The Funnies #28

In Alley Oop this month, the cavemen go from trapping dinosaurs for their zoo to meeting woolly mammoths. Woolly mammoths were statted all the way back in Book II: Mobsters & Trophies!

When in foreign countries, be careful about how much you're offered in payment. Ten thousand francs, circa 1939, came to about $250 American.

This is a clever set-up for a wandering encounter. The driver cuts off the mark, takes him to the nearest house, and subtly questions him about how rich he is, if he's armed, and then the hoodlums jump him.

It looks like Mama fumbled and fell down the stairs, but that can't be because Hideouts & Hoodlums has no fumble game mechanic.  Instead, she missed and Captain Easy used a trip attack on her that sent her down the stairs.

Yeah, I don't need much of an excuse to share Captain Easy pages...

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)

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 #19

Dan Dunn is a funny one, and by that I mean curious-funny. Why does a G-Man bring a bow and arrows to a hideout siege? Why, to set the roof on fire, of course (or because his Editor is being a stickler with the save vs. plot to resort to gunplay, which used to apply to all classes).

Lions are statted in Book II: Mobsters & Trophies, but lion followers seem to be very rare.  The Explorer class (as seen in The Trophy Case v. 1 no. 2) did not allow animal followers until 9th level (!), but a later issue of TTC clarified that animals could be recruited as Supporting Cast Members (the distinction, for Explorers, being that followers are automatic and do not count against the number of SCMs determined by their Charisma score).

Interesting, that we just learned about Easy's previous plane costing $16,000, and this one being worth $20,000. It seems Easy isn't a soldier of fortune for the fun of it, but because he keeps going through planes so quickly!


(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)

The Funnies #17

So, what does Dell Comics have for us today? Well, this issue starts with Alley Oop still fighting crocodiles...

I include this page because it's the most detailed instructions for safe-cracking I've ever seen, and it might help for describing it in a H&H scenario.

Tad of the Tanbark has never had supernatural elements before, so there's probably a rational explanation for this...but it appears that the witch doctor has cast a new spell, like Summon Snakes. It can apparently summon at least 12 black mambas. Unless this is a Mobster Summoning spell which just happened to summon snakes...?

This page of Captain Easy is about easy deathtraps -- tie someone to a chair with a bomb in his lap, toss someone out a window with a rope around his neck, or, worst of all, threaten to marry him!

Hubba hubba!  I mean...where was I?

Oh yeah, hideouts!  I was about to type, some mobsters you might not expect to find in a hideout are railroad presidents and bankers. There is already a "corrupt politician" mobster in H&H (Book II: Mobsters & Trophies), but maybe there need to be stats for corrupt businessmen. They would be easy to defeat, but worth more XP because of the monetary value they represent?


(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)

The Funnies #15

We've made it to December 1937!

Tad's player is taking a huge risk here, shooting at a snake, while his friend is standing directly on the other side of the snake. Given the circumstances shown here -- and provided Tad's player understands those circumstances, and still chooses to shoot -- I would give the bullet a good chance of hitting his friend if the shot missed the snake (maybe a +1 situational modifier to hit).

Captain Easy is like a comic strip tutorial for playing Hideouts & Hoodlums.  Here, Easy shows you how to create your own plot hook characters!

Scribbly's Mom shows us that, even when a mobster encounter begins hostile, you can still ask the Editor for another encounter reaction check (finally -- finally! -- I found an excuse to showcase a page of Sheldon Mayer's remarkable Scribbly!)

Goat joke!  I've lost track of how many goat jokes we've had so far...

And lastly -- I'm not sure if this was a real thing or not, because we typically haven't seen $100 fines for anything so far in the comics, but according to Daisybelle you could get a $100 fine for picking up a hitchhiker on a highway.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)

The Funnies #14

Sneaky Dan Dunn imparts some good playing tips here on how to...be sneaky!  If your Heroes need to arrange a secret rendezvous, it's best to use a public payphone, meet via taxi at a random location, take a roundabout trip via taxi, and then walk the rest of the way, all to watch for tails.  Remember, the longer the trip, the more rolls you should get for spotting someone shadowing you (the same chance as finding secret doors).

In this age of miniaturization, it's important to keep in mind how BIG a mad science machine should be in Hideouts & Hoodlums.  Towering structures, operated by levers, huge pistons, gears, noisy, mechanical contrivances -- these are the hallmarks of comic book science.

If your Heroes stumbled into a vault filled with barrels of diamonds, what would they do?  The fastest way to level up in H&H is by finding valuable treasure, but if the Heroes keep trying to sell all their found treasure to the same merchants in the same area, they'll soon find they've caused significant inflation, turning their home base into a "boom town", perhaps as bad as back during the Gold Rush.

Superheroes can wreck their way out of binding ropes, but should other Heroes be able to wriggle themselves free?  Perhaps. As the Editor, I would have to rule on how expert the tyer was with rope use, if the job had been hasty enough to have allowed for some slack, etc. I would then decide if I would allow a single attempt at a save vs. plot to determine if the Hero can wriggle free.

Should hornet stings cause points of damage? Unless there was something unusual about the hornets (like giant hornets!), I would say no, let's not put half-pint Heroes in that much danger. Instead, I would require a save vs. science, per sting, or the victim is too miserable from the pain to do anything for a full turn.


(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)