We've had a fair few topics about how people will play in their first game. However, I wanted to try a slightly different topic.

I don't mean what weapons you like or what perks you'll pick. Rather, will you set a personality for your chatacter that defines who you help, ignore, steal from, kill, etc?

Obviously, that's tricky when you don't know what's coming, but I'd like to attempt something interesting the first time.

I tried a bit with Skyrim, which didn't work out too well. I was supposed to be a thief, who had no time for the Gods and a problem with men who abused women (who I intended to kill). It seemed fairly simple and easy when I started, but first I found I couldn't kill any of the men who seemed like good candidates and then the thieves guild turned into some nutty religious cult. Argh!

So now I'm thinking about what could be interesting and work. So far-

Not happily married- The kid was an accident and the parents pushed us into "doing the right thing". Any happy family looking stuff at the beginning explained away by us trying to get past the enormous fight the night before.

Never trusted that creepy robot- that was another dumb idea from the idiot I married. (I suspect this attitude may impact other parts of the game later).

Low pain threshold- If I'm low on health, crippled or potentially haven't slept or eaten in a while, I will pick the most aggressive dialogue option.

General political outlook- Haven't decided whether to be a lefty or a righty, but I'll pick one and try to favour whatever factions seems to fit.

That's all I've got right now. I'd still like something that could cause my generally decent character to snap and do something very bad, but I don't know what yet.

So I'm interested to hear other ideas (possibly to steal). Any thoughts?

My PC will be a lecherous guy who loves his wife, but sees no harm in having extramarital fun. He can even be distracted from his goals by women if he thinks he can get her to bed, and what woman can resist a white knight? At least thats what he tells himself. Sure he might pitch in to help a group led by a man from time to time, especially if they have an attractive woman in the group, but womanizing is his first priority.

One of his first acts will be to find some nice waterfront property to set up his bachelor pad, complete with mood lighting!

My character is a senior Enclave officer, at-least 55 but probably into his sixties depending on the start date. Simply put is here to kill the Brotherhood, as a member of the Enclave he is capable of any act against the wastelanders to achieve his objectives and will do so without consideration for ethics. Revenge is his goal and the ends justify the means.

After putting in some thought, I've actually come up with what I think is an interesting roleplay/perspective I'm going to use for me first playthrough. Let me preface this by saying I usually like to play the "bad" guy, and that I really want to play off the whole "everything I've ever known was blown up" vibe we get from having a PC from the Pre-War era. I'm also not into companion romances at all, so that's something to take into account as well.

As a Pre-War man, my Sole Survivor was your classic all-American man: Hard working father, loving and devoted husband, and having served in the military himself, a rather big patriot. He, his wife, and their newborn lived a nice, quiet life in a Bostonian suburb, an almost picturesque existence.

And then the bombs fell.

Fast-forward a few years, and out from Vault 111 emerges a completely new man. The America he loved so dearly is gone, tragedy has befallen his small family, and he is left with absolutely nothing, becoming little more than a shell of his former self. Then another change within him starts.

As the initial shock passes, the extreme grief slowly turns into rage. The kind, loving man he used to be is no more. Any conscience he had having died along with his beloved country and family, the only thing driving him forward is the thought of somehow resurrecting the seemingly-dead America. To this end, he'll do whatever it takes, regardless of who or what gets in his way.

And when he finds out exactly who and what the Institute is, he sees his chance. With their help, he'll either succeed in his mission, or die trying.

Sounds a bit more like the premise/summary of a fanfic, but I think it'll be an interesting mindset to have while roaming the wastes. Gives a bit better of an explanation for my evil playthrough than "By the way, I'm actually a genocidal maniac who's probably going to kill and/or maim everyone."

So if you decide the Institute is the best candidate for restoring America before you start, but the game suggests otherwise, would your character just delude himself, or change course?

I hadn't really thought of denial as a way to smooth over inconvenient or unexpected plot events. Hmmm. I'll have to think about that option.

Outside of the Enclave reappearing, the Enclave being the continuity of the actual U.S government and all, he'll likely just stick with the Institute. I picked the Institute as the faction he'd join up with because they're normally viewed as "the bad guys" by most people, but at the same time they're one of the most advanced factions we see, and he'll likely see technology equating to restoration of the Pre-War world.

There's also a bit of a desperation factor there as well, as the Institute existed in the Pre-War world. In short, it'd be something a broken man like him could cling to, one of the last semblances of the world that was.

TL;DR: Yes, delusion/mild insanity is quite possible

We seem to have different definitions of the word mild.

Edit: My mistake. That's what you're not doing. Apologies.

Well... go big or go home?

And since he doesn't have a home anymore....

I'll probably make my character the kind of guy who does the right thing but his methods are less than honorable. All my settlements are going to be under strict totalitarian rule but all citizens get safety and as much food and water they need. My character will be the kind of guy who has a strict set of morals and nobody, not even other people, will get in the way of them. "It's for the greater good" will be a phase I'll need to say to myself to keep on going.

Older military engineer that was bitter about being drafted into the Anchorage campaign in the first place. Has no problem with idiots, but does not suffer liars, pseudo-intellectuals, or those that use their authority to exploit the weak. Values action over words, but knows how to be diplomatic.

