Crackajack Funnies #20 - pt. 2

And we return with Freckles, which surprises me sometimes with its continued relevance to this blog. Here we see how easy it is to find treasure in the game -- particularly when the treasure is meant as a plot hook, and then you can literally snag it up anywhere.

An interesting code of colored lights for villains to use to communicate with each other.

I think I've mentioned elsewhere how natives need a better chance of hearing noise.

The cowboy genre has lots of reasons for bad guys to want to take someone's ranch by force, but this may be the first time the bad guys have wanted the ranch so they can turn around and sell it to the government. Won't the joke be on them if the government declares eminent domain on the ranch and builds the dam anyway!

Do natives also need a better chance of hiding in shadows, or should that apply to half-pints?

Sleight of hand is a skill you don't often see bad guys using, but this outlaw is an expert -- managing to move his hands over to an exposed axe right in front of Red and still goes unnoticed.

We haven't visited our old friend Myra North in awhile. Most male heroes solve problems with their fists; Myra solves this one with just her shoulder! I wrote recently about how a character should be able to sacrifice his chance at an attack to modify someone else's attack roll upwards, but here is an example of someone foregoing her attack to modify someone's attack roll downwards.

It's also interesting that this scene hinges on wind direction, an element often neglected in stories and RPG scenarios.

"Forcing away" needs to become a stunt in dog fights between aviators; basically a push attack, but without contact between the planes.

Power dive is already an aviation stunt, but I should probably write something about this tactic, of playing chicken with airplanes. It would apply equally to cars; the non-Hero/non-Heroes involved have to make morale saves or swerve out of the way. The Hero then has to make a save vs. science to pull out (or hit the brakes) in time to avoid the collision. Of course, the goal is to make your opponents swerve so hard that they crash, so they have to make saves vs. science if they fail their morale saves, crashing if they fail again (just not into you).

Blowguns are a surprisingly rare weapon in comic books.

According to Clyde Beatty, clowns have a soothing effect on crowds. Perhaps Heroes should bring clowns with them so their allies will all get a bonus to morale saves.

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus.)

Crackajack Funnies #19 - pt. 2

This is still Stratosphere Jim...

The trophy transportation section in the Hideouts & Hoodlums Basic book has a list of upgrades to vehicles that qualify them as trophy items, and one of them is being bulletproof.

Heroes at any level might think about setting up a hideout for themselves. Here's some sound advice on picking a location with a hard-to-reach entrance, concealing the entrance, and stocking the hideout.

At the rate I go through months' worth of comics now, it takes way too long for me to come back around to Wash Tubbs. Here, we learn that a swanky nightclub could clear $450 in profit in two nights.

You also have to get past the racist nickname of Lucifer for a black man.

And then there's the large-scale ride-on train -- my dad works on those! (true story)

Two things to point out here. Captain Easy could probably handle these racketeers a lot quicker than Wash is, but Wash chooses to do it on his own because combat is dangerous and innocent people could be hurt. That is a Lawful Hero.

Secondly, when Wash has an important decision to make, he gets five different opinions offered to him, four of them from clearly non-Hero characters under the Editor's control. The Editor has to be careful in situations like this not to appear to be guiding the player(s) by making one option sound much better than the other options on the table.

This is Clyde Beatty, who I've already learned was a real person who just happened to get his own comic strip. What I took away from this page is a) not even a cruise ship is too unlikely a location to run into a lion that needs taming, and b) if you spray big cats with water, they need to make morale saves.

Bolton's got a map! I wonder if they would consider opening the flood gates and broadening the Waterfall of Tahar, to wash away the climbing attacking forces...?  Let's see!

Woo, called that one!  But -- what? "My job is done"? You weren't even the one who opened the flood gates, Bolton, all you did was stand around and watch!

A new plane is a pretty sweet reward for him...but I guess it's like giving the player who's Hero was knocked down to 1 hp and couldn't do much all session a full share of treasure.

More evidence of how "bandit" almost always means Hispanic. Other than that, the scenario of rescuing a prisoner from the bandits is much more interesting to me than a "defeat the bandits" scenario.

That is one risky rescue plan; it apparently all came down to Jack beating the bandits at initiative. Otherwise, Whitey was going to have to survive a hail of bullets before that tear gas gun went off.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum.)

