23 years after Mr. House's victory at Hoover Dam, tensions between House and the NCR are reaching a breaking point.

House, by unifying The Strip, Freeside, Westside, and North Vegas Square under his rule, has turned New Vegas into the biggest economic powerhouse in the Southwest. Factories have been built; Hoover Dam is running at near pre-war output; and the population in the area is growing faster than ever as entrepreneurs and settlers flood into the city to take advantage of its safe, business-friendly, low-tax environment.

The NCR, however, experienced much turmoil after their loss at the Dam.

Immediately following the withdrawal of troops from the Mojave, the NCR public reacted to the failed war and wasted resources by turning against the imperialist policies of Kimball and his supporters in the senate, ousting them in the elections in favor of isolationists. These ideas remained popular in the NCR for over a decade, but then, as the population began to grow rapidly, food shortage became a widespread concern. In the southern part of the nation, there were thousands of acres of land that could be used for farming, but there was simply not enough water. In order to prevent famine, NCR leaders were forced to meet with House to arrange for the pre-war irrigation lines running from the Colorado river near Hoover Dam to southern California to be restored to working condition. After the lines were restored, the NCR was able to irrigate enough land to completely stave off any food shortage, at the cost of being dependent on House and New Vegas. House charged the NCR government a hefty fee to pump the water to California, which began to infuriate the NCR public. Isolationist sentiment eroded away as whispers of a second invasion of the Mojave began to circulate. House, fearing some sort of embargo or even a war with the NCR, acted quickly to forge a treaty with the NCR leadership. The terms dictated that House would not charge the NCR for water with the understanding that they would not send any troops into the Mojave or place an embargo on New Vegas. Though this calmed the NCR public temporarily, tensions began to rise again as imperialist politicians started to gain influence via fear-mongering and painting House as having his hands around the NCR's throat.

By the year 2304, these anti-House politicians have been in office for several months, and are already threatening embargoes on New Vegas. House's projections predict that, within 28 months, the NCR will launch a full-scale military attack on the Mojave. Projections for a possible battle for New Vegas put the NCR as victorious in all possible scenarios, the Securitrons no longer a threat to the NCR on a strategic level.

House cannot defend his city nor his dreams for that city without some leverage from an outside force, and he found one. Caravaneers and travelers have brought stories of a massive nation in the north, run by ghoulified pre-war scientists and philosophers, that values pre-war knowledge and technology, using them to amass enormous military power and conquer vast areas of the former United States and Canada. House, seeing himself as perhaps the most valuable relic of the Old World and its technology, saw hope for New Vegas in this nation, known as the North American Confederation. House will be killed and his tech acquired by the NCR if they are allowed to attack New Vegas, which, House figures, the NAC would do anything to prevent. House knows that the NAC knows how valuable he is, since he has detected several NAC spies in New Vegas over the past decade. All that he needs to do is make contact with them and work out a deal where they allow New Vegas to become a member state within the Confederation. This would mean that they would throw their military might behind New Vegas, which would be more than enough to intimidate the NCR out of taking any military or even economic action against the city.

House plans to accomplish this via a team of diplomats that he will send northward toward the NAC border, which he knows is in northern Nevada. After making contact with the NAC, House hopes that these diplomats will be able to talk their way to the highest levels of the Confederation's government, and then get a treaty signed with them that will ensure that New Vegas becomes a member state of the Confederation with the understanding that House will allow the NAC access to a huge amount of his databases and knowledge about pre-war technology and advanced robotics. Once New Vegas is a state within the Confederation, the other states will be obligated to go to war with anyone who attacks House's territory, including a nation as big as the NCR.

This diplomatic group will need to be escorted by combat-skilled guards and will need to include at least one doctor, since injuries on the roads of Nevada and Utah are certain to occur, and an expert in survival in order to make the difficult trek through the deserts of Nevada, Utah, and beyond. Experts in bartering and the caravan trade as well as diplomatic persons are also needed, as re-supplying along the way will be crucial to the group's survival and in case of the death of any of the diplomats House has trained directly, spare replacements will ensure that the reason for the journey will remain intact. The Courier, House's protégé, was placed in charge of hiring this group, and you are the people he chose. You have been informed of your pay for a successful mission, which is set at 75,000 caps each, and your pay for an unsuccessful mission that still made contact with some NAC leaders, 30,000 caps each.

You are now all together on the north end of Vegas, and the Courier is briefing you on your mission and how much it means to the survival of New Vegas. You have been given a set of two refurbished pre-war military trucks to ride in to expedite your journey. Two drivers who double as mechanics (House's best mechanics) will pilot them. The Courier will accompany you on your journey to make sure everything goes smoothly, but he and the trucks will only take you to the NAC border. After that, the Courier will have to return to Vegas to continue his work there. For now, you are just focusing on gearing up and getting into the back of the flatbed truck where you'll be sitting for them next, oh, eight or nine hours. Get comfortable.

A few things to consider before you sign up:

This RP will work differently from other RPs. You (the players) will not be able to write certain things in your posts, such as what your character sees around them, whether or not your attacks hit their intended target, and whether or not you survive a combat encounter. All of these things will be determined by the GM (me), who will be using the ruleset to calculate those values. You can still include the thoughts and emotions of your character in your posts, of course.

Going along with the previous point, you cannot let your posts get ahead of the GM, especially during combat. Say what your attack is, then the GM will tell you its outcome and any attacks by NPCs and their outcomes.

You won't have any control over when you die in this RP, that will be up to how well your stats hold up to the damage you'll take during combat.

This is a group RP, and the rules used for it are designed around the idea that everyone in the group will work together for the benefit of the group, and ergo themselves since it is much easier to survive in a group than alone. It will be easier for the group if a diverse range of players make up the group, i.e., some players specialize in combat skills, others in medicine and science, others in barter, etc. That isn't a requirement, just more of a tip.

All of these things will be much clearer and easier to understand if you read through pages 3-19 of the ruleset, which is why that is required before you join the RP.

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What is expected of players:

1.) Keep track of your inventory. That means keep a list of all the items that you are carrying and make sure that you don't go over your carry weight. The GM will not keep track of that, so it's up to you. If it is found out that you are cheating this system, you could be kicked out.

2.) Follow the rules of this type of RP. Instead of describing what you see around you, say "I looked around and scanned the road ahead" or something along those lines, then wait for the GM's post. The GM will say "You see..." and describe your surrounds. Then you can post any actions that you take concerning those surroundings.

3.) Read through the ruleset. I can't stress that enough. Having an understanding of the rules will help you pick stats for your character and will prevent you from making errors that interfere with the progression of the RP.

4.) Follow the basic rules of reality in your post. Although the rules for the RP prevent most types of god-modding, you still have to follow some basic rules for it. Namely, you can't change what armor you're wearing during combat.

5.) If you have questions, ask me. The OOC thread will be open for that or you can PM me.

6.) Oh, and make sure you understand, if nothing else, the Action Points system. Whenever you're in combat, you'll have to only do as many actions as your AP will allow. Keep that in mind every time you post during a combat sequence. It will save everyone else a lot of trouble. Especially me.

Also of note: If you want to join the RP after it starts, or rejoin if your character dies, let me know. The RP will be open to players joining throughout, but keep in mind you'll have to be written in to it in a fairly logical manner.