What would be your take on a storyline for New Vegas

The Dutch Ghost

The Dutch Ghost

Grouchy old man of NMA
Moderator
Hello guys (and girls)

Sometimes even a name can make the imagination start running.
So lets pretend that you are given the opportunity to make a concept idea/storyline for this game, what would it be like?

I have a few ideas but I would like to see other people's thoughts first,
 
My storyline idea is simple:

New Vegas is kinda like Reno, except more plausible and there are less contestants for the power. YOU are the Supremo. After some years of struggle, killing and conspiracy, you managed to rule Vegas with a iron fist for years until someone couped you and after being in the bussiness end of a heinous beating, they left you to bleed. You survived. Now the mission is to take your power back, kill all those pretenders to the throne, rule New Vegas again and kill anyone opposing you. Many factions (old and new) have myriad interests in Vegas that may coincide with yours, and many other factions want to see your head on a pike for varied reasons. To climb back to power you need to use whatever means you can find. Your own name, influence, help from the outside, wealth, stealth, firepower, street smarts, advanced technology and other things... or you will end up as a body in the background.
 
Start out as a Tribal, Vault Dweller, Raider or Wasteland Settler. Each origin offers up a couple of unique perks and a different skill balance.

More importantly each origin has a different main quest, all of which take you to New Vegas.

As a Vault Dweller you are looking for parts for your nuclear generator. As a Tribal you are searching for "the chosen one" who left the village a long time ago and might now be a mobster. As a raider you are trying to usurp control from the leader who killed your parents and adopted you as a slave. Lastly as a Wastelander you are trying to kill the supermutants who kidnapped (and probably killed) your parents after destroying your town.

All paths allow for good and evil, like as a Raider you could end up destroying that raider clan or you could take control. As a Tribal you could become an organized crime lord or you could become the new chosen one. Etc.

I had this idea for a Boston mod but there is no way I'm completing it anytime soon given how busy I am.
 
Isn't that the plot for the Scarface game?

As for me, well I have two ideas for a setup scenario.
One is perhaps a little to much like Fallout 1 or 2's setup (find McGuffin(s), and defeat foozle), while with the other I would like to do something really different (still foozle at the end though, can't escape that).


In the first one, the player unlike Fallout 1 and 2 isn't a Chosen One.
Rather he or she is more of a down on his or her luck slob who comes to New Vegas for opportunity and riches, perhaps looking for a place to belong, or being someone in exile.

I am not sure of how the player gets a Pipboy, perhaps he or she is a former Vault Dweller, found it on the corpse of a Vault Dweller, or perhaps won it from a Vault Dweller.
The Pipboy might be involved in the storyline or not.

After going through the setup part the player becomes part of a sort of treasure hunt, going in search of something special while competing with other factions (perhaps included BOS and NCR soldiers).

At some point the player can perhaps choose to join one side or set up both sides against each other while going for the mystery price.


In the second one the player is part of a Vault community or some village with a reasonable level of technology.
One day a group of power armored soldiers, I am using the name Circle of Steel as a temporary placeholder, attacks the city, kills and wounds several defenders and civilians and steals important items that are crucial for the existence of the community.

With no other option the leader(s) of the Vault/town sends out several selected people, including the player, who must go out to find the stolen items or replacements in order to save the community.

While the player is pursuing this goal he or she might also investigate the attackers; where they came from, what they are up to and where they are heading.
At some point this becomes crucial as more than just the Vault/town's existence depends on it.
 
Isn't that the plot for the Scarface game?
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, it reminded me of that. It was probrably part of the inspiration. But its a very basic plot - "You have been betrayed and some fuckers are fighting over what was yours. Go back there and restore your rule." - And that's part of the idea. And I wanted a diferent premise than "Get McGuffin, go save world." Ever played Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines? No world-saving, its much more personal and character-based.

And instead of a single antagonist, there are many, depending on which side you will be. If, say, you secured BOS support to take over Vegas and in exchange get some tech and power from them, expect to see someone who is NCR-supported (remember Bishop? kinda like that) going after you.
 
Well, I dig the whole dystopian sci-fi loaded with lots of irony and pathos all in the name of skewering the human condition. And being that the whole decadent Casino town of Sex/Drugs/Porn/Mafia etc. has been done.

How about flipping it on it's head?
The most decadent city in the most decadent country is now controlled by ultra-conservative bible-thumping freaks. They see the destruction of Vegas as a sign from god, punishing man's wicked sins blah blah blah go youtube Pat Robertson or Jerry Fallwell for inspiration here. You could even do a charicature of one of them for a great lead villain.

So the bomb swings the pendulum in the complete opposite side of the spectrum for Vegas.
Of course it might seem orderly and clean and civil at first, maybe even a welcome change to the chaos of the wasteland, but upon further investigation you realize that this group is really shady themselves. Maybe they engage in some freaky incest/cannibalism/human sacrifice to keep things going.

Of course they're are full of religious self-righteousness and think it's their gift to humanity to purge the wasteland of any non-believers they deem to be "unworthy" by whatever twisted measure they use.
Then I can see a scenario where they have something you need, and they manipulate, lie and use you to get what they want, they toss you aside a la Mad Max 2 or FO1.

What I don't need is another casino town filled with crack whores. That's been done already.
 
The Dutch Ghost said:
I am not sure of how the player gets a Pipboy, perhaps he or she is a former Vault Dweller, found it on the corpse of a Vault Dweller, or perhaps won it from a Vault Dweller.
Click to expand...