All-American Comics #6

Picking up where I left off in #6...

After seeing references to Clyde Beatty in both a previous Mutt & Jeff and this month's Reg'lar Fellers, I looked him up and -- sure enough -- Clyde was a real person and not just a comic strip character!

In Mystery Men of Mars, Ted and Alan don't feel they've killed enough Martian pill-bug men yet, so they drop dynamite on them.  They return to Earth with a trophy, a robot they can control. Despite crash-landing in the ocean from orbit, the boys only take enough falling damage to fall unconscious.

Hop Harrigan is probably only a second-level Aviator by now, but he's already upgrading to a trophy plane -- an autogyro that can drive on the ground as well. A chase takes place over Route 26. If this is U.S. Route 26, then Hop's adventure takes place in either Nebraska or Oregon. It turns out that taking on Gerry as a SCM has extra bonuses; she's a plot hook character, in that she introduces Hop to a kidnapping scenario, and then she comes with the bonus of rich parents who want to pay Hop for keeping her on as his SCM. It's like having hirelings, but in reverse!

In Bobby Thatcher, they escape the old man who wants their map, but encounter a riverboat on the river as a wandering encounter. The riverboat accidentally smashes their rowboat. I would assign the riverboat a Hit Die for the purpose of making an attack roll, and then instead of assigning hit points and damage, I might just make a common sense ruling that a riverboat, with its size and mass, would easily smash a rowboat. That Tubby can't swim is a serious complication, and one I would not burden a Hero with, or even most Supporting Cast Members. SCMs meant for comic relief, I might save vs. plot for them to see if they can't swim.

Mutt & Jeff show us that you can get a used jalopy for as little as $10 back in the '30s, but there was a good chance (3 in 6?) the brakes would not work.

We learn in Scribbly that, as of September 1939, Scribbly is 13 1/2 years old.

Boxing champ Jack Dempsey guest-stars in The Adventures of Popsicle Pete -- given the accuracy of the likeness -- very likely with permission.

Crackajack Funnies #18

Freckles and His Friends deals with an unusual trophy item of questionable keep-ability -- seal pelts. There are $5,000 worth of seal pelts in this boat, though we don't know how much that comes to per pelt. We do know they bought a used boat for $75, but found it a good enough value to be suspicious.

Clyde Beatty, Daredevil Lion and Tiger Trainer encounters a very well-guarded trophy item -- gold chains, with a lion attached to them. In the story the lion is what they consider the trophy, though I imagine most players would prefer the gold chains.

Myra North, Special Nurse is not actively looking for Supporting Cast Members, but after healing Captain Weaver, it's only natural to make a recruitment roll for her. SCM recruitment can be initiated by the player or the Editor.

The lair of The Spider is a fortress-like villa in Mexico. We see a fence around the yard and a roof defended by three guards armed with an anti-aircraft gun.

Again, we see evidence of complications in vehicular combat (plane stalled) instead of hit point loss (or an equivalent mechanic). We also see the stunt Deadstick.

(Scans courtesy of ComicBookPlus.)

Crackajack Funnies #17

Today's adventure of Don Winslow of the Navy includes a naval battle between a battle cruiser and a submarine -- neither one of which is going to make it into the trophy section of the 2nd edition basic book. After much thought and research, I've decided to cap the section on water transport trophies to yachts.

Interestingly, it's a yacht that Don is on and not the two vessels actually fighting. The larger naval battle could be roll-played out, or just treated as background flavor text.

Trigger is "crazed" and staggers blindly from fatigue and thirst. Those are some harsh complications I don't expect any players will want to deal with. Trigger is a mobster, though, so the Editor can assign any complications to him he wants.

This is "Time Marches Back" with Looney Luke, Inventor of the "Time Machine."  It's a feature as bad as its title would suggest. Two things to note from it, though: a) Luke's time machine is his hat, which also lets him fly, and b) this is an actual ghost. Real ghosts are exceedingly rare in the early comics, as they're almost always fake undead. This ghost demonstrates its ability to pass through small holes here, as ectoplasm seems to be closer to a liquid than a solid state.

