Famous Funnies #28

Scorchy Smith at last!  Here we have a new detail about the poison gas afflicting the locals; if victims miss their saves vs. poison, they are incapacitated for exactly 11 days.

Also worth mentioning is the sabotage sub-plot -- something that is going to affect Aviator Heroes more than perhaps any other Heroes.

Here we revisit the issue of hit points and healing. Swords & Wizardry: White Box Edition, the retro-clone H&H was originally built on, actually included a rule for bandaging wounds to recover 1d4 hit points, which I left out of H&H because it wasn't something that existed in That Other Game we all emulate. But bandaging wounds is definitely found in the comics, like here.  Should I bring the bandaging rule back in...?

Something else to reconsider is the "creasing the scalp" cliche with gunshots.  Currently, the save vs. missiles mechanic allows Heroes to take all or no damage from bullets, but that leaves out the scalp crease that only temporarily knocks a Hero unconscious. Perhaps "save for no damage" should be saved for higher level Heroes, or a save would crease your brow while saving at 5 higher than what you need dodges altogether?

On the subject of recovering from wounds, Dickie Dare is revived by "stimulants".  I'm not sure what that means in this context, whether he's been given drugs, smelling salts, or a nip of whiskey. None of this fits into the H&H game mechanics, where it takes 4 hours to wake up after being reduced to zero hit points, no matter how many nips of whiskey you've had. So what does this mean?  I'm not advocating that whiskey consumption should restore hp faster, but -- perhaps -- if someone else is trying to revive you for a specific purpose (like imparting information), you could make a save vs. plot to revive just to say a few important things.

Whale ho!  I was very hesitant to put whales in H&H because what purpose would they serve?  You can't really fight a whale; they're just too big. As a force of nature, whales are better served as a sort of natural trap: if you move through this section of ocean, you run into the risk of a whale knocking your boat over -- but it isn't there to really fight.

I keep thinking I'm not going to ever think of anything to say about Seaweed Sam ever again, but...here we get a sort of hidden land where the Fountain of Youth is, and the actually intriguing idea that the fountain turns people into babies, but one's who retain adult intelligence and coordination -- so that you've got babies shooting bows and arrows.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)