"Daring" Dashwood's Wasteland Wanders

Introducing "Daring" Dashwood - an explanation for the uninitiated.

Introducing "Daring" Dashwood - An Explanation for the Uninitiated

For those who have already met Herbert “Daring” Dashwood, he requires no introduction. As the Capital Wasteland's pre-eminent gentleman adventurer, gnome collector, and notable ladies' man, Dashwood adds a touch of classic excitement to the world of the Fallout 3, Bethesda Studio's 2008 action-adventure video game.

The world Dashwood inhabits, the world of Fallout 3, is a seemingly-endless wasteland. This wasteland is the product of a nuclear war which happened approximately 200 years before the events which interest us. The bombs, as well as a strange biological weapon, a virus known as “FEV”, greatly reduced the human population. Isolated human settlements do exist, peopled by the descendants of the few survivors. Many of those who did make it through the war did so in 'vaults', huge fallout shelters that acted as whole cities.

In this world, high levels of radiation coupled with the virus result in the mutation of animals and people alike. There are huge anthropomorphic crabs, breeds of cattle with multiple heads, and Great Dane-sized fire-breathing ants. There are “super mutants”, huge, muscular monsters bred to be perfect soldiers. The most unfortunate of all the mutated creatures, however, are the “ghouls” - humans who, rather than being killed by high doses of radiation, have instead been changed into decrepit, rotting husks, trapped in their own destroyed, but incredibly strong and resilient, bodies.

The Wasteland lacks internet, movies, television, and newspapers – but they do have radio, and it is incredibly popular among Wasteland residents. The most popular station is “Galaxy News Radio” which carries a mix of late 40s / early 50s blues and pop, as well as the occasional radio drama. The subject of these radio dramas? Herbert “Daring” Dashwood, and his stalwart ghoul manservant, Argyle.

In the radio plays, Dashwood is a bumbling aristocrat with a love of adventure – a cross between Bertie Wooster and Indiana Jones. Argyle, on the other hand, could be compared with the Green Hornet's Kato, if Kato were played by James Cagney. Argyle's a tough guy with a gift for martial arts and a deep sense of loyalty to Dashwood, his employer and friend.

The last radio play in the set played in the game ends on a cliffhanger. Dashwood has inadvertently led a group of slavers to the hidden city of Rockopolis. This disaster is the work of the evil Penelope Chase, a slaver who tricked Dashwood into thinking she was an adventurer after his own heart. Penelope is killed, but the city of Rockopolis falls, and the listeners are left wondering how Dashwood and Argyle will get out alive.

If you do play Fallout 3, you can meet the “real” Daring Dashwood, an elderly man whose adventuring days are winding down. He's a lot more competent than his radio incarnation, but also a lot less interesting. As such, the radio scripts which follow are based on the over-the-top, eccentric, radio Dashwood. Those who have played the game will also notice that the events in these scripts could not have taken place within the continuity of the “real” Dashwood's life – he and Argyle never reunited after the fall of Rockopolis. But that would be a pretty unpopular ending to such a beloved radio series, so I've imagined that the show continues, with fictional escapades for the daring duo, set about a year after the Rockopolis incident.

So there you have it – you're about to read fan-fiction based on a radio show within a video game . . . life gets a little surreal at times! Dashwood and Argyle, of course, belong to Bethesda Studios, as do Dashwood's opening and closing voice-overs. If you haven't played Fallout 3, I recommend it highly. It's a lot of fun.

Be sure to check out the YouTube video on the right. It includes all four "Daring Dashwood" radio plays that appear in Fallout 3.