This is Clyde Beatty, Daredevil Lion & Tiger Trainer -- further proof of my new contention that the longer a title is the worse it is. At least Clyde is done messing around in the circus now and is exploring Africa.

Clyde doesn't bother with taming leopards, though -- he just wants to kill 'em!  I've spoken recently about Hit Dice intentionally not accurately reflecting the comics, and here this leopard would have to have 4 hit points for there to be any chance of that dagger killing it in one hit.

This is Buck Jones and the Canyon Rustler, and there's more going on here than you might think at a glance. Buck has defeated this outlaw (an evil cowboy) and now the outlaw is spilling the beans about the hideout Buck needs to head to next. Buck has already learned how the entrance to the hideout is concealed and the location of a lookout (another new mobster type) guarding the entrance.  But there's also a bandit lurking about and he's about to attack. Look out, Buck!

It's been awhile since we've checked in on Dann Dunn, Secret Operative 48. Here his poor dog Wolf is doing most of the work because Dan is low on hit points. At the end, when all the danger is past, Dan faints from low hp. Except, that's not a thing -- you can't somehow delay unconsciousness in the game through force of will. So, this must be the player's decision to make Dan faint -- self-imposed flavor text, if you will.

Also, an example of the usefulness of carrying handcuffs.

Wash Tubbs finds that the 1930s is a great time to buy things cheap, if you've got the money.

This reminds me of a recent issue I had in the 2nd edition trophy section -- how do you set $ values on hi-tech or magic trophy items so that Heroes don't become instantly rich? One answer is, if it's the pre-WWII years, not enough people are buying who have enough money to make you rich.

Speed Bolton Air Ace should be a lot more exciting than it usually is, but in this installment things really start to happen after a lot of issues of people standing around talking to each other.

I'm wondering, though, if a marksman's medal should be a trophy item. The wielder would get a +1 to hit with missiles?

This is Ed Tracer, G-Man X32. He's in an interesting hideout, and I call it interesting because there's plenty to explore here. Did he search all the cells in the dungeon? What's in that barrel and crate? What flows out of that long pipe sticking out of the wall -- water, or green slime?

The radio room is halfway between levels. It contains a safe - don't you want to know what's in it, Ed? Above that is, one could presume, the ground floor where the party is taking place.

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus.)

Crackajack Funnies - part 2

This page gives you some idea of just how many hit points Easy has.

I don't really see how Lulu Belle jumps over his head and lands outside the ring. Unless she's an alien or a superhero using her leaping ability...

Don Winslow's lesson this month is, if your cell starts to fill with water -- look for fish! It could be a clue that there's a way to swim out.

This is from Clyde Beatty, Dare Devil Lion Tamer, and it's a complication from being reduced to zero hit points we haven't seen before -- temporary partial paralysis!

More evidence of long recovery times for lost hit points.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)

Crackajack Funnies #5

The difference between role-playing and roll-playing is exemplified, to me, by this page of Dan Dunn.  Note how Dan's plan doesn't involve sneaking or fighting -- just talking. He's going to talk his way into the villain's hideout. The Editor could still add an element of randomness with encounter reaction rolls, but the players can just keep talking, come at it from a different angle, and try to change the dynamics.

This is Captain Frank Hawks, Air Ace.  Flying Blind should probably be a 1st or 2nd level Aviator stunt, allowing the Aviator to fly safely with zero visibility.

Still in the same adventure, Frank has locked himself into a ship's cabin and the mobsters after him try to break through with an axe. It seems a logical choice in real life, but there is currently no game mechanic bonus to wreck through a door. Maybe axes should have some kind of bonus, like a -1 penalty for the door to save vs. non-Superhero wrecking?

This is Myra North, Special Nurse, and she has a playing tip -- if you think someone has done something and you want to prove it, bribe them to stop and see how they react.

Canisters of anesthetic gas should be a trophy item. It only works in tandem with a grappling attack.

Clyde Beatty, Daredevil Lion Tamer reminds us that you should always keep poison antidotes handy. A lot of my players have all learned to stock up on anti-venom.

In Wash Tubbs, the circus manager (I don't think he was revealed to be an inventor until the story needed him to be) has a spray that makes claws too rubbery to do damage. I think a lot of players would want their Heroes to have this stuff.

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus)