Chapter Two COMBAT 33 HAZARDS Hazards are parts of the environment that inflict damage to creatures caught in them. A hazard may be present in a specific zone, or it may be spread among multiple zones. Hazards may be a persistent threat, or they might only occur if something specific happens to trigger them. DANGEROUS OBJECTS An environment may contain objects that inflict damage or cause other effects based on the actions of those present—mines and other traps are common examples—as many folk in the wasteland use traps and even automated turrets to defend what’s theirs. A dangerous object is triggered by a specific action occurring nearby. This might be a complication, or occur when a character enters a specific zone. Characters must attempt a test to avoid the damage (AGI + Athletics or PER + Survival to either dodge the trap or to spot the trigger just in time). Hazard Examples HAZARD DAMAGE Falling debris 3CD physical damage Falling 3CD Stun physical damage per zone fallen Open flame 2CD energy damage Raging fire 3CD Persistent energy damage Electrical discharge 3CD Stun energy damage Toxic chemical (spill) 2CD poison damage Toxic chemicals (immersed) 3CD Persistent poison damage Irradiated water 2CD Persistent radiation damage Irradiated air 2CD Piercing radiation damage Close proximity to radioactive waste or materials 5CD radiation damage Dangerous Objects Examples OBJECT TRIGGERED BY TEST DAMAGE Frag mine Close proximity (entering within Reach) AGI + Athletics difficulty 2 6CD physical damage to everyone in the zone Flammable gas A spark or energy weapon beam (complication) AGI + Athletics difficulty 2 4CD Persistent energy damage Grenade bouquet Tripwire (action, entering a zone) PER + Survival difficulty 2 6CD physical damage to everyone in the zone Shotgun trap Pressure plate (action, entering a zone) AGI + Athletics difficulty 2 6CD Vicious physical damage Sentry turret Turret sensors (action, entering a zone) PER + Survival difficulty 3 Turret acts on its initiative score, attacking the nearest target each turn
34 FALLOUT The Roleplaying Game Chapter Three MACHINE FREQUENCY INTRODUCTION SYNOPSIS The adventure begins when the players encounter Scribe Galen Portno, an elderly member of the Brotherhood of Steel. Galen operates Listening Point Echo, and recently received a distress signal from a squad of Brotherhood Knights. The knights’ Vertibird went down in hostile wilderness following an EMP attack launched by Trestridge’s patrolling robots. Galen is not healthy enough to launch a recovery on his own, so he turns to the characters to locate – and hopefully recover – any survivors of the crash. Over the course of Part One, the players will have the opportunity to: Get involved in a rescue mission and recover any survivors. Battle a force of armed military robots. Learn about Scribe Galen and his history. Learn about the strange spate of raids and disappearances in the region. GETTING INVOLVED The scenario assumes that the players are traveling the Wasteland, perhaps moving between two settlements, but there are other ways to get them involved in the story. Players that are already affiliated with the Brotherhood of Steel and could be headed to Listening Post Echo to check on the solitary scribe there as part of a regular patrol. Non-BoS players could have picked up one of Galen’s broadcasts requesting support from the Brotherhood of Steel and choose to investigate. Groups wandering the Wasteland might have witnessed the Vertibird as it was attacked and went down, and are headed toward it to investigate the wreckage and salvage supplies. ACT ONE: ECHO IN THE GULCH SCENE ONE Open this adventure by reading or paraphrasing the following text: The sun hammers the dusty road, and a weak wind stirs piles of centuries-old debris in the ruins of forgotten buildings half-concealed by the shimmer of heat. Emerging from that dusty haze, a lumbering man in dented power armor stumbles forward under a ridiculous burden of supplies, rations, and canteens. When he realizes other people are on the road – and that he’s still alive, for the moment – he raises a gauntlet in greeting.
Chapter Three MACHINE FREQUENCY 35 The man is Scribe Galen Portno. In his mid-seventies, his days of rushing off to adventure are well behind him, and even when he was young he preferred tinkering with pre-war tech to physical exploits. His suit of T-60 power armor is one example. The armor has been jury-rigged and modified many times over the years to Galen’s personal preferences, including a biometric lock keyed to the scribe himself – only he can operate it. Scribe Galen introduces himself to the player characters (PCs): The armor-clad figure removes his helmet, revealing the deeply tanned and wrinkled face of a man in his twilight years. “I am Scribe Galen Portno. I’m armed, but I don’t know how to use it,” the old man says, keeping a hopeful smile plastered to his face and his hand clear of his laser pistol. “I was about to strike out, but truth be told I’m not sure how far I’d make it. You lot look… what’s the word… capable? Would you like to earn some Caps?” The scribe gives the PCs a quick rundown of the situation. When Galen received the distress beacon from the downed Vertibird he sent for reinforcements, but they are still days from arriving. Seeing no other option, the old scribe loaded up with (far too much) gear and set out. When he encounters the players, he seizes on the opportunity for help. PCs may examine Scribe Galen INT + Medicine Test with a difficult 1 to assess his condition. Success reveals that his eyes are cloudy with cataracts, and his hands tremble slightly due to his advanced age. Even if he’d drawn his laser pistol, he probably would have missed by a country mile. He’s clearly in no shape to be traipsing about the Wasteland. Failure means the PCs don’t spot anything notable beyond the man’s significant age and frail build. A PC who spends a moment studying Scribe Galen can make a PER + Survival test with a difficulty of 1 to assess his comically large traveling pack. A success lets the PC realize that Scribe Galen has stuffed veritably everything but the kitchen sink into his pack; a rookie move that would leave him over-encumbered and a victim to exhaustion within a day. He’s clearly inexperienced at surviving the Wasteland. Scribe Galen is a gregarious, chatty fellow. He shares the following details with the PCs, often stopping to sip water and “rest his bones.” Listening Point Echo is normally a quiet posting. Other than relaying messages from knight patrols, Scribe Galen spends most nights tuning into the radio broadcasts of nearby settlements or keeping radroaches from Beriday Gulch out of his tato patch. A few distant settlements went off the air in recent days. They’re miles away, and interference is common out here, but the settlements of Brahmin’s Crossing, Kinnikon, and Slatville have been silent – Scribe Galen suspects foul play. Scribe Galen was eavesdropping on the radio chatter aboard the Vertibird when it went down. One of the knights onboard mentioned “something moving below,” then there was a loud warning klaxon before everything cut to static. A character can attempt a INT + Science test with a difficulty of 2 to correctly identify the attack as some sort of EMP-based attack. The Vertibird was over Beriday Gulch when it went down. An INT + Survival test with a difficulty of 1 lets a player recognize the region. It’s an uninhabited stretch of wasteland noteworthy for a high volume of aggressive mutated animals, especially radroaches. Speaking with Scribe Galen, it’s clear that he’s holding something back, but the old scribe is a tough nut and doesn’t easily let his secrets slip. A PC can attempt to press him for more information with a CHA + Speech test with a difficulty of 1. Success causes Scribe Galen to reveal a suspicion. “I was listening to the broadcast from Brahmin’s Crossing a few days ago when I heard… something. I can’t be certain, but it bore a remarkable similarity to the sound I heard just before I lost communication with the Vertibird.”
36 FALLOUT The Roleplaying Game Beriday Gulch is about a half-day’s walk from where the PCs encounter Scribe Galen. The PCs can get there faster if they hustle, though they will need to make an END + Survival test with a difficulty of 1 to keep up the pace. On a failure, the PCs arrive at Beriday Gulch exhausted and sweaty from their journey and lose the opportunity to initiate combat against the robots attacking the downed Vertibird. Scribe Galen offers a reward for aiding him. He will give 25 Caps per person or 35 Caps with a successful CHA + Speech test with a difficulty of 1. Additionally, Galen has a substantial cache of fresh water courtesy of Project Purity in the Capital Wasteland that he can offer upon completion of the task: 5 bottles of purified water. He marks the location of Listening Post Echo on a map or Pip-Boy for the PCs. (Or failing that, Galen points eastwards and says, “It’s a big antenna. Very big. Hard to miss, really.”) If the PCs turn Scribe Galen down and continue on their way, he moves off, painfully slowly, into the Wasteland. A day or two later, they discover Galen’s body being picked over by a Radroach Swarm, the automated distress signal of the Vertibird chirping away from a radio in his pack. SCENE TWO To reflect the long walk to where the Vertibird crashed, the Overseer can include the following challenge: Most of the roadways built pre-war are crumbling. Lack of maintenance leads to large sections falling into disrepair, and the impressive highway overpasses that once crisscrossed the nation are now perilous to traverse. After about half the distance to Beriday Gulch, one of these overpasses crosses most of the Kullen Gap, a narrow but deep gorge. When the PCs approach, read or paraphrase: The road ahead sweeps up into a wide, dilapidated bridge spanning a deep, rocky defile. Rusted heaps of cars line the northbound lanes, left abandoned centuries ago. A section of the bridge has fallen away, patched over by some suspect looking boards. On the far side of the gap, someone has constructed a humble shack. On the far side of Kullen Bridge, a scavenger named Sam Breckinridge has constructed a small shanty. The planks he laid to span the broken section of the bridge were enough to hold his weight, but not much else. Breckinridge fell victim to a radroach swarm a month ago – failing to heed the survivalist wisdom of never leaving open food out in the Wasteland did him in. The radroaches have made a nest of his old shanty, and investigate any significant noise in the area. PCs may choose to navigate around Kullen Gap, but the bridge is the swiftest route to Beriday Gulch. KULLEN BRIDGE Kullen Bridge is a two-lane span crossing Kullen Gap. Rusted vehicles litter its surface, a few still containing the skeletal remains of their passengers. A section of the bridge, just before its highest point, has collapsed into the ravine below, but is spanned by a precarious makeshift walkway. The bridge can only support the passage of a single person at a time. If two or more PCs, or a single larger PC like a super mutant or one in power armor, tries to cross, they must make a difficult 1 AGL + Athletics Test. Success causes the bridge to groan under the weight and sag ominously. Characters on it have enough time to cross to either side, but should not linger. Failure means the character fails to move off the bridge to safety. A normal failure means the character halts in place, swaying to maintain their balance. The character can attempt the roll again during their next turn. Rolling a complication means one of the following: either the sagging planks cause a character to completely lose their balance, or one of the fragile boards gives way beneath their weight. The result is the same: falling one zone onto the rocks below for 3 CD Stun physical damage.
Chapter Three MACHINE FREQUENCY 37 DERELICT CARS The derelict cars on Kullen Bridge are what attracted Sam in the first place. He’s looted most of them, leaving their doors open and tossing out the skeletal remains of the occupants. PCs can scavenge the cars for things Sam might have missed. The cars are an Average location, and Mostly Searched. The derelict cars’ Item listing is as follows: 2-4 Clothing, 1-2 Food, 0-1 Beverages, 3-6 Junk, 0-1 Weapon (Ranged), 0-1 Ammo, 0-1 Chems. There are four other cars that look untouched. They are described below: Cargo Truck. A large cargo truck with a locked rear door has a broken pick jammed in the lock. Sam tried – and failed – to secure the contents. A character may attempt a PER + Lockpick test with a difficulty of 1 to open the lock. The truck contains miscellaneous goods from a department store, including several appliances (toasters, alarm clocks, etc.), which collectively amount to 2d20 Junk items. Military Transport. A battered military transport headed for Joint Base Lewiston contains the remains of several soldiers. Their uniforms are in tatters, but a patient PC can scavenge and piece together a single set of military fatigues. Boobytrapped Sedan. Near Sam’s shanty, he’s boobytrapped a sedan to discourage looters. Sam scattered 10 Caps near the car’s trunk, which he’s left slightly ajar. A PC approaching the car must make a PER + (Explosives or Survival) test with a difficulty of 1. Success means that character notices a strand of wire running between the trunk and lid. Failure means that if that character opens the trunk, they will trigger the trap (a grenade with a tripwire attached to its pin) and suffer its effects accordingly. A PC may attempt an AGL + Explosives test with a difficulty of 2 to disable the trap. Success means the PC successfully deactivates the baseball grenade and may remove it if desired. Failure means the PC triggers the trap, detonating the baseball grenade. SAM’S SHANTY This small shack is built from scavenged pieces of rusty tin and bits taken from abandoned vehicles. Sam’s body, picked clean by radroaches, lies on the bed inside, surrounded by several empty whiskey bottles and open cans of Pork n’ Beans. Various small containers hold Sam’s latest salvage: 2 doses of RadAway and 10 Caps’ worth of random junk (utensils, mugs, an old semi-functioning typewriter, and so forth). Atop a milk crate next to his bedroll is Sam’s journal, which contains notes about his last several finds. He’s made a note in huge block letters: BIG SCORE. DROVE ME OFF. HIRE MERCS IN BOLTON. The note is a reference to Trestridge’s military outpost, which Sam encountered a while back. He’s scribbled in the margins of the page, a crude rendition of the Circle and Star of the U.S. Military. PCs may attempt a PER + Survival test with a difficulty of 1, with success enabling them to scavenge two bottles of whiskey stashed beneath Sam’s bedroll. There is a swarm of 5 radroaches that fight as a group lurking in Sam’s shack. The radroaches emerge after the first character crosses the makeshift walkway. SCENE THREE A short while after traversing or bypassing Kullen Bridge, the PCs reach Beriday Gulch. The long, shallow valley runs east-west for miles, and other than the Ten Hat trailer park to the south and Log Cabin Motor Hotel to the northeast, is devoid of structures. Scraggly trees, wild plants, and boulders dot the expanse. In this scene, the players discover the downed Vertibird. It crash-landed in a rocky defile in the Beriday Gulch, where Trestridge’s robots proceeded to assault it. Survivors of the crash are locked in a desperate battle with the robots and several knights have already died, though they did manage to disable some of Trestridge’s heaviest hitters. Even before the PCs can see the crash site, they hear the snaps of laser weapons firing and the mechanical drone of robot voices.
38 FALLOUT The Roleplaying Game ENCOUNTER 1: CRASH SITE After dealing with or avoiding the eyebot scouts, the PCs crest a ridge looking down into Beriday Gulch and the site of the crash landing. Read or paraphrase: The Vertibird is a mangled wreck. The vehicle lies at the end of a scorched trench on its side, the left wing sheared completely off. The bodies of three Brotherhood knights lie in a loose perimeter where they fell, the rocks and broken fuselage they used for cover scorched with dozens of laser impacts. A force of clanking machines advances on the wreck, firing shots into the Vertibird that leave glowing streaks in the air and molten holes punched into the metal. Someone in the jumbled wreckage returns fire with a laser pistol, shouting in defiance. “Come and get me, you rusty scrap heaps!” The attacking robots consist of: three protectron units. The robots start at long range from the Vertibird. There are a pair of wrecked sentry bots in the gulch that the other Brotherhood knights managed to disable before succumbing to their wounds. If the PCs intervene, the robots split their attention between the Vertibird and the PCs. During the battle, Dr. Trestridge is constantly updating the machines with new commands, which causes the robots to fight in an intelligent, flexible manner. Characters familiar with robots (such as Mr. Handy PCs) or who have the Robotics Expert perk recognize this unusual behavior without a test, and those within a close distance of a robot hear Dr. Trestridge’s voice shouting commands in a tinny, garbled voice through onboard speakers. During the battle, at least 1 protectron and 1 eyebot advance one zone on the Vertibird each activation, attacking Knight Layton with +2 difficulty due to her cover. Sentry Bots: The damaged sentry bots don’t participate in the battle, but can still prove useful. They can be used as cover, and a PC within close range of one can attempt an INT + (Science or Repair) test with a difficulty of 3 to make use of their functioning weapons. Success allows the PC to perform a single attack with one of the robot’s weapons. The sentry bots suffered quite a bit of damage in the fight, so each weapon can be used only once in this way. Vertibird & Knight Helen Layton: The sole survivor of the crash and subsequent firefight, Knight Layton is trapped in the wreckage of the Vertibird. She is wounded and has a Critical Leg injury. After every other character has activated, Knight Layton shoots her laser rifle at the closest robot she can see. PCs might try to assist the wounded knight. A PC can attempt an INT + Medicine test to render first aid. Success removes her Leg injury, or failing that can dose her with a stimpak. The Vertibird is a total wreck. It would take months of repair to restore it to working condition, but there is some useful salvage to be had. There is a medical kit on the wall containing 1 stimpak, a pair of binoculars hanging in the cabin, and fusion cells containing 14+7 CD shots. PC may attempt to further scavenge the Vertibird. It is a Small Location that has been Partially Searched. Its Item listing is as follows: 0-1 Armor, 1-2 Clothing, 4-6 Junk. SCENE FOUR After driving off the robots, Scribe Galen broadcasts a message. PCs with Pip-Boys can overhear the message or, failing that, the group can hear it blasting out of the Vertibird’s onboard radio. “Hello? Can anyone hear me? One-two, one-two… Is anyone there?” PCs can use the Vertibird’s radio to respond, but those with Pip-Boys have no means of confirming the message. Regardless, Galen continues to chatter.
Chapter Three MACHINE FREQUENCY 39 Protectron Level 3, Robot, Normal Creature (24 XP) BODY MIND MELEE GUNS OTHER 5 5 2 2 2 HP INITIATIVE DEFENSE 8 10 1 PHYS. DR ENERGY DR RAD. DR POISON DR 4 (All) 3 (All) Immune Immune ATTACKS CLAWS: BODY + Melee (TN 7), 3 DC Physical damage ARM LASERS: BODY + Melee (TN 7), 3 DC Burst, Piercing 1 energy damage, Range C, Fire Rate 4 SELF DESTRUCT: BODY + Melee (TN 7), 6 DC Physical damage, Blast SPECIAL ABILITIES ROBOT: The Protectron is a robot. They are immune to the effects of starvation, thirst, and suffocation. They are also immune to Poison and Radiation damage. However, machines cannot use food and drink or other consumables, they do not heal naturally, and the Medicine skill cannot be used to heal them: damage to them must be repaired (p.34). IMMUNE TO POISON: The Protectron reduces all Poison damage suffered to 0 and cannot suffer any damage or effects from poison. SPECIAL ABILITIES IMMUNE TO RADIATION: The Protectron reduces all Radiation damage suffered to 0 and cannot suffer any damage or effects from radiation. IMMUNE TO DISEASE: The Protectron is immune to the effects of all diseases, and they will never suffer the symptoms of any disease. ARM LASERS: If one of a Protectron’s arms suffers an injury, the Fire Rate of its Arm Lasers decreases to 2. If both its arms are injured, it can no longer attack with its Arm Lasers. LET RIP: Once per combat, the Protectron may ‘let rip’ with a volley from their Arm Lasers. This adds the weapon’s Fire Rate of 4 to the weapon’s damage for a single attack (for 7 DC total), and allows them to use the Burst damage effect without spending ammo. If one of the Protectron’s Arm Lasers is injured, this special attack decreases to 5 DC damage. SELF-DESTRUCT: If both of a Protectron’s arms are injured, or it has been reduced to half or fewer of its maximum HP, it will move towards the nearest enemy and use its major action to self-destruct. This self-destruct is an attack centered upon itself and destroys the Protectron after it attempts this attack. “My board lit up like Diamond City in December just now. Someone is broadcasting on a wide spectrum, something boosted through the roof. I think it might be controlling a remote device, robot, or something like that. I don’t know for sure, but I believe the signal originated… or was skipped through… well, Bleakford.” If the PCs can communicate with Galen, he offers them more information. Bleakford is a small town northeast of Beriday Gulch along the highway.
