Which factions appear in the new Fallout tabletop RPG campaign book Winter of Atom?
In addition to the main quest for the upcoming Fallout roleplaying campaign book Winter of Atom, the book is packed with new settlements and factions to help, ally with, or fight. These new factions, developed under the lead of Chelsea ‘Dot’ Steverson, have that quirky classic Fallout 1 and 2 feel while sitting brilliantly in the Commonwealth landscape.
A huge moving casino pulled by a herd of Brahmin, snaking its way through the whiteout of the frozen Commonwealth? Sounds like a rumor you might hear in the Dugout Inn or passing through The Slog, but ‘Mirage’ is a very real place—albeit one that is almost constantly on the move. What happens at Mirage’s bar and gambling tables stays at Mirage, as each one of its visitors and residents agrees to keep activities there a secret. Whatever you choose to do in paradise stays in paradise. Skim the surface of its extravagant attitudes, however, and the cracks begin to show very quickly—like all good Fallout factions or locations—as the tensions around the harsh winter and weird goings on with the Children of Atom bubble away. Even worse, people have been going missing from the casino; going in and not coming back out. But with all the residents working for the casino and having a vested interest in their survival and prosperity, how hard will it be to find out what’s going on?
Stationed under a sizable and decrepit circus tent, Big Top is home to a community of ghouls calling themselves the Freeques. This small group of itinerant circus performers who toured the Commonwealth now find themselves trapped by the onset of atomic winter. The original Freeques took up the identities of the circus freaks that came before them and now provide refuge for ghouls and disenfranchised synths under their performance space. With the roads frozen, trade halted, resources running dry, and more people than ever seeking shelter within Big Top, recent supply offers from the Children of Atom seem more welcoming every day. Even more curious is a recent addition to the Big Top community, a protectron named D3N-Z3L who insists the military bunker they guarded contains some information about a giant underground beast, and says the proof of its existence lies on the bunker’s computer systems.
Carefully hidden in plain sight inside a huge scrapheap, the community of Beatsville lives as a commune of beatniks simply calling themselves ‘The Beats’. Even though most would consider their living conditions an utter trash heap, the Beats aim to bring the people of the Commonwealth out of a dark age and into an age of enlightenment by spreading new art, music, and literature as far as possible. Over the years, residents have learned to craft incredible objects from repurposed junk—plastics intricately woven into clothing and fabrics, cans reshaped into unique jewelry and helpful gear, dirt and clay fired to make beautiful ceramics, and old objects illustrated over with new paintings. Their pacifist lifestyle and egalitarian attitudes have not prepared them for the harsh winter ahead. Their secondhand creations once provided a source of caps and supplies, but the harsh winter has halted the efforts of the settlement’s sole traveling trader, Dead Drop Dave. Soon, they’ll run out of manuscripts to burn—and what then?
And finally, inside a tattered church that is no longer a house of God, a different kind of worship exists: one of steel, fire, and all things mechanical. The Sisters of the Forge, a small female group of blacksmiths and mechanics who wear necklaces of c-wrenches instead of rosaries, run Mechminster Abbey. The Sisters are known to pray by whispering, “Where there is light, there is hope.” They live by those words, working tirelessly to keep the forge burning so they can provide charitable support to people in the Commonwealth fighting the good fight. They strongly disapprove of the Last Son of Atom and dedicate themselves to leading others away from his dangerous doctrine. Unfortunately, their priorities have shifted due to the extreme winter conditions. Food is scarce, and a recent frost feral ghoul attack has left Mechminster Abbey’s defenses in disarray. With their pews full and their coffers empty, it might be the Sisters’ turn to reach out and seek a helping hand.
You’ll find all these groups, as well as the regular factions and communities you would expect to run into in the Commonwealth Wasteland, covered within this book. These groups are also perfect additions for your quests, adventures, or campaigns, and can be a great follow on from the core rulebook or starter set quests.
Sign up to receive the latest news about Winter of Atom and the Fallout tabletop roleplaying game.
Purchase the Fallout RPG core rulebook or the starter set and get started right away.
Fallout, Vault Boy and related logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Bethesda Softworks LLC in the U.S. and/or other countries. All Rights Reserved.