Fallout 3 random encounters

Throughout the world of Fallout 3, you can encounter random events in the Wastelands. There are certain places where random encounters can happen, but once "activated", a random encounter in a particular area won't change.

You can save outside the spawning area and keep reloading if you don't get the encounter you want.

Random Encounter Locations
These are the known locations so far:


 * Greener Pastures Disposal Site.
 * In front of MDPL-05 Power Station.
 * Behind the ruined house on the road to Germantown, near Paradise Falls.
 * Coordinates (9.2,7.1) using the Fallout 3 map
 * Rockbreaker's Last Gas.
 * North of MDPL-21 Power Station, in a pathway between the rock hills there
 * Outside of WKML Broadcast Station.
 * South of Raven Rock
 * North west of the Clifftop Shacks (approximately half-way between the Clifftop Shacks and Oasis on the world map), near an irradiated pool.
 * East of Oasis.
 * Meresti Trainyard.
 * Halfway between Meresti Trainyard and Minefield
 * In front of the Robot Repair Center, south of Canterbury Commons.
 * In the Temple of the Union, but only if the slaves have been moved to the Lincoln Memorial.
 * At the farm east of the Temple of the Union
 * At Relay Tower KX-B8-11.
 * Outside of Germantown
 * At the Scrapyard
 * West of the Scrapyard main entrance, close to the broken fence part, at the rocks.
 * Vault 106
 * North of Smith Casey's Garage, by the army camp.
 * In front of Rockopolis.
 * Jury Street Metro Station, right at the Manhole to the Drainage Chamber, which is southwest from the Metro entrance.
 * North of Tenpenny Tower
 * Barn behind Vault 101 entrance/exit.
 * Just outside the city walls north of Megaton
 * South of Megaton following along the west side of the broken highway on a small patch between the rocks.
 * Coordinates (10.1,14.1) (Horizontal Coordinates,Vertical Coordinates) using the Fallout 3 Map
 * On the second road north west of the Super-Duper Mart.
 * In front of the Super-Duper Mart.
 * In front of Alexandria Arms.
 * At the entrance to the Flooded Metro, west of Arlington Library and west of a raider camp
 * Anchorage War Memorial
 * At Franklin Station

Types of Random Encounters
=Wastelanders, Scavengers, Slavers, Beggers, and Uncle Leo.=
 * A Wasteland Doctor.
 * A Wasteland Junkie.
 * A Scavenger with one or more of the following pets: a Brahmin, Dog or trained Yao Guai. He'll offer you a Nuka-Cola Quantum.  You can barter with him into reducing the price.
 * Two Wasteland Settlers and two Escaped Slaves fighting over a refrigerator of 10 Purified Water.
 * Two Wastelanders pondering an Enclave Eyebot that hovers around them consistently (as opposed to a long patrol like most).
 * Three Hunters.
 * A lone Hunter selling meat.
 * A Wasteland Merchant. After having a talk with him about the Great One, he'll collapse and die.  You'll find a Wasteland Merchant Note on his body about him going to Oasis the next day.
 * Uncle Leo, a friendly Super Mutant. If you tell him you're going to rob him, he'll give you a Dirty Pre-War Businesswear as a present. If you attack him he'll run away instead of fighting.
 * A Scavenger with his malfunctioned Mister Handy. If you repair it, the Scavenger will give you two Energy Cells.
 * Ghoul Wastelanders around a burning barrel.
 * Three Slavers with three Slaves.
 * A man named Ben Canning. He asks for purified water.
 * A Wastelander killing and looting a molerat (only after completing the Wasteland Survival Guide quest). He has different dialogue options, depending on whether or not the player completed all bonus objectives given by  Moira. If the player says he has helped with the book, a congratulatory or a mocking response is received. If the player says he has never heard of the guide, the Wastelander will provide him with a copy of the book.
 * Two Hunters attacking a Giant Worker Ant.
 * Three Hunters attacking a Vicious Dog.
 * A Deathclaw and a dead Wastelander. You can find Deathclaw Gauntlet schematics for the Deathclaw Gauntlet on the dead Wastelander.
 * Two to Three Wastelanders fighting a Deathclaw. (Note that the Wastlanders DO NOT have the schematics for a Deathclaw Gauntlet.)
 * Mel, a modern Highwayman who will demand caps and items from you. You can either utilize speech options, or kill him.
 * Laszlo Radford (He's hostile and will open fire on you with his Railway Rifle).
 * Sam Warrick shooting at a Wastelander (if he kills the Wastelander, he'll turn on you).
 * Five Raiders, four beating the fifth one from all sides, in turns. It seems to be an initiation.
 * Three Raiders and a Wastelander with a time-bomb on him. You can disarm the time-bomb if you have a high enough explosives skill.
 * Three Wastelanders with info about Oasis. If you ask them about it they'll turn hostile.
 * A Scavenger and his dog or Yao Guai fighting a Protectron, Robobrain or Super Mutant. If you go near the Protectron/Robobrain/Super Mutant after you kill it and the Scavenger is still alive, he'll attack you.  Oddly enough, if you kill him, it results in negative karma.
 * Mole Rats attacking a Wastelander (if you save her she'll give you a small amount of caps).
 * Radscorpions attacking a Wastelander.
 * Two Wastelanders fighting a Giant Radscorpion over a fridge of 8 purified water.
 * Vicious Dogs attacking a Raider, Wastelander, or Slaver.
 * One or two Hunters fighting a Yao Guai.
 * 3 Hunters attacking a Giant Soldier Ant.
 * Three Wastelanders fighting with a Deathclaw. If you save them they'll give you the location of Rock Creek Caverns.
 * Two Slavers who will shoot you if you fail the speech challenge.
 * A Vicious Dog, two dead Vicious Dogs, and a dead Wastelander.
 * Wastelander's body has John's Key and a Wastelander Note which starts you on the John's Treasure Box unmarked quest.

=Karma Related=
 * A Talon Company ambush if you have a Karma rating of Good.
 * A Regulator ambush if you have a Karma rating of Evil.
 * A Hitman ambush if you have a Karma rating of Neutral.

=Helpful=
 * A UFO exploding overhead, spilling 24 Alien Power Cells and a Firelance all over the area.
 * If you have not recruited Dogmeat, it is possible he will appear during random encounters to come to your aid.
 * You'll receive a Chinese Radio Beacon over your Pip-Boy. You'll find a Dead Chinese Commando at the spawning point.
 * Two Frag Mines and two Wastelanders, one of whom attempts to disarm them (unsuccessfully).
 * Four Frag Mines scattered with no one around.

=Brotherhood Outcasts=
 * Two Brotherhood Outcasts and a Protectron.
 * Three Brotherhood Outcasts, two with Laser Rifle and one with Gatling Laser
 * A small squad of Brotherhood Outcasts being chased by two Deathclaws.

=Other=
 * Three Megaton refugees who attack you with knives (available if Megaton is destroyed)
 * A Vertibird getting hit by a missile and crashing near you.
 * Two or three Mad Brahmin.
 * One or more Giant Ants fighting a Giant Radscorpion.
 * Several Giant Ants around a toxic barrel.
 * Dead Freddie Gomez and a giant Radscorpion (If you drove the Vault 101 dwellers out of the Vault).
 * Amata being questioned by two hostile Enclave soldiers and a non hostile Enclave officer; if you talk to her, move too close to the soldiers, let the soldiers finish talking to her, or attack the soldiers, Amata will be killed (you can save her for no reward or dialog options, she will only say this is all your fault even if you convinced her that her father destroyed the Vault).