I'm thinking Mary-Sue is the kind of sim that will use all of Malcolm's money to make sure her girls' lives are miserable and poor.

No, no, think about motivations. The whole reason she's angry at Angela is for doing something she feels will hurt her political career. Actively persecuting them using Malcolm's money will create activity and a paper trail that could attract the attention of rival campaigners and blow the whole thing up in her face. What she should focus on now is damage control - she needs a cover story for where the girls went, she needs them to keep below the radar, and she needs to position herself in such a way that, if anyone does locate them, she can flip the script and make herself sympathetic. Tracking them down with a private detective (should you have anyone in the intelligence career) and using him as a catspaw to try to buy their silence, send them further away in exchange for regular funds (properly laundered), create evidence to support whatever cover story she comes up with, or something along those lines is a far, far better use of Malcolm's money.

Hoewever, the sisters shouldn't care how much money their mother gives them. They fight back, and end up trying to publish stories revealing the true nature of the Pleasant household (It was Lilith's idea). Daniel was caught cheating, him and Mary-Sue didn't just drift apart, as I imagine she would say. Things like that.

I can't decide who's gonna end up with who and I don't even know what to call this shape of a mess

So Mona Ravencrane has been pitting Stoney Grimsgrove and Baxter Thornbane against each other over her for eons. She really can't decide which guy she wants to be with and the two guys loathe each other. Now J.R. Barkridge who's Stoney's best friend wants to see Mona end up with Baxter because he's never liked Mona. So opportunity presents itself when new girl in town Colby Vixencroft shows up. Maybe this is what Stoney needs to get past Mona. But Stoney and Colby can't stand each other. Chemistry is just not there and he taunts her alot when they're together autonomously. Colby actually develops a thing for J.R. of all people. J.R. doesn't reciprocate because he's secretly in love with Stoney himself.

Mona sees Colby trying for J.R. and uses that to keep Stoney under her finger by trying to pit Stoney and J.R. against each other over Colby. That backfires immensely and WW1 starts between Mona and Colby. Now in the meantime Baxter has been befriending Colby because any enemy of Stoney is a friend of his. Bad move because Colby and Baxter fall for each other. Mona gets pissed and tries to get between them. Stoney feels rejected and woos Colby because he's not the type to let Baxter get all the girls I mean come on. Mona goes into complete aspiration failure over this farce of both HER men liking that whore Colby. Desperately she throws herself at J.R. which sends her further spiraling when she's rebuffed.

Mona goes off the deep end, kidnaps all three guys and while they're knocked out woohoos all three of them. She only tells them that she had sex with one of them, but doesn't say which; and threatens the other two that their next. Colby tracks them all down, but inadvertently starts a fire struggling with Mona. The guys being trapped and possibly on the verge of death prompts J.R. to come out of the closet and that he's in love with Stoney.

Now here is my dilemma: Mona is actually pregnant and I don't know which one is the father. The paternity is the next arc, but I'm a little lost on how to get there without dragging out this convoluted love mess further. One on hand dragging it out further would be better story wise because this group is insane on community lots. But it's also limiting my introduction of new characters if i don't set up some preliminary couples now. So thought?

I was going to post asking for advice last weekend but I decided not to, but since this thread was started why not Can't promise I'll take the advice, but sometimes you guys give great story twists I wouldn't think of so who knows

In my game, Mitch Indie is married to Moa Sernman. They've been married for 8 days or something such. Mitch moved in with Moa, because he lived in an a semi-crappy apartment and she had a house.

Moa comes from the core family that this entire hood grew around, and both her parents are very successful so she had her university degree paid for her, and she was given room to develop her creativity and arts-y side growing up. She's a painter, owns an art gallery and a lovely house on the river. She did take loans to buy that, both from her parents and loan jar. I enjoy my game more when my Sims need money for some reason, and I thought a painter should have beautiful scenery to be inspired by. Currently has 180k in loans to pay off, and 60k-ish in the bank.

Since Mitch is a pre-made, he had no money to start off with, and not much skills. He studied literature as a major, and graduated two years before Moa so he moved into an apartment and started out working as a journalist in the maxis career, writing novels in his free time. Eventually quit his job to become an author full time, earns an okay living from it but not enough to get rich. He has 62k in student loans, hasn't paid off anything yet. He has been putting most of his money in the bank though, and has some 50k saved if I recall correctly.

