FALLOUT RPG: IRONWOOD STATION
A campaign about survival, scarcity, and the price of salvation.
Welcome to Ironwood Station, a half-collapsed train hub buried under the Michigan snow, where scavvers, traders, and wanderers have built a fragile refuge from the cold. Rusted railcars serve as homes. Smoke from scrap-metal stoves hangs low in the air. Every day is a fight to stay warm… and alive.
At the centre of it all stands Vault 178, sealed, silent, untouched for generations.
The settlement grew around it.
Now, both the settlement and the vault are failing.
Ironwood is starving.
The vault is starving.
Hydroponics are collapsing.
Greenhouses have withered to frostbitten husks.
Every supply run returns thinner, hungrier, and more desperate.
And then, through the static of an old broadcast tower, a message breaks through:
EMERGENCY BROADCAST – IRONWOOD STATION
📻 Fallout Emergency Transmission: Vault 178
(Start with a burst of heavy static, a high-pitched whine, and the sound of an old radio tube warming up. The voice is strained, hoarse, and desperate.)
(Sound Effect: A rapid series of frantic beeps, a final burst of deafening static, and then silence.)
(Sound Effect: High-frequency BZZZT followed by a brief power dip/coughing sound from the radio)
DR. HALDEN: “…[gasping] …Hello? Hello? Is this… is this thing working? [Static cuts in hard, momentarily drowning the word] If anyone can hear this, this is Dr. Halden from V-Vault 178… Broadcasting on all open frequencies… from… the Ironwood Station.”
(The sound of a heavy sigh, followed by the clatter of something metal in the background.)
DR. HALDEN: “We are in critical need of assistance. I repeat: CRITICAL.“
(The voice cracks with emotion.)
DR. HALDEN: “Our hydroponics… they’ve [screech of static]… they’ve failed. The greenhouses are dead. Everything… all the growth is gone. We’ve rationed everything we could… [A single, slow beep sound effect] and now there’s nothing left to ration. Nothing.”
DR. HALDEN: “Too many of us… there are too many [voice cuts out for half a second]… not enough supplies left to last the winter. Not even enough for the next month.”
(Pause. The transmission sounds clearer for a moment, then drops to a muffled, distorted volume.)
DR. HALDEN: “We don’t have weapons to spare. We don’t have… we cannot send caravans. We barely have the strength to stand… to keep the lights on…”
(The voice returns, becoming louder and more focused, a plea.)
DR. HALDEN: “But if you can reach us… If you can help us survive this winter…”
DR. HALDEN: “We can offer shelter. Warmth. A place behind the vault door. A safe place. The vault door will open for you.”
(The voice is now barely a whisper, ragged with exhaustion.)
DR. HALDEN: “Please. By the ancestors, please. If anyone’s out there— Vault 178… Ironwood Station. Help us. Help. Us.“
