More Fun Comics #31 - pt. 1

This month's Dr. Occult adventure has him investigating a mine being worked by zombies. The concept of zombies being "exploited" as unpaid labor is glossed over and the plot winds up being an invasion theme (the mine tunnels will come up under the city, eventually). Zombies are said to have "unbreakable" grappling holds, but turn inert when the Magic-User who raised them dies.

Dr. Occult also casts a spell that causes a cave-in. Stone Shape...?

Buzz Brown (yet another Terry and the Pirates rip-off) reminds us that you don't have to know Morse Code for it to be useful -- just hearing something that sounds like Morse Code tells you that someone intelligent is tapping on the other side of a wall.

I'm skeptical about using a blow torch to open a hole in a wall, but I don't know...maybe on board a ship the walls would be thin enough.

There is no game mechanic for determining when women faint, it has to be flavor text whenever it would not affect combat. Likewise, "restoratives" like smelling salts don't link to any game mechanic, and are certainly useless for rousing someone who is truly unconscious (zero hit points).

Similarly, there is no game mechanic to determine when you would accidentally sneeze and give yourself away while hiding. There are rules for determining surprise and, if you don't have surprise, the Editor might as well say a sneeze is what gave them away.

Russell "Alger" Cole did a lot of filler material like this in the early comics. I had once tried to develop a similar style of art, years before even encountering an Alger story. I haven't found an excuse to include him to date, as his pages tend to be stationary figures talking to each other, but this page is really different, as it shows men rock climbing.

The Hideouts & Hoodlums rules don't talk about climbing much, assigning it only to the Mysteryman class as something special they can do. And yet, with enough rope, tools, and a guide, surely anyone could try it? I might allow it with a saving throw vs. science if a Hero was using rope, with a +1 bonus for having help.

This page shows the consequences of missing said saving throw -- falling! Actually, it appears that a snapped rope is responsible for the falling, but since the wrecking things rule doesn't really apply here, then no game mechanic is directly tied to the rope; the failed saving throw is simply explained by the rope snapping.

I tended to be conservative with area of effect for weapons like grenades in Supplement I: National, but here we see a grenade thrown through a window into a room, and passerbys outside are still hurt by it. I'm not sure, though, if the area of effect needs to be revised upwards, or if the Editor needs to adjust on a case-by-case situation (clearly the big glass window plays a large part in the passerbys being hurt).

Incidentally, the convertible is called a touring car on the next page. It was a common term for a car in the times, but is a term that seemed rarely used in comic books.

Now this situation is different -- there's no way that a surprise roll should determine if someone wakes up from their sleep or not. I might allow a save vs. plot (for Heroes, maybe villains -- I'd be very hesitant to allow this ordinary characters) to wake up in time to get a surprise roll.

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus)

More Fun Comics #30 - pt. 2

This debut page of Buzz Brown is particularly hard to read, but it's worth it to be told that a windjammer (a one-man crew sailboat) could be had for just $100, used.

This page from Pirate Gold is unclear on how the door is "sealed" that Captain Dennis bursts open simply by throwing his powerful shoulder into it. It could have been locked, or perhaps bolted from the other side. Perhaps it was literally sealed, with wax poured into the cracks. Regardless, even a non-Superhero has a mechanic for wrecking doors. Once found in Book II: Mobsters & Trophies, at the back, this rule has gravitated to Book III: Underworld & Metropolis Adventures in 1.5 edition and will surely return in some form in 2nd edition.

There are some things done in comic books, for the expediency of the story, that should probably not happen in a RPG scenario -- like this move, to wrap up a fight scene faster.  Normally, it should not be possible to tip over a giant vase, roll it towards a cluster of five hoodlums, and knock them down like bowling pins. It's not really fair to the other players who are playing by the rules and getting their 1-2 attacks per turn.

That said, a Fighter using combat machine might be able to get five attacks per turn, as could a Superhero using the Flurry of Blows power. Describing all those attacks as one attack is within the Editor's purview for describing the scene in flavor text.

Also, in a campaign with a really light mood, the Editor would have more latitude for allowing attacks with comic effect that are a bit outside the rules.

According to this page from Radio Squad, radio broadcasting apparatus was portable enough to fit in the trunk of your car back in 1938. Good for parties, or fooling the police with false broadcasts!

At a cursory glance, it might look like Bob Merritt here has turned completely bonkers. Charging in broad daylight a transport plane surrounded by hoodlums with guns, enjoying cover? Well, depending on his distance to the plane, it maybe wasn't such a bad plan. If Bob could have sprinted to the plane in the first phase of movement, he could have kept the plane between him and maybe half the hoodlums and cut the number he had to fight in half. Because he didn't make it in the first phase -- perhaps having misjudged the distance -- his opponents were able to get off their missile fire before the next movement phase.

Of course, the Editor could still have ruled that, even if Bob could technically have made it in the first movement phase, that his opponents were set up and ready for him and that at least some of them could get off their shots early while he was still moving.

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus)