Atomic Postman
Vault Archives Overseer
This is a one-shot that could or likely will lead into a multi-session, self-contained adventure intended to be ran at Level 4 in Hardcore Mode. Similar to New California Dreaming it could act as an accompanying or prelude to the Van Buren campaign. It's heavily inspired by the Lost Mine of Phandelver for DnD.
Theme:
Premise: The Job and the Canyon Wreckage
OST:
It's the year 2252 and the party are a band of caravaneers hired by Enzo Giordano of the Triplet Caravan Company (Ran by Enzo and his two brothers, Vinnie and Guido) out of the bustling city of Junktown. Their job is to transport a Brahmin wagon containing junk parts and machinery from Junktown to the rural Nevada township of Scrapheap, well out of the borders of the New California Republic, ostensibly under the territory of the Desert Rangers. They're being paid in trail rations for the two weeks of travel, with 1000 Caps each on arrival at Guido's Provisions, however Enzo in the job application prefaced that there'd be more to come and this would be the "Start of the rest of your lives". Enzo himself headed out days beforehand with a Pack Brahmin, accompanied by his armed guard and cousin, Silvio. He claims they've found something big and needed to "take care of business".
The session will start with the party's caravan en-route, encouraged to introduce their characters and whether they have any existing connections. Soon, however, they will come across the remains of a slain pack Brahmin in a canyon pass, its pack thoroughly looted. Perceptive characters will spot the logo of the Triplet Caravan. It is then that the party will be attacked by four Viper raider-tribals, equipped with poison tipped spears. A fifth will stand at the canyon verge and fire from a distance with a Laser Blaster. After defeating the Vipers, they will find scant loot on them. Survival checks can be made to discover that two bodies were dragged away from the caravan remains, and connects with poorly concealed foot trails heading East into the badlands. The party may choose to conceal the wagon in a nearby cave and pursue the trail to the Viper's Den or continue onward to Scrapheap.
Viper's Den
OST:
The path to the Viper's Den takes five miles and there are multiple traps along the way, the first Coyote Traps hidden in the sand, and the second a concealed pit with punji sticks just ahead of the cave den. Adjacent to the cave is a small dip where two Viper lookouts bicker over skewered Iguana over a campfire. They're largely inattentive and easily surprised. Inside the cave there's a first encountered side room with two tied up dogs. The dogs are mangey, meek looking and on inspection have bite marks on them from snakes. There's a small hole (Large enough to crawl into on all fours) next to the dogs that leads into a lower pit full of Pit Vipers, including Giant Pit Vipers at the lower-tunnel's end. However, the snakes are dormant in tunnel alcoves unless disturbed.
Following the main path of the pit, the cave wraps around upward and leads into a small sacrificial chamber - where there's a band of five Vipers and their leader, Fang, who wears Metal Armor and carries a Plasma Rifle. They are in some sort of feverish prayer and have Silvio, the guard, bound and tied to a wooden pole, as they prepare to push him into the pit of vipers. The Vipers will make a morale roll, if they fail they will bargain against the party with Silvio as hostage - if they succeed, they will simply attack.
If Silvio is saved, he can reveal the truth: Enzo and his brothers discovered a map to a Vault, Vault 24, located in the Nevada badlands. The plan is to locate the Vault and harness its supplies to turn the nearby Scrapheap into a new boomtown of water and ample supplies - then request incorporation into NCR, turning the Triplet Caravan into major players on par with the merchant houses of the Hub. They bought up the trading post in Scrapheap for dirt cheap but it's been a bleed on their finance - they're about to turn dust into liquid gold. The Vipers passed on Enzo and the Map to some Mercenaries with gold lion badges - Van Graff family - in exchange for supplies and energy weapons. This can also be learnt from interrogated or negotiated Vipers, perhaps. If found out via interrogated Vipers, they can reveal the location of the Van Graff mercenaries: A gas station fort on the outskirts of an Old World city (Carson City).
Silvio will request they move onto Scrapheap so they can report to Guido.
Scrapheap
OST:
Scrapheap is a town that resembles Junktown in its early days: Podunk and built out of old world trash. Fortifications made of old car hulks. The town is centered around a large junk generator fueled by Brahmin dung, which the locals shovel into large steaming ports. The town has a bar and casino, a hotel, a cafe and Guido's Trading Post. It's protected by a single Desert Ranger: Rick. Equipped with his Desert Ranger Combat Armor and a Trail Carbine, he's been left alone after his co-partner in defending the town was sent on an expedition to Arizona. There's a small militia called the "Red Ryder Boys" local youths that think they're big shots, but it's Rick that actually deals with the threats when they rear their head. Should they bring the wagon and Silvio to the Trading Post, they'll receive their 1000 caps each with bonuses on top should they bring Silvio - but they still need to find Enzo and the map. Guido will put a high price on finding his brother and an even higher price on finding the map.
