Particles... Particles

That said, just stick this in an include or something and call the appropriate functions (there're only two, and they're fairly self explanatory).

;Explosions for the Lotus particle system.
;Media from the lps_test2.zip archive is required.
;InitExplosion()  -  Call this to initialize the required emitters.
;Explode(X,Y,Z)  -  Call this to create an explosion at X,Y,Z

;I'm still working on projectile explosions >:)

Global gExpSmoke,gExpSmokeTrail,gExpSpark,gExpFire

Function InitExplosion()
     Local Fire,Smoke,SparkMesh,SparkTex

     ;; Load textures.  And stuff.
     Fire = LoadTexture("fire.png",1+16+32)
     Smoke = LoadTexture("smoke.png",1+2+16+32)
     SparkMesh = LoadMesh("beam.3ds")
     RotateMesh SparkMesh,90,0,0
     ScaleMesh SparkMesh,.2,.2,.2
     HideEntity SparkMesh ;woops, forgot that
     SparkTex = LoadTexture("beam.png",1+16+32)

     If Not Fire Or Smoke Or SparkMesh Or SparkTex Then RuntimeError "Uh-oh!  Explosion couldn't be created due to one or more of the four intial variables being 0!  Papa had an oopsie!"

     gExpFire = CreateEmitter(Fire)
          SetEmitterLifeSpan gExpFire,50
          SetEmitterSizeFrom gExpFire,4,4,4
          SetEmitterSizeTo gExpFire,6.7,6.7,6.7
          SetEmitterColorFrom gExpFire,0,0,0,2
          SetEmitterColorTo gExpFire,255,255,255,0
          SetEmitterBlend gExpFire,3
          SetEmitterVelocity gExpFire,0,0,.025


     gExpSmoke = CreateEmitter(Smoke)
          SetEmitterLifeSpan gExpSmoke,96
          SetEmitterSizeFrom gExpSmoke,5,5,5
          SetEmitterSizeTo gExpSmoke,10,10,10
          SetEmitterColorFrom gExpSmoke,0,0,0,2
          SetEmitterColorTo gExpSmoke,192,192,192,0
          SetEmitterBlend gExpSmoke,3


     gExpSmokeTrail = CopyEmitter(gExpSmoke)
          SetEmitterLifeSpan gExpSmokeTrail,32
          SetEmitterSizeFrom gExpSmokeTrail,.5,.5,.5
          SetEmitterSizeTo gExpSmokeTrail,1.3,1.3,1.3
          SetEmitterWaitSpan gExpSmokeTrail,5
          SetEmitterAngle gExpSmokeTrail,-90,0,0
          SetEmitterAcceleration gExpSmokeTrail,0,0,.001


     gExpSpark = CreateEmitter(SparkTex)
          SetEmitterLifeSpan gExpSpark,40
          SetEmitterVelocity gExpSpark,0,0,.15
          SetEmitterAcceleration gExpSpark,0,0,.005
          SetEmitterAngleAcceleration gExpSpark,.04,0,0
          SetEmitterParticleMesh gExpSpark,SparkMesh
          SetEmitterSizeFrom gExpSpark,.9,.9,.3
          SetEmitterSizeTo gExpSpark,.3,.3,.9   ;reverse!
          SetEmitterViewMode gExpSpark,2
          SetEmitterColorFrom gExpSpark,255,228,209,1
          SetEmitterColorTo gExpSpark,255,138,0,0
          SetEmitterBlend gExpSpark,3
          SetEmitterTrail gExpSpark,gExpSmokeTrail

     Return True
End Function


Function Explode(X#,Y#,Z#)
     If Not gExpFire Or gExpSmoke Or gExpSmokeTrail Or gExpSpark Then RuntimeError "Explosion emitters not initialized"
     For N = 0 To 5
          Angle = Rand(359)
          Off = Rnd(-2,2)
          SetEmitterPosition gExpFire,X+Rnd(-2,2),Y+Rnd(-2,2),Z+Rnd(-2,2)
          SetEmitterAngle gExpFire,Angle,Angle,Angle
          CreateParticle gExpFire
     Next

     For N = 0 To 5
          Angle = Rand(359)
          SetEmitterPosition gExpSmoke,X+Rnd(-2,2),Y+Rnd(-2,2),Z+Rnd(-2,2)
          SetEmitterAngle gExpFire,Angle,Angle,Angle
          CreateParticle gExpSmoke
     Next

     For N = 0 To 7
          SetEmitterPosition gExpSpark,X+Rnd(-2,2),Y+Rnd(-2,2),Z+Rnd(-2,2)
          SetEmitterAngle gExpSpark,Rand(-80,10),Rand(359),45
          CreateParticle gExpSpark
     Next
     Return True
End Function