They started dating in college, but when she graduated she did not want to move in with him, preferring to get a tiny apartment in the run down side of town, wanting to get some perspective and life experience she had not had growing up in a well-off family. Once she started having success as a painter, she bought the house and started her gallery. The way I see Mitch, the fact that Moa is rich was an appealing factor, he could live off her money and do whatever he wanted, write and not care about money. He was the one pushing for them to take the step and get married. They married late autumn, and Mitch moved into the house. Mitch wants kids, Moa does not at the moment, preferring to focus on her career. He claimed to use birth control (pills are available for males in my universe) but instead got her pregnant, which she realized in early spring. She's furious with him. Aside from the obvious problem of him knocking her up against her will, he's also a major slob, taking no responsibility at home and he's harsh and rude to her two dogs. Leaves dishes around, watching sports on tv and talking to his pals most all day, and whatever money he earns from novels he saves to "pay off his student loans", expecting Moa to take care of all bills and the house. I'm going to let him convince her that he's sorry and that he just really wanted kids, and that they would be such great parents and have a family and all that. But then keep acting the same way after the kids (twins) are born, not helping out at all, after which Moa gets enough of his sloppy uncaring ways, and kicks him out.

Now for the dilemma. Mitch wanted money and wanted to be rich. Moa is the one asking for a divorce, and her net worth is much higher than his. Do I assume Mitch gets half, so that Moa ends up having to pay him money, or do I play it off as though Moa got him to sign a pre-nup? Her dad has been a newspaper magnet and is currently at the top of the law-career, it doesn't seem implausible that she would have thought to protect her economy.

As for the kids, I'm planning on shared custody, so no child support will be involved. The question is, did they get a pre-nup? I can see Moa asking for one, but would Mitch have signed if she did? And did she ask for one, or did she think two creative souls working on their arts was a guaranteed win? They got along fine before he moved in, because before that she didn't see his lazy sloppy side.

I really can't make up my mind. I enjoy my Sims having a purpose for earning money, and in the case of Moa it would allow her to paint all she wants without running into the risk of sitting on a massive pile of money and end up being boring to play. I also think it would play nicely into Mitch's character to end up with a small fortune, allowing him to live a life as a well-off bachelor with no worries in the world. But at the same time it feels reasonable to assume Moa would have protected her assets, and it could also be fun to have Mitch ruin things for himself and have to go back to living in a shoddy apartment, without the luxuries he got used to living with Moa. Maybe there's a third path I hadn't thought off. They are definitely getting divorced, but ideas on how to handle it are welcome

Here's a third option for @gummilutt: She did insist on a pre-nup.... but for whatever reason it wasn't legally binding.

Feels a tad unlikely having a dad that is The Law, that she is very close to. But that is an interesting idea, if Mitch can sneak-get you pregnant I can totally see him attempting to fake pre-nups somehow.

Do you want everyone to survive the fire? I'd have the fire department and police get involved either way and have Mona arrested; what happens to her and the baby then depends on her mental state. In my game, she'd probably end up on a lot I'm using for an asylum challenge or a prison. The baby would then go to any of the guys that volunteers to take it or to another family in town. If all of the guys survive the fire, I'd have the fire and rescue bring Colby and Baxter closer to each other and have them become a couple. As for the other two guys, it depends on how Stoney responds to J.R.'s revelation and I don't know enough about either of your sims know how he'd respond. Given Stoney's friendship with J.R., their recent mess with Colby, and what Mona did to them, they have a lot to work through in repairing their friendship even without adding a romantic relationship. I see a few options:
1. They could agree to keep things platonic while they recover from their trauma together, rebuild the friendship, and Stoney works out his own feelings - if he's homosexual or bi, I'd have them start a lasting romantic relationship at that point, and if he's heterosexual I'd have him tell J.R. that he doesn't reciprocate the crush but values the friendship.
2. Stoney and J.R. immediately jump into a relationship in an attempt to find stability in each other. They stay together for a while, but as things settle down their relationship doesn't last.
3. J.R. has admitted his feelings and they aren't returned, and the friendship was hurt too much by recent events for them to be comfortable around each other. They avoid each other for a while, eventually get involved in relationships with other sims, time passes, and then they eventually become friends again.

Edited to add:
@gummilutt I'd go with no prenup. Her parents may have wanted one, but Mitch could have found reasons to convince her that they didn't need one. Then, with him getting a substantial part of her money and partial custody of the kids, I'd have him go on a spending spree. Too big of a home, the best of everything for the kids (spoil them rotten), and all the toys he wants for himself. Then he can get himself into debt and start having trouble with the bills. At that point, he has to downsize, start working, and struggles to support himself.

Edited again:
I should let you know how things ended up playing out at my barracks. I put the options to my kids and they were split between keeping the baby at the barracks and putting it up for adoption. I went to play the police barracks while I tried to decide, and ended up with the same situation there, too. I decided that the rules for the police wouldn't be as strict and the couple expecting a baby moved into a small house (the apartment I tried to move them into kept crashing and I gave up on it). That couple is still working for the police.

