This started as a simple list of abandoned fallout shelter - "vault" - traits inspired by this "random observatory" post over on Hexplorations. Then I started putting in some rules for layout generation inspired by the sadly now-removed random dungeon generator from Melancholies and Mirth (his tiny dungeon generators are still up, however). Then I wrote a table of encounters, so of course I had to write some other tables for certain types of vault inhabitants, and... well, now it's much larger than it started.
So this post is split in two parts. One will generate the outline of a vault with just five rolls of a D6. After that, however, there's a section which you can use to generate the layout and contents of the vault ahead of time. You can safely ignore the second part, but it won't make much sense unless you read the first part - so don't skip ahead.
Generating Your Vault
Roll a D6 for each category. The categories include location, design goals, what caused it to collapse, who lives in it now, and what treasure the vault is rumoured to hold. If a rolled result displeases you, or if you have a good idea for any of them, write your own and use it instead. This is meant to inspire, not constrain.
 |
| From Fallout |
Where is it located?
Reaching
a vault is as much an adventure as entering it. It can be difficult
to find, difficult to enter, or naturally dangerous to approach –
or any combination of the three. Even when not dangerous, making the
approach noteworthy is worth at least a little description.
1 At
the bottom of a small cave system. Signs and metal scaffolding
clearly show which way to go, but there may or may not be divergent
tunnels along the way. There may be an ecosystem living in the caves,
possibly containing dangerous creatures.
2 In
the ruins of a small and long since abandoned town. Most of the
buildings have been picked clean of valuables, but who knows what you
might encounter while searching for the vault's entrance building.
3 Inside
a military base or similarly defensible position. Built on top of
a hill, or in a vast plain, or anywhere else that makes it hard to
approach unseen. Depending on the nature of the vault this could be a
fence and ditch or a full-blown modern fortress.
4 In
the mountains or hills, with a long hike required to reach it.
The road used to build and reach it may have collapsed or been
covered in a landslide in the centuries since the vault was built,
further complicating reaching the vault.
5 On
the outskirts of a nuked city, still glowing from the radiation.
This far out means you'll only need to endure Medium radiation, but
with the number of buildings in the area it may take hours (and
therefore Saves vs Radiation) to find the entrance to the vault.
6 Beneath
an island at the centre of a sizable lake. The bridge has long
since collapsed from disrepair, and a lack of fish or major rivers
connecting to it means no one has built a boat here. You could swim,
but you can't see what's under the murky waters.
Who built the vault, and for what purpose?
The
purpose of a vault says a lot about the layout, but it also helps
paint a picture of the vault's interior. A military bunker implies
weapons, blast doors, and spartan efficiency; a scientific bunker
implies research, high-tech gear, and derelict machinery; a civilian
bunker implies recreational areas, comfortable hallways, and large
population numbers.
1 A
single private investor, who built an extensive vault instead of
a small one either to hold many people they wanted to protect or just
them and a few others in considerable luxury. Luxurious either way,
as someone rich enough to "throw away" money on a vault had
the capital to make it meet their every standard.
2 Multiple
private investors who pooled their money. Typically members of
the same community, either literally (as in they were neighbours) or
notionally (an extended family, a religious endeavour, an online
crowdfunding group). Relatively spartan but efficient, as the
investors wanted the best bang for their buck.
3 A
government, for government workers. Usually military or
scientific in nature, but some were built to save leaders and their
families. An odd mix of high-quality necessities and low-quality
furnishings, as governments can afford expensive gear but cut costs
wherever possible in order to stay within their budgets.
4 A
government, for civilians. Designed to house families ostensibly
for moral reasons, but usually so that the government would have
loyal citizens by the time they were ready to leave the vaults.
Balanced between efficiency and quality, and designed to hold as many
people as possible (often even more than those who entered the
vault).
5 A
corporation who sold entry to civilians. Either built for luxury
in every respect, or as cheaply as possible to maximize profits, and
only very rarely somewhere inbetween. In either case these vaults are
prone to malfunction, as many were built by corporations who didn't
fully believe they would ever actually be used.
6 A government or corporation for a purpose other than
surviving a nuclear winter. It could be a military bunker, or
isolated research facility, or secure bank vault. Limited ability to
endure long term sealing let those inside survive the fallout, at the
cost of leaving much of the facility derelict and abandoned.
