Quests per Area in Fallout 3

A simplicity guide for aspiring completionists

Introduction

Greetings, Vault-Dweller!

This guide was written in hopeful aspiration of aiding people (myself included) to completion of every quest in Fallout 3!

There are 3 basic categories: Side Quests, Unmarked Quests, and Repeatable Quests.

Side Quests are quests that are achievement-based (if the Steam version had achievements) and are noted in the Quest section of the Pip-Boy.

Unmarked Quests are quests that aren't progressively marked within the Pip-Boy, but you may find note(s) relating to them in your Pip-Boy.

Repeatable Quests are exactly what they sound like. Endless fetch-quests that are primarily centered around making money. Some of these have "goals" but a lot of them are just endless pits.



If you like my content please rate and award my guide so it gains more traction for other Wastelander's to enjoy! Good hunting!

Megaton

Side Quests:
• The Wasteland Survival Guide - Moira Brown, the owner of Craterside Supply in Megaton, wants someone to do some research for a book she is writing entitled The Wasteland Survival Guide.
• The Power of the Atom - Mister Burke in Moriarty's Saloon wants the bomb detonated, as his employer, Allistair Tenpenny, considers Megaton a blight on the landscape of the Capital Wasteland.
• Blood Ties - Lucy West in Moriarty's Saloon asks you to deliver a letter to her family in Arefu.

Unmarked Quest(s):
• Megaton's Bomb - Sheriff Lucas wants you to disarm the nuclear bomb in Megaton.
• 300 Pieces of Silver - Colin Moriarty wants you to find Silver and get his money back from her.
• Leo's Drug Habit - Doc Church's medical supplies are being stolen by Leo Stahl.
• Treatment - Walter asks for the broken pipes around Megaton to be fixed.

Repeatable Quest(s):
• Walter's Scrap Metal - Walter wants scrap metal.
• Church Donations - Confessor Cromwell wants money.
• Water Beggars - Micky outside wants purified water.

Rivet City

Side Quests:
• Stealing Independence - Abraham Washington in Rivet City wants the Lone Wanderer to retrieve the Declaration of Independence for him to display in the Capitol Preservation Society.
• The Replicated Man - Dr. Zimmer in Rivet City wants you to locate an unidentified humanoid robotic prototype, an android, who is hiding from its creator somewhere in the Capital Wasteland.

Unmarked Quest(s):
• Council Seat - Bannon wants dirt on Seagrave Holmes, so he can prevent him from ascending to Rivet City's head council.
• A Nice Day for a Right Wedding - Angela Staley wants to roofie a church acolyte with some ant queen pheromones.
• Slave Hunt - Mei Wong is a former slave that wants to protect herself from a slaver who's living in the city with her.
• Overdose - Paulie is a chem addict. The Lone Wanderer can give him Psycho for negative Karma.
Update 2025:
• Suicide Watch - Dr. Preston informs you that a Rivet City citizen, Angela Staley, is depressed.
• The Runaways - Cindy Cantelli is worried because her daughter Bianca has run away with her boyfriend Jackson.
• CJ is Missing - When speaking to Vera Weatherly, she may mention that her nephew, C.J. Young, has gone missing. She doesn't offer a formal quest, just dialogue about being worried.
There's no official quest entry. If you explore Rivet City and talk to other residents, you can find out that C.J. Young has joined the Rivet City security force. Talking to him reveals he left to pursue a career in security, and he's safe. You can optionally go back and tell Vera Weatherly, though there’s no formal reward or quest completion — it’s purely roleplaying flavor.

Repeatable Quest(s):
• Church Donations - Father Clifford wants money.
• Water Beggars - Carlos outside wants purified water.

Underworld

Side Quests:
• You Gotta Shoot 'Em in the Head - Mister Crowley gives you the task of finding and killing 5 notorious ghoul-haters with headshots from a .308 rifle.
• Reilly's Rangers - Reilly in Underworld wants you to to ex-filtrate and get help for her team, who are stranded on the roof of the Statesman Hotel.

Unmarked Quest(s):
• Hired Help - Ahzrukhal proposes to murder Greta, who owns the other beverage outlet in Underworld.

Repeatable Quest(s):
• This Old House - Winthrop wants scrap metal.

Paradise Falls

Side Quests:
• Strictly Business - Grouse wants you to enslave select people from his "VIP list."

Unmarked Quest(s):
• Economics of Violence - Pronto wants you to bring him 20 Chinese assault rifles.
• The Kid-Kidnapper - Eulogy Jones wants you to kidnap children from Little Lamplight.

Repeatable Quest(s):
• Strictly Profitable - For every slave that is captured and sent back to Paradise Falls, Grouse will pay out 250 caps, and will hand over a new slave collar to continue the "recruiting."

Miscellaneous

Girdershade:

Side Quests:
• The Nuka-Cola Challenge - Sierra Petrovita wants you to recover 30 bottles of Nuka-Cola Quantum and a Shipping Manifest.

Repeatable Quest(s):
• Mississippi Quantum Pie - Sierra will make you a Mississippi Quantum Pie for every set of ingredients you bring her.


Canterbury Commons:

Side Quests:
• The Superhuman Gambit - Uncle Roe wants you to resolve the town battleground of a "supervillain"—the AntAgonizer and a "superhero"—the Mechanist.

Unmarked Quest(s):
• Merchant Empire - Uncle Roe wants you to invest caps into a trading caravan.


Grayditch:

Side Quests:
• Those! - Bryan Wilks will ask you to help him find his father, Fred Wilks, who seems to be trapped in the town infested with fire ants.

Repeatable Quest(s):
• Nectar Collecting for Fun and Profit - Doctor Lesko wants Fire Ant Nectar.


Little Lamplight:

Unmarked Quest(s):
• Happy Birthday to You - Sticky has just turned 16, and it's time for him to leave Little Lamplight. He would like you to escort him to Big Town.

Repeatable Quest(s):
• Fungus Deal - Lucy/Eclair wants Buffout/Strange Meat.
• Zip's Nuka Fix - Zip wants Nuka Cola.


The Citadel:

Unmarked Quest(s):
• Gallows Humor - Kodiak wants you to try to win the betting pool to guess Gallows' real name.

Repeatable Quest(s):
• Collecting Holotags - Scribe Jameson wants Holotags.

Independent Quests

The Independent Quests referring to quests that are separated and aren't conveniently bundled in one location.

Side Quests:
• Agatha's Song - Agatha in Agatha's House
• Big Trouble in Big Town - Anyone in Big Town
• Head of State - Hannibal Hamlin in Temple of the Union
• Oasis - Harold in Oasis
• Tenpenny Tower - Gustavo in Tenpenny Tower
• Trouble on the Homefront - Vault 101

Unmarked Quest(s):
• A Manhandled Manservant - Argyle's Corpse in Rockopolis
• Election Day - Dave in Republic of Dave
• Grady's Package - Grady's corpse in Marigold Station
• Just for the Taste of It - Winger Mercier's corpse in the Nuka-Cola Plant
• Keller Family Refuge - Keller family transcript in the Capital Wasteland
• Merchant Empire - Uncle Roe in Canterbury Commons
• Our Little Secret - Old Man Harris in Andale
• Searching for Cheryl - Burial mound in L'Enfant South
• The Lost Initiate - Paladin Hoss in Falls Church
• Jiggs' Loot - Prime (via terminal) in The Museum of Technology.
• Lincoln's Profit Margins - Abraham in the Museum of History.
• Escort Cherry - Escorting Cherry from Dukov's Place to Rivet City.

Repeatable Quest(s):
• Geomapping with Reilly - Reilly in The Ranger Compound
• I Want to Drink Your Blood - Vance in Meresti Metro Station
• Mississippi Quantum Pie - Sierra Petrovita in Girdershade
• Murphy's Bombing Run - Sugar Bombs in Northwest Seneca Station
• Nectar Collecting for Fun and Profit - Doctor Lesko in Grayditch
• Ryan Brigg's Wonder Meat - Wonder Meat Maker in Jury St. Station
• The Outcast Collection Agent - Protector Casdin in Fort Independence
• Yearning for Learning - Scribe Yearling in Arlington Library

DLC Quests

The Pitt

Unmarked Quest(s):

Mill Worker - Everett in the Pitt Steelyard wants you to find 100 steel ingots.

Wild Bill's Last Stand - Milly in Downtown is worried about Wild Bill who has been missing since going on an steel ingot expedition to the steelyard.

Slave Snitch - Brand in The Mill asks that if the Lone Wanderer learns anything, they should pass it along.

Repeatable Quest(s):
Toys for Tots - Midea and Sandra in Dowwntown want Teddy Bears.

Broken Steel

Side Quests:

Holy Water - Scribe Bigsley in Jefferson Memorial asks you to investigate the area around Megaton to see why they need more water, after just being sent a week's shipment of Aqua Pura.

Protecting the Water Way - Scribe Bigsley in Jefferson Memorial wants you to investigate the organized bandit attacks on the Aqua Pura caravans, directing The Lone Wanderer to speak with Officer Lepelletier of Rivet City to learn more details about the attacks.

The Amazing Aqua Cura! - Griffon, a ghoul outside of Underworld, is selling Aqua Cura, a tonic that he claims will cure the ghoul condition; however, you learn the truth behind the re-branding soon enough.

Unmarked Quest(s):
The Sorrowful Suitor - In the Presidential metro, you'll find a holodisk called Sorry, my darling next to a skeleton. Arriving at La Maison Beauregard through Georgetown East, one is confronted by a hostile character called Lag-Bolt, who's carrying that special gift.

Wastelander Water Request - After the quest 'Holy Water' has been completed. In front of the town, where the normal caravans are, some Megaton settlers will try to take the Aqua Pura from the Brotherhood of Steel escorted scavenger.

Repeatable Quest(s):
Getting Ready for Prime Time - Scribe Rothchild in the Citadel wants a Camera and a Sensor Module.
Blood Brotherhood - Paladin Tristan in the Citadel wants Super Mutant Blood Sample(s).

Point Lookout

Side Quests:

A Spoonful of Whiskey - Marguerite in Marguerite's shack will try and convince the Lone Wanderer that she is sick with "Orange Fever," and she needs certain items to get better.

An Antique Land - The Lone Wandered finds a holotape by Bysshe Energy Partners in the Excavated Muck Holes detailing a series of soil samples that, when collected, will open a safe containing various supplies.

Plik's Safari - Plik in Coastal Grotto is hosting a small hunting club with several contestants.

The Dark Heart of Blackhall - Obadiah Blackhall in Blackhall Manor tasks you with finding his book, the Krivbeknih, which was stolen from him by some swampfolk.

The Velvet Curtain - A terminal in the Homestead Motel tasks you to go to the bank and use passwords and supplied vocal samples to open safety deposit boxes to obtain the content therein.

Unmarked Quest(s):
Tailing the Tomboy - Catherine in Riverboat Landing is looking for someone to find her daughter Nadine, who has recently left with Tobar for Point Lookout, and convince her to come back.
Recover Kenny’s Kenny - Kenny's Teddy Bear dropped down Herzog Mine.

Mothership Zeta

Unmarked Quest(s):
The Legend of Zeta - One must collect all 25 of the locatable alien captive recordings found aboard the mothership.

The Tally

I figured I might as well throw this in as well for giggles.

