Fallout: Capital Wasteland - Reimagining Fallout 3

I started thinking about Fallout 3 again and what would happen if you turned it upside down. Here's the result:

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Fallout: Capital Wasteland

Introduction
This version of Bethesda’s Fallout 3 is called Fallout: Capital Wasteland and uses the exact same map as Fallout 3. The mod is based on Tale of Two Wastelands so that it can utilize the upgrades of Fallout: New Vegas. The goal is to feature the same content as Bethesda's Fallout 3 did but to do it in a twisted way with things put on their head. A simple twist like that will actually make the game better. Another important point is to make the game be in accordance with the previously established lore of Fallout 1 and 2.

In Fallout: Capital Wasteland the plot is structured in the same way as Fallout 1 and 2. There’s no other way to do it. The protagonist lives in a small community that is connected to the DC Metro. The main quest starts with a time limit and you have to find out what’s poisoning the groundwater before the area becomes unlivable. After you have completed the first part of the main quest you are once again sent out into the world to defeat an even greater threat to your home.

You can play however you want. Pacifist play-through is supported as well as killing everyone.

All characters from Fallout 3 remain by name although their character has been altered to make them make more sense and be less cringe. They can also have switched location.

There are no super mutants (except Fawkes), no BoS, no Enclave, no centaurs and almost no deathclaws.

The main quest
You live in a settlement inside the DC ruins. The main quest starts by you being summoned by the village elders saying that the groundwater is starting to become contaminated in nearby areas and that you need to find out why before it becomes entirely undrinkable. There’s still some reserve of clean water gathered from rain. But the water collected in barrels will not be enough if the wells become entirely poisoned. With poisonous ground water the people living in the DC ruins will kill each-other altogether in a desperate fight over the last drops. That must not happen!

You, the Lone Wanderer, can travel by using the metro tunnels or even above ground if there’s not too many violent gangs around. DC is gang territory and they are not friendly. In Rivet City you finally get to hear about Project Purity. Led by the sociopath doctor James of Vault 101 the goal of Project Purity is to purify the DC area from all human and mutant garbage that have survived there since the war. They are considered a threat to the future of the pure people of the vaults.

You can side with Reilly's Rangers, the only somewhat good force in DC, to stop Project Purity. They also hold the Pentagon now as the Brotherhood of Steel isn’t in this game. Reilly is a man this time stressing the fact that this is a more grounded version of the capital wasteland.

Either you stop Project Purity or you don’t. If you don’t the game will end. Doctor James will send you with an armed squad to get your reward for helping him achieve his goals, however that’s only talk, instead they will just shoot you and dump your body into the river.

If you instead decide to stop Project Purity and return to your settlement that’s not the end of the game. Before he died Doctor James talked about the possibility to use an undetonated nuclear bomb to finish his task. This bomb would achieve his goal just the same and he drops some hint as to it’s rumoured whereabouts. Doctor James came from Vault 101, one of the more important settlements in the newly established United Federation of Vaults (UFV), which is led by the sentient ZAX series supercomputer calling itself John Henry Eden. The ZAX computer is located at Raven Rock and has managed to become the Director of the United Federation of Vaults. It’s a Vault 0 kind of gig where John Henry Eden has taken upon himself to coordinate the local vaults into rebuilding society.

By radio John Henry Eden unified Vault 87 and Vault 101 after the apocalypse and guided their residents when they emerged to the surface again. With his guidance the residents of the vaults have built walled cities on the surface outside and used their GECK’s to create fertile land for themselves. They grow their own crops which is a huge advantage compared to other communities in the wastes. Their population is booming and they have schools, medical facilities and everything. Having pre-war maps and intel on the DC area supplied by John Henry Eden they have gathered most of the pre-war military equipment to be found. The United Federation of Vaults are thus well armed with the military equipment from Raven Rock and other former military areas. They feel threatened by the dirty masses of wastelanders who have lived outside of the vaults for generations since the bombs.

After Project Purity failed next up for John Henry Eden is to get his hands on an undetonated nuclear bomb that is rumoured to be found somewhere in the Capital Wasteland. With it he can nuke DC one final time to end it’s threat to his precious federation of vaults.

After having stopped Project Purity you return to your settlement but instead of giving you a warm welcome the elders are agitated by the attempt to eliminate the residents of the DC ruins. From the information you have gathered thus far they know there will come a second blow. Your task is now to gather some additional information on your enemy. When you are done scouting the plan is made to find that undetonated nuclear bomb Doctor James threatened with. With it you will nuke Raven Rock and then enter the facility to disable John Henry Eden.

Here comes the weak part of the plot. After you have stopped Project Purity John Henry Eden will come to realize that you carry a lot of potential. He will thus ask you to work for him to find the nuke. Why you would even consider that after stopping Project Purity is over my head however I feel the player must have the choice to side with either faction. If the player decides to work for the president then he will be allowed to enter the different Vault Cities.

The bomb is kept in secret by a small sect called the Children of the Atom. They are all ghouls and they reside in a cavern located somewhere below the DC metro. When you have secured the nuke you will have to bring it to the Wheaton Armory for launch. It’s either brought there by Reilly’s Rangers or by a special retrieval team sent by John Henry Eden. Use it to nuke Raven Rock or give it to John Henry Eden so that he can nuke DC one more time and get rid of all the human and mutated garbage who haunt that place. If you do the later then the game ends.

Raven Rock is nuke proof so the bomb will only take out defences and shake things up. To dispose of the ZAX computer you have to enter the base yourself.

If you are on a pacifist run you can disable the nuke and then talk or sneak your way into Raven Rock. Once inside you can disable John Henry Eden in several different ways. You can blow him up using explosives (maybe not so pacifist), using speech you can talk him into giving up his plan and let DC be. You can also use intelligence to manipulate him into losing his self consciousness and then he will regress into just being a plain old computer again.

When John Henry Eden is dealt with the United Federation of Vaults will be disbanded. Vault 87 and Vault 101 will still collaborate but they wont be led by a megalomaniac any more. Life in the capital wasteland will return to something a little more normal.

Other things
The Talon Company is hired by John Henry Eden to kill the rabble in DC. However they are not successful enough and that’s why he sanctioned first Project Purity and later the search for the nuke. As you can read in the wiki it's said that the Talon Company is working for an unknown third party. Who that is isn't explained in Bethesda's Fallout 3. But now we know it was John Henry Eden.

There are actual mutated snakes in the DC Metro who mainly feed on rats. There’s also a cult called the Tunnel Snakes who live in the metro and who breed and worship the snakes. They are avid snake handlers just like the Gyro Captain in Mad Max 2 (pop culture reference). You could go as far as to say that the Tunnel Snakes rule the metro since they are it's biggest faction. That's nothing they would say themselves though. Also the snake eater perk is brought back!

There’s also rumoured to be a hard to find mega snake that has killed a lot of tunnel dwellers. It's a god to the Tunnel Snakes and it's an honour for them to be taken by it. They don't know where it has it's nest but if you investigate disappearances you can find a likely location. It resides in an area under the DC metro (reference to Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets). You have to pass that chamber to enter the Church of the Children of the Atom and get to the nuke they are safeguarding.

Children of the Atom are not some random people worshipping a bomb in Megaton. Now they are Ghouls who safeguard it, however over time they have also come to worship it. The whole thing is a reference to the Telepath mutants who worship the divine bomb in Beneath the Planet of the Apes. They will not give up their cherished bomb just like that so you either need to convince them, or kill them.

Little Lamplight is an actual society based on Logan's Run, Children of the Corn and similar. When someone turns 21 they are killed. Teen pregnancy is common and also needed to generate more children. There are a lot of homeless children who roam the wastes, since humanity is once again plagued by high birth rates and people dying off leaving their children as orphans. Some of those orphans eventually find their way to Little Lamplight and make it their new home. You can later lure Doctor James' 19 year old son (the protagonist of Bethesda's Fallout 3) to Little Lamplight knowing that he will be killed when he turns 21. He lives in the vault city of Vault 101 and he is a bit rootless since his fathered died.

This time there are real vampires to be had, or rather nocturnal albino mutants and they are a reference to the creatures in The Omega Man. The sun hurts them and they mostly sleep during daytime however they always have some guards posted in case of attack.

