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)

More Fun Comics #13

September 1936 brings us more of Sandra of the Secret Service, just now starting her second adventure after 12 2-3 page installments. To say Sandra is a master of disguise may seem a bit of a misnomer, and yet people in comic books seem to be frighteningly easy to fool by the simplest of disguises. But, only for Heroes; not just anyone is so good at disguise.

Sandra is likely a member of the Spy character class, introduced in The Trophy Case v. 2 no . 5, which has disguise as a class function right from the start. This will become tricky in the next edition, which I had not intended to include the Spy class in. Will that make Sandra a Mysteryman, then, using a Disguise Stunt?  Time will tell.

Medieval period pieces are not going to receive much coverage on this blog; there are LOTS of other RPGs that deal specifically with medieval re-enactment (or swords & sorcery-fantasy equivalents). This page of Ivanhoe does, however, address the mystery of the crossbow.

The mystery is -- where are they? Crossbows are not that rare in real life; they're still used in hunting to this day. But you'll be hard-pressed to find one in the comics. Why is that? Are they just somehow hard to draw? Note how the text describes the archers on the battlements as using crossbows, but those are obviously regular short bows in use in the artwork. Is it just because the act of pulling back a bow string looks more active than holding a stationary crossbow close to the shoulder? Until this mystery is resolved, I plan on taking the crossbow off the starting equipment list for Hideouts & Hoodlums.

The Crazy Meter still runs high on Don Drake on the Planet Saro, and that's good news for informing a campy sci-fi H&H campaign.  Here, we sort of learn about the contents of the Zetrurian queen's gold flagon. It doesn't spell out for us just how this potion "vanquishes" the monster, but it's clearly dead on the next page. Perhaps it's a powerful contact poison.

Poison, in H&H, does a lot of different things depending on the type, with most poisonous animals each having their own set of mechanics (and what goes wrong if a save vs. poison is missed).  Some poisons only weaken, some render a person comatose for a random length of time, while others are of the save or die variety (with onset time varying).

Now this is curious -- is the poisonous cloud an after-effect of the contact poison, or of killing the land monster? It seems like the queen would be crazy to intentionally give Don a weapon that would endanger her own people, so I have to say this is what happens to land monsters after they die. The poison vapor does not seem to be of the save or die variety, since everyone is just walking to shelter instead of running.



This issue's installment of Dr. Occult introduces the idea of a lycanthropy potion that can be injected into someone via a syringe.

This page of Pirate Gold shows a) pirates (statted in Book II: Mobsters & Trophies) and b) situational modifiers to hit, such as while backstabbing (which would be a +2 bonus to hit).  If the pirate was also a Mysteryman, this could be a Signature Move and do additional damage.

This page of Sandy Kean and the Radio-Squad features a gangster (treat as a bloodthirsty hoodlum, first introduced in The Trophy Case v. 2 no. 6, but then retroactively added to the next edition of Book II: Mobsters & Trophies), a sub-machine gun (treated as a trophy weapon), and a car and motorcycle (motorcycles were originally treated as transport trophies, but were retroactively added to the starting equipment list in Book I: Men & Supermen).

The death in the last panel is awfully hard to figure out, probably because of some slipshod artwork from future Superman creator, Joe Shuster. If the momentum of the car threw the hoodlum into the pole, then the hoodlum's body should be on the other side of the pole.

Regardless, this is an awfully tricky situation to duplicate with game mechanics. How do you give someone a chance of throwing someone off of the running board of your car hard enough to injure or kill them?  The vehicular combat rules in Book III: Underworld and Metropolis Adventures are for assigning damage based on speed if you hit someone with a car. Perhaps this attack would do half that damage, if the passenger on the running board failed a save vs. science?

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus)

Famous Funnies #25

In this installment of Captain Easy, I thought these were ridiculously long blowguns until I saw this -- so apparently Roy Crane did his homework. This is tricky for me -- are blowguns going to be common enough weapons that they need to be statted for Hideouts & Hoodlums?  They should have a short range of 30' and do normal, 1-6 weapon damage.

I marvel over the way Roy Crane was able to get away with drawing topless women and getting them published in the funny pages. The benefits of abstraction!

The Alley Oop mobster-type of the day is plesiosaurus. Plesiosaurs were statted in Supplement II: All-American.

Dickie Dare joins the Famous Funnies cast and is trapped on a U-Boat taken over by pirates. Submarines can double as transport trophies and hideouts -- a larger submarine hideout was provided in The Trophy Case no. 9.

Homer Hopee demonstrates the usefulness of having a locksmith as a Supporting Cast Member. Although called a burglar here, Homer's brief antagonist would be statted as a robber.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)





 

Comics Magazine #4

According to Poss, all lieutenants have mustaches. Keep that in mind, Fighters, when you reach 4th level (level title: lieutenant)!

Yes, it's hard to take a feature as goofy as Age of Stone seriously, but this idea of fishing for electric eels and using them as weapons might have some merit, particularly if the Heroes have to bypass a guardian in a pit or a tunnel too small for the Heroes to get into.

Giant eels appear in Supplement II: All-American, but they are giant conger eels and not electric eels. Making the change should be easy, maybe dropping the Hit Dice to 2+1 and adding 1d6 of electricity damage when they hit.

Despite what Freddie Bell, He Means Well would have you believe, popping balloons should not cause damage. Spankings, maybe, depending on how hard someone is hitting (1-3 points maximum).

A 1' long tarantula sure would scare me, but it wouldn't even rate a single hit point in how Hideouts & Hoodlums works (in case you're wondering, an animal needs to weigh around 30 lbs. to warrant a hp).

It's interesting, though, how the spider seems to be making them dance. In a certain edition of That Other Game (Frank Mentzer would know which one I'm referring to) is a pun-laden monster called the tarantella spider.

This page of Natural History talks about moose. As funny as moose are, they never seem to get the love that goats get in these early comic books.

Now, according to Wikipedia, moose are more dangerous than bears and wolves, so it looks like we have another herbivore that needs statting for equal representation. Moose I would give 4+1 HD and allow to trample for 2-8 points of damage.

This page of Klondike Gold almost cries out for a brutal fumbles chart added to the combat mechanics, but I am loathe to add such a thing to H&H.  I think we have to chalk this up to Doc actually hitting, but the switch of weapons for irony being mere flavor text.

This is not the first Dickie Duck; the first "star" anthropomorphic animal created for comic books to rate a cover appearance had been slinking through the back pages of at least two publishers already. I include him here only to demonstrate how, in a certain type of campaign, funny animal characters and humans could live together.



(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)

New Comics #7

I don't have much content of New Comics #7 to review, but this installment of Steve Carson of Federal Men contains a good tip for beginning Heroes. If it bothers you that you can't start the game with a sub-machine gun, then go undercover in an invasion squad. They'll give you a sub-machine gun -- and then you can turn it on them and get the sub-machine gun and the XP for the entire squad!

(Scan courtesy of the Days of Adventure blog)

Popular Comics #7 - pt. 2

Last notes from Popular Comics #7 --

Don Winslow U.S.N. brings us another code for Heroes to use (though this is a really simple one I've seen in plenty of other places).

Here, Tom Mix takes a look at healing in H&H.  By the rules, an 8-hour rest would net you 2 hp back. However, there have been a few optional rules added to the game over the years. The oldest is allowing a save vs. plot to heal twice as fast.  A newer one is allowing bandaging wounds to heal immediately after combat.  I'm using it in the current campaign and allowing it to heal 1-3 hp, but it uses up an entire first aid kit.  Whether or not this winds up making it into the next edition remains to be seen.

Lastly, Don Dixon goes for a spin -- literally -- in a rotogyro, that flies by spinning (though the middle chamber remains still, like a gyroscope).  We know it can manage an altitude of 50,000', though no clue yet how fast it goes.  Still, an unusual trophy for maybe mid-level Heroes to pick up.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)

Popular Comics #7 - pt. 1

Another issue of Dell's Popular Comics has a lot to teach us!

Here, Gasoline Alley shows us that Fighters should be able to climb.  Well, actually, I think every class should have the ability to climb trees. Some games would just assign a big modifier to a skill check, but I think we can waive a mechanic entirely for tree climbing.

Ultra-obscure comic strip reprint A Strain on the Family Tie is going to illuminate some aspect of Hideouts & Hoodlums for us?   It does when it reminds us that fireworks are legally available for sale (though not on the starting equipment list, they should be easily picked up in game play), and make great diversions for Heroes to use.

Hatchet men would be another name -- and perhaps a less offensive name, for Yellow Peril Hoodlums.  I plan to retain this mobster type, though I'm seriously considering adding to them that they are adept at ambushes, with perhaps a 3 in 6 chance of surprise.



The Dick Tracy installment reminds us of more tools available to "modern day" Heroes of the '30s and '40s -- though not as available as fireworks -- the lie detector and the "trick mirror" that can be seen through from the other side.

Little Joe's bandit general pal here demonstrates two combat moves: disarming (which will have its own game mechanic in the next edition) and the technique that only seems to exist in comics -- picking up someone and using them as a club against another target (Batman will do this frequently in his early days).  After grappling the first target, the attacker can use this technique to do clubbing damage to both opponents at once.  Editors might want to limit this technique only to Heroes with a Strength of 15 or higher.

Reg'lar Fellers reminds us of two more potentially useful items for Heroes to acquire -- stilts and glue.  Glue is even going to be on the starting equipment list.

This panel of On the Range reminds us that bisons have not been statted for H&H yet, and perhaps they should be. Wikipedia tells me that bison at Yellowstone National Park are three times as likely to harm people than bears, and I've long since statted bears!  The American bison would have 6 HD, trample for 1-10+1 damage, and use 12-siders for Hit Dice because of their mass.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)