About

The Alder Legacy blog is a record of my Sims 3 Legacy Challenge game.   The Legacy is a 10-generation game playing the same family for all 10 generations. Legacies are named after the family’s surname, which in this case is “Alder.” An Alder is a kind of tree, and for this particular Legacy, all the Sims will be named after some sort of plant (usually a tree, but sometimes other plants like flowers or shrubs).

What is a Legacy?

In The Sims games, there is a type of game-play called the “Legacy” game. This is a variant of the normal play style where, instead of following multiple families in the neighborhood, you just focus on one family, and you try to get through 10 generations of the family. There are certain rules that one can follow, though of course it is an optional play style (there’s nothing in the game engine that can enforce it).  I follow most of the basic rules, but one thing I don’t do is tally up points, and I also do not follow the strictures about who the Sims can marry (for example, normally you can’t marry a  pre-existing “rich” Sim).

The rules I will follow for this Legacy (which are derived from the original Legacy Challenge rules found here) are as follows:

• The founder has to start at 15 Summer Hill Court (which costs $14,700).
• No Cheats
• Story Progression “on”.
• Lifespan – Long (this is a violation of standard Legacy rules – tough! I like the longer life span).
• No mods allowed.
• SimStore objects/items are allowed.
• No “life gaining” items may be consumed/used (life span is whatever it is, no extensions).
• Only game-generated Sims may be married into the household (no custom Sims except the Founder will be used).
• Any Sim from the Legacy family that moves out, must stay out (they can visit but they can’t move back in).
• Each generation, an “Heir” is designated. The bloodline is traced only through the heirs.
• Optionally, a family trait can be chosen. I will be using this option.

The idea here is to follow one family for 10 generations (counting the Founder’s).

Why play a Legacy family?

The Legacy Challenge is, to me, a very fun way to play The Sims 2 and 3. Let me be clear, I love the Sims games as they are… making up a family and playing it for a while can be fun. But what I like about the Legacy is that you start with nothing, and over time you follow a family from living in the dirt with no amenities, to having a small shack or trailer, to having a small home, to having a large house, to having a mansion. The sense of accomplishment that comes from this is quite high, and it also gives you a goal, a destination, something to “play for,” beyond just having your Sim master his or her profession.  I enjoy it, so that’s why I do it.

Why post a blog about it?

Well, that’s just what Simmers tend to do with their Legacies… we post them so others can read them. Yes, it’s a bit narcissistic. Oh well.

Why plant-based names?

As far as the Sims are concerned, Alden Alder, an eccentric millionaire, left his nephew Birch Alder the nicest plot of land in Sunset Valley, and in his will there were two stipulations. First, that Birch and his descendants remain living on the land (they are not to sell it). Second, they are, for at least 10 generations, to name all children in the family after a tree or some other kind of plant.  Since Birch was broke and had no job, and no place to live, he figured he had nothing to lose. And thus begins the Alder Legacy.

In terms of why I chose to do this, as a player, the main reason is that I wanted to do a Legacy, but I wanted some sort of a theme or concept to it, rather than to just do a generic “start from scratch” one (I have tried a few of these before and I usually lose interest after a couple of generations).  I thought about doing a so-called “Alphabetacy” (Legacy where each generation has children named with a different letter of the alphabet), but there are quite a few of those now, and I couldn’t think of a good way to do one that was original. Also, I’m quite sure I’d never get through 26 generations, especially since I’m playing on the “Long” time period.

How often will you post updates?

I will try to post updates regularly, but the frequency will depend on how much I play, and that’s going to depend on how much free time I have, etc.

About the Author

The author of this page goes by the handle “Chessack”, both here at WordPress and on the forums. Chessack is a life-long gamer, with experience playing organized chess in competition (during high school), many years of experience playing board and video games, and a long history of critiquing and blogging about game design.  Far more information than you want to know, as well as Chessack’s writings about everything but this Legacy, can be found at a site called Enigmatic Diversions here at WordPress.

Chessack’s content at other sites includes:

• His Sims 3 Forum profile.
• His Sims 3 page.
• His review of The Sims 3 at Enigmatic Diversions.