Story Dilemma Advice Thread
 

Seemed like a good idea to make a big thread where, if you have a dilemma in your story and aren't sure what to do, you could ask for suggestions. I'll start off with one.

In the Pleasant household, Mary-Sue and Daniel divorced after both of them cheated on each other. Daniel moved out to a small apartment, leaving Mary-Sue and the twins in the house. As if that's not enough scandal, Angela, the star child, turned up pregnant with Dustin Broke's kid. Mary-Sue isn't happy about this, especially since her political career might be threatened by this.

I've thought of several ideas:
1. Angela runs off and elopes with Dustin, moving to one of the other suburbs.
2. Angela is sent off to a private 'boarding school' and the child quietly put up for adoption.
3. Angela gives birth, but everyone pretends that Mary-Sue and Daniel are the parents.
4. I wanted to put something else here but I forgot.

I do love to mess with Angela and Dustin, the latter is probably my favorite premade. Idk why but I'm obsessed with meddling in his life--but weirdly, I never let him and Angela stay together. They always go their separate ways and pine for each other from afar. Taking your initial premise, though, of course I'd let Kaylynn "accidentally" become pregnant, forcing Daniel to move her in and take care of her and the kid, just when he thought he'd be a free man again. He might hit on another service sim or two, but Kaylynn would run a tight ship, ensuring that Daniel worked and she stayed home, and would never let any of her female friends linger around the house. She might also convince Daniel to name their kid his heir--bonus if their kid's a boy.

Now as for Angela, you're right, Mary-Sue would think such a pregnancy would ruin her political career. And, when you consider that Mary-Sue and Cassandra are goods friends, it's only natural if you assumed, like I do, that the Pleasants were trying to using that connection to forge an alliance via arranged marriage between Alexander and Angela. Mortimer's only son would have a wife--a relief to the Goths as Alexander is such a loner, hardly ever makes friends, and grows into an awkward-looking teen--and the Pleasants would be tied to the richest family in Pleasantview. But Angela's pregnancy ruins that. No one would ever believe the child was Alexander's as he's too young. So Mary-Sue would adjust. Mary-Sue may or may not convince Angela to have an abortion--that can go either way--but secret adoptions have a nasty habit of coming back up to bite you. No, Angela would need a husband. Obviously Dustin won't do; he's a criminal. So what other well-to-do, well-off bachelors are lurking in the area, looking for a wife? Wouldn't it be convenient if he too, was a bit awkward looking and a loner? Yup, I'm talking about Malcolm Landgraab. Yes, Angela is a little young for him, but that's only a good thing because it means he'll have no problem producing heirs and Mary-Sue can surely convince Malcolm that he doesn't want anything to do with the Calientes--they're gold-diggers. Just look at the way they throw themselves at Mortimer. No, he must align himself with the Pleasants; they're the only respectable middle-class family with daughters of the right age that he can marry. (The Tinkers are hippies, no one takes them seriously.) No one even has to tell him about the baby since Malcolm and Dustin both have blonde hair, but if Malcolm found out, it wouldn't be the end of the world. The pragmatic fortune sim would find some way to use that information to his advantage. Letting actually getting a simmer to play him or convince Angela to have an "open" marriage. So you, see, it's perfect. And, even better, Mary-Sue would think, because Lilith can take Angela's place and marry Alexander! Two political marriages instead of one. And it would work. Mostly. Lilith might run away to be with Dirk but Angela, she's the good daughter. Someone accustomed to a certain type of lifestyle with nice things. She expects to go to college. There's no way she can afford that with Dustin. And there's no way she wants to end up in a trailer with screaming kids surrounding her, the way she sees Brandi live her life.

So Angela breaks up with Dustin but never tells him why and Dustin, heartbroken, uses the knowledge of the Pleasant-Landgraab union to make something of himself. He may or may not make it into college but he damn sure works hard to become successful. He later finds out that Angela had his kid but doesn't say anything since he knows Landgraab provided a better life for the kid than he could at the time. But, what he does do, is vow revenge. He'll do whatever he can to surpass Landgraab, to bring Landgraab Realty group down a notch or two. Maybe he'll use his former criminal connections, maybe he'll turn to the supernatural but one thing's for sure: he'll make sure those snooty upper class Pleasantviewers will never call him Broke again--literally, because after he makes his fortune he marries a girl with a great last name.

Then, later on, after Malcolm and Angela have their heir, Angela will see Dustin's success and know she made the wrong choice. Angela will try to seduce him away from his new wife because she's unhappy with her life, her marriage, her nice house, and nice things--but not with her corvette, she loves that thing--but it won't work. Dustin's moved on and only cares about getting to know his kid. So she contents herself with having an affair with the cute gardener or perhaps an old friend from college and suddenly she'll realize she's living the life her parents led.

Or at least that's how it'd go down in my game.

Instead of trying to hid the scandal, which she knows will fail and then become an even bigger story, Mary-Sue could try to turn the whole situation into a political opportunity. She can start a program for teen mothers, fund a drop in center for troubled youth such as Dustin, and push her image as a great mom with a family going through trying times. Angela could be so relieved she's not in trouble that she goes along with it all, but Lilith could find her mother's act phony and their relationship takes a further hit. Mary-Sue can then have to deal with another potential scandal with Lilith running away, or her mother could buy her cooperation somehow, or Lilith could move in with her father or with Dirk.

