Minefield

Minefield, as the name suggests, is an abandoned settlement surrounded by frag mines. As if navigating through the mine-infested town wasn't dangerous enough, travelers must do so under fire from a sniper named Arkansas, who will not only fire on any intruders but will also attempt to detonate any cars they approach with a well-placed shot to the engine (detonating cars are scripted and occur even if the player is hidden).

Background
Minefield was a settlement full of military survivors who found the hill nestled settlement about 100 years after the bombs fell. One day the slavers of Paradise Falls came to the town hidden in the hills, and gunned down anyone who stood in their way and enslaved the rest of the inhabitants. Arkansas was a boy when they came and was able to evade the slavers. When Arkansas grew up he spread rumors that the town had inhabitants in it once more. So the slavers arrived once again and were killed by Arkansas' traps as revenge. Since then, Arkansas has remained the town's protector, shooting or blowing up any intruders.

Common belief in the wasteland is that this settlement is haunted, presumably because of the sniper firing on anyone who tries to enter the village.

Layout
Minefield consists of half a dozen houses built around a curving road, with a playground in the middle between the road. Mines are situated on the road, so be careful. Also, the sniper Arkansas is situated in a destroyed house roof overlooking the road.

Minefield homes
In the settlement are four explorable houses: Benson house, Gibson house, Gillian house and Zane house, all of which contain valuable loot, including pre-War books, medical supplies, and an R91 assault rifle. The interiors follow the same pattern as for the houses in Tranquility Lane and Higgs Village in Old World Blues.

Inside the Gibson house, there is a locked model of a house. Picking the lock is Very Hard and nets you 3 Buffout, pre-War money and junk food. There is also a key on Gibson's corpse in the Capitol Post office building in L'Enfant Plaza.

All four houses have an "Easy Locked" safe. In both the Benson House and Gibson house the safe is behind a dresser upstairs and contains pre-War money and ammunition; although it sometimes contains a Stealth Boy. In the Gillian house the safe is upstairs under the double bed. The Zane house's safe is behind the dresser in the office on the ground floor. Also, all houses contain at least one pre-War book and a skill book.

Notable loot

 * There are four skill books and nine pre-War books to be had in Minefield:
 * Zane house (Average Locked): Pugilism Illustrated can be found in the children's room on a  teddy bear's lap. There is also a pre-War book in the front room, and an easy safe in the back room behind the cabinet on the ground floor.
 * Gillian house (Average locked): This house is infested with radroaches. There are two pre-War books in the front room, one on the bookshelf and the other on a table. A Grognak the Barbarian can be found on the child's bed upstairs. There is also a safe [Easy] under the queen bed in the Master Bedroom.
 * Gibson house (Very Easy locked): Tumblers Today can be found on a desk. There are four pre-War book -- one in the front room, one on the bookcase in the children's room, one in the bathtub off the master bedroom, and one on the bedside table in the master bedroom next to two Med-X. There is a safe in the master bedroom [Easy] and the locked model of home [Very Hard] in the living room. The key for the model of home can be found on Gibson's corpse inside the Capitol Post building. It contains 1 junk food, 3 bottles of Buffout, and 3 stacks of pre-War money.
 * Benson house (Hard locked): There is a pre-War book on the ground floor on top of the bookcase. D.C. Journal of Internal Medicine can be found in the upstairs master bedroom along with a pre-War book. A first aid box is on the wall in the kitchen. There is also a safe [Easy] behind the dresser in this room. In the safe there is a Stealth Boy Stealth Boy among some other loot.
 * There are at least 67 mines planted about the town and strewn over the various approaches to it.

Related quests

 * Wasteland Survival Guide
 * Strictly Business

Appearances
Minefield appears only in Fallout 3.

Behind the scenes

 * The names of the houses in Minefield are references to the Hideo Kojima game "Snatcher". In the Capitol Post building in L'Enfant Plaza, a decapitated body sitting with its head between its legs can be found, with a note on it that says "SEARCH THE HOUSE". This is identical to a scene in "Snatcher". The house in the game also had a miniature house model. "Gibson" refers to Jean Jack Gibson, the character from Snatcher. The "Gillian's House" refers to "Gillian Seed", the protagonist of Snatcher. "Benson" is the name of two characters from the game as well (either Benson Cunningham- the chief or Harry Benson- the engineer). The name of the last house, Zane, is however not used in "Snatcher".

Gallery
Минное поле