Trying the original Fallout for the first time, any tips?

save a lot, in more than one slot. random encounters can kill you out of nowhere early on and you don't want one save that's stuck mid-fight. small guns carries most of the game, so tag it. speech is worth it too, loads of quests can be finished just by talking. the water chip timer is real but it's generous if you don't wander around for months first. and don't dump intelligence, low INT changes your dialogue a lot. if you're on pc, get a community fix patch before you start, the original has bugs that can break quests.