Keen Detective Funnies v. 2 #1

This is from Thurston Hunt and, as unlikely as it seems from how everyone's just standing around here (or as unlikely as an action hero named Thurston), something exciting just happened. His captured informant opened a phony wristwatch that contained a poison pill. Poison pills are already in Book II: Mobsters & Trophies, but a phone wristwatch would be a new trophy item.

As if Thurston Hunt wasn't an odd enough name, this is Geo Poe (or Powell, as he's called in the last panel).

How experience point distribution originally worked in Hideouts & Hoodlums was that everyone involved in a fight got the same XP award. I later changed this to a total that has to be shared between all participants just to avoid scenes like this, where the Hero cowardly charges in with 20 supporting cast members in tow!

No, Geo didn't shoot the house with really explosive bullets; he was targeting a box of TNT inside. What this panel does is serve as a reminder, to Editors, that hideouts had better have more than one way in or out, because you never know when your players will want to bury the way in under rubble.

(Deja vu -- I already shared this page here!)

This is from a complete story called "Snatch-Racket" and this page contains some good advice for H&H players. Asking the Editor questions about what suspects are wearing, or how they are dressed, might net you some clues. Also, when approaching a hideout that consists of a modern-style house, remember that there are many ways of getting inside other than the front door.

From the same story, more evidence that hit point recovery should only take "minutes" -- or at least the first hit point after being at zero.

This is Rocky Baird, who we haven't seen in awhile.  Rocky just got lucky -- his chance of a wandering encounter on this joy ride was probably 1 in 6, unless the biker patrol happened to be a set encounter.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)

Funny Picture Stories #4 - pt. 2

It's clear that Centaur led with their best submissions and were pretty much scraping the bottom of the barrel at this point in the issue -- though that is not to say we can not learn a few things for Hideouts & Hoodlums from even sloppy comic book work.

Continuing where I left off yesterday, here we find it suggested that quicksand not only sucks you under even when you're motionless, but that it somehow causes damage and can render you unconscious!  Not sure how that would work...maybe save vs. science or take 1-3 points of damage per turn?

This is from a story about poaching and, while not exciting territory for most H&H scenarios, I thought the fake post truck with a hunting blind hidden in the back might be a good trophy item someday.

And I include this page from the poaching story only for a playing tip -- weighing stations are a good place to get information about any trucks you might be following.

This story was awful confusing to follow, but I include this page because it shows how small miniature cameras were in the 1930s.

This is from yet another story, and I include this page to point out the importance of level titles and how they are sort of a game mechanic. The guy in the cap probably did not show up in the local police station and get carte blanc treatment because of a lucky encounter reaction roll (at least, the Editor probably should not use encounter reaction rolls in that way).  Rather, our Hero must "outrank" the police officer here, as a higher level Fighter than the officer. That allows the Hero to order lower level Fighters around.

In this example, our Hero remembers seeing a box of dynamite in the mobsters' lair. He intends to shoot the box through a window. If a player ever asks for a handout like this, the Editor would be within his rights to say, no, there's no way the box would have been left just so perfectly lined up with the window. Or, "roll a save vs. plot and, if you succeed, the shot is possible -- but you'll still have to roll a 20 exactly on your to hit roll to hit the box."

Sometimes, leveling the upper floors of a hideout may be the most expeditious way of gaining access to the "good stuff" on the lower levels of the hideout below ground. In this case, the underground passage connects two sections of the hideout -- the cabin and a nearby aircraft hangar.

Arr, matey!  Tom Dawson SeaScout is one of those series that tries to teach us all about how to talk like nautical folk. We also get a good sense for the scale and layout of a schooner, which -- while a trifle old-fashioned even in the 1930s -- could still make a good transport-trophy.

Tugboats could also be useful for Heroes to have, particularly if they have large trophy ships they need to maneuver in or out of the harbor.

I never statted monkeys for H&H, but that might have been an error. This little monkey is a combat machine, disarming this yellow peril hoodlum before stabbing her with her own weapon!