Funnies #1 - pt. 1

A new title from Dell Comics joins our revue this time, and it was full of good stuff!

First up is Tailspin Tommy, which illustrates several useful points for us Hideouts & Hoodlums players.  One, Betty grabs hold of the passing plane with a "simple" roll to hit. I put simple in quotation marks because determining an Armor Class for a moving plane is not so simple. A good rule of thumb can be found, though, in the vehicular combat section of Book III: Underworld and Metropolis Adventures, which recommends penalties to hit based on the speed of your target.

But once Betty has grabbed on, what is the chance of her slipping? An Editor, looking to squeeze a little more drama out of the scene, could ask of her a saving throw vs. science to resist the wind resistance pulling her loose.

And lastly, this is the origin of the Wing Walking stunt for the Aviator class!

Myra North, Special Nurse gets her comic book debut here, with the dramatic introduction of being shot down by an anti-aircraft gun!  I would use the autocannon, statted in Supplement I: National for anti-aircraft guns. A ruthless Editor might use the wrecking things table to determine the effect on the plane, but a gentler alternative is to roll on the plane mishap table found in The Trophy Case v. 2 no. 8.

Captain Easy goes to war!  Given H&H's recommended time frame of 1935-1941, it's likely that Heroes in the game will eventually find themselves involved in a war somewhere.  Panel 4 here serves as a great reminder that the front lines are very dangerous for low-level Heroes!

Though it makes for a dramatic page to have Easy abscond a bomber plane so easily, I would be hesitant to allow this in a H&H game. More realistically, a captain -- in other words, a 5th level Fighter -- would have to go up the chain of command level by level, aiming for friendly encounter reactions until such a roll from a general (9+ level Fighter) grants him permission to take the plane.

The number of followers a Hero can have is currently tied to that Hero's Charisma score and not the fame coming from the Hero's exploits. As written, then, there is no accounting for how Easy here becomes the idol of hundreds, if not thousands, of people. It's something that needs work...

A vamp and a drunken hoodlum?  You decide!



The Alley Oop dinosaurs of the day are Gorgosaurus and Polacanthus. Gorgosaurus would have been a giant 15 Hit Dice monster, using d12 for its Hit Dice. Polacanthus, a smaller armored herbivore, would have been only 5+1 HD, but also with d12 dice.

Ah, the old chestnut of the thorn in the paw. This makes me want to run a scenario with an evil bear who lures kids in close by pretending to have a thorn in its paw.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)