Ok we have some Grade-A Geographical and Meterological crazyasses among us, so if Mount Hotenow erupted with Pyroclastic Lava Flows 30 years ago, is there the smallest chance in hell that the Neverwinter area looks like it does in the Starter Set 30 years later?

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I doubt those forests would be as close to the volcano as they look, as for the lava flow at a guess it went down the side with the hills in front hence why they are brownish looking,  not sure how badly it erupted though so a 30 year timeframe may not be so bad....plus the realms are a highly magical setting so 'a wizard made things better' would work as an excuse for not doing research in this case.

Interesting question, and immediately thought about Mt. St. Helens. Seems to be stuff on it:

Mount St. Helens, Recovering 30 Years Later

Apparently different aspects of the volcanic eruption, along with terrain and ecosystem, affected the rate of recovery. Shorter answer, faster than was previously assumed overall, yet still at different rates.

edit: assuming same pyroclastic flow for both, the area affected would be one hex. other effects, like ash plume and mudslides, would affect other hexes in different sizes, and might not be all that far off.

Did the lava flow actually make it to Neverwinter city itself? Or was it just the quakes that did damage? How big or violent an eruption was it?

According to the Forgotten Realms wiki, it destroyed much of Neverwinter and killed thousands.  The 4e Neverwinter book says that a chasm appeared in the southeast portion of the city that spawns monstrosities but the other 3 portions look relatively intact.  i tend to favor the 4e Neverwinter book as more reliable.

Quote from: Omega;790178Did the lava flow actually make it to Neverwinter city itself? Or was it just the quakes that did damage? How big or violent an eruption was it?

No reports of lava at all that I saw, but the ash did corrupt the village of Thundertree, according to the Lost Mine of Phandelver in the Starter Set.
Correction: Neverwinter Campaign Setting pg 8 says "a portion of that volcano's peak exploded with such force that lava and superheated ash poured across the city in an avalanche.  Half of Neverwinters population died in a heartbeat, the city's buildings razed."

Quote from: CRKrueger;790152Ok we have some Grade-A Geographical and Meterological crazyasses among us, so if Mount Hotenow erupted with Pyroclastic Lava Flows 30 years ago, is there the smallest chance in hell that the Neverwinter area looks like it does in the Starter Set 30 years later?

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For what it is worth, the Starter Set map is exactly the same as the map from the 4e Neverwinter hardcover.

Quote from: Patrick;790195Correction: Neverwinter Campaign Setting pg 8 says "a portion of that volcano's peak exploded with such force that lava and superheated ash poured across the city in an avalanche.  Half of Neverwinters population died in a heartbeat, the city's buildings razed."

Ok so sufficient to do a mini Pompeii on Neverwinter from 35 miles away.

Given that Neverwinter is apparently 35 miles from Mt Hotenow, the implausible thing seems to be the city being so badly hit by the eruption. Depending on the wind I can see ash reaching the city, but it's not likely to kill half the population at that range. It sounds more like a magical attack than a natural event.

A natural volcanic eruption might devastate the area immediately around the mountain (the 5-mile hex, maybe some adjacent hexes) but short of a Krakatoa scale explosion it's not going to wipe out stuff further away.

Well, Krakatoa is utterly small compared to Tambora or Toba, so it could still be a volcano but just on a scale not seen since an ice age? pre-history? But 35 miles pyroclastic would be a level of destruction likely above Krakatoa but far smaller than Yellowstone's mega caldera eruption, or similar mega volcanic explosion.

When Pinatubo erupted in '91 the Pyroclastic flows reached 10 miles and the furthest lava bombs reached 20 miles. None of that would have caused major damage to a city 35miles away.
Pinatubo is the second largest eruption of the 20th century (Alaska 1912 for the biggest).

So this is what Pinatubo looks like now -

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So you can see in 23 years the forest is still pretty much secondary growth but its getting there, there is still scaring from the actual lava flow. The Lithoseric progression timeline is measured in dozens of years generally (the time it takes for bare exposed rock to be recolonized by plants) even in tropical climates and in places like Iceland takes centuries.

Also note that Pinatubo is now a caldera lake. A volcanic explosion big enough to cause these events generally creates an impermeable caldera which quickly becomes filled with water.

