Lone Star Waste

[Nicholiathan]

The Lone Star Waste presented here draws from some material that is not considered cannon. Much was taken from references found on the fallout wiki. Some material found there has been disregarded. This version of the Lone Star Waste is the one I am using for my Fallout PnP game.

Vault 42 is where the story begins. This vault has been sealed since the bombs fell. The vault was well designed with everything the dwellers would need to live a long and healthy life. They even had an indoor race track and sports field. A cavern connected to the vault with a lake provided plentiful water and an "outdoor" space. When the bombs fell 1000 men and women were admitted into this vault located in the subway station in Denton, TX. The door, fitted with a VaultTec special NBC seal, closed and then malfunctioned. A short circuit caused the sealant to catch fire and welded the door shut. As the years pass the citizens of Vault 42 produce offspring at an alarming rate. When the population reaches 4000 the resource capacity of the vault is reaching it's breaking point and drastic measures have to be taken.

When a new dweller is expected in the vault the oldest ancestor begins retirement. A dweller entering retirement is informed of their expected descendants anticipated due dated and relieved of their duties. From that point until the descendant is born the retiree is celebrated by their friends and family. When the baby is born the retiree goes to the medical center and is retired from the population. Thus the Vault maintains a steady population of exactly 4000 residents.

The player are residents of this vault and come from various walks of life within the vault. Nick is a security guard. Clint works in vault store. Vince is grease monkey who repair motorcycle the dweller race on the track. Aerdan is a loner who tend to mushroom farms in the cave. Rudy is an older member of the reactor maintenance crew. Their lives are interupted by two events.

Rudy learns that his daughter is pregnant and he will be entering retirement. Soon after receiving this bit of news fire ants break into the caverns. Several dwellers are killed before security can stop the threat. The event causes a division in the vault. Most fear the outside. A few want to leave the vault. With tensions running high the Overseer decides to send a scout team into the wasteland to survey the situation. They are given orders to not return for 9 months. During their time on the surface they are to assess the feasibility of leaving the vault. They are not to reveal the location of Vault 42 to anyone.

 

[Nicholiathan]

Upon emerging from the ant tunnels into a field the scouting party takes some time for their eyes to adjust to the blinding light. To the south west lies the skeletal remains of Denton and remnants of a road can be seen to the south east. The party has been provided with 10mm pistols a special vault suit according to their abilities and some goods that should be useful for trade along with a two week supply of food. Beyond that they will rely on their own resourcefulness to survive.

As they ponder what to do a strange beast and three people appear over a rise on the road to the north. The beast pulling a cart vaguely resembles a long horn steer from the western flicks shown in the vault but those only had two horns. This beast has over a dozen of varying sizes crowding it's skull. The forelegs are longer and sturdier than the rear legs giving the beast a strange, staggering gate. As the strangers draw closer a war is heard from the other side of the road drawing their attention and weapons. A band of raiders rushes to attack.
With little hesitation several members of the party, Vince, Clint and Nick rush to the combat drawing their firearms to assist the caravan. "I came out here so I wouldn't have to die" Rudy complains as he and Aerdan follow.

After a brief gun fight the raiders lie dead and the carvan and scouting party make introductions to each other. The caravaner, Molly, notes the Vault 42 suits but doesn't pry when the scouting team clams up on the subject. In apriciation for their assistance she shares news of the wasteland. She's traveling from Sand Beach to the north to The Yard south of the Fort Worth Waste. She updates their maps with both locations as well as pointing out DFW and Sky City.

Molly explains a bit about the wasteland to dwellers. DFW is the home of slavers; "There are three ways in as a buyer, seller or as merchandise. You folk aint tough enough to be slavers, and rich enough to be buyers so I advise stayin' away." The Yard is a major settlement built in the old Union Pacific Rail Yard in southern Fort Worth. The settlers there plugged the gaps between the cars on the trains on the outer tracks and used the inner tracks as housing and stores. The town gets power from a pre-war engine that was mostly protected in the service house of the yard and still works with constant attention. Sky City is a well-to-do settlement perched on a highway exchange east of Dallas. You have to be human and wealth to gain entrance. Bellow Sky City is the slum of Under Town populated by ghouls, muttons the impoverished.

