The Funnies #29

Alley Oop (not pictured here) doesn't name the dinosaur in the background this month, but it's very clearly a triceratops. For such a well-known dinosaur, I'm frankly surprised there have been so few triceratops in comic books so far. Triceratops was, of course, statted in Supplement I: National for Hideouts & Hoodlums.

This "rough and tumble" style of fighting might need some examining. Bat's leap attack reminds me of the panther attack we just saw in Gallant Knight the other day, and is clearly a trip/overbearing type attack. Bat's "claw yer eyes out" attack is a bit harder to quantify in H&H.  Do we need a blinding attack? I don't see most comic book characters fighting this dirty. For Bronc's turn, he kicks, and Bat hits his head. I would not add extra damage for Bat hitting his head; rather, this could be flavor text explaining a high result on the damage die.

I tell my players that they should bring supporting cast members with them so they'll earn more xp -- but the big secret is that's not really it. The reason I want them -- like Wash -- along is in case I expect the Hero to rescue the femme fatale in the next cell over and he surprises me by refusing. If it's really important to me for the plot that she be around, then I can have the supporting cast go free her!

Book III: Underworld & Metropolis Adventures had a list of metropolises and their challenge ratings, but that was just a broad overview -- if each metropolis was detailed gazetteer-style (like the treatment Duluth got in The Trophy Case v. 2 no. 1), there would be sections of each city with different challenge ratings. That would give you parts of town so tough they are "too tough for the cops".

Ben Webster and his pals have special glasses that allow them to see invisible things.

The missing links have a special kind of invisibility that makes you unable to hear them as well as see them. It's more like the psionic disicpline of invisibility that just makes people unable to notice you. Psionics were introduced in Supplement III: Better Quality and will probably not go in the 2nd ed. basic rulebook.

Here's a nice selection of spells being cast. We see Wall of Stone, Wall of Fire, a new spell -- Wall of Water -- and several castings of Dispel Magic.

I call your attention to The Crime Busters because it makes me question if a sub-machine gun couldn't be on the starting equipment list. It seems that people in the '30s only had to wait a few days to get one!

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)

The Funnies #27

Captain Easy is on a new adventure. His plot hook came to him from a mystery lady who slipped it in his pocket. Was that the pilfer skill of a 3+ level Mysteryman, or a skill everyone should have? I could see femme fatales being statted as Mysterymen...

This strikes me as a fun trap to even use on Heroes. At a dead end the Heroes find a hatch they can open. They pull open the hatch and out pops a boxing glove to smack them in the face.   One person takes 1d6 damage, and everyone gets a good laugh.

I kind of like this idea for a twist on the cowboy vs. horse rustlers scenario -- horse rustlers transporting via river barges. I also like that it takes place on a real river, as opposed to some generic locale.

With such panoramic vistas it would pay to use photos as visual aids.

I don't really want to keep discussing this story in Ben Webster's Page, but I keep thinking of more things to say. "Snakes and centipedes and lizards and toads" is a wandering encounter chart for deserts -- which would be challenging if these were giant animals.

The missing link uses the magic word "Tamaruntch" to make Mary Jane not scared. A Remove Fear spell? Is the missing link a Magic-User?

Lost cities are a tricky business. How would planes not spot a brightly-colored city in the middle of a desert, even with cliffs around it. All I can say for certain is that the missing link is casting a Knock spell. He's at least 3rd level!

On this page the missing link even admits to using magic.

The gates cannot be magically opened from the inside -- an interesting bit of hideout dressing.

Shrapnel rifle?  I'm not sure what that is. A shotgun? Just a rifle shooting shrapnel bullets?

This gag filler is called Hold Everything.  I feel the same way about hockey.

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus)

The Funnies #26

This poison dart comes from Four Aces and -- even using the abstract weapon damage rule, where all weapons do 1-6 points of damage -- I hesitate to have this apply to small darts. Maybe the 1d6 could take into account some damage from the poison (you make your save vs. death, but you still take 1d6 damage), but an un-poisoned dart should do 1-3 points of damage at most.

Goat joke #17!  And that bottom panel...both funny and a little disturbing...

Ben Webster is still getting to know a "missing link". As much as I loathe the execution here...the concept of highly intelligent, telepathic cavemen is pretty interesting...

10 cent parking.

This bridge encounter looks like it would be fun to play. How to determine, though, if the car can crash through the barricade of barrels? I would reverse the wrecking things table by figuring a car is equal to a 5th level Superhero (the same distance down the left side of the table and across the top). The strength of the barricade would vary, but I would not make it stronger than "robot" on the left hand column. So the car would either auto-wreck, or possibly need a 4+ or 7+ to wreck.

