Dick Tracy Meets the Blank

This is something of a special installment of the Larcenous Lexicon. I do not actually own a single golden age comic book, but have reviewed comic books from my collection of reprints, comic books I have found scanned online, and -- when necessary, summaries written by others about comic books. In this case, while I don't have access to this particular comic book, I know the entire contents should be the Blank story that I have access to via another route, The Complete Chester Gould's Dick Tracy Dailies & Sundays, 1936-1938 (vol. 4).

And what a story it was! A H&H Editor could learn a lot about how to handle a villain in a campaign from this story. Like...

1. Keep the villain off-stage as much as possible. Instead of forcing a confrontation, have the villain avoid the heroes. Make the heroes have to react to what the villain has already done, or has set into motion, instead of getting there in time to stop him. Confrontations give heroes the chance to defeat, or even kill, your bad guy before he's had the chance to do everything you planned for him. Dick Tracy and the Blank meet exactly twice in this story, even though the story ran for 81 strips.

2. At some point, your heroes and villain do need to meet. In this story, the Blank brazenly confronts Tracy in his apartment building (just to size him up, apparently; the Blank didn't really seem to have a reason for being there), but has a handheld smokescreen emitter/smoke-throwing device that covers his retreat. Every recurring villain needs to have a power/spell/trophy item that is going to give him an edge on escaping -- you can't count on players letting the villain just run away!

3. Give the villain a history, and make it important to the story. Knowing that the Blank was once Frank Redrum, the leader of a gang, is not very memorable. Having him come back after faking his death to kill off all the old members of his gang -- that's memorable.

4. Give the players a reason to love hating the villain. If The Blank forces the heroes into a decompression chamber at gunpoint and tries to kill them, that could just be business as usual for heroes. But when The Blank stands at the window to the room and playfully waves at them while they're dying, that's going to guarantee the players are going to want their heroes to stay alive to get some payback.

Popular Comics #27

We've finally reached April of 1938 and this issue from Dell leads off with Dick Tracy and a trapped safe. The Purple Cross Gang kept a safe so obvious it even said "Purple Cross records" on the front of it. Of course, the safe was rigged to explode with a dozen sticks of dynamite -- that's at least 24d6 damage -- with the only safe way to open it being to cut the power to the room it was in (since the trap was electrically wired).

Spooky how the Asp just seems to spring up out of that bush, eh? (Yes, I realize he probably stepped out from behind the tree behind him and moved forward.) More important is the failed morale save from the mobsters. Pulling guns on mobsters will require a morale save from Fighters, but these mobsters aren't looking at the guns, they're looking at the Asp himself. This is the intimidate power of the Mysteryman class, forcing a morale save just with a look.

Another trophy item idea is the master switch -- something that turns off all of one type of hi-tech item -- machines, robots, guns -- that were created the same way -- in the same factory, by the same inventor, from the same kit.  It seems to have a generous range, maybe 200 ft.?

I haven't included a page of This Curious World in a while.  This page introduces us to the peccary, the only wild pig indigenous to the Americas.  It's not very big -- certainly no boar -- and more the size of a giant rat. I'd only give them 1/2 HD.


(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus)

Popular Comics #26

This issue starts with a sort of new trophy item from Dick Tracy -- magnifying ear phones. Game mechanic-wise, they would work like wearing a hearing aid (which is in Book II: Mobsters & Trophies).

According to Gasoline Alley, at least, a horse-drawn sleigh can travel at 9 MPH. In the streamlined Movement system I plan to move to in Hideouts & Hoodlums 2nd edition, this would have a score of 9. In the current system, the equivalent score is a more confusing 45.

As common as dog catchers are portrayed as villainous in comic strips, like Winnie Winkle, I wonder if I should create a dog catcher mobster type.  Maybe they would have different stats vs. dogs -- like 1-1 HD normally, but 3 HD if going up against dogs...


(scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus)

Popular Comics #22

Our coverage of November 1937 begins with another issue from Dell Comics, which begins with some pages of Dick Tracy I'm choosing not to show here. For those who want to go down to the bottom of this post and follow a link to where you can read them, you'll see Dick talking about poisoned chewing gum (trophy or trap?), and a hot playing tip -- you can write secret messages in butter with a toothpick, which will show up under ultraviolet light, or scratch a message onto paper with a pin and you can read the impressions if the light hits it just the right way.