After sharing a meal and gossip the party decides to check the ruins of Denton for anything useful that they can salvage and then head on to the yard.

 

[Nicholiathan]

Following tips provided by the Caravaneer Molly the party intends to look into the Denton Police Department, The Super-Duper Mart, a local gun store the may not be picked clean Wright On Target Guns and any prewar homes that are safe enough to enter. After looking the town over with a set of binoculars that they were able trade with Molly for the party decides to hit the PD first.

As they approach their pip boys start clicking away warning of rising radiation levels. Just east of the police department is Atmos Energy Works* and the closer the group gets the higher the rad count goes. They turn south skirting the worst of the rads and fall through a rotting floor into a basement. Here the find little of value, a prewar dress and lab coat. There is a window to an adjoining room a man taps on the glass to gain their attention. He motions to the door pleading with his hands. The door has some fallen rubble against it preventing the man from escaping.

The scouting team start to discuss what to do with the trapped man. Rudy, ignoring the conversation begins to clear the rubble. Seeing this the debate stops and the rest help. When freed, the man introduces himself as Dr. Oliver Atmos. He claims to have been trapped in his lab when the bombs fell. Though he speaks with a Russian accent he says the he is not Russian. The group decide that he is a little on the crazy side but basically harmless. Dr. Atmos then begins to follow the scout team around. Somehow, he eventually becomes part of the team but never really one of them.

After free Atmos, the scouts proceed to the PD. They find it occupied by rad roaches, wild dogs and a single police Protectron still patrolling the jail cells. Vince's skill with a bobby pin comes in handy for the evidence locker where the party finds a few nice weapons including a combat shotgun and quite a bit of ammo. The police motor pool is irradiated so only Vince and Rudy, having the greatest repair skills go in to search, resulting in a running fight back to the more able fighters with a few ghouls chasing and a fair bit of salvage for trade.

The Super-Duper Mart turns into prolonged affair of shifting through the debris for anything useful, killing the rad roaches that are attracted by the disturbances, collecting anything of value then repeating on the next isle. As the group leaves the Super-Duper Mart they notice the sun getting low. They have time to search one more location before dark so they head to the gun store.

A Gun store in ruined town would seem the perfect place to every novice scavenger including every one that had come before Vault 42's scouts. One particularly crafty raider thought to himself "I bet every scavenger in who comes by and sees that sign is going to pop in for a look. I bet if some one were to set up some grenade bouquets, trip lines and bear traps all they'd have to do would be to come by and loot bodies ever few days." So this unknown raider did just that. Aerdan found each of the traps with his advanced Perception and so the group came out with a few grenades and a bear trap.

With that they looked around for a safe or relatively safe place to spend the their first night above ground. In short order they decided to spend the night in the subway station. Upon entering the sub-way station there was little of note, the stairs led to an abandoned ticket station dim flickering lights revealed layers of dust a few skeletons of those who sought shelter here after the bombs fell. On the tracks a single subway car remained those behind it crushed in the collapsed tunnel. As the group entered the subway platform a sight they hadn't expected caught their eye. On the platform across the tracks there was the gigantic gear door with the number 42 in the center. Around the edges of the gear molten material from the sealant failure had leaked out. On the platform in front of the door were about a dozen skeletons from those who sought entry but didn't get in when the bombs fell. Almost everyone in Vault 42 at some point had seen this door from the other side as curiosity would draw them to take a look. Many wastelanders had sought shelter with in this subway station and seen this side of the door. For the first time in over two hundred years, the scouts of Vault 42 became to first to have seen both sides of this door.

After a quiet meal the group settle down guards were set to watch the subway entrance. As night fell ghouls who sought shelter in the dark collapsed tunnel began to wriggle out of their hiding spaces. The group scrambled for their weapons and called to the guards as they were descended upon. The fight was brief but is showed that nowhere in the waste could be considered safe. The next day the scouts spent the morning looting then leaving enough time to reach the town before night fall pushed on to The Yard.

*When preparing the Dallas Wastes I refered to google maps to get the lay of the land and find interesting land marks to use for the game. In the real Denton the rail line is above ground. I made it a subway connecting to the DFW subway system. The train station, now subway station is very close to the Denton Polcie Department and Municipal building. One block to the east is a small commercial building labeled Atmos Energy Corperation. Seeing this I had to bring it into the game. I the Lone Star Waste the Atmos Energy Co. is a retailer of fusion batteries, generators and such. The area has a very high level of radiation.
The character Atmos is of no relation to the sight near where he is introduced. In my gaming group, his player always makes the character that least fits in with the group. When planning this game I took ideas that Clint's player had start Vault 42 was that it would be a control vault built with everything the populace need to survive and thrive. I found that to be too mundane with all the interesting things that happened with VaullTech involved. An experiment was added. The player's actually know what it is but their charcters do not. When the group sat down to create characters I gave them the option of being a vault dweller or wastelander. It was my intent that any wasteland characters would be in Molly's caravan. Atmos' player, always the counterian, decides he wants a human (not a ghoul) who's been trapped in a basement since the bombs fell. We settle on a scavenger who becomes trapped in a basement so long that he begins to lose his mind and now thinks he was around before the bombs fell.

 

[Nicholiathan]

Upon arrival at The Yard the scouting team first sights the wall. The Yard stretches a mile long and width of 70 train tracks. the Two outermost track branch repeatedly at each end to create the width. The trains on each of the outer tracks have had the spaces between the cars filled with junk. Rubble has been shoved below these cars and any doors and windows facing the outside have been sealed tight. Near the eastern end of the yard an opening has been left in the train wall on the north and south sides. Each gate is a bit narrower than the length of a box car. On the second track in a box car, fitted with a harness hitch at each end, can be pulled into or out of the opening by a team of brahmin.

At the Gate the group meets Jonas, The Yard's head of Security. He takes note of their vault suits and pip-boys but doesn't pry. Before admitting the group he explains that they are not to carry more than one fire arm in town and no extra ammunition for that firearm. "Beyond that, behave reasonably, don't cause a ruckus and I won't have to deal with you." The group ask where they might find a place to stay and somewhere to trade. Jonas advises them to seek a room at The NION PAC and there are a number of stores in town.

In the area past the gate is a smallish field where a few brahmin and long-horners are kept. There are a couple of vehicles here as well as Molly's caravan cart in with a few others. Beyond that is the engine house, a large steel building where the train cars could be worked on. Within this structure the original inhabitants of The Yard discovered a train engine with it's reactor still intact. Though incapable of movement this engine supplies power to the yard. The engine house now houses the town's water purifier, the mayor's office and serves as a storm shelter.

Past the engine house the party finds the town proper. Much of the original track is missing. The majority of the train cars that were in the train yard when the bombs fell were either scrapped for parts or used in constructing the walls. Those that were left have become the homes and shops of The Yard's inhabitants. There are several unused train cars left at the west end of the yard. Within the wall there are a few garden patches to supply some of the town's needs.

The NION PAC was once a set of five sleeping cars joined on a single track. The lead car was once a historic Union Pacific car, most of the lettering having faded to illegibility except the portion in the middle that gives the place it's name. The proprietor, Morgan Bergewell, offers rooms for 10 caps per night. Short on caps the group heads into town to barter.

At the The Rail Gun, the town arms merchant, Winslow drives hard bargains in one or two word sentences. He is a Mudge. Originally from one of the SafeCo Vaults* mudges are small people, averaging three feet high covered with coarse fur and have thick hard nails suitable for digging. His shop is in a tanker car. A shop window has been cut in one side with a platform build up to it. Winslow lives in a small space at one end of the tank. When offered or asked for any weapon that isn't a gun he responds "No Junk" and points at one of the many signs this one says "Guns and ammo only." Here the group sells some of the weapons that they scavanged and took from the raider.

They then head to The Salvage Yard. This shop is housed in an old cattle car. The shopkeeper, Jeremy, is a mutton (that is a human with mutations). He's a cheerful fellow but doesn't appear to be very intelligent making up for it in charisma. Jeremy has a stunted third arm growing from his right shoulder. This arm seems to have a mind of its own and will get things from the pockets Jeremy has worked into his jumpsuit or off shelves near by while Jeremy himself seams unaware. The shop it self consists of a few shelves and fixtures scavenged from the ruins along the center of the car and hundreds of items hung from the walls and ceiling of the car. Here the group is able offload most of their junk.

