Fallout is one of those big franchises which has a divided in the middle. Aside from a few ill-fated releases, there's a big gap between where Fallout 2 ended and where Fallout 3 began. It's a gulf divided by mechanics, writing and direction, but unlike Mario or Legend of Zelda, the years absent of major hits created more of a barrier. As such, it's closer to Shadowrun or Starcraft in terms of how its fandom treats it. Ironically, there's also a link which connects it to both of those franchises. One which many fans rarely ever bring up.
Most people generally know that Starcraft was heavily inspired by Warhammer 40,000. Without getting into the whole can of worms surrounding it, or the issue of arguing "rip off!" you can clearly see the links between the factions and initial ideas. In much the same way that series had its origins spring forth from another franchise, Fallout's origins are intrinsically tied to Shadowrun's past. Its distant past, in more ways than one. You see, Shadowrun was planned as merely one half of a broader, one set in the cyberpunk future of 90s inspired technologies. There was another one, set chronologically long before it, which took place in a previous world of swords and sorcery: Earthdawn.
While Earthdawn sadly never gained quite the reputation that benefitted Shadowrun, it was built around the George RR Martin school of breaking with conventions. In this case, almost everything that Tolkein had set up or Gygax had used as inspiration was broken in an instant. Dwarves, not humans, ran the world, everyone is a spellcaster, the "gods" are insane beings called Passions and are hardly omnipotent, and you can ditch everything you know about Elves. Yet the one thing which linked Earthdawn and Shadowrun was the cosmic horror threat which loomed over it - the Horrors. While they have been staved off from Shadowrun for a time, in Earthdawn they hit in full force.
As the barriers holding out the Horrors grew thin with the rise of magic, the denizens of the world formed vast underground cities called kaers to ward off the creatures and hide throughout the centuries. Many were lost over the ages, watching and waiting for the "Scourge" of these Horrors to end and be driven away. Yet as magic diminished, it did not wholly dissipate as desired. This left the survivors attempting to rebuild their world and reclaim it among the hostile wastelands left behind by the Horrors, and the abominations created by the event.
You might already be seeing the links here. If you do not then let's outline it:
A nation of a once powerful world hid its citizens away in underground shelters, hiding them from a great apocalyptic disaster. Many of these failed, with their populations dying out and being lost to time, each overrun by nightmarish beings but holding artifacts of a lost age within them. The survivors are left to pick up the pieces with whatever was left, reclaiming the land they barely recognise, and pilfering the ruins for valuables. This reaches a point where each becomes its own warring nation, and they end up fighting for supremacy as they expand.
Normally this is where this would be left to coincidence and that's it, but here's the really fun part in all of this. Earthdawn was made in 1993, a full four years before Fallout hit shelves. Yet, more importantly, was the fact that Brian Fargo had three properties he wanted to work on as the head of Interplay: One was GURPS, the other Vampire: The Masquerade, and the third? Earthdawn.
This isn't being brought up to declare one a rip-off or even just that Fallout owes Earthdawn something somehow. It's merely there to show how the general skeleton and framework of an idea can be twisted and changed by theme, convention, and genre into something notably different. It needs the right person behind it, but even heavy influence is sometimes not a terrible thing.
Well, there's that and you can take this as a message to look much more closely into Earthdawn.
No comments:
Post a Comment