Whether naturally caused or not, earthquakes are extremely destructive.
They are rated on a 1-10 basis that closely resembles the Richter scale.
The list below de- scribes the effects of each level.
Unless otherwise stated each listing has the effects of all preceding levels as well as its own.
Scale 1.2:
No damage but animals are spooked.
Horsemen make a control roll with Base Odds 30 Scale 3:
Rattles china, lamps, etc.
Scale 4:
Weakens brick, adobe, and stone and mortar structures:
subtract 10 from breaking strength.
Wild horses stampede.
Men make Bal- ance roll against falling over with Base Odds 30.
Horsemen make a control roll with Base Odds 25.
Scale 5:
Jolts items from cupboards.
Subtract 20 from breaking strength of brick type structures.
Scale 6:
Collapses brick type structures.
Men make Balance roll with Base Odds 20.
Horsemen make a control roll Base Odds 15.
Weakens wood frame structures.
Scale 7:
Collapses wood frame structures.
Damages cut stone and concrete walls:
Subtract 50 from breaking strength <including main gates).
Men make Balance rolls Base Odds 10.
Horses bolt and fall 50% of the time.
Thirty percent of the trees fall.
Scale 8:
Severe damage to cut stone and concrete:
minus 500 to breaking strength.
Halves odds for falling without serious injury.
Minor to- pography changes:
mountains rise or fall 30 feet, new scarps ap- pear, rivers change course.
Eighty percent of the trees are snapped off.
Scale 9:
Collapse of all but solid metal or enchanted stone/concrete struc- tures:
Subtract 500 from breaking strength of enchanted structures.
One third odds for falling without serious injury.
All trees fall.
Scale 10:
Only solid metal surface structures survive.
Major topography changes:
rises and falls of up to 100 feet, new scarps, and rivers change course.
One fourth odds of falling without serious injury and all men stunned for two minutes.
Running the Scale up to 10 gives the referee some flexibility -there are regions of seismic activity that may“ store” energy up to a Scale 2 quake.
If desired the referee may use this in a scenario:
such a stored quake is tripped by casting at least one Earthquake spell, resulting in a quake of Scale equal to the stored value plus that of the spell.
No quakes can exceed Scale 10.
An Earthquake has a huge effects range -the six mile map hex containing the epicenter is affected at full Scale, and every surrounding hex at Scale roinus one.
Those hexes two from the epicenter are affected at Scale minus 2, and so on until the Scale goes to zero.
09.09-earthquakes.txt