As part of the devious vault project, you were unknowingly selected by the government to be held in a sort of cryo-stasis (possibly technology stolen from House as he was developing it).

One day before the bombs fell; you were kidnapped and placed in stasis tubes in a small vault. You wake up in a state of bewilderment. You choke and attempt to cough up a residue of a blue liquid that had filled your lungs. Screens on the walls then play prerecorded films to explain what has happened. As the vault’s power supply dwindled, it could no longer supply the expansive amount of energy needed to maintain the stasis tubes and initiated the wake-up sequence.

You pleasantly find that there is a room filled with some of your most cherished prewar possessions. You also realize that your memory has been enhanced during your sleep to keep your brain active. (eg. If you were a computer science major before the war, you now have implanted memories of thousands of hours of computer courses and virtual job experience with all computer systems.) These memories were only implanted on one particular subject based on your prewar interests.

The vault initiated agricultural subsystems several months before you awoke. There is plenty of food and supplies to survive for several months, but the reactor is now below 5% capacity and will require extensive maintenance and parts from the outside world to stay operational for more than three months.

The computers advertise this as your chance to start over. A chance for you to be anyone you want.

You can now choose to be who you were, or to develop an entirely new identity. You and a small group of fellow stasis dwellers must now find a way to cope and move forward with your lives.

The idea is that basing your character off yourself will help keep characters from becoming too powerful and allow for some deeper thought as to what post-apocalyptic life would feel like (The feelings of loss, the hardships of a lawless world, the struggle of starting over, etc.). Perhaps it will add more fear and hesitation to enter dangerous situations and a feeling of realism? Everyone has different strengths, and it will take teamwork to overcome the complex hardships faced in the wasteland.