You Ve Retained Enough Humanity to Understand How Books Function. I Congratulate You

War… War never changes.

You’ve retained enough humanity to understand how books function. I congratulate you. Not everyone left in the world is blessed with that kind of mental function. Hopefully you will reach the end, before the constant radiation eats into your mind, or rots your hands away so aggressively that you lose your grip.

The Great War. Admit it. For you, it doesn’t mean a lot. You’ve always had the same comforting sights, an eternal wasteland, stretching out beyond your view. Normality means survival, stress and fear. But a long, long time ago, your ancestors had all the comforts you could desire. They squandered every second of their life, oblivious to how short every passing second really was. Appreciating nothing as time passed on by. They’d never have dreamt of living like you, eking out a cruel existence in a barren, unforgiving and all-together uncaring land. When the tensions rose around the world, those same ancestors were suddenly plunged into an uncertainty far deeper than your daily grind. Where you cope, they panicked. And the world was set on fire… Welcome to Fallout.

The years of the tales you may hear vary greatly. Many regions have had their fair share of heroes. 2161 to 2290, barely two hundred years between and yet filled with more bravery and trial than the Great War ever pressed upon the world. For mass murder is far easier to complete, than rebuilding.

In this barely-kept collection of pages, you will find the rules to allow you to play Fallout on your own tabletop. From the SPECIAL stats that have made the video game series so unique, to many of the creatures detailed in the various games. All you will need are willing players, dice, rulers and this book. If you need representations of the creatures and people of the wastes, there is a myriad of miniature companies who cater for every whim. For those less interested in the buying, painting and modelling process, I personally suggest paper cut-outs. Easily printed, easily mounted. You will gather an enormous collection of enemies with next to no effort. Terrain can then be It is suggested that you allow between 1 and 4 players, encouraging teamwork and rivalries to produce a flavoursome and entertaining set of games. Settings; Throughout the video games, the Fallout world has been fleshed out throughout America, but you needn’t restrict yourself to these settings (Though it may be easier, if you’re short on time or inspiration). Later on, I shall be detailing how I created a new setting of my own in the yet-unmentioned region of Texas. Maps of Fallout settings are found easily online, allowing you to copy the adventures of your own character. Or you could use the landmarks already detailed and make the story your own! Don’t like the escaped slaves hiding out in the Temple of the Union? Why not fill it with Megaton refugees after their home was sent to Kingdom Come? You’d prefer to fill Vault 3 with the original occupants, and have your players try finding them before the Fiends butcher them all? Well feel free! I have rules for most of the “typical” creatures featured in all of the Fallout games to suit your needs, and it is not difficult to imagine and create your own creatures and rules for them if my list is simply not enough!

Regardless of where you set your games, you will need suitable terrain and features. It’s not difficult to throw together shacks and houses, or even just gather books in piles and throw suitably coloured sheets over it all to create a series of hills. More involved hobbyists, feel free to let your imagination take you overboard. Cardboard can be used (when stripped down) for corrugated metal sheeting, allowing for easy and cheap buildings if you have the time and patience. Pools and rivers can be quickly thrown together with items as simple as MDF board and sand-paper, PVA glue again… Time and patience. Though simply drawing water flow effects onto cut-out shapes of card would easily suffice if you are happy to play across such terrain! For beautiful examples of Fallout terrain, look up the “Lead-adventure” forums. Character Creation Vital to game play, regardless of how you choose to play it, your players will require a character or few. A relatively uncomplicated affair, they must first look to their Player Sheet (Included separately).

They will need to fill out the various sections. First come “SPECIAL”. These are the most important stats on a players sheet, as they dictate the very nature of the character played. Split between 7 sections, they stand for Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility and Luck. Not only shall they dictate the derivative “combat stats”, but they are suggested as use during speech checks and general trials around the game worlds. Every character starts with exactly 40 points to put on their SPECIAL stats, though each must be between 1 and 10. Beside the SPECIAL stat sits Radiation, this is used during games to keep a running check on how many rads a player has absorbed. Rules for Radiation are shown later. Next comes the derived combat stats. These are the main stats used during combat, depicting the players physical ability. At the end of this group comes “Sv”, a models armour value. Possible armour values are written later on.

