War...War Never Changes...(Looking for a Fallout RPG)

[Archpaladin Zousha]

After starting up a new game of Fallout: New Vegas I got the itch to roleplay me some Fallout. But I have no clue if there are any good systems out there where you can play in the world of Fallout. I've heard that there WAS a system designed based on the video games, but they weren't very good. So I'm wondering if other systems can be jury-rigged to run a Fallout campaign.

[Giarc]

Well, the Fallout d20 game got axed and they had to rename it to Exodus. I think there might be a digital version floating somewhere around on the internet.

[Thrawn4]

This is a direct adaption of the PC games... nice fluff, but really heavy.

http://www.atomicgamer.com/files/38445/fallout_pnp_2_0-pdf-zip#

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Heavy? In what sense? :smallconfused:

[Nerd-o-rama]

Heavy? In what sense? :smallconfused:

Rules-heavy. It represents the rules and system mechanics of the (original 2) computer games just about verbatim, if this is the system I'm thinking of. Not much trouble when you just have to alternate mouse clicks, but in terms of rolling dice I imagine it gets a tad tedious.

Also it has the same issues as the first two games of Int and Agi being uberstats.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

From my understanding that's true in the newer games too, at least for INT.

[GungHo]

Note, SPECIAL started as GURPS, so you could easily do a "reversion" back to GURPS if you wanted to go that route.

Edit: I've also seen some folks work with Deadlands. The Weird West theme is appropriate. Rather than Undead, they're Ghouls and other mutants. Hucksters and Shaman are re-translated as psi or tech users. However, you end up cutting a lot that part of the system out.

[LibraryOgre]

And, as always, I'll pimp d6 Space. Free, simple, and with a robust set of options for expansion, while simple enough to introduce new things into.

[UserClone]

I'm going to throw Retrocalypse (https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0BwK4Lp9L-F24ZjE0NjU2M2UtMjY4Ny00MWNhLWFlMTQtNjYwOWY3MmZmOTR k&hl=en&pli=1)out there. It's the Fallout-inspired hack of Old School Hack (http://www.oldschoolhack.net/osh-docs/OldSchoolHack_v1beta.pdf), which is itself a hack of Red Box Hack (http://www.oldschoolhack.net/osh-docs/RBH2.pdf). Red box hack is, in turn a hack of... well (http://index.rpg.net/pictures/show-water.phtml?picid=11106).

A hack of a hack of a hack of the grandaddy of all RPGs, and chock full of Fallout-y goodness, to boot. I love this hobby.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Retrocalypse looks real easy to use, and it's got just about everything I'd want in a Fallout RPG! Thanks, UserClone!

[UserClone]

Retrocalypse looks real easy to use, and it's got just about everything I'd want in a Fallout RPG! Thanks, UserClone!

Awesome!:smallbiggrin: Hey, do me a favor, though: should you end up using it for real, would you mind posting an AP on Story Games (http://story-games.com/forums/?CategoryID=4)? I'd really like to spread the buzz about this cool game, because it seems to be off people's radar, and I think it has a lot of potential!

[jpreem]

I, m right now Gm-ing a Fallout clone game in GURPS. Works out just fine even though I'm a total noob in terms of GURPS. As has been already said original Fallout SPECIAL system is already a realtive to GURPS ( they even had originally planned to make the game run in GURPS)

[Abaddon87]

I'm not sure if this was brought up directly, but there is a nice pdf conversion for Fallout to the GURPS system and it has some GREAT background and setting info you can pick and choose to give your players if they are new to the wholw Fallout universe.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/14646941/GURPS-Fallout-Conversion-30

Hope that helps!

I know that I once converted the actuall xbox 360 version of Fallout 3 to a pen and paper style game using the calculations for attributes and damage and everything. It was a pain!

[jpreem]

It has good background information - I myself am not much on the mechanical side of this book. The wasteland creatures tables are still pretty solid though.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Seems like its in need of an update though. It has nothing on New Vegas, and the Mojave Wasteland is where I was planning on setting the game.

[houlio]

Seems like its in need of an update though. It has nothing on New Vegas, and the Mojave Wasteland is where I was planning on setting the game.

It looks like you might just have to change what it says about the cancelled Van Buren game and insert New Vegas stuff. It shouldn't be too hard, since New Vegas didn't introduce too many new and terrifying creatures, only Cazadores come to mind.
Factions might be a bit tougher, and it depends on what you want to do with the game. For example, if you plan on playing through the events of New Vegas, then you'll have to come up with stuff for Mr. House and the casino tribes in addition to the Legion.

I think you're biggest problem might just be getting the necessary GURPS supplements to run the game, unless you already have them.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

That is a problem, seeing as how I don't own a single GURPS book. Never ever played it. :smallredface:

[UserClone]

How's Retrocalypse going for you? You started yet?

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Not yet. Still trying to figure some stuff out with the system.

[Nerd-o-rama]

I haven't played New Vegas, but I always figured it was an attempt by Bethesda to bring the story back to near the original two in tone and location anyway, based on what I've heard and how very, very, very hard fans of the first two complained about Fallout 3. Practical upshot of this as you can generally use most of the rules/monsters/setting info for California for New Vegas, can't you?

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Well, for the most part. The only monsters that it doesn't cover are the new Nightstalkers and Cazadors. The political situation's also a bit different. Instead of a town on Hoover Dam, it's being contested between the three major powers of the region, the NCR, Caesar's Legion and Mr. House, the enigmatic ruler of New Vegas.

But yeah, even though I haven't played the first two, it definitely seems like New Vegas was an Author's Saving Throw (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AuthorsSavingThrow) to win back the old guard of fans. And from my understanding, it worked in a big way. I personally thought both games were awesome in their own way. Mr. New Vegas is cool, but he's no Three Dog.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Also the internet has reminded me that New Vegas was farmed out to Obsidian, which is made up of...guess who! Ex-Black Isle employees.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Yeah, that had the fans squeeing with joy. Though it wasn't so much "farmed out" as it was "collaborated on," Bethesda doing the lion's share of the game's environment and development, and Obsidian just doing what they're good at, which is storytelling.

That's sort of what I feel is what made New Vegas so good. Obsidian's definitely got storytelling chops, but their programming can really be hit or miss if their other games (Neverwinter Nights 2 and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2, both of which I personally enjoyed) were any indication. Bethesda, on the other hand, has loads of experience creating open sandboxy worlds to romp around in, but their storytelling is frankly quite a bit weaker, relying on the player to do most of the characterization of the PC in his or her head. Together, they made a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup of a game. Though even then it wasn't perfect, given the sheer number of bugs New Vegas players have to put up with, even today, a sad reality of games this complex.

But enough about that, I've currently gotten some people interested, and they're working on characters. So far I've got:

An ambitious Brotherhood of Steel Initiate seeking to rise to Elder and drag the Mojave chapter out of stagnation.

An NCR Trooper who's actually an Enclave-built android who escaped her creators and now seeks allies to help protect her.

A Vault-Dweller who's enamored with the tales of the Mysterious Stranger (http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Mysterious_Stranger_%28character%29), and wants to take up his mantle.

and a Tribal who's really just tagging along.

Gonna be an interesting group. :smallbiggrin:

[Nerd-o-rama]

Sounds like a Fallout party to me, alright. What's their goal, aside from their personal plans?

[Archpaladin Zousha]

That part I haven't quite worked out yet. All I really have at the moment is that the NCR is cementing their hold on the Mojave Wasteland following the Second Battle of Hoover Dam.