Fallout: Van Buren Worldbook (FINISHED - Map and PDF inside)

I'm running the "Reverend and Marked By War take on the 80s" buddy cop story on Tuesday night, then the New Canaan Blues storyline with Clover and Johnny Boy on Friday. Saturday is the reuniting session where I'll pitch them the "Wells of Salvation" quest. Sometime after they've completed that, they'll get attacked by one of Uncle Sam's upgraded Eyebot Squads and they'll be contacted by Red Menace.

 

@Hardboiled Android
@Dayglow Drifter

Today Reverend Hill and Marked By War took on the 80s in the Buddy Cop movie of the 23rd Century. First in leaving Salt Lake City they encountered a band of Caesar's Legionaries walking from the Salt Lake, baby cradled in the arm of their squad leader. Unsure of eachother, they both (with caution) let eachother pass in peace in a rather strangely serene scene when they realized what the Legionary was carrying.



They then got ambushed by three 215 Vultures with Hunting Rifles on a raised highway, the tricky fucks had set mines between the cars, meaning the dynamic duo had to play very carefully. However, Reverend ended up biting the bullet and shooting one of the mines, nearly blowing the bridge itself. After a tense combat which included Reverend doing a smooth slide over a car wreck, setting a man on fire and then Marked By War throwing the flaming man over the side of the highway bridge, as well as a section of it collapsing behind them, they persisted.

Recuperating, they approached the supposed location of the 80s war-party, spending a night by the campfire exchanging tales of their past and bonding, as well as Reverend making a poncho for Marked By War. The next morning they walked through the foothills and saw the reality of the situation, it wasn't just a war party it was a whole Motown. A gas-station fortress. Bickering for a long time on their approach discussing the merits of stealth, outright assaults, disguises or approaching pretending to be rough road warriors looking for work/trade. They eventually decided on the latter, with the additional strategy of Reverend turning his beloved Super-Blowtorch into a makeshift explosive (Using his Pip Point to do successfully, to the tune of "Ring of Fire") and planting it in one of the ancient fusion-pumps at the gas station central to the fort. Upon approach they were bluntly told that if they were worth their salt, they'd bring the 80s the heads of some pesky White Legs as tribute in order to enter. So, they did so, tracking a hunting band of White Legs and ambushing them (successfully) in a narrow canyon, bringing back their heads to Motown. Upon being let in, they talked with some of the 80s, and saw that the 80s had captured numerous Heartbreak Hotel staff and had them chained up. Marked By War discussed the merits of actually allying with the 80s for the purpose of cracking down on Heartbreak Hotel for Johnny Boy's sake (as his girlfriend was enslaved by Heartbreak) but this all went to shit when Reverend spotted Motown's star decoration: the mutilated corpse of a Desert Ranger, strung from the gas station logo stand in celebration of victory. Passing a sleight check by the skin of his teeth, Reverend planted the bomb.



It was at this moment (after setting it of course) that Reverend realized the disconnect between the shortness of the timer he had designed and set (60 seconds) and the radius of a fusion core explosion. Marked By War who had been informed they were making a smooth, Agent 47 like exit and chatting to one of the wall sentries was then met with Reverend Hill suddenly sprinting up the defenses and rugby tackling Marked By War over the wall as the explosion was set off, them dramatically flying together into the sand dunes below as the base's center exploded. Worse for wear, they struggled up as 80s outside the camp spotted them and pursued, them running away for their lives. Two managed to catch up and they engaged in battle. Both nearly falling to the 80s, but surviving by the skin of their teeth (Reverend with 2 HP and Marked By War with 5 HP) they continued to flee in the chaos, now being Vilified by the 80s, but having successfully killed about 30 of them and wiped out their base of operations in the process. With that done, they set out to return to New Canaan. A job well done and easily the funniest session we've had so far.

 

Friday is the "New Canaan Blues" drug questline with Clover and Johnny Boy

 

@Hardboiled Android @Dayglow Drifter Just finished New Canaan Blues - woof. Running mysteries satisfyingly is hard.

John took on the job - Clover was bluntly uninterested in solving a chem based mystery and instead was working on their transmitter to contact the Enclave. Clover and John also spoke with Jeremiah Rigdon and learnt of the Wells of Salvation storyline. John made a rather large promise that he'd persuade the Hands of God to "return to the fold" if the New Canaanites would help him as best they could with Heartbreak Hotel. Jeremiah made no promises but exhausted and out of options, he agreed that they'd find a way to help in some way, as well as paying a hefty price (1k each) for acquiring the water chip from Vault 70's ruins to repair the Syracuse water plant.

John started by learning more about the friends of the OD'd New Canaanite, Brigham Young, finding out where they loiter in their hours off work from building the adobe wall. The ramshackle west side of town where the Ghouls and Mutants live. Speaking with some of the locals, he learnt from an old ghoul that the kids are shooting up Med-X on top of Jet. He also learnt a man named Joe had been caught publicly drunk in the area. Figuring this was part of the same gig as the Chems, he sought out Joe. Getting nothing from Joe, Johnny used a pip point to persuade him - resulting in a, ahem, "mysterious stranger" appearing outside the window and convincing Joe this was a much more dire interview than he had anticipated. Joe spilled the beans that he'd got alcohol from Gideon (aka Rex) the former Desert Ranger.

John went to Gideon (after chasing the stranger outside the window and finding him to mysteriously vanish) and was similarly stonewalled. After an impassioned speech regarding morality and ranger obligations, Gideon whilst confessing nothing said if there was someone pushing Chems to the kids, it wouldn't be the guy passing out booze. Honest.

So he investigated the market, and spoke to Paulie Fratelli of the Fratelli Caravan Company out of New Reno. Paulie figured (with lots of two finger pronged pointing ) that it was those freaks the Van Graff traders. New Reno caravans know business. Canaanites ain't interested in Chems, so they don't sell em to em. They know where the line is. Those Van Graffs though? Buncha pushy fanooks trying to lay the blame on the Reno caravans and get them pushed out of Canaan. Not for nuttin', but Paulie thinks he should check em out.

Stuck for clues, he ended up waiting for the three friends of the late Brigham to skulk off work to their loitering spot, where he cornered them and threatened them by gunpoint. The kids said it was all Gideon and Doc Angela who are running a speakeasy in the basement of the old Ogden Union Station to drink and play cards with other Canaanites. The jet, the Med-X, the booze. All them. Things got tense and John fired off a warning shot, causing his guard friend Booker (formerly Avery) to come running. Turns out, Booker is part of this underground speakeasy and threatened Johnny Boy to drop the case, because if this all goes topside they'll all be caned and worse, exiled. Johnny Boy explaining what the kids had told him, he retorted that Gideon and Angela don't push Med-x and Jet, just cigarettes and booze. Letting the kids walk, Johnny Boy theorized that perhaps since the kids know of the speakeasy, they're blackmailing Gideon and Doc Angela for Med-X from the clinic, being the only place where they could reasonably get Med-X from.

Booker and Johnny headed to the clinic, Booker explaining the gig was up regarding the Speakeasy, they both confirmed that the kids were indeed blackmailing them. Still, this doesn't solve where the Jet is coming from. Figuring the Van Graffs were the ones providing the Jet - this lay two options for how they're getting it in. Either they've got someone on guard duty checking the caravan shipments on their payroll or someone is sneaking it in through somewhere else. So they split up, Booker checking with the guards and Johnny Boy checking the wall construction - where the kids work and the only physical gap in New Canaan's walls. He put together pretty quickly that the only wall worker who is there all day and carries boxes in and out on his back is Goliath - a dimwitted Super Mutant (2nd Gen). Speaking to Goliath, Goliath broke almost immediately and had something of a panic attack. Unsure of what to do and terribly afraid of being in trouble he began uncontrollably crying and begging him not to get him in trouble. Johnny Boy lied and reassured him he was working with the "Lion Men" (The Van Graffs) to which Goliath confessed he had been scared into carrying special boxes for them in and out.

He then reported to Protector Green, explaining the Jet funnelling but hiding the existence of the Speakeasy. Green pulled in Goliath, who confessed. Happy enough with this. He had the kids brought in, and the following day caned (along with Goliath) in the town square. The kids tried to reveal the speakeasy but a Persuasion check on John's behalf convinced Protector Green they were lying to defer responsibility. Goliath was exiled from New Canaan, the kids suitably punished and the Van Graff Traders banned from New Canaan, resolving the mystery.

 

We did have LA Noire soundtrack playing in the background when Johnny Boys investigation started, and it also started inexplicably raining the moment he walked out of the Protector's office.

Brigham's name was an unfortunate case of me mistakingly just straight up calling him Brigham Young and then sticking with it because I'd already said his name a few times. Such is life as a GM.

What's the problem with 2nd Gens? I use 2nd Gen to refer to the Enclave miner Mutants that appear in 2 and New Vegas and are referred to as the "dumb dumbs" by Tabitha. They're not the Vault 87 mutants.

And as for the voice - hey - watch it Hardboiled.

