Hello all,
First, thanks for taking the time to read my thread. I'm currently the de facto DM of a STAP campaign with some friends who are completely new to the game. Since I will be expected to be DM for the next campaign, a role I'm beginning to like, I figured I wanted to branch out and try something completely different from any normal DnD campaign I've known and try something all my players would LOVE to participate in.
I am planning on starting a campaign this fall with my group that uses the mournland as the setting for a fallout-esque survival/horror campaign. (I'm considering actually converting Kingmaker so they can establish a settlement there and use the city building rules.)
Now I know I will be having to change a lot of Eberron lore and allow natural healing in the Mournland (for starters), but I was hoping I could get some advice on how to implement some type of radiation mechanic that the players will have to deal with.
I was thinking the eerie residual magic of the mournland could be analogous to the radiation found in the fallout series.
Now that I have a fluffy reason for the radiation, how should I go about making radiation occur crunch-wise?
I was considering just making poision stats for it for different concentrations and making them do periodic fortitude saves when they interact with strongly arcane-affected objects.
It would have different DC's depending on how concentrated the energy is as well as proximity to the source. I figured radiation would be ubiquitous but most areas of Cyre are safe (radiation-wise).
Also I was running into snags about the motivation of the campaign itself. I am stuck wondering why would ANYONE want to set up a settlement in the Mournland?
I was thinking the campaign begins as follows:
- players were convicts who were transported to a labor camp near the mournland (where they were forced to dig down into the earth but never told what they were looking for)Spoiler:some sort of magical artifact needed for this pre-war mega-weapon.
- From here they can RP in the mines perhaps... and then they either found something and/or after some sort of catastrophe in the mines they are trapped and the artifact is lost again.
- The PCs find the only way out which leads into the mournland. (The players wont mind the sort of rail-roaded start since basically this becomes an open sandbox environment).
In a wonderful campaign journal of a WLD posted here on the message boards, the DM's makeshift city/commune was made from refugees/prisoners/other adventurers banding together out of necessity to survive. I was thinking about doing a similar idea in the Mournland.
I was thinking the city would grow by interacting with the natives of the mournland (some few Cyreans who actually survived by living in underground vaults) and even some other escaped prisoner NPCs and go from there.
Here the PC's will band together and hopefully convince the natives/other NPCs if they can join their small town/take it over by force/whatever and slowly shift the campaign focus from trying to escape to saving a world they never really were a part of and see their city become a bastion of civilization in the mournland.
(I'm thinking about ideas for the later half of the campaign... But I am kind of liking focusing around that they must stop the Lord of Blades from activating a pre-war mega-weapon with that artifact (sort of like an arcane nuke) over/under their new city.
I am going to purchase the kingmaker 2-6 later on to flesh out the city-building and utilize some of the adventure hooks and just change them to match the setting.
Anyways, anyone have any advice for this fledgling DM and his daunting idea for a campaign setting?
Thanks in advance for reading this whole post.
The biggest 'ick' of playing in the Mournland is that...well...natural healing and magical healing of the healing subschool doesn't work there. That makes any published campaign much much (MUCH) harder by default. So you need to be prepared to change up a lot of stuff going in.
Hello all,
Hello. You're playing in Eberron and not afraid to do something wild. I already like you. Forgive me for mentioning anything obvious.
Ok my first suggestion is to rethink the convicts angle. If you really want this to be Eberron you have to include the War. Make them prisoners of war being used for labor. Being vets is cliche in Eberron but cliches are good for first timers.
Another option is to make them all Warforged. Benefit of this is you don't have to ditch the healing not working in the Mournland if you make them Warforged. Though I don't think you should ditch that anyways. Not completely. No natural healing is 50% of the horror of the Mournland. If they're forged they'll have to decide whether or not they should side with the LoB. Anyways I strongly recommend you keep the no healing but find work arounds. Goodberry Wine, paladin lay on hands, monks wholeness of body. Or maybe the vaults have shielding allowing healing inside. Makes it essential they return to base frequently which is a good thing. I'm finding players do a little too much exploring a little too fast. Not spending enough time at Oleg's so I have to dump sidequests and rumors on them en masse when they do finally return.
Consider having the Mournland affect the world. Or at least Khorvaire. That's the why they settle in the Mournland. NO CHOICE. Also why they can't walk out. Or if they're warforged then the Mournland is a perfectly suitable place for them to settle. You should probably decide the who/what/where and why of the Mourning.
That's going to be essential info for you to know even if the players never get to find out.
Loving the idea of a bunch of prisoners mysteriously transported to the middle of nowhere and made to dig. Fast-forward it over a great deal of time too. Months maybe years. Captors should all be Warforged. Never sleeping, always watching. Utterly loyal to Cyre. I recommend wherever they dig they end up collapsing into a Khyber shard cavern. Good place for the first fight and very Eberron oriented treasure. Anyways what they find down there is going to depend on what you end up making the Mourning be. Maybe they find something and a thick gray mist surges forth....
Radiation I would look to environmental dangers for. Take heat danger and convert it into Radiation. Maybe mix in a constitution draining poison.
Radiation Dangers
Source: Paizo Blog.
Radiation deals radiation damage that cannot be recovered from until the character takes Rad-away. Once a character has taken an amount of damage equal to her CON SCORE, the character is sickened and exhausted and any further damage from Radiation is lethal damage (applied to hitpoints).
A character in very radioactive conditions must make a Fortitude saving throw each hour (DC 15, +1 for each previous check) or take 1d4 points of radiation damage. Characters wearing light or no clothing (except Warforged) take a –4 penalty on their saves. A character with the Survival skill may receive a bonus on this saving throw and might be able to apply this bonus to other characters as well. (Instinctively avoiding hot spots?).
In severe radiation, a character must make a Fortitude save once every 10 minutes (DC 20, +1 for each previous check) or take 1d4 points of radiation damage. Characters wearing clothing/no armor of any sort take a –4 penalty on their saves (except Warforged). A character with the Survival skill may receive a bonus on this saving throw and might be able to apply this bonus to other characters as well.
A character who takes any radiation damage now suffers from radiation exposure and is fatigued. These penalties end when the character recovers from the radiation damage she took.
Extreme Radiation deals lethal damage. Exposure to these levels deals 1d6 points of radiation damage per minute (no save). In addition, a character must make a Fortitude save every 5 minutes (DC 25, +1 per previous check) or take 1d4 points of radiation damage. Those wearing light clothing and/or no armor take a –4 penalty on their saves (except Warforged).
Radiation can cause boiling water which deals 1d6 points of scalding damage, unless the character is fully immersed, in which case it deals 10d6 points of damage per round of exposure.
Something like that. Needs some work. That's just a brainstorm. I'd make the Glowing Chasm a place of extreme radiation. Everywhere on the surface should have radiation. Maybe a Background Level: DC 10 saves every 8 hours. Obviously there should be ways to prevent it. Rad-X obviously. But then look at the addiction rules. Stressing the survival aspect should be a lot of fun. Nowhere should be "safe"! in survival/horror. That's the whole point of survival/horror!
It's going to require you to be careful/clever in your placement of encounters and players that understand survival/horror stresses avoidance of confrontation unlike the default heroic cinema model of dnd/pathfinder but it's not instant death.
You can make the LoB like the Master. Remaking the world to be better. No squishies just construct perfection. He's got a damaged creation forge he can put living creatures in and get twisted warforged out of while he perfects the process. Maybe he is Aren (sp?) d'Cannith and already did it to himself.
The biggest 'ick' of playing in the Mournland is that...well...natural healing and magical healing of the healing subschool doesn't work there. That makes any published campaign much much (MUCH) harder by default. So you need to be prepared to change up a lot of stuff going in.
1) He was thinking of allowing healing.