Of course, we're also asked to believe that a bed mattress can serve as safe cover from a sub-machine gun, so the whole veracity of those tips feels up in the air to me now...

Speaking of questionable things, Don Winslow is shown hollow ice cubes holding poison gas. I guess that could work, but if you're really concerned about not leaving bomb fragments behind, why not just rain the poison down on the island in liquid form? Oh well. At least you could leave a freezer-full of poison gas-filled ice cubes in a walk-in freezer in a hideout, to catch Heroes who habitually try to break everything.

Bos'n Hal learns that incendiary bullets and whale oil are a bad mix -- but should incendiary bullets do additional damage if they hit living targets? Because Hideouts & Hoodlums uses an abstract combat system and one-time damage assignment, it largely ignores continuing effects like bleeding and burning. In Book II: Mobsters & Trophies, I assigned incendiary bullets an additional +1d4 damage because I figured players would expect it, and yet the anticipated demand hasn't been there; my players get more excited about armor-piercing rounds. More to ponder...

Smilin' Jack teaches us that radio compasses on planes were once a luxury, not a necessity!

Did I say before that the Skull Valley strip was getting out there? I didn't know the half of it! Here, we get flying plants, giant tumbleweeds, intelligent cavemen, gas cacti that shoot their needles like darts, and "nameless monsters" that have triceratops-like heads, but backwards-bending legs with clawed feet! I'm not even sure where to start statting!

...Seriously, the flying plants and the giant tumbleweeds are noncombatants, the gas cacti are more like a trap than a mobster-type, cavemen were already statted in Book II, and I can't tell the size of the nameless monster to help me place a HD value on it.

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus)

Popular Comics #20

This month's issue from Dell Comics starts with some Dick Tracy, that you won't be seeing here, but these pages include a disreputable parson selling marriage certificates for just $2, and what appears to be surprise rolls used to determine if two cars can pass each other without spotting each other. There's also a nifty trap where stepping on a concealed buzzer by the far wall causes a pit trap to open up in the middle of the floor.

Now, onto the pages I can show you! Don Winslow is having a sci fi adventure here, involving an orbiting platform in the mesophere, 30 miles high. Now, the science seem really wonky here. We know, today, that the ultra-violet light at that altitude is not lethal. But we actually haven't seen that happen yet, we've only been told that by the villain. Players should treat information like that with caution when they receive it in-game because you never know when your Editor will use real world or comic book world science!

Behind this is the dilemma many RPGs face over the difference between character knowledge (what your Hero would know) and player knowledge (what the player knows). It is really up to the Editor who big an issue he feels this is. If playing just for fun, then it doesn't really matter, but if historical simulation is an important aspect of game play...then the Editor would be within his rights to make the Heroes save vs. plot in situations like this, with a failed save meaning the Heroes cannot benefit from player knowledge!

This page of The Gumps deals with a subject that's pretty important in hideout exploration -- opening locked doors. Anyone should be able to open a locked door with the right tools and enough time, as Andy Gump is shown trying here. Opening a locked door quickly, or without the benefit of specialized tools, can only be attempted by a Mysteryman -- or by other classes if stunts are allowed to other classes -- except if a hairpin is used. This is such an old cliche of fiction that anyone should be able to unlock a door with a hairpin if they save vs. plot.

Hard to believe Skull Valley started out as a cowboy strip!  Here, White is more like a masked vigilante, but the real surprise is seeing a repeating crossbow as an early weapon in comics!

Catching arrows in mid-flight is not an ability I'd like to put into the hands of ordinary fighters...but if it was just an ordinary miss, colored with some flavor text by the Editor, then there's nothing wrong with that.

The last issue here is the million dollar "opium princess". Should rescuing someone always be worth 100 xp, as a good deed, or should more valuable people be treated like trophies, and worth their value...?

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus)

Popular Comics #19

I'll start with talking about the Dick Tracy pages from this issue, not pictured here. A playing tip is that Tracy and his fellow cops dab phosphorescent calcium sulfide on their noses so they can spot each other in the dark, while not giving their location away like entering a dark hideout with flashlights blazing would do.

