Blue Ribbon Comics #3 - pt. 3

And we continue with Scoop Cody, what could have been a dry and boring crime reporter strip, but is livened by the energetic artwork of Charles Biro.

Here, we get to see a jewel case being used as a throwing weapon (improvised weapons do the same damage as fists, 1-3) with another example of disarming. Scoop follows up with a grappling move, a throw that would leave the Count prone for the following turn. But there seems to be a turn of fighting missing between panels, because the Count is back up on his feet to get punched already in panel 4. Now the Count is prone again in panel 5 (as if they were out of order...), but is still able to kick at a -1 penalty to hit. We may have missed another turn of action between panels 5 and 6, or maybe the Count got to draw his knife at the beginning of the turn, but has to wait until the end of the turn to use it. It does seem strange to grapple a prone opponent to make him lose his knife instead of just kicking it out of his hand, though.

I guess chewing gum sticking to a dress could happen, but I'm skeptical he could slip it around her back like that without anyone noticing. A sleight of hand skill check, as an expert skill?

The Marvel is Biro's first "superhero." His power might be levitation...as I'm wondering what he's standing on while looking through that porthole from the outside...

The first time we met Corporal Collins was during our landmark 500th post. I had conjectured that Collins was statted as an alien superhero because of what all he could do, so let's take another look and see if that bears up.

Initially, I wrote off the fabri-steel flexible repeller as flavor text for some Armor Class-buffing power like Nigh-Invulnerable Skin, but an awful lot is made of the "science" behind the repeller, and maybe it really is a trophy item (one that gives the wielder the Turn Guns on Bad Guys power, no less!).

It's also worth noting that, since the U.S. is still not at war with anyone, Collins has to be fighting with the French.

I almost have nightmares about this happening in one of my games. "Oh look, guys, we just captured an enemy fighter plane! Let's be unstoppable for awhile!"

That said, I'm REALLY skeptical that you could take off in a plane like that. Maybe that's an expert skill check, with a penalty of having to take a higher die (so 1 in 8 instead of 1 in 6).

I'm sure that munitions dump was worth a lot of XP!

Now, here's where the story differs from what players would really do. Instead of ditching the plane to stay in the combat, players would look at the longterm benefits of keeping the plane, bail from the fight, and go refuel.  You could put every fuel depot under heavy guard, but that's not too big a deterrent when you can strafe the depots with machine gun fire from above.

Now, Collins landing on the balloon would be an attack roll, but against AC 9 since it's a big target. I would require a basic skill check for climbing around the balloon like that.

There is absolutely no explanation for the corkscrew tank that Collins steals after he reaches the ground. What purpose does it serve? Does it wreck through walls faster? I would think that tanks wreck through walls pretty well already. Maybe it opens giant champagne bottles.

That is one super-powerful grenade. I might give one a chance to wreck a tank or a bridge, but a grenade that can wreck both at once? I do have a high-level power called Mass Wrecking. Is Collins a superhero of that high a level?

This is a new series called Devils in the Deep. I really want to stat that monster, but I don't know what to call it -- killer lobster-tiger shark-barracuda-man? 

And how big was that barracuda to have a heart that size?

The monster is pretty smart, since it understands what dynamite is. It's also cagey enough to pretend to kill Dr. Carbo, even though it must know it can't.

Later, the killer lobster-tiger shark-barracuda-man kills a giant octopus, so we know it's at least that strong.

This is from a series called Secret Assignments. Jack only has to overpower two guards to free the prisoners. You might think they would have bum-rushed the guards themselves, having superior numbers. Perhaps even stranger is that Jack leaps all that way down to reach the guard -- maybe sustaining 1-6 points of damage from the fall? -- and then punches the guard. Of course, what happened was that Jack rolled poorly and missed falling on the guard!

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum.)

Blue Ribbon Comics #2 - pt. 2

Before I get into any comic book talk -- this is my 500th post. Yay me! It took me exactly two and a half years to get to this point. I've discussed every comic book I can get my hands (real or virtual) on from 1935 up through December 1939, and discussed them in terms of what I can glean from them to add to my comic book role-playing game Hideouts & Hoodlums.

I really thought I would have the 2nd edition of these rules done long before now. I know this blog has been slowing me down. But I have learned so much from writing this blog that is informing my game and my new rulebook. So even though I have slacked off on the blog in recent months to step up production of the rulebook, I am not giving up this blog.

With all that said...I have sadly little left to say about Blue Ribbon Comics #2 to mark this auspicious post. We left off with Bob Phantom...

I wrote yesterday about about how Bob Phantom was acting like a low-level superhero. I see that in game play from certain players, that they play very conservative and try to play it safe no matter what level their Hero is. I think that is the case here, because Bob shows off some pretty frighteningly high-level powers when he feels like it. Here he demonstrates Teleport through Focus (the focus being this gas that seems to follow him around -- ate a lot of beans lately, Bob?) and then tosses in a quick example of wrecking things to boot. But he uses none of these abilities against the hoodlums so far.

Finally, Bob decides to take personal action against the hoodlums, only when he's concerned Butch will escape the dragnet if he doesn't get involved. It was not concern for his own safety that kept Bob out of the fight, since he has some serious defensive buffing power on display, perhaps even Imperviousness.

Maybe it was not concern for his own safety that kept Bob out of fighting all this time...but respect for law and order? He delayed to give the system a chance? I guess I understand that from a character perspective...but in game play, it seems like it would make for boring game sessions. The game is much more fun when Heroes just jump into trouble.

Now, I had just mentioned yesterday some justification for a low chance to hit in H&H. But here we have Corporal Collins shooting, not one, but two pilots right out of their planes as they pass overhead. I was all prepared to write something here about how a higher chance to hit balances the Fighter class, but there may be more at play here...

Because what's going on, on this page? Collins has a "sixth sense?" His "fabri-steel flexible repeller" makes him harder to hit? He can leap high in the air...like a baseball player? (??)

The second two of those abilities seem an awful lot like what an alien can do in H&H, and "sixth sense" is starting to look like some new power. Even those amazing shots Collins got off before might benefit from a buffing power like Bulls-Eye. Could Collins be an alien superhero, but with all the trappings of a human fighter? His military uniform serves as his costume? It would certainly be possible to build the character that way.

(Read at Comic Book Plus.)