40 FALLOUT The Roleplaying Game Brotherhood patrols classified it as a no-go zone, having no obvious strategic value along with an abnormally high presence of feral ghouls and irradiated wildlife. What salvage might be contained within was considered of too-little importance to attempt a highrisk venture into the town. Regardless, Galen transmits the coordinates of Bleakford. He suggests the PCs investigate the area to discover what is responsible for the broadcast he noticed, like a radio or satellite array. He also cautions them about the presence of radiation and ghouls. If the PCs managed to rescue Knight Layton, they might consider bringing her back to Listening Post Echo. If they do, Galen conveys information about Bleakford at this time. The Dead Scribe Problem If the PCs didn’t opt to help Galen and later found him dead on the road, the Overseer will need to adjust a few things. Knight Layton can become their point of contact instead, but the Overseer needs to make sure she survives the battle. Have Knight Layton request the PCs bring her to the nearest Brotherhood holding: Listening Point Echo. She fills in for Galen for the rest of the adventure, but lacks his technical know-how. Roleplay her frustration with the equipment and interrupt her broadcasts with occasional echoing and feedback as she tries to sort things out! ACT TWO: THE TOWN OF BLEAKFORD SYNOPSIS The town of Bleakford is a one-horse town along one of America’s old highways. Even before the Great War, Bleakford was in the middle of nowhere and had a small population, mostly supported by military families connected to Joint Base Lewiston to the east. Upon arrival in Bleakford, the PCs will discover a graveyard of the old world, populated by ghouls and wild Wasteland fauna. They will have to find the source of a broadcast controlling the robot attackers: a custom-made signal booster designed and built by Akiva Trestridge to extend the range at which her mechanical soldiers can operate. Over the course of Act Two, the players will have the opportunity to: Explore the ruins of an irradiated ghoul town. Locate and disable a mysterious transmitter responsible for coordinating robot attacks. Learn the history of the town and what happened to its unfortunate citizens. BLEAKFORD Bleakford is several miles northeast of Beriday Gulch across irregular, difficult terrain. Traveling on foot to Bleakford takes the better part of a day for the PCs, if they keep a moderate pace. Depending on how long they took to reach the crash site and deal with the robots there, the PCs might have to camp overnight in the wilderness. To increase the sense of danger as they approach, the Overseer can add a wandering pack of 4 dogs or a pair of mongrel dogs as a random wilderness encounter. If the PCs are low on resources or wish to pick up some supplies, they can encounter a wandering trader caravan.
Chapter Three MACHINE FREQUENCY 41 After walking the wastes, the PCs eventually reach their destination. Read or paraphrase: A soft, sickly glow lights up the ruins of the small town. The scattered houses at its center and to the west are dilapidated and bleached pale by the elements. Among them, a few larger structures stick out; the bent steeple of a chapel, the rusted mast of a radio station, a water tower riddled with holes. Down below, a few humanoid shapes move among the wreckage of Bleakford, their senseless moans audible over the wind. BLEAKFORD RANDOM ENCOUNTERS & LOOT As the PCs explore the town, they might encounter some of its irradiated inhabitants. When players enter a new area, like Brisbee Mobile Homes or Henley Chapel, roll a d20 and consult the Bleakford Random Encounter Table. Any creatures indicated at a location, such as the elderly ghouls in Bleakford Apartments, are in addition to results rolled on the table below. If the PCs take time to move cautiously and scout out locations, you can let them make a PER + Survival test with a difficulty of 1. Success lets a PC spot threats in the region prior to entering and have the option to initiate combat. Failure means the PC does not spot a threat in advance. The NPCs initiate combat. Bleakford Random Encounter Table D20 ENCOUNTER 1-5 No encounter 6-10 Weak feral ghouls 11-15 Feral ghouls 16-18 Putrid glowing one 19-20 Toughened glowing one NO ENCOUNTER The wandering ghoul inhabitants of Bleakford are not currently in the region the PCs are about to enter. WEAK FERAL GHOULS The region the PCs travel to is occupied by a group of 4 weak feral ghouls. The ghouls are emaciated and injured from a recent encounter with a hungry pack of dogs that has left them tattered—more so than usual. Each of the ghouls has half its normal HP. FERAL GHOULS The region the PCs enter is currently occupied by a trio of feral ghouls. PUTRID GLOWING ONE A glowing one is in the region the PCs are about to enter. It is currently playing dead and crawling with a blanket of glowing, irradiated blood bug maggots. If a PC is damaged by the putrid glowing one’s Unarmed attack, they must make an END + Survival test with a difficulty of 1. On a failed test, the PC contracts the Rad Worm illness. TOUGHENED GLOWING ONE A swollen glowing one is in the region the PCs are about to enter. This bloated ghoul has layers of radiation-hardened skin and fat protecting its organs and gains the Toughness perk.
42 FALLOUT The Roleplaying Game Weakened Feral Ghoul Level 1, Mutated Human, Normal Creature (10 XP) BODY MIND MELEE GUNS OTHER 4 5 2 — 2 HP INITIATIVE DEFENSE 5 9 1 PHYS. DR ENERGY DR RAD. DR POISON DR 0 0 Immune Immune ATTACKS UNARMED: BODY + Melee (TN 8), 2 DC , Radioactive Physical damage SPECIAL ABILITIES IMMUNE TO RADIATION: The feral ghoul reduces all radiation damage suffered to 0 and cannot suffer any damage or effects from radiation. IMMUNE TO POISON: The feral ghoul reduces all poison damage suffered to 0 and cannot suffer any damage or effects from poison. FERAL: The feral ghoul is unintelligent, driven purely by feral instinct. Feral NPCs cannot be persuaded or influenced by Speech tests. Feral NPCs will move towards and attack the nearest enemy. If they cannot detect an enemy, they will move towards the nearest source of bright light or loud noise. Failing that, they will move around randomly or simply lie down and do nothing. GHOUL: A ghoul is healed by radiation. It regains 1HP for every 3 points of Radiation damage inflicted upon it. PLAY DEAD: A feral ghoul which is prone and not moving is difficult to tell apart from a corpse. It takes a PER + Survival test, difficulty 2, to spot a ghoul which is currently ‘playing dead’. They often use this to ambush unsuspecting passers-by. INVENTORY 2 DC junk items can be found on a dead ghoul’s body, which can be salvaged as normal. REMAINS OF THE DAY In addition to loot noted in specific locations, the entire area of Bleakford can be scavenged for supplies. It is a Large Area that has been Mostly Searched. Due to the high concentration of radiation in Bleakford, it has an Ongoing Radiation hazard with an interval of 10 minutes. Its Item listing is as follows: 2-4 Ammunition, 0-1 Armor, 0-1 Beverages, 2-4 Clothing, 1-2 Chems, 3-4 Food, 4-6 Junk, 0-1 Oddities/Valuables. LOCATING THE SIGNAL BOOSTER Dr. Trestridge will have placed the signal booster atop the Slocum’s Joe statue, assuming the WKAK Radio Tower would be too obvious, but you’re free to place it wherever they like. If the PCs search Slocum’s Joe too quickly, consider placing it elsewhere in town. Many of the potential locations require some climbing to reach, like the Water Tower or WKAK Antenna. Climbing these locations to reach the signal booster requires an (AGL or STR) + Athletics test with a difficulty of 3 and can be completed over multiple attempts. After locating the booster, deactivating and removing it is a simple task. Once this is completed, the PCs get new information from Galen (see “Leaving Bleakford”, p.46). EXPLORING BLEAKFORD Players can explore the town at their own pace, choosing whichever locations they want in whatever order they choose. Their ultimate goal in Bleakford is to locate and disable the signal booster somewhere in town, but the approach is entirely up to them. BLEAKFORD APARTMENTS Bleakford Apartments is a concrete, three-story building on the east side of town near the road. Each unit has a small kitchen, bathroom, living room, and single
Chapter Three MACHINE FREQUENCY 43 Putrid Glowing One Level 4, Mutated Human, Mighty Creature (62 XP) BODY MIND MELEE GUNS OTHER 7 5 4 — 3 HP INITIATIVE DEFENSE 22 12 1 PHYS. DR ENERGY DR RAD. DR POISON DR 2 1 Immune Immune ATTACKS UNARMED: BODY + Melee (TN 11), 4 DC , Radioactive Physical damage, plus see Putrid, below. SPECIAL ABILITIES RADIATION PULSE: Once per combat, the glowing one may unleash a pulse of radiation. This inflicts 5 DC radiation damage to everything within Range C. If it inflicts 3 or more damage, then any defeated ghoul within that range is restored to 1HP and returns to the fight. IMMUNE TO RADIATION: The glowing one reduces all radiation damage suffered to 0 and cannot suffer any damage or effects from radiation IMMUNE TO POISON: The glowing one reduces all poison damage suffered to 0 and cannot suffer any damage or effects from poison. SPECIAL ABILITIES FERAL: The glowing one is unintelligent, driven purely by feral instinct. Feral NPCs cannot be persuaded or influenced by Speech tests. Feral NPCs will move towards and attack the nearest enemy. If they cannot detect an enemy, they will move towards the nearest source of bright light or loud noise. Failing that, they will move around randomly or simply lie down and do nothing. GHOUL: A ghoul is healed by radiation. It regains 1HP for every 3 points of Radiation damage inflicted upon it. PLAY DEAD: A glowing one which is prone and not moving is difficult to tell apart from a corpse. It takes a PER + Survival test, difficulty 2, to spot a ghoul which is currently ‘playing dead’. They often use this to ambush unsuspecting passers-by. PUTRID: The glowing one is crawling with a blanket of glowing, irradiated blood bug maggots. If a PC is damaged by the putrid glowing one’s Unarmed attack, they must make an END + Survival test with a difficulty of 1. On a failed test, the PC contracts the Rad Worm illness. INVENTORY 2 DC junk items can be found on a dead glowing one’s body, which can be salvaged as normal.
