Yeah, quest giving NPCs in the core would be downright awesome. What I envision, is if every zone had an underground component (could be 1 or 2 rooms) that basically serves as a meeting room for the representatives of each zone (People live there too, right?). In these rooms you could chat with them and get quests related to said zone. Deathclaw infestations, weapons/armor/things in need of repair, things to scavenge for, the list could be endless. Each of these could be linked to a zone or core rep that allows you access to certain vendors and things in the underground rooms I mentioned before.The vendors would have discounted loot related to what appears in that zone (e.g. Springs/Pipes for Water, Electronic Parts, Robo Hands and Transformers etc for Robco...) for ease of material acquisition if finding it appears too damn hard. Its just some brainstorming, but I would like more acitivty in the core regardless.
(Disclaimer: These rooms/zone hq's qould have to be locked during ZC.)