As of tonight, I've got a story dilemma, too:

I've added two barracks to my medieval town - one is military, one is police, and both forces have men and women on them. I'm playing the police lot in a fairly hands off way, just directing sims to fill wants and to deal with needs when necessary. I'm playing the military lot in a slightly more guided way - sims have to clean when anything is dirty, and there are brief drill/training activities each day for the sims that aren't at work, but otherwise I'm leaving them mostly alone, too. On the military lot, Nicole Bowman (fortune/popularity, personality 7-1-3-6-8) and Thomas Banner (popularity/family, personality 4-9-4-3-5) had risky woohoo in the stable's haystack (cc bed) after only knowing each other for a day, and she became pregnant. The two of them autonomously fell in love shortly before she popped and both started rolling wants to get engaged. They've done that, but now I don't know what to do with them. Nicole is the only sim on the lot that wants to top the military career, and Thomas wants to top law enforcement. I'd originally intended for all of the police and military sims I'd created to stay on the barracks lots until either one year passed or they reached career level 5, but I'm open to allowing some to live off in other housing (such as married quarters apartments).

Current ideas:
1. The baby is either given up for adoption or temporarily cared for by others in the town. The parents hold off on their wedding until the year is up and at that point they marry and start a family. The baby (child) either stays away or returns to them.
2. She's kicked out of the military and lives in her own house until Thomas finishes his service and they can marry. At that point he's entitled to remain in the military but live where he chooses - she might rejoin the military, but may have to live at the barracks while he's at their home with the child. She might also find work other than military.
3. They marry but remain in the barracks until fairly high in their careers - they would share the largest room. The baby stays there too, and is raised surrounded by military and starts working at the barracks as soon as possible. If other children end up born on the lot, an actual nursery could be created - there's a couple of empty rooms that have no clear purpose yet.
4. Sims still trying to complete their mandatory service who are married could be permitted to move to married quarters (an apartment lot) with their family and still serve.

Thank you for starting this thread.

Love that idea! As for your dilemma @stitching, I'm leaning toward option 1 or 2 because of my style of play. For me, the military is all about culling sims and having a place to get rid of all those extra sims in a household. (I'm trying to keep my neighborhood small.) So definitely no ACR in the military because they're all about hunting down supernaturals. There'd be strict consequences if sims got pregnant in my military and there's definitely no babies allowed on the lot.

Also in my game, to leave the military, after their term of service sims have to roll to see if they make it out alive. Thus even if a poor sim survives all the patrols during his service and doesn't die during a fight with a supernatural, he might not live to tell his glorious war stories. When up for retirement, my military sims are supposed to roll a number between 1-100. Even means they get to retire from the military, i.e. move out of the base and do whatever they like, and odd means they go down in flaming glory and die in battle. Hmm, I forgot how extensive my military rules are. I should probably go playtest them fully. I have like, four pages of notes.

Anyway, I'd probably kick the lady out of the military in a dishonorable discharge--she loses her job, pension, etc. and is blacklisted for a bit--and have the other sim stay in the military but pay child support. Of course, he'd have to be disciplined too somehow. Perhaps several rotations on latrine duty or something. Then when the kid grows up he or she will have an interesting relationship with a dad who is absent a lot of the time because he's in the military.

I should add a bit of interesting info here: I said that both Daniel and Mary-Sue were cheating. Mary-Sue was cheating with none other than Malcolm Landgraab himself.
Also thanks to a hack I have, I believe by Chris Hatch, Mary-Sue is furious with Angela right now. It's a bit sad really because Angela is trying to get her mother's attention and her mother keeps rebuffing her.

As for the medieval barracks thing: Perhaps the parents could try to hide the pregnancy from their superiors and then drop the baby off at a random household. But the superiors find out (gossip spreads) and kick her out, so she goes to find the baby again. But the baby is already happily adopted. That could make an interesting story.
Or perhaps the superiors find out and force her to either voluntarily resign or take a potion that induces miscarriage. (I don't think there's any CC like that and you'd probably just use the SimBlender to terminate pregnancy but you can pretend.)

Really? Well, I guess Mary-Sue will just have to marry Malcolm herself. You could always go for the tried and true "I'm not paying for your college unless you put that baby up for adoption," but it's not nearly as intricate.

@ihatemadatoryregister : I definitely think Mary Sue would make her give the baby up for adoption. Mary Sue was adopted and look at her now, independent woman rising the political ranks sleeping with a "handsome" rich bachelor. Those warning that it could come back to bite later, that would make it so much better! Ship Angela off to boarding school/military school (in my old uberhood she ended up with (Tank?) Grunt, they had a lot of chemistry together) and get the baby as far away from Pleasantview as possible. If I was doing this, and were writing it as a story for an audience i'd put the baby up for adoption, and a little later have multiple families adopt babies, so that way at first you don't know where her baby ends up, and you don't find out till the features start to show themselves through story progression.

@stitching : My favorite of what you presented is Option 3. Not sure how realistic you're playing so I don't know if dishonorable discharge is an appropriate option. But it would be cute to have a kid around helping almost like a little mascot. Then one day, their parents die but now the child has no one and remains at the barracks, finding their new family in the other military officials. Once old enough they enlist themselves, work up the ranks and eventually leads the military, and conquers many surrounding nations and becomes one of the most decorated and celebrated military leaders in history. From humble beginnings to a grand legacy!

At least those are my 2 cents...

#3 is what most people used to do back in the old days lol and it would especially make sense for a aspiring politician! Eventually down the line Angela may begin to have regrets when the baby is a child and can blackmail her mom (who should be well known and respected by then) to give her whatever she desires or else she'll go straight to the press with the truth!

Another interesting thing came up: Angela suddenly began rolling wants to apologize to Lilith. I had her do that about a dozen times in a row (maybe a little overkill) and now they're not enemies anymore.

