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I just decided to make a Fallout RP anyway, instead of an original universe. Maybe I'll return to that at a later date.

The Windy City- Welcome to Chicago

Situated on the border of Lake Michigan, Chigago was the third largest city in the USA before the Great War devastated the country. A huge hub of commerce and industry, the city was also the home of an expanding number of military bases in the years approaching 2077, due to its proximity to the annexed and unstable Canada.

Now, the city is a ruin. A mere fraction of its pre-war glory, the city was targeted by hundreds of Chinese nuclear weapons during the two hours of the Great War, and reduced to a skeleton of ash and rubble. The great skyscrapers and towers that once dominated the city skyline have fallen, with the exception of the amazingly intact Sears Tower, which still continues to be the defining landmark of the remaining city.

The safest places remaining are the suburban areas. This is where you will begin your story, and this is where you are most likely to stay alive. The further you push into the city, the more likely you are to run into a pocket of radiation, a pack of ghouls or a gang of raiders. But you aren't expecting to find any goodies in the outer areas of the city, are you?

Places Of Interest

Lake Michigan

On the border of the city, Lake Michigan is incredibly irradiated. Radioactive waste and ooze seeps into the city daily, and deadly Mirelurks infest the shores. This area is best avoided.

Vault 94

Designed as part of the Vault Experiment, Vault 94 was purposely fitted with a contaminated reactor, which slowly seeped trace amounts of radiation into the corridors of the supposed safe haven. The residents were unable to detect this due to the incorrect software on their Pipboys and mainframe, so even after they had all become ghoulified, they were clueless as to why. Some chose to leave the Vault, and went on to found the few pockets of civilisation left in the city, while others chose to remain, eventually turning feral. Now, the Vault is a ravaged deathtrap, flooded with radiation, mutated creatures and dead ends. Many of the Feral Ghouls nesting in the Vault spill out across the cityscape during the day, providing no end of trouble for adventurers.

Chead

Named after a partially destroyed street sign on its main road, Chead is a sizeable settlement populated mainly by drifters with no other place to go. The majority of the town is made up of surviving suburban houses and streets, and it expands across five roads, surrounded by a makeshift defensive wall. There is some trade with the outside, and the settlement is mostly a safe place to settle down in, although Raider attacks are sometimes a problem. Due to limited space however, no more settlers are allowed to take up residence in Chead, although travellers will be allowed to visit in daylight hours if they agree to disarm. A group of mercs known as the Slashers are based here.

Bellevue

Situated in the pre-war Bellevue Hotel and adjacent plaza, Bellevue is smaller and less stable than Chead. Originally formed by some wandering Ghouls from Vault 94 but now occupied by a mixture of humans and ghouls, this tiny settlement is about as close as travellers can get to the Skyline before they enter the point of no return. Travellers are accepted, and may take refuge and trade, provided they have the right stuff to trade with. Due to its proximity to the more dangerous part of town however, there is no guarantee of safety in Bellevue, as the town is threatened by Raiders, Ghouls and critters every day.

The Skyline

The most mysterious part of town, the Skyline has no laws, no civilisation and no escapees. When people enter the Skyline, they do not return. Although there are plenty of dangers across all the ruins of Chicago, the Skyline is by far the most dangerous. It is the location of the Sears Tower, a huge skyscraper that has somehow managed to survive the Great War relatively intact. A thick smog still surrounds the area, and feral ghouls and animals use it as their hunting ground. Savage raiders often congregate here, and they shoot anything that isn't them on sight. Most mysterious are a group simply known as the Reapers. Rarely seen outside of the Skyline, they are said to be great hulking shining men with twisted and distorted faces, with glowing orange eyes and advanced weaponry. None who they encounter are ever seen again. 

Enemy Guide

Dogs

While they are not as common as in cities like Denver, wild dogs still roam the ruins of Chicago, particularly in the suburban areas. Many of them are dangerous if antagonised.

Raiders

The most numerous human enemies, Raiders are psychotic, chem-addled cannibalistic murderers. They will shoot on sight, and will keep firing until they die or flee. Watfh out, as some are well equipped from military bases.

Radscorpions and Yao Guai

The most notable of the mutated animals in the ruins, some of the smaller predators such as Mole Rats pale in comparison to these opponents. Radscorpions have a tough exoskeleton and carry a deadly venom, and Yao Guai are lightning fast and capable of ripping a limb off in one swipe of their claws.

Deathclaws and Centaurs

Nobody is truly sure as to how these two abominations of nature arrived in the Windy City, but that's not first on your concern list. Centaurs are horribly disfigured and misshapen mutants, but provide little danger to a well-equipped adventurer. Deathclaws are huge clawed monstrosities that will charge at inhuman speeds at any living thing they see, and rip it to pieces soon after.

Reapers

By far the most mysterious danger in the Skyline, the Reapers have never been glimpsed up close, due to their habit of killing or capturing any sentient beings they see. Witnesses claim they are large bulky men with twisted faces and metallic skin. Some even claim that they have seen Reapers of a glowing green colour, similar to that of Glowing One ghouls.

Character Sheet

Name (should be fairly obvious, any first, second or nicknames you may have):
Gender (M/F will be fine):
Race (human or ghoul. Ghouls are unaffected by faint levels of radiation, but receive two less SPECIAL points):
Physical appearance (A general summary of what your character looks like):
SPECIAL (see the SPECIAL guide in notes):
Tag skills (The three skills you excel in. See notes):
Traits (Up to two. See notes):
Background (if you want your character to have one):
Motive (why your character is here):
Starting Equipment (no more than three weapons and one bit of body apparel.):
Supplies (up to 10lbs in weighted aid, and up to 5 weightless chems):

Notes

The SPECIAL system

The seven SPECIAL categories are Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility and Luck. Each category begins at one. Humans have 33 points to spread between them, and Ghouls have only 31 due to their decrepit bodies. Your choice of SPECIALS will affect how your character performs in different situations. For more information, click here.

Tag Skills

NOTE: All skills used are from the recent Fallout: New Vegas adaption, meaning that Doctor has been replaced with Medicine, Outdoorsman has been replaced with Survival, Throwing and Traps are incorporated into Explosives and Melee Weapons, and Big Guns are placed in Guns, Energy Weapons or Explosives category depending on their method of damage.

It is assumed that your character will have basic skills in all areas (with more talents in some, depending on your SPECIAL). However, there will be three areas that they excel in. These can be picked as your tag skills, and they will affect how you survive, and what use you will be to others. For your own good, it is recommended that you select at least one combat-related tag. Peaceful people don't last long in the ruins. For more information and a list of skills, click here.

Traits

To add some variety to the game and avoid the issues of levelled perks, I have decided to allow players to select up to two traits from any Fallout game to their character. This is entirely optional, as every trait has disadvantages as well as advantages. These can be used for character depth, or to give yourself a bit of a boost in a certain area. For more information and a list of traits, click here.

Further Notes

-I am the DM. You will acknowledge that, and trust me to keep the story going.
-Chicago has actually been mentioned in Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood Of Steel. As the game is considered non-canonical however, I've built up this city from scratch.
-Your character's personality should come out in the roleplay, but you can begin to build on it with background, motive, SPECIAL, Tag skills and traits.
-A motive is important. There has to be a reason for your character to be in such a dangerous place, and providing one will help everyone story-wise.
-Be reasonable with your equipment choices. A character with a Minigun, Thermic Lance, Experimental MIRV and T51b Power Armour is over the top. A character with Metal Armour, an R91 Assault Rifle, Hatchet and Frag Grenades is more reasonable. Bear in mind that ammo will be an issue, so the overpowered weapons would be difficult to fire anyway.
-Put "Bonk! Atomic Bomb" in your post if you bothered to read everything.
-This is a fun RP, mainly focused on a nice story and character progression rather than dice rolls and serious decisions. Don't expect any calculations and number crunching.
-You can choose to join up with other players to achieve your motive, or go it alone. There will be plenty of player interaction involved.
-Remember, your primary goal is survival. Do everything you can to make sure you stay hydrated, energised, rad-free and armed at all times.

