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Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 18th May 2021 at 3:15 AM Last edited by bob-plums : 4th Jun 2021 at 8:23 PM. Reason: Update June4: Magician Rules&Minor Goals Tweaked
The Tarot Challenge
SIMS 4 TAROT CHALLENGE


Hello! For a long while, I have wanted a Tarot Challenge, and several months ago I began the first ideas of this. I began playing with some goals with each Card and it eventually grew into this. It started as a small page in my journal with a few short goals for each generation, but then it grew and grew and grew into something more akin to a DITFT-type of challenge. I am now fleshing out all the goals and ideas I have & want to share it! I drew inspiration from my own relationship with Tarot, and have put a lot of thought into this- even if at this point I've only got about 6 Cards complete.

I have tried to include an extensive list of Traits, Aspirations, and Major&Minor Goals to customize every Card (Generation) to any and every player, and also to ensure that everyone's journey through this challenge is unique!
This challenge is currently being playtested by myself & ghouliesimmer (on tumblr), there may be some hiccups, there may be updates made to the current goals & rules set up for accessibility. Thus far, our Fools are quite different and the only thing they really have in common is that they both have dogs and gardens- which nearly every fool will have. We both have completely different traits, completely different occupations, and are in different clubs, etc.
For ChangeLog & Credits please see bottom of the post!

Major Rules


- Complete the journey of each Card (Generation)

- Complete all 22 Major Arcana Cards - [Coming Soon!]So far only 0-4 are fully complete

- Some of these cards are gendered, you do not have to play the same gender as the card traditionally depicts; some of the descriptions are written with the card's gender in mind, you do not have to play the same gender as the description includes. In Tarot gender only tells us what aspects of ourselves are needed- a more nurturing feminine approach, versus a more assertive masculine approach.

- *Optional*[Coming Soon!]Complete the Minor Arcana Court Cards (adds an additional 16 Cards)

- *Optional* The Thoth Rule: This rule rearranges the order of the Cards (generations) to match the Thoth Major Arcana order, created by Aleister Crowley; admittedly, it is not something I have studied due to my personal opinion of the creator. It is as follows: 0 Fool, 1 Magus (Magician), 2 Priestess, 3 Empress, 4 Emperor, 5 Hierophant, 6 Lovers, 7 Chariot, 8 Adjustment, 9 Hermit, 10 Fortune, 11 Lust, 12 Hanged Man, 13 Death, 14 Art, 15 Devil, 16 Tower, 17 Star, 18 Moon, 19 Sun, 20 Aeon (Judgement), 21 Universe (World).

- *Optional* The Shuffle Rule: If you only want to do a couple of generations or want to shake it up, shuffle the cards! If you don't have a deck you can use a random number picker and pick however many numbers (each being a card/generation) out of 1-22, in this case, 1 being Fool, and 21 being World. If you're more visual, post here and I'll draw the cards for you!

- Suggested Traits: Each Card has suggested traits and will make you pick a number of traits from the list, sometimes it is just one, other times it is all 3 traits from the list. If you are allowed to pick a custom trait or two it cannot conflict with a trait on the list even if you have not chosen that trait for your sim. If you have custom traits you're more than welcome to use them! Try to use custom traits that you feel vibe with the energy.
Example, the Fool only makes you pick 1 trait out of a list of 6. If you chose Loves Outdoors, your Fool cannot be Mean-Spirited because it conflicts with Friendly, even if you did not choose Friendly you cannot outright contradict the energy.

- Aspirations: Each Card has suggested aspirations, sometimes one or more of these are required, sometimes not. Certain Card Rules & Goals will prevent you from aspirations but you may complete aspirations as far as you can for points. You are allowed to jump around aspirations as you complete them, and do not have to stay on one aspiration until you complete it unless otherwise stated for that Card. There is no penalty for not completing all the required aspirations during a Sims lifetime.
Example, the Fool is not allowed a Rabbit-Hole Job, but some aspirations require a Job to move forward, the Fool can complete these aspirations until they get to this objective then they must switch to a different aspiration.

- Major Goals: Each Card has Major Goals, some more than others. These are things you must accomplish at least once in your sim's lifetime unless stated otherwise. Some Cards will make you do an activity every day. Disregard goals that you do not have the EPs&SPs for, and tweak goals if you need to for your gameplay & enjoyment.

