Fallout 3 random encounters

General information
Random encounters in Fallout 3 take the form of unique situations, friendly and/or hostile encounters, or small tasks for the player to perform which are randomly drawn from a broad list of possibilities, and occur in various areas across the Capital Wasteland. They should not be confused with scripted events that occur only in certain pre-defined locations. Once a random encounter has been activated in a particular area, no other random event will occur in that area. The game can be saved before entering a triggering area, allowing the player to reload the prior save if an activated encounter occurs that is less than desirable.

Unique vs. repeatable
Encounters can be unique or repeatable. Unique encounters can only occur once per play-through whereas repeatable ones can occur at multiple locations.

Encounter types
Random encounter locations are divided into two groups. Some encounters occur only in one group of locations (A in the location table's "Group" column); others occur only in the second group of locations (B in the location table's "Group" column). Only very few encounters are available in all locations.

'Type A' encounters in practical terms have only one spawn point in the area they can appear, and will usually not leave the immediate area around it unless drawn or forced away from it. The few 'Type A' encounters not set to stay near their spawning point will eventually move to predetermined destinations or patrol routes far across the map. Such movement however, is often limited to the player being within the same map cell, resulting in the encounter being lost or misplaced when the player leaves the area.

'Type B' encounters are slightly more complex. Though Type B encounters always follow a predetermined patrol route at an encounter location, they have multiple, sometime less than apparent spawning points. They can also cover the distance of up to two full-sized map squares(as seen in ones Pipboy). Additionally, due to terrain features, the AI pathing between spawning points(which are also way-points) can create a broad and sometime elaborate patrol route.

The location information provided in this article is be no means the sole triggering method for the listed encounters. Trigger zones can be as far reaching as the distance between spawning points, which can result in accidentally and unknowingly, triggering and locking an encounter. Most spawn points for encounters are positioned in such a way as to have the encounter appear from around blind corners so as not have the encounter appear out of thin air, and to have opposing factions appear at the farthest spawn points from one another. Using the wait feature along an encounter's patrol route near a spawn point allows the encounter to seen appearing abruptly as it moves to where the player is.

List of encounters
The encounters are grouped by living characters or creatures they contain. There are no duplicate listings; if you are looking for an encounter which involves multiple parties, make sure to check all potentially relevant sections.

There are encounters not described below which involve the Talon Company, the Enclave, Raiders, and Super Mutants which are scripted events occurring at specific locations. These encounters are not random. See individual location pages for encounters outside of what is listed below.