Fallout 3 and New Vegas, how deep do you roleplay?

[Azaraxzealot]

When i played Fallout 3, i played as a girl.

immediately i get flak from my little brothers and they don't even have reasons to back it up.

but i played as one because before i even bought fallout 3 i wrote a character in one of my novels that people just seemed to REALLY like for some reason.

so i played as her, making sure to handle things as she would handle them, and ended up being the most badass, brutal, but virtuous being in the Capital Wasteland.

she defended the innocent (especially other females) and would not hesitate to shoot first and ask questions later when it came to abuse and maltreatment, seeing herself as the "one and only" person who wasn't going to take the shit that the wasteland threw at her.

Having a complete hatred for injustice and seeing the world as black and white, she gunned her way through many a raider settlements and camps without stopping to even ask for a stimpack.

But her attitude one day got the better of her, as her black and white view of the world caused her to murder two people who she thought were brutal dictators but were actually just saviors who had to make hard decisions.

After finishing up her loose ends in the wasteland, she simply quit. She was done with killing once and for all. Though, because of her actions, she could not go home, and was thus forced to wander the wastes, disappearing into obscurity being known only as "that vault dweller" and becoming the stuff of legend.

basically, she was the punisher.

(note that most of that is just a summary of my character's actions and an extrapolation on what her attitude would be and not just pure fiction that i wrote)

Now my new vegas character will be a descendant of my Fallout 3 character, and i haven't decided on what he's supposed to be (for some reason, i'm bad with male characters), but i'm sure i'll figure it out.

so anyways, how deep do you all roleplay? do your characters have stories? are you proud of those stories? would you share them?

i almost feel like someone should have some sort of program that summarizes all your actions in a game then makes it into a story that they could put in a book and publish (sort of like Hitman's newspapers)

 

[Zantos]

I RP in a sort of "How would I act if I was a demi-god" kind of way. Usually involving the phrase "RAAAAAAAR! I am everything and you are nothing!"

 

[Jamboxdotcom]

ehhh, i don't actually RP much at all in video games. in video games i'm more of a munchkin/min-maxer. pretty much the only "roleplaying" i do in video games is determining my moral stance. i do enjoy me some good ole fashioned pen and paper RPing, though.

 

[Wierdguy]

Does running around and shooting stuff while only vaguely following the story count?

In all seriousness though I do like to immagine a deeper relationship to my companions than the standard "Hey, you, follow me!" thing.

 

[FarleShadow]

Until games present you with more options than 'Good', 'Bad' and 'Neutral', I will always be a paragon of the wastes. Or until they add a 'Well, he did alot of good stuff, but acted like an asshole'.

Abit like House MD with a Plasma rifle, really.

 

[AlternatePFG]

Fallout 3 not much. More about getting the best stuff for me in that game. New Vegas on the other hand, yes I do it often. The faction system helps with that alot.

 

[jesskit]

i do try to act as my character would, which is generally, kinda chaotic good to use the dnd terms. basicly my characters wont put up with crap but will help people as best she can. In games I do tend to have a flexible morality as if I think something will be the overall good decision then Ill go with it, even if it means murder, theft, deceit etc

 

[jesskit]

I have to say though, i would love to see mmo's with more of a morality choice, not just this faction or that one

 

[II2]

Usually with any sort of RPG like this, including Fallout 3 and NV (which I've gleefully lost hundreds of hours to), I do my first play-through as myself. I'll try and create a faithful facsimile of myself and play through as as comes naturally to me as I explore a new world.

Usually it's on my repeat play-thrus approaching it from different angles that I'll drum up a proper RP concept character, since I find it helps to kinda know what you're in for when designing a character to react to that situation.

This might be the result of a LONG history of always naturally gravitating to the Storyteller/DM/GM role in pen and paper RPGs, rather than being a player in other people's campaigns.

Then again, videogames are a very different animal and exploring a rich new virtual world, it helps me get immersed if I do it AS MYSELF the first time through.

...

I get a kick out of pretending I'm Francis "Franko" Begbie from Trainspotting / Porno (Irvine Welsh) as an chaotic evil sorta character in Fallout.

Don't look at me like that! It's hilarious! Try it!

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Very shallow.

Good, and always asking for more money/rewards via Speech checks.

So, nice and greedy.

I even check the guide and wiki a lot, ruining all immersion and story surprises.

 

[Outright Villainy]

Generally on the virtuous side, so moderately enough. I try not to be a dick to most people, unless they're asking for it. I started playing a little more morally ambiguous in New Vegas, but still mostly on the good side.

 

[Meggiepants]

My characters are always scavengers who tend to avoid fighting if they can. They have high charisma so they can usually talk themselves out of situations, but they are weak as hell, so they never use anything other than small firearms and possibly an energy pistol or two.

They can pick a lock and hack a computer, but they never steal stuff from the good guys. However, they have no qualms taking anything they can get their hands on from the baddies.

I enjoy role playing in Fallout. It's one of the easier games for me to get into.

 

[Sateru]

My characters tend to be roaming oddball thieves... they wander the wasteland, helping people who they like, stealing what they want (In the middle of the night... or in broad daylight.) and... they have an insatiable addiction to either Nuka-Cola or Sarsaparilla Sunset.
O_O I kid you not, they grab any and all they find and horde it all like it's all they live for.
Oh, and speaking of their weak impulse control... they also enjoy massacring towns when they've been wronged by someone.

