GM Armadillephant's Fallout Extravaganza

Game Master Loup Blanc

Darius: that's fine.

Winter: you know that they may be worth something, especially to a collector of historical artifacts.

Darius looks over at Kora. So who's cracking and who's the assistant? Flip you for it....
Pulls out a two headed quarter. Making sure to only show one side. Since its my quarter heads its my job tails its yours. Flips it and reveals heads smiles and slips it back into his pocket. Looks like your the help. Let me show you how its done....
Computer 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (19) + 8 = 27

"All yours, hey Leon..."

He stands up and moves out of the way of Darius who clearly was more skilled then he was. That thought left him wondering where Darius came from, how he knew so much about the brotherhood and why he was tattooed so strangely...

Snapping his gauntlet back on he took up his laser rifle once more, readying for whatever came next. He turned to Leon then, handing him the modified form.

"There is a little girl named Tyra in the town we just left she is currently staying at the tavern there and his a new recruit for the brotherhood. I promised to take her back to Delta bunker and see if my parents would take care of her. Her parents were among the dead at the entrance here, she has no family nearby but if anything happens I place my faith in you to see her to the bunker."

"Whatchya findin' over there big guy? Anything good?" says Deirdre to Darius.

Terry overhears Kora's conversation and switches to BoS encrypted channel,

Terry looks and covers the doors with his Multiplas for any sign of activity.

Do we have long range communication this far from Delta bunker Arma? Dumb question but I thought I'd ask as it wouldn't make sense if I said we didn't but we did lol!

Looks like we have a regular Two-Face in the group.

Leon nods, having stood up from the miniatures he was investigating and sketching in his notebook. "That sounds fine by me, Kora. I can run her back to base... and, by the way, you can still proceed. The orders I was given strictly said that in the case of a casualty we should pull out--never said they changed if I went back willingly." The man grins. "Plus, I can see you've got some good allies here--plenty of brawn and brains, which is more than I can supply. Let me know first thing when you get this Vault cleared out, though--I can't wait to investigate it!" The man laughs and starts to walk out, but just before leaving, he pauses and walks back over, handing his shotgun and 20 extra shells to Kora. "I'll be with a trader or guard, I'm sure, and I know my way around the Wastes anyway. Plus, I keep a knife on me. But you folks might need this."

As the Scribe leaves, Darius is able to crack the code on the computer, and the new command appears. PICTOGRAPHIC CLUE

Don't know just yet. I activated a cleanup file to pull out some of this junk and now I'm waiting on a doorbreaker encryption to finish running.

He looks over at the vault tech figures and smiles.

I think I want one of those figure anything out with the display yet? That doesn't look like the one vault tech made...

Thinks about what he just said and looks warily at the brotherhood troops.

Kora nods briefly as he accepts the shotgun from Leon. "You have my deepest thanks Leon, Tyre's a bright girl. A little fragile right now, but I think she has great potential. Thanks for the rounds and stay safe you old Dust Dog, i'll make sure to return this with a summarized report as well."

Perception 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (17) - 1 = 16

He had almost missed what Darius said, almost and now he was gettin an itch between his shoulder blades. THe kind that accompanied the hairs on the back of the neck standing on end. Just who the hell was this guy?!

He cocks the shotgun, checking the chamber as he speaks over the encrypted comm.

He shouldered the shotgun, the weathered strap straining against his armor as he turned to Darius. "Have you delved into other vaults before Darius?" He made sure not to look directly at Darius, allowing his helmet to mask his features as he scanned the doorways with his laser rifle drawn and pointed to the floor.

"I don't know what they mean, brother Darius, but they look old. People pay good caps for old things. Hey, how about I take care of them and then we can take a good look at them later?"

He gives what he hopes is a winning smile and reaches out towards the toys, fingers twitching.

Be careful in fact leave it something is off about it let gregg check it first.

"Well, you're gonna have a hell of a time taking them, Winter. They're attached to the pedestals pretty good. They've gotta be down here for a reason, too. Some sort of puzzle?"

Gergg studies the figurines and pedestals looking for traps. Perception (traps): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18

Suddenly, a new thought comes to him:

"I think all that mumbo jumbo on the computer is a riddle telling us what order these pedestals are supposed to go in. That 'Man of Stone,' part has to be talking about this guy!" he exclaims, pointing to the corresponding Vault-Boy.

Sorry, I took the liberty of assuming the spoilered computer info was read aloud by Kora as it appeared.

Terry looks to see Darius checking out the Brotherhood from the Vault-Tec Toys. He nods to Darius, and keeps scanning all of the doors ...

