Fallout

Fallout in the early design stages used the GURPS systemVault 13: A GURPS Post-Nuclear Adventure but for reasons unclear the deal fell through with Interplay and Steve Jackson Games parting ways.
==Introduction==
This is aimed at allowing role playing in the Fallout reality using GURPS and so various details that aren't obvious or directly referred on related wikis will appear. They are referenced so they do exist and as with any wiki references supersede what another wiki says.
==Setting==
Fallout is a post-apocalypse setting where 1950s aesthetics and attitudes continued well into the 21st century. In GURPS terms, Fallout might be likened a darkly satirical version of Classic: Atomic Horror with bits of Classic: Illuminati (Vault-tec, Nuka-Cola, Hallucigen, etc) thrown in for good measure.
==Timeline==
* GURPS Fallout Timeline: 2052-2161; not entirely canonical 
* Fallout 76: October 27, 2102
* Fallout: 2161
* Fallout 2: 2241
* Fallout 3: 2277
* Fallout: New Vegas: 2281
* Fallout 4: October 23, 2077 (brief intro play); 2287
==Divergence==
While the main divergence was the field-point transistor not being invented in 1947 there are indications that the Fallout reality diverged way before that date. The people the aliens of the Mothership Zeta DLC kidnapped are not counted as there is nothing to show they were notable in OTL. Within the context of Infinite Worlds setting this would be considered a high-inertia parallel until 1947.United States of Lizardia is a canonical example of a high inertia reality. Despite the world having Lizard men instead of humans it has had events similar to those our history (two world wars, gone to the moon, etc).
The fan creation Fantasy Earth is more extreme high inertia as despite the Neanderthals and Cro Magnons evolving several viable races that do not exist on our world, and people in the Americas domesticated some of the megafauna didn't really meaningful diverge until the death of Constantine at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312 CE.DC's Earth-One and Earth-Twenty Three and Marvel's Earth 616 are other high inertia reality as despite having superheroes and fantastic inventions their overall histories mirror our own.
* Captain John Smith discovered Point Lookout: 1612 in the Fallout reality; this happened in 1608 in OTL and John Smith was in England in 1612.Point Lookout Part 9: The Jet Crash Site & Other Points of Interest
* Cabot house: erected 1711; doesn't exist in OTL.Fallout's Divergence: How to Solve Its Many Problems - Fallout Lore - Cabot house There is a luxury furniture business of that name but it didn't take up that name until 1971
* Michael Haydn's Symphony No. 3 (between 1760 and 1762): In the Fallout reality it was in D minor; in OTL it was in G major.Vault 92's Mind-Altering Experiments: Agatha's Song Part 3
* Shamrock Taphouse: Fallout official strategy guide states it was built in 1787; it doesn't exist in OTLFallout's Divergence: How to Solve Its Many Problems - Fallout Lore - Shamrock Taphouse
* Point Lookout Lighthouse: built 1830. In the Fallout reality it is a six story high lone lighthouse; in OTL it is only four stories tall with a house built around it
* Capital Post: first printed 1877; in OTL it is known as the Washington Post which was first printed in 1877.Fallout's Divergence: How to Solve Its Many Problems - Fallout Lore - Capital Post
* Schoelt propane company: founded 1895; propane as a viable fuel source wasn't discovered until 1910 by Walter O. Snelling of the U.S. Bureau of Mines.Fallout's Divergence: How to Solve Its Many Problems - Fallout Lore - Schoelt propane company
* Sunset Sarsaparilla Company: founded in 1918; no such company existed in OTLFallout's Divergence: How to Solve Its Many Problems - Fallout Lore - Sunset Sarsaparilla Company
* Vikki and Vance: started two days before Bonnie and Clyde in 1932Fallout's Divergence: How to Solve Its Many Problems - Fallout Lore - Vikki and Vance
==Additional Material==
*Weapons of World War II (1925 to 1945)
*Weapons of 1950 to 2000
* GURPS Ultra-Tech
*GURPS Fallout Wiki
==Related Material==
* GURPS Fallout compilation.
*How GURPS would have been implemented in Fallout.
* Duck and Cover: more GURPS Fallout stuff
* thenthapple - videos of Fallout playthroughs with humorous/insightful commentary; stopped regularly producing new material in 2017 with a three episode revival in 2019.
* Oxhorn - lore heavy Fallout videos with detailed commentary.
