New Fallout RP, Plan Away! Options

[Dantrag]

So here we are, folks.

I vote Capital Wasteland as the setting, simply because I prefer it to the New Vegas setting. It just has more of a dismal feel to it in my opinion.

I guess for those less knowledgeable of the game, we could choose some other city in the States and make up the setting as we go, but that does get a little difficult sometimes.

As far as roles in the group goes, here's a few ideas:

Scout
Sniper (sniper could have a spotter, I guess)
Doctor
Repairman/Scientist (we could split this into 2 roles if necessary)
Demolitions expert
Heavy gunner
Scavenger
Diplomat (think barter/speech skills. basically the business/social savvy one of the group)
Survivalist (the ultimate outdoorsman)
Brute (melee/hand-to-hand expert)

EDIT: added grif's suggestions, changed 'thief' to 'scavenger' per urienashtram's advice.

This post has been edited by Dantrag: Jun 6 2011, 06:17 PM

[ureniashtram]

I agree with the setting of the Capitol. Its more ... real, IMHO. For the classes, I think the thief should be changed with 'Scrounger' or 'Scavenger'. Retains its thiefly personalities but is also a major help on looting ruined buildings. For contributions on roles, Dantrag spoke it all. Wait, no. We need a GM to move the plot. I'll explain later.

For the plot, I'm not so burnt out. Playing Red Dead Redemption for four straight hours, the game gave me an idea. We could be an infamous posse running from the Regulators after commiting a botched mission. The man who hired our help could've framed us! We're on the run, our supplies are low and generally, things are FUBAR. We need caps and we need it now. This is where the GM comes along.

He/She could, like, 'The (insert name of the group here), resting on Megaton, contemplated on the grimness of their situation. But Smithson Smith, the old man always sitting on the darkened corner of Gob's Saloon, was to be their light on this dark tunnel. He had caps and he knows how to spend it. BY HIRING MERCENARIES TO DEAL WITH THE PROBLEM OF RAIDERS.' etc etc.

The GM's role would be to suggest things(thus moving the plot) THROUGH NARRATIONS.

[Ahrenil]

Having a GM could work, though i'd not want to be it. The problem I see with it is that it means some person has to take a real back seat role in the story and not really get to participate as much beyond support and side characters who will come and go fairly quickly.

I also came up with a plotline the other night that I'd like to share.
We're a group of survivors/soldiers/whatever and we come across a piece of tech with an unknown symbol on it. I was imagining this could be through trade if we were just survivors or maybe we find it on an raider or whatever. We do some research into it and find out that it's a new symbol from the old European Coalition. Realising that this means not only are there other survivors in the world, beyond Vault Tech's reach, but they are both flourishing and have a means of relatively safe travel across the ocean. So we have to go track down whoever the tech belonged to (I imagine it'd be like a European pip-boy) which leads us on a nice tour of the capital wastes, following the person's footsteps, getting captured once or twice. Eventually we find him and I imagine we find a big twist about Europe, like it's ridiculously militaristic and imperial or mostly ghoul populated, perhaps it's ruled by a new Roman Empire which has enslaved ridiculous amounts of the population. Whatever, we have to make a choice about whether to re-establish links, or go destroy the boat the man came across on so no one can go reveal that America has survived to them.

I preferred us being a group of survivors just trying to live in the wastes as that allows us a bit more conflict with the other groups. The Brotherhood want to capture us to take the tech and study it, and the enclance want to get to the traveler first in the hopes of using Europe as a way to regain dominion over the wastes etc etc.

Just an idea anyway. As far as the roles we need filled go i'm happy with them, except I agree that the Thief should probably be more of a Looter, someone good at picking out the good stuff we need from a ruin. It seems like they could be combined with the Scout/Recon thing as well though, a person good at getting in and out of places and finding their way around obstacles.

[grif11]

Well Ive seen a bit of the capital wastes, but I'll be relying on wiki's. please correct me if im wrong on something. Just an idea, but here are some classes I thought up:

Survivalist (or would this be scout?)
Brute(Melee, unarmed guy)

also, we could go to town and have:
Pilot

Yes, a guy who can drive and maintain vehicles (Trucks, quads, ships). just thought it would save us having to do huge walks everywhere.