Okay, that should do for now. Have fun!

Oh hell yeah! I'll join this.
And just so I don't forget to include it in my character post later on: Bonk! Atomic monkeys

Why not? If you've never played Fallout, join anyway! This is mostly a unique settig, so I can PM you with the stuff from the universe you need to know.

It's not that I've never played fallout. It's that I'll be leaving for the Navy in a couple weeks. Ironically, bootcamp is in Chicago too

But... If someone else can take over my character when I leave, then I will surly join.

Sir_Cuthulhu's leaving on January 10th.

Oh... Well, you can always make a character, then give him a glorious death in combat when the time comes. It would be a nice way to see your way out

I hope this RP hasn't given you a bad impression of Chicago. I hear it's quite a nice
place.

I guess you could call him the Mysterious Scientist.

And also: "Bonk! Atomic Bomb"

Name: Johnathan (Jono)
Gender: Male
Race: Human (no furries?)
Age: 20
Physical Appearance: Fox ears and tail... Tall and slim. His constant travelling have toned him into a fit figure. He has long, bushy, unkempt red hair, a thin short nose and piercing green eyes.
SPECIAL: S: 3, P: 7, E: 4, C: 5, I: 5, A:5, L:4 - TOTAL = 33
Tag skills: Guns, Lockpick & Repair
Traits: Finesse & One in a Million
Background: Jono doesn't know much about himself. He had a family once, though he can't remember them. For some reason he know how to fire a gun and pick a lock, so he went with that. Drifting from town to town; scavenging, stealing, whatever gets him through the next day.
Motive: Chicago was just the next stop on his endless journey. He has heard of valuable good near the center, so he thought he may check that out.
Starting Equipment: Sniper Rifle, 44. Magnum Revolver, Combat Knife and Reinforced Leather Armour.
Supplies: Multiple Clips for both his Sniper and Revolver, a Whetstone for his knife and assorted medical supplies. Whatever food he can scavenge and a few bobby pins. He doesn't carry any chems as he believes they only impare, not aid.

PS: "Bonk! Atomic Bomb"

Name: Matthew
Gender:M
Race: Human
SPECIAL: S:6, P: 6, E: 9, C:2, I,4, A:2, L:4
Tag skills): Explosives, Guns, Sneak
Traits:None
Background:
Motive: Matthew came to Chicago simply for the action. Hearing of the area around the Sears tower, his motive is to go there.
Starting Equipment: bag of C-4, Hunting Rifle, Displacer Glove, Metal Armor
Supplies:5 stimpaks, various items of food, a few bobby pins, No chems

Boink! Atomic Bomb

Name: Caulfield
Gender & Race: Male Ghoul
Age: Pre-war ghoul
Special: S:4, P:4, E:10, C:1, I:8, A:2, L:2
Tag Skills: Science, Medicine, Unarmed
Traits: one in a million, Bloody Mess
Background: Caulfield was a 19 year old USN recruit who was living in Chicago when the Great War happened. The radiation made him a ghoul, and he nearly went feral, losing most memories of his pre-war life, as well as rendering him unable to speak. He can't remember his real name, and started calling himself Caulfield after he found and read an old copy of Catcher in the Rye. He is actually kind and extremely intelligent, in spite of his appearance and inability to form words. He always wears a gas mask with with adjustable tint on the goggles, because his eyes are very sensitive to light.
Motive: A gifted scientist, he is researching a way to reverse the effects of radiation on humans and ghouls. He had once nearly completed his work, but before he could perfect the formula, his lab, along with all of his research and notes, were destroyed by Enclave Soldiers. He's now struggling to keep himself from going feral, as well as continue his research.
Starting weapons: hatchet, survival knife, a pair of leather gloves that have electrified metal plates on the knuckles.
Starting clothes: Worn, black and blue coveralls, that have been reinforced with thin pieces of metal salvaged from a ship's hull. On his feet he wears a pair of beat up combat boots.
Supplies: 3 stimpaks, various electrician's tools, 3 bottles of purified water
Bonk! Atomic Bomb

I'll post my sheet tomorrow. King Acunasti = tired as hell.

