Fallout fans can return to the Commonwealth in the Winter of Atom campaign book

Fallout fans have the chance to return to the Commonwealth in Winter of Atoma new campaign book for Modiphius Entertainment’s Fallout: the role-playing game. Winter of Atom builds on the foundation of the table system and offers tons of knowledge and encounters in the post-apocalyptic society built around Boston. War is brewing in the Commonwealth and it’s up to your brave band of heroes to save the day – or seize power for themselves.

As discerning lore fans might have guessed from the title, the Children of Atom – appearing in both Fallout 3 And 4 — play a prominent role in the campaign book.

“I went straight to the Children of Atom because they’ve always been one of my favorite groups,” said Donathin Frye, lead story designer at Mophidius, in an interview with Polygon. “I wanted to approach it in such a way that you can see that there are different sects among the Children of Atom, and how they can relate to each other, their different perspectives, how they can disagree with each other’s doctrine – something you see in religious history also in the real world.”

The Children of Atom use a lot of Christian imagery and feel most like a contemporary religion in the world of Fallout, but they worship nuclear energy and radiation and see the detonation of an atomic bomb as a catalyst for new worlds and possibilities. Some sects are peaceful and benevolent, while others – like the antagonistic Last Son of Atom – aggressively try to convert those to their cause through doses of radiation.

“[He’s] a megalomaniac, narcissistic, possibly a little bit deranged villain, who is still very charismatic,” Frye said. “The players fight for the heart and soul of the Commonwealth settlements. That’s where I started and from there it built itself up.”

It’s a tricky balancing act to make a campaign book feel like Fallout but not disrupt the main canon. “As licensees, we have to be very careful about what we depict in the books we put out for Fallout,” said Samantha Webb, head of product at Mophidius. “So whether it’s the classic games, Fallout 3, New Vegasor Fallout 4 in particular, we never want to paint Bethesda into a corner. And we never want to dictate to people that the lone survivor will make this choice, they’ll side with the Brotherhood of Steel and cheat the Minutemen or anything.

Winter of Atom is structured like a Fallout video game – there are quest hubs, key battles and a main antagonist. The Last Son of Atom wreaks havoc across the Commonwealth and players will need to build up their group and chase him down in a multi-stage campaign. Along the way, they help new survivors, such as the ghosts who run the Big Top circus, or the Sisters of the Forge in Mechminster Abbey.

There are three major battles that test a player’s strategy without feeling like a miniature wargame. Instead, player choice comes into play. Once the party has made allies in their adventure across the Commonwealth, they can bring in their newfound friends to give Atomite a kick in the ass. It all ends in a confrontation with the Son himself, although the conclusion in a Fallout game is rarely pure and simple.

Image: Mophidius Entertainment

“It also feels very Fallout, that it’s not just black and white, These are the good guys and these are the bad guys,” Webb said. “But we still have a big bad guy to fight and go after – the structure of the book is moving towards this boss fight.”

Even though the antagonist is set up from the start, it will take the players time to gain strength and stop his plans. “This is a big campaign. It would take most groups, if you play the whole campaign as written, quite a long time to go through everything,” Frye said. “I wanted it to feel as big as a Fallout video game, without contradicting anything that comes after.”

It’s a familiar format: main missions, side missions, and big boss fights. Players can retrofit and rework the campaign to suit their needs, removing bits that don’t appeal to them, rearranging the factions in a new location, or introducing new opponents and threats. And once the plots are settled, part of the book deals with the consequences of your choices. After all, dealing with the consequences is half the fun of making the choices.

Diamond City, Goodneighbor, the Brotherhood of Steel and others Fallout 4 settlements and factions are covered, but players will mainly be concerned with new and original threats. And if players aren’t interested in the Commonwealth, that’s fine too. “There are tools in the book that let you reset it somewhere else,” Frye said. “Take it apart, put it back together the way you want.”

Winter of Atom will be available for pre-order in May, after which the PDF will be available. Physical copies of the book will ship in July 2023.