Wonderworld Comics #10 - pt. 4

Hey, welcome back! There's just a few pages leftover in this issue I wanted to address, this first one being from the Spark Stevens story. Spark always has the weakest artwork in the early Wonderworld issues, but you can see how rushed this three-panel page was. Still, it is a good example of when you can bluff your way into a morale check for the bad guys.

This is a pretty important milestone issue, as it takes the War in Europe, that until now has been largely couched in terms of analogies and fictitious stand-ins, is finally being accurately represented as a German invasion of Poland -- which had happened just a few months earlier. Ripped from the headlines!  

This is the first time -- possibly the last time, as far as I know -- that Polish is ever spoken in an American comic book. "Dzien dobre" means "Good day."

Despite the fact that I generally favor realism in my Hideouts & Hoodlums campaigns, I still subscribe to the comic book convention of having everyone you encounter able to speak English. I do know of one H&H Editor (hi Darren!) who is more of a stickler, wants more realism, and tracks what languages the Heroes know, based on their backstories more than their Intelligence scores.

While everyone else had to rush their jobs for this issue, K-51 has more than one 12-panel page! Here we see one of the deadliest of complications during an aerial dogfight, the shooting of the gas tank, which makes the plane explode in ...well, I'm not sure how many turns to make it take. Maybe just require a save vs. science to get out of the plane before it goes kablooey.

(Although comics.org suggests that Bob Powell may have wrote this story, the timeliness and anti-Nazi stance seems very Will Eisner to me.)

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus.)

Wonderworld Comics #9 - pt. 4

Years ago, I was running a superhero campaign online set in 1955 and was corrected by a player who pointed out that banks did not have security cameras in 1955. I learned a lot about historical accuracy in role-playing games since then. However -- this single page of Mob Buster Robinson shows me how 1940-era technology could replicate a security camera, at least by comic book logic (comically, because of some weird coloring, it looks like the camera is wearing a French beret).

This is "Spark" Stevens of the Navy (and his friend, Chuck). This might be the first adventure to take place on the Virgin Islands. The girl is a tour guide, giving boat tours for $1. It unlikely the madman is a descendant of Lafitte, Lafitte's only son having died about nine years after Jean Lafitte's death.

The situation here could have been an interesting roleplaying opportunity. One stranger offers the Heroes a drink, another stranger tells them it is poisoned. Who do they believe? Having the first one be a pirate and then having him crack his sword while killing the second stranger seems to make the answer too obvious.

Weapon breakage is something I would rather Hideouts & Hoodlums not adjudicate through game mechanics. Depending on where the weapon came from and what condition it was in, I might allow it to break under unusual circumstances, but tied to flavor text rather than dice rolls (it seems too much like a fumble mechanic, otherwise).

More evidence of even ordinary fighters being able to use wrecking things and climbing skill. Without multi-classing everyone, the solution was to make those mechanics open to everyone (as they became in 2nd edition).

Being soaking wet does not seem to inhibit their climbing ability at all.

Chuck sexually harasses the tour guide girl upon rescuing her. I like how she looks shocked, rather than happy, at the ambush kiss.

This is the first we see of the five "returning" thugs. Maybe they realized they forgot their rifles in the arsenal and were coming back for them.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum.)

Wonderworld Comics #8 - pt. 4

Mob Buster Robinson is in a pickle of a death trap here. The Editor gives him a sharp rail and one turn to use it to cut himself free. He then has to beat the train in initiative in order to move first, or he's run over and killed (a train can be assumed to do enough damage to automatically kill anyone not being buffed by a defensive power).

I have written before about how level title is a soft game mechanic that essentially acts as a guideline for how much the hero can boss around non-hero characters. At this point, with only four 4-5 page long adventures under his belt, Robinson should be only a 2nd level fighter, also known as a detective. It seems a little convenient, to me, to have a beat cop surrender his motorcycle and gun to a detective just on his say-so, so something else may be going on here. Maybe he rolled a 12 on his encounter reaction check?

The chase scene is also ended conveniently fast. My new chase mechanics in 2nd edition slow it down somewhat, though they still play fast (I've had cause to use them twice now in my current campaign). Nothing in my rules allows for shooting a tire to make it skid off the road, though -- unless you treat the bullet as a halting obstacle (which is a bit of a stress).

This (page from "Spark" Stevens) is one of the first times a blow to the solar plexus has any kind of special effect on someone in comics. Second edition has no hit location system, though I did introduce an optional one once in The Trophy Case. More likely, I think, this little man is classed as a mysteryman and poking with his cane is his signature move!

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum.)

 

Wonderworld Comics #7 - pt. 3

There are a couple of incredulous factors here, from kicking the ball of yarn just right so that it would make the cat leap right at the syringe, to Dan's seemingly superhuman strength.

I have talked before about allowing players to request for something to happen and the Editor can choose whether or not to give them a save vs. plot for that to happen. This time, let's talk about negative modifiers to that. There's an awful lot of coincidence necessary in Wong's "daring plan" -- that the ball will roll over to him, that he can kick it just right, that the cat will chase it, that the ball will fly in the right direction, that the timing will be just right to prevent the syringe injection -- and each additional coincidence past the first should add a -1 modifier to the roll. Further, in addition to the save vs. plot at -4, it would not be unreasonable to require an attack roll from Wong's player, and maybe even an initiative roll to see if he can pull it off before the injection.

As for Dan's strength...Dan has clearly been a fighter in the past and I hesitate to switch him to superhero just because of this. Maybe Heroes should be able to break weak bonds as a skill check.

K-51 Spies at War, whether Will Eisner or Bob Powell was drawing it, always seemed to be their least important rush job. Here, K-51 has to thwart a Japanese attack on Hawaii!  There's some interesting differences from real history here, like the blimp launched to detect the approaching planes and the Japanese relying on a huge bomber instead of more little fighter planes. Unable to stop the bomber with artillery, K-51 parachutes onto it. Now, at this point, the bomber could have become a small hideout for K-51 to explore, but instead he stays put in the gun turret and just keeps attacking the bomber until he gets lucky.

$500,000 in diamonds is an awful lot of treasure to put out there for Heroes to find!

Mob Buster Robinson pumps a police captain for information. Here, either a) the police captain is one of Robinson's supporting cast members, so he freely shares information, b) the captain is a plot hook character put there by the Editor to get Robinson into the adventure, c) the captain is simply encountered, asked, and Robinson gets a good encounter reaction roll, or d) because Robinson is a D.A., and it makes sense that he would have contacts on the police force, the Editor simply lets the player have this encounter as a freebie.

For the bar scene, the bartender misses a save vs. plot to see through the disguise, then Robinson gets a favorable encounter reaction roll -- a very good roll, to get hired on the spot like that!

The diamond fencers have their own hideout. The entrance is in an unassuming shack on a pier, but inside is a trapdoor leading to a concealed walkway under the pier that leads to a concealed building. I'm sure I've seen this same layout in a comic book already. To it, this time, is added a large office and, connected to it somehow, a large workroom. It's possible to enter and exit the hideout and go to either of these rooms, but without needing to pass through both, so they may be side by side. There would, presumedly, be other rooms down here, like barracks, but we never see them.

Speaking of hastily-done rush jobs, here's a crudely drawn and ridiculous installment of "Spark" Stevens of the Navy. This is probably the only time you're ever going to see a hideout with an electrical outlet inside a prison cell. It's like the Editor was distracted, made a hasty call, and the players unfairly held him to it. Naturally, it's going to be awful easy to arrange an escape from here. In fact, I'm surprised they didn't try the simpler approach of just lighting a fire at the wall socket instead of this elaborate plan of electrifying the fence below the cell...

It would be an interesting complication for gunfights to account for ricochets. A cruel Editor could roll a random compass direction for the direction of ricochets, possibly exposing Heroes to a barrage of their own missed shots!

The armory here is generously loaded with hand grenades and machine guns that the spies have forgotten to use. More interesting is the jai-alai glove. Not only does it lend some authentic local flavor to the room dressing -- as jai-alai is apparently a popular Latin American sport and this is supposed to be Cuba -- but it appears using one also adds maybe 10-20' to thrown missile ranges.

