Master Comics #1 - pt. 1

Another new title! The disturbingly named Master Comics is home to the disturbingly named Master Man! In addition to having mastered being a man, he can also do all the things shown on this page. Maybe! Comic book narrators are notorious for exaggeration. This particular origin story goes surprisingly well, considering that most people don't get superpowers when a stranger gives them pills. 

Master Man builds his castle on the highest peak...where? The highest peak on Earth would be Mount Everest, but the rest of this story sure doesn't look like it takes place in Tibet. The highest peak in the United States is Mount Whitney -- making Master Man the first confirmed Californian superhero. 

He can see all evil in the world...from 14,500 feet? Okaayyy, crazy narrator person!

Does that say Ecaldon or Ecalpon? Ecalpon is from Discworld! Unsurprisingly, this is a made-up name either way. 

Master Man's ability to run 100 MPH is the Race the Train power. He also uses Leap II at rivers and, it looks like, Imperviousness when he reaches town. Obviously, he is the superhero class.

It's interesting that he bares his chest. Is his shirt not bulletproof? The power description intentionally doesn't specify if items worn are protected by this power; this is something the player and Editor should work out between themselves and aim to be consistent thereafter.

The bad guys are a mixed group of four gangsters and thugs, probably half of each. 

I like the phrase "he scatters them like raindrops in a gale." Speaking of that, I like that Master Man can fail; he tries to catch that thrown torch and just misses, and the consequence is the building burns.

However, there is a lot to dislike here too. Why are the bad guys dropping a bomb on an orphanage? Are they terrorists? Why is Master Man smiling when he catches the bomb, when he knows he could have missed? How are the thugs strong enough to hurl a lit torch through an upper-story window that looks like it's 30' high? How on Earth does one lit torch immediately catch the entire building on fire? 

About that one question, "when he knows he could have missed?"

....it occurs to me that if Master Man is high enough in level to get a stunt -- and I have thought about letting all classes have stunts at some eventual level -- then one should be able to use a stunt for an attack roll in non-combat situations, like when you're trying to grab something out of the air. 

Master Man uses the powers Resist Fire and Raise Car here. There's a wrinkle here that the car is barreling down on Master Man at the same time, so both sides would roll for initiative. If Master Man wins, then he can raise the car before he takes ramming damage. He uses wrecking things on the car and the bomber. He's still using Leap II from earlier, as the duration hasn't ended.

It seems odd, from a Hideouts & Hoodlums perspective of mobstertypes, but the leader of gangsters and thugs is a bandit. There was originally going to be hierarchical trees of mobstertypes in the 1.5 edition books that I wound up eliminating. On those trees, bandits would be low on the pecking order. 

You can tell the scenario was too easy and the players still have more time to play, so the Editor has to create a new threat to overcome and the mayor turns up to reveal the kidnapping. 

Dragging a car to a stop is another use for the Raise Car power. 

We never did get any clue as to what the bad guys' motives were.

We're going to jump ahead to The Jeweled Crown of Ramistan, a starring a Tarzan/Mowgli mash-up called White Rajah (just not yet, as this is his origin story).   
 

I can't find any evidence that there are or were headhunters in India. 

Not even Sikhs wear their head wraps in their sleep like this.

This animal summoning power is why I keep leaning towards keeping the explorer class, since this seems beyond what a fighter should be able to do.
 

So, a "black jungle" is right next to India? Riiight. This page is pretty unbearable, not just for that, but for Sin-Gee falling into a trap and David just leaves her there! 

I'm only sharing this page because I want to spend a little time on this death trap. The theory behind it is, by binding one of David's hands, he can't dodge during the knife fight. I wouldn't necessarily call him prone, because he still has some range of movement, so maybe he's +2 to be hit, plus this can kill him because it still qualifies as a deathtrap. 

 

Wrecking things is the obvious way out of this trap, and I would let him wreck his way out of the rope knots as if it was a door.

 

I don't have game mechanics to discuss from this page. I just want to vent. Despite being left behind to die, Sin-Gee gets himself out of the pit without any help, sprints to David's rescue, saves the day and the crown, and then David not only gets all the rewards, but Sin-Gee still has to carry him around! Poor Sin-Gee. As far as I'm concerned, this feature should be called White Elephant!

 

 

 

There is a Carterville in Illinois, but it's only a city in the academic sense since there were less than 3,000 people there in 1940. No, this must represent a larger metropolis, though which city it's representing escapes me. The only clues here is the neighboring mountain, but that still leaves dozens of possibilities.

 

The rivalry with a Moriarty-like villain is appealing, but what made Moriarty so sinister is that only Sherlock Holmes knew he was a criminal. Jeff isn't much of a criminal mastermind if the local newspapermen are already onto him. 

 

I am half tempted to stat a street loafer, but I suspect a wimpy hoodlum would suffice. 

 

And we'll probably pick up with this feature next time! 

 

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum.)