The big factor in this game is that your character had a pre-war life. The absolute and irreversible destruction of one's reality has got to have massive character ramifications.

HOW CAN MY CHARACTER COPE WITH THE END OF HIS REALITY?

To approach the wasteland in anything other than gibbering idiocy, he must have considered this kind of future, or developed coping skills before hand.
I'm thinking a paranoid, off-grid "prepper" family background. The family who *knew* this was coming & everyone else thought they were crazy right-wing fanatics.
He joined the army to acquire some extra skills for the prep work, and that's where he met his wife. Maybe his prepper-paranoia was always a wedge between them?

BUT...

He's only just arrived in the nightmare that others have been born into. Though he has the skills to survive (probably), its something he planned for. Others were born into it and its their nature. He sticks out like a recent immigrant. He may even rub people the wrong way, in the sense of someone with head knowledge but not heart knowledge. Someone who knows the struggle and risks, but not from experience.

BUT...

He remembers the ideals and dreams of the previous world, and the sense of invincible American patriotic optimism. He can't help but rebuild the old reality in small ways, and the wasteland denizens are attracted to that.

I'm going to drink and smoke after being cooped up for 200 years. Drink and smoke A LOT. Grow a beard, and look for a back pack or duffel bag. Then go find a hoker.

Someone like Brendan Fraser in the crappy 90's romcom Blast From the Past: a naive sappy character out of a 1950s/ early 60s family sitcom, completely out of place in the horrifying new world they find themselves in, mumbling gee whizz and good golly as a raider attempts to murder them.

Except his pre-split Robco and NukaCola stocks will be worth significantly less

I don't wanna put up too much framework yet cuz there are no doubt some things that will (from my PoV) fundamentally define the character I'm gonna be rolling. But, tentatively, I'm gonna roll a quasi-50's lady who wakes up in the Wasteland.

The world she knows is dead, the social and cultural mores governing her former life haven't existed for ages and the Wasteland has seemingly precious little capacity for the kind of person she used to be. So she decides she won't be that person anymore. The world she finds herself in is extreme so that's what she becomes, she swings from quasi-50's suburban wife to hardened wasteland survivor and it's very much not a natural, gradual thing. She sort of reactionarily (I just MADE that a word) hardens herself into something she imagines can survive this world. She isn't a psychopath, as in she doesn't go out of her way to be cruel or brutal or savage, but she never loses sight of the fact that her primary concern is herself [and whatever she deems worthy of protection].

Depending on how the game plays out I'll either leave this hard-but-brittle facade on with the implication it'll collapse at some point in the future (probably after the game is complete cuz I dunno how to play with someone broken) cuz that kind of aggressive psychological distancing is not sustainable OR she'll learn that the Wasteland does not have to be all bleak and awful all the time and she'll slowly start to reintegrate bits of her old self into the new her. She won't ever be the same but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Happy go lucky, clown prince of thieves. The characters I play are rather incredulous of their situation and rather than take anything seriously have decided to simply play within their new environment. If Fallout had d&d like alignments I would be playing a Chaotic Neutral character type.

I like that approach. An elegant way around our "set" background.

I'll possibly enter the wasteland with a pessimistic outlook concerning humanity (depends a bit on what happens during our escape from the vault too) and myself, so I'm not going to be too friendly or helpful.

As a veteran (no way around this, I suppose) I would like to restrain myself with regards to violence, at least at first, but looking at the footage this might prove difficult.

That's all for now.

You'd better not pick the "Vault tech?" dialogue option at the start then. Because that really didn't sound very preppery. (I don't think that's a word).

Anyway nice to hear what others are thinking. Thanks for all the ideas, folks.

I guess I'm most interested in anything that justifies some naughty behaviour in the character's mind. I often want to be a bit bad, but find it quite hard. That's partly because these games tend to make it more about being a hero, but partly just me.

So maybe a reformed ex-junky who has a slight relapse on finding the world destroyed (and the inevitable small stash of morph.., sorry, Med-X, on the way out of the vault)? That should account for a little more thievery than really necessary for survival, but also a money sink. (I never like getting rich too fast).

Someone who is OBSESSED with sugar bombs to the point where everytime he/she sees them they run over take and eat them.
If anyone tries to stop them then they should know he/she will be willing to murder entire towns just to get one more box.

Thanks. But I wasn't really trying to get round it as such, more just trying to work with what we're given. I quite like that fact we have some background.

He will probably think the child and the wife are freaks and that pre-war thing was just brainwashing.

Because of his past, he will certainly love to mess with other factions' business, especially if he can get away with it without anyone suspecting a thing.

If a character talks about love, and anything related to that he will answer in the most straightforward and hostile way possible (but still not a murder threat, of course).

He'll try to taunt to his enemies and be the closest thing to a rogue bounty hunter.

My character(if possible)

An intelligent ex - military medic who likes to tinker with robotics and computers for a hobby. Having performed his duty to his country he now lives with his wife. happily? he'd say so, but that's because he only ever knew this kind of life.