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus)



  

Wonderworld Comics #4 - pt. 3

Fire works kind of goofy in comic books. What was in that lamp to explode like that? Napalm? What was that castle made out of to burn down so fast? Balsa wood? Gems melt in fire?  How hot was that fire? Hmm...

This is Tex Mason.

Maybe cowardly hoodlums should just have a faster movement rate when fleeing?

I really just shared this because I like the dynamic artwork of Munson Paddock here.

This is K-51 Spies at War, though you might not know it by how he's being upstaged by his new fiancee, K-19. It's interesting how K-51 has picked up the relationship dynamic from Siegel & Shuster's Spy, not long after Siegel unwisely abandoned it.

But I really just shared this for the radium gun. This panel gives you a great example of the size of the rayguns described in Book II: Mobsters & Trophies. It's good that the raygun is so stationary too, because it's ability to wreck like a 7th level Superhero at long range is intimidatingly powerful.

Maybe Heroes' guns jam more often in comic books than I gave them credit for. Definitely including a gun jam rule in 2nd edition.

And here is another example of K-19 completely taking over this feature.

This is "Spark" Stevens. I'm working on the combat section of 2nd edition Hideouts & Hoodlums right now and the next mechanic I need to work on is something elegant for entangling weapons, like whips and nets. There has to be a chance of holding your opponent fast, but also a trade-off, like your opponent being able to disarm you, like this.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)

Wonder Comics - pt. 2

Shorty Shortcake is probably of the fighter class, but outsmarts his opponents instead of fighting them as much as possible. In Supplement II, I talked about awarding a big XP bonus for finishing a scenario without resorting to violence.

This is Shorty's...girlfriend? Suzy wants help finding Shorty, but instead of going to the police, she seeks out a wealthy philanthropist. Are you really looking to find Shorty, Suzy, or are you just looking to move up while Shorty is out of the picture?

There's nothing wrong with heroes asking for help from non-hero characters -- so long as it makes sense to do so -- and it provides opportunity to recruit supporting cast members.

Also, does kleptomaniac need to be a new mobster type? A Lawful thief with a pick pockets skill?

This is Patty O'Day. Her scenario is to get on a boat, take pictures, and get off the boat. I don't think her player needed to roll a single die for this scenario and the only reason I mention it at all is...that fellow on the boat looks suspiciously like Quality Comics' Black X. Could this be an unofficial crossover?

Dan Barrister is the fighter and Dr. Fung, although a "master sleuth", seems more like his scientist partner.

The locale is interesting -- a rock cliff surrounding a lost oasis in the Gobi Desert, the oasis filled with a petrified forest, and a crumbling fortress/monastery.

And then there's the dart rifle - a silent weapon with the range of a rifle (but probably reduced damage, maybe 1d6-1?).

More hideout. I like the dry moat, drawbridge, the really high wall walk (20'? More?), the "misshapen flagstones of the foliage-covered court", the narrow, barred windows, and the audience chamber with its 10' high throne dais and gong -- just sumptuous detail for a hideout crawl.

It's time to discuss -- no, not how tall Dan's head is in that third panel, but what the "half humans"/"monster men" are.  They talk, they only look like ugly people, but on the previous page Li Wang explained that he they had no minds of their own. I suspect these would be statted as zombies (hi-tech zombies).

Dr. Fung seems to have a new ability for the scientist class, though one I maybe should have thought of sooner myself -- the ability to wreck labs.

Li Wang creates an explosive twice as powerful as anything else...because mad scientists love having super-volatile stuff around them for kicks.

"Spark" Stevens of the Navy is another pre-Batman feature by Bob Kane. That a U.S. destroyer is captured by mobsters makes the heinous hideouts feature in The Trophy Case v. 2 #9 that much more believable.

I've tackled the subject of throwing a man into a group of other men to hurt them all before. I believe, last time, I said H&H would not support such unfair tactics. But did I remember the "combat machine" ability of fighters?  Maybe Chuck is really fifth level and attacking all five less-than-one-hit-die opponents all at once?

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus)