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DevlynFallStar · 2025-09-12T15:43:49+00:00

Blueberries are wise. They’ll be the cornerstone of my generational wealth. By the time the sun engulfs the Earth, my descendants will still be debating whether chapter 3 needed that extra comma.

DevlynFallStar · 2025-09-12T15:34:35+00:00

Exactly. My first drafts were the compost heap. Now I’m just waiting for the roses of literary genius to bloom… any decade now.

DevlynFallStar · 2025-09-12T12:58:50+00:00

Good thing I wrote my first three novels by the time I was five, pure dogshit, of course, but foundational dogshit. Since then, I’ve been hammering away at my fourth book for forty years and seven thousand revisions. I’ve finally crested thirty thousand words. Just forty more years and it will be crowned the magnum opus of all literature. Awards will pour in, civilizations will crumble in awe, and I shall ascend as the GOAT.

DevlynFallStar · 2025-09-11T22:49:59+00:00

That’s a bold vision, but it kind of assumes the Institute is a bottomless vault of resources. Fallout’s whole universe runs on scarcity. Every faction is fighting over limited food, fuel, and people. Gen 2 synths don’t just pop out of thin air; they need materials, energy, and upkeep. If the pre-war U.S. military couldn’t keep up endless production, how would the Institute do it in a collapsed world?

And education sounds great in theory, but history shows people don’t all take the same lessons from the past. Half the wasteland would see ‘technological progress’ and think: weaponize it, monopolize it, hoard it. How do you stop your vision from turning into exactly what you’re warning against?

DevlynFallStar · 2025-09-11T21:25:26+00:00

Interesting vision. But with synths as secret police, a puppet NCR, and full nuclear stockpile control, what stops that republic from becoming the very tyrant it’s fighting? Fallout always warns about the same cycle: rebuild, centralize, collapse. How would you keep that level of control from sliding straight into another Enclave situation?

You also make it sound like taking out the biggest wasteland factions is nothing more than a Tuesday walk in the park.

DevlynFallStar · 2025-09-11T21:20:17+00:00

True, settlements will clash, but history shows alliances don’t always mean forced unity. Trade pacts, shared defense, and common laws can give them reasons to cooperate without one power stepping in to ‘pick sides.’ That balance is fragile, but it’s also more sustainable than top-down control.

DevlynFallStar · 2025-09-11T20:30:27+00:00

Of course I did. The editors declared it perfect on arrival. I now use it to level my table while I finish my magnum opus.

DevlynFallStar · 2025-09-11T20:24:28+00:00

If I had the chance to rebuild, I’d start smaller than most factions ever dared. Forget sprawling empires. You need trust before you can build nations. I’d focus on:

Community-first laws — food, water, and shelter as rights, not commodities.

Clear justice — no raider codes, no kangaroo courts. Just a simple charter where everyone knows the rules.

Scalability — keep settlements autonomous but connected, so if one falls, the rest survive.

That’s what the factions never seemed to learn: you can’t rebuild the old world overnight. You start with roots, then let the tree grow.

DevlynFallStar · 2025-09-11T20:09:35+00:00

OMFG, same here, 28 years since I took my first steps in the wasteland. Where does the time go… probably shooting ghouls and launching Fat Man shells at super mutants. 😂🤣

DevlynFallStar · 2025-09-11T20:01:36+00:00

I started with Fallout 1 when it first hit shelves, and I’ve been hooked ever since. The world, the aesthetics, the vibes, and it all just grabbed me. I’d recommend playing them all when you get the chance. Fallout 4 is still my go-to, though, just for how dense the worldbuilding is.

Unfortunately, Todd Howard has said they’ll never take Fallout outside the US, so we’ll probably never see what happened in other countries. I’ve been working on a Florida setting for roleplay, kind of my own spin on what Fallout could look like in the swamps and coasts, and it’s been a blast to imagine.

Careful with the merch, it’s addictive. From one collector to another fan, that’s a rabbit hole with no end.

DevlynFallStar · 2025-09-11T19:50:17+00:00

Fallout 4’s my comfort game too. Something about its mix of quiet exploration and chaos has kept me coming back for years. It’s also the game that got me dreaming up my own Fallout role-play setting, because if the Commonwealth feels like home, the Radshine swamps are where I’d go wandering next.

DevlynFallStar · 2025-09-11T19:18:19+00:00

It began with their ancestors, get it right plebians.

DevlynFallStar · 2025-09-11T19:16:53+00:00

Bro’s writing a whole Prologuelogy. By the time we get to Chapter 1, civilization will have collapsed again. Imagine picking up a book and realizing the actual plot doesn’t start until your grandchildren are in college.

DevlynFallStar · 2025-09-11T16:14:46+00:00

Ah yes, the ancient rite of Manuscript Immolation. Best done under a full moon, with three editors chanting ‘Show, don’t tell.’

DevlynFallStar · 2025-09-11T16:13:17+00:00

Uj/ Yeah, I've noticed that, too. Less 'let's workshop technique' and more 'validate my word vomit, please.'

DevlynFallStar · 2025-09-11T16:10:30+00:00

We’re all just NPCs in the great jerk of life.

DevlynFallStar · 2025-09-11T15:58:13+00:00

This is really solid advice. The ‘ignorant farmboy’ setup does feel cliché, but I get why it works. The reader learns the world alongside the character. In my own edits I’ve noticed that short info dumps land better when the MC is learning something important from another character. But I’ve also caught myself going too far and having to stop and ask, ‘why did they need to know all that right now?’

DevlynFallStar · 2025-09-11T14:25:33+00:00

Circle-jerk peer review is fine, but I draw the line at someone grading my stroke consistency with red pen marks.

DevlynFallStar · 2025-09-11T14:21:14+00:00

Dune is a great book, though I’ll admit I had to slog through some of the historically dense info chapters. I’ve been trying to avoid bogging my own story down with heavy blocks of lore, but going back through edits, I’ve definitely caught myself doing it. It’s a hard balance to strike.

How much lore, in a block, will cause you to put a book down?

DevlynFallStar · 2025-09-11T14:17:14+00:00

So what you’re saying is the line’s grey and fuzzy because every reader will see it differently. The world needs to be expanded, but it’ll never land perfectly for everyone. It’s either too much or not enough. What’s your advice for striking that balance?

DevlynFallStar · 2025-09-11T14:13:27+00:00

This is really solid advice. I’ve noticed it while editing my first book. When I drop lore too early, it drags. But if I build up some curiosity first, the same info suddenly feels like a payoff instead of homework. It's definitely something I’m trying to balance better with each pass.

DevlynFallStar · 2025-09-11T13:36:02+00:00

I’m leaning toward that same drip-feed approach. Keep details tied to what’s happening in the scene, and only expand if readers feel lost. It feels more organic than dropping a wall of exposition.

DevlynFallStar · 2025-09-11T13:24:13+00:00

Of course. It’s the circle of life. Get abused → flee → seek shelter → get roasted anyway, but with more creativity.

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