[FO1] Tell Me About: a comprehensive list

Muttie

Still Mildly Glowing
Modder
(Note: This could also be posted under Fallout 1, but as I used the Fallout_Fixt mod, it's kind of ambivalent. I guess it belongs here, but regarding Tell me About Tellmeabout Tell_me_about there probably isn't much difference between the versions. Although it seems Fixt has actually „drum-roll“ fixed some responses (at least I noticed some changes in the Blades territory).)

As I couldn't find a comprehensive list for all Tell me Abouts. I did spend some time going through the msg files and then tested them all in game. (This diverted valuable time from my daily yo-yo practice, which I may never get back.)

Some say that TMAs are pointless (and in most cases they really are), but sometimes they add new informations, or forgotten snippets. Like asking Aradesh and Killian about Vipers/Raiders. Or when talking with Ian about Seth he calls him a “brave warrior” but if using TMA he calls him a total gimp (?!). Then there a lot of funny ones (most of Ian's, or asking Harold about the master or Katja about children). Also if playing normally everyone hints that Tandi and Seth are an item (Seth (“my girl has been kidnapped”) and Razlo (“Seth & Tandi may have eloped”)) but when asking Tandi about it (TMA: Seth) she tells a very different story.

Other examples are:
If asking the Raiders about Tandi they drop the reason for Tandi's kidnapping. And Tolya is defined as the camp's cook by TMA only. Asking Ian about Crimson and Drugs, tells that he worked for the Crimson Caravan and probably fit in there rather well. Asking Decker about the Falcon says it was his mother that inspired him. And asking Decker about Greene has an interesting bit about Greene's father. Characters like Loxley have very elaborate, fully detailed text pieces that are a waste if generally skipped. And personally I'm also intrigued by game design (aka in-game) hints (Killian TMA: Strange or Tycho TMA: Necropolis). It's also fascinating to explore through TMA what persons have knowledge of each other (Butch Harris, for example, has not much of significance to say, but is surprisingly well informed and connected).


Notes:
If the text of a TMA goes beyond the text window, type in the word again and press enter to skip between the top and bottom of the text. (This had me grumbling for a while until I finally figured it out.)

Generic responses (obj_dude.msg), which are organized by map/location, always trigger, unless they are overridden by an unique response in the character's msg. For example, Aradesh will give the generic text response to Garl, as he has none of his own, but use his audio-files when asked about the Khans. Or Jain gives the standard Hub “text only” responses for Junktown & Boneyard as she has none in her msg, and so on.

An interesting aspect of this is that if dragging Tandi around the waste (and past bedtime) she becomes an inspired oracle that is extremely knowledgable of all things wasteland (brotherhood, Scribes, Necropolis, Set, Morpheus – ask her about it) and spawns all the “text only” infos of the place she is at (unless she has a voiced one like Junktown). Some messages even seem to suggest that she's apparently joining whatever group she's close to (like the Master or Set). Again a grave warning of what happens when a young, still impressionable mind enters the world unattended, and why the best form of raising children is to keep them in a dark box with a slit for sandwiches.

The game checks every single word until finding a match. Consequently, “Shove it up your Hub” will trigger an explanation of the Hub. There are probably some jokes in here (try “dildo war party” on the Overseer or “Vault 12” hnghnghnghng). But If you add anything to the word like “Hub!” they have no clue any more. As a result, spelling, plural and singular matter a lot. Also Water Chip and Waterchip will be treated differently (e.g. some NPCs react to Claw but not to Deathclaw and vice versa). Capitol letters don't matter, even JuNKtoWn works (which is an option if you have low IN & want to stay in character, something NPCs find difficult when probed with the TMA button. In the Military Base everything is “None of your business!” use a wrong keyword and it's all of a sudden “I'm sorry, I can't help you with that,” and then back to “None of your business!”).

“Coma” and “Full Stop” are treated like spaces. For example, you can use “vault,12” and it will trigger the keyword “vault”, as the comma separates the input into two words. Any other punctuation becomes part of the keyword, though. For example, “vault!” will not trigger. And in the cases of “Killian's” and “Vault-13” the punctuation must be included to trigger the response. (Note: that “vault-13” may only work when the cfg is set to English.)


The List
I've underlined everything that may be of interest or funny. i.e. this is a recommendation of keywords you should check out either because they add new information (not found elsewhere), advance the character, are elaborate and detailed replies worth noting, or just plain funny. These suggestions do not claim completeness nor to be utterly important each and every time. In fact, I've underlined a few things that made the world clearer to me (like the mutants actually handing out water rations to the ghouls (never realized that), or that Beth only works at the store, but doesn't own it, to me she always appeared to be the owner who is in partnership with the Far Go Traders, rather than just a clerk.) Still, these points are not necessarily news to everyone.

