this is not a new sim story :\

Really, it's not a new Sim story, but I might be going a little bit crazy, lol! Or maybe it's because I had so much time off Simming, I somehow feel like I need to make up for it or something. But, as some of you might have heard me babbling about my "play neighborhood", I thought I'd tell you a little about it. Especially since I may like to share some little mini "non-stories" that happen there.

This is truly not a Sim story though. Unlike my other soon-to-be Sim-illustrated story, which despite my very best efforts, is turning out to be a full-on Sim story no matter how hard I try to stop it, lol! I'm hopeless, folks.

But this one, for real, is not a Sim story. This is going to be ridiculousness. I am going to blog about it a bit, but it won't be very story-like. I'm not sure how many "episodes" there will be. I have three in the works to start. There might be more to tell, or there might not. We'll see how long it holds my attention.

This is Petaluma, which is a lovely downloadable world by Docsprock. In relation to Lakeside Heights, this is going to be a real place, just like some of my characters come from other real places. Petaluma is in California wine country. In relation to LH time, my Petaluma is going to be kind of unspecified. They're going to age faster in Petaluma than they do in LH, but there will still be some crossing over. Kids who grow up in Petaluma may decide to move to LH in adulthood, or likewise, kids who grow up in LH may decide to move to Petaluma.

I suppose I'm sort of missing the ability to create subhoods, and extend the reach of my little pixel world. But because TS3 Sims can take their memories and skills and most things with them, and their family relationships are easy enough to recreate, this sort of works out. I've got my mods to help me out as well, and beyond that, there will be a lot of "faking it".

This is the beginnings of Petaluma Arts College, which I can imagine some of my artsy LH youngsters might like to attend when they grow up. (I have one in mind for it already.) But this is not meant to replace LCU at all! This is a very small, very focused, very expensive, very private college, and I anticipate many more students will want to travel from Petaluma to LCU than vice versa. But regardless, it's a quiet and lovely place that I think budding young writers and artists would really enjoy.

So then Petaluma is just going to be complete and utter ridiculousness for me. And you'll see why when I get the next update up, lol! It's also going to be a breeding ground for new immigrants to LH, and a place to ship off LH expatriates. And it's something for me to really just play. In fact, this will probably be a lot like my Abandia City was for my TS2 Lakeside Heights.

some specifics: 

gameplay?: yes, lots of it!

rounds?: one Sim day = one season. 4 days in each Sim year, one year in each "episode". With only 8 households at the moment, I usually get a chance to check in on everyone for at least a minute during that "year".

updates?: will probably not be regular. This one is just a "for fun" hood that I'll play a little in between my work and other storytelling endeavors. When I feel like playing it, you'll get an update! :)

warnings?: renegade tense shifts, commentary-style writing, random LOLs, badly staged pictures, shenanigans in the bathroom, crude humor, crude language, occasional speech bubbles and other Simish things. Recommended ages 13+.