I had thought about a few options when I planned my Boston mod and I came up with other ways a non vault dude can get one:

Wastelander: given to you by the hermit guy who lives in a junkyard and is constantly repairing stuff. He found it on a skeleton long ago.

Raider: comes attached to the arm of a Vault Dweller that they encountered.

Tribal: passed down for generations from the original founder of the tribe.
 
Also, the Pip-Boy was made by RobCo, not by Vault-Tec. So while it was extensively used by Vault-Tec in its vaults, it doesn't mean that it wasn't used elsewhere as well.
 
Hard to guess, really. I surely hope that the fact the game is set in post-apo Vegas won't mean it'll be mostly about gambling.

Anyway....I'd like the story to revolve around the player saving his sorry ass, not another epic quest for stopping an uber-evil bad guy. This way you'd at least have a *good reason* to do anything at all.

And perhaps something about creating a town, perhaps making Las Vegas habitable again? Can't say, really.
 
Hmm, really trying to think outside the box here.

Another idea for a setup take; the player is an exile from a Vault, 'Vault Exile'.

Perhaps the Overseer never liked you from the start.
Perhaps you have stood in the way of the wrong people to many times.
Perhaps the Vault computer deemed you a threat for the continued existence and prosperity of the community.

Whatever the reason is, they are going to make you leave the Vault.
You'll be given some supplies, a weapon, and your Pipboy to give some chance to survive on the surface, but you know they expect you to die.
They would make sure of that.

With the Vault door closing permanently behind you you now have to face this brave new world and find your own place in it.
After a day of wandering in the wasteland you find tracks of people and animals, no doubt some form of caravan, the first signs of other people and possibly civilization.

At the horizon you see what might be a settlement, a place where you might be able to get some food and rest, and more important; information.

As you head towards this settlement you think once more about the people of the Vault who send you out.
You are going to show them, you're going to do more than survive, you are going to thrive.

And if fortune is with you, you might even get back at that sheltered lot, perhaps giving them a taste of their own medicine.
 
I don't really have a plot but a few ( lame ) ideas :

+ Divide the City in two parts :
- The Slums : where vagrants, dealers, junkies and outsiders go
( poor, dirty, dangerous at night, with street gangs,
lousy casinos and underground organizations... )
- The Core : where only very select and authorized customers
are allowed to go ( deluxe hotels, flamboyant casinos, rich
hookers, the best drugs, healthcare and weapons around etc )
+ As a player you first have to do a few quests to be allowed within The Core. Once there you can either live a life of leisure, or work for the "President of the Core" ( haven't decide on who he is yet but obviously a grey personnality ) to destroy the competition of The Slums, or use the opportunity to destroy the barrier that prevents the people of The Slums from getting within The Core.
+The B.O.S would also hire people from the Slums as expandable cannon fodder because they want to investigate the sublevels of Area 51. You can keep some of the technology found there for yourself or redistribute it to the leaders of the Core to help them get within The Slums.
+There should also be a super villain à la Master hiding in the basement of the biggest casino of the Core, feeding on people from the Slums who are regulary captured...


Yeah, I know, ripoff of Fallout 1, New Reno, Tenpenny Towers/Land of the Dead but I would totally play that...
 
Hmmm, New Reno has never fit into Fallout world but it's there and it's part of a canon. The city mostly profited from selling Jet and Booze to the outsiders and getting their food in return. At least that's how I explained it in my head.

Anyway we now move about 30-50 years after F2. You are part of the group who believe they are the descendants of the, so called, Chosen One (children of the Bishops daughter :D). The New Reno grew and the name Vegas got it's meaning again.

The major plot could include Sierra Military Depot, Hoover Dam and few small settlements in Vegas vicinity. Raiders make camps near populated places so there is always room for a base or two.

This just a setting. I really can't think of some good plot right now. Tell me what you think.
 
Personally I would prefer boneyard design over vault city design MrBumble.

A couple of little oasises of life among the ruined city of Vegas. A bunch of drifters holed up in a Pyramid and a Syphinix , a bunch of para military weirdoes/mercenaries based at ruins of Eiffel tower, The big bad guy and his army at Hoover dam, A trading company based at an old hotel and a community that has grown around it etcetera.
 
I liked Boneyard little towns inside a big city, but at the same time, I think New Vegas should have more bigger towns. I had enough of five-people towns, I would like to see REAL cities of the post-apocalyptic world.
 
Well my idea for the new vegas could be following:


New vegas is middle of power struggle as its loved and feared dictator has fallen to his grave by (presumably) old age. There are three "factions" trying to take over wih each having (of course) different ambtions and goals.
One faction is willing to keep on doing the same things as predecessing leader and keep on building based on agriculture with tight laws and hard work. One militarist faction willing to start pillaging and recruiting nearby small tribes and villages to gain first bigger army and then expanding. And one (relatively small) faction willing to move the populace to different location because clean water is starting to run dry and raiders beeing everyday bigger and bigger problem.
I could see quite a few different scenarios to follow from there, like finding new location and getting people who are willing to move to get there. Finding out what really happened to old leader. Uniting two factions against one. Joining raiders to get inside the vegas. Getting rid of raiders. Lots of possibilities.


But honestly, i think people at obsidian can think something more clever than that, jez an idea for what the situation in vegas is...
 
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