Fallout: Sunshine Waste - Stop This Crazy Thing! (A Vault Archives PnP Adventure)

[PaxVenire]

Stop This Crazy Thing!
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Stop This Crazy Thing! is Part I of an adventure anthology for Atomic Postman's Vault Archives PnP system set in the formerly beautiful Sunshine State of Florida. The adventure is made for up to four players. Players should start at Level 1. Players may create their own characters, but if not, it is recommended that the Overseer (GM) creates four different character sheets, each with different unique roles and some starting equipment. (e.g., Speech, Science, Guns, and Sneak).

The Beginning
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The year is 2137. After an unexpected hostile takeover by a mysterious and heavily armed group, refugees from the settlement of Kennedy have flocked to O-Town. The Governor of O-Town, Reggie Shannon, has hired the party to investigate the attack, pointing them to the refugee camp located on the outskirts of town to start, and paying them the sum of 10 Cards ($250) and 5 Tickets ($250) each with the promise of more to come as they help out. The refugees have set up within in the sprawling parking lots directly outside of O-Town. The party can question the refugees to learn that the hostile group was wearing odd, colored uniforms and came from the east where Cape Canaveral is located, though no settlement was ever set up on the cape, and the Air Force Station was picked clean by them years ago with no trace of occupation. With the I-4 to the north destroyed, the party will have to take the roads up and around the former city of Orlando to the Kennedy Space Center. Alternatively, the party can choose to brave the ruins of Oldlando, home to many dangerous mutants and proto-tribal raider gangs, until they reach a highway that can take them all the way to the bottom of Merritt Island or Cape Canaveral.

O-Town
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O-Town is a booming hunter/farmer settlement, known for Iguana, Frog, and Cayman meat as well as a thriving Orange grove for which the town is named after. Oranges are extremely popular as they quench thirst and make for a tasty treat in the hot Florida sun. O-Town is one of the few "civilized" towns within the center of the Sunshine Waste, with proto-tribes scattered all around.
O-Town Locations:

• The Fari - Where O-Town's farms are cultivated by merchants and salvaged/reprogrammed Mr. Handy tourist guides within the former Safari Adventure theme park.
• The Resort - Where the main settlement homes and facilities are located.
• The Zone - Where the markets are located within the former Galactic Zone theme park.

O-Town is walled off on all sides with a mixture of rusted car hulks, theme park attraction signs, scrap from roller coasters and salvage from Orlando International Airport. There is only one entrance, to the south where the highways blend into the massive parking lots where the town got their supply of car hulks. The town is guarded by a police force who don themselves in OPD gear and work for the town leader, Governor Shannon. While O-Town mostly trades via bartering, they also have a currency in the form of theme park tickets and annual pass cards that act as ration slips backed by the farms of Elysium. Most people redeem them for Oranges, an expensive commodity.
Peoples of Interest

• Reggie Shannon - Governor of O-Town. He's a no-nonsense kind of man, and cares for his fellow O-Towners. He once led the OPD. In light of recent events, he's paranoid that whatever took out Kennedy will come for O-Town eventually, but can't spare the OPD personnel as they are stretched thin with the sudden influx of refugees.
• Earl Needy - Head Captain of the OPD. He's on constant alert for outsider threats, though none really plague O-Town as of yet aside from petty crime and a recent surge in illegal chems being distributed. He takes his job way too seriously and is a kiss-ass to Reggie.
• Bana - Member of the Croakers, a proto-tribe near Lake Apopka that supplies O-Town with water. He sells Tabs illegally to residents of O-Town via runners in exchange for tickets.

Places of Interest

• Town Hall - A former museum converted into the head office of the Governor. An adjacent amphitheater is where assemblies are called and voting takes place.
• Jailhouse - The town jail, located in the Resort district.
• Swap n' Shop - A bazaar located in the Zone district. Rick's Shanks sells dried meats, The Fountain of Dreams sells purified water harvested from Lake Apopka, Ernesto and Co. sells armor, and Garand Thumb sells weapons.
• Elysium - A collection of farms located in the Fari district. They grow many things, but the Orange grove stands out as the most popular.

Quests in O-Town

• Easy Money: One of Bana's runners were caught in the act and are being held in the town jailhouse. The party can silence them, making it look like an accident or suicide if they're good at Sneak. Afterwards, the party can optionally run for Bana.
• Wasteland Justice: Captain Needy knows Bana is the head of the drug running operation here in O-Town, however Governor Shannon forbids him from arresting Bana without clear-cut evidence as to not sour relations with the Croakers tribe who provides O-Town with their water. However, a breakthrough was recently made when a runner was caught in the act. The party can make him confess with Unarmed or Deception. Otherwise, they will have to find another damning piece of evidence to charge Bana.
• Get Off My Lawn: The recent influx of refugees has given the Buena Vista raider gang easy targets. Get rid of them by any means necessary.
• It Came From The Glades: Rumors of a monster in Oldlando has been circulating O-Town. They say it's tall as a tree, fast as a bullet, and deadlier than a Cayman. It only comes out at night.
• Stop This Crazy Thing, Part I: Investigate the attack of Kennedy. The party will learn of another refugee camp in the Croakers tribe that might know more.

Oldlando
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The city of Orlando was a massively popular vacation hotspot. Be it the many theme parks, zoos, hotels and resorts, museums, or shopping centers, the city had something for everyone. Because of its high density of tourists and unique identity as a city of attractions, the Vault-Tec Corporation chose Vault 53 in Orlando to open as a museum expo piece for its first couple months after construction. They hoped to drive public enthusiasm to help fund the junk bonds used to create these units further, similar to their first Vault reveal. Every day the Vault door would open at 8:00 a.m. and close at 8:00 p.m. Vault-Tec held an office in downtown Orlando where residents could purchase their spot in Vault 53 in case of a nuclear holocaust. After the expo period ended, it would be closed off and restricted from entry. Drills for Vault residents would take place in frequent intervals around five times a week. During its expo period, these drills were simulated on the tourists as part of the attraction experience where Vault-Tec staff got to flex their professional skills and instill confidence in would-be residents. After the expo period, the turnout for applicants taking part in these drills steadily decreased as time dragged on. It was during a routine drill on Saturday, October 23rd, 2077 that the Beta Alert switched to an Alpha Alert. Those inside the Vault who were participating were sealed in, their lives now in the hands of Vault-Tec. On the outside, air raid sirens rang out on every street corner, with citizens and tourists woken up from their sleep or disturbed during their nighttime activities and running hopelessly from the oncoming missile strikes.
Peoples of Interest:

• OBT - Named after the long and popular stretch of road that bisected Orlando down the middle, the OBT (Orange Blossom Trailers) are a large raider gang led by the Corporal, a ghoulified National Guardsman who oversaw the NCRA (National Catastrophe and Relief Auxiliary) camp at the epicenter of Orlando along the Orange Blossom Trail weeks after the Great War. They claim the road of their namesake, but can be found all over the region pillaging wanderers and traders.
• The Parrotheads - A proto-tribe of hippies living out of the Ritaville Resort. They aren't pacifists and will defend themselves, but will attempt to extend an olive branch (usually in the form of a blunt) before resorting to violence. They believe Heaven is a tropical paradise as foretold by their god Bubba.
• The Practicers - A proto-tribe with a background of survivors who took shelter in the ORMC (Orlando Regional Medical Center). They view their home as a temple of healing, and scour the wasteland for chems and medicinal properties as well as medical books and magazines. Their names comes from their veneration of medical knowledge which they attribute to their survival. They're led by their MD, Julio Veras. Short, hairy, wears a makeshift cassock made from doctor scrubs. They have a symbiotic relationship of sorts with the OBT where they exchange food and water for medical supplies.
• Buena Vista raiders - A raider gang from the city of Lake Buena Vista just outside Orlando. They are descended from survivors who took shelter in the COTT (City of Tomorrow, Today!) theme park. Their leader is unknown. They are infamous for their ruthlessness and cannibalism. The robots of the COTT have since kicked them out, forcing them to survive by any means necessary.

Places of Interest:

• The Executive - A former airport next to Orlando. It is now a swampy den overrun by Snappers, but might hold some valuable technology and components.
• Central Florida Zoo - A former exotic animal exhibit. While most animals held here perished in the Great War, one miraculously survived, the Spider Monkey.
• Vault 53 - A standard Vault-Tec vault. As of 2137, the has since been long abandoned, with the insides picked clean by the proto-tribes of Oldlando. No one knows what happened to the inhabitants. As the story goes, when the Vault door opened, the residents were nowhere to be found. It is now a nest of Iguanas.
• Florida Shopping Center - A former mall. The Florida Shopping Center is a large mall, half-submerged and filled with Cayman.
• The COTT (City of Tomorrow, Today!) - A former theme park and World's Fair Expo where prototype scientific advances were proudly displayed.