Japanese dope smuggler Toyee tries to hide from Tracy by being sown into a big dead fish. So if you see fish hanging from the ceiling in a hideout, make sure you punch them a few times and listen for "ow!"

Toyee wore a ring with a secret compartment for a poison capsule, potassium cyanide specifically. Something else to look for when capturing mobsters.

Alignment doesn't get discussed in comic books often, but here's a perfect discussion of what constitutes Law from this page of The Nebbs.

Hmm...a mini-aircraft carrier (though only able to carry one aircraft) that flies through the air thanks to helicopter propellers? Is this the granddaddy of Jack Kirby's Helicarrier for Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD?

Although this page refers to Galapagos iguanas as "giant marine iguanas", they're actually not that large. I wouldn't stat at giant iguana, then, as anything over 1+1 Hit Dice.


(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus)

Popular Comics #13

Nebbs reminds me that, when I statted half-pints for Hideouts & Hoodlums Book II: Mobsters & Trophies, I should have given them some natural climbing ability.

Maw Green's pearls of "wisdom" usually just annoy me, but this installment has some useful 1930s pricing information:  prunes – 10 cents a can, bananas – 15 cents a bunch, soup – 7 cents a can.

Dick Tracy runs into more "gangland trickery" -- a car with a concealed machine gun under the hood that shoots through the radiator grill. This is a good example of combining two hi-tech trophy items to create a new item.

Gasoline Alley features a map to a gold mine that you can read over Mr. Bat's shoulder and use in your home campaign.

This page of Tom Mix would take some explanation to fit H&H. First, he is hearing noise, as if at a door (with the same 2 in 6 chance of success).

The chance of the floor crumbling is a trap (perhaps a 2 in 6 chance of crumbling each turn 180+ lbs. remains on it).

Falling and landing on an opponent and damaging the opponent has been covered previously. Falling and landing on two opponents -- that's just a freebie from the Editor.

Here's another freebie -- apparently, the Editor rolled for surprise after Tom fell and gave him a free surprise turn to act. Normally, if the Editor felt the situation warranted a surprise roll, the mobsters could only be surprised long enough for Tom to get back on his feet, not to move as well.

The firefight in the dark is tricky too. Tom is in complete darkness, so the gunmen are at a -4 to hit penalty against him. But, the gunmen are in dim light -- a charitable assumption by muzzle flashes alone -- so Tom still has a -2 to hit them. That Tom hits them all with rocks before they shoot him is quite lucky.



I'm not sure, but remain skeptical that H&H needs a game mechanic to cover pinning someone's clothes to the wall. It seems more like flavor text to me...








Now, Don Winslow might be making sense -- I helped you against a rampaging jaguar, now you help me -- right? For a one-time favor, an Editor could easily hand-wave the encounter reaction roll and rule by common sense. However, if Don was looking to recruit those natives long-term, or to put them in mortal danger, then the Editor would still be right in rolling randomly for an encounter reaction.



Bos'n Hal learns that the U.S. Navy decided in the 1930s that dirigibles were obsolete, so they became available for sale (the police dirigibles on Batman: The Animated Series were probably Navy surplus dirigibles). However, given their limited availability and a presumedly high price, I still plan to keep them off the starting equipment list.

And, lastly, Skippy makes me think I may have underestimated how many hit points half-pints have. Or are these 3rd-level half-pint fighters?









(Scans courtesy Digital Comic Museum)

Popular Comics #12

We're finally up to 1937, a year and a half pre-Superman.

And first up is Dick Tracy, who demonstrates disguise skills. Should this be available to everyone, or a special feature of the Detective Class?  The Detective Class debuted in The Trophy Case v. 2 no. 7, badly needs playtesting, and will probably have to sit out from re-release in the next edition of Hideouts & Hoodlums.

There's also a neat ambush trap, with gunmen loaded up inside a fake gas tanker blocking the road.

One of the oldest tricks in the game for making mobsters seem fresh and different is to combine them. So here we get a mad scientist, coupled with a jaguar on a leash, and you get an encounter more interesting than it would have been with either one of them alone (who were statted in Book II: Mobsters & Trophies and Supplement III: Better Quality respectively).