Pointless triggers:
Are keywords that are listed in the msg files, but spawn only a “dunno” comment, without much information (as in the military base where everything is “None of your business”). However, this category also includes keywords that I couldn't trigger, despite the msg.files listing a detailed response for them. I've marked those with an asterisk (*). Note that some of these may be bugs (and should trigger. The most common reason why these keywords fail is that their .msg entry includes a space, like “Strange Army” or “The Hub”). However, others may be remains of abandoned (and possibly unfinished) concepts, and/or were removed for design reasons. (The Rippers, or presenting the Blades as a tough street gang with Vibro-Knives, rather than the “refugee-camp” feeling they give off (see MacRae, Michael & Christine) come to mind. It also doesn't make necessarily sense that every Brotherhood member is aware of the Children of the Cathedral, and cancelling this keyword could be understood as a design decision. And last the TMA system seems very much like a system that got abandoned halfway through the design process, and feels consequently very unfinished in places, like Killian & Gizmo (and most of Junktown) having responses that assume the casino to be at the city entrance. Another good example is the incomplete Boneyard and its “three levels of knowledge” concept which does not appear to be implemented. It really seems as if at one point they just stopped to update, progress and spell-check the TMA system. Then again that's kind of the normal quality standard of the Fallout franchise, so who knows).

Identity Crisis
All characters respond to their own name. The point of asking a character his/er name is that the game is not always straightforward in revealing those. And asking Calder, Slummer, Zark or Viola (at the Cathedral) who they are can help a lot with orientation. In fact, in some cases this seems to be the only way to confirm the name of a character, like, for example, Julio (the police guard at the merchant water district in the Hub). Of course one still needs to know their name first (scrname.msg) but it's still a helpful tool to check.
Most NPC's react to their own name (with a generic reply like “that's me/I'm not an open book/interview etc.”), but a few have no clue who they are: Cindy (Vault 13), all Raiders but Garl (Diana, Petrox, Tolya, Gwen, Alya), Doc/Morbid (Junktown), Master Merchant (Martha/Rastello), Deputy Tony/Fry, Sheriff Justin/Greene, Mrs. Stapleton, Daren Hightower, the Missing Brotherhood Initiate Jonathan (this is confirmed in Talus.msg, line 202) (all Hub), Razor (Boneyard), Lorri, Paul & Jerry (see RD1INIT.msg) (all Brotherhood), Wu & Francis (Cathedral) and Kyle (Cathedral Vault Entrance, see airgrd.msg). Then there are a few odd ones like Keri & Demetre don't react to Romara (or each other?!), Lorenzo does not react to Giovanni, Christopher Avellone only reacts to Avellone and Jon Zimmerman only reacts to Jon (asking about Zimmerman triggers the same response as Razor (i.e. She/He is our leader). Jake/Jacob (Hub) only reacts to Jake (but is occasionally refereed to as Jacob, and should react to Jacob imo, as I believe the shop is Jake's Weapon (Ian floater & Dialogue (“welcome to...”)) but the owner is called Jacob (Loxley (TMA), Dialogue (Rad-Away/Vance) & Look at (Binoculars), (but according to Nukapedia the last only applies to some versions). And last, John Maxson only reacts to Elder (as Maxson is linked to a comment on Roger/Maxson).
Of the Trader encounters only Duc & Patrick know their name, the rest (Julian, Lox, Terrance and Dale) doesn't, they only react to Merchant. And I may have missed some others.
Then there are a few characters whose names can only be found in their msg or pro file. Those are: Dominic Moore (pro file), Ton Barracus (msg), Iguana-Bob Frazier (bobsign.msg), Tine Taylor (msg) and Trent Barrister (msg). Another interesting snippet is that the four brotherhood elders have names (according to their pro files), those are: Jonathan, Jacob, Mary and Rachael, but again no reaction.
And last a few NPCs react to their scrname.msg description like “child”, “whore” or “loser”, rofl. Unfortunately, I haven't found the last one yet.


That's it

Feel free to copy and paste, modify, use, distribute parts/all of the following list.



Complete List of keywords (sorted by place, character & response) for Fallout Fixt 0.81alpha
(this should be fairly similar to vanilla FO but there are a few variations based on version and even more when using a translation. I've added a few notes to accommodate both versions)


Vault 13 (generic, text only): Chip/Water/Waterchip, Healing/Medic, Library, Overseer, Vault/Vault13. [Pointless responses: Vault 13 (triggers Vault; in the original msg this used to be Vault-13).]

Variations/Extras: Medic: Healing, Medic. Upset/Rebel: Overseer, Vault/Vault13/Vault 13 (triggers Vault; in the original msg this used to be Vault-13). Theresa: Chip/Water/Water Chip (triggers water), Outside, Overseer, Vault, War. Water Guard: Ration/Rations/Water, Supplies. Officer: Overseer.

Overseer: Chip/Water/Waterchip, Outside, Vault/Vault13, War. [Pointless responses: Healing, Library, Medic, Overseer, Vault 13 (triggers Vault; in the original msg this used to be Vault-13).]



Shady Sands (generic, text only): Aradesh, Garl, Junktown, Khans, Razlo, Seth, Tandi. [Pointless responses: Chip/Water, Hub*, Shady/Sands*.]

Variations/Extras: Seth: Seth, Radscorpion(s)/Scorpion(s), Hub, Shady/Sands. Razlo: Razlo, Hub, Shady/Sands.
(In both cases Hub & Shady/Sands are the same as generic, except that they trigger.)

Aradesh: Aradesh, Claw, Dharma, Guardhouse (listed in the original msg file as Station/Tower), Junktown, Khans, Lair, Radscorpion(s)/Scorpion(s), Raiders, Razlo, Seth, Shady/Sands (not listed in the original msg file), Spear, Tandi, Vipers. [Pointless response: Guard House*, Hub (Note: this is a pointless but consistent response not listed in the original msg file), Rad Scorpion (triggers Scorpion).]
(Aradesh has a voiced TMA comment for Agatha that got cut.)