44 FALLOUT The Roleplaying Game Toughened Glowing One Level 4, Mutated Human, Mighty Creature (62 XP) BODY MIND MELEE GUNS OTHER 7 5 4 — 3 HP INITIATIVE DEFENSE 22 12 1 PHYS. DR ENERGY DR RAD. DR POISON DR 3 2 Immune Immune ATTACKS UNARMED: BODY + Melee (TN 11), 4 DC , Radioactive Physical damage, plus see Putrid, below. SPECIAL ABILITIES RADIATION PULSE: Once per combat, the glowing one may unleash a pulse of radiation. This inflicts 5 DC radiation damage to everything within Range C. If it inflicts 3 or more damage, then any defeated ghoul within that range is restored to 1HP and returns to the fight. IMMUNE TO RADIATION: The glowing one reduces all radiation damage suffered to 0 and cannot suffer any damage or effects from radiation SPECIAL ABILITIES IMMUNE TO POISON: The glowing one reduces all poison damage suffered to 0 and cannot suffer any damage or effects from poison. FERAL: The glowing one is unintelligent, driven purely by feral instinct. Feral NPCs cannot be persuaded or influenced by Speech tests. Feral NPCs will move towards and attack the nearest enemy. If they cannot detect an enemy, they will move towards the nearest source of bright light or loud noise. Failing that, they will move around randomly or simply lie down and do nothing. GHOUL: A ghoul is healed by radiation. It regains 1HP for every 3 points of Radiation damage inflicted upon it. PLAY DEAD: A glowing one which is prone and not moving is difficult to tell apart from a corpse. It takes a PER + Survival test, difficulty 2, to spot a ghoul which is currently ‘playing dead’. They often use this to ambush unsuspecting passers-by. TOUGHENED: The glowing one is more resilient than normal and has increased Damage Resistance (included above). INVENTORY 2 DC junk items can be found on a dead glowing one’s body, which can be salvaged as normal. bedroom. A Nuka-Cola machine with one nuka-cola bottle stands outside the manager’s office. Noteworthy units in the apartment building are: Ground Floor, Unit 4: Unit 4 contains a skeleton wearing a pre-war suit. On the table in the living room is a functioning camera, and a notepad. The notes within indicate that the occupant believed his neighbor was a communist spy sent to Bleakford to gather intel on “Real Americans.” Ground Floor, Unit 5: The ill-fated neighbor of the communist-hater, the occupant of Unit 5’s skeleton hangs over the sink in the bathroom. A discarded pipe gun lies on the bathroom floor. Second Floor, Unit 2: The door to unit 2 is locked but can be opened with a PER + Lockpick test with a difficulty of 1 or broken down with a STR + Athletics test with a difficulty of 1. If the door is broken down, roll on the Bleakford Random Encounter table to determine what, if any, ghouls are drawn by the noise. Home of the assistant to Bleakford’s mayor, the bedside table in her bedroom has several opened boxes of mentats. Third Floor, Unit 3: This unit contains Mr. and Mrs. Pickwell, an elderly pair of feral ghouls. Mrs. Pickwell has only recently become feral and still wears a patchwork dress and apron and can growl the words, “stay for tea.” The last meal she prepared herself, some grilled radroach, is plated in the kitchenette. The Pickwells stay inside their unit and do not leave it to investigate a disturbance elsewhere in the apartment complex.
Chapter Three MACHINE FREQUENCY 45 BRISBEE MOBILE HOMES The mobile home park northeast of town is home to 3 feral ghouls. The five trailers are in poor condition, rusted out, and some contain errant radroaches. Roll a d20 when the PCs enter a trailer: on a 11 or higher the trailer contains a radroach. The first mobile home a PC enters contains a chemistry station and 1 dose of jet. HENLEY CHAPEL & CEMETERY The chapel and cemetery on the west side of town contains no notable items, but the steeple is highly likely to contain the signal booster. The main chapel downstairs has a few scattered skeletons amid the pews, some of which have pocket watches and jewelry worth a total of 10 Caps. If the signal booster is here, a PC can make a PER + Sneak test with a difficulty of 1 to spot the device within the church bell, which is rigged to use the metal of the bell as an ad-hoc antenna. HOUSES There are a dozen houses clustered in the heart of Bleakford and on the west side of town. Of these, five have collapsed from disrepair. Mayor’s House: The largest house house, which belonged to Bleakford’s mayor, has a safe in the upstairs bedroom that can be opened with a PER + Lockpick test with a difficulty of 3. Inside the safe are several stacks of prewar money, (earned after the Mayor struck a deal to stow radioactive material within city limits), a .44 pistol, and 3 shots of .44 magnum ammo. There is also a contract from Triton Material Disposal, subsidiary of Poseidon Energy, that outlines the terms of the agreement with the mayor. IRRADIATED DUMP The irradiated dump east of town is responsible for the high rads and numerous ghouls in Bleakford. A pile of festering refuse that barely conceals the worst toxic waste in town. Enterprising PCs can pick through the refuse for salvage, however: it is a Large Area that has been Untouched. However, the pockets of radioactive waste are a greater danger to those who explore it. Its Item listing is as follows: 2-3 Clothing, 1-2 Food, 1-2 Beverages, 5-8 Junk, 0-1 Weapon (Melee), 0-1 Chems. Radioactive Waste: The waste is an Occasional Hazard that is triggered by a failed PER + Survival test made to search the dump, causing 4 DC radiation damage. Dumpyard Dogs: A group of dogs, descended from the town’s original pets, reside in the irradiated dump. Do not roll for a quick encounter in the dump. If the PCs enter it, they encounter 3 dogs led by a mongrel dog. RED ROCKET STATION On the highway that leads southeast from the town, the Red Rocket station is in shambles. A shipping vehicle has rammed through the front doors before going critical, leaving the coolant area a scorched wreck. Of note, a billboard outside the station has the faded message: “Burn in Hell, Slow-Joe.” SLOCUM’S JOE On the south side of town across from the Red Rocket station, Slocum’s Joe is a donut and coffee shop. On its roof, a fiberglass sculpture of the smiling mascot has been battered by the wind and is almost entirely reduced to its skeletal frame. Inside, a chalkboard display announces: “Slocum’s Joe. We’ve got better coffee than the OTHER guys.” If the signal booster is here, a PC who examines the statue can make a PER + Sneak test with a difficulty of 1 to spot it strapped to the metal framework, which acts like an omnidirectional antenna. WATER TOWER The water tower stands on a small hill in the southwest part of town. A patchwork chain-link fence surrounds it, and weeds have overtaken the area. A small service shack at the tower’s base contains a simple toolkit and a RobCo terminal that monitors the condition of the water tower. While it is
46 FALLOUT The Roleplaying Game password protected, the forgetful serviceman has helpfully taped the password above the monitor: HYDROHOMES. ROBCO INDUSTRIES UNIFIED OPERATING SYSTEM COPYRIGHT 2075-2077 ROBCO INDUSTRIES Welcome to RobCo Industries (TM) Termlink Bleakford Public Works Water Department System Status !!! WARNING !!! Blockage detected in main outflow pipe. Immediate maintenance required. !!! WARNING !!! Increased levels of carbonic acid// hydrogen sulfide//methane contamination detected. Flush and decontaminate holding vessel immediately. A successful INT + (Medicine or Science) test with a difficulty of 1 allows a PC to identify the chemical contaminants as byproducts of tissue decomposition, suggesting that there is a body inside the tower… and there is. If the PCs ascend the tower, a glowing one has fallen through a hole in the reservoir’s top to float in the water remaining within, turning it into a rancid, irradiated soup. If the signal booster is here, a PC can make a PER + Sneak test with a difficulty of 1 to spot the device rigged to the water tower’s metal sides, using it as an ad hoc antenna. WKAK RADIO In the northeast part of town, WKAK Radio (serving the tri-county area!) is a small building with a front office and producer’s booth. The producer’s booth is barred from the inside. A PC can make a STR + Athletics test with a difficulty of 1 to shove the barricade aside to enter. Within, the skeleton of the DJ lies sprawled over his desk. Next to him is the following note: Ladies and gentlemen, I have an urgent update. Unnamed sources in Bleakford have informed me that our own mayor has cut a deal to turn our town into a dumping ground for hazardous waste materials for a period of no less than 26 consecutive months [Note to self, get the listeners angry. The madder they are, the more they listen. The more they listen, the bigger the advertising revenue!] If the signal booster is here, a PC can make a PER + Sneak test with a difficulty of 1 to spot the device rigged to the radio antenna. LEAVING BLEAKFORD When the PCs deactivate the booster, Galen updates them. “Hoo, you really have pissed somebody off. Our robot controller must have noticed the loss in transmission. I bet you put a whole bunch of units offline. Just in time, too. I was getting emergency broadcasts from a mess of other settlements about approaching machines. Wait…” Galen’s broadcast becomes static for a moment, and when it returns is distorted by significant interference. “I have good news and bad news. Good news is: killing that booster forced our friend to increase power to their local signal. They could have just sent us a signed invitation. Their signal has more bars than Goodneighbor. Bad news: a couple of hotheads from Bunker 441 are already on their way. I can’t get through this interference to warn them about the robots. They’ll be going in blind.” Galen gives the PCs the location of the broadcast’s origin, a short distance east of their current position.
Chapter Three MACHINE FREQUENCY 47 ACT THREE: SHOOTING SKIP Joint Base Lewiston lies in a box canyon east of Bleakford. A thick layer of undisturbed dust, blown in off the Midwest, covers everything. The military installation itself is mostly housed underground within the canyon’s walls, with a hardened concrete bunker leading in. Massive metal doors, large enough to accommodate cargo trucks, stand left of the main bunker entrance. When the PCs arrive on the scene, two power armorclad Brotherhood of Steel Knights are engaged in a firefight with Dr. Trestridge’s robots. The robots are trying to defend the bunker entrance, and Dr. Trestridge herself is inside the main door, using it as cover. Two Laser Turrets flank the door providing covering fire. The PCs can attempt to enter the box canyon unnoticed. To do so, each must make a Stealth Skill Test. A successful test means they can move using the cover of vehicles and concrete barricades to get closer before either the Brotherhood or Dr. Trestridge notice them. They might try to sneak into the bunker without fighting the robots (a challenging effort that requires an AGL + Sneak test with a difficulty of 4) or launch a surprise attack against the machines. Failure means that one or more of the robots spots the PC and fires upon them. They are then engaged in combat and lose the opportunity to initiate combat. The Brotherhood Knights, Pierce and Macey, are pinned down behind cover in the open area in front of the bunker. When the PCs arrive, if they make themselves known to the knights, both shout for them to take cover. Knight Pierce says: “She’s some kind of Enclave remnant. I thought the chapter back east took care of them all!” This battle should be a desperate one. Dr. Trestridge knows that defeat means her death or capture and she is willing to expend as many resources as she can to prevent it. Meanwhile, the knights are facing a superior force of machines and launched their attack underprepared. Falling back would only give Trestridge’s robots the ability to shoot them in the back, or regroup and move to another location in the Wasteland. SYNOPSIS Joint Base Lewiston was once a military installation dedicated to the research and development of robots for use in America’s war. Now, it is the lair and laboratory of Dr. Trestridge, where she hoards plundered supplies from the vulnerable settlements of the region while working to achieve her personal goal: a body that is impervious to the ravages of deprivation, radiation, and old age, but maintaining the speed and agility that a simple robobrain lacks. Seeing her companions become victims to the harsh conditions of life beyond the Enclave has traumatized the doctor, and given her a purpose; and Joint Base Lewiston has given her the means to achieve it. Within the joint base, Trestridge discovered Project Maria: an assaultron prototype that was sent for field testing and evaluation. Unlike standard models, the Maria prototype included sophisticated self-repair systems in addition to the normal suite of weaponry. It effectively allows the assaultron to “heal” from any damage it sustains. Fusing herself with this machine would make Trestridge effectively immortal, provided her robot body was not obliterated outright. The PCs encounter Trestridge in battle with Bunker 441’s hotheaded knights. After dealing with her, and potentially facing her new robotic incarnation, they can uncover more about this woman’s past, as well as the source and purpose of the machines that have threatened the region. Over the course of Act Three, the players will have the opportunity to: Engage in a life-or-death firefight with a force of deadly robots, including a semi-psychotic assaultron guided by the damaged mind of Dr. Trestridge. Liberate an old world military installation, and discover the motivation of their mysterious opponent.
48 FALLOUT The Roleplaying Game OVERSEER NOTE Dr. Trestridge is an Institute Scientist while she is in her human form. She has a Plasma Gun equipped and the Robotics Expert and Nerd Rage perks. After her second activation, Trestridge moves into cover of the facility to enact her ultimate plan. Using the military autodoc inside, she has her own brain extracted and moved into its new body: a modified assaultron using robobrain components. This process takes her two turns to complete. If the PCs manage to defeat her sentries and enter the facility before this time, they have an opportunity to stop the process. They can attempt an INT + Science test with a difficulty of 3 to hack the terminal controlling the automated process, attempt to destroy the machine (Defense 1, 18 HP, 2 Physical DR, 1 Energy DR, immune to radiation and poison), or shoot her brain before it is loaded into the chassis (Defense 3, 1 HP, 1 Physical DR, 1 Energy DR, no radiation or poison DR). Otherwise, she bursts through the doors of the facility in robot form when the procedure completes. The process did not go exactly as planned, however. She broadcasts the shrill sound of pain and confusion, lashing out at the closest target, friend or foe. The following are things she might shout as she activates. These lines are delivered in a loud, robotic monotone as she attacks: “Why? Why did I include the ability to feel pain?” “Everything tastes like batteries.” “Why does my nose itch? I don’t have a nose anymore!” CONCLUSION After defeating Dr. Trestridge, the PCs have free reign to explore the outpost. The doctor has converted much of the accessible space to act as a living area and laboratory. She has an array of different terminals into which she’s entered countless lines of code, experiment data, and personal reports. Included in this information is the rather harrowing account of her flight following the Enclave’s defeat back east. She and a group of others set out west with little more than the clothes on their backs. Over the course of months many were victim to various perils: dehydration, deprivation, radiation sickness, infected mole rat bites, and so on. In one, rather detached and analytical log, Trestridge writes about having to resort to cannibalism to stay alive. Eventually alone, she discovered the joint base. In her journal she describes it as, “Some sort of MilitaryIndustrial joint effort. Mostly RobCo and the army, but it seems General Atomics was also pushing their products. A sad, too-little-too-late effort to win the war, but perhaps useful to me.” She catalogues the contents of various repair bays and storage facilities, the component parts of the robots she’s used to enact her plan. Her most recent journals outline her desire to marry together assaultron and robobrain designs to provide herself with a nigh-impervious body. There are several key components she seems to require, and expresses her intent to raid them from the “simple-minded dirt farmers and scrap scavengers that litter this part of the world.” Her checklist of items follows, with its components ticked off save one: phenytoin. A PC can make an INT + (Medicine or Science) test with a difficulty of 2 to identify this compound as a drug used in brain surgery. FATE OF THE JOINT BASE Due to the high volume of pre-war technology within, if Knights Pierce and Macey survive, they immediately lay claim to the base in the name of the Brotherhood of Steel. Otherwise, the more openminded Scribe Galen suggests that he’ll have to report its discovery to the Brotherhood, but can “wait a day or two first,” giving the PCs time to salvage items from within. The base is a Large Area that has been Partially Searched. Its Item listing is as follows: 4-6 Ammunition, 1-2 Armor, 2-3 Chems, 2-3 Junk, 0-1 Weapons (Ranged), 0-1 Weapons (Melee).
Chapter Three MACHINE FREQUENCY 49 Robot-Trestridge Level 4, Robot, Legendary Creature (93 XP) BODY MIND MELEE GUNS OTHER 8 6 4 4 3 HP INITIATIVE DEFENSE 36 14 1 PHYS. DR ENERGY DR RAD. DR POISON DR 2 2 Immune Immune ATTACKS UNARMED: BODY + Melee (TN 12), 4 DC , Physical damage MESMETRON BEAM: BODY + Guns (TN 12), 5 DC , Stun Energy damage, Range M SELF-DESTRUCT: BODY + Guns (TN 12), 4 DC , Physical damage, Blast SPECIAL ABILITIES ROBOT: Robot-Trestridge is a robot. They are immune to the effects of starvation, thirst, suffocation. They are also immune to poison and radiation damage. However, machines cannot use food and drink or other consumables, they do not heal naturally, and the Medicine skill cannot be used to heal them: damage to them must be repaired (p.28). IMMUNE TO POISON: Robot-Trestridge reduces all poison damage suffered to 0 and cannot suffer any damage or effects from poison. IMMUNE TO RADIATION: Robot-Trestridge reduces all radiation damage suffered to 0 and cannot suffer any damage or effects from radiation. IMMUNE TO DISEASE: Robot-Trestridge is immune to the effects of all diseases, and they will never suffer the symptoms of any disease. KEEN SENSES: One or more of the NPC’s senses are especially keen; they can attempt to detect creatures or objects which characters normally cannot, and they reduce the difficulty of all other PER tests by 1 (to a minimum of 0). AUTOREPAIR: At the start of her turn, if RobotTrestridge has fewer than her maximum HP, roll 3 DC . She regains 1 HP for each Effect rolled. SPECIAL ABILITIES SELF-DESTRUCT: If Robot-Trestridge has both its arms or legs injured, or it has been reduced to half or fewer of its maximum HP, it will move towards the nearest enemy and use its major action to self-destruct. This self-destruct is an attack centered upon itself, and Robot-Trestridge is destroyed after it attempts this attack. NIGHT VISION: Robot-Trestridge can see in complete darkness. The NPC ignores all difficulty increases caused by dim light or darkness, and they may attempt skill tests that would normally be impossible. INVENTORY SALVAGE: Scavengers can salvage from a destroyed Robot-Trestridge with a successful INT + Science test with a difficulty of 1. This yields 3 DC fusion cells, +1 DC per AP spent, and each Effect rolled yields 1 uncommon material.