2) Sounds like he is not afraid to change stuff!3) I agree that I don't think Kingmaker is going to save him much work with all the changes he's making. Even the genre is so radically different. The encounter are almost all out of place now. Everything is wildly different. Maybe just grab the GMG for the city buidling stuff since it sounds like that's all you want.
The biggest 'ick' of playing in the Mournland is that...well...natural healing and magical healing of the healing subschool doesn't work there. That makes any published campaign much much (MUCH) harder by default. So you need to be prepared to change up a lot of stuff going in.1) He was thinking of allowing healing.
2) Sounds like he is not afraid to change stuff!
3) I agree that I don't think Kingmaker is going to save him much work with all the changes he's making. Even the genre is so radically different. The encounter are almost all out of place now. Everything is wildly different. Maybe just grab the GMG for the city buidling stuff since it sounds like that's all you want.
I have nothing against changing stuff, i was simply pointing out that allowing natural healing but not having magical healing would STILL completely change the default pacing of any of the AP stuff.
Now, mining them for ideas, using the maps/areas/NPC's as inspirations and other things to help with his own way, and yes the GMG would be nice for that as well.
EDIT: also, i agree with most everything you said in your lengthy post after my original one. !
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First of all, kudos. I like the way you think and I'm so intrigued by the idea of a wasteland steam punk reinterpretation of Kingmaker that I'd even like to help out with some odds and ends I've noticed in old issues of Dragon that might be perfect for this kind of nightmarescape.
First, don't be afraid to break free of Eberron and make a world of your very own. If you're in a piece of the world the size of the Stolen Lands, and it's as desolate as the Mournlands, you have a self-contained sandbox. Use what you want, ditch the rest, and don't be afraid of putting your own spin on an Eberron-like world.
I can refer you to specific issues of Dragon, but if you want to use any of these things, I have a pretty hefty collection.
First: the Gamemastery Guide that just came out has lots of good resources for the GM who wants a detailed world but doesn't have the time to write hundreds of set pieces and NPCs, and it has rules for all kinds of things that don't fit the mold for a standard game.
Making a familiar setting alien: there is a fabulous article that stats up steampunk writer China Mieville's creations, things like mosquito-humanoids and half human, half machine dregs of society who are powered by coal, and the best thing you can do to make a world like Eberron look like Fallout, Pathfinder style is to mix in elements from a world your players have never seen. Mutants of the wasteland? Criminals doomed to be part machine for crimes worse than your players can imagine? Check and check.
Trade out mechanically inconvenient rules for equally dangerous hazards: another great article proposed corrupted creatures of a once-natural world, yet another had stats for the sort of magical by-products that could become deadly if left to accumulate and side effects of such alchemical and magical waste. Maybe not every hex inhibits healing. Maybe it's totally random which 12 mile stretch is filled with arcane waste and which is a place where nothing living can thrive. Use the hexes to add some chance to the group's trek. After all, you don't know the route they will take and they won't know what to avoid until they explore it.
Ok my first suggestion is to rethink the convicts angle.....
WOW! Thank you for all the great ideas!
I am DEFINITELY thinking Khyber Shards are the perfect target for their mining labor. In fact, I was already thinking about a side-quest for the party involving a mad machinist using something as a power source (complete with mutated/deformed horrific miners of said shards) for motorized seige engines/tanks/personel carriers and khyber shards fit the perfect strange, corrupting energy source I was looking for!
I was thinking that the shards would essentially be analogous to nuclear power. (still debating radioactivity with using khyber shards however).
I will probably give them the option of being either a convict or a soldier forced to labor in a camp near the mournland. If exhaustion doesn't kill you first, the shard's corrupting/perhaps radioactive properties will... or at least leave you mad/mutated depending on exposure.
I am actually considering the idea of the mine collapse leading to an underground cavern which was formed by an untainted water reservoir that is used by a vault nearby. I'd be sure to include the demoralizing grey mist as the party makes a week or more journey through these tunnels surviving off whatever they can find until they hit the reservoir. Perhaps I'll throw in some fix the water-chip action for some nostalgia tripping. haha!
