Some of us play The Sims 4 to conquer all the expansion pack challenges (like The Realm of Magic and Jungle Adventure).
Some of us play The Sims 4 with the intent to get ridiculously rich.
And some of us plays The Sims 4 just to watch the world burn (literally).
But there are a few Simmers out there who get really invested in their Sims’ storylines. Or they make their Sims carry out their own original stories and plots.
Whichever it is, it’s doable.
And the TS4 community of content creators makes it super easy with all of these really cool storytelling pose packs.
1. Berry’s Hard Cry Pose Pack by berrysweetboutique
If you ever need to portray your Sim bawling their eyes out, this pose set is exactly what you need.
It contains three solo poses for one heartbroken, grief-stricken Sim.
The base game does have animations for sobbing, but they’re usually cartoonish and/or goofy.
I think the closest we can get to something serious is when a Sad Sim gets the urge to “Cry it Out” under the covers. Otherwise, everything stays true to Sims 4’s patented hyperbolic facial expressions.
Berrysweetboutique’s poses manage to visually capture the raw realness of an emotional breakdown without making it look gauche, funny, or cartoonishly exaggerated.
Always burning the candle at both ends and the midnight oil just to stay on top of their workload?
I’m familiar with this practice.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a loving co-worker/significant other to come and gently comfort me as I stress over stacks of paper.
But your Sim does! Especially with this incredibly tender workplace pack.
There are 5 poses in total: two solo shots of your Sim stressing out, and three paired poses of your Sim’s significant other lovingly soothing them with a kiss.
It’s a very sweet and gentle scene that’s especially perfect for an office romance narrative.
Before I get into the details, lemme just give a head’s up:
This pack is kinda hard to setup. You definitely need a bit of patience and painstaking effort.
Teleporting Sims and assigning them poses inside objects can be tricky. And you, unfortunately, don’t have the option to skip that with this pack, otherwise all context flies out the window.
But if you want some incredibly detailed – and high-quality – screenshots of your Sims hitting the open road for the summer, then this storytelling pose pack by sandy-sims is a real winner.
It’s a mix of posed group shots (like they’re aware of a camera) and stolen shots (like from an unknown third-party’s perspective), which I think is pretty clever.
You can have pictures that look like your Sims took it and story scenes.
There are a total of four group poses (max five Sims) and two couple poses (which, by the way, are really cute and cozy).
The group poses are a little tricky to setup, so make sure you check the creator’s preview photos for teleporter guides.
And the pose list will also tell you which accessories you need (like “camera,” “truck,” etc.) so make sure you download all the ones the creator linked before playing!
The creator made these in response to a request, which means that the poses fit a specific story.
However, if you’re spinning a sleepless night narrative for your Sims, this pack will provide some excellent screenshots!
Some of the poses are meant to be paired but, honestly, the solo poses can sort of be mixed and matched as well (especially with the Sim on the top bunk).
So I’ll just go with the creator’s description of six adult Female poses and two adult Male poses.
I do think the poses can be unisex, though. Especially if that would fit your storyline more.
Quick note regarding the bunk bed: the creator made the poses before EA released bunk beds, so they matched the height of the top bunk Sim to the custom bunk bed they linked in the description.
If you try to use base game bunk beds, the top Sim will be halfway in the mattress, so. Just a head’s up!
If you need more truly random slice-of-life screenshots to fuel your story, this hefty Sims 4 pose pack will do in a pinch.
It’s full of single-shot scenes from very simple narratives.
For instance:
Friends in a diner, an adult pushing a baby in a stroller, a bummed birthday, and even a quick casual stroll (among others).
It’s all in here.
It’s a great way to fill up a scene, provide some background texture, or transition from one narrative to the next.
There are 6 couple poses, 2 group poses, and 3 toddler poses.
The poses are also separated into four individual .package files:
Couple & Group poses, Diner Scene, Stroller Poses, and Walking Poses.
So you can keep and discard what you need!
One final note: the stroller that the creator linked in the description doesn’t seem to exist anymore, so I used SimmerKate’s Designer Toddler Stroller instead.
This is similar to the previous pack (Loser Squad Trash Pack by Shyysims) in that it’s as random as they come.
But just like Shyysims’s set, that’s what makes this pack cool.
This depicts sweet little slice-of-life scenes that any Simmer could use to pad a narrative.
Day at the beach with friends, chill home night with the fam, casual ukulele practice in the afternoon … you know. Just random, wholesome moments that can be used as filler for on-going plots.
Set up is pretty easy, too.
The the in-game list has thumbnails and accessory descriptions (i.e., “balloons,” “beer hand,” “ukulele,” and so on).
Come on; everyone has a use for ice skating poses.
After-school skating activity? Cute first date? Young, fresh love on the rink?
Whatever it is, this pack probably has a pose (or two) that you can use.
It’s got 4 wholesome couple poses – a Parent and their Kid, two Adult friends, two Child friends – and 5 playfully flirty poses coming together to make one balanced pose pack.
The poses themselves are pretty easy to figure out in-game.
They’re labeled on the list as c1 (for Child), m1 (for Male), x2 (for random Sim), and so on.
There are also custom thumbnails, so assigning them should be easy.
But I’m not going to deny how incredibly creative and one-of-a-kind these poses are.
They’re straight from the creator’s own original fantasy story, which would explain the unique titles and concepts.
Nevertheless, they’re pretty well-made.
They’re also just ambiguously general enough that they can be used in other non-canon storylines.
There are three separate sets in this pose pack: (1) on the way to school, (2) encounter, and (3) after shadow.
The first set can be used to portray any general group of friends (or even siblings) walking somewhere.
The second set, I really like. A group of Adult/Young Adult Sims witnessing something that either horrifies them, disgusts them, or shakes them to their core. Really good for a horror or thriller narrative.
The third set is incredibly specific, but it definitely suits a fantasy/supernatural concept.
As a Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings nerd, I love a good magic duel as much as anyone.
Sims posing threateningly with wands?
Yes, please.
If you (like me) took several dozen screenshots when The Sims 4: Realm of Magic expansion pack came out, then you’re going to love this.
This pack gives you 9 extra poses of wand-waving, spell-slinging, magic-missile-ing goodness.
And if the sheer awesomeness of the concept wasn’t enough, this pack also has one of the more organized in-game pose lists around: thumbnails, labels, and clear, emotion-based descriptions for each pose. Makes it all incredibly easy to know which poses you’re assigning.