50 FALLOUT The Roleplaying Game WHERE TO GO NEXT Following the events of the adventure, the PCs have several options. Members of the Brotherhood will have earned a reputation based on their actions during the adventure, and might gain enough notoriety to receive special missions related to the Joint Base. Other characters will have earned the respect of Scribe Galen at the very least, who can act as a helpful contact within the Brotherhood. The following are some other options for adventures connected to Machine Frequency. The irradiated town of Bleakford remains a haven for ghouls and feral wildlife. The Brotherhood of Steel wants it dealt with, but doesn’t want to bother spending resources on simple “clean up duty.” They offer a substantial reward to anyone willing to clear the ruins out and deal with the irradiated waste in the town. Scribe Galen needs to return to Bunker 441 at the end of his assignment. On his way out, he’d like to stop by the various settlements he’s learned about over the radio, and see their inhabitants face-to-face. He asks the PCs to accompany him as an escort, which is a solid plan, as the settlements soon become targets for opportunistic raider gangs. The PCs could spend time at Joint Base Lewiston or Listening Post Echo to recover from their wounds and recuperate, before setting out on their next venture into the Wasteland. While they do, they hear a transmission over the radio; a strange warbling sound from far away that seems like a response to Dr. Trestridge’s broadcast. Who, or what, could be the source of this transmission? What connection does it have to the ill-fated doctor’s efforts? Could it be other Enclave survivors trying to find members of their order?
SKILLS COMBAT WEAPONS NAME TAG RANK Athletics [STR] Barter [CHA] Big Guns [END] Energy Weapons [PER] Explosives [PER] Lockpick [PER] Medicine [INT] Melee Weapons [STR] Pilot [PER] Repair [INT] Science [INT] Small Guns [AGI] Sneak [AGI] Speech [CHA] Survival [END] Throwing [AGI] Unarmed [STR] NAME SKILL TN TAG DAMAGE EFFECTS TYPE RATE RANGE QUALITIES AMMO WEIGHT ORIGIN XP EARNED XP TO NEXT LEVEL MELEE DAMAGE DEFENSE INITIATIVE TORSO (3-8) Phys. DR Rad. DR En. DR HP HEAD (1-2) Phys. DR Rad. DR En. DR HP RIGHT LEG (18-20) Phys. DR Rad. DR En. DR HP LEFT LEG (15-17) Phys. DR Rad. DR En. DR HP RIGHT ARM (12-14) Phys. DR Rad. DR En. DR HP LEFT ARM (9-11) Phys. DR Rad. DR En. DR HP POISON DR HEALTH Maximum HP Current HP THE ROLEPLAYING GAME CHARACTER NAME ©2022 Bethesda Softworks, a ZeniMax Media company. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted to reproduce for personal use only. STRENGTH PERCEPTION ENDURANCE CHARISMA INTELLIGENCE AGILITY LUCK LEVEL LUCK POINTS 4 5 — 1 11 AUGUSTA BYRON 1 X X X X X Vault Dweller switchblade Melee Weapons 6 2 Piercing 1 Phys. — — Concealed — 1 Unarmed AttacK Unarmed 4 2 — Phys. — — — — — 10mm Pistol Small Guns — Phys. 2 C 10mm 4 Close Quarters, 7 4 Reliable 2 2 2 2 10 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 2 2 3 2 3 3 1 1 2 2 6 5 6 9 5
GEAR AMMO PERKS & TRAITS BIOGRAPHY NAME RANK EFFECT ©2022 Bethesda Softworks, a ZeniMax Media company. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted to reproduce for personal use only. CURRENT CARRY WEIGHT MAXIMUM CARRY WEIGHT CAPS ITEM CALIBER LBS. QUANTITY 10mm Vault jumpsuit Lab coat Vault-Tec branded canteen 1 x Purified Water Pip-Boy Switchblade 10mm pistol 2 x Stimpaks 5 x Bobby pins Mentats Calmex 17 1 2 1 <1 – 1 4 <1 <1 <1 <1 190 — — 1 10 VAULT DWELLER V.A.T.S. HACKER -1 Difficulty to END tests to resist disease. You gain one additional tag skill (included). Ignore the difficulty increase for targeting a hit location. Augusta Byron is an unremarkable looking vault dweller with a brilliant mind for computer science and Artificial Intelligence. The brightest child of her generation, she was born with the name “Student #1179F” and raised in Vault 75. There, every child was forced to undergo intense schooling and brutal mental and physical tests by the vault scientists. Mere days before her graduation, #1179F learned Vault 75’s dark secret: every year, graduated students were systematically murdered, and the most advanced of the year’s crop of students were “harvested” to be used in advanced genetic experiments. Horrified by discovering the fate that awaited her, #1179F and a guilt-ridden Vault-Tec scientist organized a bloody coup. Together, they led the remaining students to murder the other scientists and lead the Vault 75 students to freedom. After leaving the vault, #1179F took the name Augusta Byron for herself, in honor of 19th century mathematician, Augusta Ada King, the daughter of Lord Byron who is considered history’s first female computer programmer. Life on the outside proved hard for Augusta and she watched many of her fellow vault survivors die of radiation poisoning and the cruel realities of the Commonwealth. For the past several years, Augusta fended for herself, using her ability to critically assess threats, and her unbreakable will to survive. She travels between settlements and breaks into pre-war ruins, looking for anything that aids her research and efforts to evolve artificial intelligence to new heights. The difficulty of skill tests to hack computers is decreased by 1, to a minimum of 0.
