Fallout Bible 0

Notes: All notes in italics come from The Vault editors, not from Chris Avellone himself.

Fallout Bible: Section Zero

Jan 15th - Feb 25th 2002



Intro: Black Isle Studios Message Boards
This Fallout Bible "update" is actually a compilation of three other previous updates that were posted on Fallout fan sites before the Feb. 25th one, contained in the archives, below. We're not trying to confuse you, we're just playing catch up here. This is "Update 0," if you will. If you've already seen the other updates on the net, this document doesn't contain anything new except there's a PDF version of it now.

This may be the first Fallout Bible update you've seen on the Black Isle Studios site, but hopefully not the last. For those of you who haven't seen these before, the Fallout Bible is just a collection of all the background material and hi-jinks from Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 compiled into one document so the fans can take a look at it. Some of it's a little rough, so if you see anything wrong or if you think of anything you'd like to see, drop me a line at Cavellone@blackisle.com and I'll see what I can do. I can't promise I'll answer your emails immediately, but I will get around to it, usually when the weekend hits.

In any event, these updates will now be appearing hopefully twice a month (on every other Monday) on the Black Isle Studios website, but you can usually find it not long after at any of the Fallout fan sites across the web. The next update should be Monday, March 11th, pending some major catastrophe.

Thanks for supporting Fallout,

Chris Avellone @ Black Isle

Note: Since Black Isle is no more, all the above info is of course obsolete.

Disclaimers
1. The information presented here is a rough draft and will need some heavy revision, but on some level, I wanted you guys to see the core information we had lying around so you can see some of the ideas that were being batted around.

Ideally, the information contained in these updates will be revised in the future based on your comments and possible evidence gathered from within the game - some of the people that put this documentation together (me and others) don't have nearly as much knowledge of facts within the game as some of you fans out there. Mistakes and inconsistencies are bound to crop up. When they do, we'll do our best to correct them.

2. I have gotten all the emails on the Bible, I have read them all, and even if I don't have time to respond to each one (special apologies to Jason Mical - I still have to read the PNP game fully), please keep additional questions coming. I want to know everything you want to know.

3. Some of this information you'll see in the Bible is going to be incomplete. The reason for this is because if we ever do a future Fallout product, I don't want to write Black Isle into a corner - we want to leave some holes to fill in ourselves... or holes to escape out of. So forgive the sins of omission when they crop up. Just consider them extra fuel for fan fiction plotlines.

4. The information contained within this documentation could ruin many of the surprises in Fallout 1 and 2, so readers should be aware that there are plenty of spoilers contained within the information below.

5. Also, I just wanted to say if you guys ever have any movie or book suggestions that you think have interesting material relating to the Fallout genre, don't hesitate to email me. Again, my contact information is:

Cavellone@blackisle.com

I may not be able to respond to every email you send, but I guarantee I will read them all and try to give you a response when I can.

6. To the above, I would also add any music suggestions for fifties-style tunes... we're running a Fallout Pen and Paper game at work, and I need theme music pretty badly.

7. Suggestions for material to include in the Bible, questions about Fallout events, and suggestions for good source material are welcome, but I cannot give hints or walkthroughs for the game, provide technical support, answer questions outside of Fallout 1 or 2, or read fan fiction or fan-created material for Fallout.

8. All of these updates will be collected into a huge honking document at some point - the doc you're reading now is just one of the many rough drafts you're likely to see.

9. And if you ever need to satisfy your Fallout cravings, and you have a few friends with the same craving and some dice, I strongly recommend you check out Jason Mical's pen-and-paper Fallout role-playing game at:

http://www.iamapsycho.com/fallout/index.htm

Don't let the web address fool you, Jason's a nice guy.

10. All the PIP Boy pictures in this document are courtesy of BIS artist Brian Menze, who did work on Fallout 1, Fallout 2, Torment, TORN, Icewind Dale, Heart of Winter, and now Icewind Dale 2.

11. Translators be warned: the information below may undergo revisions based on feedback, so you might want to wait until the next update to make sure the information below stays solid.

