Van Buren PnP

Van Buren PnP or also called Avellone's PnP Game, was a pen and paper role-playing game (or even two games) created by Black Isle Studios to test the first iteration of rules for Van Buren (Black Isle's cancelled Fallout 3 project).

History & Development
The game was first mentioned on November 14, 2013, by Chris Avellone who posted a photo of skill cards and dice and explained that those were "from the two Fallout PNP games at Interplay" not related to J.E. Sawyer's Fallout RPG. On January 1, 2014, the team of RPGCodex posted more images of skill cards as well as explanation provided by Chris Avellone on how the system actually used to work.

Little is known about the actual rules of Van Buren PnP. The game used dice and a specially designed set of playing cards featuring Vault Boy. The First Aid and Doctor cards represented how many times per session the player could use the respective skill depending on his/her skill level. The Pip Points were somehow similar to experience points: they were gained through role-playing and participation. The player could use them to re-roll a die if needed during the game session.

Stages & Versioning of Van Buren
Van Buren had gone through multiple phases of development throughout its life cycle

Story
Taking place in the American Rocky Mountains and Southwest regions, Van Buren would be situated across four states. The westernmost sites on the game map served as the easternmost borders of New California Republic. According to the design documents, it would have been set in the year 2253. The first inception (First Stage) of Van Buren was its PnP campaign that Avellone made when he wanted to playtest the story and world before that started making the game. Here a lot of elements were fleshed out, but the main story was vastly different compared to the later adaptions. It was here Caesars Legion played a bigger role in the story. Also, Victor Presper was called Matthew Presper, a scientist from the pre-war era who was frozen in a cryo-chamber, only to awaken into the post-apocalyptic world. Tibbets was actually Leavenworth Prison – located in the actual spot of the real Leavenworth Prison which is all the way in Kansas. Big Empty still existed as well and even elements of the Twin Mother was around but incepted as a raider gang at first. Even more so story elements that his players performed were saved, such as a group of PC prisoners escaping on a train and ramming through a Legion Camp in Circle Junction. And of course, Ulysses was present as well (The AI).

Weapons
[Still Under Construction]

Items
[Still Under Construction]

Maps/ Locations
Van Buren had gone through multiple phases of development throughout its life cycle

Non-Playable Characters (NPC)
The game would have begun with the player character in a prison cell. Because of this, the player was given a choice.

Gallery
Van Buren had gone through multiple phases of development throughout its life cycle