Due to changes in the game and a shocking lack of quality control when it came to editing we all know there’s a ton of errors in the final game. One that I need some clarification on is how much Junk a roll on the Junk table represents. Both when scavenging and for the Merchant starting gear the Junk Table is referenced which no longer exists anywhere.
According to page 208 when a character finds junk they roll 2d20 and that’s how many items of junk they find. How does this interact with the example location on page 196 that still references the Junk Table with a range of rolls on that table? If the range is 2-6 on the table does that mean that the characters get 2d20 junk for each roll? Do they only get the 2d20? If they spend AP could they get more d20s worth?
On page 80 the Trader origin gives “Wares: 3 rolls each on the ammunition, aid, and junk
loot tables”. Does that mean 3 2d20 rolls for Junk (which is a lot)? Is it 3 Junk items? 3CD worth of Junk?
[quote=“Grendel, post:1, topic:15707, full:true”]
Due to changes in the game and a shocking lack of quality control when it came to editing we all know there’s a ton of errors in the final game.[/quote]
Could it be it is an intentional feature to mimic Bethesda’s release practices?
Oh the release has been a complete travesty compared to their other games, there’s no doubt about that. Quality Control completely dropped the ball leading to a ton of hard feelings in the community - like the game was just rushed out the door. This could have been Fallout 1/2 (a smaller thing that becomes a classic) or Fallout 3/4 (a bona fide smash) but instead it’s Fallout 76. Sure it’s Fallout but it’s going to require some time and work to make it acceptable and in the meantime a lot of goodwill with fans has been squandered away.
This is purely an extrapolation from Fallout 4, but I would say that each “Junk” result would give 2d20 junk items…scavenging any decent sized major location in fallout 4 almost certainly would give you at least 60 or so random pieces of stuff if you cleaned the place out. Really the primary limitation on junk is how much you want to carry given that it’s 2 lbs a piece and it’s only worth 2 caps (and, without scrapper, it’s going to give 2 common materials on average). This would mean that traders started with 6d20 items of junk, which is, on average, going to mean around 66 items, or 132 lbs and 132 caps worth. To be honest, given the potential for abuse of a trader holding on to their junk (insert double entendre here…) until the party tinkerer hits level 3 and then just giving it to them to scrap loads of valuable materials from (i.e. completely ignore the roleplaying aspects of being a trader), I’d be tempted to give traders a caps value in “assorted wares”, a fixed weight for those wares and call it a day. (Also have just spotted, there’s no “aid” table, at least in the .pdf).
That actually likely acerbated the rush out the door feel. Everything went on hold during COVID, including playtesting. When it resumed we had a very narrow window for testing the beta and very limited channels by which to log issues. Proofreading can’t happen until things are ready so they couldn’t have done so during the COVID delay as things weren’t ready for that at that point.
They should have delayed longer following the return to the table so things could have been better. The game is definitely playable and quite fun at the table but it’s far below the standards we’ve come to expect from the company and I hope future releases learn from this release.
Pretty sure we’ve all played the video games and know Bethesda’s basic strategy of ‘release now, patch later’, they very well could have been pushing for release as soon as it was playable (especially with the COVID delays).
It’s a guess on my part but one that meshes with Bethesda’s MO in the video game industry.
I think the answer may be more simple than that. No company, of any size, can afford to continue operating without a revenue stream indefinitely. We all know that the margins for (most) games and (most) games companies are tiny so I suspect that Modiphius had no option but to release when they did because they needed the money today, not in a few months. Grendel is spot on that the lockdown screwed their playtesting and, realistically, that is where the “proof reading” really comes from. Correcting typos is a tiny thing compared to the issue of broken or mis-described mechanics. An editor, reading from end to end, can’t be expected to spot those.
It’s a shame, for sure and disappointing, I agree but I’m willing to give them a pass on this. As said above the game is totally playable and the problems seem to be genuinely out of their control.
I’ll probably buy the second edition when it comes along as well
Hmm. Been eyeing out this game for some time. I guess safer bet is to buy the PDF only for now as you can always grab errata’ed version once released and then maybe contemplate the physical copy (if it ever gets updated).
No official word on the original question? If there was an old Junk Loot Table at one point did it have better quality materials on it? That seems really useful, as you can definitely scavenge glue, radioactives, and other uncommon/rare materials at any level and without a Perk in the computer game.
The Beta test Loot table had everything you expect from Fallout for junk. It was…intensive…and I get why they simplified it but doing so left numerous holes in the rules that the modding community will need to fix
I’ve started to just describe some of the loot items where the pc’s are exploring in very simple terms, like when they’re entering a home I can say that “there’s a few vases layining one the florr, you see a tattered old sofa with it’s springs sticking out and the walls have several pictures of cats on them. An old television with its screen broken stands in a corner and you can see a vacuum tube and several copper wires inside.” Or even simpler " ther room is filled with broken hosuehold items and furniture." I usually just wing it unless it’s an area I’ve detailed beforehand. I also sometimes sprinkle in some junk items that may have other functions like in one location I noted that there was a fully functioning egg timer. It’s still junk but I’d allow the pc’s to come up with some creative ways to use it. I also sometimes sprinkle in some already disassembled junk allowing the pc’s to get parts without disassembling the items first.