==Background==
A role playing game utilizing GURPS, Vault 13: A GURPS Post-Nuclear Adventure transitioned to Fallout following disagreements between Interplay and Steve Jackson Games eventually led to Interplay dropping the license and replacing it with its own system.No Mutants Allowed, The Origins of Fallout by R. Scott Campbell, Part 1, page 2
At the very beginning of production, Scott Campbell was named lead designer and the team decided on GURPS: Wasteland as a working title.No Mutants Allowed, The Origins of Fallout by R. Scott Campbell, Part 1, page 2No Mutants Allowed, The Origins of Fallout by R. Scott Campbell, Part 1, page 4 In the Origins of Fallout, Scott Campbell shared his initial enthusiasm about GURPS, stating, "One of the brilliant things about GURPS is that it is genre-agnostic; you could have the game set in the old west, on a space ship, in a Lovecraftian universe, or a sword-and-sorcery fantasy. We all really wanted to emphasize this incredible flexibility in the system by making a story that touched on many different genres."The Origins of Fallout - Page 3
Shortly thereafter, Interplay's legal team was informed that Electronic Arts had the rights to the Wasteland name, and the team began to brainstorm a new title.No Mutants Allowed, The Origins of Fallout by R. Scott Campbell, Part 1, page 5 Tim Cain proposed the idea of using vaults, and the team began working under the GURPS Fallout title.
==Legal issues==
As production accelerated in 1996, Interplay began to send concept art and screenshots to Steve Jackson Games. A press release was published on June 11, 1996, sharing news of GURPS Fallout, the "first GURPS computer role-playing game from Interplay Productions." Spokesperson Bob Apthorpe reported reported that the game will be "as true to the real GURPS as a computer version can be" and shared Interplay 's dedication to "fully supporting the reaction rules."The Daily Illuminator, June 11, 1996 On January 13, 1997, another press released was published, reporting an on-time game development schedule and anticipated April release date. The release also indicated that SJG had received an alpha version for in-house evaluation.The Daily Illuminator, January 13, 1997
One month later, routine progress material was sent to SJG, but this time came back as "unapproved," the first of many design disagreements that ultimately resulted in the GURPS license's revocation.No Mutants Allowed, The Origins of Fallout by R. Scott Campbell, Part 1, page 6: "So, Leonard and Jason had just completed the opening movie for the game. It was a slow pan-out from an old 50's style black and white television showing quick documentary style scenes that silently gave the player an idea of the dystopian future they were about to step into. In one of these quick scenes, two soldiers in power-armor shoot a kneeling and unarmed man in the back of the head, and then gleefully wave to the camera. It was a tiny scene, but one that let you know that you were about to play a violent game. We all liked the movie and, just to keep Steve Jackson Games in the loop, a copy was sent to them. And then it happened. The response came back "Unapproved". The reason? They stated that "The movie was too violent". Whaaaaa? Too Violent!? Haven't they been looking at the game we'd been making!? There was blood and violence all over the place! We had Head Of Gore TechnologyTM! You could split people in two with a chainsaw for chrissake!
Apparently they hadn't been looking at the game we'd been making. All of that "The more violence the better" stuff was long forgotten. With that rejection it became apparent the game would need dramatic changes to get approval from our IP holder. A decision had to be made: Keep GURPS, abandoning our creative freedom and yielding to the mercurial whims of the licensor - or throw out all of the mechanics and interface we made functional in the game and start over. And thus, the SPECIAL System was born, and both problems, IP rights and overly complex game system, were removed in one stroke. The SPECIAL system was almost identical to the "GURPS-Lite" system that we had been implementing, so in the end, what could have been a big setback was in actuality an enormous boon. " In a response to PC Gamer, Feargus Urquhart explained that the reason the license was dropped was to avoid red tape and legal conflicts regarding the game's content, including Vault Boy, the violent introduction, and a small character scale.PC Gamer issue 04/1998 Similarly, Scott Campbell claimed in The Origins of Fallout that Steve Jackson Games was satisfied with everything but the Vault Boy pictures in the character screen and the execution scene in the introduction - but also stated that the game would likely have to be remade in order to retain the license.No Mutants Allowed, The Origins of Fallout by R. Scott Campbell, Part 1, page 6
==Dissolution==
In response, Sean Punch, GURPS Line Editor at Steve Jackson Games remarked that he was "skeptical of claims that a single cut scene, loading screen, dialog line, etc. caused the parting of ways".​interview with RPG Codex He has also stated that the issue that was cited as a reason for the abandoning of the license was "that the license didn't word the approval process in a way that was good for either party" and that it was ultimately easier to remake the RPG elements than rewrite the licensing agreement with all the legal issues involved.RPGcodex, Sean Punch interview: "Fallout 1 was initially supposed to utilize GURPS for its rule system, but in the end it did not. The only information we have been able to find on the subject is that SJ Games were concerned about the amount of blood and gore in the game. Can you tell us more about why a GURPS Fallout failed to happen?
SP: Ultimately, the issue was that the license didn't word the approval process in a way that was good for either party, and it was simply easier to design a new RPG engine than to redo the licensing agreement and all of the approvals. That might sound extreme, but the RPG elements of a CRPG are minor next to the storyboards, level designs, visuals, audio, and all that other good stuff. Whether the specific concern that led to the discovery of the approval issue was somebody at SJ Games disliking blood and gore, I cannot say -- I did not then and do not now handle licensing, and I never saw so much as a screenshot at the time. I can say that geeky guys at my own pay grade on both sides regretted seeing the plug pulled, but apparently my bosses and their bosses viewed that as the right move for financial reasons. To this day, I remain skeptical of claims that a single cut scene, loading screen, dialog line, etc. caused the parting of ways.​" 
Interplay released an official statement on the mutually agreed decision but Steve Jackson, in a February 12, 1997, statement released through The Daily Illuminator stated that he wished he knew why Interplay decided to drop the license, and that no official correspondence to that effect was received by that date, and that it was a surprise to the Fallout development team as well.The Daily Illuminator: "February 12, 1997
Rumor Control about Interplay
Executive Summary: We wish we knew.
I had problems with a couple of features of the otherwise very impressive alpha version of GURPS Fallout. As I corresponded with Interplay staff about this, I got handed up the ladder but their responses remained puzzling -- and that is the most detail I'm going to give for now.
Just before leaving for Europe last week, I got a call from a reporter asking me to comment on the Interplay decision to drop GURPS. I told him this was the first I'd heard of it. Calling Interplay, and talking with the last man I'd corresponded with, I got first "We haven't decided that, where'd you hear it?," then "Well, we have been talking about it and somebody must have gotten the idea it was decided," and finally "Yes, we have decided to drop it, so sorry."
The statement on the Interplay web site, to the effect that this was a mutual decision of SJ Games and Interplay, is not true. Scott Haring tells me that no written correspondence from Interplay has YET been received at our office. We are not clear what their proposal to finish and release the game without the license entails, for us or for the game, and have absolutely not agreed to it.
I can't imagine how Interplay could take three years working on a GURPS. computer game, and then be able to create and install a completely dissimilar game engine in a few months. Nor have I read (or heard) any explanation of how they might plan to do that. So "no comment" on that for now, too.
I've been invited to meet with Brian Fargo, who I understand owns Interplay, when I'm in LA in a few days. I'll be very interested to see what he has to say. I hope we will be able to announce that this was a tempest in a teacup." Tim Cain was later apprised that the decision was made by executives of Interplay, and despite his best efforts to make concessions regarding the GURPS license, he was unsuccessful.The Daily Illuminator: "Yes, I visited Interplay while I was on the West Coast. Marathon six-hour negotiating session with the programmer who is now in charge of the FALLOUT project. Clearly all the original problems could be resolved; I made a lot of concessions because I want to save the project. The GURPS implementation they've created is *worth* saving. But their decision won't be made by the programmers. All I can say is "wait and see." On March 14, 1997, Steve Jackson received a phone call confirming that GURPS had to be dropped from the Fallout project per Interplay. Jackson shared in an interview shortly thereafter that he was frustrated and disappointed, especially after having worked together with the Fallout team over four years.The Daily Illuminator: "March 14, 1997
Interplay Update
I just got a phone call from my contact at Interplay, telling me that they were indeed dropping the GURPS system from the project which has been going forward as GURPS Fallout since 1994. Sigh.
The stated reason was that they were "too far along" with the process of deGURPSizing the game. I asked if I could get any of this in writing. He laughed. But he said he'd talk with others there and "see" if he could send me a letter.
He also stated that Interplay was still interested in starting a new game using the GURPS system, and I replied that I would look at a proposal. But the saying "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me" comes to mind.
I'll be at the Computer Game Developers Conference this April, and it looks like I'll have a lot to talk about with the companies represented there."
==Notes==
* An archive of what the GURPS Fallout website appeared like can be found here.
* GURPS has appeared as a terminal password in Fallout games since Fallout 3 onward.
* Duck and Cover GURPS website archive
==Gallery==
GURPS preview 1.jpg
GURPS Preview 2.jpg
GURPS Preview 3.jpg
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Fo1PP Brahmin.png
FOD SKILLCAT.png
==Additional information==
*Everything Fallout 4
==Detailed References==
==References==
Category:Apocalypse Settings
Category:Non-Canonical