Quote Originally Posted by Anteros View Post
How does talking do any good when it's literally everywhere you go? "Hey, never go outside again! It's radioactive out there!" Thanks.

Plus, it doesn't matter what real world radiation does, because we're not discussing it at all.
Because, at least in Fallout, it's not everywhere. It's a lot of places, but you can walk significant distances without getting irradiated once, so long as you know where the radiation is. Stick to an established path (like, say, the trader's route, which will take you to pretty much every settlement outside the city core) and you're fine.

Take Megaton for example. Want to avoid the radiation? Don't go into the pool surrounding the bomb in the middle of town. That's the only place you're going to get radiated. Yes, food and water are also radiated, but if you get some monthly treatments from the Doctor (which only cost about 50 caps), you can keep your radiation down to a level where you're not sick.