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TorontoReign
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Take A Tale of Two Wastelands and mod the Fallout 3 part to be that if possible perhaps.
Fallout: Capital Wasteland - Reimagining Fallout 3
- Thread starter The_Proletarian
- Start date
Take A Tale of Two Wastelands and mod the Fallout 3 part to be that if possible perhaps.
I don't think these thoughts are that good Toront.
But I appreciate the intention.
Thank you for that! Do you remember where you wrote this originally? And what's your Clone Station Concept Hardboiled Android mentioned?
Hello there! Sorry if this is a bit of a necro, but I randomly stumbled upon this thread whilst googling "fallout 3 story reimagining" (kind of a random fantasy I was having, of playing a Fallout 3 with a better story lol), and I really like your ideas for how to adapt FO3's structure and concepts, without inserting a bunch of out of place things like the Enclave and etc, I had to sign up to tell you how much I enjoyed your post! Especially the snake cult, it would probably be hard to animate giant snake enemies, but hey, if it could be done that would be some technological development worthy of praise, I also loved the idea of the Vault folks being the antagonists.
I had some ideas of my own while reading it, that I wanted to share with you, because they kind of serve as a counterpoint to some of the challenges you faced while writing this, and it starts with this thought: it is the modern perception of Fallout that the player character is always related to the Vaults, I like how you flip flopped things around to make the Vault dwellers the antagonists and James the villain, I think that's great, but what if we flip flopped the flip flop again? What if in Fallout 3 the player still started in the Vault, but now it's in the context of this world you have created? What if their quest was to meet up with their father, James, who's working on something called "Project Purity", maybe the perception you get initially is that he is trying to save the wasteland by bringing clean water to it, and maybe that's the ruse he puts up when you do find him, and maybe you could go on believing that until the very moment it is activated and some people in the wasteland start dying and go hostile, or if you're a bit more curious and inquisitive, you could ask around and learn that the denizens of the capital wasteland already have clean water, which just doesn't add up with your father's claims... maybe if you investigate his research and his equipment with your high intelligence stat and scientific knowledge, you would discover that this stuff does not do what he claims it does, and upon confronting him with this information, he would reveal himself to be on a mission to clear up the wasteland from "undesirable elements", for the sake of the United Federation of Vaults, it's at that point that you could pick a side: the faction you started with, who you thought were the good guys but really weren't, or the more just side in this story, the denizens of the capital wasteland, with all of their different factions.
I suppose if you sided with the Vaults, this wouldn't immediately kill the wastelanders, the game can't end there right? I guess they would find themselves on a precarious situation, much like in the set up you had for the intro in your story, they would be relying on rain water, but running low on it, they coud launch some attacks on the Vault cities, which is how you would learn you did something bad if you had remained oblivious to what was really going on in the story, and then you could choose to double down on what you and your father did, or betray your people and side with the wastelanders. I guess the wastelanders would necessitate some kind of "final dungeon area" to make things entertaining for a Vault-aligned player (Rivet City?), and some key group and leader figure to defeat.
Random thought: might also be cool to give the Federation some power armor with some Vault-tec paintjob, since people love themselves power armor and it would bring them closer to the idea that they are the Enclave parallel in this version of the story (this does fit your description of the Federation collecting military supplies from various bases). Non-Federation aligned players could probably get one by going to the effort of convincing a character in their Vault to see that they are in the wrong, and to side with the good guys (some quartermaster maybe, maybe Moira?) or get a brand new (well... okay, old) one from salvaging stuff around the game.
Another thought: what if the Institute was secretly behind Eden? Something you could learn from an easy to miss reference in Eden's code, it would set up a (reimagined) Fallout 4 sequel. This stuff does seem to fit the Institute's agenda in a way, they could be manipulating the Vault folks in DC, the denizens of the Vaults would have awakened to the comforting voice of a respectable, kind politician, who seems to have their best interests in mind, and who follows a clear line of succession from the government of the old united states, but in reality this "president" is not flesh and bone, he is an artificial intelligence, representing the interests of the Institute. Maybe Eden isn't even that bad of a character, maybe he is a really nice robot guy deep down, who's just following a badly thought out directive from his creators, and maybe you could "defeat" him by convincing him that what is best for his constituents is for them to coexist in peace with the people of Washington DC, instead of repeating the mistakes of the old world, and waging a war over territory and resources, maybe Eden could learn, that humanity has to let go of prejudiced concepts, such as the purity of its culture and bloodline, and accept that the world has changed, its people must adapt and change as well, as Ulysses would put it.
So yeah, sorry for the long write up, I just had lots of fun with your idea and it got my imagination going, wish we could have had your game instead lol.
I had some ideas of my own while reading it, that I wanted to share with you, because they kind of serve as a counterpoint to some of the challenges you faced while writing this, and it starts with this thought: it is the modern perception of Fallout that the player character is always related to the Vaults, I like how you flip flopped things around to make the Vault dwellers the antagonists and James the villain, I think that's great, but what if we flip flopped the flip flop again? What if in Fallout 3 the player still started in the Vault, but now it's in the context of this world you have created? What if their quest was to meet up with their father, James, who's working on something called "Project Purity", maybe the perception you get initially is that he is trying to save the wasteland by bringing clean water to it, and maybe that's the ruse he puts up when you do find him, and maybe you could go on believing that until the very moment it is activated and some people in the wasteland start dying and go hostile, or if you're a bit more curious and inquisitive, you could ask around and learn that the denizens of the capital wasteland already have clean water, which just doesn't add up with your father's claims... maybe if you investigate his research and his equipment with your high intelligence stat and scientific knowledge, you would discover that this stuff does not do what he claims it does, and upon confronting him with this information, he would reveal himself to be on a mission to clear up the wasteland from "undesirable elements", for the sake of the United Federation of Vaults, it's at that point that you could pick a side: the faction you started with, who you thought were the good guys but really weren't, or the more just side in this story, the denizens of the capital wasteland, with all of their different factions.
I suppose if you sided with the Vaults, this wouldn't immediately kill the wastelanders, the game can't end there right? I guess they would find themselves on a precarious situation, much like in the set up you had for the intro in your story, they would be relying on rain water, but running low on it, they coud launch some attacks on the Vault cities, which is how you would learn you did something bad if you had remained oblivious to what was really going on in the story, and then you could choose to double down on what you and your father did, or betray your people and side with the wastelanders. I guess the wastelanders would necessitate some kind of "final dungeon area" to make things entertaining for a Vault-aligned player (Rivet City?), and some key group and leader figure to defeat.
Random thought: might also be cool to give the Federation some power armor with some Vault-tec paintjob, since people love themselves power armor and it would bring them closer to the idea that they are the Enclave parallel in this version of the story (this does fit your description of the Federation collecting military supplies from various bases). Non-Federation aligned players could probably get one by going to the effort of convincing a character in their Vault to see that they are in the wrong, and to side with the good guys (some quartermaster maybe, maybe Moira?) or get a brand new (well... okay, old) one from salvaging stuff around the game.
