Fallout: The Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook

While not the easiest system to get into, the potential here is vast; however, the game is hurt by the lack of pre-written narrative campaigns, as those seem glaringly needed due to the only adventure offered up being very short.

There are always two methods of play in any TTRPG. There are the players that really only need to worry about a handful of details rules-wise, and there are the GMs that need to understand far more to run an efficient and fun game. On the player side, it's pretty easy once you take on a few Skill Tests and participate in some combat, but for the GM the core rule book is a bit cumbersome to get through. For example, Modding & Crafting is a crucial part of the effectiveness of a player's Character but the book makes physically going through mods, complexity, materials required, and effects as difficult as possible. What I mean is that the benefits of the mods a character is looking at crafting is in a whole different section of the book than the act of crafting the mod itself. This makes for a lot of time wasted flipping back and forth to find what mod you want, how to do it, and what it actually does for you while your other players are just waiting there. I did take it upon myself to condense those sections together on Excel and it did greatly improve the efficiency of doing this crucial part of play. My only real complaint is that a published book should make play as efficient as possible and having related material set up in such a confusing manner is counterproductive. Minor gripes are actual plain errors like Boiled being listed twice (p.212) or Tuned being a reciever mod for the Hunting Rifle but not actually describing what it does (p.97, p.100).

Disclaimer: this is based off of the PDF copy.

From start to finish it’s a great book; character creation is easy, combat is written well, enemies are balanced, plenty of suggestions on what makes fallout well.... fallout!

It’s also very easy to adjust things as needed to represent other locations like the Mojave or the capital wasteland as this book focuses on the commonwealth (the setting for fallout 4)

The only reason this review isn’t a five star is due to the lack of GM tools inside, specifically any sort of scavenging location table.

The book mentions loot rolls based on location (size, if it’s been searched etc. Seems like a great and quick way of doing it!) but then never actually tells you the amount of loot rolls that they recommend based on any of this.

This may be included in the core rule book I can’t be sure, otherwise it’s a great combo of system and book!

ive been waiting for a official fallout tabletop RPG since i started playing fallout. this rulebook is essentially what i have been waiting for but its not perfect. the rules and systems are all there, and it provides 95% of the tools needed to play a a game in the fallout setting, but, this book has a distinct lack of flavor.

to put in contrast the Star trek adventures rulebooks is set up like it assumes your a star fleet cadet, it really puts you in the headspace for that universe. Fallout: the role playing game on the other hand is very "hear are the rules heres information about the setting and heres item tables." and that's pretty much it. the Fallout 4 strategy guide had more flavor, putting everything in the context of the game just being a vault tec simulation of what outside the vault might be like.

the setting and base story provided by the book is more Fallout 4 than fallout in general and has very few references to other games from the franchise. which is okay in the sense that Fallout 4 is a great game, but we have all played it and i don't know why someone would want to play a table top rpg if they already know where the story is going, having said that it doesn't stop you for using its rules and systems in a setting outside of Boston.

the rulebook makes a number of references to a GM handbook, which unless i missed something i don't have. its annoying having the core rule book tell me there is info elsewhere i need that's not included in the book.

Disclaimer: This is a review of the PDF version since the book has yet to be released so hopefully some of my grievances may be corrected upon the books release.

Fallout has been my most anticipated RPG since it was first announced and I was lucky enough to be part of the playtest. The game does a great job capturing the essence of the franchise and is easy to comprehend and play. There are extensive rules for scavenging and crafting and a plethora of creatures and enemies to choose from but there's a lack of guidelines in how to put it all together. The setting as represented in the book draws almost exclusively on Fallout 4 but can be easily modified to fit other settings. Unfortunately the finished product is far from polished with some glaring misprints and typos as well as lacking content and I can see this game needing an extensive errata and FAQ but there's still a very good game here that captures the feel of the franchise, it's just a shame that it feels so unfinished.