There won’t be much suspense in this one, since I spilled the beans about the social worker and the headmaster in my last post, but here’s the full report…
Here’s little Aidan just after birth. Everyone looks eager to welcome him into the family — except for the maid, who is just trying to get some work done, for heaven’s sake. Unfortunately because of my poor micromanaging skills, Aidan was doomed to leave his family the very next day…
Now that the second generation of my Legacy Challenge family has passed on, here’s another shot of the family tree. Last time it was Bree’s family tree — this time it is her son Devin’s, so it doesn’t show Bree’s sister, Kiara.
Leo passed on in platinum (yay!) but I did such of horrible job of managing everyone else in the meantime that the social worker showed up and took Maire and the new baby away (the teens got to stay). It was very tragic. And Leo died when the headmaster was visiting, which seems to have caused a glitch — after the Reaper left, the headmaster couldn’t eat dinner. He would sit down and get right back up. I tried deleting chairs and serving him something else, but nothing worked. So I let him leave and called for another headmaster. Now he won’t show up at all. Bummer!
Here’s another list of the family members if family trees aren’t your thing:
1st Gen: Nia (original Legacy founder), Sheldon the Mailman
2nd Gen: Kiara & Bree (twins), Leo the Gardener
3rd Gen: Devin & Liam, Kaylynn the Maid, Melissa Fancey (townie)
4th Gen: Fiona, Taryn, Maire (taken by social worker), Aidan (taken by social worker)
And just for kicks, here’s my Legacy Challenge Scorecard:
Total Points: 20
Score Breakdown
Generations: 4 (4 pts)
Family net worth: §231,000 (3 pts)
Platinum graves: 3 (3 pts)
Family friends: 19 (6 pts)
Impossible Wants: 2 (2 pts, Bree and Leo maxed all skills)
Shrink Visits: -2 (-2 pts, Nia and Sheldon)
NPCs in bloodline: 3 (3 pts, Mailman, Gardener, Maid)
Career Reward Objects: 0 (2 pts for having all 10 — I have 7)
Ghosts: White ghost (1 pt)
Ghosts free to roam: 2 point bonus
Visitor death penalty: 0
Alien births: 0
Children, toddlers, infants taken by social worker: -2 pts
10th gen twins: 0
Platinum graves of all 5 aspirations: 0
As you can see, I got docked quite a few points for the social worker tragedy and the shrink visits. I could have let Leo die in Gold and kept the kids — my point total would be higher! Heh. Oh well, it’s all in good fun. Some people have finished the challenge with 80 points — there’s no way I’m going to beat that, so I’m just going to see how well I can do.
Leo was very close to death last night, and as I waited for the Hooded One to appear, I raced frantically to keep him in platinum. Well, I screwed up. Again. But first, let’s take a look at what I thought would be Leo’s last day on SimEarth…
He spent a lot of time lounging around and watching TV, his two favorite pursuits. I find that a bit odd for a Knowledge Sim, but hey, he’s an elder and he’s already maxed out all of his skills. What else does he have to do except be a man of leisure? Since he was platinum most of the time, I was using the Energizer on him, so he wasn’t wasting his valuable last hours in bed. He also enjoys interacting with his son Liam. In this picture it looks like Liam is asking Leo to pull his finger. Behind them, Taryn watches TV. She takes after her Grandpa in that respect.
In the meantime, Kaylynn was asleep in the toddler room while Maire played with the Logic toy. That’s pretty much the only toy I direct them to play with nowadays so they’ll do their homework faster when they grow up. Maire looks exactly like her sisters did when they were toddlers. I wish they’d at least randomize the hairstyles a little — I don’t think we can use the mirror to change the appearance of a toddler, so they’re pretty much stuck all looking alike…
Whew, what a night. I only played through 2 or 3 Sim days, but they were pretty intense. Let’s just say that trying to keep 7 Sims in platinum is extremely tough. I think the best I’ve done is 6 Sims in platinum. I pause the game constantly to check on everyone and queue their actions, and it’s kind of wearing me out. The house was actually full for awhile after Kaylynn’s third child was born. They don’t call it the Legacy Challenge for nothing!