Tandi: Aradesh, City, Claw, Junktown, Hub, Khans/Raiders, Razlo, Scorpion/Scorpions, Seth, Tandi, Well. (Note: Claw is the same text one can get with a good reaction to the rumours question. And City, Junktown and Hub are build on a good reaction comment to “around these parts?”.)



Kids (all children (Shady Sands/Hub/Adytum/Blades) are the same. But Characters (like flower child or Billy) are treated like normal townsfolk): Aradesh, Boneyard/Brotherhood/Necropolis, Brahmin, Caravans, Children, Deathclaw, Downtown/Heights, Garl, Hub, Khans/Raiders, Merchants, Police, Razlo, Seth, Spot, Tandi, Towers, Town, Traders. [Pointless responses: Chip, Junktown, L.A. Boneyard, The Boneyard (both trigger Boneyard), Shady/Sands*.]
(The Adytum kids also seem to use the local keywords of obj_dude.msg (like Zimmerman or Adytum), but they seem to prefer their own keywords, if they have one. For example the Blades kids react to Razor, but use the “children” version for Necropolis/Boneyard.)



Ian (text only): Apocalypse, Aradesh, Booze, Caravans, Casino, Chip/Water, Children, Drugs (listed in some msg file as Chems), Garl, Gizmo, Healing/Medic/Razlo (with slight variations), Hub, Junktown, Khans, Killian, Merchants, Mutants, Necropolis, Psychics, Raiders, Seth, Shady/Sands, Store, Tandi, War.

[Pointless responses: Alya, Base/Military, Blades, Boneyard, Brotherhood, Cathedral, Deathclaw, Diana, Exodus, Experiments, Followers, Gwen, Hall, Initiates, Library, Lieutenant, Master, Morpheus, Nicole, Paladins, Petrox, Police, Regulators, Scavs, Scribes, Set, Tolya, Unity, Overseer, Vats, Vault/Vault13/Vault 13 (the last triggers Vault, used to be Vault-13 in the original msg?), Watershed, Zimmerman.]



Raiders (generic, text only): Alya, Booze, Diana, Drugs (listed in some msg file as Chems), Garl, Gwen, Junktown, Khans/Raiders, Petrox, Shady/Sands, Tandi, Tolya. [Pointless responses: Chip/Water, Hub*.]

Variations/Extras: Garl: Garl, Hub (same as generic, but it triggers), Shady/Sands. [Pointless responses: Chip/Water, Tandi.]



Junktown (generic, text only): Junktown. [Pointless responses: Chip/Water.] (Note: Then there is an odd differentiation between the entrance map and the store/casino map, which seems to be based on an original concept of the Casino being located at the entrance. Consequently, all following keywords have two responses depending on if asking a NPC on the entrance map or the store/casino maps. This separation by maps is not unusual (see obj_dude.msg), only in this case it's a mix up (i.e. it should be separated into Entrance/Store and Casino map).)

Variations/Extras: Entrance Map: Casino, Deathclaw, Gizmo (note that there's a variation for Lars), Killian, Store. [Pointless responses: Hub*, Shady/Sands*.] Store/Casino Map: Casino, Deathclaw, Gizmo, Killian, Store. [Pointless responses: Hub*, Shady/Sands*.]

Killian: Cathedral, Claw, Crash, Darkwater's/Darkwaters, Darkwater/Killian, Doc/Morbid, Gizmo, Gizmo's/Gizmos, Hub, Khans, Lars, Necropolis, Pit/Pitt/Skum, Raiders, Shady/Sands, Skulz, Strange, Vinnie, Vipers, War.

Gizmo: Casino/Gizmo's/Gizmos/Junktown, Darkwater/Killian, Darkwater's/Darkwaters, Gizmo.



Tycho (text only): Apocalypse, Base/Military, Boneyard, Booze, Casino, Chip, Drugs (listed in some msg file as Chems ), Deathclaw, Gizmo, Hub, Junktown, Killian, Merchants, Mutants, Necropolis, (note: this isn't a big deal but I believe this is the only in-game hint to figure out that Vault 12 (as mentioned on the Vault Location holodisk) is Necropolis), Psychics, Rangers, Store, Vault/Vault13, War, Wastes.

[Pointless responses: Alya, Aradesh, Blades, Brotherhood, Cathedral, Children, Diana, Exodus, Experiments, Followers, Garl, Gwen, Hall, Healing/Medic, Initiates, Khans, Library, Lieutenant, Master, Morpheus, Nicole, Paladins, Petrox, Police, Razlo, Regulators, Scavs, Scribes, Set, Seth, Shady/Sands, Tandi, Tolya, Unity, Overseer, Vats, Vault 13 (triggers Vault; in the original msg this used to be Vault-13), Watershed, Zimmerman.]



Hub (generic, text only): Boneyard (this should not trigger in the original), Deathclaw, Downtown, Junktown, Necropolis, Police. [Pointless responses: Brotherhood/Steel*, Children/Cathedral*, Crimson/Caravans*, Far/Go/Traders*, Heights*, Hot/Spot*, Old/Town*, Shady/Sands*, Water/Chip, Water/Merchants*, Water/Tower*.]

Variations/Extras: Missing Initiate: Brotherhood/Steel, Talus.

