Highwayman
Embark on a journey across the sun-baked sands of the Great Dust Bowl as a part of a nomadic tribe chasing the habitable zone with a convoy of pre-war automobiles. Scavenge ruins for parts or cars to add to the caravan, fight through slaver attacks, and recruit new survivors while you travel between towns to protect a mysterious man from the west. Carrying a strange piece of pre-war tech locked in a metallic briefcase, he claims that it will provide everyone a real home someday if they can only keep it from falling into the wrong hands.
The caravan will begin at Nuka City bartering for coolant and recruiting help. One of the rare melting pots in the Great Dust Bowl, many different humans, mutants, and robots congregate here. Players that tag the 'Pilot' skill can choose to receive the normal junk and also reveive 6 + 3cd Coolant, or begin with their own basic car, (1 maximum structure, 1 Coolant per day, 25 HP and 1 Physical/Energy DR) and 1 + 1cd Coolant instead.
Each vehicle will have a number of maximum rooms it can support, as well as statistics for ones already installed. Players can build new rooms with junk at settlements and acquire new vehicles through trade or scavenging.
The Tour Bus
- HP: 60 Physcial DR: 3 Energy DR: 3
- Max Speed: 50 mph
- Maximum Structures: 3
- Current Setup:
Bunk Beds (4 beds, -1 Happiness)
Undercarriage Storage (300 lbs carry capacity)
Hydroponics Station (2 crop slots and provides 2 water, currently growing 1x melon and 1x gourd)
Cooking Station (doesn't count as structure)
- Uses 3 Coolant per day
The backbone of the caravan, this heavily modified tour bus houses several important resources for the community. A set of bunks provides a place for newcomers to sleep and a hot plate kitchenette provides them with a space to cook. Fancy pre-war tech has been rigged up in the back by the driver to harvest moisture in the air and grow a few small crops right in the bus, though it hardly feeds a few mouthes and daily hunting or scavenging is still required. Driven by Don Cole, an escaped member of the infamous Kansas Cartel, he is mutated with intelligence considered 'superhuman' like the rest of his kin, proving a valuable asset in handling the tech and medical needs of the group.
(provides Science rank 1 and Chemist perks to the group)
The Attack Truck
- HP: 35 Physcial DR: 2 Energy DR: 2
- Max Speed: 80 mph
- Max Structures: 2
- Current Setup:
Backseat Bunks (2 beds, 100 lbs carry capacity)
Gunner Nest (+3 Defense to Guard Action, mounted pipe gun with calibrated receiver, ported barrel, and large magazine mods)
- Use 2 Fuel per day
Owned and operated by Jade, an ex-slaver who worked for Corvega City, most tolerate her coarse personality for the invaluable services she provides patching up and defending the caravan. She also gets stuck as the caravan's ambassador at ghoul settlements, though this has historically been problematic. Humans and all other mutants are considered second class citizens amongst the Necrotic Post-Human dominated surface however, so it falls on her to keep everyone from getting shot. Currently looking for a gunner or potential driver so the convoy can always be on alert, anyone who can handle the job and survive her abuse is welcome to apply.
(provides + 1 Defense bonus and Gun Nut rank 1 perk to the group)
(provides + 1 Defense bonus and Gun Nut rank 1 perk to the group)
The Lead Car
- HP: 25 Physcial DR: 1 Energy DR: 1
- Max Speed: 80 mph
- Maximum Structures: 1
- Current Setup:
Pre-war Interior (1 bed, +1 Happiness, 100 lbs carry capacity, counts as Mayor's Office)
- Tow Hitch: Can tow one car sized vehicle of equal or smaller size at + 1 Coolant per day.
- Uses 1 Coolant per day
The leader of the caravan, those that follow Jack Sullivan would say his most redeeming quality is his strength in vision. The majority of people are just trying to survive day to day and this man is looking into a future where all those that help him achieve his goals will settle down in peace and harmony for not only their lifetime, but for generations to come. Those that don't follow him would call him dangerous, a naive maniac that just stumbled out of a Vault with delusions of grandeur that is going to get a bunch of people killed.
(provides + 1 Happiness and Local Leader Rank 2 perk to the group)
The Frying Dutchman
- HP: 25 Physical DR: 1 Energy DR: 1
- Max Speed: 80 mph
- Maximum Structures: 1
- Current Setup:
Garden Plot: 4 crops plots (empty)
- Uses 1 Coolant per day
Once a lucrative business, this old food truck has seen better days. A Nuka City thief has made off with its most prized possessions, four mature stalks of corn nearly ready to be harvested. Nothing has grown in the soil of the Great Dust Bowl for two centuries, making these crops one of the most valuable things that can enter the black market. Cooke will need to find some help if he means to get them back however, as rumors have started that the thief made it inside the Unity Complex..
The Scuttle Bug
- HP: 45 Physical DR: 2 Energy DR: 2
- Max Speed: 60 mph
- Maximum Structures: 2
- Current Setup:
Private Room: +1 bed, +1 Happiness, 100 lbs of storage
Cattle Hold: Can store one pack animal
Restored: Does not count as a structure, not only cleaned and repainted, cushions and trinkets have been added to make this space feel especially homey, +1 Happiness and +10 HP
- Tow Hitch: Can tow one vehicle of equal or smaller size at + 1 Coolant per day.
- Uses 2 Coolant per day
Arriving in Nuka City on the brink of poverty like so many others, Coven managed to beat all the odds when she waltzed into Aasir’s Bar. She sold everything she had brought with her to trade and fixed her attention on the games of Blackjack taking place. After two nights of not only impressive gambling but great entertainment, she was given a friendly ban from continuing her winning streak but hailed as the ‘Drifter who Broke the Bank’ across all of Nuka City. Fame is a fickle mistress however, and just as many raiders knew the name Coven as scam artists and traders. Turning down a multitude of shady deals and learning to keep her head on a swivel, she purchased a working vehicle to hold her giant molerat and a coveted private room in the Foreign Quarter after she was mistaken for a famous trader for her finesse at the market.
The Spitfire (roaming)
- HP: 35 Physical DR: 2 Energy DR: 2
- Max Speed: 100 mph
- Maximum Structures: 2
- Current Setup:
No structures
- Driver: Ripstick
- Uses 2 Fuel per day
THE SPITFIRE
Blessed transport, consume that which you spew. Drink of the fuel that feeds the flame, recycle and ignite! FIRE-- ALL CONSUMING, ALL ENCOMPASING, INDISCRIMINATE!
Internal coolant constraining copious power couplets of fission and fusion. Nuclear processes propelling us forward, A BLAZEN TRAIL IN OUR WAKE! Lobs of pitch and oil and grime. Roaring inferno, roaring engine.
A gift from the flame, potential yet reached. Soon, to be baptized, adorned with slag and jag-tips, a vessel of which to spread the fire-- a wave of heat. Soon, soon...
CLEANSING FERVOR
But only an idea, a dream, revealed by the flame itself. Prophecy yet fulfilled-- harbinger of justice. Tool of discernment, controlled contempt of the gods... CLEANSING FERVOR!
Storm made solid, plasma congeal and corrode, feast upon the flesh of the unworthy! CHARRED MEAT, FEED THE FLAMES OF THE WORLD BURNT ANEW!
HOLY, HOLY FLAME! FLICKER, BRIGHT-- BRIGHT!
The Nuka Nomad
- HP: 60 Physical DR: 3 Energy DR: 3
- Max Speed: 70 mph
- Maximum Structures: 3
- Current Setup:
Private Room: + 1 bed, + 1 Happiness, + 100lbs of storage
- Uses 3 Fuel per day
Not only Vesk Varik’s home, but also his camouflage. Without this conversion of this garbage truck and the cab’s tinted windows this deathclaw would almost certainly have been shot down long ago by nervous settlers or hungry poachers. Pretty handy with his claws despite being of the intelligent variety of his species, he spends some time hunting at night when he can hide under his cloak for enough skinwig meat to last him for days. Stalking his way past the camps, he can’t help but overhear a rumor of a caravan that is recruiting anyone willing to earn their keep, even mutants. Investigating further he decided to take his time getting to know them, after all you never can be too careful. Unfortunately his hand would be forced when a few of the locals began sniffing around his truck, forcing him to have to take a leap of faith on these strangers.
The Yellow Jacket
- HP: 25 Physical DR: 1 Energy DR: 1
- Maximum Structures: 1
- Current Setup:
No Structures
- Uses 1 Coolant per day
Hunting down the remaining raiders from his hit list, Chase has brought the Yellow Jacket to the Great dust Bowl in search of revenge. While resupplying in Nuka City he stumbles across the rumors of a recruiting caravan that might just be the perfect place to collect rumors on his remaining quarry. Although joining turned out to be easy, he quickly finds himself in the middle of a game with much higher stakes than he is used to.
Ryan's Van
- HP: 35 Physical DR: 2 Energy DR: 2
- Maximum Structures: 2
- Current Setup:
Quarters: +2 beds, +100lbs storage
Molerat Pen: Feeds up to two giant molerats, but can only transport one at a time
- Uses 2 Fuel per day
Although not quite a van, this converted fuel truck has been outfitted to carry a small private room in the cabin and a mobile pen for a giant molerat in the old tank. In relatively pristine condition, it was an antique that had been sitting inside of a buried museum before Ryan's gang added it to their convoy. The best vehicle in their arsenal, it was only natural that he took it when they met their untimely end and he needed something to help him get across the shifting deserts of the Great Dust Bowl.
OOC Notes
A WIP Play-by-Post style game based on the new Settlers guide. Much like the old school MUDS in the 90s, it combines creative writing and an established system of rules to craft an evolving narrative without requiring a specific commitment of time.
We will start playing this week on the The Great Dust Bowl Discord, feel free to pop in and check out the channel!
Credit to Fallout Vancouver for inspiring the idea, check them out if you want to join an established community with a lot already going on!
Current Caravan Stats
Beds: 8
Bed/needed: 8
Players: 6
NPCs: 3
Food: 6
Food/day: 8
Water: 1
Water/day: 8
Coolant: 10
Coolant/day: 8
Fuel: 0
Fuel/day: 5
Power: 0
Power/day: 2
Happiness: 2
Defense: 5
Income: 0
Stockpile: 1k lb max
Bed/needed: 8
Players: 6
NPCs: 3
Food: 6
Food/day: 8
Water: 1
Water/day: 8
Coolant: 10
Coolant/day: 8
Fuel: 0
Fuel/day: 5
Power: 0
Power/day: 2
Happiness: 2
Defense: 5
Income: 0
Stockpile: 1k lb max
Player/GM Info
Completed Scenes
Homebrew References
Credits
The World Credits link has a list of inspiration sources and Tabletop Simulator assets available on the Steam Workshop for free that I used to design some of the maps we will use. We will also be using a bunch of stuff Xecthar has available for a couple bucks a map if you watch to check out his itch.io!
Credit to Fallout Vancouver for inspiring the idea, check them out if you want to join an established community with a lot already going on!
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