At a Glance
- Nexus Mods is running a competition for new Fallout mods with a Las Vegas trip as the prize
- Entries span Fallouts 3, New Vegas, 4, and 76, with both serious and absurd creations
- Standout joke mods include random teleportation on every kill and guns that fire unpredictable projectiles
- Why it matters: The contest highlights how Bethesda’s famously buggy engine also enables limitless player creativity
The Fallout TV show has sparked fresh interest in the games, and modders are answering the call. Nexus Mods is hosting a competition for the best new Fallout modifications, dangling a free trip to Las Vegas for the winner. Entries cover every Bethesda-era title-Fallout 3, New Vegas, 4, and 76-and range from sweeping quest expansions to weapons that swap bullets for toilet plungers.
Derrick M. Collins rounded up the strangest submissions, proving once again that the same janky tech responsible for flying mammoths and stuck NPCs also lets players bend the wasteland to their wildest whims.
Chaos in the Commonwealth
Some entrants embraced pure unpredictability:
- Every Enemy You Kill Randomly Teleports You (Fallout 4) – Each kill yanks the player to one of more than 250 map locations. The modder’s only warning: “Hope you saved recently!”
- Gun Projectile Randomizer (Fallout 4) – Firing any gun becomes a dice roll; a 10mm pistol might launch a .50 BMG round, a laser beam, or a railway spike. Hostiles get the same unstable arsenal.
- Harpoon Plunger (Fallout 76) – Replaces the harpoon gun’s spears with rubber toilet plungers, because nothing says post-apocalyptic menace like bathroom hardware.
Horror, Glow, and Todd Howard
Not every oddity is built for slapstick. Shadows Over Point Lookout (Fallout 3 via Tale of Two Wastelands) drops several hours of Lovecraftian quests into the swampy DLC, doubling down on the game’s already unsettling NPC faces by giving them the full Innsmouth treatment.
On the lighter side, Leah’s Gizmos – Glow-in-the-Dark Graffiti lets settlers plaster neon portraits of Bethesda CEO Todd Howard on their walls. Another entry, Fallout 4: But If Todd Catches You, You Die, turns Howard into a murderous cardboard-snail hybrid that stalks the player-proof that the community’s relationship with the studio head remains as complicated as ever.
Why the Engine Endures
Bethesda’s Creation Engine is notorious for bugs, yet its open structure keeps titles alive years after launch. The competition underscores the upside: anyone with time and imagination can bolt new weapons, characters, or entire campaigns onto a decade-old game. The contest deadline has passed, but every featured mod is free to download-perfect timing for players binging the series anew after watching Amazon’s show.
Key Takeaways
- The Nexus Mods contest attracted both polished expansions and deliberate nonsense
- Joke entries weaponize randomness, turning routine firefights into surreal spectacles
- Tale of Two Wastelands bridges Fallout 3 and New Vegas, letting mods like Shadows Over Point Lookout run on the newer, stabler engine
- Despite constant ribbing, Todd Howard’s likeness remains a favorite canvas for player satire