Thanks for supporting Fallout,

Chris Avellone down here at Black Isle Studios

Answer me these questions three
Here are three huge questions courtesy of Sean McGrorey:

1. Why was it that so many ghouls left necropolis between Fallout 1 and 2 to settle in Broken Hills and Gecko? Is necropolis empty now? Also, why was it that Harold joined the ghouls? I remember him talking as if he weren't a ghoul; When you type in "ghouls" in the question box in the first Fallout he refers to the ghouls as "them".''


 * Answer:


 * Ghouls still have the human need to expand and move on - and in the 80+ years between Fallout 1 and 2, the ghouls spread out from Necropolis in all directions... and some had even left before the events in Fallout 1.


 * Necropolis is not empty now; ghouls are still said to reside there, though Set is no longer their leader. It is not clear whether he is alive or dead.


 * Harold joined the ghouls in Fallout 2 because Harold is a kindly sort who likes to help people - when he sees a group of people trying to make their way in the wasteland, he tries to step in and give them a leg up, especially when it can benefit life for everyone.


 * Wherever a key event in Fallout has occurred, Harold always seems to be right there in the middle of things, helping to push the world along and make it a better place. His wit is a little dry and raspy, but he's got a good heart.


 * Harold is not a ghoul, but he is a mutant. What happened to him inside the military base during his assault with Francine, Mark, and Richard Grey is unknown, but it is likely he was exposed to the FEV virus and changed. His last known memory after the attack was passing out then waking back up in the wasteland... changed.

2. Does FEV really cause sterility? In Fallout 1 it seemed like the answer was a resounding yes, and a number of reasons for this were given by Zax and Vree. But then in Fallout 2 after you take Marcus to the Cat's Paw he says "I hope she doesn't get pregnant" and says that the FEV doesn't make mutants go sterile, it just makes it take a few years "to get the juices flowing again". Moreoever, the deathclaws in Vault 13 were infected with FEV and yet they are able to reproduce. So, does the FEV cause sterility or not?''


 * Answer:


 * FEV causes sterility in some creatures. FEV does cause sterility in super mutants and ghouls - Marcus' comment in New Reno was a joke only (and it was an inappropriate one, for which I apologize for). For other creatures, however, the FEV does not cause sterility - in fact, it may actually speed up their reproductive cycles (in tandem with potential drawbacks). Known species that can reproduce after being mutated with the FEV include most species of Giant rats, the mantises (who are known to have bred so fast they cover the Salt Lake City area like blankets), the radscorpions, and the deathclaws. This is only a partial list.


 * The deathclaws in V13 are a special case; as part of the Enclave experiments, they were bred as fighting packs for the government. They were not supposed to be able to reproduce, but they were attempting to do so at the time of Fallout 2. It is extremely likely that the Enclave scientists would not have wanted the deathclaws to breed on their own for fear of losing control of them, but that doesn't mean they would have made mistakes in engineering limiters or sterility in them.


 * The wannamingos are a result of FEV virus experiments, but they are sterile. They are not aliens, but word is they were designed as FEV-tailored weapons for waging war on other countries... and they got loose. They do live a long time, but they were dying out at the time of Fallout 2. They have only been sighted in the F2 area and nowhere else in the wastelands.

3. Are the radscorpions a product of the FEV virus? When you talk to the doctor, Razlo, in Shady Sands, he tells you that they were once American Emperor Scorpions but that he has no idea how they mutated because radiation alone couldn't have done it. For that matter, what about all of the other creatures of the wasteland? Which ones have been mutated by FEV and which ones haven't? Maybe in the bestiary each creature could have a stat that shows it's level of FEV infection.''


 * Answer:


 * The radscorpions are a result of a combination of radiation and the FEV virus, and Razlo in Shady Sands is correct - they were originally Emperor Scorpions that have grown... big.


 * FEV-Infected Critters in the wasteland include almost all the ones you've seen in F1 and F2:


 * Mantises.
 * Most species of rats.
 * Gecko lizards.
 * Brahmin
 * Scorpions
 * Ants


 * Rumor has it some dogs were affected, but no one's seen any, so for now that's just rumor. Of course, the centaurs are a mash of human, dog, and various other parts... but hey, who knows how that mutation came about. Grey was probably messing around in one of his labs.


 * Various varieties of plants, including the Venus Flytrap.