Why did it fail?
There
are plenty of vaults out there which worked. Some were designed to
last just the first few weeks of the fallout, releasing their
inhabitants to a harsh but survivable world. Others were built to
last centuries, and did, releasing eighth or ninth generation
inhabitants to more stable surface conditions. These vaults are long
terms vaults which failed.
1 The
builder(s) intended the vault to be a social experiment. One or
more aspects of the vault were designed to be contrary to normal
expectations in order to study the effects of the change. Most vaults
survive these experiments. This one didn't.
2 Faulty
air filtration or recycling systems led to asphyxiation, either
over the course of months or a few short hours. By the time the PCs
enter the vault it has rebalanced to breathable levels, but the vault
is full of dead bodies with no signs of a struggle.
3 Internal
conflict led to mass casualties. The survivors were either too
few in number to recover from the population loss, or the fight
exhausted critical supplies. The vault is littered with signs of
conflict – barricaded rooms, spent ammunition, dead bodies.
4 A
robot uprising of servant robots or, more likely, combat robots
that were meant to be kept in storage, which were reprogrammed or
suffered an error that led to total organic extermination. Depending
on who's in the vault now, these robots may still be present, either
active or lying dormant.
5 An
earthquake or close range nuclear detonation caused critical
damage to the vault, which finished off those who weren't killed by
the initial disaster. The vault is either full of cave ins, if an
earthquake, or surrounded by Medium radiation, if a nuke.
6 What
started as a small fire quickly spiraled out of control when
fire suppression systems failed, and the survivors couldn't pull back
from the disaster. Most of the vault is coated in soot, and where the
fire spread is full or ash and melted plastic.
Who occupies it now?
Each
of these vaults follows the same chronology – built, inhabited,
fell apart, looted of the most obvious and near-surface supplies,
then settled. If it's settled by good people the party won't have
much danger in dealing with them, but although these groups are all
inherently combative, most can be reasoned and bargained with.
1 Raiders
who use it as a stronghold and staging ground for attacking local
settlements and trade routes. Many such groups will have only a
small, secure presence inside the vault (their leaders and
valuables), with a larger settlement built outside the vault's
entrance. Whether they'll let the underlings in during a siege is
always unsure.
2 Intelligent
mutants long since cast out from "normal" society. Tend
towards negative mutations rather than positive ones. As capable of
reasoning as anyone else, but decades of isolation have led to a vast
regression in terms of technology. They will initially fear and/or
hate anyone who isn't a mutant, and are likely to kill trespassers
for their goods.
3 Techno-cultists,
a cargo cult which doesn't understand the tech it worships. They are
not immediately hostile but will refuse access to the vault and
demand tithes of high tech gear. They experiment on bought slaves or,
when not able to buy them, use their advanced weaponry to raid nearby
settlements for test subjects.
4 Mutated
animals, either an underworld ecosystem or a single hive or
series of nests of one particular species. The creatures may not
necessarily be territorial, but if not, are aggressive nonetheless
due to being predators in the first place. There may well be just a
single powerful creature – a rad-dragon sleeping in its lair.
5 Robots
programmed to kill intruders or simply anything that breathes. Range
from deadly combat androids to servant androids with makeshift
weapons or nothing but their mechanical strength. Won't kill robot
PCs or PCs with lots of cybernetic implants, but will attempt to
subdue and reprogram such characters to their cause.
6 A
single powerful psychic, or wizard if your game includes magic,
or superhuman mutant if your game lacks psychics, along with a few lackeys and other hangers-on. They need not be explicitly evil but
their powers make them arrogant and prideful, and not likely to let
the party explore the deeper parts of the vault without demanding
payment.
What horrors lie within its deepest recesses?
These
are the "boss monsters", but more accurately are here to
mix up what threats the PCs face and give them something to deal with
if they manage to talk or sneak their way past the vault's
inhabitants.
1 A
Rat King – a couple hundred rats fused together in a horrible,
writhing mass of fur and flesh and teeth. Every successful attack
against them knocks rats off, who continue to attack anything organic
in smaller but still dangerous swarms. They can be reasoned with, and
are intelligent, but have all the desires of a rat, and care only
about food.
 |
| Like the Rat-King from Hilda, but deadly as well as creepy. |
2 A
Combat Warform robot, a giant metal man. Its military armour
grants it great armour but its high-tech servos keep it moving faster
than any man, while each powerful arm ends in a weapon. One is a
laser with great range and the ability to ignore armour, while the
other fires rockets of either anti-armour or anti-infantry design.
3 A
Radiation Elemental, made of pure energy and living only to
irradiate the unirradiated. It projects radiation around itself, and
fires beams of intense heat at anything in its way. Anything
radiation can penetrate it can penetrate, allowing it to phase
through walls to ambush prey or flee from threatening foes.
4 A
Hydraic Flailsnail, a giant snail with a several heads which end
in sharp, mace-like protrusions which it flails at anything living
over a certain size in order to kill and devour them. Slicing and
cutting does no damage as it regrows its head with alarming speed,
and while it can be outrun it moves at a surprising pace.
5 A
hive of Fungal Shamblers, once humans, now zombie slaves to the
cold and alien intelligence of a fungus. Their spores deal 1 damage
per round spent breathing them and any intact human corpse exposed to
them slowly turns into another Shambler. When such infestations break
free, they can destroy entire nations before being put down.
6 A
tribe of CHUDs (cannibalistic humanoid underground dwellers) come
up from a cave the vault opens into. They hunger for anything, but
especially the flesh of thinking creatures, which they consider a
delicacy. They are surprisingly intelligent themselves, prone to
bargaining and infighting, crucial means of overcoming their large
numbers.
What treasure is it said to hold?
These
are all treasures, but the part in bold is what local
Wastelanders say is in the vault, and the rest of the description is
what actually is. My idea is that no player will be disappointed with
what they find, but that each description could mean many things. Is
a fire-lance a nuclear missile or a laser rifle? There's only one way
to find out.
1 A
fire-lance, one of the weapons the Old Ones used during the End of
Days. Not a nuclear weapon
but rather an advanced form of energy weapon, combining the best
elements of plasma and laser weaponry. Its stats are: D6+1 or
D8 damage, Far range, two hands, ignores physical armour but is 100%
blocked by energy armour. It comes with 100 shots or
runs out of ammo when you critically fail or succeed an attack roll
twice in a row (either or). You can burn a shot/make an attack roll
that autohits to melt nearby metals.
2 Bombs
which erase whatever they hit from existence.
A bandolier of six light grenades (which all fit in one inventory
slot). When thrown, any free-willed creature (humans and the most
intelligent robots and animals) caught within their purple explosion
is displaced from reality for a minute, returning to the same
location if safe, or the closest safe location to it if unsafe, as if
no time had passed for them.
3 Potions
which make you "better." Four
tonic injectors with the words harder, better, faster, and stronger
on the front of each of them. Harder raises your Constitution by 1,
Better your max HP by 1, Faster your Dexterity by 1, and Stronger
your Strength by 1.
4 A
glowing dagger which kills anything it strikes.
A dagger: D6 damage, Melee range, one hand, concealable and
throwable, which is made of radioactive crystals. It is harmless to
hold but once it deals damage to a target they keel over vomiting and
die within rounds. Large creatures get a Save vs Radiation to resist
or are simply immune if too large, and anyone immune to radiation is
immune as well. If the attacker rolls a critical success or critical
failure on an attack roll with it, the dagger shatters into a
thousand pieces.
5 A
metal statue which a man can enter and move around.
A suit of power armour which requires one power cell per twelve hours
of use. It counts as plate armour but does not interfere with
movement, only occupies one inventory slot, does interfere with
climbing, swimming, and stealth, reduces incoming radiation by one
step, filters toxic air into breathable air, and gives the wearer
Advantage on all Strength and Melee Attack tests.
6 An iron mask of an ancient warlord, imbued with magic power. Whether it's magical or not, this metal helmet with a mask attached is impressive. Whoever wears it deals +1 damage with all weapons and has +1 on reaction rolls with anyone who respects military leaders. Simply wearing it is enough to make people believe you're at least an officer, in whatever sort of army still wears helmets like it.
 |
| Modern replica of a 13th-century Kipchak helmet with war-mask. |
Generating The Contents
This is all shaky at best and as of yet untested, but it'll give you a halfway decent dungeon that at least partially makes sense. As above, if you have a better idea, include it - it's not "fudging", it's being a smart GM. For one, you're extremely likely to repeat encounters here if you stock all but the smallest vaults, and many of them are fairly unique. For two, I haven't included loot tables or trap tables (but I do have some things you should look at for inspiration below).
Keep in mind why the vault was built and why it fell while you do this. The best dungeons tell a story, however light, and vaults are no different. Another important thing to consider is the general state of disrepair. Are the lights still on, and if not, are they out completely or just in certain parts of the vault? Are the doors jammed, or easily opened? Is it overgrown everywhere, or only in a few isolated pockets?
Layout Generation
The
upper layer of the vault contains 2D6+3 "rooms", which are
large networks of literal rooms held together by a shared purpose and
connected to each other by chokepoint hallways. The ones here are all
residential in nature, bedrooms and mess halls and kitchens and the
simple service jobs needed to keep vaulters from going nuts. Organize
the Residential portion of the vault in a:
1 Square
2
Long Rectangle
3
Full Circle
4
Hollow Circle
5
Cross
6
Triangle
Then pick a random room to be the entrance to the vault. It could be accessed by an elevator (all of which have stairs in case the elevator breaks), if somewhere towards the centre of the vault, or by a tunnel, if connecting to one of the vault's edges.
Each
offshoot has D3+1 rooms and D3-1 one room offshoots of its own. These
separate from the vault and sprawl outwards in a random direction:
1
North
2
East
3
South
4
West
5
Down
6
Down
Offshoots
which go down are only one floor beneath the vault's main floor,
rather than moving multiple floors down. They can go in any direction, it doesn't really matter.
Every
vault has an Agricultural offshoot, which is where the vault's air
and water are recycled and where the hydroponics bays are located.
Military vaults have a Bunker offshoot with some weapons left over.
Scientific vaults have a Research offshoot containing high-tech gear
and failed experiments. Luxury vaults have a Recreational offshoot
containing gardens, clubs, and swimming pools.
If
the vault was destroyed by an earthquake 1-in-3 rooms are partially
caved in. If the vault was destroyed by a nuke 1-in-3 rooms are
filled with High radiation. If the vault was destroyed by a fire D6+1
rooms are nothing but ash and melted plastic. If the vault was
destroyed by infighting, D3+1 rooms have been barricaded from the
inside.
Raiders, Mutant Humans, and Techno-Cultists all occupy D3+1 rooms somewhere in the vault. A Psychic/Wizard/Superhuman occupies a single room. Robots and Mutant Animals don't have a set location and instead simply modify the results on the vault stocking table, but you might want to consider putting a central hive or AI supercomputer in a random room.
Lastly,
find the two rooms furthest from the vault's entrance. One of these
contains the horror rolled previously, the other contains the
treasure rolled previously. If they aren't the same distance from the
entrance, the horror is the in the room closer to the entrance.
Stocking Rooms
Once
you've got the vault's layout down it's time to fill it out. The
rooms full of the vault's inhabitants, and the room containing the
horror, have already been cleared out. Rooms damaged by cave ins,
radiation, or fire haven't, and neither has the containing the
vault's legendary treasure, or rooms that have been barricaded.
You
can do what I like to do, and stock the vault ahead of time, or you
can roll a result on the table below each time the party enters a new
room.
1 Loot
2
Loot + Trap
3
Loot + Monster
4
Monster
5
Trap
6
Inhabitants
It's
at this point you should also consider which rooms are caved-in and
irradiated. Just roll an extra D6 along your "stocking" D6
and collapse/irradiate the room if you roll a 1 or a 2.
I'm
not going to tell you what traps or treasure or monsters to use but:
Keep
in mind why a trap would be here. This is one of the reasons I like
stocking ahead of time, since if a lot of traps are in one part of
the map I can say "oh, there must have been someone setting up
traps here". It also helps you figure out what traps to make. A
vault with no inhabitants will tend towards natural hazards like
leaking pipes, while one with raiders will have alarms, and one that
fell to infighting will have proper deadly traps.
Treasure
in a post-apocalyptic game shouldn't be based on money. A vault
doesn't have much use for cash anyway since it's more of a communal
effort. What they do have is a lot of Old World gear you can't find
anywhere else.
Okay, I will tell you what monsters to use.
Populating Encounters
If
you roll the inhabitants result the monsters there are agents of
whichever faction is currently inhabiting the vault. Raiders plotting
an overthrow, Techno-Cultists looking for new tech to worship,
Mutants wandering because there's nothing better to do. If you rolled
Mutant Animals or Robots, instead roll on the encounter table for
them.
The
monsters result prompts a roll on the monsters table unless
you rolled Mutant Animals or Robots, in which case you roll on their
encounter table instead. Monsters + loot depends on context but
whenever possible make dealing with the monster a requirement before
the party can get their hands on the loot.
If
you roll the same result twice and it's one that's pretty unique,
either take the next suitable result down or up the table, or change
one key aspect, or just wing it and come up with a
similar-but-different result instead.
GENERIC ENCOUNTERS
1
D6+1 Radheads, humans who have regressed to an animal-like
state, hunter gatherers without quite as many tools. They are capable
of limited reason, however.
2
D3 Giant Cockroaches, immune to radiation and prone to
fleeing to and into the nearest irradiated region when threatened.
3
A Drillbot, which thinks organic creatures are what it
has been set to mine. Its powerful drill ignores and destroys all but
the strongest types of armour.
4
A Giant Amoeba, blind and driven by sound and scent.
Upon death, it explodes with corrosive slime, dealing 1 damage a
round until cleaned off.
5
An Ur-Gecko,
the size of a truck and bioluminescent. Its tongue can be launched up
to Close range away and pulls things back with suctioning strength.
 |
| Rain World lizards by RoffyTheDog |
6
D3+1 Giant Rats, the size of large dogs, and a single
Giant Giant Rat, the size of a car. They lurk in the shadows
before attacking from surprise, but are easily scared off.
MUTANT ANIMAL TYPES
If you roll mutant animals, roll or pick from the list below:
1-2
Insect Hive: A bunch of insectoid species working together
in a semi-eusocial community, even species that are not normally
eusocial. They infight constantly, but are smart enough to prey on
non-insects whenever and wherever possible.
3-4
Rat Kingdom: Lots and lots of rats, some semi-intelligent
and humanoid in shape and size. Most of them are just normal rats,
but the large ones are dangerous to humans, and the small ones form
swarms that can strip a corpse clean in under a minute.
5-6
Radhead Horde: Many mutants are falsely accused of being
subhuman. Radheads are the only ones who actually are. They possess a
simple and animal intelligence, but are capable of using tools,
simple speech, and bargaining. They're also immune to radiation.
INSECT HIVE ENCOUNTERS
1
A Swarm of Bloodflies, difficult to harm with single-target
attacks (fires, explosions, shotguns, and lasers work well) and
thirsting for blood. They autohit anything they engulf.
2
D3 Giant Cockroaches, immune to radiation and prone to
fleeing to and into the nearest irradiated region when threatened.
3
A Giant Jumping Spider. Its webs block the way but it lurks
a ways away from them, waiting for someone to near them before
leaping and knocking them into the webbing.
4
D3+1 Giant Mantises, whose arms do not cut but instead
grip, holding prey in place while they chew away on them, dealing
damage each round until they break free.
5
D6-1 (minimum 1) Spitting Ants, whose acidic spit deals
damage from a distance and causes Saves vs Pain lest the target lose
their next action to the pain.
6
A Giant Centipede, the size of a dog, scuttling on a
thousand legs, and twisting constantly as it moves. Its bite deals no
damage but prompts an instant Save vs Death, unless an antidote can
be applied within a day.
RAT KINGDOM ENCOUNTERS
1
A Swarm of Rats difficult to harm with single-target
attacks (fires, explosions, shotguns, and lasers work well). They are
innumerable but not hard to drive off.
2
A single Giant Rat, mangy and disease-ridden, shunned by
its peers. It is desperate for food but easy to kill, but every
attack forces a Save vs Disease, as does touching it.
3
D3+1 Giant Rats, the size of large dogs, devouring the
corpse of a Giant Giant Rat and blocking the path forward. They are
defensive of their property.