Butch: Adytum, All/All-N-One (All-in-One in the original msg), Beth, Boneyard/Angels/Angel's, Brotherhood/Steel, Butch/Harris, Caravan/Crimson, Caravans/Missing, Cathedral, Claw/Death/Deathclaw, Daren/Hightower, Darkwater/Killian, Demetre/Romara, Decker, Elder/Maxson, Falcon/Maltese/Nightclub, Followers/Apocalypse, Glow/Hot, Greene/Justin, Harold, Heights, Iguana/Bobs/Bob's, Jain, Jon/Zimmerman, Junktown/Junk, Market, Master, Merchant/Merchants, Morpheus, Old/Town, Rutger, Store/Weapon(s)/Guns, Thieves, Tower/Water, Trader/Traders, Underground. [Pointless responses: Oldtown (replaced by Fixt with Old Town, which triggers Old), L.A. Boneyard, The Boneyard (both trigger Boneyard).]

Harold: Cathedral, Decker, Ghouls, Grey/Richard, Harold (text only/generic), Loxley, Master, Vault, War.

Loxley: Blades, Boneyard/Angels/Angel's, Brotherhood/Steel, Caravan/Caravans, Cathedral, Claw/Death/Deathclaw, Crimson, Decker, Glow/Hot/Spot, Harold, Heights, Iguana/Bits/Bobs/Bob's, Jacob, Kane, Loxley (text only/generic), Market, Merchants, Missing, Old/Town, Police, Razor, Traders. [Pointless responses: Oldtown (replaced by Fixt with Old Town, which triggers Old).]

Decker: All/All-N-One (All-in-One in the original msg), Beth, Butch/Harris, Cathedral/Children, Caravans/Missing, Claw/Death/Deathclaw, Crimson, Daren/Hightower, Decker, Demetre/Romara, Falcon/Maltese/Nightclub, Far/Go/Trader, Greene/Justin, Harold, Heights, Jain, Merchants, Market, Master, Morpehus, Old/Town, Store, Thieves, Underground. [Pointless responses: Oldtown (replaced by Fixt with Old Town, which triggers Old).]

Jain: Brotherhood/Steel, Cathedral/Children, Flame/Holy, Hub, Jain (generic/text only), Master, Mutants, Unity, War. [Pointless responses: Vats.]



Necropolis (generic, text only): Hall, Necropolis, Set, Watershed. [Pointless responses: Chip/Water*, Master*.]

Variations/Extras: Ghoul leader (underground): Chip/Water, Hall, Set, Master, Necropolis, Watershed. Devout Children of the Cathedral: Boneyard, Cathedral, Followers/Apocalypse, Master, Mutants, Necropolis, Set, Watershed. [Pointless responses: Chip, Hall, L.A. Boneyard, The Boneyard (both trigger Boneyard).] (The triggers for Barry, Gary, Larry, Sally and Terry: (Chip (missing in: Larry), Ghouls, Hall, Lou, Necropolis, Normals, Set, Watershed, Water (missing in: Barry, Sally & Terry)) are pointless as one can't initiate dialogue with them.)

Set: Brotherhood, Ghouls, Hub, Master, Mutants/Muties, Necropolis, Set, Shed/Water/Watershed, Unity, War. [Pointless responses: Cathedral, Children, Chip, Garret, Hall, Brotherhood of Steel (triggers Brotherhood), Water Shed (triggers Water), Children of the Cathedral (triggers Children).]

Harry: Cathedral/Children, Ghouls, Human/Norms/Normies/Normals, Lieutenant/Lou/Lutenant/Loo, Master, Shed/Necropolis/Watershed, Set, Unity. [Pointless responses: Chip, Children of the Cathedral (triggers Children), Hall, Harry (see line 970), Larry/Barry/Gary/Terry/Sally, Lou Tenant (triggers Lou), Water, Water Shed (should trigger Shed but triggers Water erroneously).]



L.A./Angel's Boneyard
Note: There should be three levels of knowledge, but this area is very underdeveloped and rather than three levels of info, most TMAs don't even trigger.
In addition, the 3 levels of info does not appear to work. Or it has never been implemented. So far I have not met a NPC that used info beyond level 1 (even the leaders Caleb/Zimmerman (Adytum), Gabriel (Adytum), Razor (Necropolis), Nicole (Junktown) give level 1 responses).


Adytum: Adytum, Boneyard, Junktown, Necropolis, Store, Zimmerman. [Pointless responses: Blades*, Cathedral*, Chip/Water, Followers*, Glow*, Gun/Runners*, Hub*, Regulators*, Rippers*, Scavs*, L.A. Boneyard, The Boneyard (both trigger Boneyard).]
(Note: there is a peculiar Regulatr.msg, It is the same as Adytum info level 1, but slightly updated. That means: all keywords should work, “Rippers” has been removed, the directions for Blades & Runners are correct, Regulators has a self-reference and “Boneyard” is less rude. However, as far as I can tell no one uses it in-game, neither the gate guard nor anyone else.)

Blades: Adytum, Necropolis, Razor. [Pointless responses: Blades*, Boneyard*, Cathedral*, Chip/Water, Glow, Followers*, Gun/Runners*, Hub*, Junktown, Rippers*.]
(The usefulness of some responses (Necropolis, Glow, Junktown) should improve with the NPC's info level. However, that feature does not appear to have been implemented, i.e. everyone, even Razor, is on info level 1 (you can check with Necropolis).)

Gun Runners: Adytum, Junktown. [Pointless responses: Blades*, Boneyard*, Cathedral*, Chip/Water, Followers*, Gun/Runners*, Hub*, Rippers*.]

Followers & Chris Avellone: Adytum, Junktown, Nicole. [Pointless responses: Blades*, Boneyard*, Cathedral*, Chip/Water, Followers*, Gun/Runners*, Hub*, Rippers*.]
(In the original, Christopher Avellone had his personal set of keywords (see Hunter.msg). However, they were the same as for the Followers (only “Gun Runners” and “Water Chip” were split into two entries), and had roughly the same responses as “Followers info level 2” (obj-dude.msg) except for: Followers & Nicole. Fixt changed his keywords to: Adytum, Blades, Boneyard, Cathedral, Followers, Hub, Junktown, Nicole, Rippers, Runners. [Pointless responses: L.A. Boneyard, The Boneyard (both trigger Boneyard), Gun Runners (should trigger Runners, which is listed twice).] and added new info to the Rippers reply. However, all his TMAs were disabled by Fixt as they were “not working”. The problem was that the numbering of the replies was off.)

Nicole: Adytum, Boneyard/Angels/Angel's, Brotherhood/Steel, Cathedral (same as in dialogue), Followers, God, Hub, Jake, Laura, Library, Master, Morpheus (same as in dialogue), Nicole, Nightkin, War.



Katja (text only): Adytum, Apocalypse, Blades, Base, Boneyard, Booze, Brotherhood, Cathedral, Chip/Water, Children, Deathclaw, Drugs (listed in some msg file as Chems), Followers, Healing/Medic (2 variations), Hub, Junktown, Merchants, Morpheus, Mutants, Necropolis, Nicole, Psychics, Regulators, Shady/Sands (try Shady first, then Sands), Scavs, Store, Vault/Vault13, War, Zimmerman.

[Pointless responses: Alya, Aradesh, Casino, Diana, Exodus, Experiments, Garl, Gizmo, Gwen, Hall, Initiates, Khans, Killian, Library, Lieutenant, Master, Military, Paladins, Petrox, Police, Razlo, Scribes, Set, Seth, Tandi, Tolya, Unity, Overseer, Vats, Vault 13 (triggers Vault; in the original msg this used to be Vault-13), Watershed.]



Brotherhood (generic, text only): Brotherhood, Initiates, Knights, Paladins, Scribes. [Pointless responses: Children/Cathedral*, Chip/Water, Exodus*, Hub*, Master, Merchants*, Missing/Caravans, Strange/Army*, War*.]

Cabbot: Ancient/Order, Brotherhood/War, Cabbot/Initiate, Caravans/Merchants, Elder, Elders, Exodus, Hub, Knights, Paladins, Rhombus, Scribes, Vree. [Pointless responses: Army, Cathedral, Chip, Disks, Master.]

Rhombus: Army, Boneyard, Elder, Hub, Knights, Paladins, Rhombus, Scribes, Talus, Vree. [Pointless responses: Chip, Children/Cathedral, Disks, Exodus, Initiates, Master, Merchants, Missing/Caravans, Strange* (disabled and oddly enough more detailed than Army), War.]

Vree: Brotherhood, Holo/Disks/Holodisk/Holodisc/Holo-disk/Holo-disc (all but Holo were added by Fixt), Elder, Master, Rhombus, Vree (text only), War. [Pointless responses: Chip, Children/Cathedral, Discs* (Fixt replaced this one with Disks), Exodus, Hub, Initiates, Knights, Merchants, Missing/Caravans, Paladins, Scribes, Strange/Army.]

Maxson: Adytum, Army, Cathedral, Boneyard/Angel's/Angels, Brotherhood, Butch/Harris/Caravans, Cabbot, Claw, Disks/Discs/Holodisk/Holodisc/Holo-Disk/Holo-Disc (all but Disks were added by Fixt), Elder, Elders, Exodus/War, Gangs, Hub, Initiates, Knights, Library, Mathia, Maxson/Roger, Merchants, Paladins, Player, Rhombus, Scribes, Traders, Vree. [Pointless responses: Chip, Master.]



Military Base (generic, text only): [Pointless responses: Experiments, Lieutenant, Master, Nightkin. Psychics.] [Even more pointless responses: Children/Cathedral*, Followers/Apocalypse*, Super/Mutants*, Chip/Water* (who, at this point, is still going from door to door asking for a water chip?).]

Lieutenant: Cathedral, FEV/Virus, Unity, Lieutenant (text only), Master, Morpheus, Normals, Vats, Vaults.



Cathedral (generic, text only): Master, Mutants, Morpheus. [Pointless responses: Base/Military, Children/Cathedral*, Chip/Water, Flame/Holy*, Followers/Apocalypse*, Unity*, Vats.]

Basement (generic, text only): [Pointless responses: Experiments, Lieutenant, Master, Nightkin. Psychics.] [Even more pointless responses: Children/Cathedral*, Followers/Apocalypse*, Super/Mutants*, Chip/Water*.]

Laura: Apocalypse/Followers, Auditorium, Cathedral, Dark/God, Laura (text only), Master, Mutants/Nightkin, Morpheus, Nicole, Order, Sanctum, Servitors.

Morpheus: Auditorium, Adytum, Apocalypse/Followers, Hospitals, Lasher, Master, Morpheus, Mutants/Nightkin, Nicole, Order, Sanctum, Unity. [Pointless responses: Base, Caravans, Children, Chip, Flame/Holy.]

Master: [Pointless responses: Master, Unity.]



* marks keywords that I couldn't trigger, despite the msg.files listing a response for them (see explanation in the text block above, it's the one before last).
 
Last edited:
This is an old post, bit surprised to see it resurface, but it should be up to date. I tweaked my list a little over time, for example I compared it to other lists of keywords and if they are all covered, but whenever there was an important change I updated this post quietly in the dark recesses of NMA (but there wasn't much to add).

I think the above is all correct.
However, I'm curious if there are any more hidden ones. Guardhouse is still puzzling me.

Anyway, here is a list of keywords I put to together while testing TMA (that's how I found guardhouse), and then I updated it based on keyword-lists (the ones in bold). It's not important as such, but kind of interesting (like a catalogue of persons and places):


Checklist for Fixt 0.81 (words in bold are “supposedly” trigger words (according to a list on the internet). Try to use the whole name, possibly followed by trying both variations if separated by a /, but for the most part typing in the whole name once should be sufficient. If using combinations (like “all store” or “store all” with, for example, Butch) the first word counts, so in the first example the reply to “all” will play, in the second the reply to “store”. This means “Military Base” will cancel Katja's response to Base (sigh), but if the first word is unknown like “Jon the Dork Zimmerman” it will be skipped until hitting a keyword (most only react to Zimmerman). Keywords are not 100% consistent. For example, not everyone may mean the same when reacting to town. Children may mean town in general (the place they should stay/play), while people at the Hub usually use that term for Old Town):

Places: Vault 13, Library (several places have libraries), Shady Sands, Guardhouse, Vault 15, Raiders, Junktown/Junk, Darkwater's/Darkwaters Store, Crash House, Gizmo's/Gizmos Casino, Skum Pit/t, Hub, Maltese Falcon Nightclub, All-in-one-Store (use all or all-n-one), Weapon/s (guns) Store, Bob's/Bobs Iguana Bits, Downtown, Market, Heights, Oldtown/Town, Water Merchants District, Water Tower/s, Boneyard/Angel's/Angels, Adytum, Downtown, Warehouse, Fortress, Necropolis (City), Hall, Underground, Water Shed/Watershed, Vault 12, Brotherhood, Lost Hills, Glow/Hot Spot, West Tek Research Facility, Mariposa Military Base, Cathedral, Auditorium, Sanctum (cut: Viper Camp (the shrine), Brotherhood Ruins (after invasion), Burrows, Irvine).

