Comics on Parade v. 2 #11 - pt. 2

We're wrapping up with just a few more pages from this issue, starting with Looy Dot Dope. Here we get a glimpse into salary information, though we likely could have guessed that $20 extra a week would be too steep a raise for his boss.

More interesting, for me, was seeing the verb "buttle" in use.  We see the word butler all the time, but we forget exactly what it is that butlers do -- butlers buttle.

This is Ella Cinders, and I only share it for an example of how high reward money can go for even low-level mobsters.

This is the filler page Grin and Bear It; I particularly like the bottom left gag.














I've showed pages with salary information before, but this page of Dynamite Dunn reveals how expensive it is to hire a vamp to break up a couple.

Lastly, Knurl the Gnome intrigues me this time with the concept of goat-mounted mobile radios. Would Heroes ever consider buying pack animals to carry radios for them?

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus.)

Tip Top Comics #42, 46

We'll start again with Hawkshaw the Detective, not because I believe that you could really use a magnet to detect a concealed sword cane (or at least no ordinary-sized magnet), but because this is the first time I've ever seen "corporation" used as a slang term for a fat stomach (apparently that's a real thing).

 Is $15 reasonable for a watchdog in 1940, or is it a bargain?

I think I can relate to Phil Fumble. Maybe not literally, but I've had days that felt like this.

Anyway, it's interesting to see the number of threats you can encounter in a farm setting, from runaway pigs, biting geese, charging bulls, terrorizing hawks, swarming bees, racing dogs, and butting goats. Of them, pigs, bulls, dogs, and goats are statted for the game. I really don't think a goose, a hawk, or a bunch of bees is enough of a threat for Heroes.

This is the first new feature in Tip Top Comics since I started reading these! We know Hal Forrest from Tailspin Tommy, another aviator strip that wasn't very good. I suspect he got so much work in comics because his name was so close to Hal Foster, the legend behind the Prince Valiant comic strip.

Anyway, here we learn that the license number for planes (like VINs on cars) are hidden on the underside of wings and you can check with the Dept. of Commerce to find out who owns them (actually, I think we learned at least most of this from another strip before; I just don't remember the numbers being on the wings).

Two points here: one, if I'm really serious about making half-pints an official H&H Hero race, I need to think about setting more strict encumbrance restrictions on them than for full-grown adults. What's a good weight limit for a 10 year old? 50 lbs.?

And the other issue is the very real issue of child labor that I keep seeing in these strips (I almost brought this up earlier this week, with evidence from another strip). It seems like any unsavory character could get away with charging a kid just $1-2 a week.

I'm even more concerned about this short strip, and the cheap availability of poison in 1940. It might tempt players to go out and buy 50 cents worth of rat poison if it can make hoodlums sick, but this seems very un-Heroic behavior to me and should trigger a save vs. plot to carry out.

And, lastly, Ella Cinders teaches us that balcony seats are just 40 cents. And the robber shows us an uncommon stick-up method (I feel like I've seen that in a movie before, but I can't remember which!).

And that's it! I am done with Tip Top Comics for quite some time!  Woo! Next time, we go back to More Fun Comics and the debut of the Spectre!

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus.)

Tip Top Comics #29, 30

Moving on to vol. 3, no. 5 (Sept. 1938), we rejoin Broncho Bill as he's doing some trick shooting. But how we do make this work in game mechanics? How do we transfer the shooting attack to a deflect-hot-poker-into-face attack? A push attack against a non-living object? Yes, that's possible. A stunt? I've written at length about using the Mysteryman class to emulate cowboys (en lieu of needing a separate Cowboy class), but stunts are supposed to be separate from combat (so as not to eclipse the  

need for the Fighter class). But what if that was made different for Cowboys? What if Cowboys could use stunts in combat for trick shots, as long as the shots did not directly hit a living target? That might work, as long as the Cowboys gave up some other benefit of the Mysteryman class, for balance.

Now, on this strip, we learn that falling 175' means "certain death," which may seem strange to our eyes because we're used to thinking of 175' feet as 17d6 damage and, under normal  

circumstances, that only causes unconsciousness in Hideouts & Hoodlums. But this is a case that almost screams out for realism; perhaps a house rule that 60 points of damage all at once always causes death would not be unreasonable.

