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 #12, 17

Racing hydroplanes are trophy items in Hideouts & Hoodlums, but this would have been a good illustration for one, had I seen it sooner.

This is the second time Bill's tactics involve fire. Are you a pyro, Bill? A ring of fire could force animals to make morale saves to go through it, which would still do damage to them.

Don't mess with Indian medicine men (shamen would be the more appropriate term). Control Weather is a 7th level spell, so that magic-user is at least 13th level! Unless it was just a coincidence, of course...

 Outdoor snow is treacherous terrain, full of (snow-)covered pit traps.

Now we're going to jump into issue #17 (Sept. 1937), and this is also the debut of Jim Hardy on this blog. Those hoodlums in the bottom right hand corner have two suggestions for good places to look for hidden treasure. The wall safe concealed behind the painting is so cliche, but buried in the shed is someplace to remember.

I continue to be surprised by how often cowboys climb, and it's what convinced me early on that cowboys should just be mysterymen.

Barrels of gunpowder can wreck an entire building; it looks like the truck category to me. And, yes, sometimes the Editor just has to wing which category to use for wrecking things, despite there being a fair amount of examples listed.

I included this strip because I wanted to highlight how, in a H&H campaign, treasure could be "buried" around you wherever you go. Not quite at Zelda-level, where you might get a gem for every blade of grass you cut, but still...it never hurts to search around.

I'm intrigued by these toy people as a sort of intelligent golem (or would living statues be closer?). Billy punches one out easily, so they can't be tough, right? Only, what level would Billy be as a magic-user? 2nd level? So maybe the toy people are 1+1 HD.

No strange monsters this time in Peter Pat, though we see our madman is so mad -- he has no clothes! We also see how treasure can be used as a lure to make Heroes move towards traps, and sometimes it pays to have a trigger -- even if it's a big obvious lever -- in the room so the trap can be activated manually. Often, it's best to let the players' curiosity get the better of them and have them activate the traps themselves!

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus.)

Tip Top Comics #7, 10

Moving through Tip Top Comics quickly...

Hawkshaw the Detective introduces us to the idea of non-classed characters/mobsters being able to "level up" certain skills.

The Captain and the Kids reminds us that stilts could be a good way for Heroes to enter hideouts on an upper level.

Chris Crusty gives us a good idea for a trap; the Hero touches something and a paralyzing electric current keeps him there (on a failed save vs. science, of course).

One does not normally run the risk of having to roll again to see if you hit a random target after missing in melee, but if the Editor wants to run a campaign with the feel of Phil Fumble, he can add that rule.

I think bison are way too cute to be shooting at, but a bison could be a fierce opponent for low-level Heroes, so I'll make sure they're statted in the Mobster Manual.

$2 is a sufficient bribe for a waiter at even the fanciest of restaurants, according to Looy Dot Dope.

If taken seriously, Billy Make Believe would definitely need to be statted as a magic-user -- but note the peculiar effect here, where shrinking Bub ends his invisibility. What that suggests is that spells cannot be stacked, but casting one ends the duration of the previous spell on that person. Luckily for magic-users, I don't intend on making magic work like that in Hideouts & Hoodlums -- unless I see a lot more evidence of this happening...

Peter Pat is going to require more watching, as this dinogator is rather interesting. The lights shining from its eyes reminds me of the blindheim, a monster in the old AD&D Fiend Folio. I'm thinking I would stat a dinogator as a ...6 HD mobster?

From issue #10...I thought this was good, subtle humor.

And, coming full circle back to Hawkshaw the Detective, we learn that laughing gas (nitrous oxide) can be mixed into milkshakes and retain its properties. Who knew? (Actually only works in comic books -- in real life nitrous oxide is a safe food additive and is even used as a propellant in whip cream cans!).

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus.)