 

Also it was funny to both me and the players whilst Johnny Boy was getting caught up in the morally ambiguous mess of New Canaanite politics. Meanwhile, Reverend and Marked By War at the same time out in the desert:

 

That's a very fair argument. If it helps, I didn't actually tell the players he was 2nd Gen, just very dumb.

In other news I think the players are very much enjoying the campaign. I'll have ran three sessions for them on their request this week and even the ones who weren't involved in eachothers sessions during the split hopped into the VC (muted) so they could listen/spectate the session. Feels good that the Van Buren worldbook is getting this much value finally from an audience.

 

@Hardboiled Android @Dayglow Drifter Very short (and weird) session today due to scheduling conflicts, and almost entirely player driven.


Reverend Hill and Marked By War returned to New Canaan, seeking out the clinic for healing. They were visited by John who had been waiting for 12 days for their return, annoyed at their disappearance. Gideon the Desert Ranger upon hearing their story proudly gave Reverend his Desert Ranger duster to reinstate him with his colors. They then headed over to Prophet Jeremiah Rigdon to talk further about the "Wells of Salvation" job. Johnny Boy haggled with the Prophet (using a successful Barter check) to negotiate higher payment and half up front. This upset Reverend who thought it was disrespectful to the Prophet. They left and headed over to Protector Green's office to claim their reward for eliminating the 80s. In this conversation Reverend inadvertently revealed to John that the 80s were at war with Heartbreak Hotel and would have besieged the slavers if not for their interference - enraging John who saw it as sinking his only chance of sieging the slavers who took his girlfriend. John stormed out of the building, and after collecting their reward in the form of a scoped hunting rifle and a chainsaw, they followed John - leading to a very long and intense argument between Reverend and an emotionally distraught John. John claimed he was selfish, that he wasn't thinking, and he wasn't truly a beacon of morality since he wasn't helping someone meant to be his friend. Reverend angrily retorted odds were that his girlfriend was dead in a ditch anyway, and that the 80s were animals who needed to be put down. Raiders of the most dangerous kind. He then followed that up asking if he thinks that he's the only one who's suffered like this - citing the dozens of stories of people who lost loved ones to slavers to Nevada, and then opening up about a particularly brutal incursion of the Vipers on the town of Caliente when Reverend was a child - the action that caused the death of his family and his joining of the Rangers in the first place.

After the argument continuing in that vein, it eventually resulted in John storming off and claiming that once they did the Vault 70 job they were done as a group. Marked followed but Reverend went to meet with John.

Marked met John in Booker's house - and opened up about his own history as a member of the Red Giants tribe out of Monument Valley - a tribe that came under the parasitic grasp of Hecate, and how he lost his family either through execution or becoming mindless cultists. He said that understood how John felt losing family, or similarly now that he's far away from the Red Giants, not knowing the fate of those who are alive. He said that however, he's finding new family in his friends (the party) and he doesn't want to lose that, and that Reverend was acting on his pain too (The dead Desert Ranger). John calmed down and ultimately agreed that they'd all lost - and they should stick together.

Reverend went to find Gideon at the clinic, where they ended up having a heart to heart over a (secret) glass of whisky. Reverend related that he felt he didn't know whether he was doing the right thing or not - and he didn't feel like a Ranger for that. He said he thinks it's practical that the girl is dead and it won't be a happy ending - there's no point in it. Gideon retorted that the Rangers aren't just a gun to be pointed in any direction for money, they're a spirit behind the gun, and that their sense of right and wrong is all they've got. He'd seen Rangers lose their sense of right and wrong and fall to being nothing but mercenaries - and he doesn't think Reverend lost it, he said that using the 80s to fight Heartbreak Hotel would be lying with coyotes, and when you do that you get fleas. But that being said, doesn't matter if the story has an unhappy ending - if it does, hang the bastards who did it. But as a Ranger he should help John, it's the right thing to do regardless of how impractical. Reinvigorated from their chat, Reverend set out to find Marked By War and John.

Meanwhile - Clover investigated rumours and stories, trying to learn as much about the region as possible. He learnt of a story - somewhere called "The Boulder Dome" out east, a place where all ailments, all injuries, all diseases can be cured. Several in New Canaan had come there because they'd tried to find the Boulder Dome but failed.Eventually, Clover made contact with the Enclave and reported their findings. They were congratulated on securing the schematics and HADES Substance from the Poseidon Energy Lab, and were ordered to preserve it for Enclave reclaiming upon their return. He was ordered to keep searching and to find this "Boulder Dome", and to investigate it.

