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 #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 #8

This page of Little Orphan Annie actually illustrates two issues about how combat should work in Hideouts & Hoodlums. One, is that combats should be short. If a cane does 1-6 points of damage, and most people have 1-6 hit points, then a one-on-one combat could conceivably be wrapped up after just two dice rolls (the to hit and damage rolls of the first attacker).

But who should get to attack first? The man with the cane or the man with the knife? Originally, a random die roll determined this in H&H. Another option would be to have attacks go in descending order by the Dexterity of the combats; this was seriously considered for the next edition. But what is more likely going to happen is going by weapon length, with the reach of a cane giving him the advantage over a hoodlum with just a short knife.

In this page of Terry and the Pirates, I'm less interested in the combat than Terry's agility at shinnying up the pole. What is going on there, as a game mechanic? Some game referees might use an ability score check, having the player roll under his Dexterity score to succeed. Officially, H&H does not incorporate ability score checks.

Could this be a simple exercise of a climb mechanic instead? This brings us back to the same issue, already brought up on this blog, about whether Climb should be a Stunt that only Heroes can use, or if it should be a skill that anyone can accomplish.

But what mechanic could everyone use? Since Terry is using resistance to counter gravity, could this perhaps warrant a save vs. science?

Ah, the old blow-to-the-back-of-the-head trick. Later, even some superheroes would not be immune to this plot convenience!  But what is going on here, game mechanics-wise? Is Pat down to his last 6 hp or less (which is possible, considering how slow healing is in H&H) when he takes the clubbing blow? Is the Dragon Lady a Mysteryman using her signature move for additional damage? Or should there be a mechanic specifically for head blows? I'm actually leaning towards the latter!

Don Dixon and the Hidden Empire brings up several points. One is the usefulness of bringing a dog along on an adventure. It gives you an extra chance to find concealed things and -- horrible, but practical -- another target for bad guys to aim at.

Active volcanoes are not Hero-friendly environments for adventuring. As this page shows, the combination of the heat and poisonous fumes should require a save vs. science each turn from anyone in the volcano, or they will pass out for 1-4 turns.

But more importantly, by what game mechanic are the kids moving that boulder.  A save vs. science to overcome the inertia of the boulder? Or an ability score-like check vs. Strength? In the spirit of Old School arbitrariness, I'm actually leaning towards the latter for the next edition! This way, you could modify the number of dice rolled depending on how heavy the weight is.

First dinosaur in a modern day story!  But what dinosaur? It's a man-sized carnivore. Maybe meant to be a young Tyrannosaur? An associate of mine (hi Dan!) suggested to me that it could be a young Allosaur. Either way, at this size it probably doesn't have more than 4 Hit Dice.

Also the first mention of dwarfs in a comic book, though this dwarf seems to be a pygmy and, thus, statted as a Native rather than a fantasy humanoid.


        Yeah...don't go into a scenario involving a tiger, thinking that you can say "over" while waiving a stick and subdue the tiger; I think we're to assume this works because Sylvia has a history of working with this particular tiger.

More evidence of the importance of accounting for lassos as a weapon.

And $100 seems to be the going rate for returning a lost tiger to a circus.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)

Popular Comics #6 - pt. 2

Popular Comics always seems to give me a lot to talk about!

Today we start off with a page of The Gumps. I'm not sure if anyone is ever going to run an arctic-based Hideouts & Hoodlums campaign, but it could happen, so I better talk real quick about movement through snow and dogsled speed.

Thick snow slows a man on foot down, from a Move of 60 ft./turn down to, most likely 30 ft./turn (depending on conditions).  A dogsled can, initially, haul at a speed of 65 ft./turn and keep this rate of speed up for 1d6 hours (with an "exploding die" -- on a 6, the dogs can be kept going another 1d6 hours at the same speed).  Eventually, a dogsled is going to slow down to a speed of 40 ft./turn.

But, the real advantage of the dogsled isn't speed; it's avoiding fatigue. A man on foot, walking at speed through heavy snow, is going to be constantly fatigued. A man riding on a dogsled is always fresh and vital.

Bear in mind that the revised version of H&H is going to have slightly different Movement rules and may or may not have a fatigue rule...

Long before Daredevil, Moon Mullins here introduces us to the first boomerang in comic books. The boomerang is going to be a standard equipment weapon in the next edition of H&H.

Don Winslow U.S.N. goes diving in this installment, wearing an antique diving suit (or, by the 1940s, is already an antique) and carrying an electric lamp. The flashlight is standard equipment in H&H, but how the electric light is carried should be mere flavor text.

No, the more interesting thing here is the natural trap of the undertow.  An Editor could go one of two ways here: either making the diver make a save vs. science each turn (exploration turns) underwater to avoid being swept off in the undertow, or make an item save vs. non-Superhero wrecking (as found in the back of Book II: Mobsters & Trophies) each turn until the line is broken.

Captain Nimbo is not a very impressive villain name, but that suit of diving armor Nimbo is wearing certainly is.  I would probably treat that as a flak jacket, or Armor Class 5.

Water moccasins are rare in comics, but one of the more dangerous snakes one is likely to run into in a realistic scenario. Although they only have 1 hit point (1/6 HD), their bite requires a save vs. poison or the victim will be stunned by pain for 1d6 turns.

A giant water moccasin, though, would be up to 24 ft. long, have 1+1 HD, and a potentially lethal bite. Wait to see if that makes it into the next edition!

And, lastly, in the horrendously named White Boy in Skull Valley, we see more environmental affects on characters in the game, this time in a dust storm. Each turn spent in a dust storm without adequate shelter or protection, a Hero should have to save vs. science for each of these conditions: blinded for 1d6 turns, deafened for 1d6 turns, or choking for 1d4 points of damage!

It is also worth pointing out that, under normal conditions, wind does not affect one's chance to hit with missile weapons at all.  Particularly strong gusts, however, like before a dust storm, may confer some penalty at the Editor's discretion.

Popular Comics #4 - pt. 2

Don Winslow U.S.N continues to fight "The Scorpion" -- actually just a colorful name for a South American dictator.  Two-seat fighter planes were statted in Hideouts & Hoodlums Book II: Mobsters & Trophies.  Heavy artillery was not statted until Supplement I: National, but the closest thing to these heavy cannons in that book is the howitzer (in a pinch, I would use those same stats).

Luckily, "the canon-fire has uncovered an ancient underground passage".  Now these Navy boys can do some hideout delving!

Bos'n Hal continues to learn about the lost world in the Arctic and what would, before modern times, be considered hi-tech trophies -- solar-powered motorboats and solar-powered cars!

Little Joe is going to grow up to think all Mexicans are bandits.  If the roles were reversed and the bandit was the Hero and Little Joe was just a half-pint, the bandit's $10 bill would have entitled him to a new encounter reaction roll, to see if he could get a better result.  Also note the reference to the Foil Tracking stunt in the second-to-last panel.

"Whiteboy" has got to be the worst name for a comic book character ever, though it probably comes from the "Paleface" name that Indians always used to use in the movies.  Here we get to see an elephant (never statted for H&H, but will be in the next book to come out).

We also get to see some trick riding, which might warrant a stunt to do. Should circus animal trainer be a mobster-type...?

Tiny Tim has an interesting encounter with Rip Van Winkle, though Rip is curiously not referred to by name.  Assuming the story is the same, then this is the first appearance of ghosts in a comic book story.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum at 

http://www.digitalcomicmuseum.org/index.php?dlid=3808)