Ken Newquist

Surviving Fallout 4

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A power suited warrior explores a radioactive wasteland. A second warrior appears off to the right.

I played Fallout 4, beat the main quest, and had a pretty good time doing it. Then I went back and tried the hardcore “Survival Mode” … and had a frustratingly awesome time,.

Like the other games in the franchise, Fallout 4 takes place in a nuclear wasteland centuries after a massive war on an alternate Earth whose design aesthetic is stuck in the Atomic Age. This time around the wasteland is Boston and its environs, and you’re playing a vault dweller who’d been in cryogenic sleep for centuries.

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Prologue 031: Stairs to Nowhere

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A stone staircase leads to a forested hill.

One of the great things about living in Easton, Pa. is the history. The area has been settled for centuries, so there’s all these great bits of history lying around, like old staircases that once ascended the hills surrounding College Hill.

Prologue 030: Tanglewood

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Two street signs and a stop sign appear against a background of green-leafed trees.

My morning walk takes me up to the forested heights of College Hill in Easton, Pa. It’s approximately a 2.5 mile loop consisting of .5 mile stretches of road broken up by switchbacks.

Prologue 029: Morning Walk

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Rain clouds overhead, dark trees barely illuminated in the morning light. A street lamp glows to the right.

Now that spring is here and the sun is rising earlier, my dog Indiana and I are back to our morning walks. This morning was a particularly cold and rainy one; the roads were wet as we headed out but fortunately the rain itself was little more than a mist.

Prologue 028: Back to the ‘Pigs

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A minor league baseball park at sunset. The mostly blue sky is punctuated with clouds shading darker as the sun goes down.

For about the last decade or so, my friends and I have had ticket plans for the IronPigs. We started off with 9 game plans — one plan per person with three people attending. We’re now up to four 18 game plans, with six people in the mix. It’s been a great stress reliever, particularly … Read more

Game Day: Let Me Tell You About My Dwarven Battle Mage

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Black and red dice site on a game manual page. The illustration of a red-headed dwarven warrior with an axe appears to the left.

When D&D 5th Edition came out, my gaming group launched two playtest campaigns. Obsidian Frontier was a sandbox campaign set in the early days of our homegrown city, Obsidian Bay. It was focused on trying out the new rules and running a typical D&D campaign. The second campaign was Heart of Darkness, a story-driven game … Read more

Assembling Nuketown’s 2017 Summer Reading List

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A human warrior stands with two blades drawn while a winged creature - perhaps a griffin - rises behind him.

It’s nearly summer, which means it’s high time for me to be putting together my 2017 Summer Reading List. Last summer I read 16 books, 1 novella, and 8 graphic novels. This year I’m looking to do that one better by reading 17 books and 8 graphic novels.

That’s a hell of of a stretch, but with my summer vacations and monthly camping trips with the Boy Scouts, I’m thinking I’ll have the time I need.

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Prologue 027: Regal Hank

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A yellow Labrador retriever puppy looks out on a green field.

Hank is a Seeing Eye puppy in training, and in this picture he’s learning how to chill on the quad at nearby Lafayette College. At the time this was taken, he was about seven months old.