Tenpenny Tower

Tenpenny Tower is a fortified settlement in the Capital Wasteland containing one of two locations for safe player housing (the other being Megaton); Tenpenny Tower is located out in the wastes west of the DC ruins, directly southwest of the RobCo main production facility.

A pre-War luxury hotel, by 2277 Tenpenny Tower had become a private and elitist residential and commercial building owned by Allistair Tenpenny, who only permits the well-to-do or wealthy to reside there. Tenpenny is prejudiced, especially against the "ghoul problem" which is the frequent attempts of sentient ghouls to gain access and residence.

Completing a very evil act, rigging Megaton's atomic bomb to explode, will gain the Lone Wanderer possession of their own penthouse suite here.

Pre-War
Before the Great War in 2077, the tower was a resort. The ghoul Michael Masters, who was once an eminent scientist 200 years previously, vacationed at the tower and noted that it was "a resort for the wealthy and powerful." Michael Masters also claims that the hotel was built on the foundations of a plantation.

Allistair Tenpenny, an entrepreneur from England, along with a small mercenary crew led by Chief Gustavo, right-hand-man Mister Burke and including the protectron Shakes, came across the tower and rid it of a few feral ghouls. After realizing the water in the tower was not irradiated and still clean, a rarity in the wasteland, they siphoned off electricity from the still-working underground DC Metro system to return power to the tower. Afterward, it was fortified with steel and concrete barricades, some exterior walls were strengthened in the same manner, and it was renamed Tenpenny Tower in accordance with Tenpenny's elitist vision. Soon, word had spread among the wastes and many flocked to this new settlement, but Tenpenny would only let in traders or those with enough caps, and certainly no ghouls. Soon shops, a bar, and a clinic were set up in and around the lobby. The penthouse suites were given to those Tenpenny's chooses, where they could watch Tenpenny take pot-shots with his sniper rifle as part of his "wasteland safari." Gustavo took over security detail for the tower and concerned himself with the "ghoul problem," Mr. Burke set out to find a way to end the "eyesore" on the horizon which distressed Tenpenny and Shakes was reprogrammed to be the tower's barman.

Exterior
The structure itself is surrounded by tall concrete walls, which create a compound of sorts. Around the rear of the building is the entrance to the generator room, which is used in the quest "Tenpenny Tower." There is also a covered area to the right of the main gate which serves as the guards' quarters. The building did not completely escape damage from the bombs and was repaired with sheets of metal in the areas of the hotel that took the most damage.

The wall can be jumped over to get inside, which is particularly useful to avoid paying the entrance bribe, or if the fusion pulse charge has not been attached to the bomb in Megaton during the quest "The Power of the Atom." To get inside, go to the west side of the wall and look for a relatively large outcrop of rocks. There is a portion of the wall that has fallen over and is lying on the ground against the rest of the barrier. Jump on top of the broken piece and then through the gap.

Should it be chosen to enter through the wall without ever coming through the actual gate, the gate can be opened from the inside by interacting with the speaker near the guard posted there. If not, it is required to pay to come inside again when speaking to the gatekeeper through the intercom.

Interior
Entering the building, the Lone Wanderer will find themselves in the lobby, which contains stairs to the third-floor apartments, an elevator to the penthouse, and is home to a variety of businesses, including:

The Lone Wanderer's suite shares a balcony with Allistair Tenpenny's, who can sometimes be found there, hunting with his sniper rifle.

While it is possible to steal from the safes and cash boxes of the store owners, doing so causes the store owners to complain about security and leave, meaning the player character can no longer shop from them. However, the player character can follow them outside Tenpenny Tower and kill them for their inventory keys without making the other residents hostile.

Appearances
Tenpenny Tower appears only in Fallout 3 but a picture of it and a man standing in front of it can be found in the Tops casino in Fallout: New Vegas. This picture also appears in a room on the top floor of the REPCONN test site.

Behind the scenes

 * According to an interview in 1UP magazine, Emil Pagliarulo confirmed that Tenpenny Tower was slightly inspired by Fiddler's Green: the skyscraper in George Romero's Land of the Dead.


 * In the third floor suites, there is a reference to the movie The Shining. In one of the hallways is a tricycle, referencing the "come play with us" hallway scene where the little boy sees two girls at the end of the hallway, but upon blinking, he sees them lying butchered on the floor, then blinking again, the girls are gone and there's nothing out of the ordinary.