Silver Streak Comics #2 - pt. 2

This strip is called Captain Fearless, but you won't see Capt. Fearless on this page. Dugan seems to be presented as a Supporting Cast Member, but he plays such a significant role in the story that he must be a played Hero.  

The hideout door closes behind Dugan, seemingly of its own accord. This is interesting to me because a staple of Old School D&D is that dungeon doors are resistant to opening, difficult to keep open. Could this be true of H&H hideouts too?

We get a told more than we're shown of Dugan's battle with six yellow peril hoodlums, so it's unclear if Dugan was able to start using the knife on the same turn he disarmed the hoodlum who had held it, or if he had to wait until the next turn. I would wager the latter is the case.

Ting Ling makes a good case for why more hoodlums should not be armed with guns in hideouts.  I'll have to recall it later, as the struggle is constant to downplay the importance of guns in an active Hideouts & Hoodlums campaign.

Dugan must be at least 2nd or 3rd level (a detective or sergeant, by level title), allowing him to come across three off-duty marines and easily recruit them to follow him into combat.

Did I say three?  Because now it seems Dugan has six marines fighting with him (maybe a wandering encounter of marines heard the fighting and joined in?).  This is one well-defended hideout; I count at least 15 yellow peril hoodlums in this fight, and possibly more.

I've not given this much thought yet, but I wonder if there is room for a hoodlum class?  The one on the left definitely seems to be a cowardly hoodlum, while the one on the right, with "more experience," seems to be a robber. I may work on this and see if I can produce an optional hoodlum class by next year's The Trophy Case issue.

Our cowardly hoodlum makes a surprisingly good case for turning to crime in 1940.  We also learn the value of a complete set of silverware in 1940.

Boy, that Aladdin movie sure would have turned out different if the Genie could have just kept his own lamp away from Jafar!  

Like the example in the basic book about how Johnny Thunder's Thunderbolt-genie is a living wand for his spell focus, I think we're seeing the same thing play out here. Tom is casting Minor Telekinesis (a 3rd level spell!) to acquire the gun, but the magic appears to be coming from the Genie.

Normally I go with the narrator when he's naming mobster archetypes, but I've already established this guy is a cowardly hoodlum, so no burglar for you!

I think there's more magic going on here than meets the eye.  Somehow, Tom winds up at the judge's bench right next to the judge.  It makes no sense that any judge would allow this...unless Tom has cast Charm Person on the judge?  

Some subtle legerdemain seems to have allowed Tom to keep the gun he confiscated!  He could have made a skill check for sleight of hand, or maybe he cast a spell and made it invisible.  

Phantasmal Image spells would normally not be permissible in court, but then anything goes once you have the judge charmed!

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum.)

Silver Streak Comics #1 - pt. 3

Capt. Fearless and Lt. Dugan are "hopelessly outnumbered" by what appears to be just five thugs, or yellow peril hoodlums (or do we need that distinction? Their stats were always similar...).

Boxes as a thrown weapon would seem to be not too effective, and thus probably the type of improvised weapon that only does 1-3 points of damage. But, depending on how heavy the box is, it might do 1-4 or 1-6 damage.  If the Hero has a Strength of 15+, I might even consider 1-8 for a really heavy box (but you can only attack with it once).

This is Calling the 'Duke', Ace Inspector, and this seems as good a time as any to point out that Heroes should not get saves vs. missiles to dodge attacks if they are surprised; Duke only dodges the falling bag because someone shouted and warned him. But do the rules really need to spell that out, or is it just common sense that you need to see it coming to dodge it?

There's interesting dressing here at the airport, from the catapult used to launch gliders (something Heroes who acquire glider trophy planes will probably need) and piles of balloon silk, which is apparently absorbs all falling damage.

This is The Wasp, another mysteryman. So far, he's recovered missing blueprints and found the mobsters who wanted to sell them. The Wasp could have simply handed them all to the police at this point, but instead The Wasp shakes down the crooks for $5,000 and gives them fake plans. Good way to find out how much treasure your opponents have!

This is Barry Lane the Adventure-Hunter, and it's another good example of how easy it is to slip into the "Mythic West" from any modern day state out west (see Supplement III for more on the Mythic West as a setting).

This is -- well, obviously, Spirit Man.  The TV that acts like a crystal ball is cliche already, but the new twist is that Spirit Man can apparently transport himself through the "futurescope" to whatever scene he's watching.

But wait, there's more!  The futurescope also turns you invisible after it teleports you!

The mistodine ray gun wrecks things as if a remarkable man (4th level superhero).

The futurescope bestows Passwall too? I'm beginning to think that the futurescope is just flavor text and Spirit Man is statted as a magic-user of 9th level or higher.

There's a peculiar trap here. I may not have been reading carefully, so I don't understand why the floor of the next room is electrified, or why the switch that keeps the current off is disguised as a folding chair.

Spirit Man kills!

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)

Silver Streak Comics #1 - pt. 2

This is Mister Midnite and he's a strange duck. He looks like a Mysteryman, acts like a Mysteryman, but has a ridiculously powerful magic spell -- every night, during the final strokes of midnight, he can choose to stop time. In That Other Game, this would be the 9th level spell Time Stop, but with a very specific limitation. I, frankly, don't know how you would build this Hero with Hideouts & Hoodlums.  You would need a very flexible and accommodating Editor to let your Hero have such a potentially campaign-breaking ability, especially right away in the campaign.

Also note that, despite telling us through the story to this point that Chief Birey has it in for Mister Midnite, he's easily persuaded to cooperate with Mister Midnite on this case. Past encounter reaction failures do not weigh against you in present encounter reaction rolls.

Speaking of Heroes with campaign-unbalancing powers when just at first level -- Red Reeves is just a half-pint, an ordinary boy, until he finds a magic marble that releases a genie, or djinni, to serve him. That's a potent magic item -- unless the marble and the genie are all just flavor text, to explain Red's magic-user abilities.

As if having a genie serving you wasn't enough, the genie gives Red a "wand of power."  There's no wand of power in That Other Game, but there's a Staff of Power, and that's yet another potent magic item. Or, the wand is Red's normal magic wand for casting spells with, as a magic-user, and the genie is then more of a supporting cast member.

Red's first spell is Create Food & Water.

It seems that Red is casting Wish spells, but they can be explained other ways. He casts Enlarge on his dog and then Fly.

This is an odd one -- no spell really matches this one, but it does match the power Raise Building.

Plant Growth.

Teleport.  And then Fly again (unless the duration hadn't ended from the first casting).

Red has to be at least a 9th level magic-user, if he is the one casting all these spells.

A sloop is present in the transportation section of the 2nd ed. H&H rules. It's an expensive item, at $8,000, well beyond what most Heroes have for starting money. So, what is it? The exploding dice option for rolling starting money that I'm introducing makes it hypothetically possible for even a 1st level Hero to start with that much. Or, it could be a house rule where every Hero gets to start with a trophy item of some sort.

Captain Fearless has three sharks advancing on him when a seaplane comes down to save him. Is Lieutenant Dugan a Hero or a Supporting Cast Member? Is this a wandering encounter? And did Dugan roll to hit the shark with his plane? How much damage does hitting a shark with a plane do? I can come up with an easy mechanic for basing damage on speed, but it would get complex if it had to take the mass of the vehicle into account too.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)