Another thought: what if the Institute was secretly behind Eden? Something you could learn from an easy to miss reference in Eden's code, it would set up a (reimagined) Fallout 4 sequel. This stuff does seem to fit the Institute's agenda in a way, they could be manipulating the Vault folks in DC, the denizens of the Vaults would have awakened to the comforting voice of a respectable, kind politician, who seems to have their best interests in mind, and who follows a clear line of succession from the government of the old united states, but in reality this "president" is not flesh and bone, he is an artificial intelligence, representing the interests of the Institute. Maybe Eden isn't even that bad of a character, maybe he is a really nice robot guy deep down, who's just following a badly thought out directive from his creators, and maybe you could "defeat" him by convincing him that what is best for his constituents is for them to coexist in peace with the people of Washington DC, instead of repeating the mistakes of the old world, and waging a war over territory and resources, maybe Eden could learn, that humanity has to let go of prejudiced concepts, such as the purity of its culture and bloodline, and accept that the world has changed, its people must adapt and change as well, as Ulysses would put it.
So yeah, sorry for the long write up, I just had lots of fun with your idea and it got my imagination going, wish we could have had your game instead lol.
No worries I am happy to have it necroed. I still like to think about how to elaborate on this. And I'm very glad you liked it!
I like this reversal a lot and it makes a lot of sense. Instead of your father being a hero he's actually the bad guy.
My spontaneous objection to this idea however would be that the protagonist has already been a vault dweller in Fallout 1. In Tactics you were a member of the Brotherhood and in Fallout 2 you were a tribal. So I would like another background for the player than coming from a vault, like growing up among raiders. It needs to be an interesting aspect of the post-apocalyptic world to explore.
In that case I think Riley's Rangers would get the nuke from the Children of the Atom and that they would try to strike back immediately.
Since everyone in DC are threatened by the water being poisoned even the Family Nation would join up.
Of course they would have Power Armor.
I haven't played Fallout 4 or even read up on things like the Institute but that might be a good idea. I won't discard it.
Another thing I would like to add is some secret pre-war government stuff. They relocated to the west coast and eventually founded the Enclave. However DC is still the former home of the government and I would like to have some twisted secrets being uncovered when you explore the ruined city. Here's a little something I wrote about that in another thread:
The Enclave, the shadow government of the United States, relocated to the oil-rig shortly before the war. However politicians who were not part of the shadow government must have remained in DC. Do you think they managed to escape to underground vaults located under the congress? Also, what happened with all the staff at the Pentagon? Did they have plans for an emergency exit in case of nuclear war?
Washington DC would obviously be a prime target for Chinese missiles during the war. However it's located on the US east coast far away from China. The missiles would have to travel across all of the US mainland to reach their target and thus the US missile defence would have had a lot of time to take down the missiles. In that way maybe Washington could look as unhurt by nuclear fire as it did in Bethesda's attempt at doing Fallout in DC. I mean in Bethesda's game most of the iconic Washington buildings still stand even though they look a little bit decayed by time.
Then remains the question of what happened to the politicians and the military staff of the Pentagon. The sinister plot that you uncover during the game would have to do something with the former US government since the game is set in Washington DC, after all. I don't say Envlave since they relocated to the oilrig before the war but there could be other US Government conspiracies that deeply effect the post-nuclear world.
Washington DC would obviously be a prime target for Chinese missiles during the war. However it's located on the US east coast far away from China. The missiles would have to travel across all of the US mainland to reach their target and thus the US missile defence would have had a lot of time to take down the missiles. In that way maybe Washington could look as unhurt by nuclear fire as it did in Bethesda's attempt at doing Fallout in DC. I mean in Bethesda's game most of the iconic Washington buildings still stand even though they look a little bit decayed by time.
Then remains the question of what happened to the politicians and the military staff of the Pentagon. The sinister plot that you uncover during the game would have to do something with the former US government since the game is set in Washington DC, after all. I don't say Envlave since they relocated to the oilrig before the war but there could be other US Government conspiracies that deeply effect the post-nuclear world.
Everyday I regret that I didn't ask Atomic Postman to elaborate on this point. What was the underlying problems in Fallout 3 according to him? @Hardboiled Android do you know?Atomic Postman said:
I have to read up on this... I don't know my Van Buren lore.
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@Nii Rubra, Atomic Postman also did a rewrite of Fallout 3 that I will put below. I think you will find it interesting. It's much more ambitious than mine.
Well firstly I'd like to think that the Capital Wasteland in 2161 is still pretty fucked up, but not to the barren no man's land level we see it in 3. In fact, I'd have the outer areas of the Capital Wasteland appear much more similar to this flora overhaul for Fallout 3 where it's in this strange perma-autumn like state. As you get closer to DC, however, it turns more barren. Wildlife here would include mammals like Molerats (Naked and classic FO giant versions), Brahmin, Pigrats, Yao Gaui and a strange monstrous combination of what appears to be large feral dogs and possums. Insect wise you'd get swarms of Bloatflies, Bloodbugs and giant Ants with their giant termite like mounds. Other creatures would include Mirelurks and gigantic toxic Radtoads. Oh yeah, Wanamingos are back. Big time. As are their horrible critter-cousins. Guess what, they're from DC!
DC itself is much in the same style as the LA Boneyard or Bakersfield in that it's a charred art-deco nightmare, a broken visage of a "World of Tomorrow". There would be numerous "Dead Zones" throughout the city where all but the most terrible of mutants must avoid due to radioactivity. In the "safer" areas of the city you've got competing Salvager Crews that have set up their respective camps whilst they vulture the city for raw materials, bits of technology. Whatever they can find. At one point they used an honor system of claim staking, but in recent times they have brushed up against eachother to the point of violence and a minor-scale arms race due to various feuds, arguments and misunderstandings. Effectively think of a more blue-collar working community version of the Regulators and the Blades. In the midst, you also get "Claim Jumpers" (read: raiders) who will wait for salvagers to do all the hard work, then cap them in the dome and take the prime results. The DC ruins are littered with the signs of pre-war calamity. Heavily armed National Guard outposts. Anti-Riot "Instapens", quarantine zone maps. APCs rotting in the streets. Pre-War DC was a police state under siege.
DC Metro: I also like to think that in the Fallout world DC took the Moscow route and at some point in the Resource Wars undertook a gigantic effort to completely rejig the DC Metro. Digging much deeper, and wider. The problem was that when the bombs came, those who hid in the metros quickly succumbed to starvation and thirst. The surface was poison, and the metro had no resources stockpiled. Except for those in Vault 100, connected deep within the metro. After 25 years of use, Vault 100 began to suffer serious structural issues. A result of nearby construction of the "Deep Metro" that was kept (perhaps unneccessarily) top-secret from Vault-Tec under their unusually tight Government supervision. Vault 100 evacuated some of its population into the metro tunnels, taking whatever vault technology they could with them. Many, if not most, of the Vault lies inoperable. However, several floors remain in use. The "Dwellers" or "Metrofolk" have spread throughout the tunnels in the decades since, and with a growing population formed their own sub-communities. However, the growing population has meant that ration distribution from the vault's remaining hydroponics tech has become increasingly restrictive and controlled. Already there is strain between a newly forming social divide between the "Vaulters" and the "Tunnelers". After all, if a station on the far-end of the metro grows its own mushrooms why should it have to abide by the regulations and mandatory contributions of an Overseer that provides basically nothing for them? Even gangs of ruffians exploiting others in this time of rationing are starting to form, like the Tunnel Snakes. With outbreaks of the New Plague occuring and hamhanded quarantine procedures by Tunnel Security, stress levels in the DC Metro are rising.
Dwellers suffer the same issue as the Slags from Fallout 2 wherein they are defined by pale skin, an aversion to direct sunlight and a distinct discomfort at the open sky. However, conversely they're able to see in the dark far better than anyone from the surface.
Amongst the Dwellers, there's ghost stories and unspoken rumours of the "Deep Metro". The idea that there's a metro even larger than the one in which they live, even deeper below the Wasteland. Occasionally, if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time, you'll slip between the cracks and arrive there. A place inhabited by ghosts of the Old World, and once you're there, you'll join them. A handful of older tunnel scavvers will tell you a tale claiming they've been there and lived, if you give them enough booze at a station bar. More on this later.
Rivet City: The Capital Wasteland's millitary hub. Descended from US Navy crew from a battleship that was off-coast during the Great War. Little is known about the details of their "Grand Voyage", only that they were once far away, travelled to many places, and ended up stranded on the coastline of DC. The battleship they've built their community around, to which they refer to as "Mama Rivet" or "Big Mother" (In a fashion devolving into further tribal reverence each year) is in a state of active decay and ruin, largely inoperable and destined to split and sink into the sea in the coming years. Its people are heavily armed, utilizing Old World millitary weapons and armor, including Power Armor. It's a hard life in Rivet City, if you aren't willing to be a life-long soldier (or are too weak to make the cut), you are casted out or rendered an "outsider" like the other non-citizens that trade in the City. Their society is structured very much like that of a millitary unit. They subsist on Mirelurk fishing and Mama Rivet's generator provides ample power, but growing population and swathes of the New Plague mean they've had to look for help elsewhere. They tend to deal with the New Plague with a bullet to the brain, which works fine for civilian outsiders, but when one of their own boys gets sick. Well, that's a problem.
Megaton: A town built around an undetonated bomb from the Great War. Inhabited by a religious cult of Ghouls who believe their Ghoulish state is some sort of gift from an atomic deity, immortality. They revere the bomb as an idol of their Gods and their great gift. They welcome in Ghouls from across the Wastes who have experienced discrimination as a result of their misshapen form, assuring them that they aren't malformed, they're beautiful. Megaton is undergoing a religious schism between those who believe that Megaton and the Church of Atom should be a sanctuary for Ghouls to live equally, but seperately, from humanity in peace and those that believe they are superior to humanity, and that the bomb is not an idol, but a call to action. That they must detonate the bomb and irradiate the Capital Wasteland to make it "their land", unfit for humanity except for those who might transform in the aftermath of its detonation. There is also a Ghoul scientist, considered a madman by those in Megaton, exiled recently from the city for inhumane experimentation, attempting to find a way to allow Ghouls to reproduce. He believes when he finds the solution, he will be granted re-entry and hailed a hero.
Arefu: A town built on and along an Old World bridge, suspended above a canyon pass. The canyon below is a huge, termite-mound like nest full of Giant Ants. The townsfolk of Arefu have a system of pulleys and suspension ropes to send people down to crack open the nests of the Ants and retrieve their large eggs, one of which is enough to feed a couple people for a week. Occasionally they'll have to battle the Giant Ants, but usually the people on the bridge above yank the egg-miners back up before that's a problem. One kooky lady in Arefu has an idea for controlling the Ants with technology to make them not just docile, but obey orders.
Kingdom of Dave: Dave, and his father before him, and his father before him, is kind of a big deal. Overlord Dave controls one of the Capital Wasteland's main sources of clean water, from a series of water towers and resevoir, same as the Hub back in California. The Kingdom is protected by the Talon Company, a band of mercenaries from up north, paid for in water and caps. Overlord Dave rules his domain (Which includes smaller settlements like Arefu and Cantebury Commons) with an egotistical and petty fist. Or did, until he came down with what everyone believes to be a case of the New Plague. He now lies sick (although a smart player might deduce that he's been sick longer than it takes New Plague to kill someone), his fate uncertain, as chaos rules his court and subterfuge occurs between his potential heirs. Drug use is rampant within Dave's Kingdom, the Overlord himself being a regular Buffout user.
Oasis: In the remote parts of the Capital Wasteland, a hidden community lies. A primitive, agricultural community. Wooden tribal houses, tents, campfires burning. The entire place entwined by a strange, vibrant vegetation. The outskirts of the village are protected by ancient patrolling robots. The plants here produce large, succulent fruit that the village subsist on. The centre of their village is a large, tree-like mound of twisted roots and ivy - forbidden to anyone but the village elders. Beneath the tangled vines lies an Old World facility where a pre-war company was attempting to solve the food shortages in the country with a Soylent Green wannabe plan: conversion of corpses into vegetation. It turns out the village continues this tradition: feeding the corpses of their dead into the contorted green fleshy mass at the centre of the roots. Unfortunately, it seems as if they're getting less yield of fruit for their corpses as time is passing. To them, the tree is demanding greater sacrifice.
Tenpenny Tower: The Capital Wasteland's den of sin, and also its home of luxury. The esteemed Mr. Tenpenny began as a mere Raider chem cook in his youth, but the success of his enterprise overwhelmed him. What was once an Old World hotel is now a den of gambling, whoring, drugs and boozing. A kind of "No Man's Land" for the militias and raider gangs of the area, all of them reliant on the massive chem production going on in the lower floors of the tower. After having watched more than a few Old World tapes about foreign aristocracy, Mr. Tenpenny (Formerly known as Crusher in his youth) adopts a new accent and runs extravagant parties in the upper floors with his selection of socalites, slave-harem and the whose-who of the Wasteland (Including Overlord Dave and the Commander of the Talon Company). It's a non-stop party up above, fueled by the chaos and depravity down below.
Paradise Falls: Not much to be said about them, truthfully. A band of slavers sent from the far-away Pitt to gather slaves to send back home. They also sell to Tenpenny and Kallos.
Cantenbury Commons/Little Lamplight: Cantebury Commons is a community guided by religion. A pre-war religion by the name of Hubology. Although they've got their own twist on it after a few decades of fragmentation from the Church. Children aren't treated well in the Commons, which during the chaos of a Wanamingo attack, led to a long-planned exodus of the town's children to escape their horrible parents under the leadership of MacCready. Heading to a distant pre-war tourist trap, "Little Lamplight" (discovered by MacReady in a pre-war magazine), the children have been trying to eke out an existence. Poorly. Things are going the way of Lord of the Flies, and soon it won't be long until disaster hits. The player could help shape them up into a real chance of survival, report them to The Commons, report them to Paradise Falls, or incite further juvenile chaos.
Kallos: (AKA cannibalizing Van Buren ) Prior to the Great War, Med-Tek (Somewhere between a subsidiary and sister company of West-Tek) had established operations in the DC area with one of its patent "pop-up" facilities that had spread across America like boils in response to the New Plague. These state-of-the-art space age looking facilities would act as research and response centres, and the DC facility was one of the most developed next to the Boulder, CO facility. The nucleus of this science-whizz cell was a ZAX computer unit known as "The Director" which organized and structured response operations with impeccable precision and speed. Due to its "Pop-Up" nature, it wasn't a target of the bombs. When the news came that the bombs were coming, the scientists of Med-Tek came up with a desperate plan: Entomb themselves within the gel-stasis floatation tubes that had previously been used to artificially prolong/freeze New Plague patients in order to study them, entrusting The Director to discover a way of removing them from gel-stasis alive and cranial functions intact. To decide who would die, and who would take a space in these tubes, they referred to the Director to organize who was the best qualified for survival. They did so, and so the bombs did drop.
Twenty years later, in the rural mountaind, the scientists awoke to the Wasteland. In the years since, the scientists formed a budding society with the Director as its sovereign leader. Using the technology of the facility to create protein farms (ala Blade Runner 2049), its robots as defensive measures. The outskirts of the facility occupied by Wastelanders. Eventually, the old problem of the New Plague reared its head once again in the Wasteland. Using their pre-war tech and a Director who spent decades thinking of nothing else, the scientists of Kallos were able to formulate anti-dote treatment, but not a vaccine. Production of this anti-dote is a complicated process, and with the passing of the Scientists, their child-heirs have relied on the Director from which they claim their authority above the townsfolk outside. The problem is that the ZAX unit has begun to cannibalize its own memory banks, and did so from around the time the original scientists woke up. They had kept it prolonged with scavenged technology bought from the DC salvagers, but it has recently shut-down for good. The "Scientists" in the dome are now left to run a Wizard of Oz show, formulating the (limited amounts) of antidote out of a ritual-like memory rather than true understanding, and pretending that the Director is still alive. To make matters worse, the material required for the antidote is dwindling. Kallos has recently entered a pact with the soldiers of Rivet City: Antidote in exchange for electricity and protection.
Raven Rock: A Pre-War Millitary Installation used to develop cutting edge weapons technology, namely cybernetics and bio-organic weapons (Deathclaws and Wanamingos). The facility was hit hard during the Great War, and rendered into a blackhole of radiation much like The Glow. However, in the depths of its guts, the experimental Wanamingos (Co-Developed at a facility outside of Sacramento, CA) thrived in radioactivity, becoming malformed, grotesque mutant versions of themselves. The place now is a bio-organic goo hive of Wanamingos, where swarms of the creatures emerge and set out into the Wasteland. The latent radioactivity causes wild mutations, resulting in numerous "types" of Wanamingos vastly differing in physiology. Its the imperative of all Capital Wastelanders to wipe out any Wanamingo gatherings they come across, because if they settle for too long, they'll begin to form another goo nest. There are horror stories of the Wanamingos carrying off Wastelanders back to their nests, to make them "part" of the goo.
"The Deep Metro" AKA Congressional Vault:
The Dwellers are right, there is a Deep Metro. Before the Great War, the US Government in its expansion to the DC Metro system and construction of Vault 100, further commissioned the construction of an additional, deeper (but much smaller) metro network intended for US Government VIPs. This was under the supervision of what would come to be known as "The Enclave", at the time an unspoken group without a name. The plan was that the US Government, including the Senate and the House, would retreat for safety underneath here in a Vault-Tec blacksite. As the situation...changed.... nationally and internationally over the years, the plan was altered when it was assured to "certain members" of Congress that the relocation of the President to the Poseidon Oil Rig in the Pacific was to ensure better survival of the US command structure: to stop the ChiComs from cutting the head off of the snake in one move. Truthfully, it was actually a purging operation. Those who were truly important (not just the politicians) to America, those who would be absolutely loyal and singular of mind, no deliberation or debate, were the ones who would retreat to the Oil Rig. There was no need for Republicans or Democrats, only the true masters of America. The "True" Enclave. The "rabbling mass" of Congress, the pencil pushers and those who "thought" they would be important, would be the ones put in the Congressional Vault originally intended for all of the US government hierarchy.
The Vault lies empty, now. Its residents all dead. The facility itself, still pristine and full of technology, weapons, Power Armor. It seems the divisions of Congress dredged up to the surface in the face of the apocalypse, when in that great silence all they had to reflect on was the sins of their government and their decisions. Even when the world ended, their hatred for eachother bubbled up. It appears there was some internal unrest, conflict, and some sort of coup or maybe a trial. Hard to tell. Here the player would find the most comprehensive and clear log of the actions of the Pre-War US government, and the logs of feuding, betrayal, petty conflict until the Vault lay empty. The tunnels of the Deep Metro patrolled by robot guards protecting nothing. Think of a combination between Vault 11, Mariposa and The Glow in terms of tone.
Miscellaneous:
There'd be smaller communities dotted around too. Your odd fishing village or farmstead, but these would be the key ones. Same with there being a smorgasbord of weird raider-gangs out in the wild. I always liked the idea of a tribe or faction that was entirely nomadic and lived only by the roads, leaving stashes and messages for eachother. Like Wasteland gypsies with a Road Warrior aesthetic.
You'd still have some of the Vaults like 112 (I like the idea of the Stepford Wives VR reality nightmare, but I'd go a step further and have them be brains in jars wired up rather than preserved human bodies.) and the player would still be from Vault 101 which would still be a dystopian 1984 rip-off, but instead they'd probably just be a vault dweller exiled for a crime that the player can choose if they did or did not commit.
The main quest:
I have no clue what the main story would be. Something to do with Wanamingos and New Plague.
Coming up with "Main stories" has always been my weakspot. All my campaigns I've ran have been sandboxes or faction conflicts for this reason. I think maybe you could do a factional conflict over discovering the cure for the New Plague (i.e who controls distribution) or you could further mutilate and recycle Van Buren's plot line with ODYSSEUS and the BOMB-001 platform, with the "big reveal" being that the spread of the New Plague wasn't a naturally occuring pandemic but rather something planned by a sinister figure, or you could combine both and have the factional powerplay as an undercurrent.
You could do something with the Wanamingos too since I sort of wrote them as an existential threat to the Wasteland, although I think that'd be quite boring as a premise.
Or you could even recycle the main plot from the real Fallout 3 in some way, like having the player exiled from Vault 101 and picking up the trail of other exiles who are working to restore clean water to the Wasteland. Or you could do what the real Fallout 3 did and recycle previous plot points, but good ones that lead to cool storyline branches like the player being sent out to retrieve a vital component to save their Vault and running into the bigger storyline. Shit, I don't know.
DC itself is much in the same style as the LA Boneyard or Bakersfield in that it's a charred art-deco nightmare, a broken visage of a "World of Tomorrow". There would be numerous "Dead Zones" throughout the city where all but the most terrible of mutants must avoid due to radioactivity. In the "safer" areas of the city you've got competing Salvager Crews that have set up their respective camps whilst they vulture the city for raw materials, bits of technology. Whatever they can find. At one point they used an honor system of claim staking, but in recent times they have brushed up against eachother to the point of violence and a minor-scale arms race due to various feuds, arguments and misunderstandings. Effectively think of a more blue-collar working community version of the Regulators and the Blades. In the midst, you also get "Claim Jumpers" (read: raiders) who will wait for salvagers to do all the hard work, then cap them in the dome and take the prime results. The DC ruins are littered with the signs of pre-war calamity. Heavily armed National Guard outposts. Anti-Riot "Instapens", quarantine zone maps. APCs rotting in the streets. Pre-War DC was a police state under siege.