Also, apart from us four, who else is going to join?

This post has been edited by grif11: Jun 6 2011, 05:49 PM

[Dantrag]

See the first post for class edits.

I think the repairman could easily double as the vehicle person, if we choose to include such things. (the only operable vehicles I've seen in fallout were the vertibirds and the one boat) If he knows how they work, I'm sure he'd know how to drive them.

I came up with a plot idea, sort of based on a combo of unrienashtram's and Ahrenil's ideas.

The group is hired by a seemingly decent guy. The job is to visit a small settlement and provide protection (from raiders, or muties, or radscorpions. It doesn't matter, because the job is a fake anyway). So we get to this settlement, only to find everyone dead, with obvious signs of fighting. We find what clues we can, and decide to stay in the ruined settlement for the night before reporting back to our client.

There's an ambush, and regulators swarm us, blaming us for the crime. (We can escape at this point, and depending on our characters we could spare all regulators or not. OR we could be captured and escape later. Doesn't really matter.)

After that, we try to get contracts, but the only ones available are pretty shady. (this could be a source of contention among our group if we have some seedy characters) So, strapped for cash, we realize we have to clear our names somehow. It becomes a game of trying to figure out what REALLY happened at this settlement, who killed all the people, and what our 'client' had to do with it. All while avoiding regulators and the typical wasteland hazards.

The only things left to flesh out would be why we were framed. And Ahrenil may have come up with that.

The settlement was in possession of a piece of tech. Something very valuable and very important. Our 'client' could be the one that got it, or he could simply be working for the real baddie. We have to find out what the tech was, what it does, and then decide if we keep it to ourselves, give it to some sort of 'rightful owner', or sell it for the quick caps.

If you like the plot, think of what the tech could be. If not, oh well.

[Ahrenil]

I'd suggest our client isn't the one framing us if they already have whatever we were sent for, what it could be is some form of power struggle inside a shadowy organisation.

But yeah I like that plot line, the tech could be some experimental weapon produced from near the end of the war, or perhaps to give us more of an option for using it for good it could be an experimental power generator, capable to producing large amounts of fairly clean and renewable energy.

[Dantrag]

I was kinda thinking that the client hired us with the specific purpose of tying us to the crime. Whatever name he gave us wouldn't necessarily be the real one, even if he is the one in possession of the tech. (So his real crew got there just before us, so that by the time the regulators show up, they seem to catch us red-handed.)

I guess the tech could be some sort of giant energy cell, capable of ridiculous laser destruction, or as you say, renewable energy. Just need a name for it.

[jack cloudy]

I cal dibs on the techguy. I'll probably use Jonathan again, though with the crazy toned down a lot. As much fun as it is to roleplay a guy who's gone cuckoo and whose best friend is a refrigerator on wheels, he's not exactly stable enough to work in a team.

Anyhow, as for the mysterious techbit. Fallout is a salvage-based postapocalyptic society, right? Then what if the mcguffin isn't a pre-war artefact, but something new instead? For example, a chemical battery might not be able to compete with a still functioning atomic fuelcell, but being able to massproduce them in a simple smithy without collecting parts from a scrapheap would be revolutionary. Quantity has a quality of its own after all.

Of course, the real goal here would be to get your hands on the plans/inventor.

[grif11]

OK, If were calling dibs, Im taking the sniper! (guessing thats long range, silent killing)

Naming this artifact. I'll put forward a couple names:

Matter-Sphere
Nexus VII

[Dantrag]

OK, If were calling dibs, Im taking the sniper! (guessing thats long range, silent killing)

Naming this artifact. I'll put forward a couple names:

Matter-Sphere
Nexus VII

Rough! I was gonna reuse my sniper character. Back to the drawing board. (It's impossible to argue with dibs, after all ) My next choices would be Scout or Survivalist or Scavenger. (Hmm...in hindsight these are all kind of the same) but seeing as how a doctor would be pretty crucial, if nobody else wants to take that role I may decide to.

