Fallout: FB edition

[FreakyBoy]

Aside from Tim, people in the KC area aren't really aware of the NCR. They know that the tribes of the west banded together to form a great army, but that army clashed with yet another great power west of them, and so it has not clashed with the folks of KC. But aside from the fact that "there are great powers out west", contact with those powers is limited and unofficial. The Missouri doesn't flow that way, nor do its tributaries, so the trading houses of KC have little interest in the area.

KC is technically ruled by a council, elected from various trading houses and mercenary guilds that control most of the city's trade. Its de facto ruler is, however, the owner of the KC Company, a figure known only as "The Executive". The KC Company is the largest trade house in KC, responsible for rebuilding most of its ports and bridges and controlling almost half of all trade that passes through KC. The KC Company has outposts all along the Missouri; their patrols keep the river clear (and about two miles of riverbank on either side) of squatters, raiders, thieves, and rivals (that don't pay dues to the KC Company) from the wilds of Montana all the way to Jefferson (where the River Barons of the Mississippi pick up the task.) Its river patrols, along with the mercenary companies under its permanent employ, make up the bulk of KC's military might. In KC, The Executive gets a share of everything. Most settlements along the Missouri River are in reality subsidiaries of the KC Company.

Farmers of the Missouri River Valley come in many types. Tribal farmers trade with the river houses for goods they cannot produce themselves; independent farmers and farming co-operatives stake out land and trade their excess with the residents of the outposts and cities along the river for much the same reasons. A few official farming companies exist (at least one, in Iowa, directly owned by KC Company) whose business is producing and selling food for profit to the many settlements throughout the river valley - these tend to be better supplied than other farms, but also tend to produce much less variety of crops. In addition, the Missouri River Valley has a large number of homesteaders (most outside the two-mile band of the river, but some paying dues to remain within the protection of the trade houses) who simply wish some land to call their own. When these homesteaders trade, it's rarely on the river. ("On the river", incidentally, has come to hold the same meaning as "above the board" once did. Illicit trade is "off the river" or "in the brush".)

[Warbeard]

Edward “Fishy” Tich

Strength: 5
Perception: 5
Endurance: 5
Charisma: 9
Intelligence: 4
Agility: 7
Luck: 5

Tags: Barter, Sneak, Melee

Ed was born on the water, his family making a living carrying goods between Kansas City and the gulf. On one of their trips, his father gave Ed an ancient pre-war book about pirates. Ed studied that book as if it held the secrets of the universe, eventually patterning himself after the pirates he read about in the book.
Ed picked up a pirate’s cutlass on a trip to New Orleans when he was ten and has been carrying it around ever since. When he was fourteen, his parents were killed while returning from a delivery in Mississippi, and Ed took over running the boat.
Now at the age of twenty-three, Ed is in debt to a KC company merchant with his family boat as collateral. He makes payments or occasionally special shipments in lieu of payments.

[Dom/SlimKop]

Doc Scabs

Strength: 4
Perception: 5
Endurance: 9
Charisma: 2
Intelligence: 10
Agility: 5
Luck: 5

Traits: Ghoul, Good Natured
Tags: Science, Repair, Medicine

Doc Scabs is helpful, polite, kind and a good sport. Unfortunately, Scabs is hideous even by Ghoul standards. Puckers on his skin constantly weep some sort of ooze (Keeps me limber!), the timber of his voice reminds one of both the creepiest uncle you've ever had and a man who wants to wear your scalp like a hat (I don't!). If you can get by his hideous features, terrifying voice and unfortunate tendency to make very inappropriate jokes (White Glove Society? Only if you offer hot sauce. I like my women spicy!) he is a valuable ghoul to have around. A vault technician before the war, and though the vault he was in suffered a slow radiation leak that turned most of the residents feral (It was my biting humor, I drive audiences wild!) he retains a vast encyclopedia of knowledge from before the war as well as what he has learned since then. He's not really all that good with weapons though, relying on the fact that most animals know better than to eat a ghoul, and his ability to soak up damage as he runs away.

[FreakyBoy]

Haha, my "Dr. Tank" archetype is catching on!

[Dom/SlimKop]

I like the idea! It will be fun to play Scabs, a nice, clueless guy who is really, really inappropriate and hideous. As well as tough as all get-out.

I plan on reading a bunch of forum posts for research.

[FreakyBoy]

Having outlined the basics, if anyone else (player or not) wants to come in and write up a brief location/tribe/company blurb (sory of like I did of KC and KC Company), feel free.

[Dom/SlimKop]

That was a fantastic opening.

[Skitzophrenik]

Mm hmm. FB writes good Ron Pearlman.

[Dom/SlimKop]

Scabs is from Vault 64 and now Liberty, but he has traveled as well some. FB, do you want me to come up with exactly where he's been, or come up with it in game?

Guys, do you want to know each other? Should we have relationships before we start posting?

[Skitzophrenik]

Mark is new to the area. He left his tribe to go become a man, and he cant go home until he does (they did not tell him how to do this. he knows that killing a man doesn't work though, he tried that). He is about to go to Independence because it is big enough that it will be safe to be a stranger there, but smaller than Kansas City, which frightened him.

Anyone at or near the river at the point where the river is closest to Independence will be able to meet him. He isn't shy.

[FreakyBoy]

In game is cool, Dom. Doc can tell old stories of places he's been when there's nothing better going on.

And Skitz, that sounds like an opening tailor made for Warbeard.

[Skitzophrenik]

I aim to please.

[Warbeard]

I'll try not to run him over. :) No promises though, I'm not sure my writing skills are enough to match the opening you two have started. :(

[FreakyBoy]

It just takes practice. You'll get here.

[Warbeard]

Looks around for the ghoul...

:)