I especially will heed your advice about leaving the healing affects as is for the campaign. Perhaps the vaults have a limited healing effect. (Natural recuperation only)
I doubt my players will want to play a pure warforged campaign. They seem to love diversity and playing characters from different backgrounds who came together against the odds. That being said, they did agree that a Dwarf Fortress: Pathfinder edition would be hilarious to do... so I'll ask them what they think.
I also like the idea of a Cannith being the Lord of Blades and tempting the PC's with an offer of becoming warforged and joining him in his pursuit of a perfect world.
Thinking about it more I suppose the Vaults should be creations of the Twelve. But why? Does the Prophecy say When the Five war a great plague will strike the surface? Or death will cover the land? Maybe some or all could even be mobile just like the mobile fortresses.
Perhaps they are also digging to find a Dragonmark. The final piece of a Prophecy the Twelve have been preparing for since the creation of the Houses. Maybe that is the reason Dragonmarks first appeared on them. They were to use their power/wealth/influence to prepare for the Mourning. That people could be saved and civilization rebuilt.
Your idea of giving dragonshards corruptive effects is excellent. It could extend to all of them. Dragonshards emit a magical energy (Eberron shards being the least harmful to life) that can be dangerous until fashioned into a magical item and contained. This magical energy is what powers the item and gives it it's effect. Hence they'd be the power source to all the magical items in Eberron.
Maybe the "bombs dropping" are pieces of the Ring of Siberys crashing to the world and releasing incredible magical energy. Warping everything it doesn't outright kill.
The Glowing Chasm is where the first and largest Shard fell. Cleaving the land apart for miles and miles.
Now how to do Power Armor...
First of all, kudos. I like the way you think and I'm so intrigued by the idea of a wasteland steam punk reinterpretation of Kingmaker that I'd even like to help out with some odds and ends I've noticed in old issues of Dragon that might be perfect for this kind of nightmarescape.
Thanks! I appreciate it.
First, don't be afraid to break free of Eberron and make a world of your very own. If you're in a piece of the world the size of the Stolen Lands, and it's as desolate as the Mournlands, you have a self-contained sandbox.
I know! I know! I see the pros and cons of creating my own location as well as using the mournland... one gives me exactly what I want, but it will completely tailored to what I want and will lack that Gygaxian Naturalism present moreorless in the numerous Ebberon books...the choices!
First: the Gamemastery Guide that just came out has lots of good resources for the GM who wants a detailed world but doesn't have the time to write hundreds of set pieces and NPCs, and it has rules for all kinds of things that don't fit the mold for a standard game.
I didn't know what GMG stood for.. did some research and decided to buy the PDF version instantly.
Making a familiar setting alien: there is a fabulous article that stats up steampunk writer China Mieville's creations, things like mosquito-humanoids and half human, half machine dregs of society who are powered by coal, and the best thing you can do to make a world like Eberron look like Fallout, Pathfinder style is to mix in elements from a world your players have never seen. Mutants of the wasteland? Criminals doomed to be part machine for crimes worse than your players can imagine? Check and check.
Fortunately, my players are quite new and have barely even heard of Eberron... so basically I can do what I wish since they have zero pre-concieved notions of what this setting entails.
Trade out mechanically inconvenient rules for equally dangerous hazards: another great article proposed corrupted creatures of a once-natural world, yet another had stats for the sort of magical by-products that could become deadly if left to accumulate and side effects of such alchemical and magical waste. Maybe not every hex inhibits healing. Maybe it's totally random which 12 mile stretch is filled with arcane waste...
This was my plan all along. The reason why I like this setting is because of how random the effects are. Like I kinda said earlier.. I like a sense of naturalism in my campaigns and I really wanted to highlight how unnatural, random and horrid this place really is.
1001 Mournland Horrors [WotC Forums]
I think ideas from here as well as my own imagination will be plenty of inspiration for crazy ideas for each hex.
Thanks a lot for your advice!
Thinking about it more I suppose the Vaults should be creations of the Twelve. But why? Does the Prophecy say When the Five war a great plague will strike the surface? Or death will cover the land? Maybe some or all could even be mobile just like the mobile fortresses.