STUPID, STUPID, STUPID ME.

Right, I've added the supplies and physical appearance areas into the character sheets that I was dumb enough to forget, so you need to update your character profiles with them. I've also provided and enemy guide that will tell you what the biggest threats to your safety are. I'll post my character sheet in a bit, and then we can begin.

Alrighty, Updated my character Veck.

Name: Les
Gender: Male
Race: Ghoul

Physical appearance: Just over 6' tall, thin build. No hair. Wears wraparound sunglasses, denim pants w/ reinforced knees, a white T-shirt, leather gloves and work boots. On his waist sits a large belt with many pouches attached; this carries ammunition and other supplies.

SPECIAL:4/4/3/8/3/6/3
Tag skills: Guns, Barter, Speech
Traits: Fast Shot

Background: Les has a quick wit and a forked tongue, preferring to talk his way into, or out of any situation, although this is sometimes made difficult by his appearance. Recently arrived in Chicago from further north, immediately traveling to Bellevue for safe haven. Having used up all his caps, plans to investigate the nearby Vault, and to enter the Skyline.

Motive: In search of the things he needs to survive, and perhaps a bit more that his fair share.

Starting Equipment: Combat knife, Service Rifle

Supplies: 4 bottles of water, 3 servings of pre-war food, and 2 stimpaks.

Name: Natalie South
Gender: F
Race: Human after all
Physical appearance: Young, medium height and build. Long brown kempt hair. Deep blue eyes. Hispanic.
SPECIAL: 5/6/5/5/6/7/6
Tag skills: Guns, Repair, Sneak
Traits: Finesse, Sex Appeal
Background: South originally worked as an agent for a large faction in the remains of Vermont known as the Claws. Using stealth, skill and seduction, she infiltrated and sabotaged the efforts of rival tribals and armies in the region. She would also work as a thief, analysing, sabotaging and stealing the resources of her enemies, which has given her some skill with tinkering. Eventually growing tired of the destruction she was causing, she left the group peacefully and moved West, seeking another way.
Motive: South knows that the Sears Building is special, and her natural curiousity and affinity for technology means that she wants to get there and find out what it is.
Starting Equipment: Infiltrator Assault Rifle, Silenced 12.7mm Pistol, Combat Knife. An Assassin Outfit with a scavenged Pip-Boy 2000 model.
Supplies (up to 10lbs in weighted aid, and up to 5 weightless chems): 3 bottles of Purified Water, a Trail Mix and 2 Brahmin Steaks for food, a Stealth Boy and Weapon Repair Kit for when the situation arises. 2 Stimpaks, Med-X, RadAway and Party Time Mentats for chems.

I'll wait around for a few hours to give people some time to update their characters and give other people a chance to join if they want to. I'll start this at midnight tonight, GMT.

Oh, go on. I'll be daring. I've wanted to do another RP for a while, anyway.

Name: Jordan 'Switch' Mitchell
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Physical appearance: Mid twenties, tall and thin with long, straggly red hair and grey eyes. He is of a distinct Caucasian descent.
SPECIAL: 4/6/4/4/8/4/3
Tags: Science, Guns, Lockpick
Traits: Fast Metabolism

Background: A self-proclaimed 'technology god', Jordan is lean, mean, but not exactly hard-wearing. He spent most of his childhood in Washington DC, under the care of his single father, a Brotherhood Scribe in the DC chapter, and became obsessed with all things robotic, mechanical and otherwise technical, and gained his nickname in the process. He has a particular interest in building and maintaining small combat robots.

