Chris Avellone

For the Fallout character, see Chris Avellone (Fallout).
For the Fallout 2 character, see Chris Avellone (Fallout 2).

Developer
Chris Avellone
Biographical data
Date of birth	September 27Birth date
Involvement in Fallout series
Games	Fallout 2 / Van Buren / Fallout: New Vegas
External links
Wikipedia	Chris Avellone
Wikipedia	Chris Avellone
IMDb	Chris Avellone
IMDb	Chris Avellone
MobyGames	Chris Avellone
MobyGames	Chris Avellone
Social media
@ChrisAvelloneTwitter
@ChrisAvelloneTwitter
Chris AvelloneLinkedIn
Chris AvelloneLinkedIn

Chris Avellone is a game designer who contributed to Fallout 2, Van Buren, and Fallout: New Vegas.

Background

Avellone joined Interplay Entertainment in 1995. He was invited by Timothy Cain to work on the original Fallout, but Avellone declined, something he would regret in the future.

He was a level designer on Fallout 2, as well as the co-lead designer of Van Buren, the canceled Fallout 3 project. In 2003, Avellone left Interplay, joining Feargus Urquhart to found Obsidian Entertainment, where he became the new company's chief creative officer.

At Obsidian, Avellone served as the senior designer on Fallout: New Vegas, and both project director and creative lead designer of its add-ons.

In 2015, Avellone left Obsidian to pursue freelance work. Avellone also criticized Obsidian's upper management, feeling they have a "lack of ethics" and "serious flaws that need to be addressed" because they attempted to restrain his ability to speak freely about the games he has worked on in the past. He also wished Feargus to have no financial gain.

In 2024, Avellone reviewed the Fallout show and found it rather disappointing.

Notes

• Player characters may encounter a mercenary named Chris Avellone in Fallout.
• An NPC named Mayor Chris Avellone appears in Fallout Tactics, but Avellone did not provide voice acting for the role.
• There is a location named Avellone in Fallout Tactics.
• Avellone wrote the Van Buren Tibbets Prison design document.
• The Vault City designer notes include credit to Avellone for the design of Vault City.
• Lyrics of the song "Begin Again" featured in Dead Money were co-written by Avellone.
• The Fallout Bible was compiled by Avellone, consisting of behind-the-scenes design documents and developer statements about Fallout 2.
• He wrote the script for the graphic novel All Roads, a promotional item released with the Collectors Edition of Fallout: New Vegas.
• In 2022, he started Fallout Apocrypha, in which he would answer more fan questions. In it, he mentioned he does not hate Bethesda for supposedly "ruining" Fallout and that Bethesda has kept the series popular and alive. He also complimented Todd Howard, calling him a good guy who was always nice and respectful.
  • He mentioned he does not really care to fully play Fallout 4 or Fallout 76, feeling both entries, based on his impressions, apparently lack "serious" stories.

Employment history

From	To	Company	Role
January 1995	May 2003	Interplay Entertainment Black Isle Studios	Lead Designer
June 2003	May 2015	Obsidian Entertainment	Creative Director Chief Creative Officer Co-Owner

Credits

Fallout series

Year	Title	Credited as/for
1998	Fallout 2	Level Designer
2003	Van Buren	Co-Lead Designer
2010	Fallout: New Vegas	Senior Designer
2011	Dead Money	Project Director
2011	Old World Blues	Project Director
2011	Lonesome Road	Project Director

Other work

Year	Title	Credited as/for
1997	Star Trek: Starfleet Academy	Additional Mission Design
1999	Planescape: Torment	Lead Designer
2000	Icewind Dale	Designer
2002	Icewind Dale II	Designer
2004	Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords	Lead Designer
2006	Neverwinter Nights 2	Creative Director
2010	Alpha Protocol	Lead Designer
2011	Dungeon Siege III	Chief Creative Officer
2014	Wasteland 2	Highpool/Ag Center
2014	South Park: The Stick of Truth	Chief Creative Officer
2016	Torment: Tides of Numenera	Writing
2016	Divinity: Original Sin II	Additional Narrative Design
2018	Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire	Additional Writing
2019	Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order	Story and Writing Consultant
2022	Dying Light 2	Head Narrative Designer

Quotes

“The biggest lesson [learned from Fallout 2] was if you give the player the ability to create a certain type of character, make sure that you honor the player's character build. What I mean by that is if you give a character the option to dump 500 points into speech, make sure they have an experience that's very cool and is appropriate for a speech based character. The same thing is true if you're a stupid combat monster, if you're a sneaky thief who no one ever sees... If you're allowing the players to build a character like that with the rule set, then make sure your content supports that experience.”— Chris Avellone, Extrasode episode 61

“There are issues with domesticating tribals and forcing them into one view of the world, there are issues with treating a wonder of the old world as nothing more than a bloody battleground, there are issues with propping old flags from Rome and California without a clear understanding of what those flags represent, and the long-range perspectives of many characters you'll encounter in the world have strong opinions about what's going on in the present, all born from the elements above. The question of the Old World making itself heard in the present - in the Mojave - is a core theme in Fallout: New Vegas, and whether overt or not, we hope it sinks in with the player as well.”— Chris Avellone on the themes of Fallout: New Vegas, User blog:Willooi/Developer Diary and Reflections from Chris Avellone and John Gonzalez

Gallery

Chris Avellone and Tim Cain on the set of fan project Nuka Break: Season 2

Chris Avellone's first appearance as "Chris" in fan series Nuka Break

Chris in the climactic shot of Nuka Break, wielding a bat upside-down

System Shock staff photo

Chris Avellone at the Alamo

Videos

Matt Chat 62 Chris Avellone's Early Days

Matt Chat 63 Planescape Torment with Chris Avellone

Big and Robot- Entertaining Guests - Chris Avellone