Next come the players skills. A list of 13 characteristics that define how well the player performs at any task he may seek to do. Rules for these skills are written later, but it’s easy enough to understand that the higher they are, the better the player is. Each skill starts at 1 out of 10, and players can “Tag” any 3 skills to boost them a further 1 point. Beside skills lies the Inventory; A three-piece list for weapons, armour, consumables and miscellaneous goods that the player may pick up in their travels. Below it all is the initially empty list of Perks. Each player can gain up to 15 level-earned perks (And some others based on race, rewards and so on). Finally, the last row is simply to keep track of your characters progress. Name, current level, Caps total and the current XP counter. All but the name are filled in during games, as they are adapted to represent the players finds and encounters. Strength 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Cs 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 Carry capacity 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Cs: Combat Strength. This characteristic is used in close combat, it is the number compared to a creatures T value to decide how easy they will be to injure. Carry capacity: Self-explanatory. Most items have a weight, and they add up.

Perception 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Pd 6” 12” 18” 24” 30” 36” 42” 48” 54” 60” Sneak bonus - - - - - +1 +1 +1 +2 +2 Pd: Perceptive Distance. This is your characters MAXIMUM visual range. Outside of this number you are effectively blind. Any creatures, characters or people within this distance cannot be shot at in any way. You may move towards them if you wish, but try to stick true to RPG etiquette. Obviously if your character cannot see a creature, they will be unaware of them unless told, etc.

Perception gives a bonus to Sneak at higher levels, representing a characters innate awareness of the surroundings.

Endurance 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 T 2 2 2 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 HP 2 3 3 3 4 4 5 5 5 6 T: Toughness. Used whenever a player takes damage, Toughness is compared to an attacks Cs to decide whether or not an injury is inflicted.

HP: Hit Points. Indicative of the amount of injuries a player can take before they fade out.

Charisma 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Trade mod’ 2.5% 5% 7.5% 10% 12.5% 15% 17.5% 20% 22.5% 25% Speech mod’ - - - - +1 +1 +1 +1 +2 +2 Charisma boosts a players Speech skill, allowing them to pass Speech checks much easier. It also adapts the flat rates offered by Traders. Higher Charisma will get players up to 25% off on trade prices, and net them up to 25% more for their own goods.

Intelligenc 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 e Skill pts/ level +1 +1 +1 +1 +2 +2 +2 +2 +3 +3 Reflecting how many points a player can boost his skills by when he/ she levels up.

Agility 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 M 3” 3” 3” 3” 4” 4” 4” 5” 5” 6” M: Movement speed. This is how your character can travel in a single burst. Increased by Agility, it is useful for characters that prefer to keep out of harm’s way. A higher Agility also increases the chances of high Action Point totals in a turn.

