Hello all,
I am not sure if this thread belongs in the RPG sub forum or in the Fallout 4 forum as I am discussing Fallout 4 (and 3)'s settings and material here, but I think the moderators will understand that I am talking about their content in regard for the use of a traditional PnP or forum RPG.
I would like to ask to those who play use the Fallout world as a backdrop for their own games and who perhaps have also included Fallout 3 and Fallout 4 into their setting in what way they may be using it.
Are you using everything of the settings, just pieces of it but unchanged, or perhaps the setting or pieces of it but modified in a way you think works better in your opinion for Fallout?
I am always on the look out for new ideas and thoughts and perhaps some of yours help me come up with ones of my own.
Regarding how I would use the settings of Fallout 3 and 4 I would drop almost everything from the games except for a few ideas that I think have promise but perhaps need some minor modifying here and there.
With both locations I would probably have to have a good look at their real counterparts' maps as well as have a look into backgrounds and histories on what I would alter or add to make them more suitable for what I would do if I used them in a RPG campaign.
It would be nice to put in some local culture to make it feel more authentic but not overdo it like Bethesda sometimes really did.
For Fallout 3:
- Washington DC got hit hard. During the war Washington DC was a primary target of the Chinese due to both it being the capital, government center with offices for various government departments, and population center.
Most of the center of Washington got blasted into glass craters that still glow two hundred years after the War, so there is no Mall, White House, or Pentagon (though some of its underground levels may have survived and still contain salvageable items and technology, though of course nothing like Liberty Prime as this was an administrative center and not some R&D facility)
The only settlers of the more habitable parts of the DC crater are Ghouls and salvagers.
- No BOS. The Brotherhood never came this far East, as Fallout 2 already made clear the Brotherhood was in serious decline due to its elitist and xenophobic nature and as no recruits from outside had been taken in for decades the Brotherhood had difficulty maintaining and increasing its numbers due to attrition and old age.
A number of BOS members also left for the Mojave to establish a chapter there, decreasing the number of BOS members at Lost Hills and others chapters at or near the Californian coast.
(note: If I take Tactics and parts of FOBOS into account, a large number of BOS left to pursue a large remnant of the Super Mutant army, establishing their own chapter in the Midwest.
Another expedition force led by Rhombus left to pursue another minor Super Mutant army to the Texas Wasteland where they were forced to engage the Super Mutants. Only a handful of survivors returned. For now I consider both events above non official in my take)
(note 2: It could be suggested that the East Coast BOS is related to the Midwest BOS but I rather don't go that far. No BOS on the East Coast)
- No Super Mutants. There was no Vault experimenting with FEV in the Capital Wasteland as that does not fit the nature of the experiments that took place in a lot of the Vaults. (these were social experiments, not experiments involving creating super soldiers). Almost all FEV research took place on the West Coast with West Tek and Mariposa Base being the central research and development facilities.
Other than perhaps a rare and lone Super Mutant migrant from the West there is no Super Mutant population native to the East Coast.
- Ghouls. There are Ghouls at the East Coast, survivors from before or directly after the nuclear war who underwent ghoulification due to the radiation and other mutagens.
There is a Ghoul population inhabiting the less irradiated parts of what used to be Washington DC as well as some living in the settlements around the DC crater that are tolerant of Ghouls.
There would only be a few 'feral' Ghouls and they are not the running powerhouses as shown in Fallout 3 and 4. If there ever had been a lot of feral Ghouls than most have been killed in the two hundred years after the war or have died after their bodies decayed so much that they could no longer move.
- Rivet City. I actually kind of like the idea of Rivet City but I would move the carrier a bit away from Washington DC. Like in Fallout 3 it is the major settlement of the region and its unofficial capital.
The carrier itself would be inhabited by rich traders, a handful of scientists and technicians, and guards. The flight deck is now also covered in houses. The hangar bays are now used as a bazaar and are full of market stands, restaurants and so on.
At the coast where the carrier is docked/beached a 'secondary' settlement has founded on both sides of the access ramp, here less wealthy merchants, and other regular people such as salvagers live.
Rivet's economy is based on the production of clean water and food, with trade and some minor generation of extra power that is sold to small settlements next to it.
For Fallout 4:
- Boston itself. Boston like Washington DC suffered several direct strikes from Chinese ICBMs, though perhaps not as much as the Capital did.
Still most of the center was blasted into crater and was avoided by salvagers and Ghouls due to the high radiation for most of the two hundred years after the War until the Institute appeared and started a terra forming program to reclaim the ruins of Boston.
Decontamination is not completed yet and it might take several more decades before it will be.
Before the reappearance of the Institute Boston was only inhabited by a population of Ghouls and some salvagers who dared to get this close to the ruins.
Since the decontamination has started to take place the numbers of salvagers has been increasing as has the number of wastelanders who offer various goods and services.
The biggest settlement is the city the Institute has started to construct through their robots and laborers recruited from nearby settlements. The city, constructed over the ruins of the Commonwealth Institute of Technology and the Institute's underground shelter is inhabited by the scientists, technicians, guards, and a number of the more wealth and influential surface people such as rich traders and some Minutemen.
(note: I have this city in mind as a sort of 'City of Tomorrow' though would not like it to compete with my idea for Robot City in Texas. Basically this is probably one of the few really advanced and high tech settlements in the wasteland, having technology equal and surpassing that of the pre war world)
I still have to think out on how to explain why not all wastelanders are allowed to settle in this city. (perhaps limited resources)
- The Institute. In general I don't think the idea of the Institute is wrong, just its depiction in Fallout 4. Rather than some secret government or population in Fallout 4 that for some reason seems to do research and development that has little to no purpose or is actually harmful, and having synths infiltrating settlements I would like them to be a bit more practical and open instead of becoming almost an Enclave version 2.0.
The Institute would be more focused on trying to reclaim and rebuild the surface and build a new society. They are relatively good in the sense that they have noble intentions (rebuilding human civilization) but don't always have the right approach, sometimes quite willing to violate the rights of others if they believe it stands in the way of progress. They for example put research and development over social issues and believe that humanity should be ruled or 'guided' by the scientific elite.
I would not rule out the concept of androids or synths, but most of the Institute's workforce would consist of Pre War robots and Post War designs that improve on these.
- Ghouls. Like with Washington there is a population of Ghouls here, but ferals are very rare. Like in the Capital Wasteland most have either been killed or have decayed away.
- The Minutemen. Somewhat like they are depicted in Fallout 4, these are sort of the 'rangers' of the East Coast. They assist in investigating crimes and stopping criminals, and they protect settlements from raiders, slavers, and mutations.
The mostly patrol and protect the areas that are outside the influence of the Institute.
- The Nation of Ronto. A military nation founded by surviving US military, these survivors believed that the humanity could only recover through military rule and protection. As a result their society ruled by soldiers and revolves mostly around service to it.
While it is not completely totalitarian it is not a democracy either, and there have been a number violations of basic individual and human rights.
Though technically there is no slavery within the nation indenture is common and most people either work directly for the ruling military class or pay for protection and being allowed to settlement in Ronto's territory.
As the military believes it is their duty to reclaim the rest of the continent in order to bring civilization and order to it they undertake regular expansion campaigns. During these Ronto has no problem with using forceful tactics to make settlements and other small governments join them or to accept their protection in return for tribute.
Their latest campaign has brought them to the edges of the Commonwealth, the leadership in Ronto is quite eager to add these lands and the riches they hold including the advanced technologies of the Institute to their control.
They see the Minutemen at best as possible recruits and at worst as a bunch of troublemakers who could hinder Ronto's mission.
More material when I come up with it.
I am not sure if this thread belongs in the RPG sub forum or in the Fallout 4 forum as I am discussing Fallout 4 (and 3)'s settings and material here, but I think the moderators will understand that I am talking about their content in regard for the use of a traditional PnP or forum RPG.
I would like to ask to those who play use the Fallout world as a backdrop for their own games and who perhaps have also included Fallout 3 and Fallout 4 into their setting in what way they may be using it.
Are you using everything of the settings, just pieces of it but unchanged, or perhaps the setting or pieces of it but modified in a way you think works better in your opinion for Fallout?
I am always on the look out for new ideas and thoughts and perhaps some of yours help me come up with ones of my own.
Regarding how I would use the settings of Fallout 3 and 4 I would drop almost everything from the games except for a few ideas that I think have promise but perhaps need some minor modifying here and there.
With both locations I would probably have to have a good look at their real counterparts' maps as well as have a look into backgrounds and histories on what I would alter or add to make them more suitable for what I would do if I used them in a RPG campaign.
It would be nice to put in some local culture to make it feel more authentic but not overdo it like Bethesda sometimes really did.
For Fallout 3:
- Washington DC got hit hard. During the war Washington DC was a primary target of the Chinese due to both it being the capital, government center with offices for various government departments, and population center.
Most of the center of Washington got blasted into glass craters that still glow two hundred years after the War, so there is no Mall, White House, or Pentagon (though some of its underground levels may have survived and still contain salvageable items and technology, though of course nothing like Liberty Prime as this was an administrative center and not some R&D facility)
The only settlers of the more habitable parts of the DC crater are Ghouls and salvagers.
- No BOS. The Brotherhood never came this far East, as Fallout 2 already made clear the Brotherhood was in serious decline due to its elitist and xenophobic nature and as no recruits from outside had been taken in for decades the Brotherhood had difficulty maintaining and increasing its numbers due to attrition and old age.
A number of BOS members also left for the Mojave to establish a chapter there, decreasing the number of BOS members at Lost Hills and others chapters at or near the Californian coast.
(note: If I take Tactics and parts of FOBOS into account, a large number of BOS left to pursue a large remnant of the Super Mutant army, establishing their own chapter in the Midwest.
Another expedition force led by Rhombus left to pursue another minor Super Mutant army to the Texas Wasteland where they were forced to engage the Super Mutants. Only a handful of survivors returned. For now I consider both events above non official in my take)
(note 2: It could be suggested that the East Coast BOS is related to the Midwest BOS but I rather don't go that far. No BOS on the East Coast)
- No Super Mutants. There was no Vault experimenting with FEV in the Capital Wasteland as that does not fit the nature of the experiments that took place in a lot of the Vaults. (these were social experiments, not experiments involving creating super soldiers). Almost all FEV research took place on the West Coast with West Tek and Mariposa Base being the central research and development facilities.
Other than perhaps a rare and lone Super Mutant migrant from the West there is no Super Mutant population native to the East Coast.
- Ghouls. There are Ghouls at the East Coast, survivors from before or directly after the nuclear war who underwent ghoulification due to the radiation and other mutagens.
There is a Ghoul population inhabiting the less irradiated parts of what used to be Washington DC as well as some living in the settlements around the DC crater that are tolerant of Ghouls.
There would only be a few 'feral' Ghouls and they are not the running powerhouses as shown in Fallout 3 and 4. If there ever had been a lot of feral Ghouls than most have been killed in the two hundred years after the war or have died after their bodies decayed so much that they could no longer move.
- Rivet City. I actually kind of like the idea of Rivet City but I would move the carrier a bit away from Washington DC. Like in Fallout 3 it is the major settlement of the region and its unofficial capital.
The carrier itself would be inhabited by rich traders, a handful of scientists and technicians, and guards. The flight deck is now also covered in houses. The hangar bays are now used as a bazaar and are full of market stands, restaurants and so on.
At the coast where the carrier is docked/beached a 'secondary' settlement has founded on both sides of the access ramp, here less wealthy merchants, and other regular people such as salvagers live.
Rivet's economy is based on the production of clean water and food, with trade and some minor generation of extra power that is sold to small settlements next to it.
For Fallout 4:
- Boston itself. Boston like Washington DC suffered several direct strikes from Chinese ICBMs, though perhaps not as much as the Capital did.
Still most of the center was blasted into crater and was avoided by salvagers and Ghouls due to the high radiation for most of the two hundred years after the War until the Institute appeared and started a terra forming program to reclaim the ruins of Boston.
Decontamination is not completed yet and it might take several more decades before it will be.
Before the reappearance of the Institute Boston was only inhabited by a population of Ghouls and some salvagers who dared to get this close to the ruins.
Since the decontamination has started to take place the numbers of salvagers has been increasing as has the number of wastelanders who offer various goods and services.
The biggest settlement is the city the Institute has started to construct through their robots and laborers recruited from nearby settlements. The city, constructed over the ruins of the Commonwealth Institute of Technology and the Institute's underground shelter is inhabited by the scientists, technicians, guards, and a number of the more wealth and influential surface people such as rich traders and some Minutemen.
(note: I have this city in mind as a sort of 'City of Tomorrow' though would not like it to compete with my idea for Robot City in Texas. Basically this is probably one of the few really advanced and high tech settlements in the wasteland, having technology equal and surpassing that of the pre war world)
I still have to think out on how to explain why not all wastelanders are allowed to settle in this city. (perhaps limited resources)
- The Institute. In general I don't think the idea of the Institute is wrong, just its depiction in Fallout 4. Rather than some secret government or population in Fallout 4 that for some reason seems to do research and development that has little to no purpose or is actually harmful, and having synths infiltrating settlements I would like them to be a bit more practical and open instead of becoming almost an Enclave version 2.0.
The Institute would be more focused on trying to reclaim and rebuild the surface and build a new society. They are relatively good in the sense that they have noble intentions (rebuilding human civilization) but don't always have the right approach, sometimes quite willing to violate the rights of others if they believe it stands in the way of progress. They for example put research and development over social issues and believe that humanity should be ruled or 'guided' by the scientific elite.
I would not rule out the concept of androids or synths, but most of the Institute's workforce would consist of Pre War robots and Post War designs that improve on these.
- Ghouls. Like with Washington there is a population of Ghouls here, but ferals are very rare. Like in the Capital Wasteland most have either been killed or have decayed away.
- The Minutemen. Somewhat like they are depicted in Fallout 4, these are sort of the 'rangers' of the East Coast. They assist in investigating crimes and stopping criminals, and they protect settlements from raiders, slavers, and mutations.
The mostly patrol and protect the areas that are outside the influence of the Institute.
- The Nation of Ronto. A military nation founded by surviving US military, these survivors believed that the humanity could only recover through military rule and protection. As a result their society ruled by soldiers and revolves mostly around service to it.
While it is not completely totalitarian it is not a democracy either, and there have been a number violations of basic individual and human rights.
Though technically there is no slavery within the nation indenture is common and most people either work directly for the ruling military class or pay for protection and being allowed to settlement in Ronto's territory.
As the military believes it is their duty to reclaim the rest of the continent in order to bring civilization and order to it they undertake regular expansion campaigns. During these Ronto has no problem with using forceful tactics to make settlements and other small governments join them or to accept their protection in return for tribute.
Their latest campaign has brought them to the edges of the Commonwealth, the leadership in Ronto is quite eager to add these lands and the riches they hold including the advanced technologies of the Institute to their control.
They see the Minutemen at best as possible recruits and at worst as a bunch of troublemakers who could hinder Ronto's mission.
More material when I come up with it.
