying to find new playing styles for the Sims. I get bored with the game very easily anymore, so I made this challenge in hopes I (and other people) could discover different things in the game. I do need some playtesting done, so if anyone would be willing to try this one out, your results would be greatly appreciated. Many of the "fates" I used were ideas from other challenges, some copy/pasted, and some just inspired by. If you were the creator of the challenge, or your idea was used, I don't mean to steal it, I just liked it and used it as a fate. Thanks to the creators whose ideas I used in this challenge. Elements from the Legacy challenge are used as well.

If it's worth mentioning, I have Nightlife, University, Open for Business, and Apartment life. If someone with seasons has an idea for a "fate" or a change to a fate that would have originally not worked in seasons, please feel free to post these things. Suggestions for Freetime (or other EP's, stuff packs) are also appreciated.

You are probably wondering what this "fates" stuff is about; I'll get there in a minute :P. I just want to get you all started out.

Create a new neighborhood. Name it whatever you like, using whatever turf you like.

-Build 10 - 20 houses in a row, custom or not. (I only have 19 "fates" written out, so unless you have ideas of your own, 19 houses will be the maximum.) They need to be next to each other (or organized in a manner which you can figure out which one is next in line). They need to start from least expensive to most expensive. I don't have any custom houses so I just used EAxis ones, and I ended up with 17 houses. You could build less (or more) houses, just know that 1 house = 1 generation/heir.

-In CAS, make a man and a woman. (These people will be eventually married, you can choose to make it so in CAS or do it during their lives.) It doesn't matter which person you make first. I made my first person using dice rolls. (IE: a dice roll for skin color, face, eye color, etc.) You don't have to do this. I also tried to make the second person using dice rolls but the kids came out deformed, so I found a face that made fairly good looking children. You don't have to do this either. Don't make any children in CAS, and don't adopt (if you adopt, an adopted child may not get heir. Bloodlines, people!) I rolled for the aspirations and personalities of the mother and father, but you certainly don't have to do this.

-Move them into the cheapest house you have put down. (I frown upon using money cheats for this challenge, at least in the beginning.) Furnish how you see fit. Now, roll a die or use a random number generator (www.random.org) to figure out how many kids this family will have. If you roll a 3, you have three children. If you adopt, your adopted child is not considered one of the three. You must have three blood children. The only exception to this rule is if you get a fate that requires adoption and your family (in any generation) is to have 6 children. You may have 5 children and adopt 1 in this case, to add up to 6 children. Once again, adopted children may not get "heir" in any case.

-I made three levels of child frequency. It isn't needed to follow these, but it gives it a little spice. In level 1 child frequency, forcetwins must be used. In level 2, you must try for baby the day the preceding child is born (if unsuccessful, keep trying like twice a day until you get a pregnancy.) In level 3, you try for a baby when the preceding baby becomes a toddler (if unsuccessful, keep trying.. blah). You roll for the number. The number applies all around, for example, if you were destined to have three children, and you got a level 3 child frequency, you'd have one child, wait until it was a toddler, have another child, wait until it was a toddler, and have another child. If you had three kids and a level 1 frequency, you'd have one set of twins and then try for one more baby when those twins are born.
**ELIXIR OF LIFE/COW JUICE MAY BE USED** (it may even be needed haha.) I don't recommend using boolprop for age unless you have to.

The beginning is boring, in my opinion, because it's what I do all the time, so if you would like to use boolprop to age the kids, I don't frown upon it. I aged my second child (the eventual "heir") to teenager because I didn't want to play through her childhood. I recommend not doing this after generation 1, though, because it *should* get fun after generation 1. (Testers wanted!) When the children age up to teenagers, roll for their aspirations,
1: Wealth
2: Knowledge
3: Family
4: Romance
5: Popularity
6: Pleasure Seeker
**^borrowed from the Legacy Challenge**

but turn-ons and turn-offs are totally up to you guys. If you want to roll for them, go for it; it may be interesting.

I don't personally have an "heir-choosing" system. You can pretty much choose whatever child you want (so long as it's not an adopted or alien pregnancy baby; I'm a bloodline freak). I usually go by which aspiration is less annoying to me. For example, I HATE HATE HATE romance and popularity sims, so, in an avoidable case, I would choose an heir of a different aspiration. I recommend waiting until all (or most) of the children are teenagers before making a decision, because children and toddlers are boring.