I then had the idea that what should happen at the military barracks would be based on the parents' relationships with the Traveller family (they are the town administrators and the ones who paid for the building of the barracks and to bring the personnel to the island). No relations - baby up for adoption, no marriage until after their term of service ends. Best friends with both adult Travellers - they can move to a house like the police couple. They ended up in the middle - both parents formed friendships with both Trent and Trisha before the baby was born, so the parents were able to marry and the babies (it ended up being twins) stayed in the barracks so Nicole could nurse them when she wasn't working. Thomas has switched to the police force and is moving into a house with the toddlers. Both he and Nicole spent the summer doing additional duties around the barracks (as well as infant care). Nicole has also had her mandatory service extended one season; she'll be remaining in the barracks and will have limited contact with her family for the next three seasons. Thomas and Nicole married before Thomas moved out - Trent, Trisha, and most of the police force attended the wedding.

Let them wallow for a bit and introduce your new characters. It's what I always did with Little Carping and there were some epic dramas going on there.

@SingleClawDesigns - Have Mona 'mysteriously' die in childbirth. Have the three men get into a polyamorous relationship and raise the kid together!

..........

Actually, that's probably not a good idea.

Stitching actually made a excellent suggestion that I will do because one of those options plus something else he said combined with Maxon suggestion opened up proverbial floodgates.

Let us know how it goes!

Long story short, Bella Goth showed up at Dina Caliente's door and I'm not sure if she would want her husband back or be so shallow that her aged husband is someone she no longer wants. Thoughts?

Throw them together and see what happens.

@gummilutt Adding on to ihatemandatoryregister's idea, how about this: Mitch was suppose to turn in the pre-nup with their marriage certificate, but it 'disappeared'. This way Moa would think there is a pre-nup but Mitch never turned the paper in. Also, would I be a bad person to suggest how angry her father would be? The Law's daughter getting cheated out of money by her husband? Either daddy would have very strong lawyer friends to handle the situation or he'd have a less reputable 'acquaintance' take care of Mitch.

@SingleClawDesigns Now as for Mona and her hot mess. Honestly, I think Stoney would probably be so shocked by current events, he may just ignore the love declaration from J.R. There's a baby prospect to consider, the sexual assault by Crazy Mona, the back and forth emotions from having his head and heart played with? Not to mention the likely court appearances with Mona headed to either jail or the crazy house. At best, I think he would probably just be relieved to be alive.

JR in the mean time would be hurt at the ignored confession and try to get his life back together. Mona is locked up (an asylum would be the best choice) and after the baby is born, JR is happy to take in the baby as another distraction from Stoney. (May I also suggest that Mona escapes the asylum?) Stoney eventually gets his crap together and talks to JR but I think this will be a bit further down the road.

No you're not a bad person, that's a great idea. I don't think I'll have him "take care" of Mitch, but it is a great idea to have him do something. Her sister is level 9 in journalism and her mother has been at the top of many influential careers, so there are lots of contacts for the family to use. Maybe they can somehow make it difficult for Mitch to continue being an author, forcing him to take a less public job, or something like that. I am a little bored with the author-thing, I find writing novels boring to watch, so that would be a great way to change things up. I also like that there ends up being a consequence for Mitch, it didn't feel quite right for him to just get away with everything and get everything he wanted. He'll get the money, but can no longer be an author.

I'm such a convoluted mess that i'm three chapters ahead in writing this before even starting the hood because that's just how I roll. That and trying to find all the CC to mesh a victorian london and tropical Santorini feel to the hood is painstakingly slow. And in another fit of mass writing I've sorted out most of the details and sketched in a few more characters.

SO, everyone seemed to have glossed over the fact that Colby started the fire in the ensuing struggle with Mona. But since everyone seems to think it was Mona here that gave me the idea to have Colby take down Mona by blaming her for the fire. So yes off to the nuthouse she goes. I toyed with theidea of having one of the three guys being grievously injured in the escape but felt that would sideline Mona's little arc. and ~Drumroll~ Stiching option numero 3 is the route i'm going with the slight alteration that the friendship does not last. J.R. has kind of morphed into a unlikeness of a self sim so i'm going to detach him a bit from the main cast, but still playing a vital role in the town.

So now with Maxon suggestion about wallowing. This gives me time to introduce 3 new characters:
a fast talking female lawyer (TBN) for Mona's subsequent trial (and another notch on the bedpost for both Baxter and Stoney)
,a big business rival for Baxter: Thayer Kaneworth
A future ally/frenemy for Mona Mikaela Lynxfang who's also a patient at the asylum.