I don't get the joke in Benny (not unusual, I never find this one funny), but it does give us the prices for men's hats ($3-5), gum (1 cent), and haircuts (20 cents). It's also worth mentioning that this looks much closer to a gumball machine than the gum vending machine we saw in Chris Crusty just days ago.

Wow, this is one mean-spirited fun house. Is that clown zapping Phil with a cattle prod? There is some great fodder here that I wish I'd seen soon enough to send to Jo Kreil before module RT2 Adventures in Fun World got written!

 The amethyst story is somewhat interesting, but the true "gem" here is "The Enchanted Cave of Richmond Hill." Now, I don't believe that was really King Arthur in the cave, because why would Arthur have a diamond-encrusted sword with him when Excaliber was returned to the Lady of the Lake? But the idea of a spooky cave that looks trapped, but actually rewards you if you're brave enough to go up and touch stuff -- that idea I'm stealing.

Now we're moving on to vol. 3, no. 6 (Oct. 1938).

You've never seen Divot Diggers on this blog before, as it's a super-specific subject for a comic strip and doesn't lend itself to adventure. But, it does give us some pricing hints this issue,

starting with $20 for what I'm guessing is some kind of medicinal liniment, and then in the next one the remarkable sum of $500 for a rug (though we've talked before here about how, while many things were cheap in the 1930s, there was still plenty of high-priced stuff for the rich to blow their money on). The lesson here is, when

looting a hideout, check those rugs to see if they're valuable (and try not to get any blood on them!).

We haven't seen much of Joe Jinks on this blog, and certainly not since he started teaming up with Dynamite Dunn. I still don't care for either character, but I do like the snooty rich boxer they encounter here (stealing that character!). I also share this because this is the first I've ever heard of a boxer's license badge.

And lastly, while I get that this is just a stage magician and likely not a true Magic-User, I'm intrigued by some of the tricks he does and wonder if we need to discuss how they would work in H&H. Many of these stunts -- the rabbit out of the hat, the box sawed in half, the disappearing juggling balls, are just sleight of hand tricks and, hence, require expert skill checks. But, I can't say I've ever heard of a stage magician appearing to impale his assistant with a sword before. Could that be an actual spell -- and what spell would it be? Phantasmal Image of a sword, perhaps?

...I also don't get the "Rubber!" joke at the end.

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus.)

Tip Top Comics #26, 27

Welcome back! Still going through back issues of Tip Top Comics, and we're still on v. 3, no. 2 (June 1938) from last time. I actually don't have a lot of game mechanics to discuss this time, so let's just jump in so I can talk about why I've chosen these pages to discuss.

This page is rather exciting because -- well, look at that lifeguard! At this same time, Centaur Comics was still publishing minstrel show-type strips of blacks eating watermelon, and here we have a normal-looking black man, acting in a heroic manner.

Less PC as far as devils are concerned, How It Began has a very interesting history of cider that makes me want to run a medieval campaign like this someday, where the Devil isn't evil so much as he's just lazy, and you never know where you might trip over him.

There is a lot of filler in this issue, which means more learning for me; I never knew this about envelopes.

We're now in vol. 3, no. 3 (July 1938).

I had never encountered the term "sky pilot" before being used to refer to a preacher. It certainly gives new meaning to the 1960s song for me.

I'm so amused by this page, probably more than I should be. Just the thought of running scared from a cow...

The polevaulting over a river that wide-looking would probably take a stunt, or at least an expert skill check (atheletes can clear 20').

Both a boat and aquaplane can be rented here for just $3 per 15 minutes. Of course, the operative word here is rented. Most businessmen will be disinclined to rent to vigilante heroes, as they tend to get things wrecked.

I'm really surprised this was ever published, teaching kids how to make firecracker bombs in people's cars and telling them it's a funny prank adults do too? Geez.

Well, this is how you set a bomb in a car with a firecracker and some spark plug wires, apparently. Knock yourselves out, future H&H Heroes needing a diversion.

In module RT 1 Palace of the Vamp Queen, I added a table that was really useful for me, a list of random things mobsters might have in their pockets. I'm pretty sure they are on it, but I'll have to go back and see if I thought of handkerchiefs, cigarettes, and a license. I'm really surprised a common mobster would be carrying $485 on him, unless he just came back from a job. Although...I'm thinking from my modern perspective of how little cash I need to carry around these days, thanks to debit cards. Maybe, back when we paid for everything in cash, this wasn't so extraordinary? If so, then I would need to rethink $1 = 1 xp if I was going to have wallets this full.

I'm hoping this filler was well-researched, because I'm certainly putting a lot of stock in it lately. This is a fascinating explanation of where the Jack and Jill story came from that I'd never heard before.

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus.)

Tip Top Comics #23, 24, 26

Jim Hardy is really taking over Tip Top Comics around this time, as other features like Peter Pat get wrapped up. Further down this page you'll see one page where Jim Hardy is intentionally dressed like Dick Tracy -- and suddenly the inspiration for this strip is crystal clear, even why he picks up a Junior-like sidekick in this storyline. And it turns out that Dick Moores was once Chester Gould's assistant on Dick Tracy, confirming my guess.

This is from vol. 2, no. 11 (Mar. 1938)...

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Game notes: There are three ways that someone can be killed by hitting them with a vehicle in Hideouts & Hoodlums.  One, the Editor can simply change the mood
level of the campaign to be more lethal (this was discussed

more in 1st edition). Two, the Editor can rule that non-Heroes, or at least unnamed non-Hero characters, can be killed instantly. Three, the Editor could rule that hitting the victim knocks him unconscious, and then running him over is a separate attack that does additional, killing damage.

It seems unlikely that The Kid (I don't think he has a name yet) is tactically inclined enough to transfer damage into pushing attacks to try and knock the hoodlums off the train. There may be environmental factors in play, like the pitching and swaying of the train, that make the Editor declare that any damage necessitates a save vs. science or be thrown from the train, making combat as challenging for Jim as it is for the hoodlums.

In Little Mary Mixup, we see rabbits can be bought for $1 each. I'm not sure what good rabbits will do for the average Hero, though maybe a magic-user would like one for pulling out of his hat?

There are some tips here for keeping the challenge level not too high for solo play and low-level Heroes: keep hit points low on bad guys, even if they have more than 1 Hit Die. Be prepared to give away modifiers you would not normally give out, like maybe an Armor Class bonus for swinging on a rope while being attacked with missile weapons.

If running a game for half-pint Heroes, you could cut them some slack on skill checks like balancing on a beam, since that should be easy for them given their small size and low center of balance. But still reward them for coming up with grownup ideas, like juryrigging grappling hooks out of rocks.

How It Began proves useful filler again. I don't know where it got this idea about a charming dragon with emerald eyes from, but now I want to stat an emerald dragon for H&H really bad!

We come back around to Jim Hardy again in v. 2, no. 12 (Apr. 1938). The issue here is, would a steel door stop an explosion that can blow up an entire wooden building? It's almost an academic question, because it's not necessary that the steel door works; all we know is that the hoodlums think it will work. I don't think it would...

Now we're in vol. 3, no. 2 (June 1938) already, and this is that page I mentioned with the Dick Tracy outfit on Jim. We also learn here that a bouquet of roses cost $3.50.

Checking in on The Captain and the Kids again, I'm struck by the unusual situation of the mount turning around and biting its rider. I doubt that happens often, but it's worth bearing in mind that when trying out a new mount, the Editor should always make an encounter reaction roll for it to see how it reacts.

Curiously, the circus man says Blackie is going to get a two-bit (25-cent) ticket, but later he's sitting in the reserved seating where the seats cost $2.50. That's a really big range of pricing, like if I could go to the movies today and choose between $5 seating and $50 seating.

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus.)

Tip Top Comics #17, 20, 22

Also known as vol. 2, no. 5, 8, and 10. Outside of Tarzan, the strip I can't see because of strict copyright laws, the race for second-best ongoing story line is a contest between Billy Make Believe and Peter Pat. Like The Adventures of Patsy, these were parts of a minor and unsuccessful movement to merge the kids' adventure and fantasy genres. Both Billy and Peter have exciting adventures and reveal themselves to be capable fighters despite being half-pints, though Billy's seem less dangerous, as it is not clear whether his adventures are actually taking place or are only imagined by him, as the title suggests. 