DC Metro: I also like to think that in the Fallout world DC took the Moscow route and at some point in the Resource Wars undertook a gigantic effort to completely rejig the DC Metro. Digging much deeper, and wider. The problem was that when the bombs came, those who hid in the metros quickly succumbed to starvation and thirst. The surface was poison, and the metro had no resources stockpiled. Except for those in Vault 100, connected deep within the metro. After 25 years of use, Vault 100 began to suffer serious structural issues. A result of nearby construction of the "Deep Metro" that was kept (perhaps unneccessarily) top-secret from Vault-Tec under their unusually tight Government supervision. Vault 100 evacuated some of its population into the metro tunnels, taking whatever vault technology they could with them. Many, if not most, of the Vault lies inoperable. However, several floors remain in use. The "Dwellers" or "Metrofolk" have spread throughout the tunnels in the decades since, and with a growing population formed their own sub-communities. However, the growing population has meant that ration distribution from the vault's remaining hydroponics tech has become increasingly restrictive and controlled. Already there is strain between a newly forming social divide between the "Vaulters" and the "Tunnelers". After all, if a station on the far-end of the metro grows its own mushrooms why should it have to abide by the regulations and mandatory contributions of an Overseer that provides basically nothing for them? Even gangs of ruffians exploiting others in this time of rationing are starting to form, like the Tunnel Snakes. With outbreaks of the New Plague occuring and hamhanded quarantine procedures by Tunnel Security, stress levels in the DC Metro are rising.
Dwellers suffer the same issue as the Slags from Fallout 2 wherein they are defined by pale skin, an aversion to direct sunlight and a distinct discomfort at the open sky. However, conversely they're able to see in the dark far better than anyone from the surface.
Amongst the Dwellers, there's ghost stories and unspoken rumours of the "Deep Metro". The idea that there's a metro even larger than the one in which they live, even deeper below the Wasteland. Occasionally, if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time, you'll slip between the cracks and arrive there. A place inhabited by ghosts of the Old World, and once you're there, you'll join them. A handful of older tunnel scavvers will tell you a tale claiming they've been there and lived, if you give them enough booze at a station bar. More on this later.
Rivet City: The Capital Wasteland's millitary hub. Descended from US Navy crew from a battleship that was off-coast during the Great War. Little is known about the details of their "Grand Voyage", only that they were once far away, travelled to many places, and ended up stranded on the coastline of DC. The battleship they've built their community around, to which they refer to as "Mama Rivet" or "Big Mother" (In a fashion devolving into further tribal reverence each year) is in a state of active decay and ruin, largely inoperable and destined to split and sink into the sea in the coming years. Its people are heavily armed, utilizing Old World millitary weapons and armor, including Power Armor. It's a hard life in Rivet City, if you aren't willing to be a life-long soldier (or are too weak to make the cut), you are casted out or rendered an "outsider" like the other non-citizens that trade in the City. Their society is structured very much like that of a millitary unit. They subsist on Mirelurk fishing and Mama Rivet's generator provides ample power, but growing population and swathes of the New Plague mean they've had to look for help elsewhere. They tend to deal with the New Plague with a bullet to the brain, which works fine for civilian outsiders, but when one of their own boys gets sick. Well, that's a problem.
Megaton: A town built around an undetonated bomb from the Great War. Inhabited by a religious cult of Ghouls who believe their Ghoulish state is some sort of gift from an atomic deity, immortality. They revere the bomb as an idol of their Gods and their great gift. They welcome in Ghouls from across the Wastes who have experienced discrimination as a result of their misshapen form, assuring them that they aren't malformed, they're beautiful. Megaton is undergoing a religious schism between those who believe that Megaton and the Church of Atom should be a sanctuary for Ghouls to live equally, but seperately, from humanity in peace and those that believe they are superior to humanity, and that the bomb is not an idol, but a call to action. That they must detonate the bomb and irradiate the Capital Wasteland to make it "their land", unfit for humanity except for those who might transform in the aftermath of its detonation. There is also a Ghoul scientist, considered a madman by those in Megaton, exiled recently from the city for inhumane experimentation, attempting to find a way to allow Ghouls to reproduce. He believes when he finds the solution, he will be granted re-entry and hailed a hero.
Arefu: A town built on and along an Old World bridge, suspended above a canyon pass. The canyon below is a huge, termite-mound like nest full of Giant Ants. The townsfolk of Arefu have a system of pulleys and suspension ropes to send people down to crack open the nests of the Ants and retrieve their large eggs, one of which is enough to feed a couple people for a week. Occasionally they'll have to battle the Giant Ants, but usually the people on the bridge above yank the egg-miners back up before that's a problem. One kooky lady in Arefu has an idea for controlling the Ants with technology to make them not just docile, but obey orders.
Kingdom of Dave: Dave, and his father before him, and his father before him, is kind of a big deal. Overlord Dave controls one of the Capital Wasteland's main sources of clean water, from a series of water towers and resevoir, same as the Hub back in California. The Kingdom is protected by the Talon Company, a band of mercenaries from up north, paid for in water and caps. Overlord Dave rules his domain (Which includes smaller settlements like Arefu and Cantebury Commons) with an egotistical and petty fist. Or did, until he came down with what everyone believes to be a case of the New Plague. He now lies sick (although a smart player might deduce that he's been sick longer than it takes New Plague to kill someone), his fate uncertain, as chaos rules his court and subterfuge occurs between his potential heirs. Drug use is rampant within Dave's Kingdom, the Overlord himself being a regular Buffout user.
Oasis: In the remote parts of the Capital Wasteland, a hidden community lies. A primitive, agricultural community. Wooden tribal houses, tents, campfires burning. The entire place entwined by a strange, vibrant vegetation. The outskirts of the village are protected by ancient patrolling robots. The plants here produce large, succulent fruit that the village subsist on. The centre of their village is a large, tree-like mound of twisted roots and ivy - forbidden to anyone but the village elders. Beneath the tangled vines lies an Old World facility where a pre-war company was attempting to solve the food shortages in the country with a Soylent Green wannabe plan: conversion of corpses into vegetation. It turns out the village continues this tradition: feeding the corpses of their dead into the contorted green fleshy mass at the centre of the roots. Unfortunately, it seems as if they're getting less yield of fruit for their corpses as time is passing. To them, the tree is demanding greater sacrifice.
Tenpenny Tower: The Capital Wasteland's den of sin, and also its home of luxury. The esteemed Mr. Tenpenny began as a mere Raider chem cook in his youth, but the success of his enterprise overwhelmed him. What was once an Old World hotel is now a den of gambling, whoring, drugs and boozing. A kind of "No Man's Land" for the militias and raider gangs of the area, all of them reliant on the massive chem production going on in the lower floors of the tower. After having watched more than a few Old World tapes about foreign aristocracy, Mr. Tenpenny (Formerly known as Crusher in his youth) adopts a new accent and runs extravagant parties in the upper floors with his selection of socalites, slave-harem and the whose-who of the Wasteland (Including Overlord Dave and the Commander of the Talon Company). It's a non-stop party up above, fueled by the chaos and depravity down below.
Paradise Falls: Not much to be said about them, truthfully. A band of slavers sent from the far-away Pitt to gather slaves to send back home. They also sell to Tenpenny and Kallos.
Cantenbury Commons/Little Lamplight: Cantebury Commons is a community guided by religion. A pre-war religion by the name of Hubology. Although they've got their own twist on it after a few decades of fragmentation from the Church. Children aren't treated well in the Commons, which during the chaos of a Wanamingo attack, led to a long-planned exodus of the town's children to escape their horrible parents under the leadership of MacCready. Heading to a distant pre-war tourist trap, "Little Lamplight" (discovered by MacReady in a pre-war magazine), the children have been trying to eke out an existence. Poorly. Things are going the way of Lord of the Flies, and soon it won't be long until disaster hits. The player could help shape them up into a real chance of survival, report them to The Commons, report them to Paradise Falls, or incite further juvenile chaos.
Kallos: (AKA cannibalizing Van Buren ) Prior to the Great War, Med-Tek (Somewhere between a subsidiary and sister company of West-Tek) had established operations in the DC area with one of its patent "pop-up" facilities that had spread across America like boils in response to the New Plague. These state-of-the-art space age looking facilities would act as research and response centres, and the DC facility was one of the most developed next to the Boulder, CO facility. The nucleus of this science-whizz cell was a ZAX computer unit known as "The Director" which organized and structured response operations with impeccable precision and speed. Due to its "Pop-Up" nature, it wasn't a target of the bombs. When the news came that the bombs were coming, the scientists of Med-Tek came up with a desperate plan: Entomb themselves within the gel-stasis floatation tubes that had previously been used to artificially prolong/freeze New Plague patients in order to study them, entrusting The Director to discover a way of removing them from gel-stasis alive and cranial functions intact. To decide who would die, and who would take a space in these tubes, they referred to the Director to organize who was the best qualified for survival. They did so, and so the bombs did drop.
Twenty years later, in the rural mountaind, the scientists awoke to the Wasteland. In the years since, the scientists formed a budding society with the Director as its sovereign leader. Using the technology of the facility to create protein farms (ala Blade Runner 2049), its robots as defensive measures. The outskirts of the facility occupied by Wastelanders. Eventually, the old problem of the New Plague reared its head once again in the Wasteland. Using their pre-war tech and a Director who spent decades thinking of nothing else, the scientists of Kallos were able to formulate anti-dote treatment, but not a vaccine. Production of this anti-dote is a complicated process, and with the passing of the Scientists, their child-heirs have relied on the Director from which they claim their authority above the townsfolk outside. The problem is that the ZAX unit has begun to cannibalize its own memory banks, and did so from around the time the original scientists woke up. They had kept it prolonged with scavenged technology bought from the DC salvagers, but it has recently shut-down for good. The "Scientists" in the dome are now left to run a Wizard of Oz show, formulating the (limited amounts) of antidote out of a ritual-like memory rather than true understanding, and pretending that the Director is still alive. To make matters worse, the material required for the antidote is dwindling. Kallos has recently entered a pact with the soldiers of Rivet City: Antidote in exchange for electricity and protection.
Raven Rock: A Pre-War Millitary Installation used to develop cutting edge weapons technology, namely cybernetics and bio-organic weapons (Deathclaws and Wanamingos). The facility was hit hard during the Great War, and rendered into a blackhole of radiation much like The Glow. However, in the depths of its guts, the experimental Wanamingos (Co-Developed at a facility outside of Sacramento, CA) thrived in radioactivity, becoming malformed, grotesque mutant versions of themselves. The place now is a bio-organic goo hive of Wanamingos, where swarms of the creatures emerge and set out into the Wasteland. The latent radioactivity causes wild mutations, resulting in numerous "types" of Wanamingos vastly differing in physiology. Its the imperative of all Capital Wastelanders to wipe out any Wanamingo gatherings they come across, because if they settle for too long, they'll begin to form another goo nest. There are horror stories of the Wanamingos carrying off Wastelanders back to their nests, to make them "part" of the goo.
"The Deep Metro" AKA Congressional Vault:
The Dwellers are right, there is a Deep Metro. Before the Great War, the US Government in its expansion to the DC Metro system and construction of Vault 100, further commissioned the construction of an additional, deeper (but much smaller) metro network intended for US Government VIPs. This was under the supervision of what would come to be known as "The Enclave", at the time an unspoken group without a name. The plan was that the US Government, including the Senate and the House, would retreat for safety underneath here in a Vault-Tec blacksite. As the situation...changed.... nationally and internationally over the years, the plan was altered when it was assured to "certain members" of Congress that the relocation of the President to the Poseidon Oil Rig in the Pacific was to ensure better survival of the US command structure: to stop the ChiComs from cutting the head off of the snake in one move. Truthfully, it was actually a purging operation. Those who were truly important (not just the politicians) to America, those who would be absolutely loyal and singular of mind, no deliberation or debate, were the ones who would retreat to the Oil Rig. There was no need for Republicans or Democrats, only the true masters of America. The "True" Enclave. The "rabbling mass" of Congress, the pencil pushers and those who "thought" they would be important, would be the ones put in the Congressional Vault originally intended for all of the US government hierarchy.
The Vault lies empty, now. Its residents all dead. The facility itself, still pristine and full of technology, weapons, Power Armor. It seems the divisions of Congress dredged up to the surface in the face of the apocalypse, when in that great silence all they had to reflect on was the sins of their government and their decisions. Even when the world ended, their hatred for eachother bubbled up. It appears there was some internal unrest, conflict, and some sort of coup or maybe a trial. Hard to tell. Here the player would find the most comprehensive and clear log of the actions of the Pre-War US government, and the logs of feuding, betrayal, petty conflict until the Vault lay empty. The tunnels of the Deep Metro patrolled by robot guards protecting nothing. Think of a combination between Vault 11, Mariposa and The Glow in terms of tone.
Miscellaneous:
There'd be smaller communities dotted around too. Your odd fishing village or farmstead, but these would be the key ones. Same with there being a smorgasbord of weird raider-gangs out in the wild. I always liked the idea of a tribe or faction that was entirely nomadic and lived only by the roads, leaving stashes and messages for eachother. Like Wasteland gypsies with a Road Warrior aesthetic.
You'd still have some of the Vaults like 112 (I like the idea of the Stepford Wives VR reality nightmare, but I'd go a step further and have them be brains in jars wired up rather than preserved human bodies.) and the player would still be from Vault 101 which would still be a dystopian 1984 rip-off, but instead they'd probably just be a vault dweller exiled for a crime that the player can choose if they did or did not commit.
The main quest:
I have no clue what the main story would be. Something to do with Wanamingos and New Plague.