How stubborn do you think Angela's personality is? Yes, I also think that Mary-Sue would ship her off, but how would Angela handle that? Would she run away with the baby before or after she arrived to the boarding school? If she did, how would she handle life as a struggling poor mother? Would she ever let Dustin know about the baby? Would she ask her father for help? Would Daniel beat up Dustin?

So of course, I make this no easier with more questions.

Angela's giving you the cue there. She and Lilith run away and raise the baby together!

Oh, do 4! Do 4!



But yeah I did the same thing with Angela and Dustin. She had the baby and went to college. Left it with Brandy to raise. Brandy was married to Malcolm Landgraab at the time. Then she left him when he cheated on her with Dina and all of a sudden, Dustin and Angela's son was living in a house with Malcolm and Dina who got married.

Oh, I forgot to mention that both Daniel and Mary-Sue died in a fire...a mysterious fire caused by CC bomb thing that just showed up for no reason. Hmm...

I second this!

I think that's what #4 was supposed to be.

I'm voting for 4

I'm starting to lean towards #4 as well - moving Angela and Lilith out and moving them to another subhood. Perhaps Belladonna Cove or Widespot, as those two are 'geographically' the closest to Pleasantview.* Brandi Broke (who i headcanon was also a teen mother) would be supportive of her new grandchild, moreso than Mary-Sue anyways.

* I've actually put a decent amount of thought into the area in general and why there's desert subhoods and coastal subhoods in the same megahood. Basically - the megahood is somewhere on the California coast, and the deserts (Strangetown, Sedona, and La Fiesta) are on the other side of the mountains with the rain shadow effect.

4 4 4 4 4

Anyone else have a dilemma? this is a fun thread!

I hope someone has one soon.

Voting for 4.

In the middle of the night, the girls locked Mary-Sue in her bedroom, quietly packed all their furniture in their inventory, and took off. They had the taxi take them to Belladonna Cove and drop them off there, where they wandered around for a few hours. At the coffee-shop, Lilith noticed an ad: Apartment for rent at Bella Park Condominiums. While Angela ordered another coffee, Lilith called to inquire about it; the landlord seemed to understand the urgency of her appeal, and offered to meet them within the hour.

Even though it was only a few blocks, it seemed endless for Angela, with her belly swollen and feet aching. The apartment was tiny; a one-bedroom, but the dining room was big enough for a second bedroom. Happily, they accepted, and got to work setting up the furniture.

Mary-Sue awoke the next morning to find her door locked. Fortunately, she was able to get it open before she resorted to crawling out the window. She headed upstairs to yell at Lilith again, only to find both girl's bedrooms empty, all the furniture gone. Then she went downstairs and called Malcolm Landgraab.

I'm glad the landlord was so understanding!

....How does Mary-Sue Landgraab sound to you?

run while you still can malcolm

Too late. They're already engaged.

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 )

Oh, certainly Buzz would be against it! Buzz is narrow-minded and ignorant. That would be the whole point of the storyline, wouldn't it?

"It's weird as I'm not used to it" is a reason to do something, in my book. But you have to go with what's comfortable and fun for you, not for me. But people IRL combine households to help each other out all the time. Maybe Jane and the kid move in temporarily, till Jane can get her act together financially and Jon can know his kids. A lot depends on what each person involved is like.

Don't think about what you want for a minute. The decisive person here is Jane. What does she want? How does she react to the children? What's her relationship with Jon like? With Fran? Who else does she know that would be a resource? What does she do? Put yourself into her head for a little while and it will all be much clearer. If you can't choose between A and B, it's often because you've been overlooking Option C.

I'm keeping the LTW - I've already thought of a few vague-ish ideas/plans for it, but I've got to see how it plays out.

@Feestrang: Have them all get into a polyamorous relationship!
.... Well ....

Here's another dilemma.

Nervous Subject was rescued from the Beakers' and ended up, exhausted and filthy, at the Curious' house. After he recovers, there's a few options he can take:
1. Stay at the Curious'.
2. Get into touch with his mother, Olive Specter, and move in with her. (Would he even know she's his mother?)
3. Get himself an apartment in the same building at the Singles household and Ajay Loner.
4. I'm open to other suggestions.

A lot depends, there, on what Nervous's deal is. You'll have to look at each of the characters and think in terms of backstory and present condition.

Does being the child of Grim give him psychic powers so that he knows who his mother is? If he doesn't, does he have vague baby memories that could lead him to her? Is there a paper trail?
Did Olive abandon Nervous? Was he kidnapped? Was he taken away by a legitimate authority and if so, how did he wind up at the Beaker place?
Between aspiration failure and his personality point spread, Nervous starts the game with some anti-social and dysfunctional behaviors which can be put down, in-game, to PTSD. So how severe is it? How much time will he need to spend in a secure environment before he can live on his own? What behaviors does he institute to control it? Is PTSD the only thing, or does he have some inherent condition on top of it? If he has special powers from Grim, are these interpreted by those around him as a mental disorder?
How do you want to play him? Micromanage him to manage his life better? Micromanage him to amplify the effects of his life to date? Free-range him entirely to see how he manages on his own? Ride with a loose rein to nudge him in a certain direction? Do you want to let Olive die and have Nerouvs inherit the house?
Has he met Olive and Ophelia? How has he reacted to them? Them to him?
Are you letting the Beakers get away scot-free or will you do a storyline that involves a criminal prosecution of them? Nervous would be the star witness as well as the victim in the case, which puts a whole new set of stressors on him. What do you need to do simulate that storyline, and how do the Beakers fight back? Alternatively, will Nervous want instead to pursue an extra-legal retaliation on them? Olive would be a helpful ally in such a case - unless she deliberately abandoned him to them, in which case she's a target of retaliation herself.