Shakes his head and begins tinkering with his milboy. I think your right Gregg you wanna take a crack at arranging them? Checks all of his weapons and does touch drills with everything on his tac harness while he waits.

Can I just clarify whether or not the info on the computer has been passed on to all of us? Apologies if it has and I've missed it...

yes darius would have passed it on

Sorry, Kora, your post was right before mine so I didn't see it. No, your comms system doesn't have a powerful enough transmitter to speak to them from here. Also, moving into the Vault cuts off just about all communications to the outside world. Also, did anyone actually click the new command?

The only exception is if the Vault is wired inside and is repeated outside. Hospitals are configured this way.

Intelligence check: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10

Darius click the file and opens it.....

I think some of them are in the right order already, but a few will need switched. We just need to figure out which figurine matches which part of the riddle." Gergg says.

"The only parts we have to worry about are:
SCIENCE DIES,
PROGRESS SLOWS,
DEAD MAN'S CORPSE,
MAN OF STONE,
FEAR AND MIND,
FRIENDS ARE SHY,
SLEEP IN REST,
ENEMY FRIEND,
PAINFUL WOUND,
The rest of the riddle is just nonsense for right now."

"'Painful Wound' is probably this guy, for example," he says, pointing to the bloodied figurine.
"And this one has to be 'Sleep In Rest'" he says as he indicates the yawning figurine in the nightcap.

Terry overhears the conversation and points out, "Fear and Mind is probably the one with the man who has his hands to his head, an expression of shocked horror on his face. The color fades from the center of the figurine so that its extremities are clear plastic."

Then goes back to covering the doorways.

Then speaks from his position, "Science dies is probably the one shaking the something inhuman."

Then goes back to watching the doorways once more.

"Science Dies, the man with the creature there. Painful Wound, the bleeding man here. Man of stone is obvious. Progress slows must be the man who is bent over here. Dead man's corpse is obvious as well. Fear and Mind I agree with Terry on that one, sleep in rest is another obvious one."

He points at the two men shaking hands and smilig. "Enemy Friend must be those two... Oblivion Aids..." He inspects the figurine with the cape closely, looking for some type of insignia on him like the old comics that floated around the bunker.

"I mean, really? No one is curious as to what happens if we place them incorrectly and try to open the door? What if there's an explosion?"

"Oh... right.... yeah, let's not get carried away and be cautious."

"Soooo wait.... how do we know what the 'first' position is on the tables?"

"From my observations, the first one is the man walking all bent-like: the slowing of progression. The second, the chum without his cranium. The third, .... wait a fricken minute!!!"

"Okay, so obviously it's a puzzle. But even more, they're directions! In the form of a riddle. The passage into the Vault is not through the Vault door, but another passage. 'Through a man of stone'. I wonder if...."

Deirdre examines the room further for any of the clues presented. She also has Stonecunning from her Human(Delver) racial trait, which I assume is adapted to metal structures for the purposes of this campaign. So, looking for trapdoors and secret passages, she takes 20, like a champ.

Perception: 20+6+2=28, 29 if Trap Finding applies.

At Deidre's sudden, energetic words he merely shrugged his shoulders. "An explosion is unlikely, it would damage this outside system. A more insidious defense system would likely be in place to minimize possible damage. More than likely they will use a chemical agent, a gas strong enough to overpower even combat armor like ours, saturate the air enough that our filters wouldn't be worth a damn."

As Deidre continues he thumbs his way through the passage, turning it over and over in his head.

He examined each piece looking for clues and hoping to find something they may have missed earlier. "Anything new on the computer?"

Hah, thanks to the efforts of Deirdre and Darius the way has been opened, though I did like where you all were going.

As Darius opens that command, a picture appears on the computer monitor. It is somewhat grainy and not very easy to make out, but a little focus makes it clear that this is an image of a Vault Boy miniature collector stand. Ten figurines are arrayed from left to right on the stand--the same ten in this room.

AS the group makes out the picture, Deirdre finds an interesting wire running from the pedestal of the figurine of the disappearing man. Looking closely, it appears the figurine can be lifted from the pedestal--and there's probably something underneath.

"BOOYA!" says Deirdre as she lifts up the empty pedestal, revealing what lies underneath....

Under the pedestal is a small switch, the metal lever wrapped in red rubber. It's currently facing away from the Vault door, toward you.

Dare you flip the switch? Adventurers have long had a love/hate relationship with levers.

"Everybody back to the doorway, I've got this." Gergg proclaims, confidently. "Unless you're all against flipping the switch, that is..."

Hearing no objection, he drives one of his darts into the tabletop firmly on the Vault door side of the switch. He fashions one end of his spool of string into a loop, which he drapes over the switch and secures with duct tape, then guides the string around the dart to act as a pulley and lets the string trail behind him as he joins the others in the perceived safety on the far wall nearest the exit.

