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This page is about the location. For the quest, see Tenpenny Tower (quest).

 
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Tenpenny Tower is the brainchild of Allistair Tenpenny, a British refugee who came to the Capital Wasteland seeking his fortune.

Fallout 3 loading screen

Tenpenny Tower is a fortified settlement in the Capital Wasteland containing one of two locations for safe player housing (the other being Megaton); Tenpenny Tower is located out in the wastes west of the DC ruins, directly southwest of the RobCo main production facility.

A pre-War luxury hotel, by 2277 Tenpenny Tower had become a private and elitist residential and commercial building owned by Allistair Tenpenny, who only permits the well-to-do or wealthy to reside there. Tenpenny is prejudiced, especially against the "ghoul problem" that is the frequent attempts of sentient ghouls to gain access and residence.

Completing a very evil act, rigging Megaton's atomic bomb to explode, will gain the Lone Wanderer possession of their own penthouse suite here.

Background[]

Pre-War[]

Before the Great War in 2077, the tower was a resort. The ghoul Michael Masters, who was once an eminent scientist 200 years previously, vacationed at the tower and noted that it was "a resort for the wealthy and powerful." Michael Masters also claims that the hotel was built on the foundations of a plantation.[1]

Allistair Tenpenny, an entrepreneur from England, along with a small mercenary crew led by Chief Gustavo, right-hand-man Mister Burke, and including the protectron Shakes, came across the tower and rid it of a few feral ghouls. After realizing the water in the tower was not irradiated and still clean, a rarity in the wasteland, they siphoned off electricity from the still-working underground DC Metro system to return power to the tower, fortified it with steel and concrete barricades, strengthened some exterior walls in the same manner, and renamed it Tenpenny Tower in accordance with Tenpenny's elitist vision.[2][3] Soon, word had spread among the wastes and many flocked to this new settlement, but Tenpenny would only let in traders or those with enough caps, and certainly no ghouls. Soon shops, a bar and a clinic were set up in and around the lobby. The penthouse suites were given to Tenpenny's favored, where they could watch Tenpenny take pot-shots with his sniper rifle as part of his "wasteland safari". Gustavo took over security detail for the tower and concerned himself with the "ghoul problem", Mr. Burke set out to find a way to end the "eyesore" on the horizon which distressed Tenpenny, and Shakes was reprogrammed to be the tower's barman.

Layout[]

Exterior[]

The structure itself is surrounded by tall concrete walls, which create a compound of sorts. Around the rear of the building is the entrance to the generator room, which is used in the quest "Tenpenny Tower." There is also a covered area to the right of the main gate which serves as the guard's quarters. The building did not completely escape damage from the bombs, and was repaired with sheets of metal in the areas of the hotel that took the most damage.

The wall can be jumped over to get inside, which is particularly useful to avoid paying the entrance bribe, or if the fusion pulse charge has not been attached to the bomb in Megaton during the quest "The Power of the Atom." To get inside, go to the west side of the wall and look for a relatively large outcrop of rocks. There is a portion of the wall that has fallen over and is lying on the ground against the rest of the barrier. Jump on top of the broken piece and then through the gap.

Should it be chosen to enter through the wall without ever coming through the actual gate, the gate can be opened from the inside by interacting with the speaker near the guard posted there. If not, it is required to pay to come inside again when speaking to the gate keeper through the intercom.

Interior[]

Entering the building, the Lone Wanderer will find him or herself in the lobby, which contains stairs to the third-floor apartments, an elevator to the penthouse, and is home to a variety of businesses, including:

The Lone Wanderer's suite shares a balcony with Allistair Tenpenny's, who can sometimes be found there, hunting with his sniper rifle.

While it is possible to steal from the safes and cash boxes of the store owners, doing so causes the store owners to complain about security and leave, meaning the player can no longer shop from them. However, the player can follow them outside Tenpenny Tower and kill them for their inventory keys without making the other residents hostile.

Inhabitants[]

  • Allistair Tenpenny
  • Anthony Ling
  • Burke
  • Edgar Wellington II
  • Godfrey
  • Gustavo
  • Herbert "Daring" Dashwood
  • Irving Cheng
  • Julius Banfield
  • Lydia Montenegro
  • Margaret Primrose
  • Michael Hawthorne
  • Millicent Wellington
  • Shakes
  • Susan Lancaster
  • Tiffany Cheng
  • Security guards (unnamed)
  • Tenpenny residents (unnamed)

Notable loot[]

  • A Tales of a Junktown Jerky Vendor on a desk in Susan Lancaster's room, the northeastern room on the Tenpenny Suites level.
  • A Lying, Congressional Style on top of a desk in Allistair Tenpenny's bedroom.
  • In Herbert Dashwood's safe (opened with Dashwood's safe key), there is a mini nuke and a bottlecap mine schematics.
  • One can get the dart gun schematics twice here. It can be purchased from both Lydia Montenegro and Michael Masters in Boutique Le Chic. The first copy from Lydia before they complete the Tenpenny Tower quest, and then again from Michael if they convince the residents to let the ghouls into Tenpenny Tower, or help the ghouls break in. The Lone Wanderer must buy them from Lydia before doing either of these.
  • A Duck and Cover! can be found nearby to the west of the tower, towards Warrington Trainyard, in a completely destroyed house. This is just northeast of the mostly intact house. Inside the remains of the structure there is a waist-high bookshelf. The book is on the second shelf among some other items.
  • An unusually large bottle of vodka can be found on a shelf in the southeastern room of the Tenpenny Suites level, next to a normal-sized one.

Terminals[]

Name Location Hack Difficulty Description
Lounge Computer Federalist Lounge Easy
Terminal New Urban Apparel Average
Terminal Boutique Le Chic Average
Exploration Database Tenpenny suites None Terminal is located in Herbert Daring Dashwood's room in the Tenpenny suites.

Related quests[]

  • The Power of the Atom
  • Tenpenny Tower
  • Strictly Business
  • You Gotta Shoot 'Em in the Head
  • A Manhandled Manservant

Notes[]

  • A suite becomes available to the Lone Wanderer if he/she assists Mister Burke in detonating the atomic bomb at Megaton during the quest The Power of the Atom.
  • If player character is on the You Gotta Shoot 'Em in the Head quest and they successfully negotiate with Alistair Tenpenny allowing ghouls to live in Tenpenny Tower alongside humans, immediately after confirming the deal, the former quest will update with the quest step to inform Crowley that Tenpenny is dead.
  • Returning to Tenpenny Tower some time after completing the Tenpenny Tower quest in favor of the ghouls, the Lone Wanderer will notice that all the occupants are now ghouls. When questioning Roy and his people about this, it is found out that they killed all of the human tenants because of a "misunderstanding". Roy additionally claims that they all had it coming and that no one is innocent in the wasteland. Michael Masters also tells the Lone Wanderer to ignore the smell coming from the basement. In the basement is a feral ghoul amongst the dead bodies of the former residents, robbed of their clothing and possessions.
    • Siding with Roy Phillips in the Tenpenny Tower quest results in the tower becoming the second ghoul-only settlement in the Capital Wasteland, the other being Underworld.
  • Following Roy into Tenpenny Tower after equipping the ghoul mask will allow the Lone Wanderer to see the wrecked version of the tower as well as feral ghouls attacking the humans.
  • After completing Broken Steel, raiders outside Tenpenny Tower will try to ambush Brotherhood of Steel soldiers transporting water (one has a Gatling laser). They will respawn every 3 days.
  • Mister Burke will live at Tenpenny Tower even after the ghouls move in.
  • Asking for the gate to the building to be opened through the intercom and then fast travelling, may cause the gate to stay open, eliminating the need to open it every time the tower is visited
  • Even if all the humans are killed and the ghouls move in, a Tenpenny guard will still answer the intercom, even though there is nobody there to answer it.
  • It is possible to fast travel from the balcony area.
  • The tower is one of the tallest buildings in Fallout 3. The lobby is also unique for having its own music.
  • Although he is a self-proclaimed friend to ghouls, and seemingly non-hostile, Herbert Dashwood will still be killed after letting the ghouls live at Tenpenny Tower.
  • It is possible to survive a jump from the side of Tenpenny Tower, if you use VATS on an enemy at the bottom with a melee weapon, it will teleport you to the ground, and you will take no damage.
  • In the Third Floor suites, there is a reference to the movie The Shining. In one of the hallways is a tricycle and overturned chair, referencing the "come play with us" scene where the little boy sees two girls at the end of the hallway, but upon blinking, he sees them lying butchered on the floor, then blinking again, the girls gone and nothing out of the ordinary.
  • Apparently, whether after you kill Chief Gustavo and grab his Tenpenny Armament Locker Key or after the completion of the Tenpenny Tower quest (unconfirmed which side), taking anything from the armament locker does not give any negative Karma.
  • The pool table located in the Federalist Lounge is almost perfectly clean, which is a rare thing to come across in the Capital Wasteland.
  • The ghoul Michael Masters used to vacation here before the Great War.

Appearances[]

Tenpenny Tower appears only in Fallout 3 but a picture of it and a man standing in front of it can be found in The Tops Casino in Fallout: New Vegas. This picture also appears in a room on the top floor of the REPCONN test site.

Behind the scenes[]

According to an interview in 1UP magazine, Emil Pagliarulo confirmed that Tenpenny Tower was slightly inspired by Fiddler's Green: the skyscraper in George Romero's Land of the Dead.

Bugs[]

  • xbox360xbox360 On rare occasions if you go onto the back of the balcony and aim at the door, you will see a gray, green and white flashing, mainly caused by a glitch in the game's coding. [verified]
  • xbox360xbox360 It is possible to get the front gate of Tenpenny Tower to remain open indefinitely by fast-traveling away while it's in the process of opening. This helps save a few seconds on subsequent visits to the location. However you must be quick about it. [verified]
  • xbox360xbox360 If you mezz and collar the main gate guard, he will no longer open the door and the game will freeze. This will also occur if the guard is killed on his way to Paradise Falls. [verified]
  • xbox360xbox360 When exiting your Tenpenny Tower suite onto the balcony, the player may drop dead after a short (2-3 Minutes) wait. [verified]
  • ps3ps3 If Fawkes is following you when entering the Generator Room from the lobby, he will not appear beside you as you spawn on the other side but instead will spawn in the room beyond the locked door at the bottom of the stairs where the feral ghouls wait after you unlock the exterior basement door outside Tenpenny Tower. When you descend the stairs he will slowly slide through the door to join you. If you have already entered the basement using the key but did not yet unlock the door for the feral ghouls, you can use this glitch to have Fawkes spawn in the room where he will attack the feral ghouls. This has no effect on the outcome of the Tenpenny Tower quest as the tower will still be overrun by feral ghouls after unlocking the door. [verified]
  • xbox360xbox360 ps3ps3 Residents in Tenpenny Tower will not spawn and may not reappear after days or may never reappear. [verified]
  • ps3ps3 xbox360xbox360 If the player has the Tenpenny Tower quest, and kills all the residents of Tenpenny Tower, then goes through the outside entrance to the Metro access and Generator in Tenpenny Tower, the player can talk to Roy Phillips through the wall. However, it is not possible to enter through that area. If the player tells Roy Phillips that all the residents have been killed and leaves the Metro access and Generator, you find him standing at the doors to Tenpenny Tower. The player can talk to him, however Roy Phillips will not give the player the ghoul mask as promised in the deal. If the player tries to go inside Tenpenny Tower again, he will be attacked by a feral ghoul near the entrance. This makes all the ghouls attack you, including Roy Phillips. Also, Roy Phillips will not have the mask on his body if killed. [verified]
  • ps3ps3 Although rare, Roy Phillips may become hostile to the The Lone Wanderer at any time during the Tenpenny Tower quest for no apparent reason. [verified]
  • pcpc xbox360xbox360 Sometimes a wastelander will spawn inside the Tenpenny Tower walls. He will remain near the security quarters walking around and speaking to the guards as if he was supposed to be in there. [verified]
  • pcpc xbox360xbox360 Rarely, if you convince the residents to either accept the ghouls moving in or the resident themselves moving out, after completing the quest a glitch will happen. All of the residents, including Tenpenny himself, and all of the ghouls including Roy will be missing. The Tower will be empty except for the robot bartender. There's no known way to fix this, the residents may or may not reappear. [verified]
  • ps3ps3 At midnight, if you pickpocket Mister Burke, get caught, then get him to follow you into Tenpennys suite, you can kill Mister Burke and Tenpenny without notice. Because of guards checking everywhere but the bathroom, you put them both in Tenpennys bath so the guard doesn't notice. [verified]
  • ps3ps3 if you go out onto the balcony and jump off, then open your Pip-Boy right before hitting the ground, you will still hit the ground and die. Then the game will freeze for about 10-30 seconds before playing the death music, then the screen goes black halfway through the music and the music stops at halfway too. The screen will stay black for a couple seconds before opening the start screen. Instead of opening the last save, it opens the page where you select continue or load. If you load it as normal, it will open the last save as normal. [verified]

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. Dialogue with Michael Masters
  2. Dialogue with Chief Gustavo
  3. Dialogue with Allistair Tenpenny


Tenpenny Tower


hu:Tenpenny Tower pl:Tenpenny Tower ru:Тенпенни-Тауэр (локация) de:Tenpenny Tower sv:Tenpenny Tower es:Torre Tenpenny it:Torre Tempenny zh:Tenpenny Tower fr:Tenpenny Tower hu:Tenpenny Tower

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