Motive: Unimpressed with the DC Brotherhood's preference for hunting Super Mutants over technology, he declined to become a fully-fledged Scribe and headed for the densely-packed military bases of Chicago in the hope of finding new hardware to study and adapt.

Starting Equipment: 9mm Pistol, Double-Barrelled Shotgun, fourteen lockpicks, tool kit.
Supplies: Jet, Rad-Away, 3 Stimpacks, 4 bottles of Purified Water, 3 boxes of Blamco Mac & Cheese, bottle of Wine, 2 Nuka-Colas.

Bonk atomic what ever can't sentence properly. I feel silly.

"Hello, and welcome to the Rob-Co Unified Operating System," came the faint voice from the terminal, "Please enter the correct password."

"Shut up," South murmured as she disconnected the speakers from the back panel, "This is hard enough without having to listen to you."

Fumbling with the door lock one last time, she decided against wasting her last bobby pin on it, and turned her attention fully towards the nearby terminal. Fiddling around with the circuitry and inputting the correct codes on the main screen, she was relieved when the override screen appeared before she had exhausted her knowledge of computers.

"Right," she whispered to herself, "First two lines are binary, can't make any sense of them. Third line appears to be coded, if I use the key to unlock it..."

Raising her battered Pip-boy to the screen, she began to run the calculations to decrypt the password on it. After a few minutes, the third line was decoded.

"Right," South continued to murmur to herself as she returned the terminal to its main screen. "Input: P-4-5-5-W-0-R-D."

A smile nearly crossed her lips when the password was accepted and the operations screen appeared on the terminal. But it was cut short when she noticed the lack of an unlock option for the nearby door.

"Non-electronic lock," she pondered out loud, "Must be ancient."

Then she spotted the operations options for a Mister Handy robot somewhere in the building. As she hadn't spotted it in all the rooms she'd searched so far, chances were it was in the room behind the door.

"Cleaning routine. Destination, Kitchen."

And sure enough, the floating triclops unlocked the door anf proceeded down into the kitchen a few moments later. Keeping to the shadows in case it had any security protocols active, South crept into the last room in the house. It was a bedroom, seemingly untouched after the war. A skeleton lay on the ground close to the doorway, as if it had been trapped inside and spent its last moments desperate to escape. A feeling of remorse creeping over her, she moved out to quickly secure any loot from the room that she could.

South left the old house with nothing more than a lukewarm bottle of Whiskey, a tin of Beans and some Duct Tape. It wasn't the most bountiful of salvagings, but it was better than nothing. Looking out across the ruined cityscape, she used her Pip-boy as a directional reference East, to what she hoped would lead her to the town of Chead.

Bonk! I broke your stupid crap, moron. I'm not even winded!
Will create character later. I may forget about this because I am shooting and phucking in viva Las Vegas.

Les stood leaning against a dirt-stained wooden fence, the "mighty" wall that surrounded Chead looming some one-hundred meters away from his position. He planned on entering the settlement at some point, to trade, but didn't like the idea of surrendering his weapons very much. That, and the fact that he probably wouldn't make it within ten meters of the entrance before having his disfigured head blown clean off, kept him standing were he was, doing nothing but chewing on the end of an old cigarrete. He adjusted his sunglasses and his shirt collar, took the cigarette from his mouth to spit, and promptly returned it; he quietly decided that after a few more minutes had passed he would walk over to the entrance. Les unslung his beat-up rifle, unloaded it, and placed it against the fence, stuffing the magazine into a leather pouch sewn onto his belt; afterwards resuming his momentary idle stance.

"Where the hell did that damn zombie go?!", a slaver called out to his comrades.

There were four of them in total, including the one who was speaking. One of the other slavers, a female, was actually quite pretty, in spite of the coating of dirt and blood that had been baked into her skin. Charlotte, the others had called her. She seemed to be the acting leader of this group.

"It's around here somewhere. Be on your guard", she said, clearly exhausted and tired of hunting for Caulfield. "Come on, ghoul. You're gonna make us a ton of caps", Charlotte said in her tired, slightly raspy voice.

She was a heavy smoker and reeked of tobacco. She coughed, and the noise echoed throughout the large house, reaching the ears of her quarry. Caulfield, the old ghoul that Charlotte and the others had been hunting, had hidden in a crawl space under the stairs. The ghoul crept out slowly, silently, and drove his blade as deep as could into the neck of a nearby slaver. This alerted one of his allies, who promptly turned around, pointing a .44 revolver at the ghoul's face. With his left hand, Caulfield pushed the man's hand aside, and with his right, he plunged his knife into the soft flesh of his adversary's underarm. The human started to scream, and was quickly silenced with a stab to the throat.

"What the hell was that?!", Charlotte yelled, rushing downstairs followed by the slaver that she had been talking to earlier. She arrived to see two of her men dead, apparently killed by knife wounds. Caulfield had hidden again, this time behind an overturned pool table. As he heard the slavers get closer, he stood to his feet, hissing like he had gone feral. As Charlotte and the other slaver turned around, the ghoul lightly tossed a cue ball to them, and they both reached for it. Exactly what Caulfield had hoped for. In the split second that they were distracted, he lunged forward, kicking the male slaver in the crotch with all his might. The man went down almost instantly, writhing in pain as he fell to the floor. Charlotte shot him with her laser pistol, badly burning his shoulder. Grunting a little as he moved, Caulfield grabbed her wrist and broke it, relieving her of the weapon. He stomped on the male slaver's throat, crushing his windpipe. He then turned to Charlotte, who was crying from the pain in her wrist, and shot her pretty face three times. The prey had slain the hunters. Setting the pistol down, he carefully searched the bodies, taking a 44. magnum, two double barreled shotguns, and a small amount of ammo for each gun. He also found a few stimpaks, as well as 3 packs of cigarettes on Charlotte's body. With a sigh, he unloaded the weapons and piled them and their ammo near a wall, and began searching the rest of the of the place. He grabbed a bed sheet from the first room upstairs, as well as a child's coloring book and a single, pink crayon that had somehow managed to stay intact. Aside from a worn fedora, and a small black book full of dirty, but still usable paper, Caulfield found nothing else of interest in the house. He carefully wrapped up the weapons in the bed sheet, then went back upstairs and grabbed an old, grimy pillowcase, as well as a thick, faded burgundy, slightly burned blanket. Using, some wire he had salvaged from a house earlier that day, he stitched the blanket together into a large, makeshift backpack, and used the pillow case to make a few pockets. Then, he removed his gas mask, and sewed the fedora onto it. As he did this, he caught his reflection in a large chunk of broken glass on the floor. Looking at it, he briefly reminisced on how his once handsome face had been transformed because of the radiation. He replaced the gas mask, pleased by how it looked with the fedora added to it. He placed the books, chems and ammo into his backpack, then attached a leather belt to hold it shut as he traveled. Putting his backpack on, and picking up the sheet filled with weapons, Caulfield headed outside. The sun was literally blinding to his eyes, but the lenses on his mask darkened, and his vision restored. The lenses were taken from a high end welder's mask that he had found when he woke up after the bombs hit the city. From this, he assumed that he was a mechanic of some sort in his pre-war life. He retrieved the pink crayon, and scribbled, "Caulfield was here", on the wall of the house. If he still had lips, he would have been smiling beneath his gas mask. After a few seconds of admiring his artwork, he started heading in the direction of Chead. He didn't see anyone else as he walked, except for a tall ghoul standing by a fence. Caulfield waved casually at his fellow ghoul, but didn't stop walking.