The Vault Dweller's Survival Guide - An Unofficial Fallout RPG
A downloadable game
A few years back, now, a friend of mine wanted to run a Fallout set RPG campaign. At first we used Fifth Edition D&D, with tons of homebrew. It was... ehhh. Not the right system. Then we tried the official Fallout RPG and while it certainly is beautiful and many have said it works for them, it never really worked for us either. That was that for a while. Now and then I would search for another system that could 'run fallout in it' but they were never quite right. They always missed some integral point or another.
SO!! Now presenting: The Vault Dweller's Survival Guide! A passion project over the last month released to coincide with the Fallout TV series. A simple d12, roll under, based system that tries to capture the feel of the fallout games as best it can.
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Development log
- Some Small Updates11 days ago
Comments
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I just found this not too long ago and it's perfect for my needs!
Strikes a really good balance between straightforward easy-to-grasp mechanics and spot-on fallout feel, especially compared to most other Fallout TTRPGS. I'm very excited to see more content going forward.
Excellent work!
Okay - So sat down with this with my partner and can honestly say this is the best version of a Fallout RPG that keeps the camp feel that /is/ Fallout (made an account just to tell you) the random mutations is such a fun idea, read comment below about a monster manual of sorts will it be just for a certain area such as Washington state or will it cover across America?
Will you be home brewing some new things to add to it for unheard about or only hinted at areas?
Also did you do the art for this manual? Its very crisp and adds so much to it
Thank you for releasing this going to naw on it more and start planning a campaign 🙌
Thank you so much!! In the process of planning a campaign myself with it currently, so best of luck to your own endeavours!!
As for art - the interior art is all taken from in-game assets with the exception of the Super Mutant and Ghoul art for the mutant medical history; I couldn't find a perk icon that used a ghoul or super mutant in that classic style so I busted out the ol' image editing software and made them myself, with designs largely inspired by how they are seen in some fallout 76 UI elements. The cover is an edit of some existing resources. Finally, the character sheet is all me!
As for the Mutant Menagerie; its gonna try and cover all the big, wasteland wide, creatures and enemies one might face. It wont have more unique/specific things like the spore carriers, mothmen, or wanamingos... at least, that isn't the current plan! At the very least it should provide enough examples that folk brewing up their own mutants and monsters shouldn't be too hard to do!
Are there any special rules for making an NPC, especially in regards to combat? the only thing I can see on the topic is that a player character needs to make a Luck check & take the NPC's weapon damage on a fail whenever the NPC attacks them; nothing about how much health they have or whatever else that needs covering.
FOR NOW that is up to DM brewing - but a 'mutant menagerie' (monster manual) is in the works currently. Had just wanted to release the main chunk since it was done!
I'm looking forward to it!
I think this is a great option for a lightweight Fallout game that still definitely feels like Fallout. So far, I've read most of the text closely, skimmed the entire book, and made a character. Some highlights for me were the radiation system and the weapon traits (particularly the automatic and charging traits). The way rad damage is taken and then the mutations that can result from that feels like a really good fit here with an easy to understand system and fun, creative potential with the mutations. The risk/reward of certain weapons because of their traits also adds some really satisfying "crunch" to the game. Roll under systems are often not my personal go-to (I generally prefer the clarity and flexibility of "big number good"), but the mechanics here make it feel really smooth, still satisfying, and able to accommodate variation across contexts. Whenever I get a chance to run a game in the Fallout universe, this is the system I'll be picking up! I might even make some content for it and would love to see others do the same.
One super tiny suggestion that has nothing to do with the game itself: Because it was exported from PowerPoint, the file's "Title" in the metadata is set to PowerPoint Presentation, which is how the tab is labeled if I open the file up in Acrobat or my browser. If you have Acrobat, the fix is to go File --> Properties or Document Properties and there is an editable field for the Title. Clearing this field will make the tab label match the file's name. It was easy for me to do, but not everyone has Acrobat, so having the original files without a title in the metadata would probably ease the user experience a bit.
Ooooh!! I've never been able to figure out how to deal with the 'PowerPoint Presentation' problem until now, thank you!! Reuploaded with the fixed version!
Glad you enjoyed it, really appreciate the feedback!
There is misstype in step 3 of character creation it says to choose a Tier 1 weapon but there is not a table for Tier 1 weapons just Tier 2 and up
Fixed! Thank you for pointing out - both me and the friend I had check it both managed to miss it.
Welcome read the whole thing thought it was very on brand and a great lite fallout experience hope you (or someone) make more I'd love a advanced version with more combat rules
Hey thanks so much for this, only ever really found DnD homebrew shit before for Fallout so this was a huge find you watch the tv show? It restarted my fire to play and run a game so thank you!