If the players don't already know about the Van Graff gas station fort, they'll be clued in by one of the bratty Redhand Boys flipping a gold coin with a Lion minting - carefully navigating their testosterone pumped angst either into an outright fight, or talking them down to find out they've been paid by the Van Graffs to recently steal car parts left as a tribute at an 80s Tribe watch post before the 80s arrived (The tribute itself left by the Van Graffs) and bring the parts back to Scrapheap to help repair the generator, proving their worth to the town.
Either way the players will have to reach the Van Graff gas station fort.
Mercenary Fort
The Gas Station Fort is manned by Coleridge and his squad of men, equipped in former NCR Army uniforms and weapons. Defectors who decided to turn mercenary and aid the Van Graffs instead. When the players arrive, Coleridge will cut it clean to them: Enzo is captured by someone else, but they have the map. Vault 24 is an 80s outpost that they use pretty regularly. It's got a ghost crew currently because the 80s are tangling with Desert Rangers out north east, so the plan is to attract the 80s to siege Scrapheap and do a run and gun on Vault 24 - take what they can, and leave. Enzo was captured along with some of the other mercs by the 80s ghost crew, but the Van Graffs don't care about the ransom and told Coleridge to leave it alone. So they'll just wait for the 80s to get bored and gut them. Coleridge will effectively offer a Van Graff bribe for the players to simply walk away. The players can take the bribe and end the story here. The price on Enzo is higher than the bribe.
Or, they can find an alternate solution by appealing to Coleridge's sensibilities for his former comrades via Persuasion to rescue the ransom hostages. Or they can fight their way in and retrieve the map to Vault 24.
Vault 24
Vault 24 is very much like Fallout 2's Vault 15 - decrepit but rejigged for limited use. The 80s use it as a base - it has a store-hold of water, hydroponics technology and stockpiles of weapons and ammo. It's built beneath a Soltaire Gas Station and Garage which the 80s use - though all the vehicles are out on the "frontline" currently.
There's about 20 80's Tribe Members total in Vault 24, led by Asphalt and his Dune-Spear (A Riot Shotgun) who has Enzo and the Coleridge squaddies bound and held hostage in the Overseer's Office. The players will have to battle through the 80s and automated security systems in an all out battle to rescue the hostages.
If Coleridge has been turned from his Van Graff employers, he'll suggest giving this place to the Desert Rangers rather than the Triplet Caravan - the Vault can't be held by a bunch of merchants, and it's better for the Desert Rangers to have it since they can actually hold it. Alternatively, Enzo will offer additional money incentive for the players to keep their mouths shut around Ranger Rick.
Bringing Enzo back to Scrapheap will then end the one shot.
Pretty straightforward, but a bit of fun I thought!
Theme:
Premise: The Job and the Canyon Wreckage
OST:
It's the year 2252 and the party are a band of caravaneers hired by Enzo Giordano of the Triplet Caravan Company (Ran by Enzo and his two brothers, Vinnie and Guido) out of the bustling city of Junktown. Their job is to transport a Brahmin wagon containing junk parts and machinery from Junktown to the rural Nevada township of Scrapheap, well out of the borders of the New California Republic, ostensibly under the territory of the Desert Rangers. They're being paid in trail rations for the two weeks of travel, with 1000 Caps each on arrival at Guido's Provisions, however Enzo in the job application prefaced that there'd be more to come and this would be the "Start of the rest of your lives". Enzo himself headed out days beforehand with a Pack Brahmin, accompanied by his armed guard and cousin, Silvio. He claims they've found something big and needed to "take care of business".
The session will start with the party's caravan en-route, encouraged to introduce their characters and whether they have any existing connections. Soon, however, they will come across the remains of a slain pack Brahmin in a canyon pass, its pack thoroughly looted. Perceptive characters will spot the logo of the Triplet Caravan. It is then that the party will be attacked by four Viper raider-tribals, equipped with poison tipped spears. A fifth will stand at the canyon verge and fire from a distance with a Laser Blaster. After defeating the Vipers, they will find scant loot on them. Survival checks can be made to discover that two bodies were dragged away from the caravan remains, and connects with poorly concealed foot trails heading East into the badlands. The party may choose to conceal the wagon in a nearby cave and pursue the trail to the Viper's Den or continue onward to Scrapheap.
Viper's Den
OST:
The path to the Viper's Den takes five miles and there are multiple traps along the way, the first Coyote Traps hidden in the sand, and the second a concealed pit with punji sticks just ahead of the cave den. Adjacent to the cave is a small dip where two Viper lookouts bicker over skewered Iguana over a campfire. They're largely inattentive and easily surprised. Inside the cave there's a first encountered side room with two tied up dogs. The dogs are mangey, meek looking and on inspection have bite marks on them from snakes. There's a small hole (Large enough to crawl into on all fours) next to the dogs that leads into a lower pit full of Pit Vipers, including Giant Pit Vipers at the lower-tunnel's end. However, the snakes are dormant in tunnel alcoves unless disturbed.