Now for the update…the first picture here is actually from the other night (when Kiara passed away). Liam no longer had his First Kiss want, but Leo wanted a relative to get engaged, so I had Liam invite Melissa Fancey over. They were friends, but by the end of the night Liam had proposed engagement. Somewhere in there he received his very first kiss. Go Liam! I couldn’t have Melissa move in because the house was already full, so she and Liam are still just engaged.
When I popped into the house tonight, I checked on everyone and took pictures of what they were doing. I like to do this before the blurs set in, plus it’s nice just to capture a “random” moment. Here’s Taryn, now a child, eating dinner by herself. Poor kid. I have no idea who made the dinner for her.
Kiara Shanley, aged 74, left us tonight for that great luau in the sky. Let us take a moment to look back upon Kiara’s life and note her many accomplishments.
Kiara Shanley was born in Mt. Geneva to Nia and Sheldon Shanley. She had a twin sister, Bree, who was her best friend all her life. From her teenage years to old age, Kiara had a remarkable career in Athletics, eventually reaching the status of Hall of Famer. Unfortunately she lost her job in her late 60s due to a poor career choice, but she didn’t seem to mind, as it left her more time to paint. Kiara painted several masterpieces in the last decade of her life, selling many of them for §500-700. Some of them still hang on the walls of Shanley Manor, including a portrait she painted of her nephew, Devin Shanley. With the income from athletics and painting, she was able to earn over §63,000 in her lifetime.
Kiara never married but was in love with Kennedy Cox when she died.
Kiara is survived by her sister Bree, her nephews Devin and Liam, and her great-nieces, Fiona and Taryn. A marble gravestone marks the spot where her ashes were interred in the Shanley Family Cemetery. May she rest in peace and not haunt the family too terribly much.
I finally took a picture of the Shanley family tree (thanks to chattykathy for the suggestion). As you can see, the Legacy founders Nia and Sheldon still appear on the tree even though they have passed on.
You may also notice that little Fiona has grown into a child, and Kaylynn had her second baby, another girl! Her name is Taryn.
I’ll be too busy this weekend to play my Legacy Challenge family, so I had to get several hours worth of play in tonight. Yes, I have no life. ;-) I also read the interview with Pinstar, the creator of the Legacy Challenge, over on the official site (thanks to Heidi for pointing us to it!) and am excited that he has a “secret additional challenge” in store for us once more players have completed the initial challenge. And he’ll be creating a challenge for the University expansion pack when it comes out, too. So I’ll be pretty much glued to my computer for the next several months…
So what happened with the Shanleys tonight? Quite a bit, actually. First off, Liam grew into an adult and ended up in his dad’s old gardener garb.
While Devin and Leo were at work, I took the rest of them shopping (although Kaylynn stayed behind because she was pregnant — I didn’t know they would do that!). Bree bought some new clothes for Kaylynn and Liam bought some new threads for himself. The Shanleys are amassing quite a wardrobe — for example, the females have about 7 different pajamas to choose from in the family dresser. Oy!
I finally got a chance to play my Legacy Challenge family for a bit. I went kinda crazy with the pictures again, so this will be a longish update!
I took the above picture because I saw Liam doing something on the swings I had never seen — he was “chilling”. And he was looking at Kaylynn, which I thought was cute. If I were writing stories about the Shanleys I would totally make the two brothers rivals for Kaylynn’s love. Mwahaha.
Speaking of the two brothers-who-aren’t-twins-but-look-like-twins, I gave Liam a pair of glasses to further distinguish him from Devin. I figured this suited Liam since he is the “nerdy” Knowledge Sim and Devin is Mr. Popularity. Besides, I thought it made him look cuter. (That’s twice now that I’ve called him cute — could it be that the little dude is growing on me?)