Fallout's creator reveals you could have played as a snoring cow hater who believes in UFOs, had Black Isle stuck with its original licensed roleplaying system

The character system used in Fallout is famously based upon its roleplaying system called SPECIAL. But this wasn't always the case. In fact, for most of the original game's development, Fallout's mechanics were based upon a licensed, table-top roleplaying system called GURPS, which, yes, sounds more like a digestive tract disorder than a TTRPG ruleset.

Anyway, the Generic Universal Roleplaying System was at the heart of Fallout from its conception in 1994 all the way to early 1997, when GURPS' creator Steve Jackson (not that Steve Jackson, this Steve Jackson) objected to Black Isle's use of the system because of Fallout's stupefying levels of violence. Hence, GURPS was usurped by SPECIAL, and history took a different course.

Despite being at the centre of Fallout for three years, little about Fallout's GURPS incarnation has been revealed in the last 30 years. Until now, that is. Fallout creator T...