Creatures of Interest:

• Snappers - Large mutated snapping turtles. They swim fast but walk slow, avoiding land when they can. They can crush bones with a well placed bite, crippling anyone unlucky enough to be caught in their beak.
• Spider Monkey - Mutant Black-Handed Spider Monkeys. They now have the amount of eyes to match their namesake as well as two tails. They eat fruit and insects such and are a nuisance for the farmers of Elysium who have to constantly watch out for them in the Orange grove.
• Cayman - Mutated alligator. They're a sneaky predator that roams the Sunshine Waste. They've gained the ability to run on their hind legs, but by default walk on all fours. They can camouflage themselves, allowing them to expertly stalk their prey.
• Muscovy Raptor - Mutant ducks. They have grown talons where there used to be webbed feet, allowing them to scratch predators and grab prey as well as a piercing beak allowing them to reach for nuts and insects in smaller holes.
• Abomination - A giant Cayman with man-like arms who walks on two legs.

Croakers
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The Croakers are a proto-tribe descended from trailer park residents, a lot of whom were drug addicts and hippies. They live next to Lake Apopka, a pre-war test site for negating the radiation levels of water after a nuclear war. A prototype water purifier, still active and maintained by the people of O-Town and Croakers, sits near a dock where it scrubs the irradiated water, which they then further purify it via steam distillation. The Croakers, while small, are armed and protect their territory fiercely against hostile encroachers. In the early years, they clashed with O-Town over the purifier until a peace agreement was made between the first Croaker leader and the first Governor of O-Town after they inadvertently damaged it in the fighting. The Croakers hunt for Cane Toads, which secretes a hallucinogen that can get a user extremely high at the small chance of seizures or even death. The Croakers eat the Cane Toad meat while saving their toxins for what they believe is a groovy look into the future where abstract patterns shape into future prophecy (e.g., they get high and see the a cloud turn into the shape of what they perceive as children meaning they will have a fruitful legacy). They are called Croakers for multiple reasons, because of their addiction and reliance to Toads, the hiccups they get after an extended period of Tab use, and more derogatorily by O-Town citizens for their tendency to drop dead from usage, which the Croakers see as a good thing, passing into a euphoric afterlife, one of the best ways to die in an unforgiving wasteland. It's ritual for adult Croakers to take Tabs and have orgies to populate their community, much to the disgust of O-Towners who don't exactly care for their odd neighbors.
Croaker Locations:

• Magnolia Park - Where the O-Towners and Croakers work to purify the lake water to sell at The Fountain of Dreams in the O-Town Zone district.
• Paradise Heights - Where the Croakers main encampment and town is located, a trailer park and shantytown.
• Red Rocket - Where the Croakers prepare their Cane Toad meat as well as their Tabs.

Peoples of Interest:

• Grant - Leader of the Croakers. Slim, bushy long white hair and beard, and old. He is blind, but claims to see when he takes Tabs. He might be right.
• Suena - Daughter and caretaker of Grant. Slim, short brown hair. She is next in line for leader and has already taken on the responsibilities while she cares for her father.
• Rodolfo - O-Towner Chief Engineer and Tab addict who helps maintain the water purifier. Broad, red hair. His addiction to Tabs is making his work sloppy.
• Joaquin - Tab manufacturer. Roundish, medium brown hair. He is slipping some of his work into the wagons of O-Towners that work for Bana.
• Annie - Member of a small sect of refugees in the Croakers tribe. Average height, brown hair, lost her husband in the massacre.

Quests for the Croakers:

• Its Good, But It Can Be Better: If the party is good at Lab Science, they can perfect Joaquin's Tab recipe so that it negates the harmful effects of Tabs and provide and even greater high, but to do so, it needs chlorine and naloxone. Perhaps a hospital in Oldlando carries these.
• Is There Anybody In There?: Rodolfo's extracurricular antics has been ruining the quality of the water, leading to trace amounts of rads found in the supply. He needs Addictol or Fixer which might be bought in O-Town or found in an Oldlando hospital.
• Wasteland Justice: Joaquin can be outed to Suena, which will result in her telling Governor Shannon, allowing Captain Needy to formally charge Bana.
• Go Crazy, Go Stupid: After helping the Croakers enough to gain their respect, the party can be invited to a celebratory drug orgy. Fun!
• Stop This Crazy Thing, Part II: Annie swore she saw Vault suits on some of the attackers in Kennedy. The only Vault around would be Vault 53 in Oldlando, perhaps that's where you need to go to find out what is going on.

