Fallout: The Roleplaying Game – The Post Nuclear Tabletop Role Playing Game is published by Modiphius Entertainment and what it provides is the means for a group of players to explore the Commonwealth and uncover its secrets together. The core rules are set specifically at the start of the computer game, Fallout 4, so that the characters—if not the players—will have no idea as to the machinations of Vault-Tec or the Institute, or other factions, although they will be aware of the broad geography of the Commonwealth and the location of Diamond City. Where in Fallout 4 the only choice is to play the ‘Sole Survivor’ of Vault 111, Fallout: The Roleplaying Game, the players have the option to play an Initiate of the Brotherhood of Steel, an intelligent Ghoul, an intelligent Super Mutant, a Mister Handy robot, or Survivor, as well as a Vault Dweller. As with Fallout 4, there is a strong emphasis in play in Fallout: The Roleplaying Game upon the environmental dangers of the Commonwealth, on scavenging, and on crafting. The rules for latter mean that a Player Character can use things found in and under the wastelands of the Commonwealth to cook food and drink, concoct healing stimpaks and other drugs or chems, and construct and modify both weapons and armour, including modifying power armour. What the latter means is that players new to Fallout: The Roleplaying Game can have fun exploring what their characters can make, but players familiar to Fallout 4 can create in the roleplaying game, what their ‘Sole Survivor’ created or modified in the computer game. So, if a Player Character wants to turn that standard pipe gun into a .38 Pipe Rifle with Powerful Receiver, Ported Barrel, Sharpshooter’s Grip, Recoil-Compensating Stock, Large Quick-Eject Magazine, Short Scope, and Suppressor, then he can—if he has the right parts, modifications, Perks, and access to a Weapons Bench. This is just one of the ways in which Fallout: The Roleplaying Game emulates Fallout 4.
That emulation beings with the Player Character and Player Character creation. This is because a Player Character in the Fallout: The Roleplaying Game will look more familiar to anyone who has played Fallout 4 than anyone who has played a 2d20 System roleplaying game. A Player Character has seven ‘S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Attributes’. These are Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck. Of these, Luck is the default attribute when the outcome of a situation depends on chance rather than Player Character skill or knowledge. The seven attributes are rated between four and ten and will be familiar to anyone who has played Fallout 4. A Player Character has ratings in skills including Athletics, Barter, Big Guns, Energy Weapons, Explosives, Lockpick, Medicine, Melee Weapons, Pilot, Repair, Science, Small Guns, Sneak, Speech, Survival, Throwing, and Unarmed. Of these, Athletics, Survival, Throwing, and Pilot are additions to the other thirteen which are taken from Fallout 4. Skills are ranked between zero and six. Some skills are marked as Tag skills, indicating expertise or talent. A Player Character will also have several Perks and Traits, essentially the equivalent of advantages and disadvantages, and he will have Luck Points equal to his Luck Attribute. The list of Perks is extensive and players of Fallout 4 will again recognise them as they include ‘Aquaboy/Aquagirl’, ‘Armourer’, ‘Bloody mess’, ‘Cap Collector’, ‘Commando’, ‘Dogmeat’, and many, many more.
To create a character, a player first selects an Origin—either, ‘Brotherhood of Steel’, ‘Ghoul’, ‘Super Mutant’, ‘Mister Handy’, ‘Survivor’, or ‘Vault Dweller’. This provides him with a Trait and an equipment pack. The ‘Survivor’ has choice of Traits and equipment packs. He assigns five points to his ‘S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Attributes’; selects three Tag Skills to receive a bonus and distributes ranks equal to character’s Intelligence plus six to his skills; and picks his first Perk from those he qualifies for. As he gains each new Level, he can puck another Perk. Lastly, the player picks an equipment pack based on his character’s Origin, a trinket, and adds the equipment gained from his Tag Skills. The process is simple and straightforward.
