Winter of Atom is a quest book for Fallout: The Roleplaying Game, published by Modiphius Entertainment and Bethesda Softworks. It was announced on May 13, 2022 and released as a PDF on May 11, 2023.
Story
Winter of Atom is set in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts during a harsh atomic winter. The campaign begins with an adventure known as "The Train Job," which allows players to define their own objectives and explore the region. As the chapter advances, the main quests narrow in focus in order to launch players into the growing conflict within the Commonwealth. This culminates into "The Winter War," where players are tasked with defending various settlements and factions from a rogue sect of the Children of Atom, led by their charismatic Last Son of Atom, who seeks to convert people to his cause through doses of radiation.
Four factions are introduced to players: The Freeques, a community of ghouls residing at Big Top underneath a circus tent, which provides refuge for Ghouls, as well as Synths; Mirage, a traveling casino that is constantly on the move; The Beats, a commune of beatniks living in Beatsville which aim to spread new art, music and literature across the wasteland; and the Sisters of the Forge, a religious group of blacksmiths and mechanics who worship fire, steel and "all things mechanical" in their church, Mechminster Abbey.
With the harsh atomic winter, roads begin to freeze, negatively impacting trade routes and causing resources to run out, leaving the various factions unprepared. Factions featured in Fallout 4, such as Diamond City, Goodneighbor and the Brotherhood of Steel, reappear in the campaign. The campaign culminates into a confrontation between players and the Last Son of Atom. After the plot is resolved, players are able to continue playing, dealing with the outcome of their choices from throughout the campaign.
Gameplay
Alongside the base Fallout: The Roleplaying Game character creation origins, Winter of Atom introduces three new character origins: the Generation 3 Synth, the Protectron and the Child of Atom. The introductory chapter of the campaign allows players to utilize new tools, such as advice for designing and balancing combat encounters, enhanced traveling rules, settlement reputation rules and scaling encounters, as well as using NPCs and creatures as minions.
The campaign structure is akin to the Fallout video games, featuring a main quest, side quests, exploration, key battles and a main antagonist. Campaign elements can also be reworked by players to suit their needs, such as removing unappealing aspects, moving faction locations or introducing new antagonists or threats.
Development
Donathin Frye, who had previously wrote two adventures for Fallout: The Roleplaying Game, was enlisted to lead Winter of Atom. Donathin worked to assemble a team of people who were passionate about writing for the Fallout Series, including Gabe Hicks, Jacky Leung, Chelsea Steverson, Chris Bisset, as well as Jesse Heinig, who worked on both Fallout and Fallout 2.[1] Modiphius were careful about what was portrayed in their Fallout campaign books, as they "never wanted to paint Bethesda into a corner."[2]
The team wanted to ensure the campaign "felt like a Fallout game" with a main quest, as well as opportunities for side quests and exploration.[1] The factions of the Freeques, The Beats, Mirage and the Sisters of the Forge were designed under the lead of Chesea Steverson, which all have a "quirky classic Fallout 1 and 2 feel."[3] Donathin also wanted it to feel "as big as a Fallout video game, without contradicting anything that comes after."[4]
The Children of Atom were chosen for a prominent role "immediately" by Donathin, who wanted players to observe how different sects of the Children of Atom differ, interact and disagree with each other's doctrines, drawing parallels to real world religious history.[5]
Announcement
Winter of Atom was announced on the Modiphius blog post, Fallout Friday May 2022. Pre-orders were announced on April 20, 2023 and begun on May 11, 2023. All pre-order purchases included the full campaign PDF. Physical copies of the campaign book are slated to begin shipping in July 2023.[6]
Website Description
In the ruins of old Boston, the Commonwealth settles in for a long, deadly winter. As its hungry communities do their best to find food and survive the cold, a new sect of the Church of the Children of Atom arrives. Their flock grows as they spread their worship of nuclear division and radiation across the region. Led by an enigmatic prophet calling himself the Last Son of Atom, the Church’s army plans to ignite an all-out winter war with the settlements that dare reject their atomic god. A group of ragtag survivors must do whatever it takes to protect their communities and keep the Commonwealth from becoming ground zero… again.
Winter of Atom’s themes include exploring frozen wastelands, harsh winter survival, building relationships with communities, explosive action against terrifying monsters, high-stakes warfare against a relentless foe, and weird and unexplainable supernatural horrors.
Within the 248-page Winter of Atom quest book you will:
- Face a fearsome sect of the Children of Atom, led by the Last Son of Atom, in an action-packed, open-ended and non-linear sandbox questline that can take characters from level 1 - 21.
- Meet brand new groups of survivors, from beatniks and circus big tops, to traveling casinos and religious weaponsmiths.
- Create characters with new origin options: Generation 3 Synths, Protectrons, and Children of Atom.