I know, that's all questions, not concrete suggestions. But if you find answers to even the majority of them I think you'll see most of the confusing options fall away and leave you with a clear road ahead. You only need to see a few steps down that road to choose it.

I love how much you think into storylines and stuff like this Peni! It has got me thinking about Nervous Subject in my game! I keep finding plot holes in my own storyline >.<

For my game Nervous doesn't have any psychic powers. However I already saved him from the Beakers and he is living with the Curious's (and in love with Pascal, the feeling is mutual) and the way I told it Olive had neglected him as a baby and a social worker took him, and the Beaker's adopted him for the sole purpose of using him as a test subject (they are cruel evil people) and they simply fooled the adoption agency into believing they'd be a nice family, they didn't know their plans for him. Olive regrets having lost him, her last link to her lover the Grim Reaper (she has to stop killing people before the authorities realize she's a murderer). She cares for very little and almost no one, but Nervous has a special place in her heart only for the fact if she can't have the Grim Reaper, at least she can have his son, right? Back when he was a baby she was still happily killing people and seeing her lover Grim, so she didn't much care for a loud stinky baby even if he was the Grim's, which I do believe upset the Grim dearly when she lost Nervous. They had a spat, but he also told her if she didn't stop killing people people would find out, and she doesn't want to go to jail.

Hmm...now why would it take her this long to find Nervous again?

The way I told it on my Simblr at the time was that she called (and threatened someone there who caved out of fear) the adoption agency to find out who adopted him. She had called him, told him she was his mother and he came (snuck out while the Beakers were asleep I guess) as she wants to get to know him, and she threatened the Beakers (my Olive does a lot of threatening) to let him go live with his boyfriend Pascal Curious. I'm guessing Nervous just snuck out sometimes while the Beakers were asleep, but he was so messed up from what they had done to him and it was all he knew, and at least it was a roof and food, that he kept going back before they would wake up and until recently no one knew that the Beakers were being horrible to him. Pascal had initially stopped by the Beakers and became his friend, hence him sneaking out to go see his friend now turned lover.

Then why didn't Nervous tell anyone what they were doing to him? Has he told anyone? Why did Olive threaten the Beakers to let him leave and go to Pascal's? She must have figured out what they were doing to him, but how? Did the Reaper tell her and if so when? Why didn't she take him in or just develop a relationship with him while he stayed at the Beakers because she didn't know what they were doing to him?

He does have some PTSD from the Beakers in my mind but not entirely sure how that will play out, just have to see what happens with him and think how he'd react to a given situation. In my head he can't really hold down a job, it stresses him out, he worries too much, something always triggers him sooner or later and bosses generally don't care to try to help him or work with him.

I plan on giving him a happy life with Pascal. Sure he may have issues but I also see him as great with kids. He is always thinking about kids, and before he left I believe Circe was pregnant but Nervous escaped before the baby was born, so the Beakers currently have a baby girl named Alexis (who was born like a year ago but I took a long break from Sims and read a lot, she is still an infant). Nervous worried about the baby, he doesn't know if it's a girl or boy or what but he knows there has to be a baby because she was pregnant, so he worries as he loves kids and doesn't want any other kids to suffer like he did. He seems to want a family, always thinking about kids (pacifier thought bubbles) and I think he'd make a great dad, very attentive and there for the child, perhaps overly-protective and worried but very caring. Right now Pascal's alien baby is a toddler, girl named Star, and Vidcund is still pregnant from his abduction. Lazlo is still there as well.

So he has met Olive and Ophelia, Ophelia I believe would have warned him about Olive while she was in college, but how so? Vaguely or specific? Does Ophelia know Olive is a murderer or just that she's a creepy old lady, who is also now a vampire by the way (genie wish, Olive doesn't want to die. She loves the Grim but has a fear of death herself or the after-life anyway. Even Grim can't tell her what lies on the other side). Ophelia and him are already best friends. I can't remember exactly what the relationship between Olive and Nervous is but i'm sure it's positive at the moment.

The questions strewn throughout are stuff I didn't think about before. And it will take answers to those questions before I know how to proceed. I have a jail, and certainly Olive and the Beakers deserve to be in it but they'd have to be caught to go in it (Alexis can be taken away from them and given to Nervous maybe? Or adopted by someone else in the 'hood or put in a childcare home, I'd make it and get or make someone to run it).

Why do I never think things through?!

I am glad to be thinking of all this now though! I just have to figure it all out Sorry it's so long!

Edit: As i'm reading this over I am thinking about it all, and figuring stuff out. This is really helping seeing it all laid out and I wouldn't have thought of these things if not for this thread and i'm writing stuff all up in notepad

Edit again: Ok i've figured out a lot of stuff (been at this for hours I believe thinking of it all) and it'd be too long to put it all here but suffice it to say, no one knows what the Beakers have done to him, and I can't see how it wouldn't spill out of Nervous eventually in some way now that he is with the Curious's and in a loving relationship with Pascal. So that means the Beakers will have to be caught...but how exactly?

When Pascal and Nervous eventually tell the authorities what happened, can they prove it? I don't see it taking long before Nervous says something that tips Pascal off to what was really going on at the Beakers.
If they can prove it what is an appropriate punishment for what the Beakers have put Nervous through?

