Cyd Roseland and his family return to playing The Sims 2 after many years. Cyd lives with his wife Brandi and their twins Athos and Aramisa. Brandi works hard to earn $100,000 and becomes a successful business owner. The twins grow up and both earn scholarships to attend university. The family takes a vacation to Three Lakes to bond before the twins leave for college.

1. Roseland Legacy
A Return to the Sims 2

2. In the beginning…
Cyd Roseland thought he
and Porthos would never get
out of the Sim Bin. For one
thing, a certain player had
long ago given up on Mac/
Sim compatibility. For
another, Cyd noticed that
that same player had a
distinct dislike of Sim Pets,
despite her fondness for
pets in real life.

3. Lucky for Cyd, just as it looked like the Sims
would never again be played in these parts, the
app store came out with The Sims 2 Super
Collection. So, Cyd and Porthos got a large and
empty lot in the new suburb of Bernie Mac, and
within the week Porthos had been taken away by
a blonde cop who cared not that there was a full
food dish not even a foot away from the dog.
Clearly the learning curve for this game is going
to take some time.

4. Cyd’s a not-particularly-
dedicated knowledge sim,
with a lifetime want of being
a criminal mastermind.
About six years ago, that
would have been no
problem, but my skills are
rusty enough that we’re
having a hard time. He’s
living in a double-wide and
he gets more action from
the penguin than from any
townie so far.

5. One thing I’m clearly out of
practice with is snapping
pictures. Anyway, Brandi’s
the only legacy-legal townie
Cyd has any attraction with
thus far… and it’s a measly
one bolt. Oh well— neither
of them minded their lawn
wedding, even though only
one of them has the red
hearts of lurve. Hint: it’s
not Brandi.

6. “Legacy Legal”
Definition time! I’m easing back into the game
with a gentle, no-frills Legacy. But, I want to
marry in the original townies, so my spouse-pool
is the original 13 adult female townies that
spawn with every custom neighborhood. Why
females? Because I’m also having the oldest boy
be the heir… at least for now. I might change my
mind later, because I can.

7. I tried to fix the lack of
attraction between my two
sims by turning Brandi into
a grilled-cheese sim. It
didn’t work, and then she
had twins… Really, my first
in-game birth in over half a
decade, and I get twins. So,
the next few weeks are a
blur and I didn’t take any
pictures… and Brandi went
back to being a fortune-
minded sim.

8. Brandi’s lifetime want is to earn $100,000 which is a nice
impossible want point, too. So, she gets to making flowers
while the twins are babies and toddlers… I figure if I have to
spend time selling to all the townies, I might as well seed the
neighborhood with snapdragons.
The twins didn’t really earn all their toddler skills, but they
still managed to grow up well— not that there are any pictures
of them until childhood. I really will get better at this again, I
swear. Also, I built a giant and completely non-functional
house. Luckily the old exchange building tutorials got
rescued by the wayback machine, so as soon as Brandi earns a
little more money I’ll be rebuilding. Also, Cyd got fired, so
he’s working his way back up to the top of the criminal
network… Again, no pictures. Just take my word for it.

9. Cyd named the twins
Aramisa and Athos to honor
the departed Porthos. I’m
not a huge Cyd fan… but I
do feel guilt about the mutt.
Athos is our heir, and he’s
pretty much middle of the
road, personality-wise. I
like Aramisa better— she’s
an outgoing slob.

10. Cyd’s not a particularly
involved father. He’s got
stuff to do.

11. Also, I don’t remember
planting being such a pain.
I probably started too big—
but tending the bland
garden did give Brandi a
silver badge… Athos didn’t
think it was fun enough as
his after school activity.

12. Despite not having been so
up on the walking, talking,
or potty-ing as toddlers, our
twins do learn to do
homework.

13. Luckily, these two have each
other. Athos doesn’t seem
too happy about the whole
heir business, but even
though there is another
Roseland on the way he’s
not getting out of the
heirship. I may be
mercurial, but it’s going to
take me at least a generation
to change the way we hand
this thing down.