Anyway, I like the name Matter-Sphere. Sounds very fallout-ish.

Other To-do's:

1. Pick our starting point (I was thinking that we start out on the road to the settlement. We can kind of fill in the past on our way to the settlement.)

2. Figure out a name for our little band of mercs

3. Create those characters.

4. pick a GM? (or no? I'm not sure what we're doing with that idea)

[ureniashtram]

Heavy Weaponry... DIBS DIBS DIBS!!!! If somebody else wants the Heavy Weaponry guy.. I guess we could make room for TWO. Otherwise, sorry.

name for our mercs:

The Apostles of (the) Bullets
Architects of Anarchy
Freedom Poopers
Priests Of War
The Mercs With Mouths


.... I suck at naming organizations, yes? As for the GM, do have.. Don't have. I'm really neutral at that matter, so I'm comfortable with both choices. I agree that we start on the road to the settlement. Though what and where settlement, we need to decide. I was thinking that that settlement could be a pre-made one. Makes it easier, y'know. Big Town, Arefu, the place where two idiots fight while wearing costumes...

What about the Character sheet? I'll create one now so we don't have to wait for someone to make it in a later time, but feel free to ignore it if you object.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Name:
Gender:
Age:
Race:
Appearance:
Skills:
Weapons:
History and Background:

This post has been edited by ureniashtram: Jun 7 2011, 11:32 AM

[grif11]

If you desperatly want the sniper class, I'll take scout.

the char sheet looks good, in my opinion!

[Dantrag]

If you desperatly want the sniper class, I'll take scout.

No worries, sniper is yours. I'm working on something new for scout. (Anyone have a problem with sort of combining scout/survivalist/scavenger? It just seems to me they'd have similar skill sets. Sneak, lockpick, some outdoor skills, and some proficiency with a weapon. besides, we only have 5 players. I doubt we will need all of the slots.)

Character sheet looks good to me too.

other merc name ideas:
The Vagrants
Wastehounds
Red Roamers
The Guardians

I'll try to think of more if these don't strike a fancy. I'm not really picky.

[jack cloudy]

Hmm, well since we are a small gang, I'd advise against overly pretentious or generic names. The Guardians for example is a name fit for a huge organization or epic level heroes. But for some random dudes with guns, it's less suited. Either they would be one among hundreds of groups called 'the guardians', or someone more suited comes and takes the name.

Maybe we should make one character the 'leader' (or at least the guy who negotiates for the jobs), and then name the rest of the pack along the lines of:
X's henchmen
The associates of X
X and the rest of his gang
X's trouble solving agency

And I think the sheet looks decent enough. We might want to coördinate the history segment together, at least the later parts.

[Ahrenil]

I agree about the name of the group, if we have a certain base somewhere it'd probably be best to name it after that. Something like Crow Ridge Associates or something similar. And yeah, we could probably through the diplomat in as the leader of the gang, just give him a decent rifle as well.

Character sheet looks good, I agree that the scout should also take over the scavenger roles as well.

So far we have the Scout, Sniper, Tech and Heavy weapons taken. Unless someone else wants to take over the role of leader i'll go for that, maybe make them decent with explosives as well to fill that gap.

[Dantrag]

The name is really not that important. I say we just go with ____'s Company like jack said. Just name it after Ahrenil's character once it's made.

We have so far:

jack cloudy - Tech

griff11 - Sniper

Dantrag - Scout

urienashtram - Heavy Gunner

Ahrenil - Diplomat/Demolitions (Also the leader of the group, I believe)

I guess as far as coordinating the histories, Ahrenil can figure out the founding of the group, and then we can all kind of write up how our individual characters happened to join up? Or maybe post 'rough draft' character sheets here and make the histories work with each other before making a character thread.

[grif11]

Alright then, here's my rough draft

________________________________________________________________________________


Name:Raymond Will

Gender:Male

Age:45

Race:Caucasian

Appearance:wears the NCR Ranger Combat armor, with a 1st recon beret and authority glasses. Once had dark brown hair, but is turning grey, and is starting to show a few wrinkles, especially around his "Scope eye".

Skills: Small guns (high)
Melee weapons (Medium)
Sneak (Medium)
Repair (Low)
Explosives (low)

Weapons: A sniper Rifle with Carbon Fibre parts and Night scope.
A silenced .22 pistol
some frag grenades

History and background: Raymond grew up in a small town called Novac, learning the sniper trade from a young age. When his mentor died, He joined the NCR and after 20 years of service, retired for the life of a peace keeper at the age of 34. Once he finished his biography, he set for the central wasteland, hoping to find more work elsewhere. After a year of serving the citizens of Megaton, he enlisted for coldshort's company at the age of 40, wishing to still be of use until he meets his mentor again. Known as the "Grandpa" of the group, but his skills are still sharp.
________________________________________________________________________________


I added wiki pages for new vegas stuff, just to be clear.

Also, if you think the history is a bit short, its because I don't want to give anything away for unshelled bullet readers.

This post has been edited by grif11: Jun 10 2011, 05:10 PM

[Ahrenil]

Name: Laura Coldshort

Gender:Female

Age:32

Race:Caucasian

Appearance: Shoulder length brown hair tied back into a short pony tail, she has pale skin and blue eyes. Her left arm is marked with a myriad of burns and small scars from an explosion in her childhood, though she's covered in small marks from general life in the wastes. She's built small, though that's not to be mistaken for weak, as almost all of it is muscle. She wears simple close fitting clothes, earthy brown in colour and made of resistant cloth. It doesn't offer any protection against bullets or knives, but it keeps her safe from the harsh terrain of the wastelands. She does however, wear a large pair of black military boots, thick soled with steel plates in soles. On the back of the boots in tiny lettering is the phrase "These boots were made for stompin'"

Skills:Barter High
Speechraft High
Demolitions medium
Small arms low

Weapons: She carries a magnum holstered at her hip, though she almost never remembers to load it. She carries with her a large selection of explosives, from grenades on belts across her chest to a satchel of demolition charges, she carries the basics of explosive production as well, in the forms of the various powders and volatile chemicals required, and has been known to jury rig almost anything to go boom.

History and Background: Laura grew up in a small mining town, providing precious coal to the local towns around it. Her parents were in charge of the explosives used for opening new tunnels, and Laura quickly grew into the trade. It was on a routine charge set that the town was attacked by raiders, being deep in the tunnels Laura was spared the initial assault, and after realising that fighting was her only escape, she booby trapped the labyrinth of mining tunnels she called home. For a week the raiders tried to flush her out, losing men and women with each doorway, tunnel and cave they searched. Eventually they cut their losses and ran. After spending some time to bury her family and friends in the mines, blowing the entrance closed with what little explosives she had, Laura left. She soon took shelter in an abandoned fort, driving off the local mole rats that inhabited it, and took herself to training from the instruction manuals that survived. Several years later, and with a stock of home made explosives, she began to ply her trade as a mercenary for hire, and eventually took on help, forming the mercenary company known as "Coldshort's Company".

Well theres my little bit, everyone happy?

This post has been edited by Ahrenil: Jun 10 2011, 03:24 PM

[ureniashtram]

Name: Alexei Koslovich Morgov

Gender: Male

Age: 34

Race: Ghoul (Russian)

Appearance: Like any other ghoul, except for the fact that he's seven foot tall, weighs three hundred pounds of pure muscle and overall an intimidating figure. He wears a grey trenchcoat, rolled up at the sleeves, over his army-green combat armor. Tied to his torso are several ammo drums for his weapon (see below). Black fingerless gloves on his hands, leather elbows pads, a worn combat helmet and a gas mask to cover up his skinless face.

Skills: Big Guns=High
Melee=High
Unarmed=Medium
Small Guns=Low

Weapons: RPD with a foregrip and a laser sight (inspired by my main weapon in CoD, what can I say).
History and Background:

A soldier when he wielded his first handgun at the age of seven, Alexei was a born warrior through and through. He spent his teenage years as an apprentice to a retired Regulator, learning from him the ways of the gun. His heritage was both a blessing and curse: he could not properly wield an assault due to his large hands, but the Regulator introduced him to the Bigger Guns to counter that. He held his first LMG when he was 17 and completed his first mission by clearing the Fairfax Ruins of its raider infestation. Thinking that his work was done, the Regulator gave Alexei his trench-coat and armor, to signify that the training was complete. Alexei left the very next day, eager to do some real 'stuff'.

He killed a group of raiders when he saw them preparing to attack a skeleton settlement, Arefu. From there on, he took on raiders and petty gangs, silencing several camps and the occasional building. The major crisis in his life occured when he received word that his mentor was abducted by the wretched Talon Company. A full frontal assault on Fort Bannister was beyond even for him, so he opted for the sneaky approach. He killed a merc and took his armor. He changed into that and entered the Fort, the inhabbitants clearly impressed at the 'fresh meat'.

He met Commander Jabsco and his cover was blown the instant he saw him. Chaos ensued at the underground bellie of the Fort, and some mercs mistook the gunfight as clashes of egos. They joined in. While the mercs was busy killing each other, Alexei took flight and searched for his mentor and friend. He found him in a boiler room full of radioactive barrels, hung from the wrist and battered to death.

Alexei fell to his knees and stared in disbelief at the dead Regulator for hours on end, not caring that the radiation was slowly killing him. When a hour passed, he left the room, left the Fort as changed man; literally.

He returned to Arefu and the villagers turned him down cruelly, claiming that the hero that saved them was not a monster. He told them grimly that heroes are just 'killers with a conscience'.

He wandered from town to town, until he found himself staring at the gates of Megaton. He found work as a deputy under Lucas Simms and for several years that stayed that way, until a gray middle-aged man in a strange armor came. He had heard of the NCR of course, the only known existing goverment in the Wasteland, but didn't lend a careful ear to it. The man joined the security of Megaton for awhile, until he joined a small-time mercenary group by the name of Coldshort's Company.

At first he didn't even think about joining. He had his hands full with maintaining the security of the main entrance to Megaton. Then he begun to think. With his newly gained 'immortality', were his skills really meant for guarding an already secured fort? Or to wander the wastes, fighting the good fight with comrades? He already knew the answer.

He joined and readied his LMG for the battles ahead.

[Dantrag]

Name: Keara

Gender: Female

Age: 23

Race: Caucasian

Appearance: Long black hair, dim grey eyes, and a thin, wiry body (likely from heavy chem use). Wears an old pair of jeans and a faded grey t shirt.

Skills:
Energy Weapons
Sneak
Lockpick
Survival

Weapons: Laser Rifle, Plasma pistol, switchblade.

History and Background:
Keara is both the youngest and newest member of the group. She was recruited a year ago after being caught trying to steal from Coldshort's crew. Instead of punishing her, Laura made her an offer she couldn't refuse.

Keara has a long criminal history, considering her age. Not too long ago, she was employed as a caravan guard for a man named Doc Hoff, who dealt in chems. A hopeless jet addict, Keara couldn't resist stealing her own employer's merchandise. She was not only fired, but stripped of everything she owned and left for dead. It wasn't long before the Regulators heard of her deeds, so she stayed out in the wastes, slowly trying to regain her place in the world.

It was not long after this that she happened across Coldshort's Company. She had no caps, no clothes, and no weapons, so she decided to try her luck robbing them while they rested. Laura caught her, and instead of turning her in to the Regulators, suggested that she pay off her debts by working with the mercs as a scout.

She got no pay at first, as penance for her attempted theft, but now she is on the 'payroll', and has obtained some new equipment.

Keara is probably the least 'honorable' member of the group, and is known to be very opportunistic. She is still on the run from the Regulators (which she has kept secret from the rest of the group), she has problems with authority (with the exception of Laura, who she feels indebted to), and is highly dependent on chems. Her best friend is her dog, Lucky, a black lab that has tagged along with her since her early teens.