- Minor Goals: Each Card has Minor Goals, similar to a Minor Arcana, there may be anywhere from 10-14 Minor Goals (sometimes more!) so there is plenty to do for each Card. You do not have to complete any of the Minor Goals and they are purely optional but they may enrich your challenge experience if you decide to include them. Disregard the goals that you do not have EPs&SPs for, tweak the goals for your gameplay & enjoyment, and even add your own Minor Goals! Some minor goals involve how the generation ages, so it pays to look at the minor goals for the next generation than the one you're on! You will also sometimes have to choose between doing two minor goals, and in these events, the one you did not choose does not count as a failure- it's just a choice on the journey (see Example 2)!
Example, a minor goal involves the Magician reaching the max level of a teen career while a teen, which is during the play of the Fool and can be missed if you aren't aware of the goal.
Example 2, The Fool has a Major Goal to go to every festival, but also a Minor Goal to accept all invitations out from friends. As well, the Fool also has Club Goals. If your Fool is at a festival or club and gets a call from a friend and cannot leave, the Accept Invites from Friends goal is not considered failed. However, if you are working on a goal that can be stopped, ie, a skill, you should still accept the invites from friends.

- Card Rules: Each Card has Rules that you are required to follows, the Dos and Donts of that Generation, and these tend to be sim-specific. The Fool's Rules do not affect the Magician when the Magician is a child or teen, and similarly, the Magician's Rules do not come into play until that Sim is a young adult, where the Fool's Rules cease to be used. These can be tweaked for your own gameplay & enjoyment but try not to completely get rid of a rule just because you don't like it.

- Points: Are you a player that likes points? I am. You can calculate your points for each card as follows:
--Using a suggested trait when you have the option to chose your trait: +.5 point
--Completing required aspiration: +1 point
--Completing optional aspiration: +.75 point
--Completing Major Goal: +1.25 point
----Per Day Goals: Missing A Day: -.25 point (10 missed days = Failed Goal)
--Failing Major Goal: -1 point (if only picking certain goals, this only counts for the goals you picked)
--Completing a Minor Goal: +.5 point
--Breaking a Card Rule: -2 points
-------There is no point-cap, and in certain generations, it will be easy to rack up the points. There is no loss due to point count, and you are not allowed to go into negative points, this is so you can always rebuild (Tower, anyone?)

Minor Rules

- Heirlooms: Some generations call for immortalizing the current Card in portrait or some other form, however, you are not just limited to these goals when it comes to keeping heirlooms from certain generations, and you are also not just limited to portraits; you may keep anything they found, made, or otherwise was associated them (a Spellcaster's First Wand? a Voodoo Doll? A certain snowglobe?)

- Supernaturals: Your founder (the Fool, or any Card you start with) cannot be created as a supernatural but can otherwise be turned into a supernatural. You may play any supernatural you desire, you may marry in a supernatural if you desire. If being a supernatural (or ultimately curing your challenge's supernatural lineage) is part of your story/journey, then that's that! Some generations include minor goals about supernaturals, but again, those are optional

- Life Length: I see this as a way to adjust difficulty on your challenge, and so you do not have to play on any specific length, nor do your points change per life length. It may not be "fair" to those that play on shorter/normal spans, but let's be accommodating to our friends who need more time and want to enjoy the journey, it's a friendly rivalry, not a cutthroat competition

- Mods & Cheats: You are allowed any mods you like, however, you may not use any mod or cheat to affect the needs of your sims; this includes, but is not limited to, using UI Cheats to drag the need up, using MCCC to Make Happy, or otherwise gaming the system. You are also not allowed to use any mod or cheat to affect the financial standing of your sims; this includes, but is not limited to, motherlode & kaching, MCCC Money Cheats, etc. If you have a mod that allows your sim to grow certain plans, then cure certain plants, then sell those plants to other sims, you're allowed that and it does count as a valid work-from-home career, have fun!

Starting Out

- Create the Founder: the Fool (see below), the only stipulation not listed below is that the Fool cannot start out as a supernatural
- Choose Major & Minor Goals, Aspiration, Traits, etc while creating the Fool
- Choose where to live - the Fool can live in any world but has to start on an empty lot or an apartment with TLC Lot Trait; however, the Fool can move anywhere after living on their initial lot for 1 week
- Choose how the Fool will make an income- the Fool cannot leave for work unless it is an Odd Job (in other words, the Fool should always be in your control, ISBI style).
- By this step, you have already begun!


Card 0 - The Fool
Every new journey begins with a single step, and the master of taking baby steps is the Fool. This is a card that helps us explore and helps us feel safe taking risks. Often considered naive or childish, the Fool shouldn't be undervalued. This is the energy of a person exploring to find their true calling with the approach of trying everything once until something sticks, finding what works and what doesn't, and it is a very important step on the Tarot journey. The Fool may be full of childlike wonder and might be a mystic in the sense that they're mystified by everything, and they might set out without a plan very often in life, but the experiences and friends they make along their journey are invaluable even if those experiences and friends could be classified as "accidents" or "accidental encounters"



Card I - The Magician
With a bit of life experience and a bit more knowledge about what they want, we come to the Magician. This card is a very powerful and determined energy, full of willpower and determination. The Magician does not know how to quit- even when they should quit. The Magician is sure that they will achieve their goals, and they are steadfast in their capability and resourcefulness- they know they have what they need inside them, they know they don't need anyone else, and while this is all great energy the downfall is they can be a little selfish, a little narcissistic. The worst thing to the Magician is having untapped talents or potential- they want to embrace everything they can do and do it exceptionally well.