14. So, with Brandi so
exhausted she actually dies
from hunger during this
accidental, late-life
pregnancy (Cyd saved her;
nobody cared… because he’s
a fake knowledge sim; I
didn’t get pictures because I
suck), Cyd’s left to do the
headmaster thing. The
twins did not get in.

15. It wasn’t exactly a huge
tragedy.

16. At this point, the twins grew up
into a pleasure-seeking serial
dater (Aramisa) and an insecure
popularity-type, who just has to
have eleventy million besties
(Athos). Ugh. And, because I
feel bad for the perpetual townie
children, I made an orphanage
run by this guy, Senor Caretaker.
He has a lifetime want of having
a golden anniversary, so he
moved-in Jace from the far away
town of Three Lakes to be his
husband… The three residents of
the orphanage will join the
legacy twins at college.

17. Baby! And that’s singular,
thank you very much. Her
name is Gretel.

18. And, we’re skipping straight
to the birthday. Aramisa
does the honors.

19. Notice, please, Brandi’s
platinum plumbob. Perma-
platinum, heya! She got the
business up to level 10 and
made over $75,000, then
sold the deed for obscenely
expensive— or whatever—
to a townie. Gretel actually
learns all her skills because
Brandi’s around and not
chained to the flower
station.

20. I’ve been trying to get
Aramisa her dates— this
was number four— because
I really prefer her to Athos.
She’s just more interesting.
Anyway, she doesn’t have
any hearts, pink or red, so I
sort of forgot that there
might be some unrequited
feelings leftover from date
number three. I really suck
at this.

21. Since I wasn’t much of a
taskmaster when they were
kids, and I was completely
overwhelmed when they
were toddlers, the twins
have a lot of skilling to do
before they can leave for
college.

22. By the time Gretel’s birthday
came around again, the
family was a little less frantic.
Cyd (who’s been an elder for
awhile— again, my bad with
the pictures) is mid-way to
the top of his career (I think),
and the teenagers are solidly
in the green, with a couple of
scholarships a piece. Athos
got fired over a latte, and
Aramisa never got a job, but
they’re both A+ public school
students with a couple of skill
scholarships.

23. Family vacation time!
Brandi bought a small cabin
in Three Lakes with some of
the profits from her
business, and the family
spends four days there
before the twins leave the
nest.

24. Mostly the family did family
things, but Aramisa never
wanted to go on the tours.
She spent a lot of time doing
other things while the rest
of the Roselands ran from
avalanches and the like.

25. The five Roselands also took
extensive advantage of the
skilling bonus during fall…
it’s summer at the home lot,
but Three Lakes is on a
different schedule.

26. What started out as a
lukewarm relationship has
blossomed over the years. I
think they went from two
bolts to three when Cyd
became an elder and Brandi
got better at some skill I
wasn’t paying attention to.
Anyway, the vacation was a
success.

27. Back from vacation, Cyd
and Brandi take another
stab at the headmaster. The
twins get one day in private
school before they cash in
their scholarships and move
to university. Gretel still
isn’t super close to her older
siblings, but they’ll keep in
touch over the phone.

28. Just before she becomes an
elder, Brandi gets a job as
an Adventurer. She didn’t
really want one, but she
didn’t really want anything
in particular (except 5 top
businesses… and that’s not
happening).

29. And Cyd settles in to help
Gretel with her studying…
not that he wants to. Not a
real knowledge sim, folks.

30. Score card!
(this generation) (added to previous score) running total
+1 per generation 1 + 0 1
+1 for portraits 1 +0 1
+1 per $300,000 1 +0 1
+1 per platinum grave 0 +0 0
+1 for free-roaming
ghosts
0 +0 0
+1 per impossible want 1 +0 1
+3 for a vacation home &
generational vacations
3 +0 3
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