Luck 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Luck is a unique stat, boosting critical hit chances and the chances of finding superior loot. Barter Items for sale from traders are often sold at "unfair" prices. All prices offered by traders for player items are at 45% of their actual value. Every 1 point of Barter boosts this by 5%. All prices offered by traders on their own items are an extra 60% of their base value. Every 1 point of Barter lowers this by 5%. Positive relations with a trader may give further bonuses, though such privileges often require separate personal Quests. Energy One of the weapon-specific skills, Energy Weapons encompasses a variety of weapons. Laser, Plasma, even Fire- Weapons based weapons all come under this category. Use of weapons is explained later. Explosives Another of the weapon-specific skills, Explosives covers a wide range. Missile Launchers, thrown grenades, grenade launchers, the Fat Man and Mines all fall under this category. Use of Weapons in explained later. Guns Yet another of the weapon-specific skills. Guns covers the largest variety of weapons in the game, from pistols to SMGs and sniper rifles, a high Guns skill is vital to anyone hoping for an easy ride in the wastes. Use of weapons is explained later. Lockpick A players Lockpick skill determines the roll needed to open locks. Locks have 5 different difficulty levels. Very easy requires a lock pick skill of 2 Easy requires a lockpick skill of 3+ Average requires a lockpick skill 5+ Hard requires a lockpick skill of 7+ Very hard requires a lock pick skill of 10 To then open the lock successfully, the player must roll 4+ on a D6. They may retry if they fail. If they attempt to pick a lock that is "beneath" their level, they gain a +1 [for every skill point over] to the D6 roll to pick it. In addition, they may attempt to force the lock. Instead of rolling D6, they roll a D10, aiming for the skill level required to attempt a lock. They must roll that number or above to successfully force the lock. This will instantly open the container/ door if succeeded. If they fail, it is broken and cannot be opened without the Infiltrator perk. Medicine The Medicine skill directly affects the use of healing chems. From Stimpaks to Radaways, Med-X to Rad-X. The higher the skill, the greater the affect. Melee A players’ basic Melee skill is the flat value used in close quarters before adding a modifier for weapons. It is explained in the rules for close combat. Repair Required when attempting to repair weapons and armour, the Repair skill is somethingsomething darkside Science Sometimes players will find locked computers. They will need a Science skill high enough to break into them if they wish to find anything out from them. Unlike the game, they will not reveal groovy notes about the area. They will be relied upon for extra information during missions. Very easy requires a Science skill of 2 Easy requires a Science skill of 3+ Average requires a Science skill 5+ Hard requires a Science skill of 7+ Very hard requires a Science skill of 10 To then hack the terminal successfully, the player must roll 4+ on a D6. If they fail, the computer is locked, permanently. If they attempt to hack a terminal that is "beneath" their level, they gain a +1 [for every skill point over] to the D6 roll to hack it. Science also allows players to use mini-labs to create their own chems. A simple D10 vs their skill is required. Equal to or less than their Science skill and they have succeeded in making D3 chems of their choice. Sneak Players within the visual/ perceptive range of aggressive enemies will often need to sneak in order to fight first. In the creatures turn, it has to roll a D10 and try to beat the score of the targets Sneak skill in order for it to see them. Once it has, the target will need to escape their perceptive range in order for them to stop following. In addition, models sneaking successfully will be able to execute a "Sneak critical". Speech Used by players to find out more secretive things during dialogue with NPCs. Any character met may have hidden facts, and the GM may make a list as whimsical as he fancies with which to entice the player to make these Speech checks. They are made with a D10, and the roll must be equal or less than the players Speech to succeed. It is entirely up to the GM as to whether or not NPCs will have these dialogue options. And he may choose to give any depth of information upon success. Survival Players who rely upon healing meds can often find themselves paying out great deals of money to keep themselves patched up. Players with high survival skills can instead rely on the world around them, finding sustenance in fruits and even the flesh of his kills. All players have the ability to devour the world around them, but high Survival skills boost the healing power granted. Every point of Survival acts much like how a Stimpak is affected by medicine, but for *all* food items. Unarmed Functioning the same as Melee, Unarmed is used for any weapons used like fists. THE RULES

In order to play, at least one person at the table must understand the various mechanics. The most important of which, is how you intend on playing this game. I have created rules that allow for a variable approach. If you wish to play gang-based wars between factions, it’s very simple to allocate a set “cost” to your gang for your starting base. Experience gains will serve the same, and you can throw wildlife into the fray to adapt the difficulty. Or, if you’re much more of an RPG fan, you can set one player to be the GM {Game Master}. This single individual will be responsible for every encounter, every NPC conversation and even enemy “spawning”.

This is how I pictured this game to be played, the GM acting as the world, looking down on the players, seeing their flaws and weaknesses and throwing trials at them to suit their strengths and shortfalls.

There is no right or wrong way, ultimately. Your preference takes precedence.

