Fallout: Two Sun - Session 2

Session two of Fallout: Two Sun was shorter than the first, but kept the plot moving at a brisk pace. Once again, we used these rules - a riff on the Delta Green system. This session I introduced a short list of perks for the players to choose one,

In attendance:

• Dr Hernando Beckenbauer, Physician - Vault 24 Exile
• Wilbur "Spider" Webb, Odd Job Man - Vault 24 Exile
• Alex Bradshaw, Technician - Vault 24 Exile
  
• Elizabeth "Scythe" Forscythe- Scavenger retained by Vault 25 for odd jobs
  

Last session, the Vault 24 exiles found a new home in Vault 25, a thriving hidden community of congenitally blind Vault Dwellers with superhuman senses. These "blue hoods" were happy to welcome the exiles into the fold, provided they pulled their weight. Vault 25 needed special computer hardware to access their GECK's advanced functions, which wouldn't interface with the assistive technology their vault came with.

 

The most likely place to find the necessary hardware was the flight computer of a B-52 bomber. The nearest place that had one was the Pima Air and Space Museum. The museum was a no-go zone thanks to some pre-war defense systems that annihilated anything which came in line of sight of the building. Witnesses from the tribal population (which the blue hoods kept as "servants" to do things that required eyesight) described it as a noise like a giant cloth ripping - indicating to the exiles that the defense systems had miniguns or some other fast firing weapons. They debated a number of approaches to the problem, including burrowing beneath the museum, welding armor to a vehicle, and using radio signals to hack the automated defenses. Ultimately they settled on observing the site from a safe distance to gauge the defenses, then heading South to the old Tucson speedway to see about salvaging parts to create an armored car and run the blockade.

Before the bombs fell, the Pima Air and Space Museum had its own aircraft graveyard.

The exiles removed the identifying marks from their Vault 25 security armor, shouldered their weapons, consulted their map and hit the road.

The exiles passed through Two Sun without incident (I'm not springing encounters often enough) and approached the perimeter of the Air and Space Museum. They kept a respectful distance, and watched a group of terror birds (giant mutant roadrunners) poke their heads up from behind the railroad berm and dash across the dead ground to the ruins of a nearby residential subdivision. A stream of 30mm tracers tore through one of the birds, liquefying it in an instant, accompanied seconds later by an incredibly loud sheet ripping sound from the museum. The exiles saw through their binoculars that the museum was defended by Robco Sentry Bots, which had been equipped with massive GAU Avenger rotary cannons and ammunition drums. Someone had clearly salvaged some serious hardware from the museum's aircraft graveyard.

 

Funny enough, this actually made things easier for the exiles. The cannons on the robots were equipped with forward looking infrared (FLIR) pods that they used for target identification. The scientifically inclined exiles knew that these guns, used in a close air support role, would have an identify friend/foe script in their programming that caused them to ignore targets painted with specifically shaped combat identification panels. They just needed some material that would reflect infrared and produce the right shape of heat signature.

The easiest way to do that was to find some mirrors, cut them up, and assemble the pieces to make the right shape. The exiles carefully left the museum's line of sight without exposing themselves, and searched through a nearby suburb. They didn't find any mirrors, but they did grab a shiny 10mm pistol and a few rounds of ammunition from one of the houses. They were accosted by a trio of raiders, but scared them off without incident through a threat display and some well chosen words by Dr Beckenbauer.

The exiles decided to visit the Followers at Global Solar, and buy a mirror off of them. Yvette the technician sold an old junk panel in exchange for one of the exile's laser pistols and a few batteries, which she immediately field stripped for parts. The exiles also sold some of the junk they had found in the ruined houses last session.

The exiles used their mechanical acumen to cut the solar panel into the correct shape, then affixed it to a wrecked car they found in a garage. They removed the floor of the vehicle and most of the internals, allowing them to push it from inside, Flintstones style. All they had to do then was push the car to the museum.

They ran in trouble pushing the car down Valencia, as they passed the old Circle K. The three raiders they scared off earlier stepped out of the convenience store, accompanied by three more. They were armed with a mix of pistols, long guns and hand weapons, and the boldest one approached the exiles' "vehicle" with a gun in his hand. He asked them for all their belongings. Dr Beckenbauer distracted him with blather while Spider clandestinely lit a stick of dynamite he'd gotten from Vault 25 storage. He tossed it into the midst of the other five raiders as they advanced across the open ground toward the car, killing two and scattering the rest. The leader fought Scythe for control of the rifle she poked out of the window at him, until she yanked him forward and shot him in the head with her sidearm. Meanwhile, smart shooting by Alex and Scythe drove the survivors of the explosion back, who quickly broke and ran. A few caps, weapons and bullets richer, the exiles continued the slog to the museum.

 

The exiles pushed the car into the museum's defensive perimeter. The Sentry Bots didn't fire. They rolled the hulk up to the parking lot, looking for an entrance. A seven foot tall green man stepped out onto the porch and told them to get out of the car. He had a laser designator in his hand, purple beam aimed at the "vehicle". One wrong move, and he'd command the robots to open fire.

He lightened up when he saw the exiles' Vault Tec security armor. He was worried they were just scavengers working for the guys in the red football pads. But they were vault dwellers, like him. hugo Adeimantus the Super Mutant was from the LA Vault. Back West, in California. (I mistakenly said Vault 12 during the game, forgetting that's the Necropolis). Before they dipped him, anyway. Spent some time doing IT for a guy called the Master. The exiles were new to the wasteland and had never seen a super mutant or heard of the Unity, with the exception of Scythe. But Hugo was happy to invite them into the museum.

 

Concept art of Hugo from six years ago, by me

 

Hugo had filled the museum with a treasure trove of chems, weapons, ammo, and pre war technology. His secret was a matter compiler and survival computer he salvaged from a B-52 on display at the museum. With his programming knowledge, he was able to get the mainframe up and running, load the compiler's library of blueprints and begin manufacturing things. He mostly used it to make 30mm ammunition for the Sentry Bots' cannons, recycling steel aircraft components to get the ammunition. The compiler could only reassemble existing atoms, not transmute elements via fusion. It could, however, manufacture chems if fed with the right organic precursors, and he'd cultivated enough plant and fungal matter to make a steady supply of drugs and liquor.

 

The exiles needed the computer from the B-52, but knew better than to fuck with a good thing. They invited Hugo to pack up his lab and accompany them back to Vault 25, which was much safer than a museum in the middle of the wasteland. The blue hoods were cool with mutants, they even let a ghoul join their vault in exchange for doing some IT work. Hugo quickly agreed, and they celebrated with an invigorating cocktail of mentats, wasteland whiskey, and the last bottle of Angostura bitters in the Four States Commonwealth.

The exiles and Hugo took the long way around the city, keeping to the outskirts to avoid drawing attention. Only, nobody had told the Sentry Bots that. They made a lot of noise shooting radscorpions and cazadors at the far end of their field of vision, spraying the horizon with bright green tracers and sending thunder rolling across the desert. The team decided to deactivate their automatic target engagement to keep everything quiet, though it was a little late for that. They still waited until dark before closing the last few miles to the trailhead, to reduce the likelihood that someone from the nearby Temple of Mars would spot them. They had to leave the sentry bots at the Pima Wash trailhead - their ball treads couldn't climb the trail up to the hidden canyon.

As the Blue Hoods ushered the group and the precious computer into the vault, the sound of thunder rolled up from the trail below. The sentry bots informed Hugo via the radio link that they had engaged a group of human size targets at the edge of the perimeter. Someone had followed the exiles home, without their knowledge.

Fallout 3 Sentry Bot concept art, by Adam Adamowicz

Overseer Marlowe met the returning exiles in the computer lab, where Ron and Hugo were already fussing over how to connect the B-52's computer to the GECK mainframe. The arrival of the Legion on Vault 25's doorstep was something he had hoped to postpone, but all this did was accelerate his timetable. The exiles were now full members of Vault 25, but he had a job for them if they wanted to ensure their new home actually survived. It was going to be unpleasant.

The Overseer knew of two ways to stop the Legion from besieging Vault 25, permanently. The first was a sample of the New Plague bacillus, held in storage at a CIDR bunker in Marana, or a functioning nuclear warhead in a Titan silo in Glass Valley. Either of these weapons of mass destruction would deal with the barbarians at the gate. The exiles thought this was a little extreme - they weren't huge fans of the Legion either, but using a weapon of mass destruction on Two Sun would kill a lot of people who didn't do anything wrong. Including the Followers of the Apocalypse, the Legion's thousands of slaves, the nearby tribes, and a whole lot of other unaffiliated wastelanders. The Overseer asked if they had a better plan.

The exiles began planning their next expedition.

I've made the game too easy by going light on the random encounters and giving the players lots of ways to avoid fighting. They still have nothing but nice things to say about the system and campaign, so it hasn't become a problem yet. Next session things should pick up - whichever route the players pursue, there are going to be serious challenges ahead. Even with the big pile of deadly hardware the exiles manufacture with their fully upgraded GECK.

 

Hugo was helpful and competent at borderline DMPC levels, but the players didn't seem to mind. I got him offscreen as fast as possible once I realized I had a problem. Now he has an excuse not to follow the players around with his legion of killer robots and neutralize all the gameplay - defending Vault 25 while they go adventuring.