Once you have chosen an heir, the fun begins.
-Roll a die (or choose random number) for number of children heir must have when moved out, 1-6.
-Read below, from ForeverCamp, if you have the LotFullofSims mod. It's a good system if you decide to use the capability to have more than 6 kids.

"...Basically, first I roll one dice to determine whether the heir will have 6 or less children (even numbers) or 7 or more children (odd numbers). Depending on the result, I then roll one dice (for 6 or less) or two dice (for 7 or more) for the number of children required per heir - if the two-dice result is less than 6, then the lowest number is taken and added to 6 to result in the number of children."

Here's the example with ForeverCamp's starter couple:

Jack and Mary Mercer
Child Requirement: 8 (Frequency Level 3 - Try for Baby after infant becomes toddler)
- 1 dice rolled: result 5 - 7 or more children (roll again)
- 2 dice rolled: result 5 + 3

If you're using a random number generator, you could randomize a number (1-2), if 1, you have 6 or less children, if 2, you have 7 or more. If you get 1 (6 or less kids), randomize a number between 1 and 6 to find your amount; if you get a 2 (7 or more), randomize two numbers (1-6) and add them up. With this, the most kids you would have would be 12. If you, for some reason, decide you want more than twelve kids, by all means feel free.


-If you choose to follow child frequency, roll for that, 1-3. If using a die, 1 and 4 are level 1; 2 and 5 are level 2; 3 and 6 are level 3.
-Roll for mate of heir. If you roll a 1 (odds), you get to make the mate, if you roll a 2 (evens), your sim must find it (you could also obtain a mate with the genie, but you have to pay the full 5,000 simoleons)(unless specified otherwise in a "fate").
-Roll for going to college, (if you don't have university, don't worry about this step.) 1 (odds) - yes , 2 (evens) - no. (The only exception is fate 2; you cannot go to college with fate 2.)
-The last thing you roll for is how long you wait in the heir's teenagerhood until they go to college (seriously, waiting the whole time is boring - this is optional if you're more of a traditional player or treasure teenagerhood.) If you use a generator, randomize a number from 1-12. If you have a die, roll it twice and add those numbers together. If you, say, get a five (or roll a 2 and a 3), you wait 5 days in their teenagerhood to go to college. Yay! Apply for scholarships if you wish.

You may major in whatever you would like. Avoid dropping out if you can. No time requirements here, just graduate and move out. I recommend finding your lover in college and moving them with you. If you pre-make a lover, I also recommend that you make them in the University walk of life. In the sophomore year of college (I think it's sophomore) you get to choose a new aspiration. Roll: 1 (odds), you don't change aspiration, 2 (evens) you do. If you roll to change, you must change.
1: Wealth
2: Knowledge
3: Family
4: Romance
5: Popularity
6: Pleasure Seeker
**^borrowed from Legacy Challenge**
You may choose their major. Also, don't worry about your heir's lover. If you want to roll their stuff, you may. If you want to choose it, you may. They're just there for baby making, for the most part.

Once you graduate, move back to the neighborhood you started in, in the second house (the next one higher in expense).

Now you roll your fate. If you have a random number generator (I highly recommend using one for the fates as they will be added on), you can just randomize a number between 1 and 18; if you're using a die, roll it 3 times and add the numbers. (If you roll a 5, a 3, and a 6, you'll get fate 14.) IN ALL FATES, YOU MUST HAVE THE REQUIRED NUMBER OF CHILDREN!!

FATES:

1. Being raised by a very stable family, your sim understands the value of stability and simplicity, but he/she wants something more. He/she goes to college and graduates in the major of his/her dreams! Follow his/her LTW and accomplish something grand! (accomplish LTW and required # of children)

2. (May not go to college.) Your sim doesn't want to go to college. He or she believes that, just like his/her parents, he/she doesn't need higher education. (accomplish LTW, required # of children)

3. Your sim moves into his/her first house! It's such an exciting experience. To celebrate, he/she has just a few drinks... and wakes up... PREGNANT! (or your sim's spouse, if the heir was a male) Your sim must balance life knowing that one of his/her children isn't the child of your spouse! (Have child with first NPC of opposite sex you meet or that comes onto the lot.) The extra-marital child May become heir, if you so choose.