Vault 53
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The moment Vault 53's door sealed shut that fateful day, the cafeteria lights went out. Vault-Tec staff gathered anyone handy or willing to learn, and brought them to one of the maintenance facilities where they learned how to repair and upkeep the vault. Perhaps a red flag in hindsight, but no one thought much of it at the time, contrarily thankful that it was just the lights and was repairable. They thought the power failure was merely a result of the bombardment outside. The kitchen lights were an easy fix and shortly after the vault dwellers got situated in their new homes. Life continued, as predicted. About a month or so later, the hot water stopped working. Another relatively easy fix, though it took a couple days. Then another month went by and the doors to the atrium jammed. Then next month the air conditioning stopped working. Next month the elevator. The vault dwellers by now knew to keep their Vault-Tec Repair Guides, Dean's Electronics, and tool kits close to them. Vault-Tec staff helped the residents along the way for the first year, explaining the monthly malfunctions as a mere result of the bombs knocking things loose and the computers detecting what needs repairing. On the start of the second year, the Vault's entire generator went down. The vault dwellers were perplexed, they couldn't seem to find the staff anywhere, as if they just up and vanished. The residents gathered together in the atrium and divvied duties amongst themselves, pulling no stops to fix their generator. They were ultimately successful, but the question still remained where the staff went. They scoured every single crevice, but could not find them. Life continued, months passed into years, years into decades. A generation was born and raised in the Vault, and all the while the monthly malfunctions continued. Vault residents had everything down pat by now. The fixes were maintainable but never not stressful. If anything stopped working all together, then their home, their solace from the outside world would be gone. About thirty years after the Vault doors closed, when residents were master repairmen and could fix their issues within the hour if not day, they were finally given an answer as to what happened to the initial staff all those years ago.
Vault 53 Locations:

• Entrance - Where the Welcoming Center, Atrium, and first Maintenance level are located.
• Residential - A Vault residential level with bunks and recreation. Also has a Maintenance room.
• Cafeteria and Gymnasium - Where vault dwellers ate their meals and worked them off. Also has a Maintenance room.
• Classrooms and Library - Where vault dwellers went to school and studied. Also has a Maintenance room.
• Water Purifier and Generator - Where the source of power and water for the Vault are located. Also has a maintenance room.
• Maintenance and Cleaning - A sprawling work center where vault dwellers upkept their vault, washed their clothes and sheets, and stored all their equipment.

Quests in Vault 53:

• House Cleaning: Iguanas have nested all over Vault 53 as the front door was half-way open. The party will have to deal with the Iguanas in order to continue by either outright killing them or manipulating the Vault's temperature to below 45 degrees to freeze them into hibernation.
• Something Ain't Right: The Vault Generator appears to be in a state of disrepair. Find a Vault-Tec Repair Guide and a Super Tool Kit and repair the facility to working condition, but beware, as the Vault's automated defenses will not like the intruders.
• Stop This Crazy Thing!, Part III: The Vault appears to be missing a crucial piece of technology: it's G.E.C.K. The Oldlando gangs didn't get ahold of it, so where could it have gone? If the party managed to succeed in the difficult repair of the Generator, the wall in the Generator room will slide open to reveal an entirely new part of the Vault. A pristine elevator will take them to an underwater bullet train that leads directly to the Kennedy Space Center.
• Your Answer Is In Another Castle: If the party failed to repair the Generator, they will have to search elsewhere, pushing onto Kennedy from the surface.