Following the main path of the pit, the cave wraps around upward and leads into a small sacrificial chamber - where there's a band of five Vipers and their leader, Fang, who wears Metal Armor and carries a Plasma Rifle. They are in some sort of feverish prayer and have Silvio, the guard, bound and tied to a wooden pole, as they prepare to push him into the pit of vipers. The Vipers will make a morale roll, if they fail they will bargain against the party with Silvio as hostage - if they succeed, they will simply attack.
If Silvio is saved, he can reveal the truth: Enzo and his brothers discovered a map to a Vault, Vault 24, located in the Nevada badlands. The plan is to locate the Vault and harness its supplies to turn the nearby Scrapheap into a new boomtown of water and ample supplies - then request incorporation into NCR, turning the Triplet Caravan into major players on par with the merchant houses of the Hub. They bought up the trading post in Scrapheap for dirt cheap but it's been a bleed on their finance - they're about to turn dust into liquid gold. The Vipers passed on Enzo and the Map to some Mercenaries with gold lion badges - Van Graff family - in exchange for supplies and energy weapons. This can also be learnt from interrogated or negotiated Vipers, perhaps. If found out via interrogated Vipers, they can reveal the location of the Van Graff mercenaries: A gas station fort on the outskirts of an Old World city (Carson City).
Silvio will request they move onto Scrapheap so they can report to Guido.
Scrapheap
OST:
Scrapheap is a town that resembles Junktown in its early days: Podunk and built out of old world trash. Fortifications made of old car hulks. The town is centered around a large junk generator fueled by Brahmin dung, which the locals shovel into large steaming ports. The town has a bar and casino, a hotel, a cafe and Guido's Trading Post. It's protected by a single Desert Ranger: Rick. Equipped with his Desert Ranger Combat Armor and a Trail Carbine, he's been left alone after his co-partner in defending the town was sent on an expedition to Arizona. There's a small militia called the "Red Ryder Boys" local youths that think they're big shots, but it's Rick that actually deals with the threats when they rear their head. Should they bring the wagon and Silvio to the Trading Post, they'll receive their 1000 caps each with bonuses on top should they bring Silvio - but they still need to find Enzo and the map. Guido will put a high price on finding his brother and an even higher price on finding the map.
If the players don't already know about the Van Graff gas station fort, they'll be clued in by one of the bratty Redhand Boys flipping a gold coin with a Lion minting - carefully navigating their testosterone pumped angst either into an outright fight, or talking them down to find out they've been paid by the Van Graffs to recently steal car parts left as a tribute at an 80s Tribe watch post before the 80s arrived (The tribute itself left by the Van Graffs) and bring the parts back to Scrapheap to help repair the generator, proving their worth to the town.
Either way the players will have to reach the Van Graff gas station fort.
Mercenary Fort
The Gas Station Fort is manned by Coleridge and his squad of men, equipped in former NCR Army uniforms and weapons. Defectors who decided to turn mercenary and aid the Van Graffs instead. When the players arrive, Coleridge will cut it clean to them: Enzo is captured by someone else, but they have the map. Vault 24 is an 80s outpost that they use pretty regularly. It's got a ghost crew currently because the 80s are tangling with Desert Rangers out north east, so the plan is to attract the 80s to siege Scrapheap and do a run and gun on Vault 24 - take what they can, and leave. Enzo was captured along with some of the other mercs by the 80s ghost crew, but the Van Graffs don't care about the ransom and told Coleridge to leave it alone. So they'll just wait for the 80s to get bored and gut them. Coleridge will effectively offer a Van Graff bribe for the players to simply walk away. The players can take the bribe and end the story here. The price on Enzo is higher than the bribe.
Or, they can find an alternate solution by appealing to Coleridge's sensibilities for his former comrades via Persuasion to rescue the ransom hostages. Or they can fight their way in and retrieve the map to Vault 24.
Vault 24
Vault 24 is very much like Fallout 2's Vault 15 - decrepit but rejigged for limited use. The 80s use it as a base - it has a store-hold of water, hydroponics technology and stockpiles of weapons and ammo. It's built beneath a Soltaire Gas Station and Garage which the 80s use - though all the vehicles are out on the "frontline" currently.
There's about 20 80's Tribe Members total in Vault 24, led by Asphalt and his Dune-Spear (A Riot Shotgun) who has Enzo and the Coleridge squaddies bound and held hostage in the Overseer's Office. The players will have to battle through the 80s and automated security systems in an all out battle to rescue the hostages.
If Coleridge has been turned from his Van Graff employers, he'll suggest giving this place to the Desert Rangers rather than the Triplet Caravan - the Vault can't be held by a bunch of merchants, and it's better for the Desert Rangers to have it since they can actually hold it. Alternatively, Enzo will offer additional money incentive for the players to keep their mouths shut around Ranger Rick.
Bringing Enzo back to Scrapheap will then end the one shot.
Pretty straightforward, but a bit of fun I thought!