Perhaps they are also digging to find a Dragonmark. The final piece of a Prophecy the Twelve have been preparing for since the creation of the Houses. Maybe that is the reason Dragonmarks first appeared on them. They were to use their power/wealth/influence to prepare for the Mourning. That people could be saved and civilization rebuilt.
Maybe the "bombs dropping" are pieces of the Ring of Siberys crashing to the world and releasing incredible magical energy. Warping everything it doesn't outright kill.
The Glowing Chasm is where the first and largest Shard fell. Cleaving the land apart for miles and miles.Now how to do Power Armor...
The problem I see with a mobile fortress is that, much like Kingmaker, some hexes just are too nasty for your level and they wont be able to effectively establish their own city themselves if they are off flying around in a fortress vault that is over some of the scariest hexes I made.
I also am confused about Power Armor myself. I think I'll just keep it out since I don't need to copy EVERYTHING from fallout. I mainly just want the post-apocalyptic theme and a few environment/location elements (radiation/vaults).
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first of all...AWESOME idea!
That being said, you're going to have your work cut out for you.
Kingmaker ( I've read through 1-4 as of now, planning on running it next weekend for the 1st session) is exactly the style of AP that would slot Fallout stuff in easily.
If you want to use the encounters as written, simply replace "bandit" with "raider" and "re-skin" the higher level monsters as Fallout stuff (trolls=deathclaws, for example). You can use the maps and stuff pretty much as is.
Healing, I'll think about and hopefully have some ideas after work.
Another fantastic resource would be the Fallout 3 players guide. Full descriptions of all the gear, critters, areas and whatnot, with a huge pull out map, and detailed maps of the areas in game. Its almost like a Fallout RPG campaign setting book.
More to come, as you've really piqued my interest.
What a great idea. I love Kingmaker, and played Eberron exclusively from the time it came out to when I started playing 4e two years ago. Since I have no stopped playing 4e for good and switched to PF, I may steal your great idea. Thanks for taking the time to share it.
I approve of this.
I am rethinking the prisoner approach.
After reading up some more info on the mournlands in Five Nations, I am considering the adventurers be settlers/expeditionary team/possible exiles
given a charter by a Co-op of King Kaius of Karrnath/House Orien/House Ghallandra (Perhaps I will make up a corporation/faction name for this project) to retake Cyre and re-open the lightning rail line entering Metrol from the east. (Five Nations, 83).
I am thinking about starting them in either Fort Zombie or making up another Fort a bit closer to Metrol.
Perhaps they will meet in Ft. Zombie then take the 100 mile train/trek on foot to a small outpost called Oleg's...
I can't wait for the party to be trekking into Mournland and see ominous, destroyed billboard like structures with the letters, heavily weathered but still legible, saying: TOMORROW IN CYRE.
>:D
This is a great idea! I love Fallout and using it as inspiration for a Pathfinder Campaign is a great concept! I will definately be following this thread! Maybe you could use some of the Lost Relic ideas from Sunken Empires?
Kudos!
The best part about this campaign is that I'm thinking about how customizable this map can be. I basically only need to include Oleg's on the far right side of the map and then put Metrol somewhere pretty far off to the right.
I think the best thing for me to do would be to think of side-quests first and as the campaign progresses, more of the tracks will be dug, and ultimately the group will begin rebuilding Metrol around the lightning rail.
I'm sure the Lord of Blades wouldn't want fleshies building in his new territory. I'm also thinking the refugees in New Cyre will be have something to say about this retaking of their homeland without their input.
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A tip: don't try to reinvent the wheel.
Use the Kingmaker AP books as "plot resources" as far as timing, pacing, plot events, and encounters.
All the wilderness stuff you can use, as is, just don't tell the players the KM names and appearances.
I will dig through my Fallout 3 books and see what I can put together for monsters and the like.
Power armor, space-age guns, and the high-tech stuff, I have notes from an earlier Eberron game...will try to piece some of that together as well.
