Okay first off: TTing doesn't ruin the game for everyone. I understand some of you are biased, but that's no reason to go and try to scare OP away from it.
OP: TTing can be very safe if done correctly. I'm currently on mobile so I can't provide links, but I recommend reading the numerous guides provided on this site as well as the villager rumors guide. You can easily search for all of these on both this forum and Google. I can edit links in when I get home to further help you out.
The thing about TTing is some people either get rash with it or don't know what they're doing, so they lose villagers. If you're not an idiot, you won't lost villagers. I've TT'd for months both day by day and for cycling purposes. I've never lost a villager. Ever. If you're smart, you won't have mishaps. Follow a good guide and don't get cocky and you'll be fine.
For a safety net, I suggest keeping a character slot open both for cycling and for plot resetting, which I can explain in full to you in a moment.
When you make a new character, your town is, in a sense, half loaded. Everything is there, but you haven't logged onto your mayor yet, and logging onto your mayor basically creates the day. I lovingly call new chars "scouts" because they can scoot a day before you load it. This can be used to check for boxed villagers and if you find one, you can TT back and load your mayor in order to ping the guy you know is going to box up :3
"Scouts" are also how you plot reset. Since your day isn't fully set until you log onto a mayor or another character already established, you can see any plots you'd have that day.
-if you're under 8 villagers, you can get plots randomly, with a week after a move-in being a 100% chance. Nobody can move out if you have under 8 villagers too.
You can manipulate random move ins by constantly making new chars, scouting the plot, and resetting in order to repeat this process. This resets the plot location and your mover. Using this trick on the 7th day after a move in guarantees a plot 100% so it can be cool for hunting down dreamies or at least protecting areas you don't want animals to move to.
Also with random moves, the game tends to give you a personality you lack, or the opposite of the personality who just moved out. It's not set in stone, but if you lack a snooty, chances are you'll get a lot of animals from the snooty category moving in.
-plot resetting for your 10th villager is different. You can get your 10th by campsite, inviting from another town, or spot pass\the void. When you plot reset a villager who has been picked up or invited, the plot will always be that villager. You do the reset trick to get that villagers plot where you want it to be.
It's really simple in the end. You're just making a new char, going through rovers intro, and scouting for a plot.
Now if you get a villager or plot location you want to keep, simply talk to Isabelle and go through the process of placing a home. After doing this you can save and load up your mayor. The plot will be where you left it ;3
Hope this helps a bit and sorry for the typos. I hate phones haha.