Kennedy Space Center
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Sitting at the top of Merritt Island is the Kennedy Space Center, what was the primary research and launch center for the United States Space Administration before the Great War. Miraculously, the entirety of Merritt Island and neighboring Cape Canaveral was spared from bombardment with the surrounding area only being overgrown or weathered due to time. Those who were fortunate enough to be in the region on October 23rd, 2077 converged on the Kennedy Space Center Visitor's Center, which was converted into a makeshift hospital in the months following the end of the world. The areas around Merritt Island and Cape Canaveral, including the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station that appeared to be abandoned, were scrubbed of any useful supplies or materials. The stations around the center were repurposed into the settlement of Kennedy. Many survivors would eventually wander off into the Sunshine Waste while those who remained comfortably built their town up. By 2137, the settlement of Kennedy was on par with O-Town. They had commerce with the other "civilized" settlements such as O-Town, Glowater, Jacksonville, and even the occasional dealing with far away towns like Holiday, Miami, and Tally. They had working power, markets, farms, homes, their own water source, and even plumbing. Kennedy is now taken over by the Starhoppers, who have managed to erect a pristine rocket colony ship at the Launch Complex where before there was nothing.
Kennedy Space Center Locations:

• Shuttle Landing Strip - A stretch of road next to the Kennedy Space Center proper that used to be an open-air farm growing all kinds of fruit and vegetables.
• Titusville - A small fishing town where citizens of Kennedy caught Big Bass, Silver King, Snapperjaw, Redfish, and the most prized and and rare Manatee.
• Launch Complex - Where a massive and mysterious rocketship now stands.
• Visitor's Center - A post-war hospital set up in Kennedy.
• Fire Station - The headquarters for the Kennedy Mayor and Guardsmen, the police of the settlement.
• Merrittville - Where the main homes and facilities were located
• Port Canaveral - Where the settlers of Kennedy drew their water.

Peoples of Interest:

• Major K. - Leader of the sect of Starhopper personnel. Tall, strong build, mean-faced, short white hair and stubble. Wears aviators no matter the time of day or weather. He is disciplined and to the point, doesn't like stupid questions or general tomfoolery.
• Chief Franco - Chief Engineer for the Ark. Average height, average build, brown hair. He is trying to get the rocket mission-ready.
• Sergeant Burma - Head of Security for the Starhoppers. Buzz cut, Napoleon complex, Tightass about regulations.
• Private Wernher - A Vault 53 descendant who's eager to leave the planet. Slim, short, black hair.
• The Starhoppers - Remnants of the USSA, USAF, and Vault 53 who are trying to leave the planet aboard the Ark. They wear a Space Age militaristic uniform resembling a mixture of a Vault suit and an Astronaut Pressure suit. It is colored by role -- Red for Soldiers and Security, Blue for Science and Engineering, Yellow for Pilots and Helmsmen.

Quests in Kennedy Space Center:

• Who Goes There?: If the party failed to repair the Vault 53 Generator, they will have to push onward to the Kennedy Space Center from the surface. They will be stopped at the gates by Starhopper Guards and warned to turn around. If the party ignores the warning, they will be fired upon. If the party leaves, they will have to find a sneakier alternative way to enter, perhaps through Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
• There Are Many Like It, But This One Is Mine: Private Wernher forgot his Laser Carbine in the Fire Station and inspection is almost here. Unfortunately the Fire Station is where Sergeant Burma is headquartered.
• Impressive, Most Impressive: If the party repaired the Vault 53 Generator and entered the base via the underwater bullet train, they will arrive under the Launch Complex where Major K. will be impressed with the party's gumption. He will answer the party's questions so long as they aren't stupid in which after too many, he will kick the party out of the base and open fire on them should they return. He will reveal that the Ark they're building is headed for the Moon. When they land, they intend to colonize the Moon and start anew using Vault 53's G.E.C.K. Their plan has been in the works for generations, overseen by the ZAX supercomputer AI John F. Kennedy under the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, who has led them true the entire way through.
• Stop This Crazy Thing!, Part IV: If the party plays their cards right, Major K. will offer the party a space on the Ark should they accomplish an extreme task. They are to head to the COTT in Oldlando and return with a FlashTek Storage Device, a cutting edge piece of technology stored under the theme park that will allow them to download the John F. Kennedy AI from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station mainframe and upload it onto the Ark, guaranteeing they reach to the Moon safely.

