Scarcity of resources questing and Before-times Artifact questing, the other mainstay of the wasteland is Something Mutated Is Threatening Us. An unusual migration of piranha-bats (quest: go kill the thing driving that's driving them towards you), a blight on the crops (quest: find the 500 year old pesticide), a rapidly spreading mushroom filling the air with mind-controlling spores (quest: find gas masks and lots of napalm), The Hound of Tindalos (quest: deactivate the Rift Machine allowing it into our reality), or a squad of Jolly Green Giants (quest: kill 'em, or, I guess diplomacy, freakin' hippie).
A big theme is Negotiating With Guys Wearing Spikes And Pieces Of Cars. I don't know why old tire tread is so popular for shoulder pads, but these guys wear 'em. Somehow you must convince other denizens of the wasteland to cooperate for the Greater Good, so you can all go back to killing each other in peace. Or maybe you just need to barter to swap supplies in a scene that would never, ever, devolve into a shootout and scrabble to grab both barter piles.
- Purify water. Ensuring your drinking water is safe so that you don't succumb to disease in a post-apocalyptic world will be crucial.
- Prevent infection.
- Generate power.
- Grow different kinds of food.
- Restart a chemical industry.
- Be scientific.