Nightsolo's Fallout Encounters

Whist traversing the wasteland that is Northern California (pun intended), you'll randomly be stopped for a random reason. Some of these encounters are good, others are bad.

Random Encounters

These are the bad things that can happen to you. They range from annoying to deadly. They can, however, be useful for leveling up.

Random Critters: Rats, Deathclaws, Manti, Radscorpions, what-have-you attack you or each other or both.
Raiders or Thugs attack you.
Raiders or Thugs attack peasants or each other or you or both.
Dehydration: nothing you can do about it, but you can use a Water Flask to regain HP.
Rough Terrain: happens in the mountains.
Nausea: you're radiated. Use some Rad-X.
Town Guards will stop you when you're near a town. You can kill them if you don't mind a loss of Karma.
Patrols: bad guys who are out to get you, if they see you.
Caravans: you can barter with the Caravan Master, but they don't usually have anything interesting.

Special Encounters

These are definitely good for you. Some have good items or rewards, others just show the sense of humor of the Fallout staffers. You need high Luck to find most of these. Can you find them all?

Big Head. He talks to himself for awhile, then you can initiate conversation with him, at the end of which you get a Monument Chunk. You can get three more by Stealing from him.
Bridge. Reference to Monty Python's "The Quest for the Holy Grail." The only way off this map is to talk to the Bridgekeeper and answer his questions. As in the movie, the first two questions are straight forward. If you answer any question wrong, you die. If you get them all correct, he grumbles and leaves. If you answer the final question with a counter-question, he dies, and you can loot his Bridgekeeper's Robes. You can also just outright kill him, but he summons a large number of exploding Brahmin.
Cafe of Broken Dreams. This is the Downtown Hub map from the original Fallout. Fittingly, it's filled with characters from that game, or who say they were cut from Fallout 2. Click on them to speed up their floating dialog. You can also recruit Dogmeat here. See the Party Members page for details on how.
Guardian. Reference to the "Star Trek" episode "City on the Edge of Forever." Walk through the portal and you end up on Level 3 of Vault 13 80 years ago. Loot all the cool stuff in the lockers. You can even break the beeping computer with the water chip, earning you some XP.
Tin Woodsman. Pick up the Oil Can off the ground next to him, and use it on him. You're rewarded with 150 Micro Fusion Cells.
Unwashed Villagers. Reference to a real Fallout internet community incident. There's no Karma penalty for killing everyone on the map, so feel free to join in the fun. There's some loot in a locker, as well.
Crashed Shuttle. Reference to the original "Star Trek" TV series. Loot the bodies for some Hypos, and a Phaser.
King Arthur's Knights. Reference to Monty Python's "The Quest for the Holy Grail." This is actually two encounters. The first time you meet them, they ask you if you've seen the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch. Say yes and point in a random direction for a reward. They'll walk off. The second time you meet them, they'll be fighting the Vorpal Rat. You can join in the fight for some XP, you can kill all the knights and loot them, and/or you can enter the nearby cave, grab the grenade, and use it on the Vorpal Rat for an instant kill. There's also a small chance the Knights will kill it on their own.
Crashed Whale. Reference to "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." Nearby is a Pot of Daisies, which is part of the joke.
Pariah Dog. You'll find a map cluttered with corpses, except for a lone surviving dog. It'll start following you and cause some bad things: 1) it takes up a party member slot, 2) it lowers your LK to 1, 3) you get the Jinxed Perk. The only way to get rid of the dog and its bad effects is to kill it.
Toxic Waste Dump. You'll start taking doses of radiation right away, and then there's the fire-breathing Geckos. The exit grid is to the right if you need out quickly.
Herd of Brahmin. Brahmin move towards you and explode. Run away! They're not on fire, but I wonder if this is a reference to the movie "Mars Attacks."
Trader and Guards. Found north of Modoc, and for two squares in all directions. Not to be confused with a more random version, this trader is named Willy. You'll fall asleep while talking to him, and then you'll have to choose if you want to buy a random weapon from him. The weapon you get is based on your level. The Alien Blaster requires a level of at least 13.
Some People in the Wrong Place at the Wrong Time. Occurs only after the in-game date of 30 Aug 2241. You'll witness three people being gunned down by some Enclave Troops and a really big guy in a white suit of armor. They walk off before you regain control of your character. Foreshadows a later encounter.
Morton Brother. After killing Frog Morton in Redding, his brothers start showing up and trying to kill you. There are three of them.
Dead Traveler. Loot the corpse. You may have to dispose of the critters that killed him or her first.
Caravan Guard who's caravan was eaten by a Deathclaw. He'll give you his stuff, though.
Fisherman and His Son. Happens near the coast.

last modified 6 August 2011