When it came to science fiction, Leopold Boojham was modern master. With a feverish devotion, he typed fourteen to sixteen hours a day, sparing breaks only to eat his beloved canned soup or sleep. P.A. started to feel as if Leopold were not actually present, but the mailbox was stuffed with checks and complimentary copies of Leopold's books. P.A. started to manage the estate since Leopold didn't like to be disturbed.
P.A. was becoming an artist in his own right. Long gone were his crude early attempts at painting, sold to near-sighted elders at garage sale prices. P.A. even caught Leopold in a free moment to commit his likeness to canvas. Like the man, the portrait was dark and mysterious.
During the small hours of the morning, Leopold was halfway through his twenty-fifth book, when a visitor came he couldn't ignore.
P.A. was surprised at his tears, though he blamed the broken shower he was repairing at the time. He'd grown accustomed to the solitude of the estate and the constant roar of the nearby waterfall. With Leopold gone, he faced the prospect of a traditional job--something he never felt he would be happy doing.
Thus estate lawyer's news surprised P.A. He inherited the land and belongs of Leopold, in recognition of his hard work and loyalty. There might have been more, but the Leopold's publisher claimed the outstanding royalties as a reserve against unsold stock. Still, Leopold had enough to live on, even if it were merely a modest amount.
At Leopold's request, he was buried on his land. P.A. was the only witness to the funeral. He started to read P.A.'s last book, hoping to once again hear the man's voice, if only in his head.
It wasn't actually bad. Not like the first one he'd read.
That's the end of phase one. Leopold netted 24 books: 5 nonfiction titles, 18 science fiction novels, and 1 biography for an opportunity (I titled it
The Guru Pays Some Bills). He made his LTW to be a professional author with 2 or 3 days to spare, which was a big surprise considering my first test game didn't even get close. Before Leopold died, he'd earned a little bit over $10,000 from writing. I was a little surprised the royalties shut off automatically, they would have provided another $16k-$20k had they run their course.
It's probably a bit early to reveal this, but the first thing Leopold's ghost did when he came back was to float off the lot back by the pepper plants. I'd kept him on the lot without failure the whole time, he must have been itching to get a better look at the waterfall.
The second phase of the legacy is another short segment I call "Gathering". The primary idea is that the Founder starts to draw a group of followers. This phase ends when the Founder dies, and the lot population should be eight (including the Founder) before that happens. A secondary part of this phase is to establish the First Taboo, which is a restriction on play. I'll deal with taboos, which are a large part of the remainder of the legacy, at a later point.
The Gathering Phase is the most open part of the legacy. Only a few rules need to be observed:
- The Founder still may not join a career (and never will)
- The Museum Requirement is still observed (and always will be)
- You may move in (via ask to move in) sims, bear children, or adopt children to reach a full lot population
- Sims other than the Founder may have careers and generally act freely in any capacity, so long as they observe the Museum Requirement and Travel Restriction (below)
- Like most legacies, completion of Lifetime Wishes of all sims is a scoring goal. Unlike Pinstar's legacy, blood relationships are not required to "count"
I've also settled on my rules on WA travel, referred to as the Travel Restriction:
- Only a sim with a LTW which requires travel abroad may do so
- These sims may only travel so much as to complete the requirements for their LTW
- More than one sim may travel, but each sim must have met the LTW rule
- Only sims who have the LTW to be a Great Explorer (fully explore six tombs in each location) may enter tombs -- this is to prevent other sims from completing content that can't easily be reset. After this LTW is completed, it may make sense to ease this rule.
- Vacation homes are banned
- Fraternization with the locals is allowed, but visits may not be made solely for this reason
- The Founder may not travel while the Guru lives
Example:
A sim with the Physical Perfection LTW (Max Martial Arts and Athletic skills).
If the lot lacks martial arts equipment (practice dummy and board breaker), the sim may make one trip to China (minimum number of days) to buy the equipment.
If the lot already has the equipment, no travel is necessary.
So, how do you gather the first generation of followers? Here's a list arbitrarily ranked from easy to hard:
1. Any convenient combination of methods
2. Moving in entire families
3. Moving in parts of families
4. Marrying the founder to a sim and suffering through six toddlers
5. Moving in single sims
6. Only moving in single sims who were service workers: Maids, Firemen, Repairmen, Newspaper Delivery, etc
6. Moving in single sims from China, France, or Egypt only (hardest due to the travel restriction, but not impossible)
I had planned to only move in single Sims, but this was very tricky once I realized I wanted the followers to be younger than the founder in most cases. Check in later to see how it worked out.