I think Nervous had his memory wiped, perhaps numerous times so he doesn't know Olive his his mother or really what was done to him.

Learning there is an actual prison mod is making my head hurt trying to figure it out, i'm sure I could do it but your solution makes everything so much easier and is less work, i'm going to be lazy lol and has given me an idea. (Also thank you for saving me from a headache lol)

No jail, for any Sims. Though i'm keeping fines for offenses, so my Sims still have the same laws. And i'm going to think up other punishments if needed (losing children, losing jobs, forced aspiration failure etc. capital punishment if severe enough like murder maybe...) so much easier for me!

As for Nervous since he's already with Pascal and Olive has told him he's her mother there's no stopping him from knowing that and Olive would've made sure of it but it's exactly like the Beakers to wipe his memory before he left, so he doesn't know what happened to him, but it's still there somewhere in his subconscious or whatever making him the way he is, with the ptsd symptoms he can't explain.

Good thing their daughter Alexis is very mean (Saw in SimPE) as it looks like she won't be saved from the Beakers. I can see them being proud to have her carry on the Beaker name. Oh dear, Strangetown might wanna watch out!

Now i'm debating on having them adopt as i've put some toddlers in the adoption pool, some demons (cc skins/horns) and other creepy ones, like ghouls, so who knows what they end up with! Having Loki get abducted or having them have another child so they can have their "evil Beaker" pride and joy child and another test subject hopefully. Adoption or abduction might make more sense to get another test subject. Of course they don't have to settle for just one of those options lol. And making them evil witches, definitely Circe anyway!

Adoption, another biological baby or abduction? Doesn't have to be just 1 either lol

Giving me lots of ideas there. I doubt the Beakers will get hit with anything - Nervous would be too, well, nervous to press charges, they turned the 'evidence' into a swimming pool (they might get smacked with a fine for only having one ladder though), and Vidcund's testimony probably wouldn't be accepted considering the feud between their families.

After a LOT of fucking around with Don Lothario and risky woohoo being set too high, Cocoa Brookland, a new CAS sim out of thre introduced to the hood, is pregnant.

...Okay, she's given birth already, and Cocoa and her sister are struggling to raise the child without informing Don of his actions and making him take responsibility. Sure, he may ask of the weird black-haired child who looks (and acts) suspiciously like him in the Brookland's home, but Cocoa will probably just ignore the questioning. So that begs the question: Do the sisters co-raising the literal spawn of Satan continue raising the toddler alone or make Don take responsibility? We also have an issue, and that this is my story hood. A pregnancy with the new girl wasn't a planned part of the story, especially since Don was eventually going to be forced to be settle down with one of his numerous women after nothing other than a pregnancy.

One one hand, Don finding out about his child could make an interesting subplot to the Caliente-oriented story, on the other, it completely screws up the plot that was going to happen.

Have them get into a polyamorous relationship!

More seriously: What would Don do if he found out? Pay a large sum in exchange for her silence, or help raise the child?

Rather than Cocoa tell him, perhaps there's a third party who might inform him...

Like Candi who Don's currently trying to romance. Goddammit, Don, you can't balance 5 relationships without SOMEONE finding out. He's going after TWO different sets of twins.

How motivated are Cocoa and sister to keeping the secret? Does sister know?

Cocoa could find several other men to date who are potentially fathers, who would have at least some superficial resemblance to Don, so that if he found out about the child he'd figure, oh, well, must be that other guy's kid since she didn't come after me for support. Alternatively, if sister is not in Don's datebook, they could claim the child is sister's and raise him or her to call Cocoa aunt and Cocoa's sister mom.

More importantly, why are you not using birth control in your story neighborhood and turning risky off?

If she's anything like me, to see what would happen.

It's fun.

Anyways, Cocoa is more concerned for Don's life, more than anything. Being a Romance sim herself, she understands the need for not having children get in your way. She's the type of person to be perfectly willing to be a person's secondary choice (Emulated by no jealousy in ACR). Sister (named Candi) is a Family sim, willing to play out her sister's plans involving the baby as long as it doesn't involve putting him in danger. However, keeping Don in the dark has put some unforeseen consequences, like him becoming completely and utterly obessed with Candi. He will not stop calling her. His wants all involved Candi. I can't handle this shit.

I'd play that as him becoming aware that something's up with her.

Don came over to the Brookland's house at the welcome party, and he could have sworn there was nothing there for babies, but when he came back later, there was a toddler on the ground playing with a stupid rabbit.



Candi's incredibly concerned with the nonstop calling. I'm pretty sure Cocoa would be, if she let her know. Candi's determined on not letting this come out, even if Don called her over to his house under the guise of 'getting to know each other better'.



Well, shit. He's balancing 5 relationships now.

And I'd imagine that the baby is being raised with Candi as the mother, as Cocoa really just isn't responsible.

(Sorry for double post)

The child is a child now, and I'm forming a story plan involving a teenaged Kars (yeah, that's his name) finally figuring out who his father is and deciding to make fashion choices that reflect that. Eventually, kids at school begin to talk, and spread rumors. The Pleasant twins are talking, among other things. The rumors get bad. Kars, a Romance sim like both of his parents, is even ACTING way too much like Don, and he doesn't even know the man. Eventually, Don catches on by the gossip train and... well...
That's why I came to this thread. What happens next? Does Don finally meet his son?

He inevitably will. Don't plan so far ahead - give the sims some room.

I'm planning ahead because if I don't, then it'll get bad. By bad, I mean that good situations will happen. I micromanage to make sure good things don't happen as much. (That sounds weird) Kars might become a ladykiller, or maybe he'll be go on the road to nowhere. They have room in some aspects, but in others they're set in stone.

