Trapped Miners in PA (not OT)

[Kid Charlemagne]

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.

The bigger issue would be one of using up oxygen. Of course, lanterns have burning oil, so any mine would likely have some exposure to flame...

Another things to keep in mind is carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide pockets. One will extinguish your flame, the other will cause it to blow up in your face! Now if only I could remember which is which...

 

[Rune]

pretty sure carbon dioxide will extinguish flames

 

[Eridanis]

CO goes boom, CO2 goes pfft, I would imagine.

It was interesting seeing them come out covered in oily water after being trapped in the depths for three days. Makes dungeon adventuring seem a lot harder than we usually play it out around a comfortable gaming table.

 

[radferth]

gasses

CO2 (or any gas or mixture of gasses which lacks O2 molecules) will extinguish your flame. CO is not particularly flamable, but it fairly poisonous in even small quantities. It is the gas that kills people when it is released by a faulty heater, or when a person commits suicide by running a car in a closed garage. I know that their is something called coal gas that is flamable, but I am not sure what it is. I would guess a mixture or methane and other -anes. Of course, in a fantasy world who knows what types of gas may lurk down there, and you needn't determine the exact chemical formula to use it in your game.

 

[Mark Chance]

Ka boom!

Originally posted by Kid Charlemagne Another things to keep in mind is carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide pockets. One will extinguish your flame, the other will cause it to blow up in your face! Now if only I could remember which is which...

Carbon monoxide burns to carbon dioxide, and it is formed by the incomplete combustion of carbon. It is not especially combustible from my limited reading on the subject, but it is highly toxic. I would imagine encountering naturally occuring pockets of CO would be a bit rare, but I'm no geologist.

Methane, OTOH, is highly combustible and forms naturally from the decomposition of organic matter and the carbonization of coal. Contrary to many movies to the contrary (most recently Eight Legged Freaks), methane is odorless.

 

[Uller]

Excellent stuff...excellent.

So far we have a good "plot". Someone wanted to drain a nearby water filled mine or cave and the mining operation proved a convenenant method to do that. I have a couple of NPCs who are up to no good in the area already. One is an evil cleric of a death cult who recently purchased a very large quantity of onyx for the creation of undead. Perhaps he just needed a large number of freshly dead people to serve as "raw materials". Perhaps there is something in the other mine/cave he wants.

We also have some interesting hazards besides monsters. Very cold water. Water with no air. CO2 that can asphyxiate. Methane that can explode (both odorless).

Good...good.

As for fighting in water rules...I plan on using the ones from the RttToEE web-enhancement.