Iprovidelittlepianos
Vault Senior Citizen
I know there are threads like this already but I can’t seem to find them.
Playing Fallout recently has left me somewhat underwhelmed by the variety in wild animals. In particular, there aren’t any reptiles other than Deathclaws. Iguanas are implied to exist, but as far as enemies go there aren’t any giant lizards. Fallout 2 added geckos, which I’ve always felt looked kinda stupid. So this got me thinking of some giant varieties of reptiles that wouldn’t feel out of place in the first game:
Pit Vipers were obviously planned at some point, to be worshipped by the Vipers. I imagine these would’ve been man-sized rattlesnakes (what other vipers exist in that region?).
Gila Monsters seem like an obvious one, being featured in a famous 1950s B-movie (though they wouldn’t be THAT big). They’d have to spread out a ways to be found in California, but I imagine the geographic ranges of surviving desert species would expand in the wake of the War. These guys would be mostly found in caves and mountain encounters.
Horned Lizards, also called horntoads or horny toads, look pretty cool and already have some species in California. Maybe they could be given forward-facing horns for attacking.
I then started thinking non-reptilian wildlife that could be added, because why not? First, let me get two out of the way that appeared in later games: ants and cockroaches. These seem like such obvious choices (ants are featured in another famous 1950s monster movie and roaches are the stereotypical nuclear war survivors) that it’s almost surprising that they aren’t already in the game. Anyway, some others I thought of:
Grasshoppers (maybe call them sand-hoppers now). If mantises can survive the war, why can’t these guys? Maybe because they’re herbivorous and aren’t related to cockroaches? That’s fair. Still, I think dog-sized grasshoppers would look cool, and imagine how much ground they could cover per action point? It’d be hard to escape from these guys.
Jackrabbits, also called hares, would be another very fast creature. Maybe give them antlers and call them jackalopes? This would be another herbivore, but they can still be aggressive and dangerous.
Donkeys, or burros, would round out the herbivores. Irwin had a donkey but we never see it except for the pile of bones that are identical to the “horned kangaroo” found elsewhere in the game. I think donkeys should be a rare alternative to brahmin. Like dogs, they wouldn’t really be mutated at all.
Kangaroo rats, being desert-adapted natives to California and the southwest, would probably be more likely candidates to survive the war than rats and moles. I’m also thinking they might be the true identity of the mysterious “horned kangaroo” skeletons (though these are likely just mono-headed Brahmin). Kangaroo rats would be larger and more kangaroo-like in general. And also maybe have horns?
Two-headed bears, mostly just as a reference to Fallout 2 and the NCR flag. I do think bears could have a survival advantage due to their hibernation periods and omnivorous eating habits. Still, it’s kind of a stretch. I’d limit these to very rare encounters.
And now I feel I’m starting to drift away from animals that would fit Fallout. Anyone else want to chime in?
Playing Fallout recently has left me somewhat underwhelmed by the variety in wild animals. In particular, there aren’t any reptiles other than Deathclaws. Iguanas are implied to exist, but as far as enemies go there aren’t any giant lizards. Fallout 2 added geckos, which I’ve always felt looked kinda stupid. So this got me thinking of some giant varieties of reptiles that wouldn’t feel out of place in the first game:
Pit Vipers were obviously planned at some point, to be worshipped by the Vipers. I imagine these would’ve been man-sized rattlesnakes (what other vipers exist in that region?).
Gila Monsters seem like an obvious one, being featured in a famous 1950s B-movie (though they wouldn’t be THAT big). They’d have to spread out a ways to be found in California, but I imagine the geographic ranges of surviving desert species would expand in the wake of the War. These guys would be mostly found in caves and mountain encounters.
Horned Lizards, also called horntoads or horny toads, look pretty cool and already have some species in California. Maybe they could be given forward-facing horns for attacking.
I then started thinking non-reptilian wildlife that could be added, because why not? First, let me get two out of the way that appeared in later games: ants and cockroaches. These seem like such obvious choices (ants are featured in another famous 1950s monster movie and roaches are the stereotypical nuclear war survivors) that it’s almost surprising that they aren’t already in the game. Anyway, some others I thought of:
Grasshoppers (maybe call them sand-hoppers now). If mantises can survive the war, why can’t these guys? Maybe because they’re herbivorous and aren’t related to cockroaches? That’s fair. Still, I think dog-sized grasshoppers would look cool, and imagine how much ground they could cover per action point? It’d be hard to escape from these guys.
Jackrabbits, also called hares, would be another very fast creature. Maybe give them antlers and call them jackalopes? This would be another herbivore, but they can still be aggressive and dangerous.
Donkeys, or burros, would round out the herbivores. Irwin had a donkey but we never see it except for the pile of bones that are identical to the “horned kangaroo” found elsewhere in the game. I think donkeys should be a rare alternative to brahmin. Like dogs, they wouldn’t really be mutated at all.
Kangaroo rats, being desert-adapted natives to California and the southwest, would probably be more likely candidates to survive the war than rats and moles. I’m also thinking they might be the true identity of the mysterious “horned kangaroo” skeletons (though these are likely just mono-headed Brahmin). Kangaroo rats would be larger and more kangaroo-like in general. And also maybe have horns?
Two-headed bears, mostly just as a reference to Fallout 2 and the NCR flag. I do think bears could have a survival advantage due to their hibernation periods and omnivorous eating habits. Still, it’s kind of a stretch. I’d limit these to very rare encounters.
And now I feel I’m starting to drift away from animals that would fit Fallout. Anyone else want to chime in?
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