- Enhance your game with new rules for surviving the harsh winter and gaining reputation with settlements. Learn how to design balanced combat encounters, and find new rules for surviving defeat, quickly adjusting an encounter’s difficulty, and creating Minion NPCs.”— modiphius.net
Contributors
Content
Characters
- Blackjack (Winter of Atom)
- Brawny Bill
- Brother Bennet
- Brother Foster
- Brother Griffith
- Brother Landon
- Brother Lucius
- Brother Ogden
- Brother Schumaker
- Brother Scrapjaw
- Brother Ward
- Bryce Tucker
- Charlotte (Fallout: The Roleplaying Game)
- Child of Atom (Winter of Atom)
- DJ Daddy-O
- Dead Drop Dave
- Dr. Yarrow
- Eliza (Winter of Atom)
- Eliza's Dragon
- Esther
- Evie (Winter of Atom)
- Fusion Susan
- General John Whately
- Janie (Fallout: The Roleplaying Game)
- Johnnie Lonnie
- Kate (Fallout: The Roleplaying Game)
- Last Son of Atom
- Lieutenant Jake Ripley
- Lil Boomy
- Linda (Winter of Atom)
- Mackenzie Frey
- Madame Atom
- Maxwell Kantor
- Minnie Mabee
- Mother Isolde
- Murray (Winter of Atom)
- Old Boomy
- Protectron Deputy D3N-Z3L
- Regina
- Shoeshine Parker
- Silt
- Sister Amos Nition
- Sister Dawn
- Sister Gertrude
- Sister Guyger
- Sister Iris
- Sister Layla
- Sister Sunset
- Sister Verena
- The Black Star Who Dreams Beneath
- The High Chronicler
- The Inked Lady
- The Jambakers
- The Lama
- The Reverend Riveter
- The Swinging Sals
- Tripper
Consumables
Creatures
Factions
- Freeques
- The Beats
- Sisters of the Forge
- Church of the Children of Atom
- The Minutemen
- Children of Atom
- The Institute
- The Railroad
Holotapes
Locations
- Derailed Train
- Diamond City
- Boston Sewers
- USS Germination
- Goodneighbor
- Big Top
- Beatsville
- Mirage
- Mechminster Abbey
- Stow
- American Heritage Museum
- Glowing Sea
- Crater of Atom
- Whately Research Facility
Miscellaneous Items
Notes
- Atom Propaganda Pamphlet 1
- Atom Propaganda Pamphlet 2
- Atom Propaganda Pamphlet 3
- Chemical Weapon Test
Quests
Weapons
Gallery
Cover
Winter of Atom cover
Alternate cover
Artwork
Key art of the Commonwealth during winter
Artwork of adventurers gathering around a campfire
Artwork of Big Top
Artwork of a Child of Atom praying to a nuclear bomb
Artwork of wastelanders battling the Gigapede
Artwork of the Gigapede eating a car
Artwork of wastelander traversing the winter wasteland
Artwork of Sister Dawn
Artwork of the Last Son of Atom standing against The Buried City
Synth character creation sheet
Protectron character creation sheet
Child of Atom character creation sheet
The Glowing Sea
Forgotten Church
Whately Research Facility Testing Floor
Whately Research Facility General's Office
The Train Job
Child of Atom praying
Atom Pamphlet
Super Mutant
Wastelander
Raider
Pip-boy map
Hancock's Hat poster
Pilgrim
American Heritage Museum
Blogpost Banners
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Samantha Webb: "It’s an incredibly exciting time to be a Fallout tabletop RPG fan, as we get closer to the release of Winter of Atom, our campaign book for the Fallout roleplaying game. As the author of both the adventure in the back of the core rulebook ‘A Bang and a Whimper’ and ‘Once Upon a Time in the Wasteland’ we enlisted Donathin Frye once again to not only take the lead on the project, but to assemble a team full of awesome writing talent and passion for the Fallout universe, including Gabe Hicks, Jacky Leung, Chelsea ‘Dot’ Steverson, Chris Bissette, and designer on the classic Fallout games Jesse Heinig."
(Fallout: The Roleplaying Game; Did You Wish For a Nuclear Winter? blog) - ↑ Samantha Webb: "As licensees, we have to be very careful about what we portray in the books we put out for Fallout. So whether it’s the classic games, Fallout 3, New Vegas, or Fallout 4 in particular, we never want to paint Bethesda into a corner. And we never want to dictate to people that the Sole Survivor will make this choice, they’ll side with the Brotherhood of Steel and screw over the Minutemen or something."
(Fallout: The Roleplaying Game; Polygon (April 2023)) - ↑ Samantha Webb: "In addition to the main quest for the upcoming Fallout roleplaying campaign book Winter of Atom, the book is packed with new settlements and factions to help, ally with, or fight. These new factions, developed under the lead of Chelsea ‘Dot’ Steverson, have that quirky classic Fallout 1 and 2 feel while sitting brilliantly in the Commonwealth landscape."
(Fallout: The Roleplaying Game; New Fallout RPG Factions: Beatniks, Big Tops, Traveling Casinos and Sisters of Mechanical Worship) - ↑ Donathin Frye: "I wanted it to feel just as big as a Fallout video game, without contradicting anything that comes after."
(Fallout: The Roleplaying Game; Polygon (April 2023)) - ↑ Donathin Frye: "I went to the Children of Atom immediately because they’ve always been one of my favorite groups. I wanted to approach it in a way where you can see there are different sects to the Children of Atom, and how they might interact, their different perspectives, how they might disagree with each other’s doctrine — which is something you see in religious history in the real world too."
(Fallout: The Roleplaying Game; Polygon (April 2023)) - ↑ "Winter of Atom will be available to pre-order in May, at which point the PDF will be available. Physical copies of the book are set to ship in July 2023.
(Fallout: The Roleplaying Game; Polygon (April 2023))