GURPS: FALLOUT by VARIOUS AUTHORS compiled, EDITED AND UPDATED BY Nathan Robertson GURPS Fallout by VARIOUS AUTHORS compiled, EDITED AND UPDATED BY Nathan Robertson GURPS © 2008 – Steve Jackson Games Fallout © 2007 Bethesda Softworks LLC, a ZeniMax Media company All Rights Reserved 2 Table of Contents PART 1: CAMPAIGN BACKGROUND 4 Chapter 1: A Record of Things to Come 5 Chapter 2: The Brotherhood of Steel 6 Chapter 3: The Enclave 9 Chapter 4: The Republic of New California 10 Chapter 5: The Vaults 11 Chapter 6: GUPRS Fallout Gazetteer 12 Settlements 12 Ruins 17 Design Your Own Settlement! 18 Chapter 7: Environmental Hazards 20 PART 2: CHARACTER CREATION 22 Chapter 8: Character Creation Guidelines for the GURPS Fallout campaign 23 Chapter 9: Wasteland Advantages, Disadvantages and Skills 27 Chapter 10: GURPS Fallout Racial Templates 29 Chapter 11: GURPS Fallout Occupational Templates 33 Fallout Job Table 34 Chapter 12: Equipment 36 Equipment 36 Vehicles 42 Weapons 44 Armor 52 Chapter 13: A Wasteland Bestiary 53 PART 3: APPENDICES 62 Appendix 1: Random Encounters for GURPS Fallout 63 Appendix 2: Scavenging Tables For GURPS Fallout 66 Appendix 3: Sample Adventure: Gremlins! 69 Appendix 4: Bibliography 73 3 Part 1: Campaign Background 4 CHAPTER 1: A Record of Things to Eventually, though, the Vaults opened, some at pre-appointed times, Come others by apparent mechanical or planning errors, releasing the inhabitants to mix with surface survivors in a much-changed United States, It’s all over and I’m standing pretty, in the dust that was a city. on a much-changed planet Earth: the setting for Fallout Unlimited. A History of the Resource Wars - Nena, 99 Luftballoons The Resource Wars was a series of conflicts which began in April 2052 with GURPS Fallout, like the Fallout computer game series, takes place in an the start of the war between European Commonwealth and the Middle “alternate universe.” This means that, sometime after World War II, “real” East, and ended with the Great War on October 23, 2077. Some of the history and Fallout history diverged, although where this happened is not conflicts include the annexation of Canada by the United States and the exactly clear. The alternate reality, henceforth referred to as the “Fallout Chinese invasion of Alaska. Universe,” is awfully close to the real world, but with some major 2052 differences. The Soviet Union survived well into the 21st Century before it finally splintered in the Resource Wars. The microchip was never invented, April: The Resource Wars begin. Many smaller nations go bankrupt, and and fashions, weapons, vehicles, and computers keep a very “retro” feel, Europe, dependent on oil imports from the Middle East, responds to the almost as if the 1950s never truly died. This did not hinder the advances in Middle East's rising oil prices with military action. The long drawn-out war technology, as supercomputers, advanced robotics, and fusion power all between the European Commonwealth and the Middle East begins. flourished before the War. May - July: The United Nations, already suffering, begins to collapse. In a It should also be noted that the nuclear weapons used in the Fallout series of heated debates, many nations withdraw from the organization as universe are not as strong as the nukes in modern arsenals; they are the UN tries to keep the peace. At the end of July, the United Nations is much closer in yield to warheads developed and tested in the late 1940s disbanded. and 1950s, which means that the level of devastation is slightly different Note: This information comes from Chris Avellone's Fallout Bible timeline. (and potentially far less severe) than it would be in the “real” world. In According to the Sierra Depot GNN Transcript holodisk, which Avellone addition, the dust cloud necessary for nuclear winter never formed, so that discards as non-canon, as it was supposedly modified by the Sierra Army phase of nuclear war is unheard of in Fallout. Depot soldiers, the UN still existed in 2074 In 2052, the Resource Wars erupted, threatening to tear the world apart. 2053 Famines in Africa and the Indian subcontinent, massive pollution in Southeast Asia, religious extremists in the Middle East and the Pacific December: Like an exclamation mark on the end of a very bad year, a Northwest, coupled with an ever-growing need for irreplaceable fossil terrorist nuclear weapon destroys Tel Aviv. fuels, led the planet to a breaking point. American corporations, desperate for now-nonexistent cheaper labor and new markets so they could 2054 continue to make profits, became more and more brazen about their ties January: Limited nuclear exchange in the Middle East raises fears to the American government, which in turn became more and more brazen throughout the world. about its imperialistic tendencies. 