Side-Quests:
Megaton - 3
Underworld - 2
Rivet City - 2
Agatha's House - 1
Big Town - 1
Temple of the Union - 1
Oasis - 1
Paradise Falls - 1
Tenpenny Tower - 1
Girdershade - 1
Canterbury Commons - 1
Grayditch - 1
Vault 101 - 1

Unmarked Quests:
Rivet City - 4
Megaton - 3
Paradise Falls - 2
Museum of Technology - 2
Rockopolis - 1
Little Lamplight - 1
Republic of Dave - 1
Citadel - 1
Marigold Station - 1
Underworld - 1
Nuka-Cola Plant - 1
Capital Wasteland - 1
Canterbury Commons - 1
Andale - 1
L'Enfant South - 1
Falls Church - 1

Repeatable Quests:
Megaton - 3 (Caps, Water, Metal)
Rivet City - 2 (Caps, Water)
Citadel - 1 (Holotags)
Little Lamplight - 2 (Buffout/Meat, Nuka-Cola)
Ranger Compound - 1 (Pip-Boy 3000 Locations)
Meresti Metro Station - 1 (Blood Packs)
Girdershade - 1 (Nuka-Cola Quantum)
Northwest Seneca Station - 1 (Sugar Bombs)
Grayditch - 1 (Fire Ant Nectar)
Jury St. Station - 1 (Mole Rat Meat)
Paradise Falls - 1 (Slaves)
Fort Independence - 1 (Power Armor, Metal, Energy Weapons, Sensor Modules)
Underworld - 1 (Metal)
Tenpenny Tower - 1 (Water)
Arlington Library - 1 (Pre-War Books)

Total in Fallout 3:
17 Side Quests
23 Unmarked Quests
19 Repeatable Quests

Excluding DLC, vanilla content only.

Conclusion

This guide was created with the goal of helping every Lone Wanderer (myself included) track down every quest scattered across the Capital Wasteland. If it helped you survive super mutants, navigate metro tunnels, or just reminded you of something worth fighting for, please consider giving it a thumbs up or award—it really helps fellow Vault Dwellers find it too.

Craving more post-apocalyptic questing? Don’t miss my complete New Vegas guide here:
📘 Fallout: New Vegas – Quests per Area

Keep your rifle clean, your Karma high, and watch out for radroaches. See you in Megaton!

[GoldSAW]

Thanks everyone for the feedback and suggestions!
I’ve updated the guide to include the missing quests that were pointed out:

Added Suicide Watch and The Runaways quests in Rivet City.

Added the unmarked quest at Dukov's Place leading to Rivet City.

Added the unmarked Kenny’s Teddy Bear quest in Point Lookout.

Added the missing bomb disarm request in Megaton.

Added the missing CJ Young side story in Rivet City.

Big thanks to Splat, gamer, ung_topform, The Spectre of Communism, and everyone else who helped!
Really appreciate you all helping make the guide more complete!

[PlumdBob]

Underworld is inside the Museum of History.

[Starrkiller5150]

I have like 300 hours in this game at least and have never found the underworld city

[Seffy]

Nice work.

[Splat]

Fantastic work, GoldSAW. Other than a few things missing, I believe this is a good reference guide for people to use in-game / on-the-go. For Rivet City, I think you are missing both unmarked quests Suicide Watch and, like The Spectre of Communism pointed out, The Runaways . Additionally, gamer does point out another unmarked quest that you can get at Dukov's place, which is similar to an escort mission.

An interesting little fact about Point Lookout, is that there exists a super unmarked unnamed quest that involves you getting back Kenny his Kenny-Bear Teddy Bear which he dropped down Herzog Mine. Helping him or bypassing this request using the Child at Heart perk - will allow you to use the Herzog mine like another house/safe-house.

[gamer]

you forgot the unmarked quest in Dukov's place of getting whats her face to rivet city

[ung_topform]

missing quest: in megaton the sheriff asks if you can disarm the bomb, cant remember the name of the quest

[killa]

I never realized how short FO3 was until I replayed it. Now seeing this sidequest list really puts into perspective how little there is to do in such a wide open world.

[sniper65615]

I think i will vote for it. but i think some quests are maybe missing and either they are lost in time or they were forgotten by some people so some might be on youtube.

[The Spectre of Communism]

theres a missing quest for rivet city, the one where cj young is missing