4. After your sim moves into his/her new house, he/she checks his/her email to email people of their new address. There is an email in the inbox declaring that they have just won the European lottery! All your sim has to do is enter his/her bank account information and the money will be wire transferred! This, unfortunately, turns out to be an internet scam. All of your money that you had saved up is gone! (Using the familyfunds cheat or boolprop, get rid of all the money you have. REMEMBER: THIS IS AFTER MOVING INTO YOUR NEW HOUSE!! Achieve this, LTW, and req'd # of children.)

5. (OFB REQUIRED) Your sim has always dreamed of opening their own business. They can see it now, cash registers beeping and booping, and the money flowing in! (open a home business, it doesn't need to reach level 10, but get it as big as possible!) (Suggestions: make the home business something your sim is interested in! For example, if your sim has a high interest in food, open a restaurant! In paranormal (and you have apartment life) open a magic shop!) (open family business, **optional achieve LTW**, and have req'd # of children.)

6. **needs playtested**. This fate overrides the lover dice roll. Your sim develops an online relationship through emails and chatting online. Once this relationship grows strong, you may invite this person over. Once the person arrives, though, you immediately have to start flirting with them (to confess your love). If this doesn't work, try with a different person. This person could eventually become your spouse and baby daddy/mommy, or it could be an affair, if you so choose to live on the wild side! (Meet and develop a romantic relationship/marry with someone online, achieve ltw, have req'd number of children)

7. (can only be done if LTW is career-based, like "be celebrity chef") Your sim doesn't want to waste time building skills! All your sim needs is his/her social skills! You must advance through your career without skilling, all you need is the right people. *inspired by String Me challenge* Develop relationships and get strings pulled at work to get to the top, without developing a single skill! (get to top of career using social outings and co-workers, achieve LTW, have req'd # of children)

8. You (or your spouse, if you're female) are very interested in the world beyond! You (or your spouse) spend many hours gazing through the stars through the most expensive telescope until, you (or your spouse) gets abducted! You (or your spouse) come back with a sore bum, and a growing belly! How will the rest of your family deal with the new addition of the third kind? (have male sim, either yours or your spouse, get abducted by aliens until it results in alien pregnancy. Remember, alien pregnancies only happen to men. The alien child may not be heir, but counts as one of the required children. Achieve heir's LTW, and have req'd # of children)

9. Your sim doesn't need to sit in a square office all day, eating square meals, and wearing square suits! All your sim needs is a paintbrush and their lives are set up for them! (make a living off of being an artist, painting pictures. *if there are other art-based forms of making money, like pottery, you may do this too.* you do not have to achieve LTW, but you need the required # of kids.)

10. Your sim knows the despair of many children who don't have a warm home or good meals every day. Your sim also knows the fortune of a good family. Given this, your sim wants to adopt a child in need! (infant or toddler only). (adopt a (1) child (this doesn't count toward your child requirement, unless your child requirement is 6. achieve LTW, and have required # of children.)

11. (OFB required)**desperately needs play-testing** Your sim can see it all! His/her name up in lights, the crowd jumping to his/her music, albums, posters, autograph signings, your sim wants to be in a band! Build a home business with no cash register, just one of those entertainment money takers, and set up a set of stuff for a band! Collect tips for money. (do not need to complete LTW but need required amount of children.)

12. (NIGHTLIFE required) **needs playtesting** Your sim is such a party animal! All he/she wants to do is party all night, sleep all day, every single day!! (must go downtown every night. can have community lot jobs such as barista/bartender/dj or freestyling for tips. if you can hold down a day job, then good for you! (must complete LTW and required amount of kids)

13. (NIGHTLIFE required) After all your children are born, someone in the house (the spouse of the heir, not the heir) decides to go shopping for his/her children for birthday gifts. He/she comes back and looks... different. His/her skin is pale, he/she writhes at the sight of the sun... (your heir's spouse is now a vampire. this cannot be undone. you can use boolprop to make the sim a vampire. Unless the vampire sim bites your heir, the LTW must be completed, and the required amount of children must be achieved before the tragic accident happens.

14. After all your sim's children are born, and he/she is happily married, something tragic happens! Your heir's spouse passes away due to a horrible, horrible event (of your choice ;P). Your heir is left to achieve his/her LTW and raise and support all the children alone!

15. (overrides npc/player-created love) Your sim has been concentrating on work so hard, he/she forgot about having a family. He/she decides that he/she is far enough in his/her career to pay the genie for a dream date and a spouse! (Your sim doesn't have a lover created/found. Your sim MUST PAY the 5,000 full simoleons to the genie to find love. No cheating out on this one. Find yourself a spouse, achieve your LTW, and have the required amount of kids.

16. (FEMALE SIM, if male sim roll for different fate.) Your sim has commitment issues, major commitment issues. She can't seem to settle down for even the Mr. Bigs of the town. All she does is date, date, date, date, and never marries. (LTW must be achieved, and required amount of children. The catch? Since your sim has commitment issues, all of her kids must be from different fathers.)

17. Your sim is such a hard worker. All he/she does is work, work, work. Your sim manages to get to the top of TWO careers, whether legitimately working or sleeping their way to the top. (LTW still needs to be achieved, required amount of kids needs to be achieved.) Elixir of life will probably be needed, and is allowed.

18. (ONLY IF SIM'S LTW IS NOT CAREER BASED) Your sim wants to write stories. His/her imagination is running wild with ideas of fiction, sci-fi, romance, novels of all sorts! Your sim just wants to write! No office job for him/her! (make a living off of writing novels and collecting royalties. (ltw must be achieved, amount of required children must be met.)

19. *Provided by: ForeverCamp* (SEASONS NEEDED) Your sim has a green thumb (and not from witchery!) They like getting down and dirty in their gardens. If it's agricultural, your sim is there! (Live off the land/fish for a living. No job! Must achieve LTW unless it is career based, and required amount of children).

20. *Provided by DigitalMonster* (BON VOYAGE NEEDED) Your sim has been growing sick and tired of staying in the house all the time, and wants to travel and see the world! On top of the LTW and # of children, you must collect the 45 Travel Mementos.

For every new generation, you will have a different fate. Keep track of the ones you used, and if you get one you have already done, roll again. Aspiration objects are allowed, especially Elixir of life.

Suggestions are encouraged for anything from new fates to objects and hobbies that should or shouldn't be allowed.

Thanks, and have fun. Post any questions and details about your challenge families =)

Ooo! This sounds like fun! I think i'll try this out. I don't have open for business though so i can't test all of them....

EDIT: woo! now i have open for buisness but i confess taht i still haven't dont the challenge.....so i'm forgetfull, watcha gonna do

Any testing at all is appreciated, and feedback even more

Holy Llama, this sounds complicated...

I have all the EPs and SPs. A suggestion for Seasons, maybe, would be to have a 'farming' fate - no office job, they have to live off of their garden/fishing (sort of like the Yeoman Farmer challenge, which I failed out of because of a lack of the appropriate-gender heir in Gen 3... >.<)

I think I might fire it up and give it a shot, though. Take a break from my wild and crazy Pleasantview legacy...

Good suggestion!

So I have actually started the challenge. I've adapted it slightly to fit the LotFullOfSims mod I have in my game.

My "Number of Children" system is the main adaptation for LFOS. Basically, first I roll one dice to determine whether the heir will have 6 or less children (even numbers) or 7 or more children (odd numbers). Depending on the result, I then roll one dice (for 6 or less) or two dice (for 7 or more) for the number of children required per heir - if the two-dice result is less than 6, then the lowest number is taken and added to 6 to result in the number of children.

The heir system (being the traditional player that I am) is that the firstborn son is considered the heir (in order to carry on the family name). If there are no sons by the time the mother is beyond child-bearing age (I think it's 4 days until elderhood), then the firstborn daughter is the heir, and her firstborn son becomes the next heir (etcetera...).

Does it make sense so far? It's a little confusing - Here's the example with my starter couple:

Jack and Mary Mercer
Child Requirement: 8 (Frequency Level 3 - Try for Baby after infant becomes toddler)
- 1 dice rolled: result 5 - 7 or more children (roll again)
- 2 dice rolled: result 5 + 3

Jack Mercer is a Family Sim with a LTW of becoming Minister of Education. His wife Mary is a Romance Sim.

Currently, Jack and Mary have twin daughters, Lisa and Anne, who have just turned into toddlers. They're trying again for another baby - if any of the following six children (providing of course that Mary can birth six more children before elderifying) are boys, the oldest becomes heir. Otherwise, Lisa is heir because she was the first of the twins born.

That's creative; I like it. I get annoyed with children easily so I would never get that mod xD

I'll throw that into the post and give you credit for it. Thanks for the feedback :D

Thought I'd post about my family. I started out with Amanda and Angelo Anderson. They had two children, Brandon and Baelyn. Baelyn got heir, went to college, majored in art, and fell in love with this guy at her university. She got the Open a family business fate, and did that. It started out as a music store and ended up as more of a dance club that sold guitars; it got to Level 10 . Her LTW was to have 5 top-level businesses. I tried opening a second business but it didn't go well, and since LTW-completion was optional, I decided it was enough and sold both businesses. The profit from the first business and the combined sold businesses left me with almost 200k simoleons, no money cheats used.

She had one child with the redheaded guy, her name is Corrine. She fell in love with a better looking blonde guy, and has had Callie, Carrie, and Coby with him. She's pregnant again, with a 6 children requirement.

Feel free to tell me all about your families; I have no life. :p

i'm doing this challenge right now.. i have the parents married now and the girl is in her 3rd trimester of pregnancy.

i have a suggestion though.. as far as jobs go, i rolled the die for it like this..

so there are 3 choices (or four.. i don't know) in the newspaper for jobs. choice 1, 2, and 3. i rolled a 2 on the dye (any number higher than 3 gets re-rolled) for the husband, and for the wife i rolled a choice number 3..
maybe this method of choosing jobs could be in the challenge..

BUT i haven't read all the rules.. i'm pretty sure jobs are allowed though.

something else happened too.. i was playing and the gypsy delivered a genie lamp and i wished for wealth. 3 or so money bags fell from the sky.. so my family has about 20,000 simoleans right now.

is that okay or is it cheating? thanks!

I like your idea for jobs, though I usually get jobs based on my sim's LTW. I'll mention it though. Jobs are allowed and needed unless a fate says you can't have a job.

As for your genie lamp experience, that's fine. Random things happen on sims just like they happen in life.

Thanks for your feedback :D

Update: my boyfriend made us a program, Randomize-A-Sim. It will be very helpful with this challenge, or other challenges. Feedback is appreciated on this. It's made out of Java, so you'll need the Java Runtime Environment to run it (a lot of computers already have it) http://java.com/en/download/index.jsp.
If you use it and can think of any features you'd like to add, just let me know and they'll be added and released in a timely manner.

haha, i agree on that random part. babyblue, thank you on your input and making this awesome challenge.

I normally don't do challenges, due to the nature of my play-style (Epic stories and such) but I must applaud you for such a wonderful idea! Should some time free up for me I'd greatly enjoy incorporating this into my game-play.

i think i am in love with this random sim generator. i like sometimes being told how to make my sims like exactly. and i do challenges because i like playing the game in a way that isn't my own. thank you so much for this.

may i suggest a random names tab as well for the generator? your boyfriend is amazing.

The random names tab will be easy enough, in fact it could probably be done today or tomorrow haha.

Any suggestions for names would be welcome, otherwise we'll just go through a baby book

The boyfriend (his name is Cyle, so I can start using his name) appreciates your compliments very much and further suggestions and feedback.

Thanks for all your feedback guys I love you all.

We'll start work on the names generator now. :D

there's loottts of names, first and last online.

a first and last name generator would be awesome. :D

http://www.last-names.net/

has a ton of last names, in order from alphabetical, and also surnames from different nationalities as well. check it out!

I really like the idea of this challenge! I do have one idea, perhaps there could be a fate related to Bon Voyage in which they have to do their lifetime want and have the required number of children, but also they must complete all 45 of the Travel Mementos.

I will have an updated version of the program, christmas fear, as soon as my boyfriend types all the names up xD

Thanks for the link

As for the extra fate, I added it. Thanks for the ideas.

Anyone got pics to share?

LOL, I'm playing the long way - no aging cheats for this simmer, so no real updates as of yet - Jack and Mary have had a third daughter (Jenna, now a toddler) and the twins (Lisa and Anne) are now children. They live in the little EAxis Ranch Retreat, so it's beginning to get a little cramped, but they've expanded into a second bedroom branching off from the nursery for the older girls and the dining room is a little bigger.

I'll try and grab some pics later.

i don't have any pictures, but right now i'm working on getting my first family to have their heir. i think the wife is pregnant. i got them married in game hahah. school and sleep is taking up ALL of my time lately, so i haven't gotten a chance to play again for a while.

I'm on my 4th generation, I think.

I always keep it on really fast time (3) so I get through college and.. well, life.. very quickly.

I keep getting bored! D=

This was supposed to prevent boredom!
Maybe if I took pictures it'd be less boring.