I stumbled on a mod for Fallout 2. It allows you to play a merc (not the vault dweller) in the wasteland:

http://www.carlsguides.com/downloads/mods/fallout2.htm

It's fun so far (some spelling mistakes and the quests seem rather straightforward but it's entertaining and different).
Has anyone tried these mods?

Try the Survivor mod. Depending on what skills you have tagged, different weapons will be for sale, and there are several new weapons, as well. Also, you can use guns of any proficiency from the Trials onward (basically, a gun is in the chest just before the end of the trials, although which gun depends on what you have tagged), although finding the ammo is a different matter.

It also has a few bugfixes. You can get it from No Mutants Allowed, if you can bear to delve into that hive of bitter fanboyism.

Nice one Clixby! :thumb:

Here is a link to the mod Homepage: http://members.chello.at/lisac2k/index.htm

It's not a conversion but a fix and an interesting one, I have to play it now (although getting a weapon right from the start may make the game way too easy, it makes sense, the Vault Dweller had plenty of weapons which could have become some sort of heirloom).