Popular Comics #48 - pt. 3

The sports genre doesn't get a lot of attention on this blog, and Wally Williams gets even less (in fact, debuting here on the blog), but this story deserves special attention. Instead of the college kids fending for themselves, they unrealistically approach Wally's grandpa and ask him for help.

How old is Gramps? Gramps claims to have worked with Mark Twain, which may sound off, but Samuel Clemens died in 1910. Someone who was 18 in 1910 would be only 48 now in 1940. This bears in keeping in mind, when considering who your Heroes might have known in their backstories...

And Gramps actually has some good ideas. This underground newspaper is a sort of pre-Internet crowdsourcing for crime prevention.

I'm not sure if $10 is a reasonable rental price for a wagon and two horses in 1940, but it is for at least this old geezer.

This page raises other questions. Can a pea shooter/slingshot launch a dart? How great an effect would a small dose of carbolic acid have on an elephant?  If a person drank carbolic acid, it would cause acute gastroenteritis (inflammation of the stomach and intestines), leading to vomiting, collapse and death -- but only on a failed saving throw.

This is where game mechanics surrounding poison kind of break down in the game. The effects described always assume human mass; not only should increased Hit Dice allow mobsters to shake off the effects of poison, but should lessen the effect of poison when it does take effect. But how to adjudicate that?

I share this page so we could talk about movement rates. Can a charging elephant really overtake horses pulling a wagon? There are a lot of unknowns here, like how much weight the wagon is loaded down with, but generally speaking - an elephant runs up to 16-25 MPH. How this translates into movement rate is that an elephant would have a Move of 21, but with a skill check can manage a burst of speed that raises it to 24 (both for convenience and because of precedent, movement rates are rounded off to the nearest divisible of 3).

A horse can run up to 30 MPH; if we assume that the wagon halves their movement, that brings us down to 15. So, yes, even if the horses make their skill checks and the elephant fails its check, the elephant would still win. Of course, if the wagon was very light, this might not be the case.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum.)

Popular Comics #46 - pt. 2

We return to the Hurricane Kids just in time for a surprising (for them) discovery. Cavemen, on a time-lost island with dinosaurs? I'd be more surprised by how they apparently have access to really good razors or waxing.

I'm amused by that "The high priest, no doubt" from the narrator, based on no evidence other than his white beard.

I do have plans on adding a high priest mobster type in the upcoming Mobster Manual. I'll have to amend the caveman entry to say that there is a chance of a high priest being among them.

This is curious to me...I can't think of any car chase scenes I've ever seen where innocent bystanders decide to chase a driver down. If I ever revisit my chase rules, maybe I'll have to add something about a chance per turn of new participants entering the chase.

A rare use of shotguns by robbers (may need to update their entry to reflect a chance of being armed with them).

These guys are just robbing out of hostility! And always committing their crimes at noon, in the same city? They're just begging to get caught. Makes it easy for the Heroes, though!

This is The Mystery of Mr. Wong Featuring Boris Karloff. The Detective class I debuted in The Trophy Case is still the last un-playtested Hero class, but that doesn't mean I can't make some use of it for non-Heroes, and will probably include details from it in a detective write-up in the Mobster Manual. And maybe it should include a chance to recognize poisons on sight?

Or should this be a skill available to Heroes? If so, it would definitely be an expert skill.

$100 may not seem like much to today's players, but then players seldom need much encouragement to get their Heroes into fights.

More interesting is the idea of a villain taking a dive initially against the Heroes, so he can come back and publicly thrash them later.

Lastly, I don't think we should equate boxing rounds with combat turns. At a guess, I'd say a boxing round should be 5-7 combat turns in length.

This is Masked Pilot. There's a mystery as to why the Black Phantom thinks he's fighting in a war, but what really interests me here are the signs at the gas station -- "6 gallons for $1" and "credit cards honored," showing how experimental credit cards still were in 1939.

The Black Phantom fights with the strength of 10 men and...sounds suspiciously like a superhero buffed with the Get Tough power. Could this be one of the earliest true supervillains in comics?

This is from Shark Egan. In 2nd edition, I gave just example values for treasure items, like gemstones and pearls and left it to the Editor to assign numbers. Had I given a range for determining random values, I would have needed to use a very generous exploding die mechanic (like 1-4 x $10, with every roll of 2-4 triggering another roll) to let pearl values get all the way up to $500,000.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum.)

Popular Comics #43 - pt. 2

We've seen some crazy disarming attacks already on this blog, but this time we're treated to a horse being trained to disarm gunmen!

I don't think I've ever shared The Comic Zoo before. It's usually no more than a humor page, but this page could be summarizing a funny, low-threat level adventure. And what is gaming all about than putting your character in danger, but coming out of it having had fun?

"Lookee what we've found! It's a treasure map. Hey wait...it's a map to the same place we've already been exploring! That's like giving me silver weapons only after making me fight a werewolf!"

Why yes, Bronc, yes it is. Mwahahaha....

Whoa -- this is dark! Bear in mind that Bronc isn't painting a skeleton onto his clothes -- he's making Babs tie her own dead uncle's bones onto him. That's some crazy stuff!

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)

Popular Comics #42 - pt. 2

From The Masked Pilot, this is a rare sighting of a motorcycle and sidecar. Initially, I treated these as trophy items, but, really, it shouldn't be that hard for anyone to go out and buy one in a 1930s-40s campaign.

But this is why most forms of transportation better than cars are treated as trophy items. I mean, do you want this bomber plane, with its light cannon and machine guns, available to your players? Or the better question is, are you ready for it yet?