Tiny Tim has graced these pages before, but no previous installment looked as gonzo-creative as this one!  Here we get ride-able giant robots in the shape of a man (large robot?), a stork robot, "Dreadnaught Crabs", and a mechanical dragon.

Despite how impressive the latter two sound/look, I'd guess they're really no more than 6 HD robots, since they are easily destroyed by the "fire-spitter" weapon mounted in the beak of the stork robot. This seems to shoot fireballs or concussive blasts of devastating effect.  At least the stork robot has to be piloted by a midget or child-sized pilot.

Skippy learns that the most satisfying traps are sometimes ones the victim has to trigger himself -- like a camera that sprays ink in the face of the person activating it. In a more dangerous hideout, you could replace the ink with acid -- but be careful of clever Heroes taking that trap and turning it into a weapon!

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus)

Popular Comics #11

There is a power called chick magnet for Superheroes (Hideouts & Hoodlums Supplement I: National), but should it be a stunt instead?  Then Harold Teen and his friends would have access to it...

This issue's Dick Tracy installment includes a favorite tactic of mine in modern RPGs -- using a car as a battering ram. This reminds us that cars give ordinary humans huge advantages in even as modern-day a role-playing game as Hideouts & Hoodlums. You get: a) cover from attacks, b) a much improved Movement rate, c) can do ramming damage, and d) can wreck things that it hits (though it wrecks the car too).  Of those four, a, b, and c are loosely covered by the rules, while d is left entirely to the Editor's discretion. It's a tricky situation; there are a lot of instances using vehicles that could get covered by the rules, but this isn't meant to be Car Wars, so I'm going to keep the rules rules-lite when it comes to vehicles, and hope the Editor has enough tools to wing it with whatever comes up.

Then there's also the issue of shooting at little old ladies.  There should still be some situations when even Fighters still have to save vs. plot to shoot at people.

Speaking of stunts...is 'thrill a crowd' a stunt?  Or just an encounter reaction roll for a mass encounter?

Tom Mix presents the interesting problem of gunfire indoors -- should small enough rooms fill up with smoke?  Is this something that should have its own mechanic, or be left as flavor text for the Editor to use when it suits him?  I favor the latter, but we'll see if this turns into a recurring trope.

This combat in Skull Valley (formerly Whiteboy in Skull Valley) is actually pretty complex, mechanically.  In turn 1, the sheriff tries to slap handcuffs onto the evil cowboy, but missed. It appears that one handcuff is actually on, but this is flavor text -- if the player's intention had been to handcuff both the cowboy's hands, then this was a failed roll.  During the same turn, the cowboy vaults onto the back of the sheriff's horse. I'm not sure if this should require some kind of a riding stunt, or perhaps a save vs. science (or plot?) for the cowboy. In turn 2, the cowboy goes first -- either by virtue of a roll-off for initiative, or having used the Quick Draw stunt. The blow to the back of the head I've brought up before.  If the sheriff is higher than 1st-level, as most sheriffs ought to be (given how level titles work in H&H), then head blows must do more than normal damage to take him out in one hit.  It is to ponder.

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus)

Popular Comics #7 - pt. 1

Another issue of Dell's Popular Comics has a lot to teach us!

Here, Gasoline Alley shows us that Fighters should be able to climb.  Well, actually, I think every class should have the ability to climb trees. Some games would just assign a big modifier to a skill check, but I think we can waive a mechanic entirely for tree climbing.

Ultra-obscure comic strip reprint A Strain on the Family Tie is going to illuminate some aspect of Hideouts & Hoodlums for us?   It does when it reminds us that fireworks are legally available for sale (though not on the starting equipment list, they should be easily picked up in game play), and make great diversions for Heroes to use.

Hatchet men would be another name -- and perhaps a less offensive name, for Yellow Peril Hoodlums.  I plan to retain this mobster type, though I'm seriously considering adding to them that they are adept at ambushes, with perhaps a 3 in 6 chance of surprise.



The Dick Tracy installment reminds us of more tools available to "modern day" Heroes of the '30s and '40s -- though not as available as fireworks -- the lie detector and the "trick mirror" that can be seen through from the other side.