Name: Trader Joe
Origin: Survivor
Level: 1
Traits: Gifted, Fast Shot
Perks: Junktown Jerky Vendor
Luck: 4
Carry Weight: 190 lbs Damage Resistance: 0 Defence 1
Initiative: 11 Health Points: 12 Melee Damage: 0
S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Attributes
Strength 4 Perception 7 Endurance 7 Charisma 8 Intelligence 7 Agility 4 Luck 5
Skills
Athletics 0 Barter 4 (Tag) Big Guns 0 Energy Weapons 0 Explosives 0 Lockpick 2 Medicine 1 Melee Weapons 0 Pilot 0 Repair 2 Science 1 Small Guns 2 Sneak 0 Speech 4 (Tag) Survival 2 (Tag) Throwing 0 Unarmed 2
Equipment
Tough clothing, leather armour chest piece, pipe gun (ten .38 calibre rounds of ammunition), brightly coloured bandanna, trading wares (eleven.308 ammo, five missiles, nine .50 ammo, Radaway, Healing Salve, Dirty Water, two Holotape Players, eight bobby pins), pack brahmin, formal hat and clothing, 83 caps
Mechanically, Fallout: The Roleplaying Game uses the 2d20 System seen in many of the roleplaying games published by Modiphius Entertainment, such as Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 or Dune – Adventures in the Imperium. To undertake an action in the 2d20 System in Fallout: The Roleplaying Game, a character’s player rolls two twenty-sided dice, aiming to have both roll under the total of an Attribute and a Skill to generate successes. Each roll under this total counts as a success, an average task requiring two successes, the aim being to generate a number of successes equal to, or greater, than the Difficulty Value, which typically ranges between zero and five. Rolls of one count as a critical success and create two successes, as does rolling under the value of the Skill when it is a Tagged Skill. A roll of twenty adds a Complication to the situation, such as making noise when a Player Character is trying to be stealthy or breaking a bobby pin when picking the lock of a safe.
Successes generated above the Difficulty Value are turned into Action Points. These are another change from traditional 2d20 System roleplaying games in which the players generate and have Momentum to use for their characters, whilst the Game Master has Threat to make the lives of the Player Characters more challenging and give his NPCs advantages in play. Action Points replace both Momentum and Threat and are a shared resource of which a group can have up to six. They can be used to purchase more dice for a Skill test, to Obtain Information from the Game Master, Reduce Time spent on a test, or to take an Additional Minor Action or Additional Major Action.
In addition, a player can also spend Luck Points (the total based on his Luck attribute) to gain an advantage in a situation. With Luck of the Draw, a player can spend his character’s Luck Points to add a fact or detail or item to the area he is in that would benefit him. Other uses include Stacked Deck, which enables a player to substitute his character’s Luck Attribute instead of another, Lucky Timing, which lets a survivor interrupt the Initiative order, and Miss Fortune to reroll dice.
Combat in the Fallout: The Roleplaying Game is quite detailed in comparison to other 2d20 System roleplaying games. A Player Character can attempt one Minor Action and one Major Action per round, but Action Points can be spent to take one more of each. Minor Actions include Aim, Draw Item, Move, Take Chem, and more, whilst Major Actions include Attack, Command an NPC, Defend, Rally, Sprint, and others. During combat, Action Points can be expended to purchase more dice for a Skill test, to Obtain Information from the Overseer, to take an Additional Minor Action or Additional Major Action, or to add extra Combat Dice.
One noticeable difference in combat between Fallout: The Roleplaying Game and other 2d20 System roleplaying games is that the Player Characters have hit locations. Again, this reflects the nature of the computer game with its PIP Boy and VATS system. Damage is inflicted per random Hit Location and it is possible to target a particular Hit Location. The number of Combat Dice rolled to determine damage is based on the weapon, Action Points spent to purchase more Combat Dice, Perks, and other factors. Combat Dice determine not only the number of points of damage inflicted, but the ‘Damage Effects Trigger’ of the weapon used. This has an extra effect, such as Piercing, which ignores a point of Damage Resistance or Spread, which means an additional target is hit. Both damage inflicted and Damage Resistance can be physical, energy, radiation, or poison. Armour is rated for its Damage Resistance against physical, energy or radiation damage and because armour is handled as both suits of armour worn and individual locations, it means unless a character is wearing a complete suit of armour, the player or Game Master has to keep track of what armour is worn where and what resistances it has. As much as this emulates armour in Fallout 4 it also adds a layer of detail and potential complexity to the game. If five or more points of damage is inflicted to a single Hit Location, then a critical hit is scored. Ammunition is tracked.
Radiation damage is handled differently. It reduces the Maximum Health Points of a Player Character rather than his current Health Points. Until cured, this reduces both his Maximum Health Points and the number of Health Points which can be cured. The rules also cover other environmental dangers, scavenging, and loot. The scavenging rules define whether a location has been searched before, the difficulty of searching the location, its size, and so on, followed by rolls on the different loot tables. Scavenging plays a big role in the play of Fallout 4 and so it does here, far more so than many other post-apocalyptic roleplaying games in comparison, to the point where it can overwhelm the players as much as it can the player in Fallout 4.
Fallout: The Roleplaying Game includes an extensive equipment list which takes up a fifth of the whole book and so supports the scavenging rules. It includes all of the weapons, armour, modifications, recipes, trinkets, junk, and more to be found in the Commonwealth of Fallout 4. Players of Fallout 4 will recognise all of these, whether it is globes of the world, packs of Salisbury Steaks, the Powerfist, Deathclaw Gauntlet, Super Sledge, Gatling Laser, Fat Man, Laster Musket, T-45 Power Armour, Nuka-Cola in all flavours, Mentats, and more. Notable amongst them are the various books, magazines, and comics, each of which provides its own Perk. For example, issues of Wasteland Survival Guide might ‘Coupon Spectacular’ shifts the price of food and drink in the reader’s favour, whilst ‘Water Aerobics for Ghouls’ reduces the difficulty of Athletics tests for swimming. Of course, there are issues too, of Grognak The Barbarian to found and read, granting Perks like ‘Blood on the Harp’ which increases melee damage and ‘Jungle of the Bat-Babies’ which increases resistance to poison.