As the parent of an actual teen male ballet dancer, I've just gotta say that Tank'll be able to kick his dad's butt if necessary. After, of course, he kicks him in the nose simultaneously with gracefully catching a ballerina, all in rhythm with the music.

Ballet teens, boys and girls, take tough to a whole new level.

Can I just say that I love this thread?

I also love this thread tbh

I find that (think I stole this from Peni, actually) Nervous is too close in age to Loki and Circe to have been adopted/fostered by them. Instead, he was taken by Loki's parents, and grew up, sort of, together with Loki and Erin. That other bedroom with the double bed, that had two single beds when Loki and Erin were kids, and after their parents died and Loki and Circe got married, Erin got the double bed. But she fled anyway when she figured she could get away with it. (I know *how* Erin escaped, what I don't know is where she got her moral compass from.)

If we were playing D&D, I'd play Loki and Circe as Lawful Evil. They aren't doing anything Wrong in the eyes of the law, and by their lights they're Good because they follow the Law. (But a really good villain always thinks he's the hero, after all.) They feel their ends justify their means (I expect they're working with the sort of magic-tech stuff that aspiration rewards are made of) and they're following the Law, so they are justified in everything they do. If they knew *what* Nervous is, rather than simply knowing he's not quite a normal sim or alien hybred, they be shocked, and probably scared. I think they're more fascinated with and afraid of Death than anything else, though Aliens come in a close second.

"See? Here's our test subject's legal guardian's signature right here. Surely you aren't implying we'd do anything against his best interests, or without proper permissions!"

If I have a chance, I like to have Nervous flee to Erin, rather than Pascal or Olive. Erin ought to be a familiar and kind face from his childhood.

Thought I should post here. Nervous decided to stay with the Curious brothers for now, acting as a live-in nanny. He's a bit claustrophobic from being trapped in a cell so he sleeps on a hammock on the roof.

Another dilemma: Johnny Smith and Ophelia Nigmos will be moving out to college; both plan on going to La Fiesta. Several options for housing:

a) The Oasis Dormitory has Klara Von????, William Williamson, Blossom Moonbeam, and Stella Terrano. It only has one free spot, though.
b) The Lyla Grunt Memorial Dormitory has several free spots....but also Tank Grunt.
c) Or perhaps they could pool their money and rent a house together.

Thoughts?

Obviously you need to get a bigger households hack and move them into the Oasis Dorm.

There's only five rooms in Oasis Dorm, though, and four are already full.

Oh, apparently I can't read.

Get them a house, I guess.

There's more than two dorms on LFT. If you don't like the remaining ones, add one you do like, or build a new one.

Or download one

1) Going though Uberhood households to make list of lifetime wants and such, I noticed Cassandra Goth's lack of interest in Don. They have no bolts. She rolls more wants about Darren than Don (her wants for Darren are not romantic, but they are on line between friendly and flirty). I couldn't figure out how they even got engaged till little evil idea entered my mind. Cassandra knows that Don had an affair with Bella before she was abducted - but of course no one believes her (because she is Cassandra). So she took matters in her own hands and started to date Don - to figure out what exactly happened to her mother. She is angry on her for cheating on Mortimer, but Don is only target she can reach. This marriage is actually her plan for revenge.
But I don't know what's the plan exactly. Does she want to humiliate him in some way? Will she leave him at altar? Will she leave him on the roof with an expensive telescope hoping that aliens take him as they took her mother? Is this even a good idea?

2) General Buzz Grunt has rolled turn ons and off that indicate sexual interest in males. And his lifetime wish is "become rock god". The actual question is - what should come first: boyfriend or career change?

a) No actual advice for this, but a word of advice: If you make Don selectable and have her run off, she'll disappear off the lot and is a major pain in the butt to get back. That said, I have a feeling Don wouldn't be too affected if she did that, and I'd expect her to be a bit more...subtle.

b) Personally, I'd go with career change. I'd make him go with the risky option on the chance card and get him fired (tricky though, not sure if you can trigger the chance card and then it's only 14% chance of firing.) With that, he's forced to downsize and move to Belladonna Cove, where after a drunken dare, he finds talent at the coffeeshop microphone. Then he sees an ad for a job in the music career and he goes 'why not?'

I had Cassandra run off and she showed up again after a few hours, although I think the Batbox's "Force Erros Off-Lot" function could return her.

Yeah, that's how I got her back. Make sure to disable testingcheats if you use that, otherwise you'll induce carpal-tunnel syndrome from clicking past all the errors.

Booney, Buzz gets a boyfriend who persuades him to change careers! It's perfect!

Buzz will perform in the niche genre of barbershop rock.

This thread is very interesting.

I also have a little dilemma. In Circadian Springs, I have a couple consisting of Cybele, she's a writer who runs a coffee shop, and Travis, a pet shop owner. The problem is, thanks to ACR, Travis is heaving an affair (which I decided to explore for the sake of drama) with Delaney, the local teacher.

Then there's the dilemma: Travis and Cybele seems to not enjoy their marriage, as they rarely roll wants related to each other or to their daughter, while Travis always rolls wants about Delaney. With this is mind, I tough about two choices I can make: divorce them and make Travis move with Delaney or keep Travis and Cybele unhappily with Travis still having an affair with Delaney and, maybe, making Cybele have an affair too.

Thanks for advice!

