Fallout 3, Bethesda’s first foray into the post-apocalyptic RPG, featured a huge open-world to explore in the Capital Wasteland, what is left of the Washington D.C area after a nuclear holocaust. From ruined city streets to abandoned museums, there is a lot to see in this game. One of the more unique locales in the game is Tenpenny Tower.
Perhaps the largest structure in the game, Tenpenny Tower serves as a settlement for society’s elite that consider themselves above that of the average waste lander. The place is also not in as much disarray compared to the ruins of other places. There is a lot to digest about this place and here are ten things that most people may have missed about this place.
10 Backstory
Before the Great War, the war that threw the world into a nuclear holocaust, Tenpenny Tower was a luxury hotel where the wealthy vacationed. Michael Masters, a ghoul, was one of those people.
Before the events of the game, Alistair Tenpenny, Mister Burke and a mercenary crew came across the tower which was now inhabited by feral ghouls. After clearing out the ghouls, they would renovate the tower into what it is today as a hub for the wealthy. Some things just never change.
9 The Man In Charge Is Not A Nice Guy
When actually meeting Tenpenny himself for the first time it becomes clear that he is not a nice guy. For one he is clearly racist towards ghouls, those being the non-feral kind that is.
That is not even mentioning the fact that he clearly enjoys watching the nuke in Megaton go off. It just shows that the guy loves a good light show even if it comes at the expense of a whole town of people dying.
8 A Suite Is Awarded For Blowing Up Megaton
After choosing the evil route and detonating the nuke in Megaton, Mister Burke will provide the player with a key to a suite in Tenpenny Tower that just so happens to be next to Allistair Tenpenny’s himself.
The suite serves as a house and functions largely the as the house in Megaton, the reward for disarming the nuke rather than detonating it. It includes a Mister Handy bot as a butler, storage for gear and unique weapons and a place for the bobblehead collection.
7 Raiders Will Ambush Brotherhood Of Steel Members For Water
This encounter only happens after the Broken Steel DLC is completed. Broken Steel is an epilogue that features the river now providing clean water after the Lone Wanderer activates the purifier at the Jefferson Memorial during the main game’s finale.
A lot of people clearly want that water and that includes raiders. A group of raiders can be seen ambushing a Brotherhood of Steel patrol delivering water outside of Tenpenny Tower every few days. It is a nice random event that shows the consequences of an action.
6 The Ghouls Eventually Kill Everyone If Sided With
While exploring around the tower, players will eventually come across a group of non-feral ghouls, led by Roy Phillips and the previously mentioned Michael Masters, trying to get into the safety of Tenpenny Tower. This triggers a side quest where the player is tasked with possibly killing Allistair Tennpenny but he can be convinced to let them in.
After a few days, returning to the tower will show that everyone in it is now ghouls instead of humans. One might think they became ghouls but the truth is far darker than that. When the player confronts Roy about it, he will reveal that they killed all the human residents over what he calls a “misunderstanding”. Looks like the ghouls were not as innocent as they seem.
5 Their Bodies Can Be Found In The Basement
Questioning Masters about the absence of humans will result in a dialogue where he tells the player to turn a blind eye, or rather nose, to the smell coming from the basement.
Investigating the basement will reveal what Masters was referring to. Those being the dead bodies of the now former residents having been stripped of their belongings and left rotting without even their clothes on (or as much as the game allows). Though the denizens of Tenpenny Tower were a bunch of rich snobs, they certainly did not deserve this.
4 Among Those Killed Is Herbert Dashwood
Herbert Dashwood is a retired hunter who now spends his days in Tenpenny Tower after using his fortune to buy a place in the tower. While the man is far from a saint, he was still ok with the ghouls moving into Tenpenny Tower.
Despite this though, he is still killed by the ghouls anyways which makes completion of the quest, A Manhandled Manservant, impossible since he is they key focus of it. Perhaps it is as Roy himself said, no is truly innocent in the wasteland. Even the person who spoke those very words.
3 Mister Burke Is Spared
Burke is an odd but charismatic guy which is evident when the player first meets him in Megaton. So charismatic it seems that even the ghouls like him enough to spare him from their massacre.
Chances are this probably just an oversight from the developers. But there is also a chance that this shows that Burke can somehow slither his way out of any situation like being the sole survivor of a “misunderstanding”.
2 A Reference To The Shining
To some Tenpenny Tower might make feeling a bit creeped out due to its low lighting and oddly extensive hallways. This might come from the frightening hotel in the movie The Shining which is shown by what can be found on the third floor.
A tricycle can be found on that floor which is odd considering there are no kids in Tenpenny Tower. This references the tricycle driven by the boy in the movie who commonly did that in the film. Thankfully unlike him, the player does not encounter any creepy twin sisters.
1 A Way To Keep The Gate Open Forever
Whenever the player travels to the tower, they will have to talk to a guard over an intercom in order to open the gate that lets them inside the tower grounds. This becomes quite tedious after awhile but there is an exploit to keep it open forever.
Ask the guard to open the gate and then immediately fast travel to anywhere else in the game. When fast traveling back to the tower, there is a possibility the gate will remain open forever and just like that, a tedious process is now a thing of the past.
