Baby Steps

Baby Steps theme

Baby Steps is the first main quest in Fallout 3.

Walk to Dad
Walk over to Dad.

And talk to Dad!

Escape the playpen
After the player character's father, James, speaks for a short while, he will lock them in the playpen and leave. A new objective is given at this point: open the playpen's gate. Walk up to the gate and activate it. The gate will swing open and the next part will start. This is also when one learns how to grab and move objects without adding it in the inventory. Approaching the chair next to the playpen will prompt a quick tip on how to jump.

You're S.P.E.C.I.A.L.
The next objective is to find the "You're SPECIAL!" book which is lying right in front of the toy box. Once examined, the player character is prompted to decide what their initial primary statistics should be. The book gives a description of what each attribute does on each page. The last page allows for all statistics to be adjusted from one location.

If one is not satisfied with and wishes to change their SPECIAL stats, they will be given a final opportunity to do so after the "Escape!" quest.

Follow Dad
James will come back into the room, aware of the player character's "escape" (even if they return to the pen and close the door). He reads his wife's favorite Bible verse, Revelation 21:6, to the Lone Wanderer. He then tells them to follow him to see if their friend Amata wants to play. After entering into the hallway, the game skips forward nine years to the Lone Wanderer's tenth birthday party, starting the "Growing Up Fast" quest.

Rewards

 * S.P.E.C.I.A.L. points assigned.
 * Progress to age 10.

Transition quotes
Full transition audio: You may not be able to listen to all the voices talking at the same time during the transition from being a newborn to an infant. These are the lines:

Bugs

 * After the line where Dad says "I want to show you something," he may simply stand still. You have to create a new file in order to get him to move. Another workaround would be to save the game, exit to the menu, then reload the save.
 * When you are first able to rotate the camera, you can look up and down but trying to look right will make you look slowly to your left. While trying to look left will make you look left but will act as your look sensitivity is extremely high.
 * It is possible to leave the vault as an infant. When James opens the door and re-enters the room, the Lone Wanderer (as a baby) can slip through the door, travel down the hall and open the door to the atrium. The player, remaining as an infant can progress through subsequent levels and even travel out into the Capital Wasteland, though it is impossible to hold weapons, among other complications, until you enter Megaton. Note: there is no white light to start the next stage of the tutorial quests. Instead, when you open the door at the end of the hall, you fall into a 'black hole' which will trigger the beginning of Escape!. The white light (seen when transitioning to the Lone Wanderer's 10th birthday party) appears once James has finished his speech about Revelation 21:6, so it is only possible to take advantage of the bug before he completes his dialogue. Since there is no infant model, the player will appear as a tiny teenager (scripts handle the effects of infancy).
 * If you prevent James from re-entering the room by closing the door in front of him from the the outside of the room you can walk down to the outer hallway without triggering the time skip. If you walk through the door at the end of the hallway you will be dropped into an area of the vault that is usually only accessible during the Escape! quest. From here you can continue as if you were doing the quest and escape the vault, thus allowing you to explore the Capital Wasteland as a baby.