Wastelander (Fallout 3)

The anonymous civilians of the Capital Wasteland. Usually found dead, but some seem to randomly run around the Capital Wasteland until they run into a Raider or something else that kills them. Can be Ghouls, but usually they are Humans.

Bomb
A (usually) female Wastelander (prid 474bd) will approach you and tell you raiders have strapped explosives to her. You have the option to attempt to disarm the explosives or leave her. If you fail to disarm the explosive (or just choose not to), she will start beeping and run away, then explode. After she explodes or the bomb is disarmed, the bandits will approach. One of these bandits always seem to have a Flamer. There is also a Wastelander that will run to you and say "Help me! I'm wired with explosives!", then immediately run away.

Bugs

 * The bomb can't be disarmed following the conversation, not even with a skill of 100.
 * The bomb can be disarmed using tricks: Kill her, or get her hostile against a third party (say a Robot or Super Mutant); you will then have 5 seconds to disarm. Now the skill check is 75, which was probably the intended limit all along.
 * If you hurt any of the three raiders, she will turn hostile (probably bad grouping). Before or after saving her from the bomb. (Hurting one of the raiders before, and she will explode after 5 seconds.)
 * The best 'trick' to getting credit for disarming the bomb and saving her life: If you attack her once with the least amount of damage you can do (pistol, knife, etc...), she'll turn hostile and you'll be able to disarm the bomb (with 75+ explosives skill) and gain xp. But, if you holster your weapon immediately after disarming and allow her to hit you once or twice - she will turn non-hostile towards you again and you'll be a hero for saving her.
 * It is possible that the Wastelander may be scripted to automatically lose his/her nerve halfway through the defusing process, causing you to automatically fail and the wastelander to begin running away in a panic, with five seconds to live. To actually save the wastelander (without causing him/her to glitch and no longer speak to you), chase him/her down and talk to him/her again before he/she explodes. You'll get the option to defuse him/her a second time, and this time a skill of 75 is enough to succeed. Once you do this, the Wastelander will run away until they normally would have exploded, then stop and thank you. You receive good karma for following this process, while you get no karma change if you shoot the raiders or wastelander first, or start the 5-second count down any other way and then defuse the bomb. You will actually LOSE karma if the Wastelander dies after you start the countdown by attacking him or the Raiders.

Mole rats
A male Wastelander will run past you, chased by four Mole Rats. He will thank you when you've killed the mole rats ("I thought I was a goner"), but not give you anything actually profitable.

Ghouls

 * For Underworld Three ghouls around a burning barrel. They were on their way to Underworld, but couldn't because of all the Super Mutants. Talking to them will give you the map marker for Underworld.


 * For Tenpenny Tower If the player completed the Tenpenny Tower quest and let the Ghouls live there, they may meet some Ghoul Wastelanders that are on their way to Tenpenny Tower. You can talk to them and their responses are very bigot-like, treating the player as other "smoothskins" treated them. If you tell them that they are wrong for thinking that, they will attack you and one of them will have a Ghoul Note from Roy Phillips inviting all Ghouls to Tenpenny Tower.

Hunters
A wastelander will be run past you, pursued by hunters in leather armor. The hunters can be killed for good karma, or the wastelander for bad karma. If you chose to kill the wastelander, looting the body will cause the hunters to attack you. The hunters sell Strange Meat.

Deathclaw
A group of wastelanders will be fighting a Deathclaw. If you assist them in killing the Deathclaw, then the survivors thank you and give you a map to possible treasure since they "lost the appetite for adventure". Possible locations for map: Super-Duper Mart, Rock Creek Caverns.

Water Supply
A group of 4 wastelanders, 2 humans and 2 ghouls can be found arguing around a fridge. The argument soon turns into a fight, and the wastelanders will start shooting members of the other race. After the fight one or sometimes two of them (of the same race) will be alive. When you talk to the survivor, he says that the purified water belongs to him. You can start a fight, leave, or try to persuade him to give you the water in the fridge. If you kill him, you can collect 8 bottles of purified water from the fridge.

Wannabe Oasis Raiders
Two or three Wastelanders, which are initially friendly. If engaged in conversation, they will reveal they are heading for Oasis to raid it. Since they revealed it, they turn hostile towards the Lone Wanderer. They don't have any map to Oasis, but the encounter does put Oasis on your Pip-Boy world map.

Other appearances
A mad Wastelander has wired land mines and mini-nukes to a trigger in the alleyway in Seward Square. Another wastelander pleads with the player to remove the threat so he can travel past the alleyway home. With Charisma check, it is possible to convince him to talk with the insane man, setting the alley ablaze. Alternatively, the insane man can be shot, allowing the land mines and the mini-nukes to be recovered safely.