The Origins of Fallout, Part One

No Mutants Allowed is offering the first of what promises to be a very expansive article in which Fallout 1’s first lead designer R. Scott Campbell shares his memories of joining Interplay, the start of the GURPS project, and the genesis of Fallout. The first part is mostly about his start at Interplay and the very beginnings of GURPS, but he also shares some glimpses into other Interplay projects, such as the Bard’s Tale construction set and Interplay’s 10 year anthology release.

When Interplay approached Steve Jackson Games for GURPS, they were extremely skeptical. They were told of the long line of great RPGs that Interplay had made. No response. They were told that they would have creative control over the game. Still no response. Then they were told the up-front license money they would be getting. Suddenly, there was a response.

With GURPS given a green light, Tim assembled a team, and (because SimEarth was just canned) chose me as the Lead Designer. It was a bit of a rocky start, as much finagling was needed to secure people for the team from other projects.

Once the contract was signed, Steve Jackson came to the studios for a meet and greet with the team. I remember him being extremely cool with our overall ideas about handling the game. One pointed question was, (What do you think about blood and violence in the game?) With a smirk and a wave of his hand, he answered, (The more the better!)

Words that would eventually come to haunt us.