Acceptable Breaks from/Fiddling with Mechanics

[Umbran]

Not gas tank. A petrol tanker truck. If it did go off, it would be a big boom.

That depends on how it goes off.

Gasoline, as a liquid, does not generally burn or explode. It has to be combined with air (in vapor form, or aerosolized) in order to do that - this is why your car has a carburetor or fuel injectors. Most of the things you think of as "explosives" (gunpowder, plastic explosives, and such) carry their own oxidants with them, but gasoline doesn't.

So, if your tank of gas (of whatever size) gets splattered around a lot, there'll be a big blaze of fire. It is very flashy, but generally doesn't provide much of a pressure wave. Gasoline typically goes more "whoof!" than "BOOM!"

 

[Elothan]

I usually respond to such things with, if it works in hollywood, it works here, but it might be hard to pull off..

 

[Heathen72]

That depends on how it goes off.
So, if your tank of gas (of whatever size) gets splattered around a lot, there'll be a big blaze of fire. It is very flashy, but generally doesn't provide much of a pressure wave. Gasoline typically goes more "whoof!" than "BOOM!"

For game purposes, I think it's reasonable to rule that it goes off in a way to do this:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVHSaA30WBs]YouTube - Fuel Tanker Explosion[/ame]

 

[Zhaleskra]

Thinking back to my original example, the first adventure lists a party size of 4-7. The other two in the trilogy drop to the standard 4-6.

This seems like a (in the words of Tom Riddle) "Kill the spare" situation. Unless of course they prove the truly guilty party guilty.

Rather it would, if the PCs didn't get a week to continue to try to prove their friend's innocence. Harder than it would be if they find the culprit earlier, but still not impossible. However; if they fail here, their friend dies.