The RPG Origins of Fallout - Part 3: Exodus

We covered the influence of Mercenaries, Spies, and Private Eyes on Wasteland and then later GURPS on Fallout, two examples of just how influential the tabletop role-playing game industry had on computer games. But it was perhaps inevitable that Fallout -- which was already tabletop friendly with its GURPS-inspired SPECIAL system -- would attempt to transition back into the tabletop format that spawned it. The path back to Fallout's tabletop roots was fraught with more peril than a pack of deathclaws.

[h=3]Interplay Tries to Play Nice[/h]The struggles to create a Fallout tabletop game were a casualty of a larger battle between two video game companies. To trace the path of how Glutton Creeper Games (GCG) gained and then lost the rights to make the role-playing game, we must first begin with the state of the Fallout franchise.

In the second article the Fallout franchise was released to critical acclaim. Despite the game franchise's success, Interplay's debts were piling up. To stave off its creditors, the company went public. That bought Interplay three years before its finances were once again dire. This time, founder Brian Fargo sold the company, with dire consequences for Fallout, who promptly fired the development team and auctioned off the rights:

The auction took place in June 2004. One of the hot “goods” available were the rights to develop three installments set in the universe of Fallout. The offer attracted fewer buyers than you would expect and eventually ended up in the hands of… Bethesda Softworks. Basking in the success of their latest game, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Bethesda decided to make use of the good climate it created and expand their market. In less than a month since formalities were dealt with, they announced that the Fallout 3 will be developed as a Bethesda project. The Exclusive License Agreement that was signed as a part of the deal allowed them to develop two more games, although the rights to Fallout brand as such remained with Interplay. That would be ok, if not for one thing. On the 30th of November 2006, a single day after filing for bankruptcy, Interplay announced a new Fallout MMO in development (the compelling success of World of Warcraft may have had something to do with it). To gather the funds necessary for its development, Interplay resorted once more to selling its intellectual property. This time the deal included not just a limited license usage but the complete rights to the Fallout franchise.

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The second round went to Bethesda as well for a mere 6 million dollars.
[h=3]The Creeper Arrives[/h]During this time, Glutton Creeper Games (GCG) negotiated a deal with Interplay to create a Fallout role-playing game supplement using the D20 Modern Open Game License. It was to include the Player's Guide, Campaign Guide, and Organization Companion Guide. GCG was unwillingly drawn into Interplay's deal with Bethesda. The deal was concluded on April 2007 with some strict requirements:

...the development of this game is to begin no later than the 4th April of 2009, it is to be developed exclusively for PC, it has to be built around microtransactions or the subscription model and finally, the developers will have to gather 30 million dollars necessary for making the game by themselves and are obliged to return 12% from the revenue to Bethesda. Unless all of these conditions are met, the Fallout MMO would become Bethesda property. Seems harsh but at least it’s clear, right? Right, except the new owners of Fallout most likely knew that Interplay has almost no chance of making that happen.

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With that deal signed, Bethesda moved quickly to squash GCG's claim one month later:

ZeniMax Media/Bethesda has threatened to file an injunction against GCG for damages, should we not cease and deist production of Fallout PnP d20 products. They are stating that Interplay never had the rights to license a Pen and Paper to GCG under their license of Fallout from 2004 before the purchase of the IP, and makes claims against GCG that it may damage the Fallout brand and forecoming Fallout 3 release by linking the two. So for now, we have removed the page, until a resolution is met.

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Bethesda attempted to attach itself to the lawsuit but was dismissed. By May 2008, GCG had given up:

Our lawyers has final contacted us with good news after a year. Our breech of contract dispute with Interplay has been approved and we our first court date in August. We have no future plans to pursue the Fallout license, and will continue with our Post-Apocalyptic title Exodus, which has been describe to us as an awesome parody of real life events current and past, and using great sources from the Post-Apocalyptic genre to parody. After all Exodus is a Post Apocalyptic Comedy.

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Glutton and Interplay settled out of court in April 2009 for an undisclosed amount. Later:

Glutton Creeper sought judgement against Interplay for failure to meet the terms of the settlement agreement between the two companies. Interplay breached the first part of the terms in May 2010 by failing to comply with those terms. The second part of the terms to remain in effect until December 2012 became null. On March 2013 GCG won a judgment claim against Interplay. Interplay has stated they will appeal but they failed to file an appeal within the set timeframe. As of September 2013 Interplay has failed to pay the adjusted judgment.

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Eventually, GCG decided to launch the game without the Fallout branding -- first as Wasteland and then later as Exodus. It seems Interplay never paid the judgment to GCG.
[h=3]Mass Exodus[/h]By most accounts, Exodus did not live up to Fallout's reputation. The background information that was released contained numerous discrepancies from established Fallout canon, which can be read here. The game that was released had several challenges, complicated by the efforts to remove the Fallout brand from the final product:

If you couldn't guess, Exodus: Post-Apocalyptic Roleplaying is an exercise in just how much you can get away with treading the line, and somehow it manages to succeed. Rather than undergoing a metamorphosis from a caterpillar into a butterfly during Glutton Creeper's loss of the Fallout license, what instead happened was that the caterpillar glued on some cardboard wings and donned a mask with "NOT A CATERPILLAR" crudely scrawled on it in crayon. I almost dissuaded myself from reviewing Exodus about a year back because I wasn't sure there was enough material to have any words beyond that it was a mediocre d20 Modern setting book with some odd rules choices, but then I reread it and it hit me that there is such a low effort to mask what the product once was that there is even a prestige class to replicate a single unique Fallout NPC! Hell, there are even some things that are straight up still using Fallout names.

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It seems Exodus ended up being an awkward attempt to graft the GURPS system -- filtered through the SPECIAL system -- back onto the D20 system.
[h=3]Whatever Happened to Interplay?[/h]With a deadline of just two years, Interplay was under the gun to produce a playable game. Interplay did manage to secure funding with Interactive Game Group for their MMO, and announced it on April 2, 2009 -- two days before the deadline. When Interplay failed to meet Bethesda's deadline, the company's response was swift:

...on the 15th of April a suit was filed accusing the other party with a breach of contract. At first, the court dismissed the claim but it was considered eventually - the third time it was filed. That 2011 claim pointed at the fact that the plot of Fallout MMO may cause discrepancies with the setting of the upcoming Fallout 4 and it turned out to be enough to make the judges reconsider. The legal proceedings were to determine three main issues concerning the case: the legal status of the TLA and the APA, discerning the possible breach of contract and the current ownership of rights to the Fallout franchise. For the duration of proceedings the development of the Fallout MMO was to be suspended since the game was the source of the issue. For that reason, the 23rd of September 2011 may well be officially announced as the day the Fallout MMO ceased to exist...Interplay was granted 2 million dollar compensation and the right to sell the Fallout games they created earlier until the end of 2013 but it was simultaneously stripped of its rights to the Fallout franchise and banned from developing any games that may infringe Bethesda’s copyright.

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[h=3]The Fallout Threat?[/h]Was the Fallout RPG ever a serious threat to the Fallout franchise? It seems unlikely, but unfortunately the licenses for both the MMO and the RPG were grouped together in Bethesda's efforts to purge the competition. And that's why, after all these years and despite Fallout being based on a tabletop RPG itself, there still isn't an officially-branded RPG. Until then, we'll have to make do with unofficial adaptations for a variety of systems.

Mike "Talien" Tresca is a freelance game columnist, author, and communicator. You can follow him at Patreon.