So Mount Hotenow would have to have erupted with a force of magnitude at least double that of Pinatubo (Krakatoa pushed pyroclastic flows upto 48km so 35 Miles is approximate and that blew up an entire island.... ). There wouldn't be any mountain left unless the volcano had been active since and rebuilt itself. There would be a large caldera lake.
The axis from the mountain to the city would form a long scar as this was the route of the flows and vegetation along that path would be secondary growth so no large trees basically and depending on the climate (I guess temperate maritime) the lava flows would still be bare rock + lichens 30 years later.

Quote from: Opaopajr;790261Well, Krakatoa is utterly small compared to Tambora or Toba, so it could still be a volcano but just on a scale not seen since an ice age? pre-history? But 35 miles pyroclastic would be a level of destruction likely above Krakatoa but far smaller than Yellowstone's mega caldera eruption, or similar mega volcanic explosion.

Toba or Yellowstone we're talking continental-level devastation. Those happen, but they leave big ole craters, not just a bit off the top of the volcano. Mt Hotenow seems to be based on Mt Vesuvius, but with the writers not having a clear idea of scale.

Edit: Personally I halve all scales in my Forgotten Realms campaign. That puts Neverwinter ca 17.5 miles from Hotenow, too far for pyroclastic flow or significant lava bombs at the sort of eruption scale described ('blew off top of the mountain'), but near enough to be clearly visible on the skyline, and near enough that choking ash fallout becomes more plausible if the wind was blowing south-west. Given the monster-filled rift etc I would still use primarily magical explanations for the disaster. Given that the monsters in the rift seem to be Far Realm rather than Elemental Fire/Magma/Chaos, I would go with a Cthuloidy type justification. I assume the actual event is justified/explained in some RA Salvatore novel I've not read, but we can take it that the effects of the event were influenced by Far Realm cultists, the Aboleths etc to produce what actually happened.

Just been going over my 4e Neverwinter Campaign Setting book. The eruption seems to have been caused by an unspecified fire/lava primordial waking up (presumably in a Salvatore book?), and it seems to be asleep again now, but no real detail beyond that. There is no indication that Neverwinter was specifically targeted, and the descriptions of the disaster are unclear at best, though fire & ash were involved, along with an earthquake. The aboleth as written were later opportunists coming up through the rift.

Asmodeus features here and there (Ashmadai, Duergar of Gauntlgrym) and could be a candidate for having manipulated the wild energies of the eruption towards Neverwinter's destruction.

Quote from: S'mon;790286Just been going over my 4e Neverwinter Campaign Setting book. The eruption seems to have been caused by an unspecified fire/lava primordial waking up (presumably in a Salvatore book?), and it seems to be asleep again now, but no real detail beyond that. There is no indication that Neverwinter was specifically targeted, and the descriptions of the disaster are unclear at best, though fire & ash were involved, along with an earthquake. The aboleth as written were later opportunists coming up through the rift...

According to the Salvatore book in question (yes, I read it), the ancient dwarf kingdom Gauntlgrym achieved its glory by taming a fire (or lava) primordial via water elementals (with help from elf and human wizards, during an ancient golden age of racial cooperation, etc.).  For reasons I forget (something to do with their struggle against the Netherese), the Red Wizards deliberately awaken the primordial in order to destroy Neverwinter.  So the volcano acts as a 'cannon', focusing its explosion on the city.  Or something like that.  The heroes eventually manage to reactivate the water elementals, thus causing the primordial to be contained once again.

So it's not a natural volcanic explosion that hits Neverwinter, but a magically controlled one.  (Yet another variant on the 'a wizard did it!')

Quote from: Akrasia;790649For reasons I forget (something to do with their struggle against the Netherese), the Red Wizards deliberately awaken the primordial in order to destroy Neverwinter.  So the volcano acts as a 'cannon', focusing its explosion on the city.  Or something like that.  The heroes eventually manage to reactivate the water elementals, thus causing the primordial to be contained once again.

So it's not a natural volcanic explosion that hits Neverwinter, but a magically controlled one.  (Yet another variant on the 'a wizard did it!')

Cheers Akrasia - a giant Necromantic volcano-canon aimed at Neverwinter, cool. :cool: