A community effort

NMA - A post-apocalyptic roleplaying game?

  • Interested in playing and helping

    Votes: 58 63.7%
  • Interested in playing

    Votes: 39 42.9%
  • Not interested

    Votes: 6 6.6%

  • Total voters
    91
Again, we need to know what is canon and what is not.
As this is Hassknecht's idea/baby I guess he has the final authority.
 
I think Boulder Dome would just sound as a Big MT rip off if it was brought back. (this center of pre war research and technology were scientists and technicians are experimenting with technologies such as robots, cryogenics, genetic engineering, and so on)
It doesn't mean there could not be a Pre War research center in Boulder (there are a lot of universities and corporation R&D departments from what I remember reading about the place), but it would have to be something completely different.

They made similar advancements, but only shared robotics as a field of research. While Big MT is basically about scientific research free from the constraints of ethics, Boulder Dome seems to have been more geared towards practical and immediately useful technologies for the war effort (such as bio-gel and the power armour prototype).

But even then, my main focus is with their post-war development. Boulder Dome is very much still a real place, more like the Sierra Madre than the mythical Big MT; it's surrounded by cannibals, glowing ones and the scientists inside are all infected with the New Plague. Whatever treasures are inside are buried so far beneath dangers and obstacles that one has to question if they're even worth it.

Either way, the similarities in theme could still be explained by placing them all within the same program from the US government to advance scientific knowledge for the war effort.

I'd rather have Boulder Dome than lol we so wacky-Big Mt tho'. >_>

Well I'd rather not install Big Mt 2.0 into the game.

Maybe a vault(not Vault-Tech) or something that is pretty big to the story.

I'm just trying to write it in some way that we could have both, but I understand if it's unrealistic. I suppose that's why we need someone to coordinate efforts.

So a lot of ideas are being thrown around concerning the overall story of the campaign but I don't see any actual concepts. Worry about canonicity once you have an idea to apply canon to; as of now all we have is a possible Midwestern BoS appearance, a possible winter post-apoc environment and, a suggested influence from Fallout Extreme.

We're just spitballing for possible factions and locations here. I thought we were planning for world-building, not a story in itself; is that not what we're doing?

To get the ball rolling, how about the evacuation of Baja? You have huge amounts of tribals to work with, a dangerous environment, a basic motivation, an exotic location for new lore, possible themes of colonialism and a story that doesn't step on any toes, canon wise.

All I remember about Baja is that there are some really tough Rangers there and the story about the well.

As this is Hassknecht's idea/baby I guess he has the final authority.

Seconded.
 
I suppose that's why we need someone to coordinate efforts.
That was my point back when I mentioned an NMA Bible by the way. Something that someone writes that cements what NMA is about and what everyone would have to adhere to.
 
That was my point back when I mentioned an NMA Bible by the way. Something that someone writes that cements what NMA is about and what everyone would have to adhere to.
I imagine the NMA bible would basically be the Fallout bible with the additional stipulation of either New Vegas or Van Buren being canon. Maybe we should just let Hassknecht toss a coin in order to decide which is real, or edit shit until they all fit together, or set it before NV/VB, or switch canonicity depending upon the campaign, I'm all for the second, third and fourth options.
All I remember about Baja is that there are some really tough Rangers there and the story about the well.
NCR established a colony there but they were overrun by raiders and forced to evacuate, a few rangers were sent that way in order to reclaim the territory but they were recalled so they could help out the Mojave war effort.
 
For factions I'm kinda thinking of drawing inspiration.

The Candadian Militia-A NCRish sort of military based around a monarch and parliament. Typically protects its citizens in exchange for caps/Canadian Dollars. Will be a pretty big element in the second half and endgame.

Midwestern Brotherhood of Steel-Will probably become a big faction in the endgame depending on choices early on. Pretty self explanatory from my earlier post. Pushy and very militaristic, dislikable but not like Fallout 4 BoS where they hate everything. They'll be as neutral as possible until the endgame.

Tundra Rangers-Something like The Desert Rangers from Wasteland, but as a pretty big supporting faction. Will have its own reputation like all the other factions, and will be a major part in the endgame depending on who you ally them with.

Also some others.
Let me know how you guys think of those factions.
 
The Candadian Militia-A NCRish sort of military based around a monarch and parliament. Typically protects its citizens in exchange for caps/Canadian Dollars. Will be a pretty big element in the second half and endgame.
There's supposedly an already existing Canadian faction based around Toronto, this was introduced in Fallout 3 but they didn't go into any detail. Might wanna build off of them.
 
Dunno if you're even interested, and I can't honestly spare the time on a personal level as I'm too busy writing my own works, but you're welcome to use the ideas on my site if you want something as a basis to kickstart other things.
 
For factions I'm kinda thinking of drawing inspiration.

The Candadian Militia-A NCRish sort of military based around a monarch and parliament. Typically protects its citizens in exchange for caps/Canadian Dollars. Will be a pretty big element in the second half and endgame.

Midwestern Brotherhood of Steel-Will probably become a big faction in the endgame depending on choices early on. Pretty self explanatory from my earlier post. Pushy and very militaristic, dislikable but not like Fallout 4 BoS where they hate everything. They'll be as neutral as possible until the endgame.

Tundra Rangers-Something like The Desert Rangers from Wasteland, but as a pretty big supporting faction. Will have its own reputation like all the other factions, and will be a major part in the endgame depending on who you ally them with.

Also some others.
Let me know how you guys think of those factions.

The Brotherhood should, as usual, be where you get the best goodies in exchange for being part of the asshole brigade; the Tundra Rangers seem a bit too similarly named to the Desert Rangers and if they fill a similar role they would probably betray a lack of originality; The Canadian Militia, though not very aptly named, seems like an interesting start-off point and could presumably be expanded upon.

The flaw the Brotherhood usually has is that, despite supposedly being a xenophobic military organization, they'll happily let you do whatever you want on missions and give you their best technology for virtually no work. The Midwestern BoS is, admittedly, known for taking on new members (that's the whole reason why they left to begin with), but they're not any less xenophobic than before; if anything, a Calculator-led BoS would become even more distrustful of outsiders, seeing them as peasants who can't even be trusted with conducting a proper way of life, and would secede from the original BoS pretty rapidly.

Gameplay-wise, I think the joinable factions in this Northwest should be four-fold:

-A familiar and generally good type; flawed in a way we can relate and the easiest to support (i.e. the NCR). Rising through their ranks wouldn't be incredibly hard, but the good stuff would only come towards the end; for the most part, the player would be outfitted with the basic equipment of any other soldier. Perhaps they could have specialized divisions to incentivise team play.

-The Midwestern BoS; fascist and militaristic, where players would have to compromise their own beliefs to receive the best goodies in the game. Rising through the ranks would be very slow but even the basic loot is better than others; however, disobeying orders and generally acting like an ass would not come without punishment, even for the slightest infringement.

-The tribal faction, a union of the various tribes in the region, which make up the mandatory independent route; they can either support one faction, the other or neither, choosing to make these lands theirs. They may or may not have ranks, but in the latter case, rewards are obtained by meeting various tribes across the region. The faction would promote self-sufficiency, and rewards would come in the form of perks rather than equipment, allowing greater adaptability.

Each faction would have its own end-game, and players would have to choose a faction either when creating their characters or very early on in the game. The Monarchy and the BoS have formed a temporary alliance in order to organize a sort of witch-hunt for the Cause, which has been assassinating high-ranking officials in both factions, and the tribes would have been enlisted for extra manpower. This allows for a team of players from various different factions (presumably brought together as a team of sorts) and allows me to tie in my fourth and final faction:

-The Cause, whose primary goal would be to eliminate any Monarchic or BoS presence in the region through subterfuge and stealth. One fourth of the players would be assigned the role of Cause agent in secret by the DM (maybe selected at random, I dunno) and made to pose as members of the faction they picked to begin with. They would have to carry out missions for the Cause in addition to maintaining their own cover and would have to meet contacts in various settlements to deliver collected info and receive new orders. Their motivation for keeping this secret from other players is obvious, and they would eventually have to betray them; of course, they could also play the double agent, but they should keep in mind that other Cause agents are in their team.

The Cause would not give out rewards (as the players already receive them from their respective factions), but they would rise up the ranks, receiving more intel of higher caliber and generally useful information that would allow them to shape events to their liking.

It'd essentially play out like a PnP version of Werewolf.
 
So how much are we talking here? I assume DC and Boston are out, though presumably someone would like to rewrite them if possible. Brotherhood of Steel is probably non-canon as well, but what are we doing with Tactics, or any of the cancelled ones? I assume a lot of people would like to canonize Van Bauren, but what about Extreme or Tactics 2?
That will be decided along the way.

tldr outline:
rule set
rule set taking shape, begin art, theme, setting design
testing while still generating rule set
rules finished
writing
play
That is pretty much how I want this to work out.
When (or if) we get a subforum, all discussions will take place there. I will start a sort of time table when to work on what, too, and delegate writing tasks as necessary.
The beginning will mostly be discussions of game-mechanical nature. First we'll have to decide what ruleset to use and what to modify if we decide for an existing one, but that will be done as soon as we have the forum set up.
There I'll also make a list of all the people willing to help, and their particular skills. At the start we'll need as many people experienced as GMs and PnP players as possible, to create a balanced ruleset.
For the time being I'll assume the role of "project leader". Since I'm not massively experienced in P&P design that means I'll mostly try to keep things running properly.
 
we need to know what is canon and what is not.

If you set up the game right after Fallout 2 to somewhere that doesn't really concern the locations there or what has come after (e.g. north from Arroyo), all canon needed is that VD killed the master and The Chosen one destroyed the Enclave. The rest can well be vague hearsay and "chinese telephone" stories, if any of it even needs to be referenced at all.

As for a simple ruleset... Cyberpunk 2020 has a pretty straightforward (and iirc low math) rules (atrribute + skill + d10 against set task difficulty) from where one can take pointers in creating a more suitable set for a Fallout-esque PnP's purposes.
 
Dunno if you're even interested, and I can't honestly spare the time on a personal level as I'm too busy writing my own works, but you're welcome to use the ideas on my site if you want something as a basis to kickstart other things.
I would be all for your new lore for FO3 being canonised.
 
My personal input on the canon is that we make 1,2 and New Vegas the primary canon with any non-conflicting aspects of Van Buren canonized (i.e stuff like the Ciphers are already referenced in New Vegas, so just include them). I say we pick and choose any nice aspects of Tactics/BGS canon at a later date when we develop the setting further.

Oh, and just as an idea. For in future when we sort out the setting, I think we should use this map as reference: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1GP3QtQFvcDiezEVWJ-VnteAULXs

It's a nice map and it's created by one of our own.

Personally, my idea is to operate within this zone. Since we're PNP we have more territory to work with. This has a nice inclusion of some NV lore (Caesar territory) as well as some Van Buren and Tactics stuff, as well as a big chunk of previously undiscovered potential new territory that we can work on.

mqtXCSQ.jpg

I also think we really need to sort out dev teams. If we just leave it free form we're going to get a writer team with a population of about 2 billion with an absolute maelstrom of ideas cluttering everything. We need clean seperated groups comprised of users who are going to help out with the project, and I think Hass, being the daddy of this project, should be the one to organize them/pick the staff. Organization is key to this otherwise I don't think we're going to get this off the ground, but I imagine that much is obvious anyway. Just my two pence.
 
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My personal input on the canon is that we make 1,2 and New Vegas the primary canon with any non-conflicting aspects of Van Buren canonized (i.e stuff like the Ciphers are already referenced in New Vegas, so just include them). I say we pick and choose any nice aspects of Tactics/BGS canon at a later date when we develop the setting further.

I also think we really need to sort out dev teams. If we just leave it free form we're going to get a writer team with a population of about 2 billion with an absolute maelstrom of ideas cluttering everything. We need clean seperated groups comprised of users who are going to help out with the project, and I think Hass, being the daddy of this project, should be the one to organize them/pick the staff. Organization is key to this otherwise I don't think we're going to get this off the ground, but I imagine that much is obvious anyway. Just my two pence.
I agree with all of that.

Also, in regards to what should be canon, I think we should really consider the Fallout Bible. It's basically 100% canon if we disregard Bethesda's games.
 
I also think we really need to sort out dev teams. If we just leave it free form we're going to get a writer team with a population of about 2 billion with an absolute maelstrom of ideas cluttering everything. We need clean seperated groups comprised of users who are going to help out with the project, and I think Hass, being the daddy of this project, should be the one to organize them/pick the staff. Organization is key to this otherwise I don't think we're going to get this off the ground, but I imagine that much is obvious anyway. Just my two pence.
Yes, that will all be done with the subforum. There'll be strict organisation and teams with set tasks and deadlines. I will not let this devolve into chaos!

As for the ever-rising question of canon, we'll get to that soon enough. Whenever one of the admins rises from their eternal slumber.
 
Ruleset, that is what we need to get sorted out first.
And when I mentioned before I was working on my own system I meant rulesets, I have a few ideas for a PnP ruleset on the works but it is very bare-bones.

I was working on one based on classes so that won't work for Fallout games I guess, since in Fallout there is no classes and anyone can invest in any skills they want :wiggle:.

So I can start thinking on a ruleset for this NMA PnP, but I need to know what would be the general direction, would it use SPECIAL? or we would make a ripoff attribute system? would we use the same skills as in the games or only some and make others?

Well any Fallout game needs traits and perks so I would love to see those implemented in any way (we could even call them something else if Bethesda decided to forbid us from using the same names for whatever reason).

I will place here something I had on my own ruleset:

Backgrounds:
Kinda similar to Traits since any player picks one at character creation, backgrounds are usually the profession or training the character had before starting to adventure, backgrounds might give bonus on initial skills and NPCs could require background checks for some situations, also backgrounds might allow to be easier for the character to increase certain skills (someone who was a doctor would be able to increase medicine easier than a soldier for example).
Backgrounds are not classes and do not restrict players from investing in whatever they want though.
Backgrounds are not a replacement for traits, they are more for roleplay and for story purposes (although depending on the ruleset they might give some bonuses on skills or other stuff like I mentioned before).

Well I have to go and sleep, I am still sick so I haven't posted much, also I have the feeling my posts are a bit more incoherent than usual because I can't think as clear as when I am not sick :drunk:.
 
Well if we are going with the Fallout setting than I also think we should just stick with FO1, FO2, New Vegas, and material from Van Buren that does not conflict with FNV.
 
It says on the Fallout wiki that Caesar said that the whole of New Mexico belongs to him.
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Four_States_Commonwealth
It's probably citing NV which is canon

So yeah, most of New Mexico should be red on this map.

It also says on that article that it could be an exaggeration. Plus, I imagine we're going post-New Vegas so we could be dealing with a very receded or even collapsed Legion.
 
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