Little Joe's bandit general pal here demonstrates two combat moves: disarming (which will have its own game mechanic in the next edition) and the technique that only seems to exist in comics -- picking up someone and using them as a club against another target (Batman will do this frequently in his early days).  After grappling the first target, the attacker can use this technique to do clubbing damage to both opponents at once.  Editors might want to limit this technique only to Heroes with a Strength of 15 or higher.

Reg'lar Fellers reminds us of two more potentially useful items for Heroes to acquire -- stilts and glue.  Glue is even going to be on the starting equipment list.

This panel of On the Range reminds us that bisons have not been statted for H&H yet, and perhaps they should be. Wikipedia tells me that bison at Yellowstone National Park are three times as likely to harm people than bears, and I've long since statted bears!  The American bison would have 6 HD, trample for 1-10+1 damage, and use 12-siders for Hit Dice because of their mass.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)

Popular Comics #6 - pt. 1

Though I'm not a fan of the original Little Orphan Annie, here I do owe it a small debt of gratitude for showing me what a small group of slick hoodlums -- here called mountebanks -- could do to whip up a frenzied crowd against some Hideouts & Hoodlums Heroes. I did consider making mountebanks a new mobster type, but the charm ability of slick hoodlums seems like such a good match.

This page raises the issue of how to handle morale saves. Do you roll once for the whole group, or roll separately for each individual attacker? The rules do not specify, leaving this up to the preference of each Editor.



In Dick Tracy, we see trick shoes with concealed compartments in the bottom, and a miniature gun disguised as a fountain pen. Good additions to a minor hi-tech trophies list!

Believe it or not, but Believe It or Not will not turn up here often.  This time, though, the Bowl of Wisdom sounds so much like a magic trophy that I had to add it. Drinking from it should add +1 to the imbiber's Wisdom score!

Ah, the old "bucket of pitch falls on the head, then you step into a rope snare that pulls you off your feet" trick! It's a complicated trap: it must involve an attack roll for the bucket, then a saving throw to avoid stepping into the snare, which must be pretty easy to miss without the distraction of the bucket on the head (maybe a +4 to save without the bucket?).

Ah, the conundrum of being knocked unconscious!  In the game H&H emulates, recovering from being at 0 hit points requires a full day of rest. It sure doesn't seem like Pat has been out that long here.

In the next edition, there will be expanded rules for what may happen when a Hero reaches zero hp.  Some of the results are better than being out for a day -- but some will be much worse.

Smilin' Jack gets to ride in a hi-tech transport -- a stratosphere balloon, supporting a "gondola" that looks an awful lot like a bathysphere. Being able to ascend quietly to 60,000 feet might come in handy for Heroes some day.

That's quite a weight the grizzled prospector is pulling.  Grizzled prospectors do appear to be tough critters as a cliche, but I hesitate to stat them as Superheroes to get them that strong. Maybe they need to be a new mobster type?  Maybe one with the No Encumbrance power of Superheroes, but without all the rest?

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum at http://www.digitalcomicmuseum.org/index.php?dlid=2961)

Popular Comics #5

This issue leads off with Dick Tracy conducting a raid, with all the beat cops and detectives (1st and 2nd level Fighters) carrying axes!  We also get a neat trick where Tess Trueheart's kidnappers communicate with her only using a loudspeaker projected through a fan, so she won't be able to identify their voices. And lastly, we get to see the benefits of having a telephone lineman as a Supporting Cast Member (good for snooping on phone calls!).

Tom Mix demonstrates the Cowboy stunt Quick Draw.

And here demonstrates the Summon Horse stunt.

Should disguise and voice mimicry be stunts?  Disguise is a solid maybe.

The bears in Hideouts & Hoodlums Book II: Mobsters & Trophies are brown bears, but even that entry mentions polar bears as having slightly more Hit Dice (probably 8).

Lariats are going to be a common weapon in the next edition.

Don Winslow U.S.N. shares an interesting idea for a code. The zig-zag code works like this:  break the message in two, one line spaced alternatingly over the other, then read in order from left to right in both lines at once.

Lost worlds often are full of gold. The Experience Point value is enormous, but the challenge is getting it all back home.

Bandits normally have leaders no higher than 4th level, but if this leader is really a general, then that makes him at least 8th level.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum at http://www.digitalcomicmuseum.org/index.php?dlid=3349)