23 April 2026

FALLOUT: Hawaii - locations and maps


More interesting fan notes (not mine!) for Fallout: Hawaii / Aloha Islands - appeals to me having explored many of these spots while living here. 

After all, who doesn't want to play in a radioactive tropical paradise overrun by giant mutated bats, cats, chameleons, pigs, and chickens? 

The "Aloha Islands" from the unofficial Fallout:Hawaii project

And as one adventures around the islands, listen to the news and great tunes on:


"Chubby Dave is the only DJ at the helm of Pearl City Radio. A man with literally no enemies. Even raiders would never kill him because then there would be no more music. He gets by on fishing and donations from Pearl City citizens and lives in a makeshift hut, which incidentally is also the broadcasting station. A small cabin with an incredibly long antenna sticking out of it."

More deets here:

https://fallout-gravel-pit.fandom.com/wiki/Aloha_Islands


Fabulous work. I would also include:

  • mutated chickens as the equivalent of molerats
  • explorable underwater resorts (or an underwater vault?)
    • thematically like Rapture from Bioshock, but with a 1960s vibe
    • Marine versions of Power Armour for Underwater exploring?
  • make more could be made of the active volcanoes
    • Cult of Pele the Hawaiian volcano goddess
  • Sea Monsters including mutated sharks (and turtles?) are a must! 
    • Slowpoke, the giant ancient ghoulified snapping turtle as a "good" contact. His lair is a massive cave system in a hidden clearing on the island.
  • Ala Moana shopping centre as a Diamond City style trading hub?
  • A spiderweb of post-apoc tunnel systems under the mountains would be sweet
  • Hawaii loves SPAM so this needs a CRAM factory with CRAM Musubi side quests. 
    • Make this a cult with the annual CRAM festival - this is a thing IRL!
  • Off coast crashed Chinese spy ships/US subs with remnant ghouls. 
    • One repurposed into a villain/raider lair
  • Easter egg side quests like the Magnum PI bar and home
  • What if there were experiments to make REAL dinosaurs in Kualoa Ranch (where they filmed Jurassic Park...) 
  • Tiki Bars with 200 year old sushi and different cocktail recipes for the Bar-robot "Drinking Buddy"
  • Shinto shrine in the Mountains with crazed monks
  • Sentient mutated whale?
  • Surfing Super Mutants whose lair is along the classic Northshore surfing spots (Bonzai pipeline)
  • Sidequest for a Legendary ghoul surfer crew (wearing Hawiian shirts of course) who are way laid back and hold island secrets that they only tell if they deem you worthy (by completing their quest).
  • Pineapple flavoured Nuka-Cola
  • A resort on the Eastern side (like Turtle Bay) that is intact and pristine (bar the skeletons laying on sunning chairs. The robots upkeep the place very well and treat you like a guest long as you behave But if you try to leave without paying your bill they activate the Legion of security bots that have been keeping the riff raff out all these years
  • An Island of Deathclaws guarding a secret base
  • A faction sticking to the traditions of King Kamehameha and trying to unite all of the islands.
  • The Oahu Dole plantation is filled with Mutated Carnivorous pineapples plants!


Yeah, I've clearly been overthinking this one :-)

Would make a great setting for "Gamma World" too!


And another laydown of potential sites from another fan - some intresting ideas here

Map from the "Fallout: Paradise" project (also seemingly abandoned)

Vault 20 (Maui)

The Vault 20 Resort was more than some cold steel tomb. It was a marvel of ingenuity! It was a testament to the idea that the American way of life could not only survive the bombs, but flourish. 

It served as a sort of giant advertisement for the other vaults. An idyllic beachside resort on top, and a mechanical marvel in the depths below.

Inside vault 20 every whim was cared for. The dwellers could desire for nothing, for all was given freely. There was no overseer. Instead, a ZAX mainframe named Akua managed the vast army of food replicators and Mr.Handy robots. All this was supplied via a deal with RobCo Pacific. 

The residents were supplied with holographic video games, delicious food, digitally simulated beaches, and even plentiful drugs. Not to mention the debauchery between the original wealthy male and female dwellers. 

Of course, this doubled as an experiment to how Humans react to ultimate pleasure at the cost of authority and the outside world. 

The first two generations of dwellers spent their days thanking the gods of vault tec for their existence. Yet, as it turns out, Humans are not built simply to consume. The third generation formed an idealized cult of the “real world” and tried to stage an uprising to open the vault doors.

This was the one pleasure overseer Akua could not allow. They began to hate the machine and dismantle his robot helpers. Then they came to despise all technology, seeing it as something that degrades the soul and leaves one as a shell of their potential. 

When things turned violent, It was long and brutal but the dwellers prevailed. One of their leaders was a wacky woman named Irene. She had re-interpreted Hubologist texts from the vault database. Then she adapted them to their circumstances.

They stepped out into the world as a Luddite cult (inspired by a very bad misreading of “nature” even though they had never seen it.)

Meanwhile, a group of ghoul surfers had taken up camp in the resort. The two groups merged and the Tideripper collective was slowly born. 

"Abandoned Hawaii" by Sebastian Wagner
https://www.deviantart.com/sebastianwagner/art/Abandoned-Hawaii-464485965 


Waikiki in the movie  "Godzilla" (2014)




And just to get the Hawaii post-apoc vibe going take a look at this short film



22 April 2026

FALLOUT: Hawaii - Concept art

The Radiant beaches of Hawaii...

"A rare photograph of the nuclear devastation of Honolulu,
taken from Moloka'i beach on the 23rd of October 2077 at 06:21 am"

Concept art from the www for a lapsed dev project in one of my favourite franchises. Really appeals to me as I pass many of these landmarks weekly if not daily. Pity that development appears to have stalled a year or two ago.



USS MISSOURI museum ship, Clarke Island (reminds me of Rivet City from Fallout 3)

Pearl Harbour - echoes of Libertalia from Fallout 4



Iolani Palace


A Vault entrance by the ocean

China Town







Honolulu Zoo, under Diamond Head crater


Mutant sharks!!!

Mutant boars

Postcard by "Rezllen" on Twitter
https://x.com/Rezllen/status/1808304700636516786?s=20


War Never Changes....

18 April 2026

A return visit to the USNWC

Another week away for work - this time back to my alma mater: the US Navy War College in Newport, Rhode Island. It was my first time back since graduating as a foreign student, 11 years ago!

Display of original models and floor tiles from the development of "War Plan Orange"

So many great things associated with the College but in particular it has led professional wargaming in the US Navy since 1863.  Part of that tradition is the development of the famous "Fletcher Pratt" wargaming rules, and it was the location where the Rainbow War Plans were gamed out, including the ultimately war winning War Plan Orange in WW2.

Wonderful to visit and spend time in this facility. 

I'm privileged to be a proud alumnus.




28 March 2026

Another Glorious Day in the Corps!

"Watch those corners.."

A trip to Canberra this week saw me catch up with buddy Dave and his gaming cadré who, after lunch at a favourite brewery, kindly hosted me to a game of GF9's Another Glorious Day in the Corps! Wonderfully themed to the epic movie "Aliens", this is a co-op survival game in the tradition of Space Hulk and I had a total blast!

"Lets Rock!!!!"

With the movie soundtrack in the background and near constant movie quotes around the table it was a wonderfully intense and focusing game. I played Private Frost with an M240 incinerator unit and my goodness it was effective! You gotta get up close and personal with it but when you do you can really burn away those Alien drones. And when you do, its waaaaay better than "using Harsh Language". All the characters have different skills and traits, reflecting their specialties.

"Man, I'm telling you, I got a bad feeling about this drop"

Our Mission was to find Newt and of course she was at the far end of the Hadley's Hope complex which made it a really tough mission. Even better, the gaming group also play RPGs together so they quickly got well into character for a wonderfully immersive and narrative experience.

Hudson on the firing line: "Come on and die you bastards! You too! Oh, you want some of this?"

The escalating game system made for growing intensity and complexity, which was fabulous. The game's group resource management through a shared card deck is particularly clever and while it seems simple enough, as the game progresses it become clear that managing it together is vital. As a result, Lt Gorman's leadership skills and collaboration between the characters brings a real feeling of small unit teamwork. 

"lay down a suppressing fire with the incinerators and fall back by squads"

It also generated a real group dilemma of trying to build unit speed and momentum to achieve the mission, vs resting to regenerate the card deck to enable firing and other actions. Great mechanic that needs to be dynamically balanced across the game.

"I guess she don't like the corn bread either"


Fabulous game for one of my all time favourite movies- can't believe I haven't played it before, and even better with some beautifully painted models.

Covering Ripley collecting Newt, Cpl Hicks makes the ultimate sacrifice with a grenade (Gorman style) to clear a path for the ladies behind him.
Colonial Marines Silver Star awarded posthumously


But untimely, it didn't end well for our heroes...

Thanks indeed to Dave, Tom, Scott and Charles for the great hospitality, great game and awesome company. Unit next time gents!


https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/256852/aliens-another-glorious-day-in-the-corps