Mechanically, Fallout: The Roleplaying Game is not as streamlined as more recent 2d20 System roleplaying games. This is because it has to emulate its source material, Fallout 4, so there are more attributes, more skills, there are rules for crafting, hit locations in combat, and so on. Yet the end result is the rules to the roleplaying game are not necessarily overly complex, but rather overly detailed, especially when it comes to the recipes and the modifications of weapons, armour, and so on. To some players, it may be too much, the play of Fallout 4 warrants it and so Fallout: The Roleplaying Game has to include it because it reflects the source material and it provides a means by which the Player Characters can improve themselves—by building and modifying better gear.
Roughly half of Fallout: The Roleplaying Game is dedicated to detailing aspects of its background. This includes histories of the Commonwealth’s corporations, pre-war and post-war, and suggestions as what role they might play in the Commonwealth of 2287. For example, the distinctive architecture of the Red Rocket shops always stands out and indicate somewhere that is generally safe and defensible. Manufacturers and big tech companies are also detailed and this includes some of their secrets, which ordinarily would only be discovered in the course of play of Fallout 4. Particular attention is paid to Vault-Tec and its activities within the vaults it established, including a table of possible wacky quests that Player Characters might trigger upon exploring a random vault. Again, these will need developing by the Game Master. This is in addition to several vault-related plots, plot seeds, and side quests. The Commonwealth is given a similar treatment with an extensive gazetteer describing many familiar locations such as Concord and its Museum of Freedom where the Minuteman, Preston Garvey has holed up against besieging raiders, one of the first encounters in Fallout 4. Diamond City is given particular attention as it will likely form a base of operations for the Player Characters. These are all accompanied by descriptions of generic locations and Commonwealth plots.
The advice for the Game Master on running Fallout: The Roleplaying Game is sound, focusing on managing the rules as well as safety guidelines as tentatively exploring the idea of running the roleplaying game in the wasteland of the former USA away from the Commonwealth. The advice highlights how the biggest danger in the wasteland is actually other people and suggests ways in which the dark humour of Fallout 4 can be brought into play. A bestiary gives descriptions and stats for a vast array of animals, monsters, mutated humanoids, and NPCs, from Bloodbugs, Bloatflies, and the two-headed pack beasts known as Brahmin to Synths, Turrets, and Raiders, via Ghouls, Glowing Ones, members of the Brotherhood of Steel, Railroad Agents, and Wastelanders.
The final support for the Game Master is the scenario, ‘With A Bang, Or A Whimper’. This can be played as is, or as a sequel to ‘Starter Set Quest: Machine’, the scenario in Fallout: The Roleplaying Game – Starter Set, and is set before the start of Fallout 4. The quest begins in a recently created town—which the players are encouraged to flesh out the details of—that is celebrating its first anniversary. A murder-mystery leads to a pattern of other strange behaviour by other townsfolk, and manipulation by one of the major factions in the Commonwealth. This is a solid scenario, though it does work better as a sequel to ‘Starter Set Quest: Machine’.
Physically, Fallout: The Roleplaying Game is a well written and engaging book illustrated with good, but clashing art styles. On the one side there is kitsch of Fallout 4, but on the other hand, there is the excellent depiction of the ruin that Commonwealth has been reduced to.
If you are a fan of the Fallout series of computer games, but not necessarily Fallout 4, then Fallout: The Roleplaying Game is not going to be as flexible as you might want a Fallout roleplaying game to be, since its focus is very much Fallout 4. As an emulation of Fallout 4, the only thing that is missing, are the rules for communities and building and improving them. Those rules are to be found in Fallout: The Roleplaying Game Settler’s Guide Book. Everything else that you would want in a Fallout 4 roleplaying game is included in Fallout: The Roleplaying Game and in such comprehensive fashion that it also works as a good sourcebook for Fallout 4. Of course, a player who has played Fallout 4 will get more out of Fallout: The Roleplaying Game than if they have not, but there is sufficient background and information in the book that a player definitely does not need to have played it to understand the basic aspects of the Commonwealth setting or the genre. Overall, Fallout: The Roleplaying Game – The Post Nuclear Tabletop Role Playing Game is a really good adaption of Fallout 4 that enables a gaming group to explore the setting of the Commonwealth and its plots and factions together.
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