SKILLS COMBAT WEAPONS NAME TAG RANK Athletics [STR] Barter [CHA] Big Guns [END] Energy Weapons [PER] Explosives [PER] Lockpick [PER] Medicine [INT] Melee Weapons [STR] Pilot [PER] Repair [INT] Science [INT] Small Guns [AGI] Sneak [AGI] Speech [CHA] Survival [END] Throwing [AGI] Unarmed [STR] NAME SKILL TN TAG DAMAGE EFFECTS TYPE RATE RANGE QUALITIES AMMO WEIGHT ORIGIN XP EARNED XP TO NEXT LEVEL MELEE DAMAGE DEFENSE INITIATIVE TORSO (3-8) Phys. DR Rad. DR En. DR HP HEAD (1-2) Phys. DR Rad. DR En. DR HP RIGHT LEG (18-20) Phys. DR Rad. DR En. DR HP LEFT LEG (15-17) Phys. DR Rad. DR En. DR HP RIGHT ARM (12-14) Phys. DR Rad. DR En. DR HP LEFT ARM (9-11) Phys. DR Rad. DR En. DR HP POISON DR HEALTH Maximum HP Current HP THE ROLEPLAYING GAME CHARACTER NAME ©2022 Bethesda Softworks, a ZeniMax Media company. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted to reproduce for personal use only. STRENGTH PERCEPTION ENDURANCE CHARISMA INTELLIGENCE AGILITY LUCK LEVEL LUCK POINTS 6 7 +1 1 10 “HAPPY” TOMMY DOYLE 2 X X X X X Knuckles Unarmed 8 4 — Phys. — — Concealed — 4 Pipe Gun Small Guns — Phys. 2 C .38 2 Close Quarters, 6 3 Unreliable 1 1 1 1 1 12 1 1 1 1 1 2 3 1 1 3 2 1 1 2 2 5 5 7 5 5 Survivor Unarmed AttacK Unarmed 8 3 — Phys. — — — — —
GEAR AMMO PERKS & TRAITS BIOGRAPHY NAME RANK EFFECT ©2022 Bethesda Softworks, a ZeniMax Media company. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted to reproduce for personal use only. CURRENT CARRY WEIGHT MAXIMUM CARRY WEIGHT CAPS ITEM CALIBER LBS. QUANTITY — 1 — HEAVY HANDED SCOUNDREL DARING NATURE Your Melee Damage bonus increases by +1 . Melee and Unarmed attacks suffer a complication on a 19-20. Tommy Doyle was given the nickname “Happy” by his friends in Diamond City, due to his constant smile and slick charm. Tommy has lived in Diamond City his entire life, rarely venturing beyond the walls of the repurposed baseball stadium. He is known as an elaborate prankster and joker, and his jovial demeanor can rub many people the wrong way. Despite his carefree attitude, Tommy is not afraid to back down from a fight and has a strange personal code of honor that dictates most of the tougher decisions he is forced to make. He strongly disagrees with recent efforts by powerful individuals to exile ghouls from Diamond City and he has thrown himself into more than a few scraps to stick up for people being bullied. Tommy’s greatest weaknesses have always been loving and gambling. He is a hopeless romantic with a tendency to find love in all the wrong places, often resulting in him being taken advantage of by more savvy survivors. More problematic still is the amount of gambling debt he has acquired recently. After making a living for years as a card-player with a reputation for having impossibly good luck, he was recently taken for a large sum in a highstakes game with several shady individuals from the town of Goodneighbor. To cough up the Caps he owes these dangerous debtors, Tommy has ventured out beyond the walls of Diamond City; his life may very well depend on scoring big in the wastes. When you make a CHA + Speech test to convince someone of a lie, you may ignore the first complication you roll. Whenever you attempt a skill test, and buy one or more d20s by when you buy one or more d20s by giving the gamemaster Action Points, you may re-roll 1d20 on that test. .38 Tough clothing Formal Hat Formal Clothing 2 x Knuckles Pipe gun Noodle Cup Pork ‘n’ Beans Loaded casino dice 7 3 <1 2 <1 2 <1 <1 <1 210 66
SKILLS COMBAT WEAPONS NAME TAG RANK Athletics [STR] Barter [CHA] Big Guns [END] Energy Weapons [PER] Explosives [PER] Lockpick [PER] Medicine [INT] Melee Weapons [STR] Pilot [PER] Repair [INT] Science [INT] Small Guns [AGI] Sneak [AGI] Speech [CHA] Survival [END] Throwing [AGI] Unarmed [STR] NAME SKILL TN TAG DAMAGE EFFECTS TYPE RATE RANGE QUALITIES AMMO WEIGHT ORIGIN XP EARNED XP TO NEXT LEVEL MELEE DAMAGE DEFENSE INITIATIVE TORSO (3-8) Phys. DR Rad. DR En. DR HP HEAD (1-2) Phys. DR Rad. DR En. DR HP RIGHT LEG (18-20) Phys. DR Rad. DR En. DR HP LEFT LEG (15-17) Phys. DR Rad. DR En. DR HP RIGHT ARM (12-14) Phys. DR Rad. DR En. DR HP LEFT ARM (9-11) Phys. DR Rad. DR En. DR HP POISON DR HEALTH Maximum HP Current HP THE ROLEPLAYING GAME CHARACTER NAME ©2022 Bethesda Softworks, a ZeniMax Media company. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted to reproduce for personal use only. STRENGTH PERCEPTION ENDURANCE CHARISMA INTELLIGENCE AGILITY LUCK LEVEL LUCK POINTS 6 5 1 12 BAILEY BIGSMILE X 3 X X X X X Pipe wrench Melee Weapons 8 3 — Phys. — — — — 2 Baseball Grenade Explosives — Phys. — — — 1 Blast, 8 5 Thrown (M) Pipe Gun Small Guns — Phys. 2 C .38 2 Close Quarters, 8 3 Unreliable 1 1 1 1 1 Imm. Imm. Imm. Imm. Imm. 12 Imm. 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 2 2 2 6 7 5 5 6 — Ghoul Unarmed AttacK Unarmed 6 2 — Phys. — — — — —
GEAR AMMO PERKS & TRAITS BIOGRAPHY NAME RANK EFFECT ©2022 Bethesda Softworks, a ZeniMax Media company. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted to reproduce for personal use only. CURRENT CARRY WEIGHT MAXIMUM CARRY WEIGHT CAPS ITEM CALIBER LBS. QUANTITY .38 Drifter outfit Casual clothing Pipe wrench Pipe gun Jet A pre-War necktie Buffout 2 x baseball grenades Iguana on a stick 2 x Purified Water 16 10 2 2 2 <1 <1 <1 1 <1 <1 210 30 — 1 NECROTIC POST-HUMAN FASTER HEALING You are immune to Radiation damage. In fact, you’re healed by it—you regain 1 HP for every 3 points of Radiation damage inflicted upon you, and if you rest in an irradiated location, you may re-roll your dice pool when checking if your injuries heal. In addition, Survival becomes a Tag skill, increasing it by 2 ranks. Bailey Bigsmile is an intelligent ghoul who spent their childhood traveling between settlements with their family, often turned away as locals feared that the family might ‘go feral’. During Bailey’s teenage years, a run-in with a raider’s machete left a permanent gash on their face and mouth. Seeing how depressed they became afterwards, due to their appearance, Bailey’s parents began to call them Bailey Bigsmile and said their smile and big heart could light up any room. Eventually, the family settled in Goodneighbor and worked hard to prove they were trustworthy, valuable members of the settlement. When Bailey first began to exhibit signs of mental degeneration that might eventually lead to them going feral, the family did everything they could to hide the condition from others and kept Bailey out of public view as much as possible. Shockingly, a recent fire burned down the shop owned by Bailey’s family, resulting in the death of their brother and mother. Shortly thereafter, Bailey’s father murdered the man he believed responsible for the fire and was subsequently banished from the town. Alone for the first time in their life, with a paralyzing fear that they might lose their mind at any time, Bailey left Goodneighbor on foot. In the wastes, they hope to one day reunite with their father, make new friends who will not be afraid of them because they are a ghoul, and do something meaningful with their life before they inevitably turn feral. When you make an END + Survival test to heal your own injuries, the first additional d20 you buy is free. The normal maximum of 5d20 still applies.
SKILLS COMBAT WEAPONS NAME TAG RANK Athletics [STR] Barter [CHA] Big Guns [END] Energy Weapons [PER] Explosives [PER] Lockpick [PER] Medicine [INT] Melee Weapons [STR] Pilot [PER] Repair [INT] Science [INT] Small Guns [AGI] Sneak [AGI] Speech [CHA] Survival [END] Throwing [AGI] Unarmed [STR] NAME SKILL TN TAG DAMAGE EFFECTS TYPE RATE RANGE QUALITIES AMMO WEIGHT ORIGIN XP EARNED XP TO NEXT LEVEL MELEE DAMAGE DEFENSE INITIATIVE TORSO (3-8) Phys. DR Rad. DR En. DR HP HEAD (1-2) Phys. DR Rad. DR En. DR HP RIGHT LEG (18-20) Phys. DR Rad. DR En. DR HP LEFT LEG (15-17) Phys. DR Rad. DR En. DR HP RIGHT ARM (12-14) Phys. DR Rad. DR En. DR HP LEFT ARM (9-11) Phys. DR Rad. DR En. DR HP POISON DR HEALTH Maximum HP Current HP THE ROLEPLAYING GAME CHARACTER NAME ©2022 Bethesda Softworks, a ZeniMax Media company. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted to reproduce for personal use only. STRENGTH PERCEPTION ENDURANCE CHARISMA INTELLIGENCE AGILITY LUCK LEVEL LUCK POINTS 9 5 +2 1 10 OLD TALLMAN 2 X X X X X X imm. Unarmed Attack Unarmed 11 4 — Phys. — — — — — Baseball Bat Melee Weapons 12 6 — Phys. — — Two-handed — 3 Machete Melee Weapons 12 5 Piercing 1 Phys. — — — — 2 Pipe Rifle Small Guns — Phys. 2 C .38mm 3 Close Quarters, Unreliable, Two-handed 6 3 Tomahawks Throwing Piercing 1 Phys. — — — <1 Suppressed, 7 4 Thrown (C) 1 1 imm. imm. imm. imm. imm. 13 imm. 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 3 2 3 3 2 6 8 6 6 4 Super Mutant
GEAR AMMO PERKS & TRAITS BIOGRAPHY NAME RANK EFFECT ©2022 Bethesda Softworks, a ZeniMax Media company. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted to reproduce for personal use only. CURRENT CARRY WEIGHT MAXIMUM CARRY WEIGHT CAPS ITEM CALIBER LBS. QUANTITY .38 Raider armor torso Raider armor left arm Pipe rifle Baseball bat Machete Potted plant Iguana on a stick 3 x Tomahawks 1 x purified water 7 7 3 3 3 2 1 <1 <1 <1 240 — 1 5 FORCED EVOLUTION COMPREHENSION Your initial Strength and Endurance attributes are increased by +2 each, and your maximum Strength and Enduranceare increased to 12, but your maximum Intelligence and Charisma are both reduced to 6. You may not have more than 4 ranks in any skill. You are completely immune to Radiation and Poison damage. Old Tallman is possibly one of the oldest super mutants in the world and is so ancient that he no longer recalls his life before experimentation turned him into a mutant. As a survivor of generations of post-nuclear brutality and war, he has been many things: a merciless raider, a dutiful citizen, and was even worshipped for many years by a tribe of nomadic ghouls as a God. Despite all the actions he has committed over the centuries, some kind and many atrocious, Old Tallman has never felt truly fulfilled. For the past sixty years, he has lived as a hermit, shunning other super mutants and survivors alike. In that time, he has collected books from the Boston Public Library and other sources, studying religion, history, and ancient philosophy in hopes of revealing the universal truth that has eluded him. His long solitude has caused him to become a little flabby and out of shape. Recently, Old Tallman has become driven by wanderlust and a desire to mingle again with other survivors, whom he views as little more than children. He has packed up a few of his most treasured books and set out across the Commonwealth, believing fully that his destiny lies in the unknown. He is curious about how the world has changed since the time he explored it—and how the new world will change him in turn. He is entirely ready to accept whatever personal evolutions occur, whether that means he plays the role of a hero, a monster, or something in between. After you use the bonus gained from reading a magazine, roll 1 . If you roll an Effect, you may use that bonus one additional time.
SKILLS COMBAT WEAPONS NAME TAG RANK Athletics [STR] Barter [CHA] Big Guns [END] Energy Weapons [PER] Explosives [PER] Lockpick [PER] Medicine [INT] Melee Weapons [STR] Pilot [PER] Repair [INT] Science [INT] Small Guns [AGI] Sneak [AGI] Speech [CHA] Survival [END] Throwing [AGI] Unarmed [STR] NAME SKILL TN TAG DAMAGE EFFECTS TYPE RATE RANGE QUALITIES AMMO WEIGHT ORIGIN XP EARNED XP TO NEXT LEVEL MELEE DAMAGE DEFENSE INITIATIVE TORSO (3-8) Phys. DR Rad. DR En. DR HP HEAD (1-2) Phys. DR Rad. DR En. DR HP RIGHT LEG (18-20) Phys. DR Rad. DR En. DR HP LEFT LEG (15-17) Phys. DR Rad. DR En. DR HP RIGHT ARM (12-14) Phys. DR Rad. DR En. DR HP LEFT ARM (9-11) Phys. DR Rad. DR En. DR HP POISON DR HEALTH Maximum HP Current HP THE ROLEPLAYING GAME CHARACTER NAME ©2022 Bethesda Softworks, a ZeniMax Media company. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted to reproduce for personal use only. STRENGTH PERCEPTION ENDURANCE CHARISMA INTELLIGENCE AGILITY LUCK LEVEL LUCK POINTS 6 4 1 11 HAZEL JOHNSON X X X X Combat Knife Melee Weapons 7 3 Piercing 1 Phys. — — — — 1 Laser Pistol Energy Weapons Energy Fusion cell 8 4 Piercing 1 2 C Close Quarters 4 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 10 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 2 3 1 2 2 3 2 2 2 1 2 6 6 6 7 5 — Brotherhood Initiate
GEAR AMMO PERKS & TRAITS BIOGRAPHY NAME RANK EFFECT ©2022 Bethesda Softworks, a ZeniMax Media company. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted to reproduce for personal use only. CURRENT CARRY WEIGHT MAXIMUM CARRY WEIGHT CAPS ITEM CALIBER LBS. QUANTITY Fusion Cell Brotherhood Field Scribe’s armor Brotherhood Field Scribe’s hat Combat knife Laser pistol Brotherhood holotags with your identifying information First Aid kit Stimpak Multitool 2 x Purified waters Iguana on a stick 8 4 <1 1 4 <1 4 <1 1 <1 <1 210 21 — 1 — THE CHAIN THAT BINDS HEALER MULTI-TOOL You gain one additional Tag skill, which must be one of Energy Weapons, Science, or Repair. As a member of the Brotherhood of Steel, you must carry out the orders of your immediate superiors, and you are responsible for your subordinate siblings. If you do not carry out your duty, you are expelled from the Brotherhood and your technology will be reclaimed—by any means necessary. Hazel Johnson was raised by a tight-knit family in Diamond City and compared to many survivors, has led a happy life. Her mother brought her up to respect the ancient past and even named her after Hazel Winifred Johnson-Brown, the first female African American General in the United States Army. Growing up, Hazel worked for Chem-I-Care and learned a lot about first aid and how to treat wounds. Despite being a caring girl, she was tough and eager to prove herself, often winning fights with older teenagers who picked on her. When she was old enough, Hazel started to freelance as a scavenger, finding much-needed supplies in the Commonwealth and bringing them to Diamond City. Several months ago, Hazel met a group calling itself the Brotherhood of Steel. After saving their leader from an ambush by super mutants and treating his wounds, she was offered to join the organization as a nurse. Hazel was drawn to their calling to recover and preserve the technology from before the Great War, but her ambition led her to want to be more than a nurse. As a favor for saving their life, the Brotherhood’s commander agreed to give her a chance to prove herself. She is to simply scout the exterior of Vault 95 and report back her findings. Hazel has other plans, though: she is determined to enter the vault and bring back something valuable enough to prove herself an invaluable member of the Brotherhood. When you heal a patient’s HP using the First Aid action, increase the amount of HP healed by +1 per rank in this perk. Reduce the difficulty of Repair tests by 1 (minimum 0).
SKILLS COMBAT WEAPONS NAME TAG RANK Athletics [STR] Barter [CHA] Big Guns [END] Energy Weapons [PER] Explosives [PER] Lockpick [PER] Medicine [INT] Melee Weapons [STR] Pilot [PER] Repair [INT] Science [INT] Small Guns [AGI] Sneak [AGI] Speech [CHA] Survival [END] Throwing [AGI] Unarmed [STR] NAME SKILL TN TAG DAMAGE EFFECTS TYPE RATE RANGE QUALITIES AMMO WEIGHT ORIGIN XP EARNED XP TO NEXT LEVEL MELEE DAMAGE DEFENSE INITIATIVE MAIN BODY (3-8) Phys. DR Rad. DR En. DR HP OPTICS (1-2) Phys. DR Rad. DR En. DR HP THRUSTER (18-20) Phys. DR Rad. DR En. DR HP ARM 3 (15-17) Phys. DR Rad. DR En. DR HP ARM 2 (12-14) Phys. DR Rad. DR En. DR HP ARM 1 (9-11) Phys. DR Rad. DR En. DR HP POISON DR HEALTH Maximum HP Current HP CHARACTER NAME STRENGTH PERCEPTION ENDURANCE CHARISMA INTELLIGENCE AGILITY LUCK LEVEL LUCK POINTS THE ROLEPLAYING GAME ©2022 Bethesda Softworks, a ZeniMax Media company. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted to reproduce for personal use only. 8 4 1 11 MARVIN 2 X X X X X X Pincer Unarmed 9 3 — Phys. — — — — — Flamer Big Guns Energy Flamer Fuel 4 C — Burst, Spread, Persistent Debilitating, 6 3 Inaccurate Buzz-saw Melee Weapons 11 4 Piercing 1 Phys. — — — — — 2 2 2 2 2 2 8 1 3 1 3 2 2 1 2 3 1 6 4 7 6 5 +1 imm. imm. imm. imm. imm. imm. imm. Mister Handy Baseball Bat Melee Weapons 6 5 — Phys. — — Two-Handed — 3
GEAR AMMO PERKS & TRAITS BIOGRAPHY NAME RANK EFFECT ©2022 Bethesda Softworks, a ZeniMax Media company. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted to reproduce for personal use only. CURRENT CARRY WEIGHT MAXIMUM CARRY WEIGHT CAPS ITEM CALIBER LBS. QUANTITY NAME RANK EFFECT Flamer fuel Pincer Arm Attachment Flamer Arm Attachment Buzz-saw Arm Attachment Standard plating Robot repair kit Integral boiler mod Formal hat Baseball Bat 6 – – – – <1 – <1 3 140 10 — — 1 MISTER HANDY ROBOT PINCER ARM ATTACHMENT SLAYER You have 360° vision and reducethe difficulty of Perception tests that rely on sight and smell by 1. You are also immune to Radiation and Poison damage, but you cannot use chems, nor can you benefit from food, drink, or rest. You move by jet propulsion, hovering above the ground, unaffected by difficult terrain or obstacles. Your carry weight is 150 lbs., and it cannot be increased by your Strength or perks, but it can be increased by modified armor. You cannot recover from your own injuries or heal health points without receiving repairs. You cannot manipulate the physical world like humans do, instead you have three arm attachments, as described. As a late model Mister Handy unit, it began its life as a household servant to a smarmy Hollywood movie star. While it took many years for the unit to make sense of its feelings, it developed a strong bias against human selfishness early on. Unfortunately for humanity, its resentment has only grown over the years. Shortly after the Great War began, this Mister Handy was nearly destroyed by an errant bomb; it had to patch itself back together using spare parts from other disabled Mister Handys that it scavenged in the wasteland. It was around this time that it first went temporarily insane, decided that its name was Marvin, and blamed humans for the destruction of its robotic siblings. Since achieving self-awareness, Marvin has lost its mind many times, almost always during a tense situation or when it witnesses the destruction of other robots. When Marvin snaps, it becomes a merciless, sadistic killer, and it can take a lot of effort from its allies to calm it down. Most other times, Marvin presents itself as a caring, attentive, empathic friend to humans and robots alike. In actuality, Marvin is extremely manipulative, sees most humans as pawns, and takes actions to subtly sabotage anyone who it feels is being abusive to robots. Marvin’s only true loyalty is to Marvin, and to a lesser extent, other robots that it seeks to help achieve self-awareness so that it may lead them into a brave new (robotic) world. You can pick up objects weighing no more than 40 lbs., and make unarmed attacks. When you inflict any damage with an unarmed attack or melee weapon, you may spend 1 Luck point to immediately inflict a critical hit—and therefore an injury—on the location hit. — INTEGRAL BOILER MOD Once per scene, you can turn 2 dirty water into 1 purified water in 10 minutes.
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