Short session, and almost entirely just players RPing with eachother. No plot progression really, but each of the players said it was their favourite session so far - so ya get what you get. It was good roleplay on their part, very very good. Hard to communicate over text.

 

I also really wished they'd dug into Wells of Salvation - I prepped the damn Vault 70 dungeon and they didn't even leave New Canaan. But, it was strong RP and they all really enjoyed it. So eh.

Clover has been very absent because they have been finishing work super late, they've joined late and missed some sessions so that would explain their absence also in the story. They should be good next week though.

 

Fuck you for making me realize this

 

Today was a relatively short slow one in terms of progression, mainly because the opening combat took fucking eons.

The group put their backpacks on and set out into the ruins of Salt Lake City, heading for Judah Black and his "Hands of God" situated at Temple Square. Shortly before arriving at Temple Square, they were beset by a sniper hidden in the ruined buildings a few blocks down the main road, and furthermore attacked by a group of 80s Road Warriors rushing at them. We then had a very prolonged battle taking down the Road Warriors and reaching the 80s Sniper who was in an entrenched position. Reverend and Marked nearly died, it was a close shave. Marked ended the fight by using a Pip-Point to critically success his chainsaw attack, disemboweling the sniper in a screaming rage. They discovered a scrawled note on the sniper's person - a detailed description matching Marked and Reverend, and noting they'd recently entered New Canaan and to surprise them upon exit. A direct consequence of their Vilified status with the faction.

They approached, then, New Jerusalem in the ruins of Temple Square.



Passing a persuasion check with a wall sentry, they were met by Judah Black at the fortification walls. Convincing Judah (with another check) that they were not money-hungry mercenaries, but friends of New Canaan who had been sent to New Jerusalem in good faith to end their conflict (and nothing more), Judah invited them inside the junk walls of New Jerusalem, where he invited them to speak (disarmed) in the amphitheater.

There was a prolonged conversation, involving Clover, John and Judah Black. John's line of reasoning went along the lines that the New Canaanites and the Hands of God were stronger unified, and that Judah's best chance of spreading the "good word" were in doing so with New Canaan's help. He revealed that the drug trade had been busted, the culprits caught, and the mutants pushed out of New Canaan. He also levied that Judah was a hypcorite, invoking "thou shalt not kill" for his raids against the caravans. Thankfully passing some Persuasion checks throughout that line of argument so as not to provoke Judah to the point of violence, it still didn't sit well. Judah *agreed* that unification was necessary, but necessary under the leadership of the Hands of God and not the false Prophet Jeremiah Rigdon. He also similarly levied that their violence against the caravans was self defense. All they intended to do was stop the caravans and turn them away, allowing them to go no further, but the caravans always chose greed and attacked them. Clover ended up playing "good cop" and stopping the souring conversation between John and Judah, Clover suggested a compromise. He pushed Judah to admit that he wasn't against the idea of trade fundamentally, but moreso the uncontrolled free method of which it was currently being conducted. So, Clover said, why not impose strict rules and regulations in place. No merchants inside the walls of New Canaan, only outside, and strong levying of tariffs. On top of that, push an end to the hereditary title of Prophet and concede it to Judah's proposed system of divine providence deciding. Against all odds considering Clover's low Barter and Persuasion skills, both passed. With a total of something like 10 total checks over the course of a very long conversation, they passed each check and steered a conversation that was close to going very very wrong.

Staying with the Hands of God for the evening, Judah rallied his people the next day to return to New Canaan. They did so, and arrived with the Prisoners assuring the guards ahead of time that they meant no harm. The party brought Judah to Prophet Jeremiah - and sat with them as they spent several hours hashing things out. Jeremiah basically agreed to all of Judah's demands, relenting afterwards that such a violent division had come over something that could have been talked out. He thanked the Prisoners, who then returned south to Salt Lake City.

Breaking into the decrepit old temple, they found a large elevator constructed in the basement of the temple, leading them down a cold, dank metallic pit. Ahead of them, a large cog-shaped door and a sign saying "Welcome to Vault 70. Welcome Home!"

Next week the full dungeon. Finally. Also, a new player coming soon.

 

I can't recall exactly what was said but very cleverly Clover had picked up on something minor Judah had said and then got the conclusion from it. I was actually paranoid for a second they'd managed to find the worldbook lmao.

And yeah I'm taking the opportunity to make the dungeon more interesting. Lots of technical problems and traps for them to circumvent. I'm also considering the prospects of having a "Vaults Map" in the Control Center of the Vault which would mark Vault 29, Vault 69 and Vault 24 on their map.

Either way, that session will end with a CODE (Mark I) equipped Eyebot squad attacking them.