Atmospheric stats for over-the-top Yellowstone Eruption

ericthered · 06-09-2023, 03:52 PM

I'm running a game called infinite ruins, which is sort of like infinite worlds but every single world is post or mid-apocalyptic.

The players will soon visit a world where the yellow-stone hotspot erupts and messes up the entire world. Like Siberian Traps P/K extinction bad, or worse.

What sort of atmospheric effects can/ought I to throw at my players? I want to make sure that crops can't grow, and it'd be nice to force them into environment suits. I'm thinking thick clouds that lower the temperature, Acid Rain, and maybe even enough sulfur in the atmosphere to make it toxic... but how much would that be, and what would the stats be?

If location matters, they're based out of Connecticut.

Thanks!

whswhs · 06-09-2023, 05:21 PM

This isn't a technical source, but I lately reread Harry Turtledove's Supervolcano series, and it gets fairly graphic about the aftereffects, including millions of deaths from lung cancer caused by volcanic dust . . .

Pursuivant · 06-11-2023, 07:20 AM

There are a number of fossil sites in the plains states where early mammals killed by supervolcano eruptions are preserved. They might give you enough ideas to get started. For example:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashfall_Fossil_Beds

The big hazard to distant communities is volcanic ash. While caustic ash will neutralize fairly quickly, ash composed of tiny bits of stone can still be nasty. Keep in mind that the farther you are from the volcano, the finer the ash particles will be, so the more insidious the effects on people, animals and machinery.

Not only can thick dust clouds relatively close to the eruption cause slow (or not so slow) suffocation but fine volcanic dust gets into everything. Jet engines will croak out immediately and any other "air-breathing" machine will overheat quickly due to clogged air filters. Clogged filters could also be a hazard for people in environmental suits.

Liberally use the rules for Slime, Sand, and Equipment Failure (p. 485) to represent the effects of microparticles of volcanic dust getting into anything with moving parts.

Visibility will be low to nil as long as there's ash in the air (the smoke from the Quebec wildfires that blanketed the Eastern U.S. might seem benign by comparison). Darkness Penalties apply on even the brightest days.

Periodic sulfur clouds from small or distant eruptions might randomly make the air just toxic enough that you need filter masks to avoid taking damage every 1 minute to 10 minutes. Rolls to avoid Coughing and Sneezing might be required every few seconds or every minute due to ash and irritating chemicals in the air.

Everything might reek of sulfur and ash might make it harder to smell, giving penalties to Smell rolls.

Thick ash clouds will cause automatic Coughing and Sneezing for anyone without protection. HT rolls might be needed every minute to 10 minutes to avoid losing FP due to slow suffocation. HP damage kicks in when FP does to zero. That will pretty much kill any animals downwind of the eruption even in the absence of caustic ash effects. (Hot ash is even nastier, it does burn damage every 1 second to 1 minute.)

Fright Checks might be required if you're suddenly engulfed in blinding or hot ash.

mburr0003 · 06-11-2023, 01:56 PM

It's Vox (so.... yeah) but it's a start and they are sourcing a "predictive" paper published by actual volcanologists.

Quote:

... but how much would that be, and what would the stats be?

I'd handwave the stats, unless someone got caught without a suit - but the likelihood of that is up to you, but yeah, it would be 'bad' if it was in in the fallout zone.

Polydamas · 06-11-2023, 11:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whswhs

This isn't a technical source, but I lately reread Harry Turtledove's Supervolcano series, and it gets fairly graphic about the aftereffects, including millions of deaths from lung cancer caused by volcanic dust . . .

His later novels are nice and pulpy which tends to make them good inspiration for games.

RGTraynor · 06-11-2023, 11:32 PM

Take a gander as to how brutally, and for how long, Krakatoa effed up the world.

Then consider that scientists estimate that the last Yellowstone supereruption kicked out FIFTY TIMES the ejecta Krakatoa did.

About half the United States would become uninhabitable, full stop. (Connecticut would merely be buried under a foot of ash, instead of 200 feet of it. That's something, anyway.)

It amuses me that in reading about some of the movies filmed on the subject, one reviewer who plainly got his C-minus in college in geology -- to paraphrase Jason Isaacs -- had this to say: "The biggest problem, actually, is that there's no action to be taken in response to this "What if Yellowstone National Park goes kablooey?" threat, except perhaps to get the hell out of North America." Well, no freaking kidding. What action did that clown think any government COULD meaningfully take to mitigate Armageddon?

ericthered · 06-13-2023, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whswhs

This isn't a technical source, but I lately reread Harry Turtledove's Supervolcano series, and it gets fairly graphic about the aftereffects, including millions of deaths from lung cancer caused by volcanic dust . . .

