Detective Comics #36 - pt. 2

Back in time for the tail end of the Batman's first encounter with Hugo Strange! Having escaped Strange's deathtrap/S&M session, the two of them grapple. Remember that Strange is about 6' tall and physically imposing, so it's not an unequal match-up (if Strange is an ultra-mad scientist, then they even have equal Hit Dice!). Strange has an early advantage, establishing a choke hold, but the Batman reverses it; both are perfectly emulated in Hideouts & Hoodlums' grappling rules.

After defeating Strange, the Batman does something that most players don't do in any RPG -- after defeating the main bad guy, he still methodically searches the hideout. In this way he finds a prisoner (that he claims to have always known about, though this is the readers' first time hearing about it), and learns how Strange was inducing fog around the robberies -- with a stolen lightning gun! Now, why he used the lightning gun to make fog and not turn it into a weapon...

No mention is made of what happens to the lightning gun (which looks like a planetarium projector, by the way). It doesn't seem to make it into the Batman's trophy room, and certainly doesn't become part of its arsenal. The Editor of that game session, perhaps just not feeling generous, made it a mad science trophy with very limited charges/uses.

Next up is Bart Regan, Spy. When Jerry Siegel was still drawing this it was my favorite feature, but now....Bart is up against more spies, now from the fictional nation of Tortania. I haven't a clue what country "Tortania" is meant to represent; it could just be a truly generic foreign power. Bart's big clue as to who the spy is, is overhearing him curse in Tortanian, which might be the first time cursing is demonstrated as a series of symbols in a DC comic.

The hunchbacked spy gets the drop on Bart, from behind, but Bart is somehow able to spin around and shoot first. H&H's simple initiative system allows for a lot of leeway like this, though circumstances almost cry out for a common sense adjudication and hand-waving the dice rolls. Perhaps the spy missed on his surprise roll so badly that the Editor said he hadn't even managed to get his shot off yet.

The hunchbacked spy turns out to be a pretty nifty threat; he's wearing a vest lined with dynamite under his coat, making him the first suicide bomber in comicbook history. It's a challenging threat, normally, but this adventure takes place on a boat, so Bart simply pushes the man into the water in time (though, if Bart had lost initiative...). The spy also has a poison pill on him that is confiscated.

Bart administers truth serum to the spy to learn where his hideout is. The hideout appears to be empty, but a secret door opens like a shutter sliding down.

Steve Malone, District Attorney, is hunting down a mobster on the lam, and figures out who the disguised mobster is by the clue of the hairs in his comb. In the ensuing fight, Steve uses a table for a club and the mobster's vamp girlfriend uses this really big candle holder, so vamps are sometimes armed with clubs. Steve doesn't start out the encounter with a gun, but he lifts one off a mobster. In a rare instance, both gunman run out of bullets in the same firefight.

I normally like Speed Saunders, Ace Investigator more than this installment. Speed is on the trail of a jewel thief who calls himself The Spider and leaves toy spiders behind as a calling card. There's even a nice spin where The Spider doesn't break into homes, he convinces rich people to rent from him, unaware of the secret doors he's built into his properties. But the story has some serious flaws. One, The Spider tries a drive-by shooting against Speed, but from his own car licensed in his own name. Two, Speed slaps the man's wife around while The Spider isn't home, and then she still obediently obeys him. Now, there's a nice twist on that, where the wife turns out to be The Spider, dressed as a man, the whole time, and there never was a husband...but I'm not sure Speed knew that when he slapped her...

(Batman story read in The Batman Archives vol. 1; the rest read at readcomiconline)

Top-Notch Comics #3 - pt. 1

Returning to MLJ after a long time away, we find the Wizard (currently guest-starring in my home campaign!) on a new adventure.

We learn that his supercharged speedster can go 200 MPH and stop on a dime.

It's unclear how the Wizard stores Secret Formula F22X on his person; it's clearly not in a metal container.

It is winter when this story takes place, so the blizzard kind of makes sense.

Sparks from the exhaust setting the plane on fire is another complication to add to a random table.

An H2-Vx-O Ray that makes rain is a pretty specific trophy item. The funny/not-funny thing about this is that a nerve gas called VX will be developed over 10 years later.

Here's another really specific trophy item -- the dynamagnosaw ray projector can be used for wrecking things at range -- but only wires.

The Wizard's photographic mind works like a Danger Sense, which needs to become a superhero power that keeps you from being surprised for the duration.

Balloon capes are a minor trophy item that allow someone a chance to fall safely, as if with the Feather Landing power, but also with a chance of the cape tearing and becoming useless.

That leap looks like the Leap I power, since the plane comes down so low. Of course, planes will always have to fly down low when Heroes are ground-based.

Ethyl Formula 2X-Y-BZ would be a consumable trophy only consumable by vehicles, and would allow them to act as if Hasted (by the spell) for a limited duration.

Now this tactic is ...let's say unusually described here. It seems clear to me that the Wizard is using Sean Connery's tactic from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade where he gets the birds flying in order to blind the pilot with dead birds. It's a gruesome tactic, and one the editor seems to have shied away from, explaining in the narration that the pilots are so stupid that they can mistake geese for planes.

Considering how violent some other MLJ titles will be in the near future, it seems odd that they shied away from violence here.

I don't have a lot to say about this page, except that I seemed to be particularly slow on the uptake with this story; it was not until this page that I realized "Borental" means Japanese. The artist even cleverly substituted the red circles on their wings for yellow triangles.

That the Wizard is unharmed by the explosion -- not only unharmed, but his cape isn't even torn! -- leads me to think he is defensively buffed with one of the higher level powers, like Imperviousness, here.

I do not recommend to my players that they try sitting on the broken off tail end of planes and trying to bring them in for safe landings by tugging on cords attached to the tail rudders; I'm pretty sure I'm going to be inflicting some falling damage regardless, unless he's using the Feather Landing power here.

Look at that, a Hero using quicksand to his advantage!  

Oops, the quicksand was dangerous to both sides! I guess there was a chance (2 in 6, or better?) of walking into quicksand anywhere in that area.

The high speed propulsion gun allows him to levitate, or is flavor text for the Levitate power.

The avalanche is caused by rocking things. Ha, honest typo -- I meant wrecking things!

That was it for the Wizard. Now I'm going to leave you with just a taste of Dick Storm, the Hero with the worst or the best name for a comic book character, depending on how seriously you take these things.

Dick here uses tactics, trying to turn his enemies against each other. H&H module RT1 Palace of the Vamp Queen is set up for that, with two warring factions of brigands controlling opposing sides of the building -- but I never did get players interested in pitting one side against the other.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum.)

Keen Detective Funnies v. 3 #1 - pt. 3

This is still Spy Hunters. They may be out in the middle of the Arab world, but I can imagine my players wanting that combat car no matter where they are.

The old man would be called a stool pigeon in an urban campaign. Either way, characters who can share rumors are valuable supporting cast.

Hmm,that's not a very useful map. The markings down in the lower left hand corner look like marsh, but it's highly unlikely there are marshes near this terrain. An oasis, maybe? I also can't find Hardet on a map. I suspect it's a fictional city.

The story isn't very clear on what gave away the ambush. Maybe they were too hasty? Moving at full movement rate is something that might make you lose your surprise turn.

We rejoin The Eye Sees now.  Floating eyes -- based loosely on this feature -- have been in Hideouts & Hoodlums since the beginning. But we can examine those stories more closely now and see what else we can add to them.

The Eye can either use a Disintegrate spell, or can wreck things very thoroughly.

There are several possibilities for this first panel. Floating eyes either have low Armor Class and are hard to hit, have some kind of defensive buffing power, or can use the spell Protection from Normal Missiles.

A car is beyond the limit of the Telekinesis spell for all but high-level magic-users, so this is either proof that they are high-level magic-users, or an example of the Raise Car power, which any low-level superhero can do.

Our last feature is Dean Denton. Doppelgangers were shape-changing mobsters in 1st edition, and were changed in 2nd edition to be the more common archetype of the evil double of one of the Heroes. Here we get the reverse of that -- a good double for one of the villains.

We also get a modified car with a gun slot in the back, and a report of paralytic gas with a remarkable area of effect -- the entire prison!

If you're baffled by how the good double for The Conqueror managed to survive a room pumped full of hydrocyanide gas (hydrocyanide would be hydrogen cyanide, also known as prussic acid), it's because Dean slipped him an antidote in a syringe on the previous page. Dean's antidote seems to deliver immunity for at least 10 minutes.

Dean's list of Supporting Cast Members includes the governor!

And that's it for Keen Detective Funnies. Good bye!

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum.)

All-American Comics #8 - pt. 2

Continuing #8...

For comedic effect, Mutt of Mutt & Jeff is able to ignore below freezing temperatures through force of will, as soon as it allows him to ogle women. It makes sense to allow a saving throw vs. science to avoid some environmental factors, though once the temperature becomes extreme enough to start doing points of damage, I would stop relying on this practice.

I have previously written about how strangely common goats are in early comic book humor. In this issue's Daisybelle, three men are unable to push one goat against its will and it has to be moved by a tow truck. Now, it may be that the Editor was treating this as combat and making them all roll to hit before rolling for damage and then converting that into feet pushed, but they just keep missing their target number vs. the goat's Armor Class. But all this makes me think that maybe even 1+1 Hit Dice is conservative for how tough comic book goats should be treated.

Mystery Men of Mars becomes the more generic Adventures in the Unknown in this issue. Ted and Alan travel to Spottiscourt, Virginia, which sounds like a real place, but if it is, I can't find it. We learn that not only did their robot trophy's brain rust, but the entire body corroded and turned to ash -- much like drow magic items do in D&D when exposed to sunlight. Their second adventure follows the pattern of the first, but this time a scientist offers to take them to the prehistoric past in a time machine rather than to Mars in a spaceship. Appropriate for a time travel adventure, we know the date on which they leave for the past, October 24, 1939.

In The Adventures of Popsicle Pete, Pete and his friends are able to fix up a broken radio, suggesting to me that electronics is a basic-level skill in 1939. We also learn that the license to open a radio station cost $100.

Scribbly's humor tends to be hit and miss, but maybe the best joke yet is this exchange, after Scribbly is sent to the principal's office for drawing an unflattering picture of his teacher.

Principal: That's awful! It doesn't look like you at all! It looks like a pig!

Teacher: Well? Aren't you going to say something about it?

Principal: Oh, my!  I certainly will!  Young man...this is terrible!  The next time you draw a pig, remember to make it look more like your teacher!

In Ben Webster, Professor Mattix returns and smashes the last thought recorder, having decided that it is an "agency for trouble" after spies tried to get it. Using shaky science the author doesn't even try to explain, it is claimed that only one thought recorder can ever be built following the same design. But that doesn't insult our intelligence nearly as bad as Ben Webster creator Edwin Alger's bizarrely racist depiction of black servants, drawing them to look more like bears than humans.

(Read at fullcomic.pro)

Speed Comics #4 - pt. 1

Yay!  Back to superheroes!

Well, you wouldn't know it at a glance, but this is a page of Shock Gibson, with Shock disguised as a hobo so he can investigate some shenanigans. How does he know those don't look like real hobos? He could have made a tailoring skill check to notice that their clothes looked too nice and too new to be hobo clothes, or maybe he just sniffed and figured they bathed too much. We don't know how, because he never tells us!

Knock-out drops are not called such in the rules, but are detailed under "Sleeping", under "Consumables", on page 67 of the 2nd edition Basic book.

The narrator is giving us a clue what is going on here, but how exactly are Shock's "alert senses" detecting the drug? Should Detect Poison become a power (hint: it might)? Should the power Super-senses detect drugs (hint: no, that's adding too much to an already broad power)? Should a simple skill check be able to detect the taste of the knockout drops (hint: maybe...)?

I guess Shock was hiding that helmet under his hat? Where else was he hiding that? We can overlook this with the use of the power Quick Change. His game of "ten-pins" means he may have activated the power Flurry of Blows (which could in theory hit up to ten targets), but since he does not appear to have struck more than three, and only needs to take out four, it could also just be Multi-Attack.

There's two ways this could happen: a) since Shock is literally lifting the tree out of the ground, this could be the power Raise Car, or b) since the tree is wrecked after this, this could simply be wrecking things. The size of a tree would impact how easily it is wrecked, but with this tree I could use the machines column, maybe generator at best.

I love the cartooniness of this: Shock doesn't even seem to have bound their feet, and left them tied up so loosely that one or more could easily wiggle free, but is confident that his Editor is running a campaign of light enough mood that he doesn't have to worry about such complications.

And I love that he happens to have a thick-tip marker on him for writing this sign on the fly like that. It's important for Heroes to carry gear with them!

Also worth noting -- DC and Marvel take note! -- danger does not always have to be epic in scope; it can be as subtle as those train tracks being disconnected.

Since Shock isn't an alien, in order to run faster and leap higher he has to burn powers for those -- in these specific examples, they would be Race the Train and Leap I.

Again, I appreciate the playfulness of tooting the horn by hand.

Ooo, this is tricky...and not just for Hideouts & Hoodlums. Most RPGs focus on rules for violence and destruction, not constructive things like "how long should it take to repair railroad tracks? Now how long should it take if using superpowers?"

It's difficult to make a fixed rule about such things because the details of building and repair work can vary widely depending on what is being built or repaired.

If the Editor doesn't want to spend a lot of time on this, he can flip the wrecking things chart around and use it as a building/repairing things chart. Like wrecking things, building/repairing could be allowed to take place in 1 turn. I think I wrote about that on the blog once before, but this is only helpful if a superhero is present.

Without a superhero, this could be allowed as a skill check, though the Editor may need to spend some time researching the situation and finding out how many man-hours of time this building/repair work usually takes. If used as a skill check, buffed by superpowers, then the number of man-hours can be halved for each level of power spent (as long as it makes sense for that power to help; Raise Car would be useful for a lot of repair work; Quick Change, not so much). For example, burning a Raise Car power would make the repair work take 1/2 as long. Adding Race the Train, for speed, would make it take 1/4 as long. Adding Flurry of Blows (a 2nd level power) to make for more hammer blows, would reduce the number of man-hours to 1/16.

The rules, in the 2nd edition Basic book, do not account for combining skills with superpowers; this rule will have to be added in the Advanced Hideouts & Hoodlums Heroes Handbook.

"I make my own rules, when lives are to be saved!" is not the motto of a Lawful Hero. It could be the motto of a Neutral or Chaotic Hero, though.

This is the power Raise Bridge, used exactly as intended.

The Basic book ends the Leap powers at Leap III, but after viewing Leap I, II, and III it should be obvious that the length of the leap is multiplied by eight each time. So, for a Leap IV power, Shock would be able to make a running broad jump of 256 miles, with a 2 in 6 chance of making subsequent leaps of the same distance (which the Hero can continue as long as his luck holds out with rolling). That said, it would take 10 leaps at that level of power to go literally "across country." But, unless Shock is given brevet ranks, he should only be a level 3 superhero by now, with access only to Leap I and II. 

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus.)