4
D6+1 Ratlings, one of which is a Ratling Gunner,
tall and strong and carrying a machinegun with him. They are looking
for valuables, not food.
5
D3 Ratling Assassins, who throw smokebombs and rely on
their ability to fight blindly to make up for their lack of armour
and weak weapons. They prefer to extort than to fight.
6
D3+1 Giant Rats, the size of large dogs, and a single Giant
Giant Rat, the size of a car. They lurk in the shadows before
attacking from surprise, but are easily scared off.
RADHEAD HORDE ENCOUNTERS
1
D6+1 Radheads, without tools and with few clothes. These
ones are hardly human, communicating with little more than grunts and
motions.
2
D3+1 Radheads with grenades. They don't know how to use
them properly, pulling the trigger then running at their targets and
blowing up as much as those they attack.
3
D3+1 Radheads, hunting with bows. They ambush without a
word but the second the fight turns against them they fall upon the
mercy of their foes, playing up their pity.
4
A Glowhead, a Radhead so irradiated that they glow with
radiation, with D3 Radhead followers with cleavers and axes.
Every single attack a Glowhead makes prompts a Save vs Radiation.
Most Radheads obey them with religious reverance.
5
A Glowhead with D6+4 Radhead worshippers, holding
court at a chokepoint. They are not aggressive, but will demand
tithes of food and tech before letting anyone pass.
6
An Intelligent Radhead, with a shotgun, light armour, and
two grenades. His intelligence reasserted itself only recently and he
is likely to do anything to leave the vault.
ROBOTIC ENCOUNTERS
1
D6 Widgets, floating orbs with two arms who attempt to
drag everything living they find to disposal shafts, beating and/or
killing creatures which put up a worthy struggle.
2
D3 Police Bots, bulky humanoids with strong armour and
powerful arms which they use to beat you to death while chanting
"stop resisting". Each can fire a single flashbang.
3
A Drillbot, which thinks organic creatures are what it
has been set to mine. Its powerful drill ignores and destroys all but
the strongest types of armour.
4
A Traipsing Mortar, which loudly announces where it's
aiming its rockets a round before it fires, but can take a beating
and deals a ton of damage if and when it hits.
5
A Shieldbot, whose light laser deals minimal damage. It was
built to defend, not kill, with strong armour, high HP, and a shield
that blocks the first attack against it each round.
6
A Killbot, heavily armoured and with a machinegun at the end of one
arm, dealing D6+4 damage but requiring a cooldown between each round
of firing. The other is used to crush.
 |
| UR-025 from Blackstone Fortress |
Where To Go From Here
These vaults are dungeons. Sure, they have some high-concept things that define them as vaults and not tombs or temples or other such ruins, but they're just another kind of dungeon, at the end of the day. Listing all the places you can get good advice on dungeon design would require multiple posts. Besides, if you google it or search some blogs you follow, you'll find better advice than I can give. Just something to keep in mind.
Post-apocalyptic treasure is its own beast. It's not like conventional settings where the treasure comes from literal looted treasure (most fantasy settings) or from payment for jobs well done (most sci-fi settings). Unlawful Games has a good list, if it is a little dud-heavy for my tastes. If you don't mind shelling out some cash or acquiring PDFs through illicit means, the already excellent Umerican Survival Guide has a few great scavenging tables in it, each for a different type of scavenged item.
I'm working on writing a post-apocalyptic OSR ruleset which lets you pick and choose what elements you want to include (realistic mutants or wacky ones? psychics or no psychics? supernatural elements or none at all?), but I'll recommend Ruinations until I can pimp my own stuff. (Actually I'll still recommend it then because it's cool and and you should read it.)
I'm yet to find a good guide for traps (and I've looked around at least a little bit) but this post by Goblinpunch does a great job analyzing the purpose of a trap and a few types of traps, while managing to be enjoyable to read and not the soulless roboticism most RPG design writing tends to become.
Lastly, play the Fallout games. Fallout: New Vegas in particular is one of those games that's so good there are entire communities built around hating it for being cool (well, it and any other game that's "too popular"), plus it's cheap now, which is why I recommend it as your first. If nothing else, watch someone play through Vault 22 on Youtube. Skip through if you don't have the time. It should give you a good picture of what a well-designed vault looks like.
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