Introducing (pen-and-paper) players into the Fallout world

Nadrin

Nadrin

First time out of the vault
Sometime next week I'm going to be a Game Master leading a pen and paper RPG session set in the Fallout universe (1 & 2, I don't care nor like later games). Of course I'll be using the excellent "Fallout Pen and Paper" 2.0 by Jason Mical (thanks Wintermind for pointing me in this direction!).

The problem is none of the players played any of the Fallout games (well one of them played some Fallout 1 but not much).

So what are your ideas for properly introducing them to the Fallout universe? I want to make a strong stance that while it's a post-apocalyptic world it's nothing like Neuroshima or Mad Max. I want to convey the distinctive 1950s "atomic age" atmosphere mixed within the depressive ruined world, art deco/googie architecture feel, and strong retro-futurism (vacuum tubes based computers from 1960s, old VT100 like CRT terminals etc). And yet they need to understand that it all co-exist with hard sf technology, verti-birds, plasma/laser weaponry, power armors etc.

I'm going to show them intro movies of both Fallout 1 and 2, print a lot of pictures of 1950s USA, some propaganda posters of that era, print a lot of artwork from the game (stat/perk pictures etc) and last but not least play them some proper in-game music.

But what else I can do to make sure they understand the world they are playing their characters in? I appreciate any suggestions. :)
 
Fallout 1, 2 and 3 solved this problem by using player characters that had limited knowledge of the world around them - much like the (first-time) player. Such a bottoms-up approach allows you to skip explaining the macrocosm at once and lets you introduce details of the setting little by little as the players' characters explore their surroundings. You avoid the issue of having characters that know much more about the game-world than their players, which necessitates GM intervention when players make bad decisions as a result of not possessing information their characters realistically should.

In later campaigns, when the players are more familiar with the game world, it's easier to let them play characters that start out with a better understanding of the world around them. These kind of characters are far easier to play when the player has sufficient meta-knowledge to play them believably. Bottom line, it's far better to have the characters asking questions about and exploring the post-apocalyptic wasteland than the players.

As for props and visual aids, I think the intro to the first game should be sufficient, perhaps along with some artwork printed out and left lying around your playing area.
 
Thank you for your response but I think you've missed my point. I don't want to reveal to them specific information about the world. I want to introduce them to the world as players not their characters - to it's ambience, overall feeling - that little "something" that makes Fallout unique among it's kind.
 
Music.

It's always been a good intro into the world. Hell, play off the parallels with some dark ambient music such as Lustmord and follow it up with some Louis Armstrong. If anything, just play the OST for the original Fallout games. The ambient electronica vs tribal sound is brilliant.

Want some visual aid? Use some American style nuclear educational videos from the 50's era.
 
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