Natural Disasters: What are they and what can the heroes do?

[SSgt Baloo]

I've been seeing a lot of science shows on apocalypses lately, from hypercanes to supervolcanoes to megaquakes and more.

 

Let's try to list several different types of disasters (naturally-ocurring or supervillain-induced). We will then figure out how to model these in Hero format (5th & 6th ED) and determine what (if any) superheroes can do to halt the disaster or at least mitigate its effects.

 

F'rinstance a small disaster that occurred in one of my own campaigns (Golden Age, pre-WWII) the heroes were in Cuba looking for a Nazi Spy© when an apartment building caught fire. Elastico, Tex Jones (a two-fisted adventurer) and the Great White Hunter dashed into the building to evacuate people to safety while the rest of the group tried to put out the fire. The Elemental (earth, air, fire, and water powers) aided them by providing a spray of water (8 dice EB spread to cover8 hexes, reducing it to 0 dice) to protect the rescuers and the victims as they were being evacuated. The Superman clone flew to the nearby docks and borrowed a large rowboat which he subsequently used as a scoop to bring (literally) boatloads of water to help extinguish the fire. I didn't map out the fire but just said "the building's on fire". We didn't model anything in particular and I gave credit to the heroes for coming up with imaginative ways to render aid.

 

 

 

 

So, just to get the ball rolling, let's figure out what problems our heroes would have to deal with in case of a major earthquake.

1. Shaking ground (keeping one's footing, etc.)
   
2. Collapsing buildings and other structures.
   
3. Cracks in the ground swallowing up people and buildings. (also soil liquefaction).
   
4. Gas and water mains break.
   
5. Fires.
   
6. Tsunamis in coastal areas.
   

Anything else you can think of?

 

ETA Links:

 

• Thread: Natural Disasters: Giant Monsters Awaken!
  
• Thread: Earthquake! What does it do, and how do the heroes respond?
  
• Thread: The Buildings! They're FALLING!!
  
• Thread: How to Save That Train!
  
• Thread: Help! It's on fire!
  

[Clonus]

Re: Natural Disasters: What are they and what can the heroes do?

 

The release of sleeping subterranean monsters? I mean we are talking comic books.

[Matt the Bruins]

Re: Natural Disasters: What are they and what can the heroes do?

 

Loss of power in heavily affected areas - stoplights stop working and cause traffic snarlups/accidents, at night the city is plunged into darkness, candles and broken gas lines contribute to fires, hospitals have to hope their backup generators aren't damaged by the quake itself or falling masonry, etc.

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: Natural Disasters: What are they and what can the heroes do?

 

Fires in chemical plants, causing danger not just in the vicinity of the fire but downwind as well. And in a supers game, the possibility of a supervillain origin story.

 

Train derailments. This could be a real mess if the city has an elevated rapid transit system.

 

Claims by a supervillain that he caused the quake, and will cause more if he doesn't get what he wants. (Did he, or didn't he?)

 

Potential pollution of the groundwater.

 

Possible riots and looting, especially with a power outage and at night.

 

I'd give it a personal touch. A few weeks before the earthquake, the hero meets a kid waiting for an organ transplant (meeting set up by one of those Make a Wish organizations); the kid's a major fan of the hero. Just prior to the quake, the hero is told that the kid is hanging on by his fingernails, but a viable donor organ is enroute, in a private plane. Now, the plane can't land, and the time the kid has left may be measured in minutes. Does the hero save people trapped under rubble, or help get the organ to the kid?

[SSgt Baloo]

Re: Natural Disasters: What are they and what can the heroes do?

 

Thanks for the input. As I get organized, I'll start adding links below, connecting to threads that deal with each scenario in turn. Again, thanks for your ideas.

 

 

 

major earthquake.