Air Force Station
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On October 23rd, 2077, the ten ICBM warheads targeting the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station were shot down by anti-missile missiles. The precision was flawless, and the surrounding area was untouched by nuclear destruction. Curiously however, a total of twenty-two warheads were projected to be launched towards the base, meaning the entire payload wasn't launched that fateful day. In case of failure on part of the ZAX 1.3c, John F. Kennedy, the USSA personnel of the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station retreated underground to an interconnected secret base built by Vault-Tec and funded by a secret enclave within the U.S. government. It was here underground that JFK got to work, instilling a new strict hierarchy amongst the small sect of remnants, with each person given duties to fulfil on a daily basis that would contribute to the wider goal of getting the Ark colony ship stored under the Launch Complex of Kennedy mission-ready. A window of sixty years was given by JFK to build the Ark and fly to the Moon. Nearly all the parts they needed were within their massive underground complex, except for the G.E.C.K. in Vault 53 and the FlashTek Storage Device, a prototype storage device that was under the COTT theme park and expo that was to be delivered to the Kennedy Space Center in November of 2077. In order to ensure that personnel were able to repair and manage not only their colony ship but their colony proper, JFK set a thirty year window where he would meticulously sabotage the citizens of Vault 53 until such a time that they were master repairmen. Admittedly, this was a complete gamble and they were lucky enough to even have a pool of vault dwellers at their disposal in the first place as the Great War came as a surprise to everyone. Phase I of the experiment began the immediate moment Vault 53's doors closed. Vault-Tec staff were to train the residents of Vault 53 in maintenance for a year in which they would then be absorbed into the Starhoppers a year after Vault 53 closed, beginning Phase II. The staff then monitored the progress of the residents while JFK decided which monthly problem they would need to overcome. The classrooms and library in the vault itself were very maintenance-oriented with education materials resembling a trade school. When the thirty year window was up and the vault residents finally grew into useful and resourceful subjects, they too would be absorbed into the Skyhoppers, beginning Phase III. Another thirty years would pass where the Skyhoppers managed to build their Ark to perfection. During this timeframe, JFK confirmed the missile site in Cuba was not only still holding the rest of the nuclear payload that was intended for them, but even more directed at the state of Florida, reinforcing the Starhopper's urgency to escape. The missile site is automated however, meaning when the Ark launches and hits a certain altitude, it will trigger the Cuban missile site's automated response. Sixty years after the Great War, it was time that the Skyhoppers looked upwards. They emerged from their bunkers, killing the residents of Kennedy in the way, and raising the Ark from under the Launch Complex.
Air Force Station Locations:

• Level 1: Flight Simulation - Where a generations of helmsmen trained rigorously for sixty years for their mission.
• Level 2: War Room - Where head personnel gathered to discuss progress, track the Vault 53 residents, and the Cuban missile site.
• Level 3: Mainframe - Where the ZAX 1.3c, John F. Kennedy resides.

Peoples of Interest:

• John F. Kennedy - A ZAX 1.3c supercomputer hooked up to a large monitor that resembles the long-dead 35th President of the United States. The ZAX 1.3c AI ultimately chose this persona for his inspirational role in the Space Race of the 1960s that ultimately got America to the Moon, long after his death. He is in control of the entirety of the facility's automated defenses.

Quests in the Air Force Station:

• Sneaky Sneaky: Those who failed to repair the Vault 53 Generator can gain access into the Cape Canaveral Air Force Base by way of the sewer system in Port Canaveral. In order to do that, the party will need a Wetsuit and Rebreather which can be found in Oldlando via the OBT.
• Fly Me To The Moon: Download the John F. Kennedy AI onto the FlashTek Storage Device and hand it to Chief Franco. This ends the one-shot with the party launching aboard the Ark and taking to the stars, damning the Sunshine Waste to a hard reset once again.
• Stop This Crazy Thing, Part V: Confront JFK.

The End
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Before confronting JFK, the party will learn about the moral dilemma of the one-shot, the Cuban missile crisis. Depending on the choice of the party, they might have left planet Earth alongside the Starhoppers or stopped JFK by any means they thought of. Whatever they chose to do effectively ends the one-shot, allowing the Overseer (GM) to craft end slides befitting of what was accomplished throughout the game.

 

[Hardboiled Android]

Neat stuff, excited to see more. Not sure if you're aware, but AP did intend to do a Florida setting at one point.

Am I right in assuming that Cayman are not merely giant caimans are not merely giant gators/caimans, but rather bipedal, man-style caimans? Like a scaled down gatorclaw? Or maybe they're just a gatorclaw. Certainly a better name for them.

 

[PaxVenire]

Neat stuff, excited to see more. Not sure if you're aware, but AP did intend to do a Florida setting at one point.

Thank you.
And yes, I knew AP intended to do a Florida setting. I'm from Florida as well and I was very excited to see what he might've come up with.

Am I right in assuming that Cayman are not merely giant caimans are not merely giant gators/caimans, but rather bipedal, man-style caimans?

