Talent Pool is a side quest and achievement/trophy in Fallout: New Vegas.
Quick walkthrough[]
| Side Quest: Talent Pool | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Reach the Tops on the Strip and speak with Tommy Torini in the Aces theater; agree to help him recruit new acts for his stage show. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Accept Tommy's 3% commission offer. | Pass a 50 Barter skill check to negotiate an increased 5% commission. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Locate Billy Knight near the billboard outside the Tops. | Locate Hadrian at the Atomic Wrangler Casino in Freeside. | Locate the Lonesome Drifter near a Sunset Sarsaparilla billboard along the east side of the El Dorado Dry Lake. | Locate Bruce Isaac in his room at the Dino Dee-lite Motel in Novac. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (Optional) Pass a 25 Barter check to convince Billy to negotiate for better pay at the Aces. | Convince James Garret to release Hadrian by paying 150 caps (100 with 50 Barter) or passing a 50 Speech skill check or using the Terrifying Presence perkor completing work for James and Francine Garret and paying 75 caps. | (Optional) Pass a 50 Barter check to negotiate a "finder's fee" from the Drifter. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Optional Reward: Mysterious Magnum & 18 .44 Magnum rounds. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Return to Tommy at the Aces. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Reward: 45/75 caps (90/150 caps with 25 Barter) & Strip fame. | Reward: 125/210 caps & Strip fame. | Reward: 100/166 caps & Strip fame. | Reward: 150/250 caps & Strip fame. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Reward: 550 XP Strip fame Achievement / Trophy | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Detailed walkthrough[]
The leadup to the quest starts by first talking to Swank, No.2 of the Chairmen who govern the Tops casino on the New Vegas Strip; Swank is normally located behind the reception desk near the entrance. Speaking with him about earning additional caps, he will direct them to speak with Tommy Torini, talent manager at the casino's in-house theater, The Aces, found up the stairs behind the reception desk, near the cashier's booth.
In the Aces, Tommy is recognizable by his flattop haircut and eyepatch; if one enters at the right time, he and his dance group, the Rad Pack will be performing on stage, and one must wait until after they're finished. Mentioning Swank's advertisement for work with him, Tommy confirms that he does need help and requests the player character take on the role of talent agent and find some new acts he can put on at the Aces to draw in bigger, paying audiences. For each talent found, Tommy will pay a 3% commission for hiring them (this can be increased to 5% by passing a 50 Barter skill check) along with a small boost to Strip fame.
The quest updates to provide four map markers around the Mojave where prospective talents can be found. Upon finding and recruiting each one by giving them Tommy's business card, the player character can either go on to find the next one(s) or return to the Aces to receive their individual commission from Tommy.
The recruitable performers and their circumstances are as follows:
- The King of Zing, Billy Knight
Billy resides just outside the Tops, beneath the casino marquee close to the gate leading to the Strip's north section, delivering zings for petty caps. He will initially agree to work at the Tops hastily, even agreeing to work for free, but one can then pass a 25 Barter skill check to convince him to negotiate confidently for better pay, garnering an increased 90 caps instead of 45 from commission. One can also pass a second 25 Barter check when returning to Tommy to garner an additional 90 for a total of 150 caps.
Hadrian can be found at the Atomic Wrangler Casino in Freeside, working as an insult comic for James Garret; he can be found on the first floor and upstairs as well during certain times of the day, otherwise one will have to wait around for Hadrian to return to the stage at 2 PM to be able to speak with him. He refuses to leave until he's released from his iron-clad contract, requiring the player character to negotiate with James to get Hadrian out. This can be accomplished by either paying him 150 caps (reduced to 100 with 35 Barter or passing a 50 Barter/Speech skill check to persuade him to let his employee go for free. Alternatively, a unique option to persuade James to lower the price to 75 caps as a favor is available if one completes the side quests Wang Dang Atomic Tango and Debt Collector for him and his sister respectively. Finally, one can use the Terrifying Presence perk to intimidate James into letting Hadrian go for no cost, or simply attack and kill the Garrets and then talk to Hadrian.