 * Creatures not mutated by FEV probably did not survive the aftermath of the Great War, with the possible exception of cockroaches... and perhaps normal ants, though there are FEV-infected versions of these species.


 * No one knows where those bird noises in Vault City came from.


 * I'll try to include a chart of FEV-infected creatures in future additions as well as other critters that you may not have seen in F1 and F2. Most likely a great majority of insects were affected (they tend to breed much faster, and their mutations tend to become evident pretty quickly as the generations advance), possibly beetles, some spiders, cockroaches, and other creatures.

More questions, questions
This submission we answer a question from Michael Ward:

I read the start thing of the bible thats on the net. One thing I don't agree with in the fallout universe is that the vaults were just a bunch of "social experiments". I mean why. Even though the enclave were a bunch of assholes, why would they want to purposely see their own country men die when the vaults were societys last chance at a good survivial. I like to think that lots of people died because the vaults just didn't work. Like in FOT there is a terminal that says that money had been diverted from much needed common sense things to an underground game hunting facility or whatever it was. experiments was a bit over the top, but corruption is far more believable. thats what i think anyhow. and Fallout 3, is it a possibility or not? - Michael


 * Answer: The vault experiments were an idea created by Tim Cain, and I don't really know the reason behind them, but I can offer some speculation.


 * First off, thematically, it's pretty creepy, and we all know that developers will pull all sorts of crazy shit to try and mess with players' heads. It's possible that Tim had just finished watching an X-Files episode and had conspiracy theories swimming around in his subconscious. As to your comment about the experiments being a bit over the top, well, yeah. We're guilty as charged.


 * Secondly, as proven time and again in Fallout 2, the Enclave isn't a particularly rational bunch of fellows. Thematically, they embrace a paranoid view of the world and a heightened sense of superiority over everyone else in Fallout.


 * Third, the federal government (or whatever branch of federal government was responsible - it was not necessarily the Enclave) may not have ever considered the Vaults as society's best chance for survival - the government may have considered themselves the best candidates for rebuilding the world and already had their asses covered in the event of a nuclear or biological war by relocating to other remote installations across the nation (and elsewhere) that weren't necessarily vaults. The Enclave certainly didn't seem to be devoting much effort to digging up any other vaults and trying to use the human stock there to rebuild civilization.


 * Fourth, a lot of people did die because the vaults didn't work. Some suffered worse fates.


 * Nonetheless, even members of the Enclave probably could not answer the question of who created the Vault experiments and their reasons, as many of the people responsible for the creation of the Vaults died long ago, and many records were lost in the great static of 2077. President Richardson was familiar with the purpose of the Vaults, but he never saw them as more than little test tubes of preserved humans he could mess with.

Glossary
Vault-Tec is used two different ways in Fallout 1 and Fallout 2. The correct version is "Vault-Tec."

Behind the scenes
In case you guys were ever curious, the man behind the spoken (voice-acted) dialogue in Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 was Mark O' Green, the former head of Interplay's Dragonplay division (our old D&D division before it became Black Isle). He's got a good way with words.

Vault system
It was intended that while the player was reading the Vault 8 records in Fallout 2, he could discover a classified file (opened with a successful Science skill roll) which explained that Vault 8 was a "control Vault," designed to hold 1000 people and to open on time. This file was intended to foreshadow the discovery of the true and sinister purpose of the Vaults.

The player was also intended to apply his Science skill to the central computer in Vault 13 to obtain a history of Vault 13, the Overseer's involvement in the Vault Dweller's expulsion, and even worse, the true purposes of the Vaults. The Overseer was conscious of the true purpose of the Vaults as social experiments on a grand scale, and he drove out the Vault Dweller because he was afraid that he would ruin the experiment... or uncover it. Of course, the Overseer himself caused problems not long after this, according to Martin Frobisher, the leader of Vault 13 in Fallout 2: —"There used to be an overseer, many years ago, but he did a bad thing and many of our people left the Vault. Only to die in the Wastes, I'm sure. He was tried and sentenced to death for his crime. We haven't used the title since."

Martin did not see the Overseer executed, however... his information comes from the Vault 13 records passed down by his ancestors.

