Speed Comics #7 - pt. 2

We're back to Shock Gibson out West and the hoodlums he hid amongst last time, who have upped their game from hustling ranchers to attacking oil fields. This story has been a lot about escalation of threat level, whether it's targets or transportation (they've now also gone from riding horses to having planes). An Editor needs to up his game like this on the fly if he begins a scenario that turns out to be too much of a cakewalk for the Heroes. 

Though Shock is probably buffed here with the power Fire Resistance, I like how nothing else on this page requires his powers, and lifting and twisting that valve is probably something any Hero could have done. 

It is strange, though, that Shock let them start the fire and waited until the hoodlums were gone to put it out, rather than stop them here in the act. I'm hoping an explanation for that is forthcoming and it's not just a plot hole. 

Okay, I think it's clear at this point that Shock is just toying with the bad guys. There's really no reason to trick the leader after getting him alone in the plane instead of just taking him prisoner now. 

This is, though, the kind of playing I expected to see more in H&H and never have -- good guys vastly outclassing the bad guys, but then taking it easy and trying to make it fun. Players always seem to want to end things as quickly and efficiently as possible. I have wondered before if H&H needed a game mechanic that would encourage this better, like bad guys being worth more XP if you spend longer defeating them than you need to.

Given Shock's powers, you'd think he could have just wrecked the hangars on their own, but there's a poetic justice in using their own bombs against them. Speaking of which...I love that second panel and the fun sense of overkill. I suppose I would give those hoodlums a penalty to their morale saves in that situation. 

The next page is the last page that wraps things up. There's no big reveal of the head hoodlum ("Gasp -- you were Joe the Ranch Hand all along!" or something like that) and it's only implied that the hoodlums knew about the gold and that's why they wanted the land...though the oil would have been just as valuable, so...

Lastly, Shock stops by and gives the old prospector a strange admonishment (and I won't bother showing you the whole page just for it), to "remember the unemployed" when he's rich. The unemployment rate was at 17% and dropping by the end of 

1939, better than its peak in 1933, but still high enough that wealth distribution should be a serious issue for superheroes. 

Now we're in the middle of the next story, Crash, Cork, and the Baron, as they deliver explosives to Argentina. Why, and who hired them? Eh, these guys are Neutral and don't really care about that. Oddly, they flew west to get to Argentina, so...the scenario started in Uruguay? But what I wanted to discuss here was gauchos. Gaucho was a lifestyle, not an ethnicity, but since gauchos were cowboys and not bandits, it's not hard to read some racism into this. Were they ever extinct? No, but their numbers did severely dwindle by the end of the 19th century. 

But this page also gives us more questions. Is Cork not dead after the bolo wraps around his neck (yes, game mechanics-wise, he's likely only unconscious at best, but realistically...)? Is Crash really such a bad pilot that he can't outmanuever an inexperienced pilot (very bad dice rolls, I suppose)? Who is

saying "The blitherin' idiot!"? Did the gauchos change Cork's jacket from a brown one to a green one?

It seems like Crash is using the Out of the Sun stunt from the old aviator's class here, and even though the old version of stunts is gone from 2nd edition Hideouts & Hoodlums, there's no reason why we couldn't keep the concept as a combat modifier, -2 to be hit from below, just like how Crash should be at +1 to hit for attacking from above.

I'm pretty sure this is what only doing 1 point of damage with a bolo looks like. 

We also get one of those rare examples of a hero's gun running out of bullets. While seemingly unlimited bullets is a common trope in fiction, I love it when the heroes can't rely on guns and have to think up another solution instead.  I'm sure they'll put their heads together and come up with some nonviolent solution and...

...oh. A couple o' loads o' dynamite. Well, that escalated quickly.

I have serious reservations about this. I would need the Mythbusters team back together to resolve if you could detonate an explosion big enough to create a colossal wave. I suspect the waves would just make the water choppy, but not enough to capsize the boat. And I have to wonder if it wouldn't have just been better to let the bad guy get away than to destroy an entire coastline.

In-game, I suppose you have to look at these ideas in terms of what will make the story more exciting for the players. Maybe your players like blowing up cliffs. My players probably would have just thrown the dynamite at the boat...

We'll just glance ahead at the third story in the book, this feature being Ted Parrish, the Man of 1,000 Faces. Here, we learn that if you have a steel-lined cap, it protects you from head blows. We also see a clever trick, disguising yourself as one of the bad guys and escaping with them to see where their lair is -- but then Ted goes the easy route and leaves a note on the door for the police. Boo, Ted! What kind of action hero does that (you'd think his player doesn't want XP or something!)?

Also note one of my pet peeves about golden age comics -- colorists who just don't care and get wrong obvious things, like the constantly changing suit jackets. 

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus.)

  
 

 

Marvel Mystery Comics #3 - pt. 3

In American Ace, Wade Perry rescues a girl and gets a new mission from this plot hook character -- deliver her to her sister, 60 miles away, so she can tell her sister their parents are dead. It turns out to be a super-easy trip, as his plane is fast and they make the trip too quickly for the Editor to roll up any wandering encounters along the way.

Instead of speeding off on another scenario, though, Wade spends a whole week of down time just hanging out with the girls and their grandparents on their farm. Now, maybe Wade's player is just playing it smart...figures a war scenario is too dicey, so he's safer just hanging out here, earning some XP for including supporting cast members in the story, and hoping for more chances to rescue them for more XP. Or maybe his player just really enjoys role-playing.

But eventually, regardless of which it is, he tires of his character having no action here and decides to leave. Now the Editor gets that wandering encounter check he'd been waiting for!  He rolls up three enemy fighter planes.  Three-to-one odds are tough for low-level Heroes and are too much for Perry. Luckily, he survives, and revenge is a good motive to get players into more dangerous scenarios.

The third "episode" of the Adventures of Ka-Zar the Great provides a map showing us that Ka-Zar's adventures are firmly planted in the Belgian Congo. Again, Ka-Zar demonstrates an ability to speak with animals, which either must become a special ability of an explorer class, or just written off as part of the jungle/Tarzan genre.

This is a different adventure for Ka-Zar, as there is no "villainous" person or animal in it. Steve Hardy is a rival explorer, collecting animals for zoos. Ka-Zar is at cross-purposes and wants to free the animals, but without harming Steve. By waiting until nightfall, Ka-Zar only has to gain surprise against one guard and simply open all the cages. Of course, had the dice rolls gone against him, the guard would have woke the whole camp and Ka-Zar would have been quickly outnumbered. Sometimes, the result of just a few dice rolls can determine if a whole scenario is going to be easy or hard.

The wild animals released include a hog, a stork, a leopard, and an elephant. Boars, leopards, and elephants have all been statted for H&H, and storks...probably don't need to be. Curiously, Steve never just follows the tracks of the missing animals. Ka-Zar must have swept all evidence of tracks away?  When Steve goes hunting a rhino (also statted already), Ka-Zar attacks Steve's native porters and makes them all fail a morale save.

Ka-Zar is using a bow and arrow in this scene and manages a wounding shot, being careful not to kill the porter. I've not considered doing this before, but maybe H&H could allow Heroes to set a maximum damage they want to do. Or maybe that would just work with non-firearm damage. It bears more thought.

On his way home from that adventure (presumedly because the artist had another page to fill), Ka-Zar has a wandering encounter with a hostile leopard (apparently not the same one he'd saved earlier).

(Read at Marvel Unlimited.)

Champion Comics #2

This is The Champ.  It's squarely in the sports genre and reads like Ned Bryant, but with better art. What amuses me on this page, though, is the commercial-like description of the Champ's tonic. If it is responsible for his top physical condition, then maybe it is a potion that bestows a +1 bonus to all physical skills.

This is from Neptina, Queen of the Deep.  As often as sharks get defeated with knives in comic books, I wonder if knives should do +1 damage against them...

These fish-men might be another variation of mermen...but they do look an awful lot like kuo-toa from That Other Game. There are at least seven of them.  One of them seems to have a paralysis raygun. And if that encounter wasn't dangerous enough, there's a giant eel too!

There is apparently an entire city of fish-men down here, so...10,000+ of them? They have advanced science, capable of producing trophy items like a bubble helmet that allows underwater breathing and a paste that makes his skin waterproof and resistant to water pressure. That last part is odd because pressure never seems to be a problem in underwater comic book adventures, or all these underwater encounters occur within 1,000' of the surface.

We learn the fish-men are telepathic too -- something neither mermen nor kuo-toa can do!

This is from The Blazing Scarab.  Yes, a Rochester-like manservant called Snowball is blatantly racist -- but, what I'd like to know is, what's that weapon he's holding? It looks like he's attacking that other man with a shaving razor. As an improvised weapon it would do 1-3 points of damage -- maybe 1-4, since I think getting sliced by a shaving razor sounds pretty nasty.

Okay, if you can choke your way past the racism on this page, there's a really neat teleport trap here, with a glowing scarab being the lure.

This is Jungleman.  The text calls that a huge viper, but it looks like an ordinary-sized poisonous snake to me. What's unusual about this Tarzan rip-off is that it takes place in Cambodia (full of ruins -- good for hideouts!), and Jungleman's animal companion is an albino tiger.

Here we see mobsters burying their treasure under the ruins -- a perfect explanation for where there is so much treasure and trophy items hidden in hideouts.

Not only does Jungleman have a tiger companion, but he has an elephant companion as well. That's a lot of cumulative Hit Dice for a 1st level fighter or explorer to have with him. I would probably not allow either, myself.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)

Amazing Man Comics #6 - pt. 1

This is Bill Everett's Amazing Man. Snapping ropes is an easy task for a superhero (I'd treat it as wrecking a door). Amazing Man also shows off a new power -- Infra-vision. But the really interesting thing here is that Amazing Man's nemesis, The Great Question, is like a devil on his shoulder, tempting Amazing Man to do bad things. That resisting is Amazing Man's greatest challenge lends the Amazing Man stories a moral depth lacking in most comic book stories.

In fact, it makes me wonder if the save vs. plot mechanic should be used to make moral decisions, sort of like it is in the game Pendragon.

Amazing Man can Teleport through Focus - the focus being the green mist he creates. So that requires another new power -- Obscuring Mist. And Amazing Man shows off another new power when he demonstrates Greater Invisibility (greater, because it doesn't end when he attacks).

Amazing Man, at least under the compulsion of The Great Question, seems to have no problem with killing.

Phantasmal Image? Really? Okay, now I'm beginning to think Amazing Man can't be statted without making him a Magic-User/Superhero. Too many of these new powers are already on the spell list for Hideouts & Hoodlums.

Amazing Man uses his teleport power so often in this story that it must have a duration instead of being a one-use power.

Here, Amazing Man is overcome by the gun wound and the grappling damage. The narrator says he "permits them" to tie him up, but I wonder if he was actually stunned temporarily after being reduced to zero hit points. He comes to after being tied up and activates the Imperviousness power so the bullwhip can't hurt him. He won't get hit points back during that short period he "rests" while ignoring the whip, but it does buy him time to strategize.

Everett sure loved the anti-heroes. Imagine, both the bad guy and the good guy using living shields during their shoot-out!  Yeah, I'd definitely make a Hero have to save vs. plot before doing something this despicable.

The Shark debuts as the first king of the oceans-type character -- since Namor the Sub-Mariner is, technically, only a prince. We also get a nice laundry list of powers The Shark has at his disposal. "The strength of ten whales" is equal to at least the Raise Bridge power, If he can swim ten times as fast as a whale, that's got to be Race the Plane (a 2nd edition power that fills in a speed gap in the powers list). He must have a Speak with Animals power that's limited to one type. And, for whatever reason, he can Project Image.

By now the crystal ball-like super-television is already a comic book cliche, but notice here how The Shark is just randomly using it and stumbles across a scene of villainy. It's as if it's a One-Way Television of Evil Detection.

I know we've been told The Shark can project his image, but it sure looks like he's using the Teleport through Focus power.

The Shark makes a quick search of the ship, getting a lucky result on his first search roll.

It isn't clear how strong the time bomb is, since it never goes off. I still need a consistent metric for assigning damage to concussive force.

Wrecking an anchor chain should be harder than ordinary chains someone would be tied up with; so maybe wreck as a machine.

It's unclear what country Furvainia is meant to be, but probably Germany.

There's a power called Push Ocean Liner, but I don't think that's needed here for a boat this size. Raise Bridge could accomplish this.

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus.)

Famous Funnies #58

Here's a good example of game play. There's three non-Heroes controlled by the Editor and one player-controlled Hero in the boat, with a gun under the seats. The Editor knows it's there, but has his characters stay quiet, so the player can solve the problem and remember about the gun.

Also worth discussing is the term "high-powered". In the basic rules, that could be code for a Gun +1. Or, if using the optional damage rules, it means the difference between 1-10 points of damage and 1-12 points of damage.

It's also worth pointing out that, unless that's one sickly shark, 12 points of damage is not going to kill it. More likely, the shark failed a morale save afer being injured.

Is it ever just an octopus? It's almost always a giant octopus, isn't it?

This is from the gag filler page Life's Like That. I think this one is pretty funny.

Oaky Doaks has nothing to contribute this month to Hideouts & Hoodlums, but I'm sure digging King Cedric's snappy patter.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)

Famous Funnies #57

Map!

More evidence of improvised weapons -- like coconuts -- being able to do real damage.

If you put yourself at risk to save your comrades, is that a good deed (worth 100 xp) or just you being a good teammate?  It's a decision each Editor will have to make, either as a blanket judgment or on a case by case basis.

Speaking of things the Editor will have to make decisions on....Should he bother rolling random encounter rolls for supporting cast members, or just assume that nothing interesting is happening to them except when a Hero is around?  It could be a good source for plot hooks; if you're out of ideas, have a SCM ask for help with some mobster they encountered...

After what I considered a weak start, Oaky Doaks has developed into a strong strip.

There has been a surprising dearth of wolves as bad guys in the comic books so far, but here we see a particularly menacing one.

Speaking of coconut weapons -- monkeys are apparently vicious with coconuts. Maybe they should be able to throw 2 per turn, for 1-4 damage?

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)

The Funnies #30

Captain Easy might be easy, but weapon damage in Hideouts & Hoodlums is not easy. After all these years, it's still a hotly debated topic in the ongoing campaigns! One of the pros of all weapons doing d6 damage is that it makes players less dependent on getting bigger and badder weapons. One of the cons of all weapons doing d6 damage is that it can lead to some Heroes taking silly weapons -- like a wet broom -- confident that it doesn't matter if their weapon makes sense to do regular damage.

This issue marks the first appearance of John Carter of Mars in comic books. This, of course, opens up a huge can of worms for H&H -- how much of John Carter can be considered public domain and available for inclusion? It's not an issue I plan to resolve right here and now, but it's something under consideration.

Even without discussing copyrights and trademarks, there are still elements here that bear discussion. Like, a cave full of gas that sparks astral projection to other planets is one doozy of a trap! Or the fact that a human, on a different planet, may or may not become an alien, depending on how relativistic the Editor decides to treat the Hero races (or how much he wants to ape Burroughs).

And then, if we do include mobsters from Barsoom, we get to start with considering green Martians. The size of green Martians was pretty inconsistent in the books; I wonder if the comic book stories will follow suit. Here, Tars appears to be 10-12' tall. I'd generously give green Martians...7 Hit Dice?

Tars is riding a thoat, but it is drawn just to look like a giant horse with six legs.

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus)

Funny Pages v. 3 #2

It's 1939, so when you read a title called "Funny Pages" there's sure to be a scene of a girl strangling a man with a lasso!

I'm disinclined from giving lassos special abilities, especially ones that circumvent the hit point mechanic via strangulation. Lassos will probably just do 1-4 points of damage in 2nd ed., and if that's enough damage to render someone unconscious, then maybe it went around the neck after all.

This is an awfully goofy page of filler, but I think it has a strong moral for Hideouts & Hoodlums players:  don't get too goofy because you think your Hero can soak up any damage he takes; the Editor always has a way to kill off your Hero if you start playing him stupid.

And maybe there's a lesson for players in this page too. If your Hero uses ruthless tactics, the Editor is going to be more inclined to use ruthless tactics back at you.

We have a true Magic-User in this gag filler story. Is this a new spell called Spirit Money, or a clever use of Phantasmal Force? Because the money disappears after Keeno stops concentrating, it's likely Phantasmal Force.

Should riot cars be trophy items? It seems like this car has a better than average change of wrecking through doors (as if a 1st level Superhero?).

The new riot car is also the "fastest thing on four wheels" -- that might be guilty of hyperbole. 

More importantly, we may have learned that The Arrow is from Newark, New Jersey!

Gas station attendants have nerves of steel -- they should have fantastic morale saves! 

The Arrow uses the Improved Take-Off/Landing stunt.

Is lightning speed narrative hyperbole, or the Outrun Train power?

Breaking through a window should not require a wrecking things roll.

The Arrow either shoots the arrow during a surprise turn and grapples first because he won initiative on the first normal turn of combat, or is using Multi-Attack to get multiple attacks in the same turn -- and then can apparently split them between different attack forms, which the power description does not specify about.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum).

Jumbo Comics #4

Ouch!  Take that, Bob Kane -- Peter Pupp is bumped off the lead feature this month in favor of Inspector Dayton.



This page reminds me that not all traps need to be intentionally left in a hideout. Rotting floorboards giving way (maybe a 2 in 6 chance if normal weight steps on them) could lead to a serious fall.



And if any one ever says to you in Hideouts & Hoodlums that there is only a 1 in a million chance of something working, you know that's got to be only character-driven hyperbole!  In H&H, there should always be at least a 1% chance of anything happening.

I have no game mechanics to discuss from this page of Will Eisner's Hawks of the Seas.  Just enjoy this page layout, as Eisner slowly develops into the powerful storyteller he will become.

This is quite a horrible death trap -- not only is the old man about to be impaled and crushed by a spiked platform descending towards him, but his daughter is chained up nearby and being forced to watch! Extrapolating from this, an evilly-inclined Editor can see how a Superhero could be forced to remain in a deathtrap, without wrecking his way out, by threatening innocents (especially supporting cast!) within sight if the Superhero foils the trap.

Didn't I just see a one-eyed oriental in Tex Thompson? Is this a pulp novel archetype I'm just seeing now?



I think it's interesting that the little girl calls this guy a bogeyman. H&H doesn't currently have any mobster type called a bogeyman. And I like how he can hypnotize and levitate others. Maybe this needs to be a thing? Maybe they could even all have a weakness for tea...

Maybe a pepper jar should be on the starting equipment list? It does seem to be particularly good at blinding bad guys, besides the more obvious use of making people sneeze.

Bob seems to be changing classes (something that was detailed in Supplement I: National). He's going from a Fighter to an Explorer (a class introduced in The Trophy Case v. 1 no. 2) and picking up the tracking skill, plus he seems to be improving with his chance to hit with thrown missile weapons (a bonus not currently available to the Explorer class).


In H&H 2nd ed., though, the Explorer class will likely no longer exist. In that case, Bob's training is all flavor text describing his leveling.

This seems like it would be an interesting jungle-based hideout. The natives here have a lair in a petrified forest so dense that it's just like tunnels underground.

This page shows that even a thrown rock should be allowed to do real damage. But how much? The full 1d6 in the original, more abstract weapon damage system, but probably 1-3 in the expanded weapon damage system.




(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus)