.Released by first-time mod author VDykstra on 30 October 2021, shortly after the game's 13-year anniversary, the mod's story concerns rumors of hidden treasure available at the Capitol Building, associated with a runaway pre-War senator. The Lone Wanderer finds a wounded man in The Mall who will open the path to discover this long-buried secret.
This Game Mod contains the following tropes:
- Almost Dead Guy: The quest is started by finding Charlie Dogwood, an Almost Dead Guy in The Mall who was looking for treasure when he was attacked by Super Mutants.
- Apocalyptic Log: Naturally, being a Fallout mod, it contains several of these, many of which are voiced audio logs. While some avoid the trope of being written shortly before or during the Great War, the audio tapes in the Burning Bush are a notable exception, detailing a shootout in the bunker on the day of the War and an FBI agent who became trapped in it after the bombs dropped.
- Badass Boast: Frank Meissner delivers a few of these.Frank Meissner: "What I've done here? It's been 200 years in the making. And I'll be damned if I'm gonna give it all up to some snot-nosed little punk like you."
- Badass Bureaucrat: The deputy director of the FBI Frank Meissner became ghoulified after the war and was a member of several raider gangs before conducting a gold heist.
- Being Good Sucks: After the reveal that Frank Meissner already took and claimed the gold for himself and Pollock, the player has little choice but to respect his claim and walk away empty-handed, the only "good" option in the end. Unless, of course, they're willing to deceive him, pickpocket him, or just kill him for the gold...
- Crazy Survivalist: Despite being a public official, Senator Disori appears to have been one of these, owning a private bunker in Montgomery County once it became clear he wasn't invited to the Whitespring or the Enclave.
- Continuity Nod: The mod contains several references to the lore of Fallout 76. Although Fallout 3 was released in 2008, a decade before the release of Fallout 76 in 2018, the mod coming out in 2021 allowed for inclusion of references to Fallout 76 within Fallout 3, whose setting of D.C. is very close to 76's West Virginia.
- Senator Jonas Disori was an ally and mentee of Senator Sam Blackwell of West Virginia prior to the latter's resignation. His other terminal entries make reference to several mentioned-only pre-War politicians in Fallout 76, including Jack Dougherty and Jon McDougall. Senator Disori is also disinvited from the Whitespring, the Enclave's emergency retreat for public officials and generals, in Appalachia.
- Special Agent Edmundson, on a terminal entry, makes reference to a murder case in Harpers Ferry, which is a location in Fallout 76.
- In fact, much of the ending is in reference to Fallout 76 and includes some author interpretation about the fate of Appalachia. The reason Frank Meissner got the gold was so that he could sell it to his contacts in Appalachia, where gold bullion is still an active currency. His buyers? None other than the descendants of Vault 76's original dwellers, which is revealed if you impersonate a representative of the group.
- Exposition of Immortality: Frank Meissner was the Deputy Director of the FBI prior to the Great War and becoming ghoulified, and he'll tell his story to the player if asked.
- Foreshadowing: A memo written by Deputy Director Frank Meissner can be found on a terminal in the FBI headquarters, and it concerns "Operation Burning Bush," their investigation into Senator Disori. It's later revealed that his position as Deputy Director is what allowed a ghoulified Frank to get a hold of Disori's gold.
- I Lied: The player can pull this on Frank by convincing him you're a representative of the people he's selling the gold to. After he hands over the gold, you can either say it to his face or he'll figure it out himself and attack.
- Jenny's Number: According to a holotape, the phone number for the Capitol Maintenance and Technology Department is (202) (the real-life area code of Washington, D.C.) 867-5309.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: Special Agent Taylor Maeller is killed while trying to call a ceasefire in the audio log of the shootout with Senator Disori.
- Large Ham: Frank Meissner, due to his boastful nature, and a very bombastic performance from his voice actor, combining the voice of a ghoul and a New York accent.
- Meaningful Name:
- Many of the names featured in the mod have Biblical associations: "Burning Bush" as both the name of Disori's bunker and the FBI investigation against him is a clear one, as well as the Sinai Building to Mount Sinai. However, Initiate Rahab outside of the FBI headquarters is a less obvious reference to the Biblical character as well.
- The names of the members of Frank Meissner's mercenary crew are references to characters in Hamlet: Pollock references Polonius, the deceased Claude references Claudius, while the protectron Horatio and the cut Gertrude are direct namedrops.
- No Medication for Me: Although never directly stated, a surveillance audio log between Senator Disori and his doctor implies this had a hand in the shootout.
- No Party Given: Several pre-War Senators are mentioned on terminal entries, some of whom are given the states they represent, but no party affiliation.
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No Such Thing as Bad Publicity: The mod is named after the saying. - Retired Badass: Subverted with Frank Meissner. He says that he was a mercenary and even a member of raider gangs in his past, including some ruthless ones, but settled down and lived in a vault for some time. However, he decided to travel to D.C. to get closure on what happened to his pre-War family, where he heard rumors about Disori's gold, causing him to pick up his mercenary skills again. He also has some self-deprecating humor, calling himself a "decrepit old fuck" but nonetheless still very dangerous.
- Shout-Out: Special Agent Edmundson's insistence on "all caps when you spell my goddamn name" is a Shout-Out to Madvillainy and the late MF DOOM. Per
WordOfGod, the style of Edmundson's terminal entries also took inspiration from Disco Elysium. - Spell My Name With An S: In-Universe, the almost-illiterate raider Frampton misspells his own name as "framptin."
- That's an Order!: If you've completed the final quest of the game, following your promotion to Knight in Broken Steel, you can pull rank on Initiate Rahab and order her to stand aside and let you into the FBI headquarters.
- They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!: A terminal entry from the drunkard FBI employee Martin Edmundson emphasizes that his title is SPECIAL Agent.
- Too Dumb to Live: Charlie Dogwood, who went into the infamously dangerous D.C. ruins with just a jumpsuit for "armor" and a poorly maintained 10mm submachine gun, looking for treasure. It doesn't end well for him.
- White Hair, Black Heart: Frank Meissner. Although he definitely doesn't fit the Pretty Boy aspect of this trope, on account of being a ghoul, he is one of the few ghouls with a full head of hair. It just so happens to be white hair, on a decidedly evil character.
