Famous Funnies #18 - pt. 1

Connie is more of a talky sleuth than an action-adventure sleuth, but this installment shows the value of seeing through disguises.

There are two different game mechanics for disguises in Hideouts & Hoodlums.  The first was requiring a saving throw vs. plot to see through a disguise.  The second, introduced with the Villain Class in Supplement II: All-American, gave a percentage chance per level of fooling people.

The Villain Class will likely not carry over to the next edition.  Further, like with Connie, it should be incumbent on the viewer to see through the disguise, rather than incumbent on the disguised to fool the viewer.

This panel from the "Flight" feature is of particular interest to me, since in my previous H&H campaign, the Heroes had to travel by air to China and I had to research this route on my own.

 Ah, Seaweed Sam!  How did I ever ignore you before?  Here we're treated to a new spell, or is it a new magic trophy?  My guess is the latter, so here we have the Shawl of Temporal Relocation.  Each time it is used to cover a living thing, that being is transported back in time (the example here is 1,200 years, but let's say the Shawl sends people back a random 1d6+6 centuries instead).  There should also probably be a saving throw vs. spells to resist, though given how powerful the Shawl is, the save should probably come with a hefty penalty, say, -5 to the roll.

This snippet from Hairbreadth Harry features a trap (chloroform concealed in a bouquet of flowers) and a deathtrap (the cliche of being tied to the railroad tracks).  The distinction between a trap and a deathtrap is that the trap is passive, triggered by the victim interacting with it.  The deathtrap is actively put into motion by the villain.

This snippet from The Nebbs demonstrates why Half-Pints should be treated as combatants (and are statted as such in Book II: Mobsters and Trophies).

From Flying to Fame, here we have our first constrictor snake (also statted in Book II).

This installment of Hairbreadth Harry brings up an element left out of H&H to date -- the weather.  Extreme weather conditions are here shown to cause damage, like weapons, only perhaps more temporary.  The next edition may include some notes like this.

We also get a good idea for a using snow to replace a grappling hook.

Since Harry did not knowingly initiate a grappling attack on Rudolph, Rudolph is not technically pinned.  Rather, the fall probably did enough damage to Rudolph to subdue him.

The next edition should have a note in it about how cushioning a fall like this both lessens damage to the faller and transferring damage to the cushion.

Here we see even a domestic situation can turn into an action-adventure story, thanks to a hostile terrier. Although watchdogs are statted in Book II, that type of dog is likely a 150 lb. mastiff.  For a 30-40 lb. terrier, I would assign it only 1-2 hp, with the ability to bite for just 1 point of damage.

Terriers and mastiffs are likely to both become notes under one entry for Dogs in the next edition.

(Scans courtesy of the Digital Comic Museum at http://digitalcomicmuseum.com/index.php?dlid=23799)