FALLOUT: THE ROLEPLAYING GAME

Everyone’s favourite end of the world simulator has finally got a ‘proper’ roleplaying game outing. Let’s see what stories we’ll be scavenging from the wasteland

Getting radiation poisoning has never been so much fun

War. War never changes. Since the first turn based entry of the titular post-apocalyptic series the Fallout games have been a fantastic dive into a paranoid retro-futuristic America where the Cold War got hot and corporations did unspeakable things. And while the series has flirted with tabletop gaming since its inception, it took 21 long years before an official roleplaying game made it to stores. So when Modiphius announced an official Fallout RPG back in 2017, fans of the series leapt with excitement. Before this point we had to make do with fan hacks of other systems as well (through visiting some of the worst parts of internet culture in my instance). Fast forward a year and the fun, but incredibly restrictive Wasteland Warfare RPG was released as a supplement to the same named miniatures skirmish game – and we ‘theatre of the mind’ players had to bite the bullet or go back to the fan hacks. But thankfully, Faustian deals were made and prayers were answered as thanks to the success of their 2d20 system, Modiphius have gone back through and given the TTRPG the same treatment the videogames got when they changed hands from Interplay to Bethesda – and it is many postapocalyptic worlds better.

Gone are the fiddly unit cards, most of the proprietary dice, minis and playmats that made the Wasteland Warfare RPG expansion feel like just an add-on for a wargame. Which, in fairness, it was.

Lead designer Sam Webb, best known for Star Trek Adventures and The Spy Game, sets the game apart from previous Modiphius outings, “The 2d20 edition is a full, standalone RPG, developed from the ground up to be a faithful and immersive tabletop roleplaying experience of the post-atomic wasteland.”

We asked Webb to fire up his PIP Boy and give us the intel on adapting the series, the 2d20 system, and what to expect in the strange and usually quite humorous world of Fallout: The Roleplaying Game.

A S.P.E.C.I.A.L PLACE IN OUR HEARTS

It’s a bit weird at first to realise that the Fallout: The Roleplaying Game takes a real detailed dive into the Commonwealth, showing off the various locales, factions, and mods that fans have spent thousands of hours with already.

As a long term fan, part of me desperately wanted a freshly radiated wasteland to explore but after spending some time with it, it was the right choice. Bethesda has already put loads of time and effort into crafting the Commonwealth wasteland in Fallout 4 and it’s immediately understandable and identifiable because fans have spent so much time with it already. Which means it’s easy to look at something and work out how to use it in your game – we’re deeply enmeshed in this world, and it’s how we play it out which will make it different.

The helpful plot hooks for many of the games locales do wonders for GM brainstorming sessions as well. As someone who normally balks at anything with more than a hundred pages, I was able to pick up and run a full session in just a few hours thanks to how familiar it all was.

Character creation,

There was a lot about the video game gameplay and 2d20 system that gelled really well together

for instance, is incredibly similar to the way it works in Fallout 4.

The S.P.E.C.I.A.L attributes (your stats across Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility and Luck) fit directly into roleplaying games in the obvious way. After all, video game RPG systems began by replicating tabletop systems. The other skills, and perks are all familiar and make character creation a breeze for anyone who has any experience with the video game. Character creation flows all the way through and provides you with everything you need including your starting equipment which varies greatly depending on your choices.

“There was a lot about the video game gameplay and

2d20 system that gelled really well together,” says

Webb. Which is a bit of an understatement as the way S.P.E.C.I.A.L attributes and skills are used feels almost identical to the feel of the games themselves. In 2d20, each action gets a number that you must roll under which is determined by adding the S.P.E.C.I.A.L attribute and relevant skill together.

Shooting a pistol? Agility plus

Small Guns. Hacking a protectron?