What parts of Fallout are you considering "must have" and which can be tossed?
How much do you want to homebrew, vs. use published material?
Cyre seems like a good place. I might have to remove the evil fog and magical radiation from the part that is to be discovered. I have never used Fey before, but Cyre makes it hard for me to keep them.
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For some "flavor" items.
Certain big claw/claw/bite friends can get new descriptions, and immunity/regeneration from the surrounding radiation.
Others get simple costume changes, and voila!
One thing I did: Bows and Guns are the same thing, rules-wise. If you want to get a "Rifle" that shoots 1d8/x3 with the ability to make it Masterwork, Composite, Magic, or what have you, fine. You buy a longbow, call it a "Rifle" and we move on. So there's your guns, if you were leaning that way.
Cyre went "dead" pretty much in one go, if I recall correctly. At least, so far as anyone knows, so you're in the clear there. Not to mention, they were always right on the cutting edge of technology, magic, and art. Art Deco Lightning Rail stations, completely empty, save for a few ravenous ghouls, seem like fantastic places for encounters.
I'd follow 3's suggestion, and incorporate a lot of the "dungeon" experience into underground passageways, going from point A to B. Bonus points for when they conquer a hex from underground, first. From there, you're golden. I cannot say enough for the KM books...those 6, plus the GMG and a weekend, and I could plan a 24 month, 11 player campaign.
Bears = Hua Guai
Radioactive Ghouls can replace regular Ghouls or lesser undead.
Giant vermin can pretty much stay, as is. Any large spiders, scorpions, and the like will do.
Fey creatures are preeminent in the KM books, and that's a little trickier, but mutated creatures can do all sorts of crazy things.
Not to mention aliens.
So, you've got a lot to work with...my bet would be to set em up, let em romp around the Mournland and Khyber beneath, and go with the flow. You'll have more than enough encounters, and the hazards of overland travel should be pretty significant.
There's a thought, healing stuff could work in Khyber (or anywhere, say, 20' or more underground). That opens whole worlds of underground transport, malls, living spaces, and the like. You keep the party in "Adventuring Mode" when they're out on mission, and the actual overland representation will be as minimal as possible.
Scatter Vaults around (already a precedent from the Eberron published adventuers...crazy Cannith Artificers), where all sorts of wacky and fun experiments were carried out, and have lots of random NPC stats lying around. The Game Mastery Guide is very good in this respect....lots of very nice NPC's already pregenerated for you at the back of the book.
You could have it be set in the future of Eberron as well, the negative magic of the Mournlands is failing, Magical healing works sort of, ala Wild Magic, a heal might only heal 1hp of damage while a cure light might heal 30 points.
Setting it in the future gives a reason to recolonize the area, with descendants of the old Cyre residents attempting to reclaim the Mournlands, now very much in the Hands of the aging Lord of Blades. His legions have many camps throughout the Mournlands but your party isn't the only one heading in. With the failing of the nega magic, some of the remaining non-dead have become very much undead.
Warforged = Super Mutants
Mutated Shifters = Deathclaws
Zombies = Ghouls!
....What parts of Fallout are you considering "must have" and which can be tossed?
How much do you want to homebrew, vs. use published material?
Thanks for the advice!
To be honest, I REALLY only want the eerie post-apocalyptic atmosphere and environment from the Fallout series. I want to keep the strange mutated wildlife, giant vermin, raiders, slavers, Mad cultists, cannibal farmers, etc but I don't really need Guns, or Power Armor from Fallout...or at least not have these items as ubiquitous in my campaign as they were in Fallout.
To answer your second question, I am not sure yet. I haven't read enough of the KM series to know what I want to keep.
For now, I am thinking I will keep the Stag-Lord and just re-skin this first adventure with Raiders. I am also thinking I will replace the radish quest or mushroom quest with obtaining goodberries... and I will redo the random encounters and include some of ideas from that linked thread to scare my players and keep them on their toes.
I am also liking this implementation of Khyber and my players exploring in the Z dimension.
On the subject of magical healing, what if it worked, but with each casting, you might get more than your bargained for? like, if the radiation/foul nature of the Mournlands often tainted magical healing? Like... there's an idea in GURPS Discworld, magical healing is often avoided because of the magic rich environment, so often the magical healing would bring... side effects more harmful than the actual wounds they're supposed to cure.
So maybe the positive energy might have a chance to cause damaged tissues to start growing and regenerating themselves in all sorts of nasty and undesirable ways? Like unsightly tumors, malformed extra limbs. Maybe you might even have a new friend growing on your shoulder who hoots and hollers lustfully at inappropriate times? Basically, cure spells are the mother of many mutations!
Or the magical healing spells might come to life, and suddenly you've got a bunch of out of control living cure spells running amok, beating you to death while healing you over and over again!
Or maybe magical healing in the Mournlands could be addictive, like stimpaks in Fallout. The fell nature of the MOurnalands might be so bad feeling the glory of magical healing could easily cause you to want to keep getting more of it.
Basically, idea here is to make magical healing a bit unpredictable and kinda creepy. Something you could use, if you wanted, but something that might make you think twice before using it.
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okay...now that I know what you're looking for: some of the critters that show up ALL the time in Fallout:
Humanoids show up in a couple of different "factions" here...
Raiders, equally represented by Bandits
Slavers, again, higher-level Bandits, or other human classed NPCS
Brotherhood of Steel, Talon Company Mercs, Chinese Soldiers: not really necessary, if you wanted to differentiate between "rogue-y" and "fighter-y" types, Talon Company for heavier armor, better weapons works pretty well.
Wastelanders are your run-of-the-mill "citizens". Generally either very poorly armed, or tucked away in a bunker with ridiculous amounts of weaponry, they will be your "talk to" style characters, 9 times out of 10
Ghouls, whether irradiated or regular old Undead, can be used from early on, for low level ones, just use stats for Zombies, Skeletons, and the like. As they get higher level, just substitute the bigger undead in. Some of the "specific" monster type undead, I'd leave in the later books...nothing says there's none of "those" type of critters kicking around, right?
Vaults and vault dwellers, I'll get to in a bit.
Mutated Insects include:
Giant Ants, of the Worker, Soldier, and Queen varieties. Possibly with such things as breath weapons, corrosive spit, or radioactive goo.
Bloatflies: more of a nuisance than anything else.
Radroaches: giant roaches. These can easily replace giant rats for the "low level vermin" monsters. Bonus points: cockroaches probably COULD survive the Mourning, if anything could.
Radscorpions and their Giant brothers. Simple Giant Scorpions...poison does "Radiation" damage, which is what causes the Con/Str/Dex damage (not sure which Scorpions do off hand)
Mutated Animals
Brahmin, and other herd animals. Do with as you please. Nothing says you HAVE to have 2 headed cows, but why not!?!
Mole Rats: a step up from the Radroach, this here is your "dog, wolf, coyote" style threat.
Mirelurks: mutated crabs, walking on 2 legs, and possessing a mild intelligence, heavily armored and possibly radioactive. Chuuls, Giant Crabs (amphibious), and the like are your best bets.
Yao Guai: They used to be brown bears, but have gotten stronger, faster, and meaner. Use bear stats as appropriate, but consider giving them the Cheetah Dash ability, or possibly Pounce and an increase to speed.
Abominations of Nature
Here's where the really crazy mutations come into play. Blobby, usually regenerating, and immune to the background radiations, these things are the mid-level threats most commonly encountered.
Centaurs: I would swap the name, possibly consider these for the Trollhounds, especially if you follow the next advice.
Super Mutants: Big, green, dumb, and mean. They already sound like Trolls, so why not just "Cut-N-Paste" them into that role? As they get bigger, they get stronger and higher CR, so that fits as well.
