Robert MacCready

Robert Joseph "RJ" MacCready is the mayor of Little Lamplight in Fallout 3 and a potential companion in the Commonwealth in Fallout 4.

Capital Wasteland
Robert MacCready was born in the Capital Wasteland. He grew up as orphan and lived at Little Lamplight, a settlement populated entirely of children, where adults were barred entry. At the age of ten, MacCready learned how to use sniper rifles, developing into a skilled sharpshooter. He served as mayor of Little Lamplight, a position he earned by punching the previous mayor in the face.

At sixteen, he left Little Lamplight, wandering and taking odd jobs before settling as a mercernary. He met his wife Lucy and told her he was a soldier, fearing he'd lose her if he told the truth. She carved him a toy soldier as a gift. They lived at a homestead and had child together named Duncan. MacCready swore off cursing as a promise to Duncan that he'd clean up his act. After spending a night inside a metro station, Lucy was swarmed by feral ghouls and killed. He says that "they were on her before I could even fire a shot" and that it "took everything I had to escape with Duncan in my arms." At their homestead, Duncan contracted an illness that caused a severe outbreak of blue boils with an intense fever. MacCready travelled north to the Commonwealth to search for a cure.

Commonwealth
In the Commonwealth, MacCready met Sinclair, who told him that his partner broke out in blue boils similar to Duncan's. He informed MacCready about a potential cure being housed at Med-Tek Research and provided him with the building's lockdown security codes. With the lockdown codes, he tried to breach the building, but was nearly killed by feral ghouls.

MacCready joined the Gunners when he heard their need for sharpshooters. He says it was the "biggest mistake of my life" and later quit, fearing it was catching up to him. He comments that they "were animals" and "killed anything that moved if it got in their way". MacCready offered his mercenary services in Goodneighbor, saying the town is known to "not to ask too many questions". He made a deal with Hancock and waited for the "caps to roll in." Two of his former Gunner colleagues, Winlock and Barnes, threatened MacCready for operating within their territory, driving away clients due to his prior affiliation with the Gunners.

Effects of player's actions

 * When the Sole Survivor meets MacCready in the Third Rail, he is in an argument with his former colleagues, Winlock and Barnes. After they leave, he can be hired as a companion for 250 caps (can be persuaded down to 200 or 100). The amount paid will be given back to the Sole Survivor after completing one of the parts of his quest.
 * When he is the companion, he will occasionally give some random ammo, ranging from 10mm rounds to a fusion core.
 * If the player reaches highest Affinity with MacCready he will give the perk Killshot, which boosts hit percentage for heads in VATS by 20%.
 * Once idolized, MacCready gives the player character a wooden soldier toy, a gift from his wife, Lucy. Lucy made the toy soldier for him after he told her that he was a soldier when they first met.
 * He will steal when commanded to do so by the Sole Survivor. He is able to steal items undetected right in front of people.
 * If the player attempts to steal from the VIP room of the Third Rail and gets caught, MacCready will leave their company and become hostile, prompting an interface for one to send MacCready to a settlement, similar to Preston Garvey if the player character kills a settler. If the player character doesn't get caught, MacCready will like the theft.
 * If the player commands him to steal an item, or does anything to cause hostility while in Goodneighbor, MacCready will leave the Sole Survivor's company and become hostile, prompting an interface to send MacCready to a settlement.

Companion

 * MacCready likes when the Sole Survivor steals things.
 * MacCready likes it if the Sole Survivor picks a lock that is owned.
 * MacCready likes using most special dialogue options that require Charisma, only if one lies, threatens, or asks for more money though.

Inventory

 * * Unlike the other Little Lamplight characters, there's no interaction possible with his inventory when trying to pickpocket him.

Quotes
Fallout 3

Fallout 4

Appearances
Robert MacCready appears in Fallout 3, Fallout 4, and Fallout: The Board Game.

Behind the scenes
The quote "Let's be careful. No human being would possibly pile books this way" is a line from the movie Ghostbusters.

Bugs
Fallout 3
 * Mayor MacCready is prone to disappearing. He tends to wander into obscure and dark corners. He may appear near the front gate if going outside and fast travel back to town, or standing on the platform where he first stood when he let the Lone Wanderer into town. One can move to his current position with the console command.
 * Sometimes MacCready will not give the option to open the gate. One way to make sure that this does not happen is to click all of the grayed out speech options when speaking to MacCready. The dialogue option to open the gate comes after a line that is often grayed/dimmed.
 * It's possible for MacCready to not open the gate after being instructed to do so. He will run to it, and climb up to the catwalk but will not activate the switch to raise the gate. This is because the scripted sequence requires Princess to be on the other end, and she may not run with MacCready to perform this function. Short of using the console to activate the gate/toggle clipping, the solutions are to use the other entrance, reload from a previous save, or attempt to move Princess in range of the event with the console command followed by.
 * Doing DLC quests before opening the path will end "Picking Up the Trail" resulting in MacCready's and Joseph's dialogue options to vanish and making entry into Vault 87 impossible. The only solution is to resort to a save that still has "Picking Up the Trail" as an active quest, and redo whatever progress has been lost or to use the console command and go to the Citadel to start the quest again.

Fallout 4
 * Sometimes you may not be able to talk to MacCready or open up his inventory. He also fails to follow the player during fast travel. Entering the console command followed by  will bring MacCready to the player, but does not correct the issue.
 * After dismissing MacCready, hiring him again will prompt up the dialogue when you meet him for the first time, needing to be paid before being hired. Reloading a previous save fixes this.