2059 China, along with the European Commonwealth, began its own form of The Anchorage Front Line is established, as the United States increases its imperialism, raiding resources in the American sphere of influence. While military presence in Alaska to protect its oil interests. The Anchorage Front the world had not experienced a massive war in over 100 years, the house Line causes tensions in the United States and Canada, as the United of cards created by ailing superpowers and limping business interests States attempts to pressure Canada into allowing American military units to could not withstand the strong breeze. As the EC and the Middle East guard the Alaskan pipeline. squabbled over oil, China turned its attentions towards North America. 2060 There was no one incident that decisively led to the declaration of war on China by America (or on America by China), but the Chinese invasion of The Euro-Middle Eastern War ends as the oil fields in the Middle East run Alaska and its still-flowing oilfields in 2066 was all the excuse either side dry... there is no longer a goal in the conflict, and both sides are reduced needed. After brutal but indecisive trench-and-plane warfare dragged on almost to ruin. for months and then years, it became obvious that both sides had too much to lose to back out – and the corporations running both countries The European Commonwealth dissolves into quarreling nation states, would never allow such a profitable war to quit. America eventually took fighting over the remaining resources. back most of the Alaskan frontier, but more than a decade of intense warfare left a good deal of the formerly-pristine land a scorched, useless 2066 wreck. Winter: In the winter of 2066, China invades Alaska. The Anchorage Front Line becomes a true battleground. In the early morning hours of October 23, 2077, the war became the War, and reached its inevitable conclusion. Spears of fire rained from the sky, Note: This date for the Chinese invasion of Alaska comes from Chris destroying the planet’s major cities, polluting the oceans, and creating Avellone's Fallout Bible timeline. According to the Sierra Depot GNN nightmares no scientist could imagine. Tens of thousands of soldiers, Transcript holodisk, which Avellone discards as non-canon, as it was scientists, artists, and wealthy people reserved spaced in enormous supposedly modified by the Sierra Army Depot soldiers, this happened on underground shelters called Vaults, but because of the constant false October 10, 2077. alarms, only a fraction made it inside on that day. High-ranking US officials took refuge on an oil platform off the coast of San Francisco, evidence at Winter: As a sign of increasing tension between the two countries, Canada last of the corporate control over the government and its army. proves reluctant to allow American troops on Canadian soil or allow American planes to fly over Canadian airspace. The United States and As the radioactive dust coated the planet and the last matchsticks of Canadian tensions rise, but Canada eventually backs down, and US troops civilization snapped, the surface survivors died by the billions, leaving those pass through Canada. This sets the stage for the Canadian annexation in that were left to try to fend for whatever scraps they could find. The 2076. Government, safe on Poseidon Oil’s provided offshore platform, took to 2067 calling itself the Enclave and secretly began plotting the return of their “pure” version of humanity to the mainland. Their sense of genetic and The first suit of Power Armor is deployed in Alaska. While lacking the full mental superiority allowed them to justify their actions, just as regular mobility of future versions, this Power Armor is incredibly effective against survivors stronger than the others justified atrocities by the same twisted Chinese tanks and infantry. Its ability to carry heavy ordnance becomes key logic. Fortunately, the Enclave’s influence was limited to the extreme in various localized conflicts, and it has the power to destroy entire towns American West by its location on the platform, and the rest of the world without endangering the wearer. China rushes to create its own versions, limped toward civilization – or descended into darkness – at its own pace. but they are many years behind the United States. 5 2069 Chapter 2: The Brotherhood of Steel Canada begins to feel the pressure from the United States military as the US draws upon Canadian resources for the war effort. Vast stretches of timberland are destroyed, and other resources in Canada are stretched to Overview the breaking point. Many Americans refer to Canada as Little America, and The ranks of the BOS is generally recognized as being composed of the Canadian protests are unheard. best and the brightest, which means the BOS is a relatively small organization, at least compared to the New California Republic.