Persons (these are (for the most part) also persons one can start dialogue with): Vault 13: Medic, Cindy, (cut?: Lisa, Sandy, Mary, Stacy & Susan, see ration.msg), Lyle, Theresa, Water Guard, Water Thief, Vault 13 Officer, Jacoren (Overseer), (cut: Vault Couple). Shady Sands: Katrina, Seth, Citizen, Aradesh, Tandi, Cook, Ian, Guard, Razlo, Razlo's wife, Jarvis, Trader, Trader Bodyguard, Curtis (cut: Agatha, Elder, Barterman (see Trader), Sammy). Raiders: Alya, Diana, Garl Death-hand, Gwen, Petrox, Tolya, (cut: Jack (prisoner: raidpris.msg)). Junktown: Kalnor, Lars, Andrew, Doc Morbid, Cougar, Flash, Gretch, Killian Darkwater, Kenji, Bob (JtBob.msg), Marcelles, Sinthia, Sherry, Vinnie, Victor, Phil, Lenore, Dogmeat, Gizmo, Izo, (cut: Hernandez (gambler.msg)), Gustofer, Saul, Neal, Trish, Barfly, Tycho, Ismarc, Shark, (cut: Vasquez Villanova Hernandez Ortega). Hub: John, Luke, Mat, Deputy Tony Fry, Dan, Dan's Wife, Billy, Gunther, Rutger, Butch Harris, Beth, Sid, Guido, Leone, Lorenzo Giovanni, (cut: Avery, Bill, Cally (see scrname.msg), Richie), Lemmy, Kane, Decker, (cut: Hope (the singer), Hubbian), Demetre Romara, Keri Romara, Mitch, Mrs. Stapleton, Sheriff Justin Greene, Deputy Kenny, Iguana-Bob Frazier (see Bobsign.msg, but does only react to Bob), Irwin, (cut: Mike (guard at Old Town)), Jonathan (Missing Brotherhood Initiate (MissBro.msg), see: Talus.msg, line 202, however there is also a Jonathan script without msg (him back home?)), Jacob (Jake?), Vance, Justin & Chad (guards, see Vance.msg), Uncle Slappy, Harold, (Richard Grey, Mark, Francine), Cleo, Jasmine, Loxley, Smitty, Daren Hightower, Hightower's wife, George, Leon, Rick, Julio (police guard at Water Merchant District), Jain, Thorndyke, Phillips (guard in Jain's room, see HChdGrd.msg), Flower Child, Martha Rastello (master merchant), (cut: Kathy (see Rd1Rmory.msg), Rufus (hacker), Troy (mutant), cut merchants (Merch1.msg & MerchRd1.msg): Mephisto, Harms, Fowler, Dixon, Morgan, Marco, Kjolnir, Marzen, Joshua, Anthony, Clark, Malantic, Orlando, Ilya, Tracy). Boneyard: (cut: Alex (gate guard)), Jon Zimmerman, (cut: Jason Zimmerman), Caleb, Tine Taylor (see Taylor.msg, does only react to Tine), Smitty, Miles, Lorraine (Lorrian.msg is old or a typo, she seems to use Lorri.msg (or Lorraine now)), Sammael, Chuck, (cut: Julianna), Razor, MacRae, Dugan, Greg, Michael, Christine, (cut “blades gang”: Beca “Jade” (Jade is her nickname, see Alchemist note, according to scripts.lst they are quartermistresses), Dragon (nightwatchman), Dolgan (weaponmaster) & Snake (share a msg), Fire (2nd in command), Michelle (leader of the scouts), Romero, (other members only mentioned in some of the previous one's msgs: Books, Scars, Gunner, Twitch, Hammer)), (cut: Tangler (boss of the Rippers), Ripper prisoner), Nicole, Katja, Heather, Talius, (cut “followers”: Alan (convert), Amber (teacher), Jake (2nd in command), Neil (head of guards), Peter (head of scouts). Follower Initiates (see folinit.msg): Walter, Nicolas, William, Matthew, John, Mellenie, Jeanne, Lorraine, Sarah, Christine. Follower Guards (see folguard.msg): Savil, Nancy, Jelissa, Lynda, Jessica, Shannon, Mohandki, Percy, Henry, Herion. Follower Scouts (see folscout.msg): Jerry, Basbear, Richard, Jason, Shadow, Lynne, Gwendolyne, Rosa, Elizabeth, Rebeca), (cut: Dr. Solone, Nurse Marney), (cut “thinker nightkin” (see ThSupMut.msg): Therax, Justin, Sereine, Dolkarn, Hort, Chris, Jaunita, Lesley, Renfield, Timothy), (cut: Uthern (leader of the super mutant scouts, see scripts.lst), Super Mutants at the followers (see FlSupMut.msg & scripts.lst): Lou, Sue, Drew, Kurt, Bert, Tyche, Mike, Char, Reine, Daggarth), Christopher Avellone, (cut: Orfeo (senior children member, see scripts.lst, probably post-invasion?), “post-invasion CoC” scholars (ChidScol.msg): Theslin, Slater, Aunanut, Eikenkoff, Spikavar, Varalone, Quinonos, Ziegliff, Jones, Smithe), Gabriel, Zack. Necropolis: Manager, Ghoul Leader, Garret, Set, Gangers, Harry, Larry, Barry, Gary, Sally, Terry, Ghoul prisoner (prisonr.msg), Children of the Cathedral, (cut: Meander (ghouls, meander is a description) & Elvis (dog) (see Meander.msg)), Tread & Dirtnap (glowing ghouls, probably not their names though). Brotherhood: Cabbot/Initiate, Darrel (2nd Guard), Jennifer (Paladin), Rhombus, Michael, Talus, Thomas, Anthony (scribe at training), (cut: Brenden (initiate)), Dr. Lorri (BoSLori.msg), Jerry, Kyle, Paul, (cut?: Knight Larry (old version of Paul?, see LaryKnig.msg)), Sophia, Vree, Mathia, John Maxson (use Elder), Elders (their names are: Jonathan, Jacob, Mary & Rachael, but they don't react to their names, nor do their names show up anywhere but in the pro files), (cut: Paladin Farli, Kedrick (the traitor, see Vree.msg), Bobdoug.msg, Derek (GenScrib.msg)). Glow: ZAX 1.2, (scientists: Robert Anderson, Nick Davis, John Isaac, Steve Remco, Charles Rignhold, Michele Santose, Erin Shellman, Leon von Felden), (Barnet/Barnett), (BoS: D. Allen, Jensen, Soto, Camarillo), (cut?: Tylier (terminal on level 5, blue, security). Cathedral: Calder (boy), Slummer (zombie), Zark (thug), Dr. Wu, Shopkeeper, Sister Francis, Ton Barracus (only reacts to Ton), Lasher, Laura, Viola (convert), Sasha (dog), Dane, Morpheus, (cut: Zack Barstow (initiate), Dumar (acrolyte), Surf (appears in the pro files, no msg)), Jeremiah (messenger), Kyle (airlock guard, see airgrd.msg, line 137), Gideon, Lucy, Dominic Moore (only reacts to Moore), Wiggum (the pro file calls him Wiggup, but in-game (1.35 & 0.81) it's Wiggum), Vincent (guard, see MadSci.msg), Mad scientist, Viscious (see MlOps), Master, (cut: Rae (mutant)). Military Base: Abel (lvl 2), lvl 3 prison cells: Krupper, Flip, Sarah, lvl 4: Mister Handy, Technicians, Lieutenant (Lou/Lutenant/Lou Tenant/Loo), VanHagen. Generic: CoC Initiates (see ChidInit): Ronald, Caroline, Myles, Alisha, Thomas, Gabriel, Charlene, Ekdar, Hopper, Radek (may appear in three places it seems (Boneyard (110-116), Necropolis (117-119) & Cathderal (120-122)). Wandering Traders: Duc (Shady Sands), Julian, Lox, Terrance, Dale, Patrick the Celt, Encounters: Trent Barrister (does only react to Trent, surviving guard of a water merchant caravan), Fisherman & Son, Bob (car-dealer, see dealer.msg, line 131), (cut: Lance (Shady Sands long-range patrol), lone raider (of the khans), Sean (caravan survivor who turned into a super-mutant)). (FO1 Demo: Baka, Rayze, Rock, Skizzer, Skippy, Lex, Phrax, Lenny, Phil, Dog). (cut: Burrows: Rinar, Vipers: Lex (leader)). Unknown: Kyle (raider, see test.msg).

Groups: Raiders, Khans, Vipers, Jackals, Crypts, Skulz, Nevada Rangers, Scorpion/s (Radscorpion/s), Brahmin/Brahma, Crimson Caravan/s (singular is usually the Crimson Caravan, plural is Caravans in general or “missing” Caravans), Far Go Trader/s, Water Merchant/s (sometimes Water Merchants sometimes Merchants in general), Friendly Lending Company, Police, Central Council, Circle of Thieves Guild, Underground, Skags, Regulators, Scavs, Blades, Gangs, Rippers, Claw/Death/Deathclaw, Followers of the Apocalypse, Gun Runners, Ghouls, Underground Ghouls, Brotherhood of Steel, Elders, Knights, Paladins, Scribes, Initiates, Children of the Cathedral, Super Mutants/Muties, Nightkin, Normals (Norms/Normies/Human) (cut: Thinker Nightkin, Pit Viper, S'Lanter (raccoons)).

Select choices of wasteland conversation: Water Chip (Waterchip/Ration/Rations), Supplies, Outside, War, Apocalypse, Children, Dharma, Lair, Station/Tower (try Guardhouse), Spear, Well, Healing/Medic, Booze, Drugs (or Chems), Wastes, Psychics, Store, Strange, Missing Caravans, Exodus, Ancient Order, Roger Maxson, Army, Disks (Holo/discs), Player, Hospitals, Holy Flame, Crusade, Dark/God, Unity, FEV Virus, Vats, Servitors, Baptism, Right Hand, Experiments, Vaults.


Anway, this checklist is more an afterthought (actually pre-thought) to the actual list, and I didn't bother to post it back then. However, looking back at my stuff this struck me as kind of interesting.
 
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You've gotta wonder how many man-hours were spent on the writing and coding required for TMA functionality...
 
You've gotta wonder how many man-hours were spent on the writing and coding required for TMA functionality...
Not as many as people spend testing random words :-P

Anyway, to me the system feels abandoned. (At the start of the game it is elaborated and intriguing (Shady Sands, Junktown, Hub) but then it becomes stale (Boneyard, Brotherhood, Necropolis, Cathedral, Military Base). I also found errors that suggest to me that they dropped the system at one point of the development and then never bothered to go back and update it, thus it still includes “cut content” like references to the Vipers, or location errors (“Razlo is in the north/east”). It's also an insane system, (text-base games simply had no future), that is basically bottomless. If doing it properly, there is literally no end to the responses it could incite. For example, Iguana-Bob has no idea what an Iguana is. That could have been another funny TMA. (...because it's people!*)

(*Btw: judging people for cannibalism is not PC. There is culture behind it :wink:)
 
Quick heads-up for those who are interested:

I've found the time to updated the TMA list (mostly details, technicalities and notes, top post) and the checklist:
Checklist for Fixt 0.81

The second is perhaps a bit more interesting as I expanded it with all the names I could find in the files. And I added more sources to it. So it should be possible to find (and check on) every entry without much issue (either on Nukapedia or the related msg file).

This list of persons (checklist) is probably still not complete, as there is an astonishing amount of characters in FO1 (especially cut ones) but it may be a good start. And perhaps this quick run down of names is even the most complete list of characters in Fo1 currently available. At least, it's more complete than the list on the wiki ;).
 
It's pretty cool, seem there are plenty words I never tried while playing Fallout 1.
Do you know if the tell me about ever made it in F2 engine, but disabled? I don't expect there would be existing options for vanilla characters of course, but it could be pretty cool for mods too.
 
It's pretty cool, seem there are plenty words I never tried while playing Fallout 1.
Do you know if the tell me about ever made it in F2 engine, but disabled? I don't expect there would be existing options for vanilla characters of course, but it could be pretty cool for mods too.
Sorry, I don't know much about engines. But I'm curious, too.

Although, TMA is not a good system tbh.

Too much work, literally bottomless, and difficult to access for players.

I think the Fo dialogue system can come up with better ways to include unique dialogue snippets. For example, IN 10 responses. Or responses only to players with Kamikaze etc.

Anyway, lack of accessibility is basically the reason why I wrote the list. As Fo1 has several very cool text pieces in TMA but they are rarely part of a play-through.

Which is a bit of a shame as there are many funny, interesting and cool responses hidden away in TMA. And making those “more” part of a playthrough was the original reason for this list. So I put together a list that not only runs down all the keywords in the msg files, but also sorts them intelligently, so that typing them in is not as repetitive, and more feasible. Well, and then it became a bit of a study of the system and how it works (or, rather, why it doesn't in some cases).
 
According to this thread, the function is not implemented at all:
http://www.nma-fallout.com/threads/fallout-2-ask-me-about-mod.199203/

Although, TMA is not a good system tbh.

Too much work, literally bottomless, and difficult to access for players.

I think the Fo dialogue system can come up with better ways to include unique dialogue snippets. For example, IN 10 responses. Or responses only to players with Kamikaze etc.

Sure, normal dialogs are better, but for the fun of a few cool lines that woudn't need to be part of a complex tree, the TMA could have been nice.
No big deal though.
 
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