The group of nocturnal albino mutants are frequently attacked by a Allistair Tenpenny (The Omega Man) and you can side with either him or the vampire mutants. Mr. Tenpenny still resides in the home that has been in his family for generations. The building is one of the few that still stands and, this time it’s located within DC. He lives there with his loving wife and his good natured children. To him his family home is the best place for his children to grow up and it also was until his new neighbours moved in. Since the nocturnal albino mutants decided to make a nearby metro station their new home the conflict has been ongoing, especially since they killed Mr. Tenpennys oldest son (by mistake). It has become personal for both Mr. Tenpenny and the mutants. Side with either of them or kill them all. You can also convince the mutants to move if you first find them a new possible home. Vault 106 is a good candidate but first you have to clear it out.

Three Dog is a self obsessed radio host living in a settlement run by DC's largest gang, the Family Nation. The Family Nation deals in drugs and they also use all manner of gang tactics to gain advantages over others. Protection rackets, extortion and taking hostages. Three Dog isn't out on the streets and he isn't involved in the gang stuff, in reality he is just a loud mouth and can't pull a punch. He runs a local radio show from the old Galaxy Radio News station where he constantly taunts members of other gangs and communities. He can be very vicious sometimes. It's a joy when you finally get to kill him. If you don't he will be kinder on radio after you have stopped Project Purity.

Some examples of his radio hosting:
"Thrrreeee Dooooggg! That's me, kids. Comin' to you taped from my fortified bunker in the middle of the D.C. hellhole. Ain't life grand?" “We about to pop some joint, bitches!”
“Yeah, right. You're a fucking virgin. I doubt you even got as far as a handshake with girl.“

Since there are no Super Mutants in the capital wasteland the DC ruins are instead plagued by gangs and most of the former super mutant encounters are now replaced by gang members, and mainly from the Family Nation. When not fighting other gangs they are involved in heavy fighting with the Talon Company or Reilly's Rangers.

Megaton is a fortified favela style settlement built in a crater from a bomb that detonated a hundred years ago. It's mainly a collection of depressing shacks. However it's run and protected by the good natured Lucas Simms and his fellow gunmen. If it weren’t for them the place would fall apart in no time.

Being located so close to the Vault City built around Vault 101 it's considered a threat by the United Federation of Vaults. The only reason it still stands is because it's poor residents are being used as cheap labour by the UFV military. They clear rubble, build roads and do other forms of hard work which isn’t suitable to the citizens of UFV. If John Henry Eden wins then they will all be killed though, Megaton will be demolished and the crater will be refilled. The presence of it unknown to future generations.

Moira Brown is a spoiled brat living in the Vault City of Vault 101. Although Moira's reading has taught her a wide variety of useful knowledge she has nearly no actual experience with the world. You can feed her all manner of made up bullshit stories about the Wastes that she will gladly put in her book. The book will then eventually be trashed by reviewers for being pure fantasy.

Fawkes is a Super Mutant from the former super mutant army. The super mutant army disbanded after the death of the Master and he has since travelled across America. He is now imprisoned in Vault 87 and you can free him to get him as a late game companion. He is the only connection to the West Coast and what happened there. Fawkes passed through Pittsburgh on his way to DC and lost his companion there, who is now a slave. Fawkes was then chased out and eventually captured and turned prisoner in Vault 87. After you have completed the main quest you can travel to “the Pitt” with Fawkes in an alternate version of that DLC.

The creatures in the game are Radscoripons, Mirelurks, Yao Guis, Mole Rats, Boat Flyes, Dogs, Wolves, Fire Ants and Radroaches. There are also Brahmins of course. Only one small pack of Deathclaws exists, as a hard to find easter egg sort off. They live in a cave on the western border of the map. Although the Vault Dweller made a serious blow to the Deathclaws of LA they managed to breed and a few of them eventually found their way eastwards across the country. This is the most eastern pack.

Feral Ghouls didn’t exist on the west coast however they exist on the east coast. We need some twisted humanoid enemies instead of centaurs and floaters.