Basically, the Vaults were never intended to save the population of the United States. With a population of almost 400 million by 2077, the U.S. would need nearly 400,000 Vaults the size of Vault 13, and Vault-Tec was commissioned to build only 122 such Vaults. The real reason for these Vaults was to study pre-selected segments of the population to see how they react to the stresses of isolationism and how successfully they re-colonize after the Vault opens. Some of the experiments include:


 * Vault 8 - A control Vault, intended to open and re-colonize the surface after 10 years. Vault City is the result. Unfortunately.
 * Vault 12 - In order the study the effects of radiation on the selected population, the Vault Door was designed not to close. This is the Necropolis Vault... and the ghouls were the result.
 * Vault 13 - Intended to stay closed for 200 years as a study of prolonged isolation, the broken water chip forced the Overseer to improvise and use the Vault Dweller as a pawn. Later study of the Vault 13 records by the Enclave led them to their current plan to end the war.
 * Vault 15 - Intended to stay closed for 50 years and include people of radically diverse ideologies. Gathered from what you hear from Aradesh in Fallout 1, he has quite a bit of multi-cultural flavoring to his speech.
 * Vault 27 - This Vault would be overcrowded deliberately. 2000 people would be assigned to enter, double the total sustainable amount. The location of this Vault is unknown.
 * Vault 29 - No one in this Vault was over the age of 15 when they entered. Parents were redirected to other Vaults on purpose. Harold is believed to have come from this Vault.
 * Vault 34 - The armory was overstocked with weapons and ammo and not provided with a lock.
 * Vault 36 - The food extruders were designed to produce only a thin, watery gruel.
 * Vault 42 - No light bulbs of more than 40 watts were provided.
 * Vault 53 - Most of the equipment was designed to break down every few months. While repairable, the breakdowns were intended to stress the inhabitants unduly.
 * Vault 55 - All entertainment tapes were removed.
 * Vault 56 - All entertainment tapes were removed except those of one particularly bad comic actor. Sociologists predicted failure before Vault 55.
 * Vault 68 - Of the one thousand people who entered, there was only one woman.
 * Vault 69 - Of the one thousand people who entered, there was only one man.
 * Vault 70 - All jumpsuit extruders fail after 6 months.
 * Vault 106 - Psychoactive drugs were released into the air filtration system 10 days after the Door was sealed.

Rumor has it there were 122 different vault experiments. For Fan Fiction purposes, a lot of these vault experiments have been left open for you to play around with.

Questions, questions
And here's a few more questions, the first one from Albert:

1. Here's a question that everyone would like to have answered. Why is Lynette such a bitch? Is she a jet baby? Was she abused as a youngster? Did she have a series of sordid love affairs that all went horribly wrong and warped her into a domineering cynic? Or she just acting like a typical Vault City citizen? - Albert.

Answer: Yes, Lynette is a bitch if you're not a Citizen. As the figurehead for Vault City, she was supposed to embody the worst arrogance and condescension that Vault City has to offer (traits that are not present in all the citizens, as McClure and others prove). Furthermore, I suspect that she was made a black character to add an additional edge to her hypocrisy over slavery, but I guess you'd have to ask the original designers about that - Mark O'Green and I wrote Lynette's dialogue, but we were working off of an older design that (I think) Jason Anderson had written.

As for why Lynette's a bitch... well, Lynette does have an extreme managerial, economic, and efficient soul, and she's used to getting her way. She wasn't abused, tortured, or twisted in any way when she was young, she just got a certain privileged and superiority complex hardwired into her head around five or six years old, and she's never been the same. She's always known that she was destined to lead the Vault 8 Citizens, and that power has gone to her head.

She's been the leader of Vault City for many, many years, and she's seen the worst that the wasteland has to offer - but rather than taking sympathy on the poor souls that have come to Vault City for protection, she has instead taken the view that these "outlanders" were simply not strong or smart enough to achieve what Vault City has, and thus, are inferior. She tends to work too much and too hard, and she sees all her time as precious, so she has little patience for socializing without a purpose (i.e., if it doesn't involve politicking, she's going to be working late at the office instead) or for people dropping in and wasting her time.