I've seen some complicated deathtraps before, but this is an overly complicated escape from a deathtrap. Our G-Man hero and this poor beat cop go to an awful lot of trouble relaying the explosive to each other. One missed attack roll to catch it and that bomb could hit the ground and go off! Or --our G-Man hero could have simply stepped on the fuse and snuffed it out...

Here is a good example of a hero's reputation, as I recently discussed here. This is also a great example of a neutral villain, one who might have attacked if he hadn't recognized Jack Randall, but is just as happy not to get into a fight with the Hero.

It seems like a smart plan; Bronc has let a prisoner go free so he can follow him back to the hideout, left a horse out for the prisoner to steal, and made sure a horseshoe was missing so he'd be easy to track. But what if the prisoner had skipped the horse and gone on foot instead? The save vs. plot can be used for when the player needs for his plan to work.

I like the verticality of this abandoned mine hideout already. I imagine there would be a lot of little rooms separated by ladders instead of corridors.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)

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)

Funnies #16

We finally have reached 1938!  And we'll start with the Alley Oop feature from Dell's The Funnies.  I'm still not sure about showing Alley Oop pages here, so I'll just mention that Alley Oop has to deal with that old trope of crossing a pond full of crocodiles here while hunting for a flightless bird. Crocodiles would be statted the same as alligators, which can be found in Book II: Mobsters & Trophies (and, in fact, the alligator entry supports this).

Goat joke #12!

According to Dan Dunn, at least, a used car in good working order could be had for just $10 in the late '30s.

Bronc Peeler brings us the first instance of "being tied to the ground over an anthill as a deathtrap" in comics, as well as possibly the first instance of male nudity in comics. As far as deathtraps go, this one's pretty mild, since Mexico isn't known for having overly aggressive ants...

Here, Don Dixon tries to make a case for weapon proficiencies, or a rule that limits Fighters to only knowing a limited set of weapons. Or maybe Don is just pretending he doesn't know how to use a bow, because he wants that high Strength modifier for melee combat...

Hideouts & Hoodlums, of course, does not use proficiencies or weapon skills, though some classes are restricted in what weapons they can use.

I can scarcely pass up an opportunity to share a page of my personal pre-Superman favorite, Captain Easy. Here, we're left to interpret how effectively mobsters can feign death. Was Easy really fooled when he checked the man's pulse, or was picking the man up and threatening to throw him out the window just an elaborate way of calling him out? I'm half-tempted to give cowardly hoodlums the ability to feign death...

Here, Easy sees through a disguise, demonstrating that disguise should either have a percent chance of success or a saving throw to see through (auto successes should only occur by magic).

Mutt & Jeff (or at least Mutt, in this case) demonstrates that ability scores like Strength don't rise in H&H no matter what training you do.

...Unless they do. There is an optional rule in H&H that allows for ability score advancement. It has proven to be popular in past campaigns, though it really only seems to apply to Superheroes in the actual comic books...

Renting horses, for 60 cents an hour.



(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)

The Funnies #12 - pt. 1

We begin our review of this issue with a page of Dan Dunn. We're in Bankok's secret hideout where, by simply hanging curtains, he can manipulate the air flow in his hideout and keep gas in certain sections. In most hideouts, doors would serve the same purpose, and be easier than having to hang curtains.

Poisonous incense, which gives off a toxic gas when heated, would be a trophy item.

In a more enclosed space, like a single room, this trap would be more efficient. Spread out through a portion of the hideout, the gas' onset time is slowed to 30 minutes.

A playing tip from this page of G-Man Jim is to always carry, or wear, a watch. If you're knocked unconscious and alone, it will be the quickest way to find out how long you were out.

Another playing tip, this time from Captain Easy, but again about having things on your person. If your Hero has to carry important pieces of paper, documents, etc., write them in a code (or rewrite them in code if someone else's papers, then burn the originals). This makes you a valuable prisoner if someone ever captures you for the papers you carry.

This page of Captain Easy is about the hideout. Here we have an ingenious waterfront hideout. The mobsters come and go via motorboat, entering from underneath via a ladder and trapdoor. Heroes entering the same way would have a hard time surprising the mobsters above the trapdoor, and would definitely have a height disadvantage.

Torture devices could be common features in a hideout. Here we see dental equipment set up in a separate room, reserved for torturing prisoners.

Note how the windows do not allow anyone to jump out into the water; all the windows face a walkway that encircles the building and is patrolled by mobsters.

A playing tip is to use police help wisely. Ask them to do leg work for you, like when you need to know where the mobsters' hideout is, but avoid bringing more than you need into the hideout with you -- you're just dividing the Experience Points more ways then.

Another word about the hideout, though -- note how much more challenging the scenario is made by the hideout employing a lookout who can alert the mobsters inside. Had Easy been able to surprise the hoodlums inside, this encounter would have gone much differently.

A good way to conceal a hideout is with a fake room in front of the hideout. Here, a false bedroom and a convincing hoodlum/actor almost fool the police officer and Easy into dismissing this as not the hideout they were looking for.

Checking small details, like the number of cigarettes in a tray, is a good tip for players. It may not always be important, but you may often learn something useful from such details.

Switching gears to Westerns and Bronc Peeler, we see an example of simultaneous initiative and the use of the Cowboy stunt Disarming Shot. These are the obvious features from this page, however. What is more curious is, how to play the part where Bronc slowly succumbs to a gunshot wound?

Combat in Hideouts & Hoodlums is already dangerous enough without adding complications, like continuous hit point loss from untreated wounds. I would prefer to explain this as a new stunt, Endure Injury, which lets a Hero continue acting for 1 turn past reaching zero hit points.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)