By Ben Maunder
Hey there Wastelanders! Ben here to chat with you about the brand new book available for free on the webstore, Vault-Tec Simulator!
Last week, the eagle-eyed amongst you noticed that we dropped this PDF somewhat out of the blue and have been curiously quiet about what exactly it is, barring a couple of posts on Discord of course (which if you haven’t joined yet - click here - and be part of the discussion!) Well, wonder no longer!
We’ve been quietly ferreting away at Vault-Tec Simulator (or VTS) since we started work on the Nuka-World region book for Fallout: Wasteland Warfare, where we first showed off the Vault-Tec Approved Profiles.We’ve been paying a lot of attention to FWW for the last few years, seeing what you've been excited about, and as is so often the case, our main focus became “Well how can we fix what people don’t find exciting?”, which starts with determining what that is!
So, with some research, chatting with fans, and plain old playtesting, we found a few issues.
- A big barrier to entry.
- A complex ruleset with a lot of icons to learn.
- A lengthy set up time.
- Over-reliance on cards.
With those identified, we set to work trying to fix them - but before work commenced, there was another question - “Who is this for?”. It’s a big question, it always is, and one that requires a lot of thought. Long term fans have already either overcome most of these issues, or don’t see them as an issue in the first place, but we see a lot of people bouncing off of the game after picking up the starter set, finding it an insurmountable hill of cards, stats, and rules...
And so Vault-Tec Simulator is for new players primarily, or for some of you who want a more streamlined game. So, work began, trimming the fat, cleaning up some of the more complex rules and simplifying the game to a point where it was still distinctly Fallout: Wasteland Warfare, but notably easier to pick up and play. Which became the core ethos of the design, “Fallout: Wasteland Warfare, but simpler”.
After numerous weeks of work (big thanks to Edwin Moriarty for leading the work) and a bunch of internal playtesting, we had what has come to be called Vault-Tec Simulator - and we looked over it and asked our questions again.
“How big is the barrier to entry now?” Minimal, the PDF and printable tokens will be free of charge, so anyone can try the game without needing significant investment.
“Is it still a complex ruleset with a lot of icons?” It’s a lot less complex now, and whilst there are still a lot of icons, there are less to actively learn and referencing is quick and easy.
“Is set up still lengthy” Much less so, with the use of Vault-Tec Approved Profiles the time to table has never been quicker, and less tokens means less gathering of pieces - list building is also a lot faster now!
“Is there still an over reliance on cards?” Absolutely not, VTA Profiles completely negate the need for 3-4 cards per unit now, which also makes set up quicker.
With those questions answered, we started the layout process, and now have the rather beautiful PDF you can get your hands on for free, right now! But, what does this mean for Fallout: Wasteland Warfare? Well, in a way, it doesn’t mean anything, in another way, it means a lot - confusing right?
Vault-Tec Simulator, was not, and will never be, a replacement for the core Fallout: Wasteland Warfare experience. Simply put, it’s an on-ramp, an easier way to come to grips with the core systems of the game before jumping into the full ruleset. If players like it though, and want to only interact with the VTS version of the rules, well that's no trouble either, on-going product releases will be bringing more Vault-Tec Profiles to the game alongside new Unit cards. At the end of the day, how you choose to play the game is completely up to you - customisation has always been core of the Wasteland Warfare experience, so it’s only right that you can also chop and change parts of the two systems if you like.
Want to play traditional Wasteland Warfare using the VTS Heroic system? You go for it. You want to add poison and broken limbs into VTS? Why not! You want to make a settlement with a Behemoth as Mayor? Odd choice, but I don’t know their policies, so who am I to judge?
So, what would my recommendation be? Well, have a look over the book - see what makes you go “Ooh” and pop it into your own games, or if you’ve never played Fallout Wasteland Warfare before, have a look and give it a go! It can’t hurt right?
Either way, I think the generator in the ol’ Modiphius Vault has started leaking again, and the last thing we need is a bunch of Ghouls - so until next time, stay safe Wastelanders!
