Once called 'the greatest city in the world' by pre-war Americans, New York City is now a

crumbling labyrinth of concrete and steel, once defcon 2 was announced, it became clear China
had launched a 200 MT Jian missile at Wall Street, fortunately (or unfortunately depending on
perspective) it landed in the New York Harbor, it’s blast just missing Wall Street. Most of the
resulting radiation was washed into the sea, but it still proliferated throughout Manhattan and the
surrounding areas.
Notable locations

The Torch: Out in the upper bay, southwest of the blast zone, is an island, on that island there
used to be a bronze statue of a figure holding a torch to the sky, this statue has crumbled over
the centuries and now the only recognizable part that remains of it is the torch and the hand that
holds it.

Times Square: Once considered the beating heart of NYC itself, Times Square is now a
warzone, home to various raider gangs battling for control, the 3 most prominent gangs are the
Specters, the Vultures, and the Street Serpents. The Specters are Currently in control, their
overboss Phantom rules from his throne inside One Times Square, often raising the shining ball
at the top of the building as a show of his power.

Subway System: A dark, dank maze of underground tunnels once used to cross the city in
minutes, now the Subway Tunnels are used as a hideout for raiders, radroaches, giant rats,
feral ghouls, and more. Much like the metro tunnels in the Capital Wasteland.

Broadway: Considered a symbol of the theater industry, many of its players survived the great
war as ghouls. Unfortunately much of their props were stolen in the aftermath, and they need
someone to help get them back.

Grand Central Station: The center of all the subway tunnels that run beneath the city, today
Grand Central Station is home to the town of Gold Watch, a community of chem and alcohol
peddlers. Due to both their proximity to the subway tunnels and the nature of their goods, they
attract most of their business from raiders and junkies.

Central Park: A massive patch of land in the middle of the city, pre-war Central Park would have
been a wonderful place to take a stroll, today Central Park stands empty, though much of its
foliage remains intact due to it being far from the blast. However Central Park is far from safe,
as many creatures like rad-pigeons call the place home, still a guild of hunters live nearby,
releasing various animals into the park so they can hunt them.

New York public library: A massive library 2 city blocks long, the public library today serves as a
staging area and a main headquarters for the Stone Lion Soldiers, a ruthless mercenary
company who will take on any job if the price is right.

Rikers Island: Before the war, Rikers Island was used as a detention center, when the bombs
dropped, most of the prisoners took advantage of the chaos to kill their guards and flee into the
wasteland. For a century and a half Rikers Island was left empty until the Bell Dynasty fleeing
from vault 37 turned it into their new stronghold.

United Nations building: Before the Great War the UN disbanded during the resource wars,
shortly after this various American corporations began bidding on the building itself, with
General Atomics winning out and making it into a manufacturing center, even after the war
robots still prowl the halls, killing anyone and anything that enters.

Factions

The Bell Dynasty: Emerging from vault 37 9 years ago, house Bell and its followers left their
vault to conquer the wasteland above. Unfortunately their journey was not an easy one, they
went through many home bases being established and destroyed before they eventually settled
on Rikers Island, since then they’ve expanded their territory to encompass many of the
surrounding areas, from Roosevelt Island, to Middle village, to the town of Corona.

The current head of House Bell and ruler of the Dynasty is Richard Bell, who has implemented
plans to dominate both Manhattan and the rest of the Empire Wasteland. Having read several
books about Charlimage and other ancient kings, Richard now believes it’s his divine mission to
unite the wasteland. However Richard is no despot, he’s a kind and gentle ruler who treats all
his subjects fairly, be they man or woman, super mutant or ghoul, however anyone who
challenges or displeases him will be dealt with swiftly and decisively.

The Republic of House Fisher: The noble house that emerged victorious from the warring in
vault 37, House Fisher has since expanded to the outside, its territory stretching from Richmond
hill, to Sunset park, and Greenpoint. They’re ruled by Jackie Fisher, who despises the archaic
monarchy she grew up overseeing and chose to abolish it in favor of a republic. However she
and her people are deeply xenophobic, segregating ghouls and other communities away from
their “proper society.”

House Fisher left vault 37 shortly after House Bell, making their way to Brooklyn and building
their capital there, however they soon discovered a sizable enclave of ghouls living in Brooklyn,
for a while they coexisted peacefully, until one day when a horde of feral ghouls came storming
out of one of the subway tunnels, seeing as how feral ghouls don’t attack other ghouls, feral or
sentient, Jackie (a rising politician at the time) blamed the attack on them and banished them to
Burnington, a small shanty town only a few miles away from the border with House Bell, which
turned out to be a mistake, because now Hel, the ghoul’s leader is secretly conspiring behind
Jackie’s back to join House Bell.

Specters: A raider gang that emerged from vault 45, whose experiment was to use speakers
and noise makers embedded in the walls, floors, and ceilings to convince the dwellers the vault
was haunted. To this day the Specters believe they can still see and speak to the ghosts, and
even cover themselves with white chalk in order to more closely resemble ghosts themselves.

Their leader is Phantom, who took his name from a porcelain mask he stole from the ghouls
living on Broadway, his greatest triumph however is his conquest of Times Square, to this day
he maintains his throne from One Times Square, using the glowing ball on the roof to display his
superiority to the other gangs in the area.
The Mafia: A powerful criminal enterprise whose origins go back centuries, the pre-war mafia
families anticipated nuclear war, but did not trust Vault-Tec to save them, so the families pooled
their funds together to save themselves, a week before war broke out they had moved all their
assets and thugs into their new underground shelter.

The families holed up for a full century after the bombs dropped, and when they emerged they
soon realized a few things, there was a greater demand for chems and alcohol, their vast
fortunes meant nothing to a wasteland that had a bottlecap based economy, and there were no
police to stop their activities, the mafia quickly fell into their old habits of bribery, smuggling, and
wars of intrigue, slowly over time the families were diminished until only one mob boss
remained, Vitorio Califano.

Vitorio has continued to run a tight operation since his victory over his rivals, having a
stranglehold over the chem market in Gold Watch as well as eyes and ears all over Manhattan,
Vitorio plans to remain neutral in the looming war between Houses Bell and Fisher, and then
integrate into the ecosystem of the victor.

East River merchant's guild: A trading corporation who set up shop on what remains of Wall
Street, the merchant’s guild makes exports of scrap metal, brahmin milk, and cut diamonds to
other parts of the world, and taxes all boat traffic in the harbor. They have deemed fit to not get
involved in the conflict between House Bell and House Fisher, instead agreeing to back
whoever wins, planning to control the winner through their economy.

The main challenge the guild faces today is a Communist cell operating out of nearby
Chinatown, who believe the guild is carrying on the work of the pre-war Wall Street groups, and
vow to dismantle them.

Vaults

45: Built beneath the Empire State building, this vault hid speakers and noise makers in the
floors, walls, and various other places throughout the vault in order to convince the dwellers the
vault was haunted. It was the overseer's job to convince people the ghosts were in fact real,
given a cover story by Vault-Tec of accidents during construction of the vault that lead to a few
fatalities. Eventually however, a vault engineer found one of the speakers, but when he
attempted to tell the others, they killed him thinking he was possessed.

Following this they attempted to leave the vault, and killed the overseer when they tried to stop
them thinking they were possessed too. In the end vault 45 was abandoned, its survivors
banded together to form the Specters raider gang, and still to this day they assume the ghosts
still stalk them, as for the vault itself it now serves as a den for a pack of feral ghouls.

37: Constructed in the basement of the American Museum of Natural History, vault 37 is a large
vault with multiple overseers (5 in total), who were instructed to organize their vaults like a
medieval kingdom, with themselves and their families as monarchs, their dwellers placed into a
feudal caste system, and the security as their loyal knights, furthermore the vault was lightly
supplied in order to encourage conflict. Instead the noble houses began engaging in trade
among themselves, in particular House Bell gained control of the vault door, and they began
trading with the outside, making them very wealthy and powerful.

However this also meant the other houses began conspiring against them, covetous of House
Bell’s wealth, but this plan was halted in 2250 when Carter, the head of House Fisher
discovered plans from House O’conner to assassinate him, as well as the heads of the other
houses, this started the War of the 5 Houses, a joint effort amongst the other 4 houses to
destroy House O’conner, despite being outnumbered house O’conner’s advanced spy network
enabled them to hold out for 5 years before their last holdouts were crushed and their head of
house Kayden O’conner was executed.

As House O’conner’s spoils were being divided amongst the victors, the head of House Bell
Queen Diane Bell realized that once all was said and done the other houses would resume their
plans to go after her, so in 2256 she took her teenage son Richard and all of her followers out of
the vault. It didn’t take long for the other houses to investigate the sudden disappearance of
House Bell, which is when Diane revealed her trump card, the various reactors of the vault had
been rigged to overload by her own conspirators. As soon as this was discovered, House
Fisher, House Parker, and House Garret all fought to reach the vault exit first. In the end House
Fisher emerged victorious and departed into the wasteland, never realizing Diane Bell’s parting
message was an elaborate ruse meant to make the remaining houses destroy each other.
Nowadays vault 37 is used as a base of operations for the Stone Lion Soldiers.

14: Constructed below Ellis Island, vault 14’s experiment was to house dwellers of various
ethnicities under a deeply racist overseer. This experiment only lasted for 20 years before the
dwellers revolted and overthrew the overseer, today they remain in the vault and have built a
functional society, readily trading with outsiders but also maintaining strict isolation policies.
Creatures

Rad-pigeon
Pre-war NYC was full of pigeons, who would nest on various skyscrapers and within central
park, during those times they were seen as harmless creatures that you would throw bread
crumbs to when seated on a park bench, in the wasteland pigeons are very different creatures.
Radiation caused them to triple in size, and also heightened their aggression, making them one
of the most feared creatures in the Empire Wasteland, they still roost on buildings and in trees
as they did pre-war, but now they swoop down like eagles to catch and kill anything they can
overpower, including humans.
Level 5 normal creature (38 XP)

BODY MIND MELEE GUNS OTHER

6 5 3 — 2
HP INITIATIVE DEFENSE
9 11 3
PHYS. DR ENERGY DR RAD. DR POISON DR
0 0 Immune 0
ATTACKS
Beak: BODY + Melee (TN 9),
2 DC Physical damage
Talons: BODY + Melee (TN 9)
3 DC Physical damage
SPECIAL ABILITIES
IMMUNE TO RADIATION: The rad-pigeon reduces
all Radiation damage suffered to 0 and cannot
suffer any damage or effects from radiation.
LITTLE: The rad-pigeon is smaller than most
characters. The creature’s normal HP is reduced
to Body + ½ level (rounded up), but its Defense
is increased by 1. Further, it is slain by any hit
which inflicts an Injury.
FLYING: The rad-pigeon can move freely through
the air. It can ignore most ground-level obstacles
and difficult terrain effects, and they can move
through “empty” zones above the battlefield if
desired. It must spend at least one minor action
each turn moving, and if it is knocked prone it
falls to the ground, suffering 3 DC Stun physical
damage, +2 DC for each zone above ground
level it was before it fell.
DIVE-BOMB: If a rad-pigeon moves into Reach and
makes a melee attack in the same turn, it may
re-roll 1d20 on the attack. After the attack, it may
spend 1 AP to move one zone.
INVENTORY
BUTCHERY: Scavengers can butcher a dead
rad-pigeon with a successful END + Survival test
with a difficulty of 0. This yields 1 DC portions of
rad-pigeon meat, if an effect is rolled, a rad-pigeon egg can be found.

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