Fallout ITP: Motor City [Interest/Info/Recruitment]

[KerfuffleMach2]

Hello Playgrounders! This is something I've wanted to do for a little while now. It was attempted once before, but didn't seem to take off. So, I figured I'd give it a shot.

As the title says, this will be based on the Fallout universe. Unlike the new Bleach, DB, and Naruto FFRPs, this one will not alter the history presented by the Fallout games. Instead, the big difference will be the setting. The past Fallout games have taken place in the areas around L.A., Vegas, and D.C. This one will take place around what is left of Detroit.

So, without further waiting, lets get some of the major locations set up.

Spoiler: Motor City

Show

This is what is left of Detroit. The city was hit by several nukes, taking out much of the landscape. A couple skyscrapers remain, though they are heavily damaged. Four major highways frame the city, creating trade routes to reach surrounding areas. This has helped to reestablish some semblance of civilization again. To the north is I-696, running east and west. Parts of it have flooded, but the service drives around make these areas passable. The other two highways that pass Motor City are I-75 and I-94. I-75 runs mostly north and south, crossing through the heart of the city itself. It runs mostly straight north of the city, but follows the Detroit River to the south. I-94 also crosses the heart of the city, but in a more northeast/southwest fashion. It follows the Detroit River and the shores of Lake St. Clair north of the city, eventually ending in Port Huron. To the south of the city, the highway starts heading more west, leading to Ann Arbor and eventually Chicago. Another highway, I-96, starts in the heart of Motor City, heading almost directly west, then turning north towards Lansing, the former capital of Michigan.

Because of these highways, Motor City has gained a bit of a population again. Several trade companies have set of shop here, sending caravans out in all directions along the four highways. They have also managed to get a couple of trade boats running, allowing them to establish routes along the Detroit River, and into the Great Lakes themselves.

Motor City has four Vaults near the city itself, with more spread out through the state.

Spoiler: Hell

Show

Located about a days walk west of Motor City, Hell used to be a small town that was built up around a few mills, then turned into a tourist spot. Now, it is home to a large group of raiders known as the Hellions. The town is easily reached from either 96 or 94.

Spoiler: The Island

Show

A large island located in the middle of the Detroit River. Before the bombs fell, Belle Isle was a tourist attraction to Detroit. It once held a small zoo, a race track, an aquarium, and even a golf course. It also held a Coast Guard station. Now, it is used as a base of operations for the Hellions, giving them easier access to Motor City. The bridge leading to it (The MacArthur Bridge) is heavily guarded.

Spoiler: Ann Arbor

Show

About a days walk from Motor City, lying on 94. This city was once a destination for scholars, holding the University of Michigan. Now most of the buildings of the college have been abandoned and left to ruin. It also holds a stadium known as The Big House. The largest stadium in the country.

Spoiler: The Arsenal

Show

Established in 1940, the Detroit Arsenal was the first plant in the United States built specifically for the mass production of tanks. It alone produced 25% of the tanks made for WW2. It was also a major producer of power armor. It is currently active again, being used by the descendants of those locked into the vault beneath it when the bombs fell. It is heavily guarded, and those that try to enter without permission are quickly disposed of.

Spoiler: Zug Island

Show

A small, triangular island located a short distance south of Motor City, where the Detroit River and the River Rouge meet. Originally used as the location of a steel mill. Since the bombs fell, the debris of the mill has been built moved around, creating a sort of coliseum. The coliseum is referred to by the island's name, since people rarely visit the island for anything but watching whatever event is being held there. Control of the island has changed much since the bombs fell, but it is currently under the rule of the Hellions.

Spoiler: Vaults

Show

Vault 53: Located in the heart of Motor City, near the skyscraper known as the Renaissance Center. Or the RenCen, for short. The RenCen was the world headquarters for General Motors. The dwellers here were under an experiment where the equipment would fail every few months. The repairs would never be difficult, but the frequency of them was designed to add undue stress, which was meant to be studied. Once the vault opened to the world again, the dwellers here were very skilled mechanics.

Vault 63: Located on the western edge of Motor City, near the former headquarters of Ford.

Vault 64: Located a few hours walking distance north of Motor City, near the former headquarters of Chrysler.