I guess Cassandra's plan is now irrelevant. Bella called. She wanted to speak with her daughter, but Alexander invited her to come over and explain things to everyone. Before she arrived, Mary Sue called and asked Mortimer to go out to Downtown. Seemed weird that Mary Sue has sudden interest in her best friend's father, but then subject of aliens popped up, so I guess she has access to some secret government information and wants to share it.
Cassandra, I think, will just call things off with Don.

As for Buzz, Kent Capp in Veronaville has an interest in aliens and lack of interest in his family's drama. And he needs a new living space, perfectly in new town...

If I had that, I'd go full on exploration of discovery, betrayal, recrimination, guilt, an ill-advised rebound affair, unplanned pregnancy(cies), fights, divorce, awkward shared child-rearing arrangements, child support arguments and then a rebuilding of lives in the light of the bruising experience. But then, that's me and sims.

I enjoy creating drama in my game, but I think I never went that far.

I like those ideais, especially the discovery, the rebound affair and the unplanned pregnancy. Maybe I will take this decision.

I should mention I've come to a solution on the college thing - Johnny Smith and Ophelia Nigmos will be sharing the dorm with Tank Grunt. I mostly want to see what will happen

If anyone cares, there is a tl;dr update on General Buzz's story:

In Veronaville Kent didn't get along with his brother-in law and when Regan announced that she and Cornwall are trying for baby (successfully. But don't tell them yet), Kent decided to find a new place, and Bianca Monty was more than happy to offer a free room.
One shopping trip later, they meet General Buzz in community lot (thanks, game, good job). They get along pretty well, and General, hearing that none of them has a job and Kent has skills necessary for science career, tells them about new research project in Strangetown's recently discovered ancient alien ruins. The project, led by Cassandra Goth, needs more sims, so, after returning home, Kent and Bianca look it up.
Computer offers them a job in science career, and they take it. They move to Strangetown's new apartment lot, build specifically for project's scientists and meet their new neighbors, Cassandra and her "sister" Bella, who looks strangely similar to lost Bella.
Kent calls General Buzz to thank for new jobs and ask for tour around Strangetown. Like friends, of course. The fact than General felt a need to left a flower bouquet at Kent’s door afterwards must no be counted.
Anyway, they go around Strangetown and later heads to one of Downtown’s karaoke bars. At this point General is a bit of drunk and has left his guard down, so they end up singing karaoke duets and making out – before returning at Kent’s apartment. The rest is classified information.
Two hours later, Buzz calls and asks Kent to go out again. A bit tired, but happy Kent agrees and they return to said karaoke bar. More terrible duets. More making out. Taking photos (General may regret this one). They both roll a want to go swimming and go to a park with pool. The romance of swimming in night is destroyed by vampire count who mocks Buzz, argues with basically everyone on the lot and finally attacks a random townie.
Who turns out not to be random at all. Leonid Kauker is top secret researcher, and is on his way to Strangetown. He is a bit surprised to find Strangetown’s General and one of researchers in… umm, this situation, but doesn’t care mutch. Buzz, on the other hand, freaks out, because what is going to happen if anyone on his job finds out?
Buzz is in Strangetown to hide information about aliens from outside, but, most importantly, to provide safety for the scientists that work on various alien related research projects (meaning – prevent abductions). His father failed at this when Glern Curious managed to get himself abducted, but wasn’t fired as Glern did it on purpose*; Buzz’s professionally was questioned when Pascal Curious got abducted. He did it on purpose too, so Buzz still has his job, but has been informed that more failings will not be tolerated. Buzz thinks these are good enough reasons for him to not be seen on dates with one of researchers, especially at night, the abduction time. Kent thinks Buzz is making things unnecessary hard and refuses to listen – he has already rolled an engagement want.
Day after, Buzz rolls a want to have a party. He has no friends, so guess who is only person that shows up? They mostly talk about Buzz’s work and politics, and argue quite a bit. Kent also meats Buzz’s sons – he likes Buck and Ripp, but finds Tank’s love for pranks annoying. Somehow party still ends up being great, probably because they stop talking and start tickling each other (and you want Tank to believe that this is your “friend from work”, Buzz?).
Later that night Kent tries to fix Buzz’s lack of social life by inviting him out with Bianca Monty and Titania-now-Gossamer. I forgot that Titania had a crash on Kent, and he didn’t even know. Now he does. Sorry, Kent. Apart from this incident, night goes well, and Kent almost manages to convince Buzz that life should be about more than just aliens and work. Almost, because that is the same night a townie Phil Haggerty goes missing. Last time seen in Strangetown’s streets close to Beaker house, Phil is believed to be abducted by aliens. That will definitely mean something to Buzz’s career, but I will need to wait till next rotation to find out.

*Curious family is part of the scientist movement that believes aliens should not be feared, their existence should be common knowledge and sims could benefit from these contacts.

Ooh! I like the idea behind this thread.
Here's some backstory:
Connor Watson Jr (Popularity) is the YA only son of the richest family in the neighborhood (his mother is The Diva and his father is at the top of the Law career.) As a teen, I assumed he'd be an overachieving perfectionist, because his parents and sister all are, but he had been arrested a few times and now in college he never rolls wants related to schoolwork. He's toeing the line of academic suspension.
I have a few dilemmas:
He has been with his girlfriend Gretchen since they were teens and until recently they had been living in a home on campus together. They were in love but he hadn't rolled any wants pertaining to her in a romantic sense in quite a while. On an outing without her, Connor Jr ACR kissed another town Diva (obviously the Watson men have a type!) He brought her home while Gretchen was in class and they were predictably caught in the act when she returned and she has since moved out. Connor Jr seemed unfazed by the whole thing. Today he rolled wants to "repair a relationship", "Call Gretchen", and "Invite Gretchen" but seemed very annoyed when I directed him to apologize to her. Dilemma #1: try to patch things up with Gretchen #2 Move on
Dilemma #2:
The Watson family is all about appearances. Their great shame has been their son's arrests and they would be horrified if he failed out of college. He, however, seems very aloof about the whole thing. Do I force him to care about college for the family or do I let him dig his own grave and be the black sheep of the family?