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Well there you have it! What did you think? Do you have other ideas? Are there more things we can twist?

 

Thank you! I'm glad you read it since you have done so much rewriting yourself and is a master of sorts.

How about this? The elders in you settlement have heard of Project Purity from other wasteland dwellers. They are bothered by it and send you to find out what's going on. If you are so inclined you can actually join Doctor James and help him complete Project Purity. You didn't like your life in the DC ruins after all and now you are promised a life in Vault City 101. However when the Purifier is engaged it turns out that you cannot poison the groundwater by using components from a dismantled GECK, so nothing happen. Doctor James have failed and is embarrassed. He is nothing but a madman.

To clear the DC ruins of it's inhabitants the only option that remains to John Henry Eden is to find that intact nuclear bomb. It's already in a cave under the city so all you need to do is to detonate it. However since Reilly's Rangers have listened in on that radio transmission they know of the plan and will try to get to the nuke before you. And then they will use it to nuke Raven Rock.

This way it will be a more believable option for you to join the other side.

That's true. What would the BoS and Enclave be like in Fallout 3 if we kept them and turned things upside down?

However I really don't like the idea of BoS or Enclave on the east coast so I rather just swap them.

Thanks!

My god I forgot about the Vipers! I really liked the idea though since it let me repurpose the Tunnel Snakes into something creepy.

Since the Vipers aren't in Fallout 1 it kind of works. And we don't see them during their snake cult days. However since the sorry remnants of them are in the Mojave that kind of implies that they are part of the Fallout lore.

I agree that two snake cults might be one to many. Still we haven't seen any active snake cults in-game. I guess I have to kill this darling... But what should be done with the Tunnel Snakes?

I agree! I couldn't decide on which one so that's why I only gave them two. Vault 106 is given to the nocturnal albino mutants. It will remain as it is in Fallout 3 until you clear it for them.

After having given it some thought the United Federation of Vaults will also be given Vault 92 and Vault 108. There were no experiments conducted there in this version of Fallout 3. They were just plain old vaults and now they have expanded using GECK's and are actual vault cities and part of UFV.

I really like the idea of Vault 112 only that I want the simulation to be more twisted. If it has run for a 100 years then there must be some sickening things going on there by now. It's like the worst Black Mirror episode you can think of.

Good point! I thought of doing something with the Replicated Man quest but I forgot about it. It needs to be done better than in Fallout 3 and maybe set things up for a sequel on the East Coast.

@Atomic Postman I really liked this post by you and it would be cool to merge some of your ideas with this.

Some more:

The Protectron is really cool but since it isn't in Fallout 1 or 2 it should only be present as an easter egg in reference to Forbidden Planet. Or would you say it's a good addition to Fallout?

Although Mr. Tenpenny doesn't live in the Tenpenny Tower building it still stands. It's called the Overview Hotel in this version (reference to Overlook Hotel). It's a fleshed out location and it's centered around gambling and other vices. Both wastelanders and shady citizens of the UFV come here and it's the only place where they intermix. Gambling and prostitution are not allowed in the vault cities.

Here you can buy/threaten yourself into a gate pass so that you can enter the different locations controlled by the UFV, unless you are already working for them.

 

Thank you!

Agreed! They are no longer there. Thank you for the suggestions on other creatures.

The examples you give are valid points. Part of me agree with your point and I would have agreed 100% a few years ago. However something have changed since, I dunno why, but strong women must be done very carefully for it to feel right. That's my current opinion. It might be because it has been done so very badly during the last years.

Agreed!

Thank you! And go ahead! Any particular ideas you liked?

That's very true! I started that way but somehow I ended up with the two parts of the main quest being directly related to each other.

That's Vault 108. For it to be added to the federation is must be made a bit more functioning so that there's a point to it. I will need to ponder it and the potential connection to the replicated man as you suggested.

I realised that as soon as I had put it in print and pressed send. It would be ludicrous if you couldn't add new robots to Fallout because they weren't in the first two games.

 

I was thinking that cloning device would be very valuable to either the Enclave or BoS...

However using clones as soldiers might be a bit to much Star Wars.

 

Super Mutants should clone themselves then! They have a problem with sterility.