Quote:

Originally Posted by Polydamas

His later novels are nice and pulpy which tends to make them good inspiration for games.

I mean, it is alternate history!... I don't know that I have time to read it before I need it though

Quote:

Originally Posted by mburr0003

It's Vox (so.... yeah) but it's a start and they are sourcing a "predictive" paper published by actual volcanologists.

I'd handwave the stats, unless someone got caught without a suit - but the likelihood of that is up to you, but yeah, it would be 'bad' if it was in in the fallout zone.

The charts here are great. Yeah, its Vox, but its also cinematic apocalypses. In fact, I need this one to last for a very long time, so I'm probably going to beef it up past the Vox article. I'm looking for Siberian Traps size problems.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

While caustic ash will neutralize fairly quickly, ash composed of tiny bits of stone can still be nasty.

That's a good tidbit.

Quote:

Liberally use the rules for Slime, Sand, and Equipment Failure (p. 485) to represent the effects of microparticles of volcanic dust getting into anything with moving parts.

That's another really good one. The vehicle of choice for the players is a hovercraft.

Quote:

Jet engines will croak out immediately and any other "air-breathing" machine will overheat quickly due to clogged air filters. Clogged filters could also be a hazard for people in environmental suits.

That's lots of fun.

Quote:

Periodic sulfur clouds from small or distant eruptions might randomly make the air just toxic enough that you need filter masks to avoid taking damage every 1 minute to 10 minutes.

Hmm. that's a start for toxic atmosphere effects.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RGTraynor

Take a gander as to how brutally, and for how long, Krakatoa effed up the world.

That's actually the issue. I want a 200+ year disaster for this particular world. I suppose continuing eruptions will do it.

Thanks for the inputs so far.

whswhs · 06-13-2023, 12:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ericthered

That's actually the issue. I want a 200+ year disaster for this particular world. I suppose continuing eruptions will do it.

Turtledove has massive global cooling, though probably not an out and out ice age (which would last a lot more than 200 years, I think). Snow becomes common in southern California.

Anthony · 06-13-2023, 03:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ericthered

That's actually the issue. I want a 200+ year disaster for this particular world. I suppose continuing eruptions will do it.

You're going to have an indirect effect for a very long time because of all the stuff that died, but it sounds like the actual direct effects would be fairly brief (see for example estimates on the Chicxulub impact, which isn't a volcano but is mostly going to be the same class of problems). You really need an ongoing effect that's refreshing the problem, at least for non-gases (CO2 levels would take tens of thousands of years to return to normal). Ongoing eruptions would do the job in the immediate area but probably aren't a global problem.

Pursuivant · 06-15-2023, 10:22 AM

For effects on jet engines, take a look at various stories on Icelandic volcanic eruptions. Since Iceland sits right on the great circle route from Eastern North America to Europe, any major eruption plays hell with air travel.

Volcanic ash sucked into jet engines acts like superheated sandpaper on the turbine blades as well as depriving the engine of sufficient oxygen for it to work.

Air travel might be impossible for years or decades after a supereruption.

Another fun fact is that some volcanic ash can contain high levels of fluorine and other nasty chemicals which can poison soil and groundwater.

Volcanic ash can also mix with water to form a cement-like mixture which makes digging out hard. Mudslides or landslides are also possible in ash-covered areas. Normally, they just affect the volcano's slopes, but a supervolcano might drop enough ash on other mountains that it triggers landslides.

Once the nasty volatile chemical leach out of volcanic ash, however, it eventually becomes highly fertile soil due to the abundance of trace elements.

06-09-2023, 03:52 PM	#1
ericthered Hero of Democracy Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: far from the ocean	Atmospheric stats for over-the-top Yellowstone Eruption I'm running a game called infinite ruins, which is sort of like infinite worlds but every single world is post or mid-apocalyptic. The players will soon visit a world where the yellow-stone hotspot erupts and messes up the entire world. Like Siberian Traps P/K extinction bad, or worse. What sort of atmospheric effects can/ought I to throw at my players? I want to make sure that crops can't grow, and it'd be nice to force them into environment suits. I'm thinking thick clouds that lower the temperature, Acid Rain, and maybe even enough sulfur in the atmosphere to make it toxic... but how much would that be, and what would the stats be? If location matters, they're based out of Connecticut. Thanks! __________________ Be helpful, not pedantic Worlds Beyond Earth -- my blog Check out the PbP forum! If you don't see a game you'd like, ask me about making one!

06-09-2023, 05:21 PM	#2
whswhs Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Lawrence, KS	Re: Atmospheric stats for over-the-top Yellowstone Eruption This isn't a technical source, but I lately reread Harry Turtledove's Supervolcano series, and it gets fairly graphic about the aftereffects, including millions of deaths from lung cancer caused by volcanic dust . . . __________________ Bill Stoddard I don't think we're in Oz any more.

06-11-2023, 07:20 AM	#3
Pursuivant Join Date: Apr 2005	Re: Atmospheric stats for over-the-top Yellowstone Eruption There are a number of fossil sites in the plains states where early mammals killed by supervolcano eruptions are preserved. They might give you enough ideas to get started. For example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashfall_Fossil_Beds The big hazard to distant communities is volcanic ash. While caustic ash will neutralize fairly quickly, ash composed of tiny bits of stone can still be nasty. Keep in mind that the farther you are from the volcano, the finer the ash particles will be, so the more insidious the effects on people, animals and machinery. Not only can thick dust clouds relatively close to the eruption cause slow (or not so slow) suffocation but fine volcanic dust gets into everything. Jet engines will croak out immediately and any other "air-breathing" machine will overheat quickly due to clogged air filters. Clogged filters could also be a hazard for people in environmental suits. Liberally use the rules for Slime, Sand, and Equipment Failure (p. 485) to represent the effects of microparticles of volcanic dust getting into anything with moving parts. Visibility will be low to nil as long as there's ash in the air (the smoke from the Quebec wildfires that blanketed the Eastern U.S. might seem benign by comparison). Darkness Penalties apply on even the brightest days. Periodic sulfur clouds from small or distant eruptions might randomly make the air just toxic enough that you need filter masks to avoid taking damage every 1 minute to 10 minutes. Rolls to avoid Coughing and Sneezing might be required every few seconds or every minute due to ash and irritating chemicals in the air. Everything might reek of sulfur and ash might make it harder to smell, giving penalties to Smell rolls. Thick ash clouds will cause automatic Coughing and Sneezing for anyone without protection. HT rolls might be needed every minute to 10 minutes to avoid losing FP due to slow suffocation. HP damage kicks in when FP does to zero. That will pretty much kill any animals downwind of the eruption even in the absence of caustic ash effects. (Hot ash is even nastier, it does burn damage every 1 second to 1 minute.) Fright Checks might be required if you're suddenly engulfed in blinding or hot ash.

06-11-2023, 11:32 PM	#6
RGTraynor Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Pioneer Valley	Re: Atmospheric stats for over-the-top Yellowstone Eruption Take a gander as to how brutally, and for how long, Krakatoa effed up the world. Then consider that scientists estimate that the last Yellowstone supereruption kicked out FIFTY TIMES the ejecta Krakatoa did. About half the United States would become uninhabitable, full stop. (Connecticut would merely be buried under a foot of ash, instead of 200 feet of it. That's something, anyway.) It amuses me that in reading about some of the movies filmed on the subject, one reviewer who plainly got his C-minus in college in geology -- to paraphrase Jason Isaacs -- had this to say: "The biggest problem, actually, is that there's no action to be taken in response to this "What if Yellowstone National Park goes kablooey?" threat, except perhaps to get the hell out of North America." Well, no freaking kidding. What action did that clown think any government COULD meaningfully take to mitigate Armageddon? __________________ My gaming blog: Apotheosis of the Invisible City "Call me old-fashioned, but after you're dead, I don't think you should be entitled to a Dodge any more." - my wife It's not that I don't understand what you're saying. It's that I disagree with what you're saying. Last edited by RGTraynor; 06-11-2023 at 11:44 PM.

06-15-2023, 10:22 AM	#10
Pursuivant Join Date: Apr 2005	Re: Atmospheric stats for over-the-top Yellowstone Eruption For effects on jet engines, take a look at various stories on Icelandic volcanic eruptions. Since Iceland sits right on the great circle route from Eastern North America to Europe, any major eruption plays hell with air travel. Volcanic ash sucked into jet engines acts like superheated sandpaper on the turbine blades as well as depriving the engine of sufficient oxygen for it to work. Air travel might be impossible for years or decades after a supereruption. Another fun fact is that some volcanic ash can contain high levels of fluorine and other nasty chemicals which can poison soil and groundwater. Volcanic ash can also mix with water to form a cement-like mixture which makes digging out hard. Mudslides or landslides are also possible in ash-covered areas. Normally, they just affect the volcano's slopes, but a supervolcano might drop enough ash on other mountains that it triggers landslides. Once the nasty volatile chemical leach out of volcanic ash, however, it eventually becomes highly fertile soil due to the abundance of trace elements.