A few days ago, I decided to choose a Moody Family Cult household in Brindleton Bay that I hadn’t played yet, essentially starting from scratch. I had pre-made 13 families to move into the town originally and I felt like an easy challenge, so I chose Shelly Moody because she was a single Sim, living alone in a tiny house, and a single Sim is easier to manage than a whole family, especially when your whole town is off-the-grid. I also only had 5 unplayed households left to play to choose from, most of which were single bachelors and bachelorettes, and I wasn’t in the mood for romancing. I thought at the very least, I could make her interested in Charlie or Faith and I could force a love triangle, which sounded typical, but interesting given the story’s current context that Charlie (cult leader) and Faith (his 2nd in command) are currently engaged and they’re both friends with every single person in the cult. I was curious about what would happen if I caused a rift, would the game be smart enough for the rest of the cult to have opinions or feelings about the ensuing drama and possible breakup? Would they shun the newcomer? 🤔
Well, I never found out because I never got that far!
We have a new logo! And I revamped the whole site to be more in line with what my original vision for it was! I’m very pleased with it so far! (But I wish I could get off of Twitter/X, still trying out alternatives. 😒)
Well, it’s been a minute since I updated this site, not that anyone goes here anyway, but I’m currently preparing to hit the Sims Bunker for a few days, so I thought I’d post an update before I did. 😊
I’m not sure what it is about warmer weather that makes me want to join a cult, but sure enough, as soon as it got nice enough to open the windows again, I got the itch to play and work on this challenge.
After walking away for a day because I was frustrated about the tub issue, I ended up getting on the Sims 4 Reddit Discord and asking them what to do because my Sims are forever gonna be stinky and unhappy without a bathtub.
I added something to the goals section of the challenge just now: matching party outfits.
I think it would be interesting and cool if I made everyone’s party outfits match, so then I can have social events where the cult truly looks like a cult. A couple of ideas I have are outfits of a single matching colour or everyone wearing the same piece of jewellery. It might be a neat idea to also have the Sims knit their party outfits, I haven’t decided.
Gimme your thoughts on this over on @SimsBunker Twitter!
Aye aye aye, wtf was I THINKING with this challenge? Oh, man.
First of all, giving almost every family a pet or two was probably a mistake, because not only do you have to worry about your Sim being uncomfortable because they’re stinky, but you have to worry about your dog being stinky too, because if he is, your Sim is gonna be DOUBLE uncomfortable!
I always wanted to start my own cult, and now, in The Sims 4, I can!
I was really inspired watching the Sims Spark’d reality TV show and how the contestants knew so many tricks to manipulating the game to tell different stories. After watching the 1st three episodes and watching some of the contestants’ YouTube videos, I decided I wanted my game to be a little more challenging and my storytelling to be more complex.
I’d been sharing my Sims’ stories on my Twitter through screenshots and gifs for my own amusement for a year, but after watching Sims Spark’d, I realized that my stories weren’t actually that interesting most of the time in comparison to the levels of complexity that go into an average YouTube series. My Twitter stories are generally just little touching snippets from my Sims’ lives and I’ve been working on the same story since the spring. It was time to shake things up.
I’ve always been really interested in the idea of Sims living off the grid and being self sustainable, so I made 2 spellcaster Sims, Xiamira and Betty Moody, decided I wouldn’t cheat, and moved them to an off the grid island on Sulani and began playing. It was fun but living off the grid has some challenges, so I googled “Sims 4 off the grid tips and tricks” and came across The Sims Community’s “Off The Grid Challenge”. This flooded my brain with ideas and logistics because that challenge was written 3 years ago, and we’ve had many expansions, game packs, and stuff packs released since then that could really enhance the challenge, most notably Get Together, Seasons, and Eco Lifestyle.
Get Together added a mechanic to the game where your Sims can create and join clubs. Seasons added weather, more gardening options, and holidays. Eco Lifestyle added candle making, voting on Neighbourhood Action Plans, and an “eco footprint” system. All of these things would make it “easy” to create an off the grid hippy commune, or, because I’d be using the club mechanic from Get Together, a cult, if you will.
So, using the “Off The Grid Challenge” as my foundation, I made my own challenge: The Moody Family Cult Challenge.
I bulldozed every lot in Brindleton Bay. Then I created 3 community venues and 13 very specific households of varying sizes, each with their own stories to tell within the cult. I gave them all meagre funds, gave them 4 walls, a roof, and a bush or 2 to pee in, and that is how our story begins.
Meet Charlie & Frances Moody
Charlie is a young spiritual drifter, originally from Strangerville, and he is accompanied in this life by his shar pei puppy, Frances. Charlie is a music lover and being a people person, he tends to be “in the know”. Self-assured and always confident, Charlie is the Moody Family’s enigmatic leader, leading his tree-hugging friends to resettle and start a community in undeveloped Brindleton Bay on their own terms.
Brindleton Bay enjoys all 4 seasons and has great fishing and good soil, but the whole town is completely off the grid, except for a small cafe at the Recreation Complex because no one wants to be in a cult with no coffee.
The Moody Family is still defining their values, but they know for sure they love each other, the earth and nature and want to do everything they can to make, and keep, Brindleton Bay pristine, which is why they all live off grid.
The current season is fall and Charlie will be the 1st household I play. I had him buy some vegetable seeds, so let’s just hope some of them will be in season or he’ll have nothing to eat. He only has enough money to fill Frances’ dog bowl once, so he’d better find a financial solution soon or they’ll both be up shit creek.
To follow Charlie’s antics in real time, please check out my Twitter! After setting this challenge up all week, it’s finally time to PLAY!