Coming up with "Main stories" has always been my weakspot. All my campaigns I've ran have been sandboxes or faction conflicts for this reason. I think maybe you could do a factional conflict over discovering the cure for the New Plague (i.e who controls distribution) or you could further mutilate and recycle Van Buren's plot line with ODYSSEUS and the BOMB-001 platform, with the "big reveal" being that the spread of the New Plague wasn't a naturally occuring pandemic but rather something planned by a sinister figure, or you could combine both and have the factional powerplay as an undercurrent.
You could do something with the Wanamingos too since I sort of wrote them as an existential threat to the Wasteland, although I think that'd be quite boring as a premise.
Or you could even recycle the main plot from the real Fallout 3 in some way, like having the player exiled from Vault 101 and picking up the trail of other exiles who are working to restore clean water to the Wasteland. Or you could do what the real Fallout 3 did and recycle previous plot points, but good ones that lead to cool storyline branches like the player being sent out to retrieve a vital component to save their Vault and running into the bigger storyline. Shit, I don't know.
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eissa
Artanis "Altáriel" Nerwen Nos Finwe
Atomic Postman said:
Honestly, rather than making LW's father being sociopathic scientist, i rather keep the feeling of the original by instead making Vault 101 isolation no longer adequate. Roach infestation, population gene pool problem, underground tunnel breaching by raiders from that little town Springville. Basically, make the problems sound worse than what Vault 3 and Vault 13 faced. James mission to the surface is not rather selfish personalized one endangering everyone, but rather some last desperate attempt for the safety of the vault by bringing reinforcement from Brotherhood or...Enclave. James hate the later though, but the Overseer sort of love Enclave, considering he's still wanted to uphold the original mission of Vault Tec experiment. No matter how sinister the original objective is, but you basically wanted to write him as having "realized" that opening the vault to the surface is high risk activity. Maybe the existing lore about expedition is such high failure or whatever.
There is fanfic that i read about Megaton and Vault 101 joined up to form huge metropolis complex, not limited by city wall. The water purifier plot could be salvaged to acquiring the remaining GECK to do as it intended. The choice you made between choosing Enclave or Brotherhood would matter in determining wether or not something like Vault City cultural xenophobia and strict hierarchy happened again.
The fact there is already existence of divided loyalty in James Project Purity alone in affirming to Enclave (Anna Holt) or Brotherhood (Madison Lee, James), I am confident for such plot. Another vanilla origin framework is the whole morality system of merc group and vigilante. Talon Company being hired by Enclave. Regulators being formed and trained by Brotherhood essentially. Talon Company mercs are career killers, highly experienced and well equipped, but very shady due to their nature of business. But REgulators are basically armed volunteers that glued by well motivated action, but otherwise quite rather green.
The Capital Wasteland is a warzone of low intensity warfare, waged mostly by proxy parties indirectly supported by the big players. Both side wanted to play their influence to aspiring hero and warlords. Battle for Jefferson Monument purifier replacement would be just final decisive battle from the culmination of skirmish and small-scale engangement buildup.
I got some ideas about the other aspect. But for now what you guys think for the above.
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That way factions would play a bigger role as in Fallout: New Vegas. So that's an improvement to Fallout 3 I think. However there's still the argument to be had about BoS and Enclave on the East coast.
PaxVenire
Wasteland Peacemaker
The more I keep seeing Fallout 3 rewrites, the more I wanna do my own. So I am, I’m gonna do a Bethesda rewrite. Liked this concept a lot, cheers mate
Do it! Someone needs to come up with a good main quest and also add some interesting pre-war government secrets.
eissa
Artanis "Altáriel" Nerwen Nos Finwe
What's the problem? Timeline perspective? Generally I would make it that Brotherhood of Steel mostly came from the Midwest one with small expedition team came from California (also recycling Circle of Steel group). They came toward the east because of the Enclave arrival. The defeated Enclave from Fallout 2, made their exodus toward the eastern hemisphere not unlike Great Migration era. Considering that you can say most of the east consist of tribes, small settlements and even if containing advanced faction those would be rather small, Enclave bases and outposts are established quickly. Enclave would generally leave wastelanders as they were, probably due to pragmatic reason at first because their genocidal policy is proven to not working before.
Brotherhood would be still be split into 2 groups, however Lyon's would be amalgamation of Midwest BoS refugee and west coast expedition that were part of sort of reformist type, like Father Elijah but not necessary altruistic at first. The Outcast led by what basically group of BoS under the shadow governance of Circle of Steel. Not sure about the pros for each group at this point, but I will think about it later. Same with the advantage of choosing Enclave.
It would be interested that in Capital Wasteland due to lots of tech being left in basically the capital of advanced nation, there would be more raiders and paramilitary group with advanced tech capability to wage hybrid guerilla warfare. Lots of Tesla and ordinary IED, hacking of turrets and robots, homemade energy weapons, basically making direct action being costly if number and brute force are all that matter. It would explain why both factions desperately need the help of LW, considering the missions that are given require highly resourceful special agent that also in a way...quite disposable to not endanger the whole group cohesion.
Or just make Enclave being basically the tiniest presence of their true capability, so it's up to both BoS groups to secure their holding fast and hunker down deeply.
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Did the alien mothership which had been hiding(cloaked) in inner space transport the remnant Chinese army into the CW ?The Wanamingos/aliens which were not alien but another FEV creation could have bred with fire Geckos to make a hybrid ' Flameingo'. Just an idea 
I am not good enough to come up with a re-write of FO3.
But an idea I had in the past was to not have Enclave or BoS.
Instead, I would have John Henry Eden (the computer AI) be a charismatic leader that has its own faction composed mainly of robots. Eden would keep spreading the message that under him, the USA would go back to the old glory and that mutants should be exterminated. Most humans that would join Eden would have their brains transplanted into robots and terminals or would have their brains replaced with electronic brains (so they could infiltrate human settlements and stuff).
Eden would be opposed by a faction of some kind of "human mutants". These would be a new type of mutants, descendants from people mutated by some experimental Chinese bio-nuke or something, that was used against Washington DC.
These mutants would have "evolved" superhuman characteristics, some would have become more intelligent, some would have become stronger, some would have become more agile, etc. These characteristics would be way past what humans could ever achieve.
This faction would also have mutant animals, that were also descendent of animals mutated by that experimental bio-nuke.
Basically, it would be about machines versus mutants, but in the middle of this, there would be independent settlements that were just humans. These settlements would be the biggest part of the game. The player could pick which faction to join and then would have to convince these independents to join or support a faction.
There would be a possibility for the player to instead form a human faction and destroy both main factions or maybe just have factions agree to cooperate with each other (without joining together). If the player made them cooperate, the ending would then mention how the truce lasted for years, but then one faction wiped out the remaining one(s) after having time to develop a plan and gather resources for that. This "winning" faction would be decided by what happened during the game, and what decisions and actions the player took.
The human settlements would work dynamically, which means that if the player took too long to act, settlements would join one of the factions over time. This would depend on Faction influence, which was then influenced by the player's actions. Each faction would have agents trying to gain that settlement's loyalty, and the player could then help or disrupt these agents.