Repairing relationships take time, patience and effort - and is quite a challenge in itself and quite rewarding if achieved.

Play to the Watson boy's wants. He may surprise you later on

If his nice points are low, he's going to make faces about doing positive interactions (and especially apologizing) even when he wants to do them.

What I would do is invite her over and free-range him. See how he behaves and how she reacts to it - remember, he has to live with her life choices as much as she has to live with his! He could fall all over himself wanting forgiveness, and her not be willing or able to provide it. Play it from her angle for awhile - what does she want?

As for college - always go for the most interesting choice. Black sheep with a mis-spent youth is much more interesting than Good Little Heir Who Toes the Line. Let him dig his own grave. Let his family respond. Let everybody live with the consequences.

The whole family is lacking in nice points, Connor Jr is actually the "nicest", with one whole nice point.
I have a hard time allowing chaos in my game. I don't like to break sims up. But it obviously gets boring having perfect little sims who marry their first kiss, have perfect little families, and only ever die of old age...I'm sure that says something about me as a person.

Anyway, I'm still going to have to feel out how to go about the relationship. Connor Jr is an ass who went from flirting with Gretchen after inviting her over to shoving and poking her. He is literally only good at sabotaging himself. Gretchen has a want to invite him over but I think maybe they need some distance. Is it weird that I feel bad for Gretchen?

Conflict - and the resolving of it - makes a good game

Nothing weird at all about feeling bad for Gretchen! It means you're empathizing with the characters and actively engaged with them, which is a good place to be if you're going for maximizing the story potential. Maybe she should invite Connor over in order to break up with him. Maybe he needs that reality check in his life - to realize that the world is about more than what he wants.

I do want to say that there is nothing whatever wrong with making perfect little families leading perfect boring lives, if that's what you want or need out of the game. When I first started playing Sims 1, a large reason why I did it was, that I could force the little buggers to be happy. At that time I was working in a soul-sucking day job and having to deal with a lot of people in my personal life who were busily making bad decisions as fast as I could make good ones, making life unnecessarily hard for everybody. And when, time after time, the consequences were exactly what I said they would be, I was having to bite my tongue to keep from saying "I told you so" (which never helps) and do extra emotional and physical labor dealing with the consequences of other people's bad choices, which often blocked me from being able to make the good choices I wanted to and also greatly upped the pressure on me not to make mistakes of my own, and it was all very exhausting. So it was a great relief to take those little pixels and make them follow strategies that would lead to full motive bars, full bank accounts, comfortable houses, and singing in the shower. We all need some order and stability in our lives. We all need some control, even if it's only over a game system.

But after the Year from Hell, when everything crashed and burned, things got better and better and by the time I got to Sims 2, in 2010, I was past that need. I had mastered all the strategies for Sims1 and gotten bored, so moving to Sims2 was natural. And Sims2 gameplay proved to have a lot more potential for depth, complexity, and creativity than Sims1 had, which meshed well with my reduced need for control. I could afford to focus less on strategy and more on creative factors like character development and story logic. So that's what I did. I still like making my pixel people happy, but I no longer have to make their lives perfect. Perfect is boring and boring is no fun, and I can afford to really splash out and enjoy the fun of creating imaginary Drama, now that I've got so much less real drama in my life.

The important thing is to recognize what you need from the game. If you need to play Perfect Happy Families that other people think are boring, you do that. But if you are bored - then it's time to stop controlling so much and come down from God view. Don't ask yourself "What's the Best Thing for me to tell this sim to do," but "What would this sim do, if he were a real person with real faults and real choices?" Don't focus only on a protagonist or a particular family, but give agency to the other sims in their lives. Everyone, after all, is the hero of her own story. One reason I like playing rotations is that every playable gets a shot at the protagonist slot, and a chance to make things happen for themselves, to make choices that impact the choices of other protagonists.

Even if you're not comfortable playing rotations and developing a full All Protagonist cast, you could have fun shifting viewpoint once in awhile, giving other characters shots at a Temporary Protagonist spot. If you're empathizing with Gretchen, play her for awhile. See Connor's behavior from her point of view. Switch back and forth between Connor and his parents, and play out a conflict between them from both sides. His parents raised him a certain way. He's rebelling against that. So is he just rebelling, or do he and his parents have conflicting goals? Neither of them has to be bad in order for this to work.

The rewards of giving all the characters, even the secondary ones, agency are enormous, if you have the emotional resources to explore them. If you don't - well, it's a game, it's not work. You aren't obliged to explore all the possibilities it offers. But if you're bored, that's a sign that it's time to do something different, and this is one avenue of exploration that's open to you.

Take a third option: Have her invite him and a few other friends to a community lot for a social outing. Then they can all get into a polyamorous relationship!

(I'm so sorry.)

Why sorry, ihatemandatoryregistration? There's nothing wrong with polyamorous relationships and it's a fine suggestion. (If the bit in parentheses is a joke, I'm so sorry I don't get it.)

Because I always suggest polyamorous relationships. No matter what the situation is.

LOL while I'm sure Connor Jr would be more than willing, I doubt Gretchen would be down. Family aspiration and all...