Vault 40: Located underneath the Arsenal. The people of this vault were made up of doctors, engineers, and scientists. They were meant to survive after the bombs fell, so they could help rebuild the country's military might.

And, of course, what's a Fallout setting without factions?

Spoiler: The Hellions

Show

A large group of raiders that control much of the more seedy activities in and around Motor City. Their main fortress is located a ways away from Motor City, in the town of Hell. They have two bases on the fringes of Motor City, on the islands of Belle Isle and Zug Island. Zug is simply a large coliseum, where the Hellions like to place captives in gladiatorial games. They charge admission for spectators. Belle Isle is a small fortress that they operate out of, and where they make most of their drugs. The Hellions are sort of the unspoken authority of Motor City. They make a multitude of drugs, and drive out anybody else that tries to sell narcotics in Motor City. They also deal in slaves, capturing people in the city and selling them to the surrounding areas.

Spoiler: The Brotherhood

Show

The Brotherhood of Steel has a small presence around Motor City. Based in the ruins of Ann Arbor, this group of the Brotherhood was formed from survivors of the squads formed around Chicago, after their battle with the Calculator. Unlike most chapters of the Brotherhood, this chapter is willing to recruit members from the surrounding area. Including non-humans.

Spoiler: The Engineers

Show

The descendants of the people from Vault 40. They hardly ever leave the Arsenal, spending most of their time developing new technologies. They are convinced that at some point in the future, the government will contact them again, and they must be ready for that time.

Spoiler: Cyborgs

Show

People who have had parts of themselves replaced with mechanical versions. Unlike the synths from the Commonwealth, cyborgs are actually humans. They have simply had mechanical things added to them. Some willingly, and some not. All of the cyborgs were worked on by the Engineers.

And's that's the setting that I currently have. For the time frame, I'm thinking of starting this between New Vegas and 4. Because I still haven't played 4.

Rules:

1 - No godmodding. We're all better than that.
2 - No arguing in the OOC. Discussing things is fine, but once it starts becoming a full on argument, please take it to PMs.
3 - Stick with the setting. Thinking up of new tech stuff for your character to use is fine. But don't try to bring magic into this. Or stuff that clearly doesn't fit with Fallout.
4 - Totally fine to come up with new locations. Or factions. Just run it by people in the OOC. In fact, here's a list of canon Fallout Vaults. Feel free to use them as you wish. Also fine to come up with experiments for the two vaults I listed without experiments.
5 - Have fun! Or else!

Sample Character Sheet:

Spoiler

Show

Name: People have to call you something
Age: If you want
Gender: Useful when talking to the character
Height: Are we looking up, or down?
Weight: Because somebody will want to know
Species:Human? Synth? Ghoul?
Faction: Are you from a vault? Maybe a Paladin? Or none of the above?

Description: Mostly what you look like.

Personality: Are you nice? Friendly? Or an *******?

History: As long as it fits Fallout stuff, go nuts here.

Abilities/Skills/Perks: What can you do? What are you good or bad at?

Equipment: How many guns do you have?

Other: For whatever didn't fit into the above categories.

On a side note, making your character the leader of a faction is perfectly fine. As long as everybody else is fine with it. That being said, one of my pre-planned characters will be the leader of the Hellions. if everybody else is fine with that.

And if you guys have questions about the stuff here, or suggestions, let me know!

[Celticbear]

I has a question: can I be a ghoul? I have always wanted to play a ghoul in any fallout settings, but I have never been given the chance.

[KerfuffleMach2]

I has a question: can I be a ghoul? I have always wanted to play a ghoul in any fallout settings, but I have never been given the chance.

Sounds good to me. Go for it! I'm all for people playing all the "races" in Fallout.

Which means somebody has to play a Deathclaw at some point...

[Celticbear]

Behold Jerico! He's a bit of a stretch, but when you said cyborgs...

Spoiler: Jerico

Show

Name: Jerico
Age: 180-ish? Once you're almost immortal you tend to loose track.
Gender: Male
Height: Inhumanly (get it?) tall. Around 6'6"
Weight: About 270. He'd way only 140, but when you start getting enhancements weight tends to grow exponentially.
Species: Ghoul. Try shooting him with a rad-gun, just try.
Faction: Owes favors towards the cyborgs and the engineers, but most of time he's a lone wolf.