Player turn The nature of Fallout is like a complicated game of chess, whereby you’re only as good as the moves you make. You will not be limited simply to your movements and guns. Every player gets their turn. How you decide their order may be picked by a dice roll, added to their agility. It might be decided by how they’ve chosen to surround the game board, it may be as simple as “Ladies first”.

A strict system of Action Points is used to dictate how many things a player can do in their turn, actions range from moving and firing through to looting and even speaking to NPCs. It can be challenging to players new and old, to discover their best play style. It’s equally as challenging to persuade an entire group of players to work together. The wise GM will be able to create harsh encounters to discipline his players if they grow unruly, or stray too far from the “team ideals”, though it is often wiser to allow their own team mates to show them the error of their ways.. The bottom line, is that so long as the players can enjoy themselves, you will be rewarded with their enjoyment. A perfect tool to bring about their disappointment, often with the rescues of their favourite NPCs..

The very first thing a player must do in their turn is roll for Action Points. They take as many D8s as they have Agility points and pick the highest roll. This is their total AP this turn. It can be taken higher than 8 with the use of chems/ perks etc. Action Points are spent performing the things listed on the following pages, and will be limited where detailed. Movement “Movement” is split between most of the physical abilities of a player out of combat. Full rules are included for all activities.

Moving: 1AP The player expends 1AP to use their M distance once. They may spend as much AP as they wish on movement in a turn. If they cannot move their full M distance, be it due to obstruction or otherwise, the rest of that AP use is lost. They may still use further AP to move elsewhere, but they cannot move a portion of their AP to allow for shooting before they carry it on. Terrain; If a player moves over flat, even surfaces, they suffer no penalties to their movement. However, difficult surfaces can slow them and even completely halt them. Types of terrain and their effects;  Basic obstacles (Like rock fields, knee-high fauna and fallen trees, etc) all incur a simple -1” to their total movement.  Anything else short of being a solid wall will half their movement completely (rounded up), and may require more than 1AP to complete cross. Water: Potentially treacherous, water slows characters moving through it significantly at certain depths. It is categorised in three ways;  Shallow: Puddles, enough to damp your feet. There are no penalties to movement, but even the smallest body of water can be radioactive.  Deep water: From waist-deep to full-on ocean depths, Deep water forces a player to either wade or swim. Movement is halved (Rounded down) when players enter deep water. Again, it’s likely that even deep water will be irradiated. It is up to the GM how badly. In addition, there’s the additional danger of drowning. If a player is ever KO’d in a body of water (No matter how deep!) they must roll a test against their Endurance, aiming to roll equal or under the characteristic. If they fail, they lose 2D3 wounds immediately.

Climbing: 1AP* Ladders, rock faces or any surface the GM allows a player to climb can be climbed. 1AP is expended for every 2 inches of vertical climb a player makes. If a player begins a climb and cannot reach the “top” with their remaining AP, they must mark their position on the climb. A shiny bead of glass, blob adhesive putty, or even a folded piece of paper can be left in place if the model cannot be safely placed on the surface. In this position, they are in a dangerous place. Any wounds could stun them, distract them or otherwise cause them to fall. It is possible to use one handed weapons and attack in close combat while climbing, though any rolls to hit with ranged weapons will suffer a penalty of –D6 to hit. Combat scores will be reduced by –D4 for any player climbing at the time of attack.

Falling: When on elevated positions, players risk falling every time they are hit by gunfire, explosions and melee combat if within 2” of an edge, or if they are caught out mid-climb. If injured while at the edge of high terrain pieces, they must pass an Agility test (Roll equal or lower than their stat) or fall. Every time the climbing model takes a wound, they must pass an Endurance test or fall. There is a “safe” height of 3” where the model will take no damage. Every inch fallen AFTER then will add one point of HP loss. There are no saves and the HP is removed automatically.