My Fallout 3 character is a ladies man... I can see one of his adventures resulted in the Courier being born. He's also responsible for blowing up Megaton... cuz he wanted the awesome suite in Tenpenny Tower. He fell in love with a slave named Clover, saved her from the Slavers in Paradise Falls, and he made extra sure to shoot Eulogy Jones a few dozen times in the face for his deeds. Oh, and he loves his Dad and never forgave his killer.

As for the Courier... he's a flirt (This guy is really more based on me...). XD Oh, and he enjoys making fun of people... and shooting random strangers in the head for laughs. He is the kind of guy who prefers to change things to his side. He wanted an independent New Vegas, tried to band together everyone to his side (He went to each faction, and worked hard to get them on his side), and he has a small crush on Arcade...

That is the most I got for being deep into my RP... O_O OH, and they both absolutely hate Feral Ghouls and Deathclaws... DX They scare the shit out of them, and while my Fallout 3 character would blow their brains out with his reliable shotgun... The Courier would end up running off, throwing grenades at the beasts, and when he is at a safe distance... he'll return and shoot them from afar with his Anti-Materiel Rifle.

 

[badgersprite]

As deeply as I can. If I don't roleplay a character with a distinct personality and motives, I lose all interest in the game. Fallout 3 honestly gave me the single best and most rewarding roleplaying experience I ever had in a game, and gave me the most attachment to a "blank skate" protagonist I have ever had, and it honestly happened by accident. Fallout 3 is the game that completely changed the way I think about RPing a character in a game and changed my relationship to open RPGs like this completely.

 

[RazgrizInferno]

For me it's usually, "this is my world and I can do whatever I want." I find myself spontaneously killing people for the most trivial of reasons, simply because it's a game, and I CAN

 

[Canadish]

While I normally make up a character like myself in RPGs, and then act as I would in the situation, Fallout encourages me to play something different.

In Fallout 3, my character was a ginger haired young man named Duncan.
I played him as a white knight/Paladin style idealist who would always try do the right thing. No stealing or hacking. Lots of medical, as I guess he was training to be a doctor before the start of the main quest.
Made sure to hook up with the Brotherhood early on, got my power armor, teamed up with Star Paladin Cross and went on a spree of do-gooding.
Eventually I got to the GECK quest, and Star Paladin Cross was killed by the Enclave (She vanished after the stun grenade, which I assume was a glitch, so I pretend she died).
After that I renounced my use of power armor, and started my travels with Fawkes.
After we saved the group of Rangers from the hospital, I used their armor and began playing the character as more of a drifter, started using Guns instead of the Thunder hammer, and began working for money instead of karma.
I just imagined my guy's idealist view was shattered after both his father and friend Cross died.

In New Vegas I rolled a guy called "Lucky" Adamska, a man of Japanese/Russian blood.
A smooth talking mustached old fella, with a grand total of 1 Luck.
It felt appropriate, given what Benny tells you at the beginning. Also;
Hardcore mode for life
So yeah, played Adamska as a much more world wary sort. Skilled with guns right from the get go, generally liked the use of rifles best.
I'd steal alot with this guy, if it was ever possible, rather then pay. I'd try help people if I could, but I never went to far out my way without promise of reward.
Haven't finished the campaign yet, only just got to Vegas, and so far I'm playing nice with all the factions. Didn't want to be on the NCR's or Caesar's bad side.
Caesar's Legion seems to have a squad following me around. I've nearly been killed a few times by bandits, and then those guys swoop in and save the day. Starting to like them.
The NCR guys seem nice enough, but not fond on their policies. I'm just going to try ignore them, maybe do the odd bit of mercenary work for them. They pay well.
I'll see how the plot develops.

 

[DustyDrB]

I'm gonna try to get to know the Legion better this time (I massacred them halfway through both of my first two plays of the game, though the second time was only because they got in my way when I went to get revenge on Benny). I'm not doing an evil playthrough because I don't enjoy that, but I'm gonna try to weigh their motivations and see if there's a way my character can fight with them even if they do things he doesn't like.

I'm also really trying to not get into combat if I don't have to. So I'm putting some points into the Gun skill (some fights are unavoidable, especially since I lack the patience for sneaking in this game), but am really focusing on Speech, Science, Barter, and Medicine. I'm trying to have a manipulative character (I want to beat House at his own game).

On another note, I accidentally made this character looks like Orson Welles.

 

[wizard_joe88]

It kind of depends for me
1st playthrough, I'm always a good guy and don't really role play that much, I just find all the good loot and see where all the good loot will be.
on the subsequent playthroughs however, I make a character and kind of make a personality for them, one of them was a wasteland scavanger who had to skip town in megaton after a drinking binge turned murder (my personal favorite), the other kind of became a wasteland warlord, with me imagining him "taking over" megaton (i.e. killing Moriarty, the sheriff and some other people) and allying with the slavers. My last guy just when wacko after exiting the vault, so I just shoot stuff as him

 

[bluewolf]

I always play the badass vigalante charector, in new vegas I never ever lost any karma.