No Mutants Allowed

[TheDidact]

Background

New Orleans was always a cultural hub for the South. It's music, food, architecture, and people gave the town it's own unique appeal that made it different from the rest of America. Not even the economic drag of the Resource Wars could put a damper on the party of the Big Easy.

However, the Great War would not make things easy for the Big Easy. Though not as much a high priority target as D.C. or Las Vegas, New Orleans did not escape the nuclear fire of the Great War unscathed. Radiation and neglect did their toll on the ecosystem and city. Over the years nature has slowly adapted this environment and with it brought new flora and fauna to reclaim the land. This was also helped in part thanks to an irradiated Garden of Eden Creation kit that was taken from a Vault buried deep in the swamps of the Bayou.

Your Story

You are descendent of a group of survivors who escaped the worst of the devastation by going deep into the Bayou. Through careful survival of the shifting environment and the aid of Vault dwellers who allowed your ancestors to live amongst them, you are alive today. You arrive back one day from hunting Mega Gators to find your home settlement deserted. A warning is inscribed on the Vault door where the settlement sprung up from,

"Fear the Cagins!"

You must find your people, but to do that you must venture to New Orleans and brave the savage ecosystem that is the Bayou Wasteland.

Areas (Subject to change)

Main Location: The Bayou of Louisiana and the remains of New Orleans.

New Orleans: Once a cultural powerhouse of Pre-War America, it is now the capital of a group of slavers known as the Cagins. Most of the city has been taken over by kudzu plants, water, and other Bayou fauna.

The Dome: Once the famous Superdome, it has since been taken over as a holding ground for the Cagin's slaves.

Bourbon Street: Mardi Gras still lives thanks to the Cagins and the celebration still occurs every year according to schedule, though it isn't as festive as it used to be. Slaves are paraded through during Mardi Gra on their way to other settlements to be traded.

French Market: The trading hub of New Orleans for those not interested in slaves. Food, medicine and weapons can be bought here for Mardi Gra beads, the currency of the Bayou.

The Parish: The graveyard outside of New Orleans, used as a settlement by the Parishioners.

Vault 60: Home of the irradiated G.E.C.K

Various settlements will be available.


Creatures

Mega Gators: The dominant predator of the Bayou. twice as large as their pre-War counterparts and just as mean, they are an extreme danger to all who dare wade in the swampy waters of the Bayou.

Crawdaddies: Mutated crawfish, they carry enormous pincers, but are relatively slow and only a danger to those with very low intelligence.

Water Viper: Giant mutated water moccasins, they are extremely poisonous.

Swamp Deathclaw: A variant of the Deathclaw that has integrated in the Bayou Wasteland, but they pose a threat to Mega Gators and both constantly fight for territory and hunting grounds.

Minor Animals

Dogs
Bats
Molerats
Giant Ants
(More to be added)

Special Event

Hurricanes will be part of the Wasteland and will occur randomly throughout your journey. They are not scripted and can appear numerous times or never in the game.

Factions

Major

The Cagins: The main opposing force of the Wasteland, they are a vicious group of slavers that are heavily armed and stealthy.

Caeser's Legion: Like the NCR in the West Coast, the Legion has sough to expand, but at a cost. Their distance from Arizona has limited the resources and manpower, but they still remain a threat to the weary.

The New Confederacy: Unlike the Confederacy of the Civil War, the NC are against slavery and thus the main adversary of the Cagins.

Minor

Parishioners: Ghouls living in the cemeteries near New Orleans, constantly plagued by Cagin forces.

Swamp Folk: Through inbreeding and radiation, these savage dwellers of the Bayou attack anyone other than kin.

Followers of Zombi: A band of tribals who practice voodoo and worship a woman named Mama Laveau.

(More to come)


So this is my first concept guys, I hope you enjoy.

[Sabirah]

It would be cool If you combined the cagins and the legion into one faction, then gave the confeds a bad part (Like they're racist Christian supremacist) then had the player choose a society that is easy and free for some (NC) or brutal but fair (Legion)
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Meri pyaas bujha aaja, mujhe ganga bana aaja
Meri pyaas bujha mujhe ganga bana
Kar pura vachan aaja

[TheDidact]

Perhaps the Legion and Cagins could be negotiating a deal and you can either help it along or stop it.

[The Dutch Ghost]

While I am not sold on every detail I do find this one of the better list of ideas for a Fallout in the American South.

Its interesting that you did something with New Orleans' cultural background in your summary description.

I take it you are from around those parts or have looks up topics on it intensively?
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[TheDidact]

[McCabbe]

Love your ideas Didact. Will use a few of them for my own PnP campaign... It's now located in Denver and its surroundings, but I intend to have my party move south half-way through the campaign...

Here are some comments...

[Wintermind]

Aren't the racial issues between humans and mutants supposed to reflect racism in real life?
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Let's suppose that you were able every night to dream any dream that you wanted to dream, and that you could, for example, have the power within one night to dream 75 years of dreams, or any length of time you wanted to have. And you would, naturally as you began on this adventure of dreams, you would fufill all your wishes. You would have every kind of pleasure you could concieve. And after several nights, of 75 years of total pleasure each, you would say "Well, that was pretty great. But now let's have a surprise. Let's have a dream which isn't under control. Where something is gonna happen to me that I don't know what it's gonna be." And you would dig that and come out of that and say "Wow, that was a close shave, wasn't it?". And then you would get more and more adventurous, and you would make further and further out gambles as to what you would dream. And finally, you would dream where you are now. You would dream the dream of living the life that you are actually living today.

[McCabbe]

Probably... But if nuclear war could be considered as a factor that erased racism between humans, it could also be considered as narrative material for new settings. After all, racism has still deep roots in some parts of the south of the US, so, why not use it ?

US places with a strong iconography (California, New York, the Mexican border, Las Vegas, the industrial north, the Bible Belt, New Orleans, Texas, New England, or even Hawai) all provide splendid ideas and concepts to twist and turn into falloutesque results...

I imagine myself the South to be torn between a railroad-based white KKK nation with roots in the Civil War (The White Guard) and a sedentary black nation whose culture comes from both the Black Panthers and New Orleans' traditions such as voodoo (Baron Samedi United). But these "color" wars remain anchored in the south, since they are relatively unheard of in the Core region, or the east coast...

[Two-step]

Actually, I kind of like this idea... is seems to expand greatly on Fallout:3/ Point Lookout, but in Louisiana rather than Maryland.

I also think that this would be a great opportunity to add some new creatures, such as alligators (swamp gecko?), Sasquatch, and other assorted swamp creatures. Also, several of the classic FO creatures could easily transition.

It could also afford the opportunity to expand on ghouls and vampires(Fallout:3- The Family)... maybe even make them playable characters.

Side Note:
Racism in the South was mentioned previously... being from and in the South, racism isn't as prevalent as many might think. Granted, there are pockets of inbred morons all over the country and the South does not have the monopoly on stupid. In fact, some of the largest "race hate" gatherings are in the Northern states. As far as the Eastern states go, they have some of the worse racism incidents in the USA... look it up.

The above being said, the already existing racial tension in the FO universe, between humans an interesting could be an aspect to cover.

Personally though, I think that it would be important to keep the vaults in play. They are a long standing and important part of the FO universe and I for one would miss having them. But, to keep the vaults, I think that it would be practical to add in Arkansas, Tennessee, or Georgia. This would give us the Appalachian, Ozark, or Smoky Mountain ranges... perfect locations of vaults. But then, I like vaults... probably because I "camped out" in my grandmother's storm cellar when I was a kid. LOL

I suppose that designers could build an underwater vault (Atlantis?) or use the gulf ports and stick to a ship board theme, like they used in Fallout 3
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The Colonel's Golden Fried Gecko, original or extra crispy... and now BBQ.
Make it a combo with an ice cold Nuka-Cola and iguana bits for only 5 bottle caps more.

[McCabbe]

[Two-step]

[McCabbe]

[Two-step]

Basically, I think that this is a great idea and one that could easily be explored and expanded upon. I would just hate to see it become "uber-Point Lookout", which to be honest, isn't really my favorite part of FO:3, though I did like certain aspects of if.

I think that the hardest part of building a full FO game (not expansion) around swamp and woods might be the swamp and woods part. While we see a little of it in the FO universe, it really isn't a lot... at least not in relation to the rest of the FO universe.

There are several games that already use woods, swamp, and jungle. So, I don't think that it would be a graphic or technological leap to built is into the FO universe.

I could easily imaging the "Big Easy" occupied by Humans, while Ghouls live in the "poorer" areas surrounding. The residents need someone to:

1) Hunt down and destroy the zombie threat. Being "ignorant" they don't realize that the zombies are actually ghouls and probably the ancestors of many of the residents... especially to a prominent leader/"hate monger" who teaches zero tolerance for non-humans.

2) Assist the residents in defending the levies by hunting and killing the Mirelurks who are nesting there. Also, thanks to the damage that is done, the pump system will need parts and repairs.

3. Residence are coming up dead, their bodies ripped apart and eaten. The residence are scared and are blaming a reclusive family for the troubles. The residence want you to find proof and destroy the family if they are responsible... though the residence would probably be happy if you skipped the "evidence gathering" part of things and simply burned the family out.

4. Louisiana also has a history of pirates and even before Capt. Jack Sparrow started looking, many believed that the Fountain of Youth was/is there... hidden in the swamps. Also, there are stories of pirate treasure (Jean Lafitte).

5. Rather than vaults though, I think that many of the people would either take up residence in the still existing cities or live shipboard. Also, one should not forget stilt houses and possibly an entire floating town.

Spicy Rad Roach bits
Mirelurke Jambalaya
Iguana bits and rice
Gecko Gumbo
Breaded and Fried Brahmin "Oysters" in a creamy white coconut sauce.
_________________
The Colonel's Golden Fried Gecko, original or extra crispy... and now BBQ.
Make it a combo with an ice cold Nuka-Cola and iguana bits for only 5 bottle caps more.

[smber2cnma]

As a native to the New Orleans area I have to say I loved reading this thread.

Here are obvious locations that would be included in a game set in New Orleans:
Jackson Square & St. Louis Cathedral (center of French Quarter)
Royal Street (street behind cathedral; tons of resturants, art gallerys, etc...all extremely up scale)
Bourbon Street (the street after Royal, full of bars, strip clubs, restruants)
Audubon Zoo (west of French Quarter, houses rare while alligators, tigers, lions, louisians black bears, elephants, giraffs, etc...)
City Park (in middle of city, has amusement park, a childrens story book land with giant models of famous characters. ex. you can gen in the mouth of Figaro the whale)
Superdome (as stated by others)
New Orleans Cemetaries (there are many famous graveyards with very impressive mausoleums)
New Orleans Battlefield (in Chalmette, my home town, has a 1/3 replica of Washington oblisk plus a couple old War of 1812 cannons and a rebuild defensive bulwark)
St. Charles Ave. (historic and beautiful, lined with huge mansions, trees, and a Street Car line down the median or neutral ground as we call them)
Steam Boat Natchez (or another, a couple steam boats sit in the mississippi in New Orleans doing dinner cruises and playing organ music from their pipes)
Mardi Gras Word (huge warehouses on West Bank where several of larger Carnival Crews store/build/repair their floats when they aren't in use)
Tulane and Loyola Universities (Jewish and Catholic universities that are immediate neighbors)
LSU and Tulane Medical schools (again immediate neighbors, and I know for a fact LSU used to have monkeys for testing on an upper floor in their school and to this day they have an olymipic sized pool full of formaldehyde, with a crane on top that can be oporated to pull selected cadavers at need for students, apparently Louisiana is like the US capital of donating your body to science...also morbidly there is a collection of jarred babies exhibiting birth defects which I don't think is open to the public.)
Many Casinos (Harrah's has a big downtown establishment, there are others on the lake, then there are beach casinos well east of New Orleans)
Michoud, a NASA production facility (just east of town, where NASA built/repaired the big orange tanks for the shuttle program)
Jazz Land/Six Flags New Orleans (a fair sized theme park that Katrina destroyed)
Ponchatrain Beach (dead now, but in the 50s,60s, & 70's it was huge; swimming, dancing, carnivals, rides, concerts, magic shows, fireworks, etc...)
Jax Brewery (several downtown breweries existed in N.O., all have now been converted to other uses or fallen into disrepair)
Big Air Force base on west bank
Navy Ship building facility up river on west bank
Coast Guard Facilities near downtown on river.

Oh and when I saw you had typed "the parish" I was excited because in New Orleans area "the parish" or really "da parish" means St. Bernard civil parish where I live - a suburb southeast of New Orleans known for refining Domino Sugar, refining tons of oil, and having tons of shrimpers and fishermen.

Minor animals that could be mutated from the area:
big flying cockroaches
nutria (chinesa water rats...beaver sized rats...that got here by accident and are wrecking our marsh)
possums, armidillos, or raccoons
swarming fermosan termites
several species of frogs and turtles
blue crabs
pelicans (the state bird), egrets, blue herons

Local storylines that could tie into the FO universe:
Political Corruption (N.O. politics are as dirty as they come)
Police Corruption (racism, bribery, pergury, brutality, incompitance; all charges have been leveled on NOPD though they really are okay at present)
VooDoo - a tie in between voo doo and mutants would be a must.
Catholic Culture - its just the way here. Catholics, Baptists, and Athiests here all celebrate Catholic feasts with parades and parties, its just our culture.
The Mississippi River (the big muddy) was the entire reason N.O. used to be such an important city and it would return to prominance if fledgling communities tried to start establishing trade again. N.O. was once the capital of banking in the US b/c 80% of all American grain and corn passed through the city, so a future Fallout there could have shipping and banking play a important role.
Flooding - most of uptown and the french quarter are above sea level, but the rest of town with few exceptions are below and some flooding happens when we get significant rain, thus some flooded areas or dynamic regional flooding would make sense in a N.O. Fallout.

Anyway I love the concept.