The thing about what Factions had to offer to the human settlements could be stuff like:
This is kinda using some stuff also used in FO3, which is the influences of the main story in previous Fallout games:
We have the Mutants wanting to evolve humanity and make a mutant paradise. Although there's no guarantee war won't happen between them in the future.
We have Eden wanting to eradicate all mutants. Although he wants to bring the old USA glory by means of robotizing everyone (which is kinda similar in logic to the Master's mutants).
We have robots trying to take over like in Fallout Tactics.
We have three factions fighting to control a wasteland, like in FNV.
But what makes it unique for me would be how it's all about the settlements and how to convince them to join whatever faction. This is different from FNV, since the "joining" in there is just for help in the hoover dam battle and little else. I would have liked to have unique stuff that each settlement would offer during the entire game and what they could bring to their faction.
But an idea I had in the past was to not have Enclave or BoS.
Instead, I would have John Henry Eden (the computer AI) be a charismatic leader that has its own faction composed mainly of robots. Eden would keep spreading the message that under him, the USA would go back to the old glory and that mutants should be exterminated. Most humans that would join Eden would have their brains transplanted into robots and terminals or would have their brains replaced with electronic brains (so they could infiltrate human settlements and stuff).
Eden would be opposed by a faction of some kind of "human mutants". These would be a new type of mutants, descendants from people mutated by some experimental Chinese bio-nuke or something, that was used against Washington DC.
These mutants would have "evolved" superhuman characteristics, some would have become more intelligent, some would have become stronger, some would have become more agile, etc. These characteristics would be way past what humans could ever achieve.
This faction would also have mutant animals, that were also descendent of animals mutated by that experimental bio-nuke.
Basically, it would be about machines versus mutants, but in the middle of this, there would be independent settlements that were just humans. These settlements would be the biggest part of the game. The player could pick which faction to join and then would have to convince these independents to join or support a faction.
There would be a possibility for the player to instead form a human faction and destroy both main factions or maybe just have factions agree to cooperate with each other (without joining together). If the player made them cooperate, the ending would then mention how the truce lasted for years, but then one faction wiped out the remaining one(s) after having time to develop a plan and gather resources for that. This "winning" faction would be decided by what happened during the game, and what decisions and actions the player took.
The human settlements would work dynamically, which means that if the player took too long to act, settlements would join one of the factions over time. This would depend on Faction influence, which was then influenced by the player's actions. Each faction would have agents trying to gain that settlement's loyalty, and the player could then help or disrupt these agents.
The thing about what Factions had to offer to the human settlements could be stuff like:
- Eden could promise free clean water for any settlement that would join him because he has a purifying water plant.
- The mutants would promise free abundant food because their superhuman scientists developed mutant seeds that can grow with little water and on harsh conditions
- Eden could promise immortality (in the form of robot bodies)
- The mutants could promise superhuman mutations (and there had been very rare cases of people gaining bodies that never age)
- Eden could promise the return to old USA glory
- The mutants could promise a better future than the old USA glory
- Eden could promise a technological paradise
- The mutants could promise a natural paradise (using their knowledge of mutant seeds, they could grow forests and make the wasteland green again)
- Etc.
This is kinda using some stuff also used in FO3, which is the influences of the main story in previous Fallout games:
We have the Mutants wanting to evolve humanity and make a mutant paradise. Although there's no guarantee war won't happen between them in the future.
We have Eden wanting to eradicate all mutants. Although he wants to bring the old USA glory by means of robotizing everyone (which is kinda similar in logic to the Master's mutants).
We have robots trying to take over like in Fallout Tactics.
We have three factions fighting to control a wasteland, like in FNV.
But what makes it unique for me would be how it's all about the settlements and how to convince them to join whatever faction. This is different from FNV, since the "joining" in there is just for help in the hoover dam battle and little else. I would have liked to have unique stuff that each settlement would offer during the entire game and what they could bring to their faction.
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I really like the idea of a bio-nuke that causes new mutations not dependent on FEV. That's great!
Keeping John Henry Eden but with his own faction instead of the Enclave is a good idea.
Keeping John Henry Eden but with his own faction instead of the Enclave is a good idea.
PaxVenire
Wasteland Peacemaker
I gotta ask, what made you use James for the mad doctor instead of say Braun?
Hardboiled Android
Vault Fossil
I just feel that having the brotherhood is too silly and too fan service-y. It's so far out, they're such a small group to begin with. There's no real advantage to them being in any Fallout 3 rewriting other than it seems too big of a presence in the actual game to remove. But I feel they can easily be substituted for some other faction.
The Enclave, on the other hand, I think there is good reason to use in some form or another considering the setting.
Gizmojunk
Antediluvian as Feck
No enclave; preferably no Brotherhood.... and especially no bottle caps.
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eissa
Artanis "Altáriel" Nerwen Nos Finwe
That depends on what you think of Fallout Tactic canonicity to begin with. Great Plains combined with that Great Lake area are massive. If Midwest BoS can truly consolidate their holdings, i don't see why we should keep the idea that the entire Brotherhood collective as small. That and Circle of Steel, which is recycled from Van Buren.
There is also that we have to rewrite Fallout New Vegas, since FNV reference some of stuff from Fallout 3. Not just ED-E mind you, but aesthetic also.
PaxVenire
Wasteland Peacemaker
What you suggest in these two paragraphs are almost verbatim the exact story of Fallout 76’s Steel Dawn/Steel Reign expansions. I have to say, those expansions pissed me the absolute fuck off due to how early in the timeline they occur, however if you ignore that flagrant stupidity of the BOS walking on foot from California to West Virginia and just focus on the power struggle between the faction, then it’s without a doubt in my mind the best writing for the BOS Bethesda has done. If it weren’t for the fact that it was only 25 years after the war and they expect me to believe that not only is the BOS already a highly advanced organized military but walked ON FOOT from California to West Virginia, then I would have liked what Bethesda did with the BOS for once. This story set in Fallout 3’s timeline as your idea is makes so much more sense and would make me appreciate that kind of story so much more.
The real reason is that I didn't even remember Dr. Braun, I haven't played Fallout 3 since back in 2008 when it first launched.
Since my rewrite is a twisted version of Fallout 3 I quite like the idea of Dr. James being the "evil genius". However after having read up on Dr. Braun I think I have found an important role for him. In the second act of the main quest you have to bring the atomic bomb to Wheaton Armory for nuclear launch. But how will you launch it? Dr. Braun is clearly based on Werner von Braun, "the father of rocket science", and thus Dr. Braun will be crucial for anyone wanting to launch a missile from Wheaton Armory.
The question is just what Dr. Brauns alignment would be. Would he be okay with the player choosing the target of the strike?
On the last page I stated that I liked the idea of a simulation as in Vault 112 but that it needs to be more twisted and weird after having run for over a 100 years. Maybe he is still involved in that when you find him?
I would also like to have more pre-war government secrets to explore and since Dr. Braun has lived since before the war he could be an important character for that kind of purpose as well.
e:
Vault 112 will be changed into a regular vault and be part of the United Federation of Vaults (UFV). Dr. Braun and his simulation will instead be found inside a secret underground installation under DC itself. It might be part of the "deep metro" that Atomic Postman suggested in his rewrite of Fallout 3.
Atomic Postman said:
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