As expected, Lynette has had no positive romantic relationships up until her potential relationship with Westin from NCR in the endgame of Fallout 2. She's had little time for anything other than her job, and that's her focus - if anyone throws her job or decisions into question, buckle up, because she takes it as the worst sort of personal attack.

Lynette uses any negative situation involving outlanders to reinforce her beliefs and disregards or ignores any positive aspects - she's single-minded and set in her ways. The fact that she (and Vault City) had an "environmental welcome mat" stretched out for them (with the GECK) when they emerged from Vault 8 meant they suffered little hardship in comparison to other struggling communities, but this simply doesn't factor into her thinking. She believes that Vault City and the Vault citizens have survived and thrived because they are a superior breed of human - smarter, better, and more capable than the human trash that prowls the wasteland.

Anyway, there you go.

And three questions from Deadlus:

'''2. Is military base part of enclave or something? (sorry i'am not good at english :) but I think that you know what i wanted to say) - Deadlus'''

Unknown. The Mariposa Military Base was constructed for the purposes of FEV experimentation on human beings, and considering the nature of the "volunteers" (military prisoners who didn't have their brains scooped for use in brain bots) and the lack of any shred of ethics in the experimentation procedures, it is possible the Enclave had something to do with the experiments at Mariposa. In Mariposa records, however, the Military Base is never mentioned as under the direction of any organization called the "Enclave," and Colonel Spindel, head of the military squad stationed at the base, never indicated any Enclave allegiance... nor did Chief Scientist Anderson in the last few minutes before Maxson put a bullet through his skull.

Still, the existence of the Mariposa Military Base was listed in Enclave records, and this enabled the Enclave to find the base and begin their excavations, so it is possible that some elements of the Pre-War Enclave had their fingers in the horrors taking place at Mariposa. They held the site for many years, but abandoned it after obtaining the FEV samples... and noting the high incidence of mutation among the worker slaves and some of their soldiers, including Frank Horrigan.

'''3. The boss (richard grey or someone) in f1 was in the vault, which vault is it? - Deadlus'''

The Vault "Grey" (originally Moreau) started out in before his mutation into the Master was Vault 8 and the Vault you find him in in Fallout 1 was a test/demonstration Vault constructed by Vault-Tec and has no number (according to Chris Taylor - thanks to Nick Garrott for letting me know about Vault 13's stash on this stuff). Relevant quote:


 * Saint_Proverbius: Which vault number was the Master's base?


 * Chris Taylor: The Master was in the Vault-Tec private vault. This was the demonstration model built for the federal government, it was also very close to the Vault-Tec headquarters

'''4. So richard grey was the first vault dweller not the main character in FO1, and why did he left his vault??? - Deadlus'''

According to Lynette in Fallout 2, Richard was exiled from Vault 8 for murder. The details of the murder are unknown and judging from the hypocrisy filling Vault City, the entire incident is questionable.

One question is from Peeyack, sent via Kreegle of Vault 13 fame:

'''5. Why in the final scene in Fallout 1 and 2 nothing is said about players friendly NPCs ? I'd love to know what happened to Marcus, Tycho, Ian, Cassidy or Vic afterwards. - Kreegle'''

Fallout 1: I don't know why. Tim and the Troika crew apparently ended up doing this for the NPCs in Arcanum, though.

Well, according to the manual in Fallout 2 (written by Chris Taylor), Ian bit the bullet in Necropolis, and Dogmeat died in the Mariposa Military Base. Tycho and Katja are not mentioned, so it's assumed they didn't join the Vault Dweller. Still, even though it's mentioned in the manual, I'd substitute your own experiences with them and let that be the true history... even though Dogmeat's pretty likely to bite it in the Military Base because of those damn force fields and because you can't tell him to park his doggie ass in a safe place (without locking him in a force field cage).

In any event, I'll try to include alternate endings for these characters depending on what you did in the game. Your actions should make a difference.

As for Fallout 2, Matt Norton and I wrote end text for all of the ones in Fallout 2 using the narrator's perspective (and occasionally the appropriate voice actors), so here's the sections I was able to dig up (and it's not all the NPC allies, but the talking heads of everyone). They just didn't make it into the game, and as I understand it, Ron Perlman already had 5 billion lines to do in 2 hours. It's possible we decided not to do them because we ran out of time... or because Ron Perlman is an extremely muscle-bound fellow who looks like he can crush bricks in his hands.

In any event, here you go - note that some are personalized for the actor, others are not:

Lynette

The Vault City that I helped establish was to outlast me and continue on for many more years. In the elections that occurred after the destruction of the remnants of the United States government, Senior Council Member McClure was appointed First Citizen and I retired to honorary council member status. With my new free time, I traveled south to NCR and met the NCR President.

I was responsible for much of the legislation that followed in the years between NCR and our City.

Marcus

Inspired by the example set by the Chosen One, Marcus eventually traveled across the great mountains to the east, searching for other refugees from the Master's army. You never heard from him again.

President Richardson

The destruction of the Enclave erased all trace of President Richardson from history. Now the title of "President" is used simply a bogeyman used to frighten children.

Harold

You still hear mention of Harold from time to time. Apparently, the tree growing from his head has gotten larger, and if rumors are to be believed, fruit is growing from it. The seeds are said to remarkably tough, and several of them have taken root even in the most barren stretches of the wasteland.

The Elder

The Arroyo elder lived for many years after the destruction of the Enclave. She seemed pleased that the ancient separation between Vault 13 and the Vault Dweller had been reconciled, and many were the times she told you she wished the Vault Dweller were alive to have seen the reconciliation take place.

Certain that the safety of the new village had been secured and the new community was flourishing, the Elder passed away a few months later in her sleep. Many of the older Arroyo residents believe that she now lives in the vault of the sky, telling the Vault Dweller of your brave deeds.

The Elder, 2

[Matt Norton's comments] The end movie is just finishing - the tanker sailing toward the view at full speed. In the distance is a massive explosion of the Enclave oil platform. The tanker draws closer as the screen fades to black. The Elder, the player character, and all the tribesmen are escaping on the tanker, though we do not see them. The Elder speaks in voiceover. She is pleased, even a little mischievous.


 * Oh, did you see that? That was a good explosion!


 * Chosen One, you are worthy of your name. I am alive, the tribe is saved, and the evil ones are dead. By the Vault Dweller, you are a hero indeed!


 * All the village will honor you when we get home - even your Aunt Morliss. We will roast a gecko and feast. There will be a shrine to you in the temple. Children will be taught your name. With you to protect us, we will certainly grow and prosper.


 * (Fade)


 * That was a good explosion, wasn't it? I think I would like to see more explosions.

I may include an MP3 of Ron Perlman personally wishing me dead for the end narration sequences in Fallout 2 - it is both funny and frightening at the same time.

And the last two questions are from Richard Grey from Vault 13 via his neurolink to the Cathedral computers:

'''6. According to Chris A., the ghouls in V12 were exposed to radiation and FEV. I know Harold said the Vault door opened early or something, so the radiation bit makes sense. My question is, how were the ghouls of Vault 12 exposed to FEV? Harold was a special case, since he went to the Vats with... er... someone, whose shall remain nameless... and got dipped. How do you account for the others? - Richard Grey'''

When the West Tek research facility was hit, it shattered the FEV storage tanks on levels four and five and released the FEV into the atmosphere. Through some means, perhaps propelled by the explosion, the virus was able to reach the ghouls quickly and the mutation process began even as the radiation was rotting away their bodies. How the virus was able to survive the blast without being sterilized is unknown... it would depend on what type of warhead cracked the West Tek facility like an egg.

Actually, Harold never said he got dipped (although it's possible). He was exposed, however - being in close proximity to FEV is enough to cause mutations, as the Enclave slaves mining Mariposa discovered. I imagine the shield between the vats and the control room in Mariposa was meant to keep the virus contained.

''Note: Chris Avellone later abandoned the idea of ghouls and most other mutations being created by FEV. See: ''Fallout Bible 9.

'''7. What the heck was Frank Horrigan? A supermutant in powered armor? A cybernetically enhanced human? A robot? A cybernetically enhanced robotic super mutant in powered armor? Also, if he was mutated, why did the Enclave put up with him? Did they make a distinction between FEV induced mutation and radiation induced mutation? - Richard Grey'''

Frank Horrigan is a munchkin's worse nightmare: as far as I can find in the documentation, he's a mutant in Power Armor (whether he's technically a super mutant is debatable, since the scientists operated on him so much and tweaked his DNA and physiology it's hard to tell what the final result would have been if he had been left to change on his own).

As for being a mutant, here's an excerpt from the last update:


 * "It's important to note that Horrigan has never considered himself a mutant; only the scientists at the Enclave would consider him one, but they mostly referred to him as an "experiment," and even then, not to his face. Most soldiers considered Horrigan a walking nuke, something the tech boys built, and they were not generally aware of his mutant status. Most did consider him a freak, however, and there were few soldiers who wanted to accompany him on missions."

They didn't make a distinction as much as an exception. Not many people were aware of his mutant status or could recognize him as a mutant... and those people saw him as more of an altered human experiment than a mutant. It's all semantics. And selective bigotry.

For fan fiction purposes, it's also possible he was just a genetically engineered monster whipped up by the Enclave... and that's what Sergeant Granite assumes about him:


 * "He's some genetically engineered freak is what he is. Used to be the President's bodyguard. Secret Service Agent Frank Horrigan. Now he's more than half machine."

Question for you guys
This is a question since BIS is going to keep making RPGs, but some questions I've always been curious about for any of you who still play pen-and-paper games when you have access to computer ones - why? Are there any special qualities about pen-and-paper that make you keep playing them over a computer game or a massively online multiplayer game?

Just curious - we have a dedicated pen-and-paper (and boardgame) base at Black Isle, and we have our opinions, but I'd like to hear yours. If you've got some thoughts on it, feel free to email me at:

Cavellone@blackisle.com

Thanks.

Fun links
If you guys ever need some war posters to throw some spice into a Fallout campaign or just for some window dressing, here's two good links for old war posters, courtesy of JE Sawyer:

http://digital.lib.umn.edu/warposters/browse.html

http://www.library.northwestern.edu/govpub/collections/wwii-posters/

The first site says updates are on the way, so I still check it every once in a while to see what they've got up this week.

If you guys know any other cool Fallout-related links, let me know.

Fallout 1 archeology
I'm going to try and start including all the key words you can ask the talking heads in Fallout 1 with the "Tell Me Abouts." This may not be a complete list, but these are all the ones listed in the design documentation. There is no documentation I can find for the non-talking heads, but if you happen to know any or find any other talking head key words I miss, let me know.

Let's start with the Overseer:
 * Chip/Water Chip/Water Purifier/Controller Chip
 * Vault
 * War
 * Outside
 * Overseer/Library

(I think these last two give new responses, but it could be a generic "I don't know" response).

And because the Overseer is boring, let's move on to Aradesh who's got a little more spice:
 * Aradesh
 * Dharma
 * Tandi
 * Razlo
 * Seth
 * Raiders
 * Vipers
 * Khans
 * Junktown
 * Spear
 * Guard Tower
 * Guard Station

Psykers
For Fallout fan-fiction purposes, you are welcome to make use of the psykers and their potential from Fallout 1, but I'd be careful - the psykers in Fallout 1 show some pretty over-the-top mutations that could take the world to Childhood's End faster than you can say "uh, his eyes are glowing?"

In any event, of the four psykers in the Master's lair, Wiggum was electrokinetic-dominant, Lucy was telekinetic-dominant and a minor photokinetic, Moore was pyrokinetic-dominant, and Gideon was a receiving-telepathic-dominant (without the ability to control his telepathy, requiring the psychic nullifier to block incoming thoughts) with minor photokinetic abilities.

In the Fallout Bible, all psykers were officially wiped from the genre when the Cathedral was vaporized in nuclear fire. It is most likely the Master was able to somehow bring forth psychic abilities in certain humans after they were injected with FEV, but most of the experiments were failures (resulting in insanity) or used to line the corridor of revulsion.

Brotherhood of Steel disk
I'm trying to finalize information on the Brotherhood of Steel, and annoyingly enough, I can't seem to find the following excerpt from the .msg files anywhere in Fallout 1. If anyone can tell me how to get it, or, as a bonus, give me a screenshot of the contents, I'd appreciate it. It's quickly becoming a source of frustration.


 * 1) *** Brotherhood of Steel Honor Code ***


 * 1) *** Maxson's History ***

{7000}{}{My father was a security guard at a secret military base}

{7001}{}{in the desert of southern California. A typical MP, I}

{7002}{}{remember mostly his strength. When it came time for}

{7003}{}{the revolution, I respected his convictions. He stayed}

{7004}{}{behind, to help those who were disabled and wounded,}

{7005}{}{even the scis. He put the well being of myself and my}

{7006}{}{mother into the hands of his best friend, and ordered}

{7007}{}{us into the desert with the other rebels.}

{7008}{}{**END-PAR**}

# -

{7009}{}{We, very few, marched into the wastes. The only thought}

{7010}{}{on my mind was that I would never see my father again.}

{7011}{}{He knew that to stay behind was death. And still, he}

{7012}{}{stayed. He respected the flag, the CIC and the badge}

{7013}{}{that he wore.}

{7014}{}{**END-PAR**}

# -

{7015}{}{What an idiot.}

{7016}{}{**END-PAR**}

# -

{7017}{}{He died for the sins of others. That will never happen}

{7018}{}{again to us. We will become self-sufficient. We will}

{7019}{}{become keepers of knowledge and lore. We will survive}

{7020}{}{the end of civilization. We will take responsibility}

{7021}{}{for our actions, and we will hold accountable the}

{7022}{}{actions of others.}

{7023}{}{**END-PAR**}

# -

{7024}{}{This I pledge to you, Maxson, my son. The Brotherhood}

{7025}{}{of Steel is justly named. We are a Brotherhood. Unlike}

{7026}{}{my father, we will stand back to back with those that}

{7027}{}{share our convictions and beliefs. We are Steel. We are}

{7028}{}{hard. We have been sharpened to and edge.}

{7029}{}{**END-PAR**}

# -

{7030}{}{Always remember the fires that we were forged in.}

{7031}{}{Never forget. }

{7032}{}{The motto from a previous time, and our motto now.}

{7033}{}{**END-DISK**}

Timeline repair - second strike
''Note: The timeline included in this version is sometimes incorrect. See: Timeline for a later version. ''

Here's a second draft of a Fallout timeline based on your feedback to the first drafts that went up on the net last month (thanks again to everyone who sent msg files and screenshots - all of it was extremely helpful). There are heavy revisions to when the Enclave discovered the Military Base, when Melchior was captured, the true Exodus of the BOS and the events surrounding the FEV research at the West Tek Research Facility and Mariposa.

All the factual changes are highlighted in green. Any year events that were removed or switched around have not had their omissions highlighted, however.

Again, this is not a final draft, since I imagine I will find more problems in it later on and as I get feedback from you guys. Thanks again for looking it over.

BTW, even though information is included on the Vault Dweller's journey in Fallout 1 below, you don't have to use it - it was included in the F2 manual, and it does tell you what happened to Ian and Dogmeat. (Granted, the Dogmeat in the F2 special encounter technically was "Dogmeat," but it was a special encounter, so he shouldn't be considered as the real Dogmeat from Fallout 1, if that makes any sense.)

Horrigan update
Just to clarify...

Horrigan is a mutant, but Horrigan was a monster before his exposure to FEV in the military base (he had many psychological problems which may be included in a Horrigan psychological profile in the future).

It's important to note that Horrigan has never considered himself a mutant; only the scientists at the Enclave would consider him one, but they mostly referred to him as an "experiment," and even then, not to his face. Most soldiers considered Horrigan a walking nuke, something the tech boys built, and they were not generally aware of his mutant status. Most did consider him a freak, however, and there were few soldiers who wanted to accompany him on missions.

Horrigan has always been loyal to the Presidency, to the Enclave, and the armed forces - this loyalty was present before his exposure to FEV, and it was reinforced by Presidential Directive through various conditioning and testing programs developed by the Enclave. Horrigan's low Intelligence (which was further damaged by the FEV exposure) made these conditioning programs take root easily.

Last words
That's it - this should bring you up to date with the Feb. 25th update. Look for the next update on March 11th.

Thanks for reading,

Chris Avellone @ BIS