Correct, I'm finally making use of the idea I logged the Flora/Fauna thread:

Spoiler: Original Cayman Idea

Caimán:

The Caimán, or formerly known as the American Alligator, is a sneaky predator that roams the Sunshine State. While radiation induced mutation has given some animals a larger figure, the opposite can be said for the Caimán.

Once a large apex predator in fresh waters, they are now much smaller, the size of what one would grow to in reproductive size.

In trade for its grandiose size, it’s gained the ability to run on its hind legs as well as camouflage itself.

Like a scaled down gatorclaw? Or maybe they're just a gatorclaw. Certainly a better name for them.

I was personally never a fan of the Gatorclaw, or rather, I would've been more interested had it not just been a reskinned Deathclaw in everything including name. A giant bipedal gator is neat, but as a Floridian, when I think of gators I think of them as cunning, silent, and terrifyingly sneaky before I think of their tankyness, so the Cayman is more what I personally would've done with a mutant gator.

 

[The Dutch Ghost]

I have to say that your write it down very nicely, not wasting too much time on fluff like I tend to do as I want to give my ideas as miuch details as possible as Hardboiled Android can attest.

Its mostly because I one day hope to make something of my ideas like a source book with a complete game campaign or who knows even a game though the chances for that are small.
I probably do it as I just like writing big walls of text. It gives me the feeling that I am not forgetting any necessary detail.


I kind of like the Gatorclaws. an amphibious version of the Deathclaw that was made by the same design team.

Of course it is very interesting to hear from a 'native' what they think would make much more sense as a mutation.
I still go with the rules with the explanation that all mutations, if not directly created by FEV, are the result of radiation and wild FEV even tho0ugh I know even the designers wanted radiation to be the sole mutation factor because of science! But even they could not agree how the mechanism worked.

Off topic, I like to imagine that Ghouls are the result of radiation and something else. Some kind of rare mutation agent or human factor that causes humans to turn into ghouls. Except Harold, he is a unique FEV mutation.

Carry on.

 

[PaxVenire]

I have to say that your write it down very nicely, not wasting too much time on fluff like I tend to do as I want to give my ideas as miuch details as possible as Hardboiled Android can attest.

Thank you. I start off with a lot of fluff, but go over it and chip away what is necessary and what is not to be honest.

Its mostly because I one day hope to make something of my ideas like a source book with a complete game campaign or who knows even a game though the chances for that are small.
I probably do it as I just like writing big walls of text. It gives me the feeling that I am not forgetting any necessary detail.

Same here, I love writing. So much so that I often cripple myself by starting things before I finish another because I feel like if I don't write something I'll forget it forever.

I kind of like the Gatorclaws. an amphibious version of the Deathclaw that was made by the same design team.

Of course it is very interesting to hear from a 'native' what they think would make much more sense as a mutation.

I like Gatorclaws on a surface level. I think a giant mutant alligator is a fun concept, and specifically the one in the cancelled Fallout: Tactics 2 looked cool to me. My adversity to the Gatorclaw from Fallout 4 comes from the fact that rather than a purely original mutated creature with some interesting design and lore, they just kitbashed a Deathclaw, and even explains it in-lore as this. Idk I guess I just find it boring. The fact that it's a Nuka World-exclusive experiment is fine I guess, but knowing Bethesda, if they ever make a Fallout set in the South, I know they're just gonna throw these everywhere without reasonable explanation much like how they threw Radscorpions in the North East for some reason.

I still go with the rules with the explanation that all mutations, if not directly created by FEV, are the result of radiation and wild FEV even tho0ugh I know even the designers wanted radiation to be the sole mutation factor because of science! But even they could not agree how the mechanism worked.

I've never liked the argument that FEV and only FEV can create monstrosities seen in Fallout as it makes the entire franchise reliant on the core region for truly exciting material. The further East you go, the less interesting things there would be unless you pull a Bethesda and throw FEV everywhere in which I feel that cheapens the uniqueness of FEV. I think FEV creating some of the truly horrific or mysterious things in Fallout such as The Master, Psykers, Super Mutants, Centaurs, Floaters,and Wanamingos is fine. However, I like the explanation that radiation was the reason for things like Ghouls, Radscorpions, Brahmin, and basically every other creature that's just a mutated animal big or small because that feel like a direct consequence of nuclear war rather than just a small corporation playing God.

Off topic, I like to imagine that Ghouls are the result of radiation and something else. Some kind of rare mutation agent or human factor that causes humans to turn into ghouls. Except Harold, he is a unique FEV mutation.

I agree. With Ghouls, it needs to be something else besides just the radiation or else it takes away from rads being scary in the first place. Like sure you'll look ugly as a Ghoul but if taking an extreme dose of rads just makes you live forever that's pretty lame. If I had to retcon a small detail for Ghouls, I'd make it so that Ghouls are the result of radiation plus those who are infected with the New Plague whether the Ghoul be from the pre-war era and ghoulified on the day the bombs fell or had the disease genetically passed down through the generations after the war and the lethal dose of rads simply unlocked the unlucky (or lucky depending on how you look at it) wastelander's ability to transform.

 

[Hardboiled Android]

I like Gatorclaws on a surface level. I think a giant mutant alligator is a fun concept, and specifically the one in the cancelled Fallout: Tactics 2 looked cool to me. My adversity to the Gatorclaw from Fallout 4 comes from the fact that rather than a purely original mutated creature with some interesting design and lore, they just kitbashed a Deathclaw, and even explains it in-lore as this. Idk I guess I just find it boring. The fact that it's a Nuka World-exclusive experiment is fine I guess, but knowing Bethesda, if they ever make a Fallout set in the South, I know they're just gonna throw these everywhere without reasonable explanation much like how they threw Radscorpions in the North East for some reason.

I'm averse to the notion of any kind of X_claw (like the Hairy Deathclaw) for reasons concurrent with your objections to the Gatorclaw specifically.

I've never liked the argument that FEV and only FEV can create monstrosities seen in Fallout as it makes the entire franchise reliant on the core region for truly exciting material. The further East you go, the less interesting things there would be unless you pull a Bethesda and throw FEV everywhere in which I feel that cheapens the uniqueness of FEV. I think FEV creating some of the truly horrific or mysterious things in Fallout such as The Master, Psykers, Super Mutants, Centaurs, Floaters,and Wanamingos is fine. However, I like the explanation that radiation was the reason for things like Ghouls, Radscorpions, Brahmin, and basically every other creature that's just a mutated animal big or small because that feel like a direct consequence of nuclear war rather than just a small corporation playing God.

Agreed. Not only is their radiation, but there are also other mutagens out there, both man made for laboratory/genetic engineering purposes and even potentially wild viruses, like the Gamma Cyclontronic and Phase Shifting viruses mentioned by Vree as potential explanations of Super Mutants that don't pass muster. There's also straight up genetic engineering and gene splicing, like Cazadores or Nightstalkers.

I guess it is kind of an open question on how to keep FEV at the appropriate "power level" to distinguish it from other mutagens. I guess maybe no other agent is capable of the quad-helix DNA structure, and the accompanying radiation resistance and immortality?

I agree. With Ghouls, it needs to be something else besides just the radiation or else it takes away from rads being scary in the first place. Like sure you'll look ugly as a Ghoul but if taking an extreme dose of rads just makes you live forever that's pretty lame. If I had to retcon a small detail for Ghouls, I'd make it so that Ghouls are the result of radiation plus those who are infected with the New Plague whether the Ghoul be from the pre-war era and ghoulified on the day the bombs fell or had the disease genetically passed down through the generations after the war and the lethal dose of rads simply unlocked the unlucky (or lucky depending on how you look at it) wastelander's ability to transform.

My view: Ghoulification should be unexplained, fundamentally unexplainable, and rare. I think it should have some connection to being underground or otherwise enclosed areas (the only two locations in the original games + Van Buren where ghoulification is known to have occurred specifically were a vault and a bunker). I also am not sure if there should be any ghouls created post-War either, I think there's something interesting about the idea that it's tied to some very specific and irreplicable feature of a global nuclear holocaust.

 

[PaxVenire]

I’m gonna edit this adventure further later to add some finer details and iron out kinks, but as far as main story goes, I feel it’s solid concrete.

I added a poll for what setting to do next. Anyone who wants to help out, please vote. And if anyone has any questions I’d be happy to answer.

Also the title to this one-shot anthology is officially “Fallout: Sunshine Waste”

 

[Hardboiled Android]

My vote's for the Fountain of Dreams. And it's a good pull.

Though I don't really like the name "Foreverglades", it feels like you were too much trying to find a pun.