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so i have a ton of wild west exodus terrain and figures that i would like to figure out how to make use of in a fallout / post apocalypse setting.
thankfully the figs are already pretty much there so i'm not worried about those as much but i'm trying to think of a way to make the terrain fit in a little better.

the first things that come to mind are maybe adding some gear contraptions and tin roofs to the buildings.

maybe add some riveted doors and windows?

i'd really like some vehicles to throw in but i'm not sure where to go with those...

i think im making it hard by trying to mash up so many different time periods / genres... 50s style fallout theme combined with wild west all mashed in to modernesque post apocalypse... ugh...
40k cultist next to a wild west exodus fig in a western steampunk fallout town... how do you do that!?!? lol

any suggestions?

I'll start with the most unhelpful statement ever: find common themes among the various settings and take it from there.

I understand the problem, and I'm not sure there's a good solution. The reason I liked Fallout New Vegas less than 3 and 4 is because it emphasizes a western theme at the expense of the 50s theme. And were that's not the case, it throws in stuff that isn't native to the US (Roman inspired Legion). So there is a precedent for a fairly pure western theme there.

Now how to mash together all those things. I did that with a small tweak. Try (modern) rural rather than western. By all means have a wooden house in western style but add a car shed or just a roof to park the car under. Add modern tools to show people there use and maintain cars, not carts. Similarly, power lines and radio towers get the idea across that it isn't the 19th century anymore, in spite of what the building style may tell you. Key is to add little modern items here and there to combine traditional architecture with modern technology in a way that looks natural. For instance, I wouldn't just make a riveted door for a wooden house, because I couldn't find a good answer to the question why the door is so improved while the rest of the house is not. But that is of course only my opinion. You may find it easier to justify, especially since steampunk isn't my thing and I only have a hazy idea of what that entails.

Since I did mostly damaged rural buildings for my Fallout terrain, I used metal (sheet or corrugated) for repairs to contrast from the wooden architecture.

Another thing you might try is to have a variety of architectural styles that are tied together by using the same basing. Coming from a rural region, I can tell you most of the buildings were simple houses (the baseline) with modern elements found in buildings of some prestige - the modern steel and glass annex to the old train station, the newly built steel and concrete town hall, the super market built to the chain's country wide specifications. These can work if you make it clear that they have a common theme, say by adding a sidewalk to any of these that is the same style across the terrain collection.

As for vehicles, well, that's a tough one. Obviously 50s and modern style cars look markedly different, and I have no idea what a steampunk car is supposed to look like. That's hard to reconcile and the best I can think of is having a scrap yard or car dealership that has a variety of rusted old cars next to a few similarly rusted new cars to show there's a bit of variation there. You'd probably best off going 50s and 50s cars for the majority of stuff with some 80s designs thrown in, nothing too modern. That should go well enough with the rural theme where people aren't filthy rich and buying the latest car on the market, but those new designs exist and slowly make their way there eventually. Having one central car scenery should help rationalize scattered lone cars of various designs better than putting them their by themselves.

one idea that i had to bring it in to the "modern world" a bit more was to turn it in to a wild west theme park by adding some game booths and things like gift shop signs etc.

the occupants could be the remnants of the employees or whatever still running around in their reenactment gear.

i also thought a cool vault door somewhere would bring a much needed "your not in the wild west anymore" feel to it as well.

thanks geifer, that was helpful.

Edit: Oops, deleted the first part of my post by accident.

Theme parks are always a good fit, especially if it isn't so much a walled park as a sightseeing spot kept in good repair for tourists to visit and spend their cash on souvenirs.

Definitely allows for some modern stuff to coexist beside historical locations. Tourist buses, a parking lot, possibly a drive-in theater that plays Westerns or documentaries, a fast food restaurant where the kitchen is modern but the rest is styled to match the historic town, the game booths you mentioned, maybe some sightseeing spot like they have at the grand canyon with platforms and mounted binoculars. Lots of options.

 usernamesareannoying wrote:
i also thought a cool vault door somewhere would bring a much needed "your not in the wild west anymore" feel to it as well.

As I recall in Fallout 3 and New Vegas the vault entrances were basically a hole in the wall. In Fallout 4, Vaults 81 and 111 had a high tech security booth or two outside, so there's definitely room for modernity here.

In the same vein, a quarry or construction site could be home to modern construction equipment, also highlighting that modern aspect.

And one I forgot before, but the classic is of course the odd camper or a full trailer park. Fits in well with the poorer rural theme and is obviously quite modern.

Something I also just remembered from a documentary I watched years ago, not matter how cheap your housing, a propane tank beside the house for heating and cooking drags the simplest hut into the 21st century, especially is you emblazon the gas company on it in bright colors.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
And because the thoughts keep rolling in:

It's amazing how far asphalt and large, easily visible street signs go to evoke a modern feeling even in the remotest spot. Civilization may be 357 miles away, but at least the sign let's you know it's there. 357 miles away. In that direction.

Well I would say that I post apoc themes we would revert to boilers and coal power type industry. Maybe using large coal type burning terrain like the new gw necromunda terrain would be great.