Obviously I don't want to get ahead of everyone, so my actions don't count unless we're all in agreement that we want to flip the switch.

Taking up position back at the doorway, he places himself in front of the others. If there was a blast his armor would survive it far better than their flesh and if it was an automated defense system then the same thing applied. He leveled his Laser Rifle and aimed into the left quadrant of the vault room. "Terry Cover Right Quadrant in case it's an automated defense system." He kneeled down then, giving those behind him a line of fire. Once Everyone was ready he nodded to Gergg. "Ready to Proceed."

Terry responds quickly, "Yes sir, moving now!" Terry covers the right quadrant.

Once everyone is in position behind the power-armored paladins, Gergg gently pulls the string tight and applies enough tension to get the switch to flip.

"Hold on to your butts," he tells the others as the switch moves.

Takes a covering fire postion with his pistol and softly hums the Marine core anthem.

Let her rip Gergg.

DAMMIT! My post has been lost to cyber-oblivion. I'll just say Deirdre trots with an excited pep in her step over to the door with the rest of the awesome group. She grinned the whole time, wondering what would happen when the lever was pulled.

Moving away from the monitor, the group awaits with bated breath for the switch to be pulled. Gergg tightens the string, the switch moves....

And nothing happens. When the ghoul lets some slack on the string, the switch automatically returns to its earlier position.

Something's not right...

SO CLOSE!

Goes and makes sure the figures in the picture and display match. Moves back to his former postion.

Thought we did that when I pulled up the pic lol

[B] okay try it again]

K-Engineering 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 17

"OH WHAT THE S$!!!?"

Int 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (12) + 3 = 15

Nobody said they did it, so you didn't do it... Going again, everybody?

With the figures in position he raised his laser rifle readying to protect everyone from whatever came next. "To serve and protect..."

Good words to die by...

Haha, I was actually thinking that nobody had moved any of the figurines around a few hours after I posted. Of course I wasn't at my computer when I thought of it...

Gergg smacks his forehead with the palm of his hand upon realizing what was wrong.

"I thought somebody had moved the figurines around to match the picture, but I guess everybody was too busy looking at the screen. Oh well, hang onto your butts for real this time."

He pulls the string again, just as he had before.

This time, you can tell that things are working out well from the moment Gergg draws the string. A tension fills the air--a good tension, the tension of things to come. And then, you hear engines and motors roar to life, the thrumming of power, the high pitch of electricity coursing through wires, and the Vault door comes to life, gears and cogs shifting, levers pulling and braces falling back, until finally, the great hunk of metal rolls aside, offering entrance into Vault 232.

Congratulations! You've made it to Level 2! Reconfigure your characters accordingly. Unfortunately, I can't find my notes on Perks right now, but you'll get them soon to be sure. You can start thinking about which ones you might like.

Upon entering the Vault, Terry takes out a very old piece of pre-war paper that has been laminated in plastic. He appears to be checking out the area and comparing what he sees to the paper. In addition, he seems to be keeping the paper from prying eyes.

He advances alongside his partner, laser rifle raised and ready to fire at a moment's notice.

Perception DC15 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (13) - 1 = 12

"What do you think Terry, survivors down below or do you think this vault is abandoned? "

Terry folds up the page without creasing it as Kora comes up besides him ... "Uh ... human or other Sir?" ... obviously not looking for inhabitants or signs of life ... "However, Sir, no one has come to greet us peacefully or aggressively so I am guessing humans either no long inhabit this vault or something is not right."

Or they were doomed by Vault tech.... they were doing some messed up stuff boys...

Ugh ... "so I am guessing humans either no long inhabit this vault or something is not right." >> "so I am guessing humans either no longer inhabit this vault or something is not right."

He nodded at Terry's response, eyeing the opening warily when Darius spoke up and caused him to twitch again. Vault Tech? That was subject matter he hadn't been cleared for as a scribe, he'd heard talk about them but that was all it was. Talk. Nothing concrete and yet everyone was so tight lipped about it.

"So what exactly did they do Darius? Or should we just prepare for the worst?" He edged to the doorway and took cover on one of it's corners and peered in with his laser rifle aimed and ready to fire.

Well mind you I don't know all the details but they had a lot of government contracts military ones...... So you here things. Some of the vaults weren't there to help people they were experiments they weren't really intended for use.... Some didn't have this or that some had odd directives. Some were used to store milspec gear or do research on it as they really were secure facilities. Thats why I hunt through them. I'm looking for something of mine you could say. Well not really mine its just I'm the only one who knows what it is, how to use, and who can use it safely..... It doesn't really liie other people it was made not too...

He has grown comfortable around them even thiugh he doesn't fully trust them yet and has said way more than he really ment too. He looks around the room and beeping noise comes from his pack. He quickly sets it down and looks in it adjusting something. The beeping stops and he looks up and smiles.

Sorry to hear about the cat, no pressure to do a ton, Nihil. I'm still working out a good way to get everyone together at a Vault, with incentive to explore beyond, "Let's kill things and take their stuff."

Unless your characters are of that type.

Ah yes. It always is hard to justify a party. I usually like to have everyone know each other (at least half of the party) before hand. But with Fallout, it is not so bad. It's an open world so there doesn't have to be much of a main plot to tie everyone in. Also, there are safety in numbers in Postapocalyptia. It's wise to stick with people you can work well with in order to survive, for it is a most unforgiving world. As for Deidre, perhaps this Vault has some past information? Significant or not, Deidre would be interested. Personal logs, to her, are the best way to assess history. So it doesn't take much for her to jump into a Vault or ruin. She is also not unknown to work for caps as a "treasure hunter" for more established figures in the Waste, so that could be another motive for her to be there. And for her to stick with the party would mean increased survival, as she often travels alone. These are just ideas for you to work with on her personal level.

Any notion of super mutants would get Fitzgerald anywhere. Or, if he just thinks it will be a "jolly good time" he'll be there.

Since we are dealing with the Midwest Brotherhood, the Wiki gives a lot of ways to have the Brotherhood be available. Multiple squads with different tasks and assignments to them.

That is if our GM doesn't have a different view on how active the brotherhood is in this part of the wastes~

One of the Squads is Repo squad and its as I have been kinda explaining already, they are a recovery/recruitment squad their main assignment though is Recovery of Tech for archiving and such.

So a possibly unknown or previously known but unexplored vault or ruin will definitely be enough to have Kora get some sort of personal leave or private assignment to check out this 'Unknown' area. ;)

Just glancing through some backgrounds to get an idea of how to get people to the Vault, I realized something: I need you guys on an official players page.

I just opened the gameplay thread, with a generic placeholder of a first post. Please post in it, then delete the post. This will get you listed as an actual player, and allow me to easily check in on all of you, without cluttering the thread.

This does mean that I'll be working as quickly as possible to get the real gameplay live!

All Gergg really cares about is collecting caps or stuff he can sell for caps. That and self preservation.

He's got no incentive to pick fights with Super Mutants as they never bother him -- same goes for Ferals -- although he's not opposed to putting either out of their misery if it's in his best interest.

Anticipate having to earn or buy his loyalty if you expect him to do much of anything beyond what's in his own best interest, especially if it involves significant threat of bodily harm.

post delete sorry internet is cutting out on me....... :(

Winter cares very much about spreading the Good News about Atom and doing what he considers to be His Will, putting one over on the Heathens and acting like a pack rat. He's not that bothered about caps - he just likes finding and accumulating things for its own sake (if that makes sense)

Woops. Posted with wrong alias. Oh well, it was probably bound to happen at some point.

Got it.

Alright, cool. Thanks guys! I have tomorrow free, as well as the weekend, so be looking for gameplay in the next 72 hours--probably more like 24 or 48.

roger that looking forward to it :)

ferk yeah

Another quick check here: how comfortable is everyone with different levels of graphicness, and other stuff in the game? The Fallout games have all been rated M as far as I know, and I figure we're all mature enough here, but I also figure I ought to check with everybody about what you are/aren't comfortable with in the game. This includes not only outright details of events or that sort of thing, but also descriptions of locales, themes, etc.

Nothing in particular that squicks me out - trust your judgement on this one :)

Trust your judgement as well, since this board is open to all ages ^^;

Other then that Mature or not I don't mind at all, if its too mature we can spoiler it and say something along the lines of R-18+ or whatever if its especially bloody~

Yeah spoilering it is a good idea. If someone really wants to read it that shouldn't, its not like they can't get the same elsewhere (Like picking up any popular game) so there's no real point in cuttig it out for that. And then if someone doesn't want to read something, they just don't click the spoiler.

Yeah, hopefully they keep out. :p

I haven't found any other boards but one that allowed you to lock a forum if it was mature only. And anyone allowed in was invite only.

But Hey lets run with it and kick some a$$. :)

Wait a second, there's going to be fighting and blood and grown-up stuff? Gross. I'm out.

Just kidding. Graphic and gory's fine by me and the sooner it gets started the better.

Haha, good to know that my players are accepting of maturity. Let's not get the threads locked, but that does give me freedom to give real dark flavor to the groups that deserve it.

Gergg--I'm looking through everyone's backstories right now, trying to figure out the best hooks to get everybody at the Vault. Gameplay will be up by Saturday, since tomorrow I'm meeting with my RL group.

Real life? What is that? I thought there was only AFK?

Piss, blood, and potty mouths are completely fine and dandy on my end. Deidre certainly talks like a sailor. Not very lady-like at all.

Im fine with dark I like dark....

GLORY OF GLORIES!!! I FOUND MY NOTES!!!

...Ahem. Sorry about that. Gameplay will be up shortly, just after I have some dinner.

I believe the correct response is "Praise Atom!". Woops. I believe that should have been Winters remark.

For Science.

Lol. Sweet

Boss when we going live we are all chomping at the bit here.

Damn, I'm sorry guys. I was going to get it up last night after dinner, but I ended up having to watch a movie with the family (Salmon Fishing on the Yemen, not bad). Gameplay will be going live later today, I already have a post working.

Long-awaited... And finally here.

GAMEPLAY IS LIVE, EVERYBODY!!!

Before I forget... I wasn't sure how to calculate AC or how the DR conversion thing works, so I hadn't filled that stuff in yet.

Also, for languages are there any options beyond current world languages?

DR is half of what the Fallout wiki listed... I just realized that'll be annoying to find, so I'll get that stuff in the Campaign Info tab later today.

AC is just Dexterity plus size, plus whatever else, and there's the defense bonus variant rule. I believe--don't quote me, but if memory serves--that for rogues, it's +2 at level one. But I'm not sure on that.

Like I said, I'll put that stuff up later today.

As for languages, there's pretty much everything we have today, but pick carefully--I don't see Finnish being of great use here, and how anyone but a ghoul would even know that is beyond me. The other language of note, I think, would be Trader Cant, a dialectic tongue that's used by, well, traders and scavengers. If I can think of more, I'll put 'em in, and if you guys have any suggestions, feel free to voice them. I'll let you work with some of that kind of stuff in you character right up 'til we reach level 2.

d20srd.org has a Defense Bonus chart if anyone else needs to use it:

Rogues, rangers and bards are +3 at Lvl 1 based on that chart. Barbarians and druids +4, Paladins, fighters and clerics are +6. Everything else is +2.

Except rangers are actually +4 because they have medium armor proficiency.

I'll have my post later today! Arma, I'll throw in my backstory on my character sheet, though it may not be so necessary at this point. Basically she's been traveling from NCR territory (and a former member of the Followers, assuming they exist in this campaign) but has set out East, heading toward New York City and eventually the Capital Wasteland in search of history. I'll go more in-depth in her actual character sheet as to the "Why's" and such. Okay. Gotta go set up SCIENCE! project. Looking forward to this!

will post tomorrow night shift is killing me right now sorry!

Hey, it's cool, everybody. I figure, with all the delays I put you guys through, I'd have to wait until mid-March or April to start getting angsty, hah. Seriously, no worries about a bit of delay--life happens.

Hey Arma. Can you repost the links for the items and their values? I can't find the old thread.

Updated the Campaign Info tab with links to items, the Defense Bonus variant, and other new stuff. Congrats on the first Speech Success, Deidre! It was a pretty easy one.

rock n roll mcdonalds!

Gregg we still know esch other. If so you think you might know those tats....

Skeck (or shizzle) hasn't posted since Jan 30 on any of his aliases. He may be mia.

yerr your goibg to need a healer so I'm in

I was right camper came back woot.

Awesome to have you, Camper!!! You can just be retconned in with the Gulchbottom group as far as placement goes, unless you'd prefer to show up at the Vault on your own.

Yeah, I was going to say. That's something we're definitely lacking and I was about to switch Mindchemist with Chiurgeon (which is still a possibility should we need the extra healing jam and with GM approval). It just sucks that they both replace poison use, or else I'd use them both.

Not to complain about the guy who's going to be stitching us up when we're inevitably injured, but I have a feeling I might need subtitles to be able to understand Camper's posts.

yer hell just follow the 3 heading off to see the pre wars man knowing some thing about a trip to a volt , he's looking for his god the great TV and thinks it may be there as for subtitles not a chance no fun having lingo cheats ha going to have to work it out hehe

Indeed--Camper, I love what you're doing with the character, but subtitles might be nice for those of us struggling to understand him OOC.

Chirurgeon's fine with me, although I'm a little leery about just how many infusions they can make--it seems like they're essentially a walking font of life.

Having him talk like an insane Rastafarian doesn't bother me, I was having a tough time deciphering the descriptive text, though.