Seeking a meal to eat the scout team has a choice from the Dallas Fryer and the Court Yard. The Dallas Fryer (a dinning car with the first R in Fryer is a red letter from a different sign nailed over the original sign) features a dinning car and with a box car serving as it's kitchen and a refrigerated car for storage on the adjacent track behind. The space between has been filled with a covered walkway. The Court Yard consists of a refrigerated car with three adjacent flatbed cars off tracks forming a platform. Numerous, mismatched chairs and tables fill the platform. Primarily a tavern the Courtyard's crowd typically spills over the platform to the surrounding space on most nights.

The Yard's medical needs are served by Dr. Eli Seravati. He operates from a converted sleeping car. Of the car's original eight sleeping berths, three are used as long term care rooms, two exam rooms, and an office. The last two berths were combined to form the waiting room. Dr. Seravati is highly capable and wears a Vault 71 doctor's coat. He is descended from the survivors of Vault 71 but does not know where that vault is located. With the Lone Star Waste many of the most capable medical practitioners descend from Vault 71's occupants but no-one knows where this mysterious Vault was located. When asked about his Vault suit Dr. Seravati offers to pay for any information concerning the location of Vault 71.

For entertainment The Yard offers Jessie's Sleeping Car, a brothrell, and Snake Eye's Box Cars, a casino. The party visits the casino made from two box cars on adjacent tracks. The space between has been filled with a hallway closed at one end and opening onto a small platform. Overflow seating surrounds the establishment. Above the entrance is the sign with for dice showing "1, 1, 6, 6" the box car on the left has a serial number mostly faded ending in the same number 1166. With-in the establishment a Super-Mutant bouncer sits at the end of the hall. The car on the right has bar made of some doors and barrels with a few small tables and chairs. The car on the right has a craps table and two tables for card games. The owner is Snake Eyes a gambler who came from Underton. When he saw the box car numbered 1166 he settled here and created the casino.

At the far west end of The Yard is the town's religious establishment. The Church of Eternal Suffering led by Brother Abraham. Most of the town ignores this cult. The members seek out suffering to appease god's wrath. They believe god will renew the waste when enough suffering has been felt. They seek to hasten the renewal through their own suffering. Their church is junk construction of corrugated steel featuring a pillar in the middle with manacles hanging high. In front of the church are three sets of stocks where passers by are allowed to whip or hit the adherents for a small donation.

Realizing that they won't be able to stay forever at the Nion Pac the group seeks work in town. They are told of raiders camped at a school near by and a merchant who seeks a BBQ cooker from the RobCo PipBoy Plant. After a bit of deliberation. They decide that the abandoned factory would be safer.

*SafeCo, Muttons & Mudges: These are non-cannon additions to my version of the Lone Star Waste. SafeCo was a competitor to Vault Tech. Instead of going with big government contracts SafeCo went low budget and typically made corporate contracts. A typical SafeCo Vault would be installed in companies head quarters by encasing the first two or three floors in concrete, reinforcing the supports on those floors and basement levels and then filling the next level with concrete and earth. SafeCo Vaults would hold around 100-500 people and would only run for a few years. Because the residents of these vaults had to leave when radiation levels were so high most of them became ghouls. A few of these vaults were able to hold on longer than expected and their residents formed the nucleus of many of the Lone Star Wastes different factions including Underton, The Yard and various tribals and raiders.

Muttons are humans with birth defects. Their mutations range from conjoined twins, tumors, extra limbs, missing limbs, elaphantitis and so forth. Unlike most humans suffering from such conditions every mutton will pass defects to all of their offspring and can live full lives despite their mutation, if they survive their first few years. Mudges are a subset of Muttons. They are an insular group that came from a SafeCo Vault and as their numbers decreased the variety of mutations they experienced dwindled to the point where every mudge has stunted growth, fused 3rd and 4th fingers, thick almost hoof like nails on each finger and bodies covered in thick fur. Most mudges remain in a single community in the Wasteland east of Dallas.