Card II - The High Priestess
The High Priestess is an archetype/person that looks into another's soul and sees their pain, their hardships, and their inner beauty all at once. The High Priestess is understanding of everything and deals with intuitive thoughts directly; she serves as both a guard to the subconscious and a guide through it. When facing an inner journey, she helps us find the inner voice and helps us confront the darker aspects of ourselves. She's an incredibly spiritual and intuitive Card that helps soothe any trauma that's hanging around so that it won't affect the journey ahead.



Card III - The Empress
Often referred to as the great mother, or even Mother Earth, the Empress' nurturing nature is second to none. It may have felt like we had already 'begun' but what we had done was gather our components- these are our ability to explore, believe in ourselves, and listen to ourselves. The Empress takes all of those and now asks "so what would you like to manifest?" In most decks, the Empress is often seen pregnant, so family became her primary theme in the challenge, however, in tarot this is much less literal and shows gestation of an idea- usually something creative- and shows it growing before it's ready for the world and being truly "begun". This card is both about the glow of creating something and the pain of bringing that creation into reality.



Card IV - The Emperor
The counterpart to the Empress is a bit more commanding. The Emperor takes all of those ideas as they have been perfected by the Empress and manifests them into reality. He has a very powerful energy but can be rigid and inflexible, when it comes to manifesting a vision he refuses to compromise and this leaves little wiggle room for compromise. Though powerful and somewhat intimidating, the Emperor is benevolent and compassionate. He teaches us how to find structure and logic for a practical path toward manifesting our goals. While the Empress is the Mother Aspect, the Emperor is the Father Aspect.


From Boberta Plums


Card V - The Hierophant
This card begins to look at what we believe, what we put faith in, and how this strengthens us. It also represents morals and ethics and how we treat others. Both our faith and how we interact with the people in this world with us must be good- but what each person sees as good is up to them. This card is not meant to push beliefs upon any person. But instead, it is meant for you to become steadfast in your own beliefs, whatever they may be.
Some sources see this card as the male counterpart to the High Priestess, but that's not how I see it, so that's not how I'm going to explain it- if that's how you prefer to see it, though, have at it!!



Card VI - The Lovers
The Lovers Card is often the patron card of love & romance but it's far deeper than the connection between two persons. The Lovers card is, above all, themed around unity; both between yourself and others and between yourself and your deeper/inner self. When you are in tune with yourself you are open to showing others deeper and more vulnerable layers to you without insecurity crippling the experience. When it comes to the connection with another, both parties are equal.
As the previous cards have mentioned, this card is representative of the great marriage between the Empress & Emperor; you can let that influence you if you want, but you do not have to.
For the purposes of the challenge, it will focus primarily on the love/romantic aspect.



Card VII - The Chariot
After all this, the direction we want to take this Legacy (and our lives) in is clear, we know what we're doing now, and we've got a lot of experiences to back up the drive with which we wish to move forward. We have gotten to know our light and our shadow, represented here by a White & black sphynx respectively, and by controlling and balancing those two sides of ourselves we find a perfect balance that helps us charge toward our goals without hesitation, without relenting, without any set back discouraging us- in fact, any obstacle in our path gets smashed right through with the power of this card!



Card VIII - Strength
Blurb



Card IX - Hermit
Blurb



Card X - Wheel of Fortune
Blurb


Coming Soon: Cards V - X

ChangeLog & Credits
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Test Subject
#2 Old 21st May 2021 at 7:52 PM
Just created my household and house for The Fool. I'm not really into Tarot but I've always been intrigued! I'm hoping to learn a bit thru the challenge! Have fun y'all!
Test Subject
Original Poster
#3 Old 29th May 2021 at 9:33 PM
I've tweaked the Fool's Daily Goals because after having a child my Fool (Legacy) isn't able to just stop-and-drop-and-adventure anymore. An EP Daily goal was added (walk your pet), and you are now free to switch between the 3 on a day-by-day basis, or attempt to get all 3.

I've learned that some of this challenge, just like tarot itself, is going to rely on the Player's personal judgment & what they feel is right, so if you come to something I haven't answered and have an idea you want to pursue because it feels right, then that's definitely what y'all should do. You can definitely tell me your tweaks because thus far, the Fool has been changed so much based on the Playtesting we've already done.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#4 Old 23rd Aug 2021 at 6:03 PM
Sorry for not updating this thread more consistently, I've been updating the challenge on my tumblr (boberta-plums.tumblr) and will shortly be moving the cards over here after formatting them.
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