4 Lessons to Run an Open World like Fallout: New Vegas
While everyone might be talking about Baldur’s Gate 3 (2023), I thought it would be a good time to talk about a different role-playing game that has captured the attention of millions of players. Fallout: New Vegas (2010) finds you taking on the role of a courier who was shot, left for dead in the Mojave desert, and you get to figure out why someone wanted… whatever it was that you were carrying across the desert.
In this game, you’ll explore a post-apocalyptic desert, defeat horrific monsters (or be eaten by deathclaws), and work with factions big and small as they try to make their mark. There is a lot to do in this game, and every playthrough can be unique as the world adjusts to your actions.
Not only is it a fun game to play, but there are plenty of lessons to take from it.
Open World (but Restricted)
New Vegas features a true open-world. You always start in the small town of Goodsprings, but you are free to go where you want. You could run straight to the strip (and probably be killed by deathclaws and terrible insect-monsters), head for a giant dinosaur attraction, or simply wander the area in search of bandits and dynamite.
Regardless, the world is free for you to explore… but it doesn’t adjust itself for your low level. If you want to head directly to the Strip, you better be able to sneak past the deathclaws that can kill you with a single blow.
Lesson #1 - Open World
When you create your world, don’t force your players down a single path. Allow them to move where they want, go where they want, but also make sure they understand that certain paths are more dangerous than others. If they want to head deep into the jungles of Chult, well, they can - but they should know that the jungle is not safe and they need a guide, or that there are incredibly dangerous monsters, and they need to be able to sneak past danger.
While you shouldn’t kill a character in a single hit (since it takes longer to recover from a TPK than it does to restart your save in a video game), you also shouldn’t just allow your players to win because you don’t want to be mean. Let your world be open for exploration, but prove it is a real, living world by having powerful monsters spread throughout in their lairs, just waiting for weak adventurers it can force to do quests for it (especially good if you are looking down the barrel of a TPK).
Kill Major Players (and Adjust)
In New Vegas, there are several factions, from super small settlements to large armies. They are, seemingly, in a locked state, unable to make the first move for fear that they will be destroyed. It is a stalemate on all sides, and not just the major players. The minor players can’t move because they need materials, they need technology, they need help.
When you grab your laser pistol and start blasting, you get a chance to make an impact on the world. You can decimate a small faction, or befriend them to your side and they’ll show up in the final mission. When you kill big faction leaders, the story adjusts and dialogue changes. Your actions have tangible effects on the story.
Lesson #2 - Let Them Die
It can be easy to get attached to ‘key’ NPCs and not want your players to ruin your perfectly laid plans, but that’s exactly why you should. You may not know what your campaigns or factions will look like when the main leader dies, but neither do the rest in that faction!
This is the time for chaos and to explore that chaos with the players, and maybe it turns out well for them, maybe it doesn’t. Regardless, the players get to see the effects that they cause.
Moral Quandries (beyond Good or Evil)
If you want to avoid spoilers for New Vegas, skip down to the lesson. Otherwise, here we go. In the game, you get the chance to help Caesar's Legion, New California Republic (NCR), or the House (rules over the Strip). Everyone has reasons for what they are doing, why they are doing it, and not all of those reasons are black and white.
While you probably first find Caesar’s Legion after they destroyed Nipton, a very gruesome scene where an entire settlement is killed or enslaved, you can find proof that they are not PURE evil. If you help out the Legion, traders will mention how calm and peaceful things are under the Legion. If you, instead, assist the NCR, traders are constantly complaining about attacks and how the NCR is ineffectual, but you also don’t see the NCR destroying settlements that aren’t allied with them.
Lesson #3 - It’s Not All One or the Other
A faction or NPC isn’t a single thing. To steal a phrase from Wreck-it Ralph (2012); just because you are bad guy, doesn’t mean you are -bad- guy. We are not a single thing. We are many things.
What I mean is that we shouldn’t define a faction or NPC by a single thing that they do. A bad guy isn’t just bad, but has reasons for why they do things, reasons that players at the table can emphasis with (even if they don’t agree with the outcome or choices).
Major Factions Fight (and the Smaller Factions follow)
I’ve talked already, but there are many factions in the game. From the Brotherhood of Steel to the Followers of the Apocalypse, each faction has its own goals, no matter how small they are. With that said, the player character is the catalyst for the factions. Where you travel in New Vegas, you begin turning the tide, either in the favor of House, NCR, or the Legion.
And when one of those major factions begins winning, the smaller factions start following them, or lend their aid to a major rival. For example, while the Followers of the Apocalypse may not agree with everything the NCR are doing, if you help them enough, they will lend medical aid to the NCR, helping you to secure a better outcome during the final chapter of the game. Or maybe you helped the Brotherhood of Steel and they show up at the final fight, regardless of which side you pick, and start blasting your enemies.
Lesson #4 - Make More Than 2
When creating your campaign, have 2 or 3 major factions at odds, and then sprinkle in several smaller factions that will go either way, or may only follow a major faction if they get what they want, or if forced to by the player, or any other outcome. This gives your players the power to gain allies, defeat minor factions to shake up the landscape, and reinforce their enemies if they make too many missteps when trying to deal with problems.
Using All These Lessons
While I can’t guarantee that your campaign will be as reviewed as favorably as Fallout: New Vegas if you follow these lessons, I can guarantee that you will be creating an exciting and interesting world to game in. While you may be worried that if you give your players this much freedom, that they will destroy your perfectly crafted story, you are missing the point of TTRPGs.
We are here to have fun, to play a collaborative game, and create a story together. By giving your table the freedom to make friends, enemies, and mistakes, you create an exciting and interesting world to explore.
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