The Funnies #12 - pt. 2

Flavor text during combat can be confusing, and perhaps rightfully so. Is it true that "bullets don't seem to stop 'em", or are you just not hitting them well enough?  If the players are not sure, it should not necessarily be the Editor's job to correct them. Rather, players should find out what weapons can hurt certain mobster types through trial and error. Who knows -- perhaps they're ghost apes who can only be hurt by silver or magic weapons?

Og stumbles onto a hidden land where dinosaurs still exist! This is still as big a deal in caveman days as it would be in modern times.

It's interesting how Og mistakes the pteranodon for a giant vampire bat. I'm not sure a caveman would even know what a giant vampire bat is, but okay. It's fun, for the Editor, to try to withhold from the players what they're fighting for as long as possible. For another example, instead of saying a stegosaurus is approaching them, say "the stalking death" is coming for them.

Pteranodons were statted in Supplement II: All-American. Stegosaurs have never been statted for Hideouts & Hoodlums yet. Stegosaurs were 3 ton beasts -- I'd put them at 14 HD, with d10 Hit Dice.  Stalking death indeed!

What Heroes wouldn't want to go exploring underground and run into Sibyl. Agree to obey her commands and she'll give you each an Amulet of Protection (functions like the Ring?)!

And this should happen in H&H more often than you might think. Requiring Heroes to loot and steal for all their trophy items is harsh and forces them to act out-of-character -- better to hand out trophy items as rewards instead (and not all the time, but sometimes).

Also note that Sibyl seems to have a new magic item -- the Wand of Knocking, that will open any portal...

And, on the lighter side, Mutt & Jeff run afoul of $10 fines. I think we've seen speeding fines on this blog once already. I don't expect to see fines always be the same, since fines would be set locally and naturally subject to variation, but it's good to see what the overall range winds up being.

$14 for two to eat in a fancy restaurant? When preparing the price list for Book I: Men & Supermen, I found a site with scanned menus from lots of 1940s restaurants. I suspect you could still spend a lot at an upscale restaurant in the 1930s, so Mutt & Jeff must have been eating on the lighter side of the menu.


(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)