- The Musician, The Lonesome Drifter
The Drifter can always be found hanging around an old Sunset Sarsaparilla billboard adjacent to Highway 95, along the east side of the El Dorado Dry Lake and northeast of HELIOS One. Speaking with him, one can offer to hear his life story about his father walking out during his childhood in Montana, him taking to the roads to find the man while picking up skill with his guitar in the meantime, and ending with the Drifter contemplating finally settling down and looking for a way to make a living; thus he readily accepts Tommy's offer to work at the Aces. One can then pass a 50 Barter check to negotiate a "finder's fee" from the Drifter, to which he will oblige and gift his weapon, the Mysterious Magnum and 18 .44 Magnum rounds.
- Singing Sensation, Bruce Isaac
Bruce can always be found residing in his room on the second floor of the Dino Dee-lite Motel in Novac. When first speaking with him, he will be terrified that the player character is a hitman sent by Mr. Bishop from New Reno to kill him; one can either say they are not, or lie and confirm his suspicions, leading to Isaac refusing to speak further. Once he is placated that his life is not immediately in danger, one can ask further questions about his circumstances including how he once performed as the "big draw" at the Shark Club before running afoul of the Bishop crime family by stealing money from them as well as having a tryst with the Mister's daughter, forcing him to flee New California to the Mojave. When offered to work at the Tops, he will accept hoping that the Strip's high security might deter retaliation from the Bishops.
Once the last of the new acts are recruited and sent to the Aces, speak with Tommy again, completing the quest and garnering XP and a large amount of Strip fame.
Quest stages[]
Notes[]
- If any of the potential performers listed above are killed prior to starting the quest, the dialogue option with Tommy Torini to help him recruit performers will not appear, and the quest cannot be started, and one can only select "Sounds great." after he tells you what entertainment the theater offers / tells you that he's running thin on acts. Swank will still refer you to the Aces theater if you ask him about earning some extra caps. A "Quest Failed:" Pop-up may or may not appear if a potential performer is killed prior to initiating the quest.
- As each act is recruited, their name and talent appear on the marquee of the Tops sign outside of the casino. Because Billy Knight stands right in front of the sign, the player can observe that his name goes up immediately after he is given Torrini's business card, before he even sets foot in The Tops. If one goes into the casino at the time stated, you can watch the acts. To hear them you have to turn your volume WAY up as it plays through a speaker and is not considered by the game as a character voice.
- It has been reported that a loss of XP, cash, or bugs as listed below occurring when recruiting all four performers before returning to Tommy again, but this was not encountered at all during the two playthroughs that tested this. The same amount of fame, XP and cash were awarded both times, identical to what had been gained by doing each recruit separately.
- Having a negative reputation with the Strip will likely prevent starting/completing the quest, because Tommy will be aggressive when entering the Aces.