Deathclaws: fast, sneaky, death on 2 legs. Their only weakness is their bloodlust. Consider having them replace Owlbears, or (if, like me, you can't lose the Owlbears) have them be another "legendary monster" kicking around in the dangerous wilderness.
Robots
As the former nation of Cyre, a blighted wilderness, with access to both regular underground Vaults and possibly Khyber, it stands to reason some of the war-constructs got out. Eberron makes your life SO much easier here.
Simple robots are just that: single or dual use constructs with maybe a slam and a blast style attack, easily dispatched and scavenged.
Warforged, on the other hand, can be class leveled, armed with all kinds of crazy weapons and gear, and still have the "robot defender" vibe going on.
Warforged Titans and similar "ultimate weapon" style robots serve as great end bosses or temporary assets...limited power levels, minimal structural integrity, etc can make them excellent resources for "go fix this" quests, scavenged parts, or short term allies in tough fights.
Finally, a thought on the Vaults...
Several of the 1st and 2nd adventure encounters have you meeting with people in the overland world. This may or may not work for you, seeing as how you have the whole "mists" thing going on.
If you decide to allow healing to occur in the Vaults (shielding, magical/technological wards, what have you), you can expand their size a bit. Consider them to be the "overworld" map from other games, where PC's can safely rest, restock their supplies, and meet obviously non-hostile NPCs.
This doesn't preclude other, surface borne, bastions, however. Broken down warships, burnt out safe-houses, banks, and the like can serve quite well as raider/slaver/super mutant hideouts, where the PC's only have to survive the mists long enough to find them.
Vault dwellers, also, are a breed apart. Spoiler for those who haven't played the games...
Here is where you can showcase the awesomeness that was Cyre, as well. They served as time capsules, preserving the world as they new it, right before everything ended badly...
psionichamster-
WOW! Thanks so much for your insightful ideas.
I'll be sure to include a psionic hamster somewhere in the mournland. (perhaps a god-king to a vault)
I probably won't use the brotherhood/enclave or other factions of fallout but for the other humanoids you certainly hit the nail on the head.
I was thinking of especially utilizing Huecuvas (is that how you spell them?). I think would make good radioactive ghouls (i'll just tweak their disease to be radiation)
To keep up with the horror/survival aspects I will probably rule that healing magic will be subject to wild-magic rules underground while mainting healing magic does not work above ground at all. That being said, I may also include variants of goodberries that heal for more than a typical goodberry.(Perhaps these uberberries are addicting? >:D)
Destroyed combat machines sparsely resting in the wasteland sounds like a great idea. I'm thinking crashed Airships and just find/reskin a sunken ship map for the airship crashed in the wastes. (complete with radioactive crabs)
Robots are also great, like you said, because of warforged. I'll gladly use something akin to an adjusted warforged warlock for a blaster-bot, and warforged titans/customized smaller robots for other tasks. (I am definitely thinking of just using the stats for animated furniture for small customized hunting robots)
I also can't wait to utilize horrific illusions.(think 3 little girls crying over a doll on the ground with their backs towards the party. As the party ventures closer and the party tries to assuage the frightened children, the girls stop crying and 3 giant centipedes burst out of the shells of what the party thought were lost/scared children)
I am considering putting Oleg's outside of the mournland somewhere at the 3-way -intersection of the River Cyre (south of Ft. zombie). This way I can keep the first few NPC interractions out of the mists and gradually lead into this survival/horror Kingmaker.
Once the party has to find a way across the river and deal with whatever lies in the mists/bandits... then I will kick up the horrors and emphasize the merciless place that is the Mournland.
Thanks again for everyone's thoughts and ideas. I am really liking being able to bounce ideas off of people and hear what more experienced gamers have to say about my campaign idea!
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I hope people can forgive the thread necromancy but as a big fan of fallout, I would love to know how this campaign played out. I found the thread when searching for advice on how to play a crazy character, like the night kin with antler in fallout new Vegas. Might still make surcharge a thread. I was about to make it a thread and then choose to do a search first and found this and loved what I saw. I want to know more or what happened. Again, hope people forgive the thread necromancy.