My only dilemma left right now is concerning Baby Ravencrane. I did do some quick extremely out of comfort zone writing for some scenes in the asylum that actually ended up in the loss of Baby Ravencrane due to some twisted Mikaela manipulation and Mona self harm. Just not sure if it'll stick or not. My test hood with these models does have Mona pregnant and I don't want to peek at simblender to see who the father is because i don't want to be swayed yet.

Maybe right after he submits the manuscript, it gets "lost in the mail."

That's a great idea too! Thanks A bunch of missing royalty checks should get the message across. I'll just simulate it by not letting him respond to the phone after he finishes one

While going through and doing my spreadsheet, I noticed that Tank Grunt rolled an interesting LTW:
"Become World-Class Ballet Dancer."
Should I keep it?

Yes. YES. YESSS!

Ok, so i'm with a dilemma. I have two households, both with parents married and kids on collegue (Let's call them Jon/Fran and Bob/Jane). Thing is, Jon got Jane pregnant with twins and I have a mod that makes it so a Sim with certain points on logic will know if their partner baby's not theirs. Bob had 10 points on logic, so he knew from the first "bump" that Jane's baby wasn't his.
For the household of Bob/Jane, I made Bob leave the house to live with some single friends for awhile, to give him time to "make up his mind" and decide what to do next. At the end of the rotation I see that's better that Bob breaks up with Jane (storywise) and so I did. Jane keeps the old house; Bob will send her a little of money over time anyways, but his goal is to make enough money to get his own apartment (I have no20khandouts). I'm planning to make Bob/Jane kid on collegue to get mad with Bob for leaving Jane alone in such a condition while raising two kids on her own as he's shy and nice (just for a little drama here, nothing serious )
Then, with Jon/Fran family's I don't know how to really proceed.
So both sims have the romance aspiration, and popularity as secondary. In fact they both have the 20 woohoo with different sims LTW, so affairs aren't really affairs to them. I tried to make Fran get jealous and get mad at Jon (I have ACR) but I couldn't make it work with any config at all, so I quitted without saving and I'll leave them be. But... here's the problem. What should I do with Jon? Make him move with Jane until the kids grow up and she doesn't need more help raising them, make him just send her money, or change my mind and make them break up (Jon/Fran) If so, should I make Jon move to an apartment, or move in with Jane? I really don't know how to approach this. Romance/popularity sims are so carefree that it's difficult sometimes.

You have to take on consideration that babies take 3 days to grow up to toddlers, and I have a mod that lengthens toddlers lifespan up to 7 days. Kids lifespan I think is 8 days, or 12. Some advice?
--

I agree with Peni. Please. We want pictures, too, if possible. If not it would still make for an interesting route in your family's story. I don't think Buzz would aprove; maybe Tank could start a weird and confusing teenager phase while trying to figure himself better. What's this passionate and inusual feeling inside him about that dance for girls that just keeps growing? Didn't he want to follow his fathers footsteps? What would he think of him now; would he start hating him as he does to Ripp, or neglecting him like with Buck? (my headcanon) Or maybe Buzz has the LTW for Ballet Dancer too, and then Ripp just doesn't know who they are anymore, entering his house one day and seeing them both practicing ballet, freaking the hell out, and then joining them.

Ballet is actually a very athletic activity - let's see Buzz lift a woman over his head while standing on his toes, and make it look easy!

Why not move Jane in with Jon and Fran and get a polyamorous household going? They can all three be in love with each other (you will have to fiddle with the settings; I'd probably tell you wrong, because I don't use ACR, but Strangetomato has done it for Jonny/Ripp/Ophelia) or Fran and Jane can be sister wives and date other men or it can just be a collaboration on raising the children.

Yeah I know; I've seen men and women in ballet lifting others and it's really impressive (like they don't even struggle at all!). But I was going with the "Buzz doesn't think that's something a man would do! Grow up!" I dunno. I've always seen this sim this way, and watching the photos of the family just gave me this vibe. But it's different for us all, Tank is my favorite sim in the franchise. <3


Haha I follow Strangetomato too; love her storytelling. But it's not the way I think fits for them. That about the collaboration could do... as Fran is in the Medicine career, it could make some sense. The problem with that could be that I've never done something like that, and strikes me as a little weird as i'm not used to it. Maybe even make Jane give her kids to Jon/Fran, as they're more prepared/have more recurses than her? Ugh. I know I should know; it's my game. But I really can't decide. It's time to think about it and download some CC.

Yes!!! That's the same one my Tank Grunt rolled, and I plan on trying to help him achieve it (Buzz isn't thrilled )