Crouching: Free Ducking, covering, hiding and sneaking, Crouching is vital for ensuring you survive through a hail of gunfire. A player can declare that they are to crouch at any point in their turn, and may go from crouched to standing as often as they need. Place a marker beside the model to show it is Crouched.

A. Minor cover. When a player is standing behind cover of this size, he gets no benefits. Player crouching behind cover of this size; gains +1 to Sneak if hidden & -2 to be hit by ranged weapons. B. Medium Cover. Player standing behind cover of this size; gains a -2 to be hit by ranged weapons. Player crouching behind cover of this size; gains the following; +3 to sneak if hidden & -5 to be hit by ranged weapons. C. High cover. Player standing behind cover of this size; gains a -5 to be hit by ranged weapons. Player crouching behind cover of this size; gains the following; +8 to sneak if hidden cannot be targeted with ranged weapons.

Hiding: A player who remains crouched can remain hidden from their enemies if they keep quiet. While crouched, if there is currently no Global Awareness, they will become hidden automatically. When Hidden, enemies hoping to spot the player must beat the players Sneak skill on a D10. The Sneak check can be modified depending on how well covered the player is by terrain. If a player attacks an enemy while hidden, their very first shot/ burst/ attack will be able to take the enemy by surprise. Providing it lands, all hits made in this attack will count as Sneak Attack Criticals, landing three times more DAM than normal. However, unless using close combat or silenced weapons, the first attack will raise Global Awareness, removing the Hidden state. In melee or with silenced guns, Global Awareness only increases if the target is not instantly killed.

Risks; A crouching player has almost no ability to properly defend himself from attack. If charged while crouched, their combat score after rolling is halved (rounded up).

Combat Encompassing every form of fighting in Fallout, this section will detail what players may do in combat and all relevant rules. Many weapons in the Fallout world have additional effects, they are listed in the weapons section later. Rules for specific affects are as follows;  KO; Knock out. The target is instantly knocked unconscious or otherwise heavily stunned by the attack and is considered KO’d until they can spend AP on recovering (cost listed later). Place the model on its’ side until it has recovered.  KD; Knock down. The target is thrown back violently by the attack. They must instantly be moved 2D4” directly away from the attack and are placed on their side until they can use AP to recover. Combat often details models “landing hits”. This represents a shot landing, or a baseball bat finding its mark. Every hit must then roll to injure the target, the following chart details the roll needed. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 5 6 7 8 9 10 10 - - - 2 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10 - - 3 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10 - 4 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10 5 2 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6 2 2 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 7 2 2 2 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 8 * 2 2 2 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 * * 2 2 2 2 3 4 5 6 10 * * * 2 2 2 2 3 4 5 The numbers along the left represent Cs, the power of the hit landed. The numbers along the top are the Toughness of the creature that has been hit. All rolls require the score to be EQUAL or HIGHER than the numbers shown above. “-“ Particularly weak weapons can struggle to wound the toughest creatures of the wastes. Where this symbol is shown, there is no possibility to harm the target. “*” Similarly, some weapons are powerful enough that weaker creatures have no chance of escaping injury. Where this symbol is shown, the target takes an automatic injury without the need to roll. Faults; Every time a weapon is used, the player runs the risk of it breaking, running out of ammo, or simply not behaving. Rolling a 10 when trying to hit at range, or rolling to establish a combat score, the weapon in use risks breaking. Weapons that fire in bursts or that use the Shot ability must roll 2 or more 10s to suffer ill-effects. Roll a further D10: A 10 means the weapon has broken/ taken damage. For Guns and Energy Weapons, a roll of anything but 10 also means they have run out of ammo and need reloading. Explosives all carry specific amounts of ammo and they are expended with every shot.

Shooting: *AP Every ranged weapon has a specific AP cost/ shot. It’s found under the “AP” tab in the full weapon list later on. You will also find “Hits/ AP”. This Is how many shots the weapon fires with every AP expenditure. Some weapons, like SMGs fire in short bursts and get 3 hits/AP. Some fully automatic machine guns get 5 hits/ AP and so on.

Guns and Energy Weapons use identical rules to fire, taking a D10 and the relevant player skill. The player must roll as many D10s as he has hits/ AP and aim to score EQUAL or LESS than his relevant skill in order to hit his target.

The following rules explain the different abilities of the various firearms;  Shot; The weapon fires a hail of shot or simultaneous blasts at once. Any model within base contact can be elected to take as many of the hits as the shooter wishes.  Silenced; The weapon makes little to no sound, making it perfect for stealth kills. If attacking while Hidden, the player will only increase Global Awareness if they fail to kill a target after rolling to hit. If they can keep killing their targets, they will retain their Hidden status until the enemy turn, when any creatures “friendly” to the killed models are within Perceptive Distance of the deceased.  Blast; Any weapon not defined as Explosives that uses a blast does not roll scatter if a shot misses. If it misses, the shot is lost. If it hits, every model beneath the template is hit automatically, though those only partially beneath will not suffer any negation to their armour value. All firearms have a maximum effective range. Extreme penalties are dealt to players trying to fire beyond this range as shots easily miss. In addition, all firearms have a “short range” relevant to the individual player. Any shots within a quarter of the players maximum Perceptive Distance has a +1 to hit requirement.

Explosives are handled differently due to their often-inaccurate nature. First the player must roll a D10, if they successfully roll EQUAL or LESS than their Explosives skill, the hit is on target. If they roll higher, the shot has missed. They must roll a D10 and a scatter dice. The blast then moves as far as the D10 depicts in the direction shown on the scatter dice. If it rolls a “hit”, the GM may decide the direction of scatter. Aiming: 1AP Aiming allows a player to focus a lot of his efforts on hitting a target at range. For every 1AP put into Aiming, the player gains a +1 to hit requirement. Changing target: 1AP In order to move onto another target, players must expend 1AP in order to ready themselves.

Changing weapon: 2AP Due to the dangerous nature of fire fights, changing weapons in the middle of one is often ill-advised, however, you might sometimes walk into some unintentionally, finding yourself forced to put that switchblade away to pull out the big guns. It costs 2AP for every swap, Energy Weapons, Explosives, Guns, Melee and Unarmed.

Close Combat: 1AP Regardless of whether you’ve been jumped, or you’re running headlong into the shin of a Behemoth, you must expend an AP to enter the fray and roll the combat dice. To fight a close combat, every participant must take a D10. They add the result to their relevant skill (Unarmed or Melee). Each score is then modified based on the weapon they chose to use (Explained in the weapon list, later on). Once each participants combat scores have been established, they are compared. The one with the higher score hits the opponent once for every point of difference he won by.

Outnumbering: sometimes, people don’t fight fair. In fact, survival generally suggests ensuring an overwhelming advantage in combat. When a player is in combat with one or more of a creature of the same type/ faction, those opponents all roll their scores together in one go. Naturally, being massively outnumbered is often a fatal way to pass the time.

Combat manoeuvre: 1AP Acting much like Aiming, performing a Combat manoeuvre ensures that a player can get one up on their opponent. From simply weaving between punches to infuriating them as you spin around them, you expend 1AP to gain a +1 to your Combat Score.

Reloading: 1AP This actions requires that the player has the appropriate ammo for the weapon they’re using. If the weapon has run out of ammo, an action point must be expended for the weapon to be reloaded and used again.

Repair: 2AP Weapons can break down with extensive use. Nailbats can rot and splinter, pistols can get clogged with sand and rust, Fat Men can grow steadily less powerful as the gas canisters used to launch their bombs. Once a weapon has broken, a player will need to expend 2 points of AP to be able to repair it. To do so, they must roll a D10 and compare the score to their Repair skill. They must roll EQUAL or LESS than their skill for the weapon to be successfully repaired. Every 1 additional copy of the same weapon (Broken or not) will add +1 to the roll requirement.

Item Usage

Recovery

Environmental