I include this page's How to Make It sub-feature because, of all the mini-craft projects I've seen described in filler material so far, that one about making paper tepees is the only one I've actually done.

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Billy is still fighting toy people (and contributing to racism?). It looks like toy people can be encountered in groups up to 30, and do not have to be human-like in form.

Captain and the Kids gives us wild men, another name for cave men, and reminds us how strong they are. Maybe all cave men should have the Raise Car power?

The reference to state police in Hawkshaw the Detective suggests that, despite being based on Sherlock Holmes, this takes place in the U.S.

Here's an issue we've discussed here before: when do powers/spells/stunts need to be activated? Does the wild man need to have used the Raise Car power to lift that tree out of the ground, or is simply flavor text accompanying the attempt to wreck the rope? It may depend on what comes next. If the wild man simply escapes the tree and ignores it afterwards, the Editor can rule that the tree was lifted out as just flavor text, as it has no bearing on the story. If, however, the wild man tried to pick up the tree and use it as a giant club, then the Editor should rule that a power needed to be used, even if he has to retroactively make that ruling.

We're now on issue # "20"...

This really takes me back to the early days of the blog when I used to keep a running tally of how many goats appeared in the comics. It's true, before there were supervillains, goats seemed to be the supervillains of comic books.

Here we see how little provocation goats need before attacking.

Ella Cinders addresses the issue of language. It's been a Hideouts & Hoodlums rule since the beginning that languages aren't important and all characters speak the same one. Ella Cinders makes it clear (or even more clear, we just assumed so before) that the language we all speak is English.

In a more capable artist's hands that first panel of Fritzi Ritz could have been downright scandalous. But I include this strip not to titillate you, but to point out that fur wraps cost $150 and that, if you're going to haggle, maybe you should wait longer before suggesting furs depreciate in value.

Peter Pat's first big adventure has been wrapped up and he's returning the princess to claim his reward -- and is seemingly very well rewarded too. Peter should be at around 3,000 XP right now, which means his title should be an officer, but colonel seems really high...

 ...but then, it depends on the perks that come with it. Peter, after all, won't be commanding large armies or have access to heavy artillery -- it looks like he gets a fancy helmet and a pony, and the chance to perform in the rodeo.

This page also reminds us that, when developing alien cultures on the fly, all you really need to do is swap out one detail, like pigs for horses at the rodeo.

And we'll wrap up for today on this first share from issue # "22" and Hawkshaw the Detective. It's a rare, early occurrence of bad guys using passwords or phrases to get into their hideouts.

A question to ponder, that I'm not sure how to answer yet: when Heroes are on a stakeout, should they make a save vs. plot or science to determine if they sneeze...?

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus.)

Comics on Parade v. 2 #6

I have the rare opportunity to peruse a United Features comic book again, and this one starts with a surprisingly adventurous scenario in Abbie an' Slats!

I've talked before about the difficulty of scenarios requiring navigating burning buildings. One thing that should never be difficult, though, is for a woman to get a man to do something by calling his manhood into question. That doesn't even require an encounter reaction check.

The previous page featured Abbie and this page has Slats on it. This page reminds me of the importance of roleplaying well-rounded characters for the Heroes to interact with. Personality quirks, like being a busybody, could later work out to the Heroes' advantage.

Brass knuckles are very popular weapons in Hideouts & Hoodlums -- but this, surprisingly, is the first time I've seen them in the comics (and this is The Captain and the Kids).

Speaking of starting equipment, Ella Cinders reminds me about smelling salts. These are, apparently, invaluable for reviving fainting women, but fainting isn't in the game mechanics so we're not concerned with that. Normal smelling salts cannot revive a person unconscious from injuries. Could a trophy item version of smelling salts do that? But then, a normal, non-trophy first aid kit can already do that. So what do we need smelling salts for again...?

You probably wouldn't be able to guess from looking at it, but that's a grizzly bear menacing the half-pints in Broncho Bill. It does present me with some interesting ideas, though...should there be a morale save required whenever meeting something with x number of Hit Dice more than you have? Should morale, in at least this instance, apply to Heroes? And should being petrified with fright be a possible morale failure result?

Billy Make-Believe features a pack of wolves, but correctly points out that wolves do not attack unless hungry.

(Scans courtesy of Comic Books Plus)