Speaking with the Lonesome Drifter at any point,[1] and specifically to recruit him for the Aces during this quest[2] will unlock mutually exclusive, unique dialogue options with Follows-Chalk during his companion quest Civilized Man's Burden in the Honest Hearts add-on.- After completing the quest, one can go to the Aces at the times listed on the casino's streetside marquee, where Bruce Isaac will perform "Cobwebs and Rainbows" and The Lonesome Drifter will perform "Streets of New Reno", "New Vegas Valley", and "Home on the Wastes". All of the songs were adapted and performed by J.E. Sawyer, the lead designer and project director of Fallout: New Vegas. The guitar segments for the song were performed by Nathaniel Chapman and James Melilli.[Non-game 1]
Sawyer later elaborated further on the recording process for Talent Pool:
He also elaborated on the writing process:
Joshua Sawyer: We had to make the songs pretty quickly toward the end of the project. For the guitar songs, the guitarists (Nathaniel Chapman and James Melilli) had to learn the pieces in an hour or two. There wasn't any time to transpose anything, so I had to sing the songs in whatever key we had guitar tabs for. For side content, I think they turned out pretty well.”— Joshua Sawyer
Behind the scenes[]
The quest was designed by Travis Stout.[Non-game 2]
Bugs[]
- After telling Hadrian you will try and get him out of his contract talk to James Garret and offer to pay for him, pass a Barter check of 35 to reduce the amount for him and then tell him you'll pay later, this Barter check never goes away. Keep doing the check and then say you'll pay later. [verified]
- After recruiting Isaac, going back to New Vegas may cause the Strip North Gate to become locked. Killing one of the Securitron gatekeepers and looting its key will allow re-entrance. [verified]
- Tommy Torini and his crew may attack Rex if he is in your party. [verified]
- If you get Bruce Isaac he will never move from the stage and cause all the other acts to end. [verified]
- FIX: Recruit Isaac in the end, then go somewhere but not to the Tops, do something (drink water from "Goodsprings Source" as an example) then go to the Tops close to 22pm, watch the act that performs at 22pm then wait 'till 15pm the next day (using the "wait" option, wait 'till 16 and check if all the acts perform as normal, maybe the npc of the last act didn't appear in the scenario again but if you wait for an hour using the "wait" option, he will appear sitting where he was the previous night. Save before recruiting Isaac to avoid the bug in case the fix don't work. This works on "Hardcore mode".
- Failing the quest midway through will render the promotion sign outside of the Tops incorrect, advertising for acts which you have not successfully hired, or are dead. [verified]
- Occasionally, after recruiting The Lonesome Drifter, the quest will glitch and either allow you to proceed to talk to Tommy Torini prematurely or only require you to recruit one more Entertainer. [verified]
- Prior to a patch, you have to recruit each performer individually, and return to Tommy Torini before you can hand out another card.[verified]
- When you enter the Ace, Tommy Torini will not give you the quest, but repeating speech options. [verified]
- After acquiring the quest, you may leave the aces only to have a black screen appear and the game freeze. [verified]
- Tommy Torini may appear on stage without moving and speaking to him may not work. If your reputation is sufficiently high you can hit him to get him moving, then put away your hands and he will forgive you. [verified]
- If you tell Bruce Isaac that Tommy Torini wants to hire him and leave his house quickly after he does, he gets stuck in the wall. This does not affect the quest in any way other than that he won't appear at the Tops; you still may claim a reward [verified]
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ The Courier: "What's with this obsession you seem to have with "civilization?"
Follows-Chalk: "Let me tell you a story. When I was a boy, a man came through the valley with one of the caravans. Tall man, big mustache, carried a guitar. I asked what he did for his living, and the interpreter told me he was a singer. What is that? I asked. The man explained that he went from place to place and sang for people, who gave him food and shelter and care in return. I couldn't believe that there was a place in this world where a man could do that. I promised myself then that one day I'd explore that world myself."
The Courier: "Huh, I think I know that guy. Small world."
Follows-Chalk: "Is it? I always heard it was rather large outside the valley. Well, wherever he is, I hope he's well."
(Follows-Chalk's dialogue) - ↑ The Courier: "What's with this obsession you seem to have with "civilization?"
Follows-Chalk: "Let me tell you a story. When I was a boy, a man came through the valley with one of the caravans. Tall man, big mustache, carried a guitar. I asked what he did for his living, and the interpreter told me he was a singer. What is that? I asked. The man explained that he went from place to place and sang for people, who gave him food and shelter and care in return. I couldn't believe that there was a place in this world where a man could do that. I promised myself then that one day I'd explore that world myself."
The Courier: "I know that guy! I got him a job."
Follows-Chalk: "A job as a singer? Then it really is true...."
(Follows-Chalk's dialogue)
Non-game
- ↑ J.E. Sawyer on Formspring
- ↑ Josh Sawyer Fallout 4 Project Mojave Mod Stream 13.11.2021 (reference starts at 1:20:21)
Joshua Sawyer: "Talent Pool was written by Travis Stout."
