We may all feel as though we're the main character in our own story, the protagonist on our own quest set for us by various forces surrounding our existence. But the truth is, each of us is but one experience in a sea of individual stories, sentient threads intertwining on this vast tapestry we call life.

The same can be said for complex video games, such as those from the Fallout series (or most of Bethesda's work, to be honest). While you may be playing as a character, you are not the only story in the Wasteland. There are thousands of beings just like you, some smaller, some taller, some uglier, some smarter, all pursuing their own independent goals, trying to write their own stories. Your interactions with them may make you a main character in your own story, but for them you are simply a side character (yes, they're computer programs but work with me here). That being said, the Fallout universe is filled with such sub-plots and brief insights into the lives of the rest of the population, each of which is a testament to the developers' dedication to the game. Don't worry, we'll try not to spoil every story, just give you hints on finding it so you can experience them for yourselves.

20 The Distress Call

Let's start off with an insanely depressing one, because why not? In Fallout 3, there is a certain radio tower that's giving out a distress call somewhere near Canterbury Commons. If you tune in, you'll learn about a mom, dad, and child who are trapped in the sewers without supplies, asking for help. The broadcast will give you instructions on how to find them, but when you do finally get there, you'll see nothing but skeletons, indicating the the distress call had been playing on a loop for an indeterminate amount of time. Journals and audio logs can be found in the area, and paint a clearer, albeit sadder, picture of what really occurred down there.

19 The Haunting Fate Of The Keller Family

Scattered about the Capital Wasteland in Fallout 3 are special holotapes that chronicle the fate of a certain family when the bombs dropped. The quest itself, Keller Family Refuge, is unmarked and only begins once the player finds one of the tapes. The tapes reveal how Alex, the brother, stole the passcode for an army bunker. But before he was caught, he sent each of his family members only one digit so they'd have to be together in order to get in (he knew there was a strained relationship between them, and wanted to ensure they'd all be safe).

You can read the full transcript here. Completing the quest grants access to the bunker, which holds several useful weapons including Mini nukes and an experimental Fat Man called a MIRV.

18 Let Me Do The Talking

Violence is a big part of Fallout, and often the way things get done. However, most should see it as a last resort rather than a universal solution. One such quest from Fallout: New Vegas, Someone To Watch Over Me, proudly embraces this ideal. You can start by talking to Crandon in North Vegas Square, who asks you to deal with some squatters nearby. But from there, you'll find yourself flung into a fairly intricate sub-plot of the game. However, rather than using bullets, the quest encourages the use of speechcraft to accomplish each task. You'll find yourself taking on a role in a story filled with intrigue, romance, drama, and life-or-death situations. Tread carefully.

17 All That For Some Lingerie

Here's a fun one from Fallout 3: if you go Marigold station, you'll find the corpse of a man named Grady, along with a holotape in which he explains how to retrieve his mysterious "package." Follow these instructions to navigate some tunnels, kill a few fire ants, and lockpick a safe, and you'll be rewarded with Naughty Nightwear (to be honest, it's only naughty when worn by females, for men it's just normal pyjamas).

When you finally get this item, an NPC called Lug-Nut will appear and demand you give him what you've found. You can either pass a speech check and keep it, or fail and have it taken from you. But don't fret, you can always kill him and loot it back from his body. The actual backstory is somewhat hazy, but you get the idea.

16 A Wonewy Kid With Wazer Wifle

In the alcoves of the Great Chamber is a 9-year-old child who called himself Biwwy (Billy). He has a speech impediment, which is likely the reason he was kicked out of his scavenging group. He mostly roams around by himself, playing with his Wazer Wifle (Laser Rifle). Despite his lonely existence, he has a more animated and upbeat attitude, also apparently unaware of his speech impediment (thinks you, the player, talks funny). He's willing to sell his rifle for 500 caps, but you can Barter that down to 250. If you have the Child at Heart perk, you'll get it for free! (Sure, leave a child unarmed in the Wasteland, you monster).

A short little insight, to be sure, but one that adds to the realism and dynamic nature of the world.

15 A Man And His Dog

There was once a boy, a child prodigy, in the days before the war. Unable to relate to his peers and suffering from unrequited love, his only true friend was his dog, Gabe. Eventually, he became a scientist working for Big MT, known as Doctor Borous, specializing in animal-related research. He'd grown quite sadistic over the years, and even subjected his loyal companion Gabe to cruel experiments.

When you meet him in Fallout: New Vegas, he will have become a Think Tank, his brain artificially supported by machinery so he could continue his work. Such an operation took a further toll on his mental well-being as he continued his vile experiments.

One of his quests involves showing him Gabe's feeding bowl, causing the doctor to feel a hint of remose over what he's done to his only friend. A fleeting but heartfelt moment that will certainly stay with you through the game.

14 Literally Launch A Rocket

This Fallout: New Vegas sub-plot starts as a basic "go clear this area of baddies" quest and turns into helping a population of enlightened ghouls escape the misery of Earth. First, you'll want to go to the REPCONN test sight and speak to Jason Bright (a rather sophisticated Glowing One who leads a group of ghouls towards salvation). You'll start out by clearing a basement of nightkin, then jump through one hoop after another to eventually fix a rocket. Along the way, another NPC, Chris Haversam, will ask you to sabotage this spacecraft. After leaning about their history, and with some clever decision making, you can avoid this path.

By the end, you'll have full control of a rocket launch. With a high enough Intelligence stat, you can send them to their destination. If it's too low it might be trickier. You can even set the two rockets to collide with each other, but that comes with some bad karma (literally).

13 Steep Price For Salvation

In times of hardship, religion has always played a crucial role. Whether or not this is positive or negative is debatable, but what's true is that Fallout is no exception to the phenomenon. In the midst of a nuclear apocalypse, specifically at Charles View Amphitheatre in Esplanade from Fallout 4, a new religion is growing. When you arrive at this location, you'll be met by Brother Andrew, Simon, James, or Matthew (the name is random), who'll try to convince you to join their cult.

If you agree, you'll be asked to give up your worldly possessions. Refuse, and the Brother will reveal to be a con-man and threaten you. With a Speech check, you can leave without a fight, but otherwise you'll have to resort to violence in order to keep your hard-earned caps. Of course, you could always give up everything (including your clothes) and become a "Pillar of the Community."

12 A Masterfully-Written Tale

You won't find this sub-plot through a quest, but rather simply by reading it. In the Honest Hearts expansion of Fallout: New Vegas, you can find the Randall Clark terminal entries scattered about the new locations. They chronicle the story of Randall Dean Clark as he struggles to survive the nuclear fallout, starting in the Year 2077 and ending with a final entry in 2124. It's a harrowing tale of his experiences, one that could rival even that of the player character in any game of the series. You can also find his corpse in the Wasteland.

If you're up for the challenge, grab the DLC and search for the entries to read the full story. Or, you can read the full transcript here.

11 Flew Too Close To The Sun('s Radiation)

You'll learn about a particularly quirky NPC, name Mr. RADical (that's not a typo, that's his name) though his journal in Fallout: New Vegas. Apparently, this guy found an advanced radiation suit. When he found out how well it worked, he did the logical thing and started exposing himself to more and more dangerous radiation, pushing the suit to its limits. He even went to Yucca Mountain, the real-life site where the U.S. military dumps all of its nuclear waste. Early on, he may have been suffering from radiation poisoning, but the fearless scientist chalked it up to food poisoning.

You'll find his corpse at Clark Field. He had just purchased isotope-239 igniting agent (used in the quest Come Fly With Me from the previous entry) and was going to expose himself to it to test the suit, but sadly never got the chance.

10 Kid In A Fridge

North of Neponset Park in Fallout 4, there is a junkyard with some tires, barrels, and a fridge. It may not seem like much at first, but soon you'll hear a voice coming from the fridge, a cry from help from someone named Billy. He'll explain that he hid away in there when the Great War started, and has been trapped inside for 200 years. It may seem ridiculous at first, but when (if) you let him out, you'll see that he's a ghoul, capable of surviving harsher conditions than humans.

This starts the quest called Kid In A Fridge which eventually provides you with two choices. Either escort Billy back to his family (that's somehow still alive) and protect them from a pack of raiders, or sell him to those very raiders. For the most profit, sell him to the raiders, kill them, then return Billy to his home.

9 The Toymaker

Arlen Glass used to design toys for Wilson Atomatoys before the war, working there for almost three decades with the goal of creating a bright future for children through his craft. But a short while prior to the war, toy production was partially halted in order to manufacture gear for the military, specifically land mines. Eventually, his protests led to his termination (he was fired, not killed, if that wasn't clear).

When the bombs dropped, his wife and daughter were killed, and he himself became a ghoul. You can find him in the The Slog in Fallout 4, a safe haven for ghouls, working on various infrastructure fixes and personal projects. You can also find a holotape of his daughter in Atomatoys HQ and give it to him, prompting a touching dialogue option.

8 The Beginning Of Underworld

Many players know Underworld as home to a large population of ghouls, just trying to live their lives in peace, away from the prejudice. Visiting this place will yield no shortage of stories from the various inhabitants, but one that truly sticks out is told by a woman named Carol.

She recounts what happened since the moment the bombs fell, back when she was just a girl. She lost her father that day to the intense heat of the first blast, and spent the next several weeks in a shelter within a museum. She explains how soon everyone skin began to peel off and decay, starting their transformation into ghouls. Then, as more ghouls found their way to the shelter, it became a kind of haven for their kind. In essence, that's how Underworld came to be.

7 Do You Hear It? The Call Of The Sea?

Though it's hard to miss, if you look up at one of the buildings in Fallout 4 near Boston Harbor, you'll see a huge, decrepit ship, known as the USS Constitution, resting on the roof. If you manage to make your way up, you'll find that the robot crew is still aboard. In its heyday, the vessel was famous for its success in battle, and well-known for never having been defeated or boarded.

You'll learn more of the boat's history as you complete the related quest: Last Voyage of the USS Constitution. Essentially, they crew is trying to get their ship back to the ocean, and ask for your help in doing so.

6 Impossible Rescue

Sadly (or, fortunately, as you'll see in a minute) this story can no longer be experienced. Before the Dead Money add-on for Fallout: New Vegas, there was a patch of land near Camp Forlorn Hope riddled with land mines. In the same area, you'd see a bunch of soldiers with their legs blown off, but very much still alive. If anyone tried to rescue them, everyone would be killed instantly by the mines. The Courier could disarm the mines, but even then the soldiers were too badly injured to be saved. Going near the area caused them to yell at you to stay away, and even ask for a mercy killing.

However, once the entrance to Dead Money was added, these soldiers were removed from the area, permanently erasing their chilling history from the game.

5 I Don't Know What I Expected

Many of us may be familiar with Vault 95, designed to contain a population of drug addicts. The experiment involved first rehabilitating the addicts through support groups, then releasing a hidden stash of drugs, causing the Vault to descend into madness.

A more personal account related to this Vault takes place in Rivet City from Fallout 3 (the Point Lookout DLC). A resident named Paulie Cantelli is notorious for being a drug addict, and his story is quite a sad one. You can help him out by providing him with a fix of Psycho, but this causes him to die from an overdose (the name of the unmarked quest is, in fact, Overdose). Besides being awarded some bad karma, speaking to his wife reveals that she harbors no feelings of grief for her late husband. It's a small encounter, but gives a significant insight into the mind of an addict.

4 An Old Friend

Everyone who's played the game knows that at the start of Fallout 4, you are visited by a Vault-Tec representative at your house, who takes your information in order to put on the list for the nearby Vault. He's quite a friendly and cheerful guy, though your responses to him can range from polite agreement to sarcastic comments. Anyway, in the next scene of the opening, you see that he's not allowed into the Vault as you and your family pass through.

While you may have more important matters to attend to, you'll find that this Vault-Tec rep is still alive, spending his days at the Hotel Rexford as a ghoul. Through some dialogue options, you'll find that he's been quite lonely and in need of a friend. Fulfill that need by inviting him to Sanctuary Hills, and you'll complete this charming little side quest.

3 You're Not The Only Adventurer In The Wasteland

If you've ever visited Tenpenny Tower in Fallout 3, you may have met a rather intriguing fellow named Herbert "Daring" Dashwood. Though a retired old man now, he used to be an adventurer just like you (see what I did there) back in his youth. He's quite the upbeat individual, prone to cracking jokes and open to telling his stories. He had a close friend named Argyle, a ghoul, who is actually the focus of the side quest you receive from him. The two were separated a while back, and Dashwood wishes to know where his friend ended up. The truth you find may not be the happiest one.

You can learn more about Dashwood's exploits by listening to Galaxy News Radio, which will tell the whole story of the man's daring escapades.

2 Too Fancy For The Apocalypse

Despite the decrepit state of the rest of the world in Fallout 4, there is one location in the Commonwealth that seems immune to ruin. Found in Beacon Hill, Cabot House is a veritable mansion, the occupants of which live a life of luxury, free from the horrors of the Wasteland. Speaking to the resident named Jack will initiate a rather interesting side quest with a couple points where you'll have to choose sides; each decision will affect the outcome and your reward. If you choose carefully enough, you may be able to acquire an infinite supply of Mysterious Serum, which will basically make you immune to Radiation.

1 How Far We'll Go To Get Laid

In Fallout: New Vegas there is an underground arena known as The Thorn, led by a woman called Red Lucy. It is home to all manner of imprisoned monsters from the Wasteland, used in battles against humans who wish to fight them of their own volition (think of it as a hardcore Fight Club for people who are disillusioned with the mundane life of surviving a nuclear apocalypse). Red Lucy is an intriguing character to say the least, and she asks you to go collect eggs for new monsters she can use in her arena. Impress her enough by completing this task, and even participating in some of the fights, and she'll ask you to sleep with her. Better yet, you can keep doing this with a dialogue option.