Trapped Miners in PA (not OT)

[Uller]

Hi All,

As most of you are probably aware, southwestern Pennsylvania just experienced some very good news in that 9 miners who were trapped in a flooded mine for over 3 days were found and rescued in relatively good condition. Having grown up not far from the Somerset area, my familly and I watched this story with great interest, hoping and praying these men would be pulled out alive. I drove through a nearby town (Jennerstown) both before and after the men were found and that was a pretty neat experience to see a community go from the brink of mourning to teh euphoria of loved ones returned.

Now that it's all over, I'm thinking it would be fun to run an adventure around some similar events in-game. A mine suddenly floods. Several miners never come out, but it is believed they may still be alive (maybe through divinations) and the PCs are drawn into the effort to rescue them as well as discover the source of the flood. At first it will appear to be an accident, but clues will point to something more sinister. Of course, the watery depths will be populated with creatures that were brought in with the water.

That's about all the thought I've put into it so far...any ideas about how to run such an adventure, what kind of creatures to use, what might be the sinister source of the water, etc would be appreciated.

The characters will probably be around 3rd level.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

This ties in very nicely with Nightfall's "decanter of endless water" thread.

A few potions of water breating, some aquatic encounters, and it looks like a really fun game.

 

[Nightfall]

Yeah well I didn't plan on the mine flooding. But next time I'm making an aquatic dungeon, thus forcing the PLAYERS to adapt.

 

[Apok]

This ties in very nicely with Nightfall's "decanter of endless water" thread.

A few potions of water breating, some aquatic encounters, and it looks like a really fun game.

Heh, y'know I was thinking the exact same thing.

 

[Nightfall]

The same thought crossed my mind when this happened Apok.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Here's a link to an article about it: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14209-2002Jul28.html

One thing that struck me was that all the miners use chewing tabacco. That makes complete sense of course. It's tantamount to suicide to smoke in a mine. But I always picutre dwarves (traditional fantasy miners) as smokers. I doubt very much this archetype will change at all, but it's something to consider if striving for versimilatude.

 

[Uller]

Of course, do dwarves typically mine coal? I guess they would need fuel for their forges and coal is definately an excellent fuel (to get wood to burn that hot, you need a much larger volume of fuel).

I don't know mining too well, but it is my understanding that explosive gas is not a problem with the mining of metal ore and gems.

They just had a press conference with 5 of the 9 miners. When asked if they would return to the mine, one of them said "I am a man of means by no means." That gave me a good laugh.

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

That's about all the thought I've put into it so far...any ideas about how to run such an adventure, what kind of creatures to use, what might be the sinister source of the water, etc would be appreciated.

The characters will probably be around 3rd level.

There are some interesting thoughts about running "regular" characters through an underwater adventure in the old 1st edition module U3 - The Final Enemy (final chapter of the Saltmarsh series - U1 - The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh and U2 - Danger at Dunwater are the first 2 parts).

I am currently running my children (and a few others) through this series. They have finished the first two modules, and cleaned out the first level of the final location. Now, however, they have to venture into the submerged levels on a information-gathering mission.

The module offers some interesting thoughts on the changes for underwater adventuring. If it's not currently in the conversion library (I snagged it there over a year ago), I can email you the underwater combat sections. Just email me if you want it.

 

[Hand of Evil]

The flooding of one mine, is the drying out of another one.

Plot: Someone needed to get to a cavern system that was underwater and just 'arranged' for the miners to dig in the wrong location. This could be a simple switching of maps!

 

[Rune]

Of course, do dwarves typically mine coal?

Tolkein's dwarves did (in The Hobbit) and they were mighty unhappy about it.