This is from Bob Baker.  Using a battering ram allows multiple people to pool their chance to wreck things. In this case, since none of the men holding the ram are Superheroes, I would use the non-Superhero wrecking things chart to figure out the door's saving throw, then assign it a -1 penalty per additional man holding the ram.

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus)

The Funnies #25

Okay...I'm a little skeptical about Captain Easy being able to throw a lit torch over a castle wall, but besides that, it's a brilliant plan to get into a castle. And this is just a Fighter -- no powers or spells, no wrecking things. This is the kind of plan that makes you proud when your players come up with it, and you're only too glad to let them succeed.

I'm not a Ben Webster fan, so I hesitate to even share these pages...but the idea of installing an invisibility ray in your foyer, so no one can see who's entering your house, seems like just the sort of over-the-top thing a mad scientist might do. This could be a great deterrent for burglars working in teams, or groups of Heroes looking to raid his house.  "You see your teammate walk in first and -- completely vanish, as if disintegrated!" Of course, you risk your players getting their hands on an invisibility ray...

I don't know what to make of this page. Should "missing link" be a mobster type? Should it really be an intelligent, well-spoken monkey man? I'm open to the possibility, but really want a different model for it than this...

"Delirious from his wounds" sounds like an interesting complication from injuries. Again, I'm skeptical about inflicting complications on Heroes, even though I was at one time planning to have a table of these in 2nd edition. Maybe I still will, but for non-Heroes to suffer...?

Bob Baker's got a bold, but good plan to draw the killer out of hiding. Interestingly, I used this same strategy myself once, when playing the classic D&D module, The Assassin's Knot.

Now, this -- roping two people with the same lasso? This makes me think that maybe I do need to keep the game mechanic of stunts as-is. Mass Roping is not something that should be normally possible in combat, but as a once-a-day occurrence, I could allow this.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)

The Funnies #8

We reach May 1937 today and this issue from Dell Comics gives us... goat joke #9!

We've already seen underwater entrances to hideouts, but this scenario has a twist on that -- the entrance is only visible for a few minutes while the tide is lower.

I'd say a horse throwing its body to the ground in an attempt to crush someone could do a lot of damage?  But how much?

A 180 lb. man falling on top of you might be uncomfortable, but I can't see it being able to knock anyone unconscious (not from weight alone, though you could factor in other possibilities, like an elbow strike while dropping).

But an obese man, let's say 210 lbs., maybe that alone could hurt you if that much bulk fell on you. Let's assume that a horse weighs 1,000 lbs.  If a 210-lb. man can do 1 point of damage, then a horse should only be able to do 1-4 (actually, it should probably be much higher, but recall that H&H game mechanics are incremental instead of exponential). Rounding up for other considerations (the continued movement of the horse, the length of time it crushes), 1-6 points of damage would not be unreasonable -- exactly the same as the default damage for weapons in H&H.

H&H allows for firing missile weapons into melee, though at the risk of hitting a random other target if the initial target is missed. In this case, the shark is certainly in melee range already, though because of the order of combat it will not get its melee attack until after being shot at. Both the shark and the damsel in distress have soft cover from swimming most under the surface of the water, so Tommy better be a lucky shooter...

Binding wounds does not figure into the early drafts of H&H rules, but two versions of house rules have entered the game since. One is that binding the wounds makes hp recovery happen twice as fast. The other gives you an immediate 1-3 hp back.  Each Editor can decide which, if either, rule to use.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)

Funnies #1 - pt. 2

Freckles and His Friends reminds us that a hidden land can be placed anywhere so long as the entrance is inaccessible; here, you have to swim 10' deep and under a ledge to reach this mini-hidden land where cougars nuzzle with lambs (cougars being statted in Supplement III: Better Quality).

This also illustrates the importance of everyone in the party carrying a flashlight, like if you fall into deep, murky water and the others need to see how far down you sank.



Yeah, okay, Ben Webster.  It is left up to the Editor's discretion if Indians should ride around topless on horseback in the 20th century (and be statted as Natives, from Book II: Mobsters & Trophies). 

If nothing else, this page illustrates the importance of carrying binoculars -- it might give you a head start when someone is chasing you!

Don Dixon and company encounter a constrictor snake -- with a twist!  Considered sacred by the local natives, killing the snake brings their wrath.

Tad of the Tanbark illustrates the usefulness of having an elephant Supporting Cast Member.

This half page of This Curious World shows the water buffalo, an animal that was on every continent but North America and Antarctica by 1940. Water buffalo fighting (like bull fighting) is practiced in some Asian countries. I would stat them as 4+1 Hit Dice, using d12 dice.

Mutt and Jeff put the value of a fur coat at $60 or less (oops, I had made them far more valuable on the starting equipment list!).

Most every comic book for 45 years had a page like this in it. Pocket telescopes, microscopes, high-powered air pistols, luminous paint, whoopee cushions -- smart players should find ways to use all this stuff!

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)