Description: Jerico is tall, and imposing AF. For starters, he's a ghoul, so he looks like Deadpool on a Saturday night already. On top of that, his left arm is just one big machine gun with the stock as a backpack full of bullets connected by a tube. His left eye is a metal plate with a heat-sig detector right under that plate. On that plate is a depiction of a skull bleeding from its eye sockets. He wears a bandoleer with .44 rounds, and has a .44 in a holster. The .44 is painted in faux gold and has ten chambers instead of six. His voice sounds as if the Grim Reaper and John Cramer had decided to fuse.

Personality: If he gets paid, he's your best friend! If you end up on the wrong side of things, prepare for a fire-fight. Slightly crazy.And bloodthirsty. Distrustful of engineers.

History: Jerico was one of the lucky / unlucky survivors of the nuclear holocaust of irradiated fire. The only problem was that he was not a vault resident. He was on the outskirts of town, and only caught the radiation part of the explosion, which subsequently turned him into a ghoul. After a while, when the vault residents started to come out, he then just started murdering people. Okay, maybe the radiation and having all of his loved ones rot before his eyes may have had an effect on his psyche, but this changed after about 30 years of random murder. After gaining a reputation as a trained killer, the engineers wanted him as a guard dog. They had the cyborg pets gather him, and after a long struggle of about 2 years of running they finally caught him. The engineers installed all types of combat enhancements, including sub-dermal armor, a machine gun arm, a heat tracking vision sensor, and a chip that nulled emotion.

After it seemed like Jerico would be there forever, the engineers made the mistake of testing him. They sent Jerico and five other cyborgs against a Brotherhood outpost. After feeling the rush of a kill again, Jerico went maniac and slaughtered everyone there. When the engineers tried to call him back, Jerico by sheer force of will ripped the emotion nulling chip from his head, which also served as a comms link to the engineers, and screamed into it that he "was no longer a puppet".

After this, Jerico was quiet for a few years, trying to remember that at one point he was a human who worked at the local applebees. That was a whole life behind him though, and Jerico needed to focus on the present. He then made it his mission to become the greatest mercenary in the Motor City region. While this statistic cannot e proven, he is a really good one.

Abilities: SPECIAL:

S: 4
P: 4
E: 6
C: 2
I: 5
A: 6
L: 8

PERKS: Bloody mess, Heavy Gunner, Gunslinger, Toughness

Equipment: Machine Gun Arm, Faux Gold .44, Heat Tracing vision (in his left eye), sub dermal armor, and Armored Leather Duster

Other: Has a stuffed pink elephant to remind himself he's still human (?) sometimes.

[KerfuffleMach2]

I would say that his history needs to be tweaked a little bit. Vault 12 does exist in Fallout lore. And is located out by L.A. It became a town called Necropolis.

Which means, while he might've gained a reputation out there, he probably wasn't well known way out here in Motor City.

[Celticbear]

Maybe his murder spree drew him westward?

I'll work on changing it tomorrow.

[KerfuffleMach2]

Maybe his murder spree drew him westward?

I'll work on changing it tomorrow.

Sounds like a plan to me.

[Earl of Purple]

Bringing back Wraith, I think. I enjoyed her slightly psychopathic paranoia and mistrust of... Pretty much everyone male. Hopefully this time she won't meet up with a bloke who fancies himself a lady's man.

Spoiler: Wraith/Jenna

Show

Name: Wraith/Jenna
Age: 17
Gender: Female
Height: 4'5
Weight: Slender. More than that, she's not telling.
Species: Human
Faction: Formerly Vault 42, now freelance.

Description: Short and slender, Wraith has copper-red hair to her shoulders and pale green eyes. She's very pretty, with very pale skin marred only by a large M-shaped tattoo on her left cheek. She wears a Vault jumpsuit emblazoned with the number 42 on the back under an old duster, slightly too large for her, and a battered bowler hat.

Personality: Cautious and wary, Wraith puts up many walls between herself and the outside world, and tries to keep track of everyone around her, and also of potential escape routes. She is also surprisingly cold-hearted, and will not hesitate to kill if she feels it necessary for her own survival. She also prefers the dark, and rarely travels by day.

History: Vault 74 is an experiment on the effects of illumination, and was provided with no light bulbs over forty watts. It is, therefore, consistently poorly lit. It was into this maze of interconnecting passageways, darkened chambers and identical corridors that, seventeen years ago, a girl was born to an engineer and a cafeteria-worker. Like all who grew up in Vault 42, Jenna has an exceedingly good sense of direction and incredible night vision, but is easily blinded. After she received her PipBoy, she was assigned to work in the clinic, as a nurse. There, she got to know a boy, a few years older than she, and became friends. He wanted more, but she was happy with their friendship and wasn't interested in him.

He continued to press his suit, and tried to corner her in the darkest parts of the Vault, so she started to carry a switch-blade around. One day, she was unable to escape, and used the blade in desperation, stabbing up through his jaw, through his mouth and into his brain. Blood everywhere, she pulled her knife free and ran home- bumping into Vault security on the way. They arrested her, and one smashed her hand with their baton because they saw the knife and panicked. After they found the body, they reported the murder to their superior, and sent for Jenna's parents. After a few days, she was brought before the Overseer for punishment; she told her story, but he refused to believe his son capable of the events Jenna described. Even after other girls came forward with similar stories, he called them all liars and trouble-makers and sentenced her to exile, after she was tattooed with an 'M', so she would find no succour- even if anybody was alive out there. The Overseer believed it was a slow, painful death sentence from radiation, but as a balm for her family she was given some food, water, and her switch-blade.

In the Vault's entrance hall, she found a small group of skeletons and luggage, things that didn't make it into Vault, where she found her duster and bowler hat. She stayed in the entrance cave until her food ran out, then waited till night fall to venture out, along roads and into ruins, hiding and sleeping during the day and moving at night. She's encountered raiders, mutants and worse, and has killed to defend herself several times and is inured to death.

The chances of Wraith revealing her history and true name is very low, though others from Vault 42 may recognise her.

S:3 P:4 E:5 C:5 I:4 A:8 L:2
Perks: Night-Vision: As a result of her upbringing, Wraith is far more comfortable in the darkness than the light, and can see clearer by the light of stars, moon, and flickering electronics than most. A flip side is that bright light, from the noonday sun or powerful pre-war electronics, hurts her eyes and dazzles her for longer.
Shadow of a Ghost: Wraith is light-footed and sneaky, able to hide in the smallest shadow and walk soundlessly across most surfaces without trying.
In-Built Compass: Due to her original home's numerous dark passages, Wraith can retrace her steps through any ruin and never gets lost, even if blindfolded and spun.
Nurse's Training: Wraith has medical experience and knows how to identify and treat many common illnesses and injuries, and prevent infection.
Poor Shot: Guns are little use in the dark, and only the Vault Security has access to any in Vault 42. They get around the problem by using night-vision scopes.

Equipment: 1 PipBoy personal computer, worn on left wrist.
1 Dirty & slightly torn Vault 42 jumpsuit, worn.
1 Yellow duster, with large pockets for storage.
1 Battered bowler hat, worn.
1 Switch-blade, polished and well-oiled, in right duster pocket.
1 Set of brass knuckles, for emergencies only. Left duster pocket.
Fifteen caps, kept in pockets on her jumpsuit in groups of five.
3 Stimpaks, internal pockets of duster.
2 Bottles: Purified water, internal pockets of duster.
1 Double-barrel shotgun, because sometimes unsubtle is better. Usually held, or slung over a shoulder.
14 Shotgun shells, various pockets.
Other: She has been wandering a week, headed along a big road she found towards the city she sees to the north.

[Celticbear]

Made the backstory changes on Jerico. I think I removed all mention of his vault life, but if I didn't tell me.

[Iceseer]

Spoiler: Harry Fink

Show

Name: Harry Fink
Age: 23
Gender: Male
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 141lbs
Species:Human
Faction:Vault 53

Description:
Description: Harry has an average, scrawny figure. His brown hair is cropped short, and usually looks well groomed. He usually takes care of his hair and body whenever He can spare the water . His skin looks almost albino white. This is largely due to the lack of Sun he has received in his life. He tends to wear clothes based on how much of a stealth bonus it gives him. Which is largely gathered from looting other people's homes.

Personality: He prefers to be quiet only speaking up when he has something he feels needs to be said. He never did like killing instead preferring to sneak around those who posed harm. This also helped with him scavenging from people's homes. He doesn't care where he gets things he will raid people's homes for anything He thinks is useful. Though that is the extent of his criminal ways. If you ask him to do something he will evaluate the morality of the task before he decides to agree to it.

History: Harry was born in vault 42, in tan unknown province of the wasteland. The denizens in the vault had to adapt to the low light levels. When he was 12, Harry got his pipboy he was expected to use it to help repair the vault. He did so but he preferred to use it to help him sneak into people's rooms and take things he thought were useful. Though he got caught over and over again he was always more careful the next time.

Eventually, the vault opened with the others he quickly left his family to explore the new wasteland and see new sights. The bright light of the sun hurt his eyes , so he decided to be awake during the night where it wasn't so bright. He saw various groups of raiders lived in the wasteland and they were constantly at odds with each other. This helped him sneak right on by when he spotted them. Not willing to cross the line of killing another. He walked the wastes for a long time before he encountered motor city. It seemed like a good place to settle for a little while. When he saw these wastes he knew there was a goal he wanted to achieve, but to reach it he needed a partner. So he went on as usual keeping an ear out for those looking for a companion. He didn't find anyone willing to work with a thief for a my period of time. He lost track as those who were looking somehow knew he was a pacifist thief.


Abilities/Skills/Perks: Stealth, repair, science and lockpicking. Comprehension, Pack Rat ,Night Vision, Night Person, Fortune Finder
Bad at: Unarmed, Explosives, Speech, and heavy weapons.
S:5 P:9 E:2 C:2 I:9 A:9 L:4
Equipment: 1 bb gun, a bunch of scrap.

Other:

wip.

[KerfuffleMach2]

@Celticbear: Oh, I didn't mean get rid of the vault stuff. In fact, he fits perfectly with Vault 12. Their experiment involved not having the door close all the way, and monitoring how the radiation affected the people. A lot of them turned into ghouls, and they built up a small town called Necropolis. I just wanted to point out that him building a reputation out there doesn't mean he's been heard of here.

So, yeah, keep the vault stuff if you want. And I like him.

@Earl: Hey buddy! Been a while. Anywho, definitely like Wraith.

@Iceseer: Hola! Welcome to my world! Liking what you have so far.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Anywho, time for a character from me!

Spoiler: Elizabeth Greene

Show

Name: Elizabeth Greene, a.k.a. Black Betty
Age: 27
Gender: Female
Height: 5' 11"
Weight: Asking usually results in stabbing
Species: Human
Faction: Hellions (Leader)

Description: Betty has a tall, athletic figure to her. Her blonde hair is cropped short, and usually looks like she just woke up. Her hair care routine never goes beyond "wash occasionally". Her hazel eyes almost always have a predatory look about them. Her skin is a little tanned. She tends to wear combat boots, cargo pants, and tank tops. All of which look like they were raided from destroyed homes.

Which they were.

Personality: Betty is not what you'd call a nice person. Her main goal in everything is getting what she wants. She will do whatever she can to achieve this goal. To her, any kind of relationship with another person is just a means to an end. She'll be nice to you if it'll get her something.

She hardly ever uses her full name, usually introducing herself as Betty. Somebody started calling her Black Betty at some point, and she liked that nickname.

History: Betty was born in the small settlement of Troy, not far north of Motor City. Times were tough, as is usual for most settlements in the wasteland. Betty didn't like that. When she was fifteen, Betty left her home, trying to find a better life for herself. She quickly adapted to life on the road, not hesitating to kill whomever got in her way.

It wasn't long before she found herself in the ruins of Hell, a small milling town before the bombs. Groups of raiders lived in the area, and were constantly at odds with each other. Betty saw an opportunity here. She could use these people to give herself a force to contend with. One which could get her whatever she wanted. She started manipulating the leaders of the gangs. Tricking them into attacking each other more and more, until their power structure was all but gone. Then she grabbed control for herself.

That was ten years ago.

Since then, Betty has built up the power of the Hellions, expanding their territory. And their numbers. She would deal in drugs and slaves. She would take merc contracts, for the money. And the favors. Favors that she would use to get even more power. Power enough to essentially give herself an empire in Motor City. Not much happened here without her hand involved somehow.

