You can find the complete apocalypse ruleset here. The original rules for the Apocalypse challenge were written by Pinstar and they have been updated for expansions by a host of people, particularly Boolprop's apocalypse community back in the day, the Apoca-Borg.
The rules for alphabetacies can be found in TS2 Rulesets here on Boolprop; the only change I'm making is that instead of downgrading every 5 generations, I'm... doing an extreme downgrade every 8 generations.
But a notable rule here is the 3 kids/generation minimum!
Because I've already done an apocalypse to do an apocalypse, I'm allowing myself to bend the rules as I want. I'll keep a record of all rules broken, accidentally or intentionally here (spoilers):
-Hopelessness: I'm allowing myself to move pets in before hopelessness is lifted. I broke this rule without meaning to, and when I realized, I decided to just ignore it. Ignoring it led to more misery than benefit, anyway.
-I'm ignoring the rule on locking wants and all of the restrictions on Aspiration rewards. Tbh they're just too much to keep track of.
-Music: I think I had outdoor objects which weren't placed under ceilings in chapter 2, breaking the music restriction. This was fixed within a week anyway, as I filled in the ceiling above the new floor.
-Intelligence: I haven't really been paying attention to "Sims who are not friends with a member of the household may not enter the house." My policy on that:
WHATEVER Since remembering this rule I've been making a loose effort to keep non-friends out, but I haven't been kicking out non-friends that make it in or anything.
-Natural Science: I'm ignoring "The family house must be on a dirt or desert landscape." because the concept is nice but the execution looks silly (what, u gonna make your whole neighborhood dirt, which remains ugly forever after you've lifted NS? or make it dirt just on your lot, which is then obviously surrounded by endless grass? no thank u).
-Law Enforcement: I accidentally let Tish go to work as an elder. I had her quit as soon as I realized.
^THAT SAID, besides the exceptions, I am running STRICT apocalypses!!! Absolutely no cheats or anything like that!
Random facts and stuff:
Restrictions lifted:
1. Paranormal - Deanna Doom (Founder)
2. Service Pet - Tucker
3. Medical - Tish Doom (Founder's Spouse)
Sims and pets who died/were taken/given away without lifting anything:
Pets: Ocelot, Jasper, Skyler, Pinky
Gen A: Antichrist, Agrat