The first thing you need to know is this will not be a Let's Play. I'm not asking for help making decisions or leveling choices. I'm going to play the game and write it out, leaving it open to feedback and constructive criticism. If enough people like it, I may decide to do a LP at a later date, but given the alarming lack of responses the first go around, I'm kind of nervous about trying that.
That being said, I'm going to be doing a challenge playthrough. For those of you not familiar with video games, this means I'm imposing rules on myself that the game itself does not set to make it harder for me to play. So here are my rules.
PREMISE
This is going to be a realistic play. Everything I do will be to make the game as much like real life as possible. More than that, I will also be playing as if I were (a slightly modified version of) myself. More than that though, I want to create an experience that immerses not only myself, but my readers.
When playing a video game, people tend to have a level of emotional detachment from what's occurring. This is what allows gamers to go on psychotic killing sprees or to steal prized possessions without remorse. As I write this out, I want to break that trend and make you feel for my character. To that end, not only will I be detailing a perspective of occurring events, I will also be taking some creative license with the dialogue and the past of this character.
Now let's get down to the good stuff.
RULES
1. Hardcore Mode & Difficulty
- Hardcore mode will be on for this run. For those of you unfamiliar with the title, this means I will have to sleep, eat, and hydrate regularly lest I suffer negative consequences - up to and including death. All of my ammo will also have a weight, while in normal mode ammo is weightless. While I normally play on a Very Hard difficulty, I will only be playing on Hard for this run due to the challenging rules set in place.
2. Armor
- The only armor I am allowed to have in my inventory is the armor I am currently wearing, excluding glasses and goggles.
3. Weapons
- I may only carry one rifle, one pistol, one sidearm (SMGs, sawed-off shotguns, etc), and only two thrown weapons (grenades, mines, etc). Two period, not two of each. I will also be permitted to carry either one knife or one holdout weapon (small pistols, etc. that you can sneak into places that normally do not allow weapons, but do considerably less damage). Improved holdout weapons will count as a sidearm, so I may not carry two of them. I will not be using large weapons (anything weighing more 12 lbs).
4. Healing Items & Chems
- I may only carry 20 healing items and chems total at any given time (stimpacks, healing powder, Mentats, etc). Doctor's Bags are included.
5. Food & Drink
- I am allowed to carry up to 5 bottles of water and 2 Sunset Sarsaparilla or Nuka Colas, to total 7 drinks. I may carry up to 10 of any food item. I am allowed to pick up other food/drink items past this limit if I consume them immediately.
6. Ammo
- I am not a walking armory. I may carry up to 1000 bullets of any ammo type at any given time.
7. Currency
- The standard in-game currency is bottle caps. I will be allowed to carry a maximum of 2000 bottle caps. I may only carry the same equivalent in NCR/Legion currency.
While pre-war money is not a formal in-game currency, many players (including myself) use it as such. It is technically a weightless item and in F:NV, there is no base cap value, instead being directly affected by the player's Barter skill. Appearing as "stacks" of bills in the game, they are wrapped with a blue strap, which is the American Bank Association standard color for a quantity of one hundred $1 bills. Given that the add-on Dead Money exchanges these at a rate of 1:1 (one casino chip for one stack of cash) and their relatively high value with merchants in the game, I will only allow myself to carry 50 of the item at any given time (safely assuming $500 cash).
I may not carry poker chips outside of their respective casinos.
8. Companions
- Many players will sometimes use companions to skirt challenge rules by allowing them to do things the player character can not. That's cheating, you morons. All companions will follow the same rules as I must, excluding the requirement to eat/sleep. There are two exceptions to this rule.
Rex, a cyberdog, will not be allowed to carry any items. He's a dog, not a mule.
ED-E, a robot, will be allowed to carry one of each type of weapon and a single set of armor, since he can not actually equip them.
I will also be implementing permanent death. Normally in F:NV, if a companion character loses their health, they are knocked unconscious until the fight is over and then get back up to do it all over again. If at any time my companions are knocked out, I will act as if they have died and they will be dismissed. If ED-E dies, I will not play through the add-on Lonesome Road, as he is required to progress through it.
You may click here to read the RP.