Abilities/Skills/Perks: Gonna get the Fallout style specifics of this later. Suffice to say, she's good at Speech.

Equipment: Betty almost always has a few weapons on her at any given point. This usually consists of a couple of combat knives in her boots, a sawed-off shotgun strapped to one leg, a laser pistol strapped to the other, and a repeating rifle across her back.

[Iceseer]

I wasn't certain how good you wanted the character so i put one good skill for every bad one. If you could tell me what the general power level is it would be much appreciated.

[KerfuffleMach2]

Well, I am kinda terrible at giving a finite definition to that stuff.

Only thing I can really say is balanced. If somebody is really good with fighting, make them "eh" with other stuff. And, of course, no god-like characters.

Um...I know that's not really explained well. Sorry. Kinda bad at that. But, if you put stuff down for your character, I can check it and point out if there's anything I think is goofy. Or other people. I like peer reviewed character balancing.

[Iceseer]

Well to see general guidelines looks like i'll need a list. So i'm going to list perks in the order i prefer them so i know what is alright and what is not. None are outside of his character and i think works well into his personality. So without a further ado. I do not expect all of them to be allowed in the initial character just need to know the guidelines the only way i know how.
1)Comprehension
2)Pack Rat
3)Night Vision
4)Night Person
5)Fortune Finder

[KerfuffleMach2]

Well, it all looks good to me.

I think this might end up playing a bit more loosely than you're expecting. This is the Free Form section, so I'm not really gonna be enforcing people keep track of their stats and experience and stuff like that. That's stuff a bit more of a reference guide for you and other people.

So, yeah, those look good. Though, might want to come up with a reason for the Night Vision. Not really a normal human ability.

[Iceseer]

What besides the natural adaptation of eye sight due to having to deal with problems such as loss of light. With the fact that the light levels aren't that high to begin with. This plus the fact that even minor fixes can result in deaths due to accidents in say the dark or another inconvenience. Though I might be overlaying problems with the lighting system. Another reason could be a natural advantageous mutation due to well radiation, natural human reproduction or the like. He could have even augmented his eyes for that capability though this is the least likely.

I am essentially discovering the scopes of the forums right now. With this being my latest discovery and I actually really like the idea of role-playing. It Isn't a strong suit of mine but someone posted to me. Being bad at something is the beginning to being kinda good at somethin. So I am more about rules then others you might play with and balance. So I will tend to underaim to achieve it. Like I listed 5 perks and expected it to be too overpowered.

[KerfuffleMach2]

Any of those explanations work. Just need something, ya know?

Yeah, Free Form can take some getting used to at first. I guess undershooting is a bit better, because then you can add stuff on as you play.

But yeah, feel free to toss ideas out there. Go a little crazier than you're used to. We can use it. We love it!

[Iceseer]

I believe my character submission is complete. I'll take any suggestions and improve it though.

[Earl of Purple]

I only did a SPECIAL because Welsh Ursine did one, really. She didn't have one last time this came up. I've altered her slightly, but only by changing the Vault number.

And, Iceseer, Vault 42 is a mentioned-only Vault in lore with limited light levels, hence why Wraith doesn't like the sun. Harry could be from there. Though she'd be more inclined to trust Black Betty than him, frankly. And if it wasn't for her nonconfrontational nature and desire to avoid conflict, she'd actually make a decent raider.

[Iceseer]

thanks for the suggestion i altered my backstory accordingly.

[Celticbear]

Just posting to say I'm still here.

[KerfuffleMach2]

Just posting to say I'm still here.

Yeah, want to give it a day or two before we start. See if other people want to jump in to this.

[KerfuffleMach2]

Hey all!

Haven't forgotten about this. Just had a few twelve hour work days. And some flavor of food poisoning.

But yeah. Still doing this. Will probably get things started by this weekend. Hopefully we get a few more characters by then, but we'll see.

[Celticbear]

Still here. Glad to see you back!

[Earl of Purple]

I'm not dropping out. But I've got a holiday coming up (planning on announcing it in Nexus OoC tomorrow) that will leave me laptopless for a week, starting Monday. I will still have wifi, but probably won't take much advantage of it.

Sorry to hear about the food poisoning, though. That's not fun.

[Iceseer]

There was a blackout in my vicinity. So hey great luck.