Natural disaster adventures?

[the Jester]

Well, I had a forest fire adventure once. But the kicker was that a pc had set the fire! The party had just split up in anger, with all the halflings leaving the rest, and GOING UPHILL... and one of the halflings snuck off and lit a fire... which rapidly spread, and grew, and, y'know how fire goes uphill...?

Sadly, only one of the halflings survived, but at least it wasn't the pyromaniac. Well, what can you do...

I agree with the advice above: keep things moving. Natural disasters are hard to fight; you can try to control weather or whatever, but if you aren't pretty high level it becomes a fight to survive, not to triumph. (In the forest fire adventure, there were many falling, burning trees, smoke inhalation saves, etc. etc.) Your tank fighter is useless. The most useful pcs are likely to be rangers and druids, or other spellcasters or rogues with the right skills.

A natural disaster should be scary as hell to the people caught in it. All the side stuff (burning tower, open the gates, rescue the child) is a tiny fragment of what's going on. There's an old Rom comic where Rom and Alpha Flight face off with a broken dam and then spend the next issue dealing with the devestation caused by their failure. Natural disaster adventures should (imho) always have a "heavy" feeling to them; you can't just stab a drought. You can't fireball a tidal wave. They're not easy to survive, much less overcome.

 

[Xarlen]

Gust of Wind, Wall of Force, Pyrotechnics, Control Water, Stone Shape, Create Water.

These spells can be life savers in a Natural Disaster.

I once had a vampire draw some PCs out of a tavern by setting some villagers' houses on fire. One of the PCs dived into the building, to save one of the kids he'd become friends with. Had to dodge falling parts of the ceiling, and then used some Create Water to help put out the fire.

 

[blaster219]

I once had a volcano erupt in a campaign I was running. I had been building up to the cataclysm for over a month using the usual signs, gas vents re-opening, earth tremours, landslides, lakes boiling and animal acting unusual. I even had signs showing up in divination.

PC: I use my Danger Sense skill.
ME: You sense danger.
PC: When?
ME: Soon, maybe within a month
PC: Where?
ME: Everywhere.
PC: What's the danger.
ME: Vision is hazy, try again later.

 

[Furn_Darkside]

I once had a volcano erupt in a campaign I was running. I had been building up to the cataclysm for over a month using the usual signs, gas vents re-opening, earth tremours, landslides, lakes boiling and animal acting unusual. I even had signs showing up in divination.

Did the players put it together before they started facing lava damage?

FD

 

[blaster219]

No, they ran along with the rest of the refugees. Contrary to hollywood propaganda, nothing short of a God can stop a volcanic eruption.

Most of the next few modules were spent dealing with the immediate aftermath of the eruption. Including the revolution that was triggered by rebels taking advantage of the chaos to stage a coup.

 

[The Forsaken One]

Nice guys! Some good tips and advice here and surely some very good ideas for finally some original and creative "encounters". Thanks and I'll be sure to use them or some variant or combination!

 

[MeepoTheMighty]

Nice guys! Some good tips and advice here and surely some very good ideas for finally some original and creative "encounters". Thanks and I'll be sure to use them or some variant or combination!

While it wasn't a *natural* disaster, per se, I had the party deal with the chaos caused when a raiding pirate band set half the town on fire.

 

[Jaws]

Volcano

I had a volcano erupt but it wasn't natural. Too much powerful magic was going on, and the nearby volcano erupted. The PC's weren't close to it. And it was mostly just ash. Part of the volcanic mountain broke off and slide down the side.
The valley the PC's were in though turned dark from the falling ash.

Peace and smiles

j.