1. Shaking ground (keeping one's footing, etc.)
   
2. Collapsing buildings and other structures.
   
3. Cracks in the ground swallowing up people and buildings. (also soil liquefaction).
   
4. Gas and water mains break.
   
5. Fires.
   
6. Tsunamis in coastal areas.
   

The release of sleeping subterranean monsters? I mean we are talking comic books.

 

Loss of power in heavily affected areas - stoplights stop working and cause traffic snarlups/accidents' date=' at night the city is plunged into darkness, candles and broken gas lines contribute to fires, hospitals have to hope their backup generators aren't damaged by the quake itself or falling masonry, etc.[/quote']

 

Fires in chemical plants, causing danger not just in the vicinity of the fire but downwind as well. And in a supers game, the possibility of a supervillain origin story.

 

Train derailments. This could be a real mess if the city has an elevated rapid transit system.

 

Claims by a supervillain that he caused the quake, and will cause more if he doesn't get what he wants. (Did he, or didn't he?)

 

Potential pollution of the groundwater.

 

Possible riots and looting, especially with a power outage and at night.

 

I'd give it a personal touch. A few weeks before the earthquake, the hero meets a kid waiting for an organ transplant (meeting set up by one of those Make a Wish organizations); the kid's a major fan of the hero. Just prior to the quake, the hero is told that the kid is hanging on by his fingernails, but a viable donor organ is enroute, in a private plane. Now, the plane can't land, and the time the kid has left may be measured in minutes. Does the hero save people trapped under rubble, or help get the organ to the kid?

[SSgt Baloo]

Re: Natural Disasters: What are they and what can the heroes do?

 

Added links to the OP. Started new thread re: earthquakes.

[SSgt Baloo]

Re: Natural Disasters: What are they and what can the heroes do?

 

Added link to new thread in the OP:

Thread: The Buildings! They're FALLING!!

[Cancer]

Re: Natural Disasters: What are they and what can the heroes do?

 

A Fujita 5 tornado passing through your major metropolitan area is another possibility. For an area 30 km across, a somewhat slow-moving funnel would take an hour or so to traverse the area, and funnel diameters up 1.5 km are known. And by sending the funnel through whatever sort of facility you choose, you can add artificial nastiness to the general destruction.

[SSgt Baloo]

Re: Natural Disasters: What are they and what can the heroes do?

 

New Thread:

Thread: How to Save That Train!

[Hyper-Man]

Re: Natural Disasters: What are they and what can the heroes do?

 

It's situations like this that separate the true super-heroes from the crime-fighters.

Characters like Batman, Green Arrow and Black Canary are usually not going to be able to 'physically' do much more than a normal firefighter or other emergency worker in most disaster situations.

This is why these types of characters tend to end up in leadership roles more often than the high-powered supers.

[SSgt Baloo]

Re: Natural Disasters: What are they and what can the heroes do?

 

New thread: Help! It's on fire!

[Escafarc]

Re: Natural Disasters: What are they and what can the heroes do?

 

A not so natural disaster: http://books.google.com/books?id=_ykDAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA103&dq=can%20we%20blast%20japan%20from%20below&as_brr=1&as_pt=MAGAZINES&pg=PA103#v=onepage&q=&f=false

 

[SSgt Baloo]

Re: Natural Disasters: What are they and what can the heroes do?

 

A not so natural disaster: http://books.google.com/books?id=_ykDAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA103&dq=can%20we%20blast%20japan%20from%20below&as_brr=1&as_pt=MAGAZINES&pg=PA103#v=onepage&q=&f=false

 

 

I'd give you "appropriate subject matter and sig" rep, but I gotts spread some.

[Cancer]

Re: Natural Disasters: What are they and what can the heroes do?

 

There are a few artificial disasters that could happen, either by accident or artifice. There are a few cities downstream of large dams that might be threatened by a dam burst.

 

Along similar lines (catastrophic flooding), tsunami and lahar (pyroclastic mud flows) could threaten some places which seem to be otherwise out of direct threat from earthquakes and large volcanic explosions.