Action Comics #9 - Part 2

Globe-trotter Zatara is on his way to China for some reason. Meanwhile, the mad Tibetan lama, Jerbel, wants to conquer the world. You'd think a Tibetan would keep to easier goals, like keeping his country's autonomy from China, but we are told Jerbel is mad. Humorously, Zatara is reading an issue of Action Comics on the plane.

The plane crashes -- I'm not sure if it's just an accident or Jerbel is somehow responsible. Zatara and Tong, of course, emerge unscathed (Zatara's top hat wasn't even bent!). The scenario really begins here, with Zatara and Tong on a wilderness survival scenario. Zatara solves it easily, though, thanks to some version of Clairvoyance that lets him view the terrain from an bird's eye view (Bird's Eye View could be a 2nd level spell). He spots a monastery they can use for shelter and then casts either a Mass Fly spell or Fly twice on him and Tong.

It's Jerbel's monastery, of course. Also, the Tigress is there! Zatara spots her first (surprise roll?) and casts a spell a spell that makes both him and Tong unrecognizable (Unrecognizable could also be a 2nd level spell).

Rather cleverly, instead of trying to defeat Jerbel's lieutenants, Zatara tries to take away their motivation by tricking the Tigress into showing him where Jerbel's treasure chamber is, and then turning all the treasure into cinders (though, if he's only polymorphed the treasure, it seems all Jerbel would have to do is dispel the magic and it would turn back).

But, oddly, that's not enough of a win for Zatara, so he goes after Jerbel in a contest of wills (as was originally detailed in The Trophy Case, but a revised version appeared in Supplement V: Big Bang). Contest of wills is now an optional combat rule in 2nd edition Hideouts & Hoodlums.

(Select pages read at the Babbling about DC Comics blog.)

Action Comics #9 - Part 1

We come back to Superman, who has an interesting antagonist this issue. No, not the Ultra-Humanite, he comes later -- but Captain Riley of the Chicago Police Department.

Though most of the Hideouts & Hoodlums games I run take place in 1941, when all Heroes are considered to be working closely with the authorities, many comic book heroes were rebels in 1939. Editors might want to play up this adversarial relationship with the police. 

Riley is himself an interesting character, probably inspired by Dick Tracy -- the then-already famous comic strip detective who's fictional city is never named, but was probably meant to be Chicago. Or Riley could be mocking the real life lawman Elliot Ness, who rose to prominence in Chicago, but came to Siegel & Shuster's town of Cleveland in disgrace by the late '30s. 

The mental patient Superman saves from suicide doesn't really figure into the main plot and is almost surely a random wandering encounter.

What happens next in the story is a fun bit of metafiction, considering what happens in a superhero story when the superhero's discarded clothes are discovered. This could be an issue where Editors will have to tread carefully -- how much do you hand-wave the challenges of hiding a secret identity, and how much do you challenge them with it? Superheroes in the comics often conceal their true identities for years and years just to maintain the status quo; in actual play, I suspect many players will quickly tire of maintaining their dual identities when it becomes too difficult.

Speaking of how much to challenge your players...Superman is completely flummoxed when Riley is about to search everyone and is about to find Superman's uniform under his clothes. Only a deus ex machina -- or a generous Editor -- allowed another non-Hero present to foil Riley's intentions. But this is the same danger inherent in avoiding conflict for your players. Just like, if you're too hard on them they may avoid conflicts, if they sense you'll always look out for them, they may play recklessly or foolishly.

But Action Comics isn't just Superman, so moving on to Scoop Scanlon...

Scoop encounters mobsters with a car that has rotating license plates. This should already be a trophy item in H&H.

Both the Scoop and the Pep Morgan stories have chases/races in them. From the description of both stories, it seems the chaser has a target number they have to reach, but an obstacle gets in their way and subtracts off their target number. The chasee seems to have a much more static role in these chases -- though I understand that this is not always so in chase scenes.  I'm considering, instead of a flat percentage chance of evasion, the chasee setting his own target number with an attack roll, and then the chaser having to hit that number. This would make high-level Fighters the best at car chases, which I have no problem with.

Hypothermia, or at least the threat of hypothermia, also plays a role in the Pep Morgan story. I think we can take care of this condition with cold damage without needing separate game mechanics for environmental harm.

In this installment of The Adventures of Marco Polo, Marco's hosts are playing a game like capture the flag, only on horseback and attacking each other with weapons.  I've talked before about unhorsing opponents, but it's worth talking about subdual damage with weapons. If weapons only render unconscious at zero hit points (which is recommended for all but very dark campaign moods), then there is no reason for a separate mechanic for subduing.


Tex Thomspon, in his adventure, makes a fire by rubbing two sticks together and, in the same issue, Chuck Dawson starts a fire using sunlight reflected off his pocket watch! It seems unlikely that this would come up often in a campaign setting where cigarette lighters are ubiquitous, and yet, with how often Heroes get captured....For a skill like this, rarely needed, with a low chance of success, I would just assign a blanket 1 in 6 chance to these.

Chuck Dawson lights his fire as a diversionary tactic. With diversions, to be fair, the Editor should use a save vs. plot (for the divertee, not the diverter) to avoid being diverted, rather than deciding arbitrarily.

If the summary I've read is to be believed, Chuck also disarms a gunman by throwing a pebble at him! I find it hard to believe the pebble could hit him hard enough to knock the gun out of his hands, but I also don't see a lot of evidence that surprise alone should have a chance of disarming the surprisee (as was an obscure rule in The Original Game).

(Superman adventure read in Superman: the Action Comics Archives vol. 1. Summaries of the rest read here.)

Keen Detective Funnies v. 2 #2

And we're back!

Meet Dean Denton. He's a scientist-ventriloquist -- yeah, I'm still wrapping my head around that -- who turns his talents towards fighting crime. Not too surprisingly, Dean never once relies on ventriloquism in this adventure, but he is clearly a scientist.

When I developed the Scientist class for Supplement III: Better Quality, my focus was solely on making a class specialized in inventing things. But Dean, perhaps the first scientist-adventure hero original to comics, never invents anything in this story. Instead, he's good at gathering information, short-circuiting power to sections of the hideout, and finding secret doors.

Speaking of secret doors, this page made me think about secret doors in hideouts and -- how do the mobsters who need to use the doors know how to find them? It makes sense that there would be a secret marker over secret doors that, if you knew what to look for, you would spot right away -- like the sun emblem that appears to be over this secret door. Of course, if you use that in your hideout, then once Heroes figure out the secret marker once, they'll know where all the secret doors are. But maybe that's not such a bad thing.

This is Ben "Little Dynamite" Trumpson. I could point out that this car chase is resolved with evasion instead of combat, and Hideouts & Hoodlums' car chase mechanics need to account for both. I could point out that smokescreen ejectors have been on the H&H trophy list since Book II: Mobsters & Trophies.  I could point out that playing a Fighter who is really a beat cop makes it real easy for the Editor to dole out plot hooks to you, but could also give the campaign a "railroad-y" feel, since you would be under orders to take up quests in the order given to you. But I'm mainly pointing this out because it might be the first published work by Jack Cole.

"We've invented a secret compartment in the back of a car! We call it...a trunk!"

I can also point out the pacing of this scenario. I think my players would balk if I had them spend six days in the trunk of a car waiting for a wandering encounter. But then, I don't like to hand-wave time passing too quickly.

And then there's the interesting idea of making a parking garage into a hideout.

Proof that you get more than one chance at open doors rolls.

I also had an idea today for a new rule about playing possum. It will become such a cliche in comics, that playing possum should afford some game mechanic advantage. Maybe allowing for a new surprise roll if your opponent fails a save vs. plot?

I need vehicular combat rules with something about ramming damage.

It's also really interesting how it takes Trumpson "two weeks" to heal from "a few cuts and bruises". Of course, the police chief could be exaggerating -- or, this could be proof that, outside of getting some hit points back after a "short rest", that healing should be a slow and laborious process in H&H.

This is Stoney Dawson, who takes a flesh wound to the head from a gunshot and is just "dazed".  We don't have rules for dazing in H&H.  It was possible Stoney was knocked out, but recovered after a short rest. Another possibility is to have a low chance after any damage of being temporarily stunned.

Also note the medieval castle -- you can still have those in H&H!

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus)

The Funnies #29

Alley Oop (not pictured here) doesn't name the dinosaur in the background this month, but it's very clearly a triceratops. For such a well-known dinosaur, I'm frankly surprised there have been so few triceratops in comic books so far. Triceratops was, of course, statted in Supplement I: National for Hideouts & Hoodlums.

This "rough and tumble" style of fighting might need some examining. Bat's leap attack reminds me of the panther attack we just saw in Gallant Knight the other day, and is clearly a trip/overbearing type attack. Bat's "claw yer eyes out" attack is a bit harder to quantify in H&H.  Do we need a blinding attack? I don't see most comic book characters fighting this dirty. For Bronc's turn, he kicks, and Bat hits his head. I would not add extra damage for Bat hitting his head; rather, this could be flavor text explaining a high result on the damage die.

I tell my players that they should bring supporting cast members with them so they'll earn more xp -- but the big secret is that's not really it. The reason I want them -- like Wash -- along is in case I expect the Hero to rescue the femme fatale in the next cell over and he surprises me by refusing. If it's really important to me for the plot that she be around, then I can have the supporting cast go free her!

Book III: Underworld & Metropolis Adventures had a list of metropolises and their challenge ratings, but that was just a broad overview -- if each metropolis was detailed gazetteer-style (like the treatment Duluth got in The Trophy Case v. 2 no. 1), there would be sections of each city with different challenge ratings. That would give you parts of town so tough they are "too tough for the cops".

Ben Webster and his pals have special glasses that allow them to see invisible things.

The missing links have a special kind of invisibility that makes you unable to hear them as well as see them. It's more like the psionic disicpline of invisibility that just makes people unable to notice you. Psionics were introduced in Supplement III: Better Quality and will probably not go in the 2nd ed. basic rulebook.

Here's a nice selection of spells being cast. We see Wall of Stone, Wall of Fire, a new spell -- Wall of Water -- and several castings of Dispel Magic.

I call your attention to The Crime Busters because it makes me question if a sub-machine gun couldn't be on the starting equipment list. It seems that people in the '30s only had to wait a few days to get one!

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)

Feature Funnies #17

This is from The Clock Strikes, and that's not shoes in that shoebox -- that's radium!  This is 1939 and not too many people understand how radiation works, so it's not important that it work right in your 1939 campaign either.

That clever Clock figured out a good way to earn an extra 100 xp for a good deed in the middle of the scenario, extorting that charity check out of the good doctor!

This is Espionage -- always a favorite of mine, but I share this page to point out two things. One is the implied license to kill given to Black X. This is one of the good guys, but as of 1939, it was still okay for the good guys to kill. That would make some of my more bloodthirsty players very happy!

Also, using the torn pieces of paper as a passkey like that is a good idea worth stealing for an espionage-themed scenario.

Predating James Bond by 15 years, Black X has a wealth of super-spy weapons such that Q might have come up with, as inventoried in Supplement IV: Captains, Magicians, and Incredible Men.  Here we see the tear gas pen, good for temporarily incapacitating foes at point blank range.

We also see how volatile technology is when it makes a scene more dramatic.  The wrecking things rules has a note about wrecked generators setting hideouts on fire, but really it should apply to any machine, even when being wrecked by non-Superheroes.

This sword fight might be an example of a parry rule in play, or it might just be flavor text -- it's hard to say with parrying. The ability to go "full defense" and get an Armor Class adjustment is still asked for by my players, and Hideouts & Hoodlums will probably keep Parry as a game mechanic.

I'm not sure how jumping out of a high window into your car would negate taking any damage -- although it would, admittedly, look really cool and that's often reason enough for players to want to do something. Perhaps the Editor just rolled low falling damage.

This is from Gallant Knight. The panther's spring attack is more like tripping/overbearing -- a grappling attack that definitely needs to be accommodated in the rules and, apparently, usable by even non-intelligent foes.

This is a rather clever ploy from The Gallant Knight's player -- if he manages a positive or friendly result from an encounter reaction check, he could force some morale saves with this ploy. Since there is a large force of men involved here, the Editor could hand-wave individual morale saves and just say, oh, 30% of the men make their morale saves.

There's nothing particularly adventurous in this installment of Dixie Dugan, but I was struck by the similarity between this scenario and the video game franchise Animal Crossing, where you do favors for animals and retrieve loaned items in exchange for trophies -- and realized that one could play a Dixie Dugan H&H campaign based on this same premise!

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus)

Popular Comics #37

This is the first issue from February 1939 to be looked at, and it's from Dell. By now, Dell's best features had moved to Crackajack Funnies and Super Comics, but this issue still has material worth discussing.

I just like that there's a trapdoor hatch on the roof; it seems like a good detail for a mobster hideout. It's also a smart tactic for villains to hold hostages like this -- forces the players to think instead of just rushing into combat.

Don Dixon must be a pretty high level Fighter by now, as he encounters large crocodiles here and takes one out with just a dagger.

Large crocodiles (if they are "large", maybe they have 4-5 Hit Dice) have both a bite and a tail attack; the tail attack can be used to tip over a small boat.

Now Don is making short work of natives, but the one thing Don can't do is sneak up on them. I'm thinking of giving natives only a 1 in 6 chance of being surprised.

Daisybelle is a pretty slight joke strip, but I am intrigued by the notion of giving out a literally indestructible fountain pen as a trophy item-gag gift, but then seeing how creatively the players can come up with uses for it.

The lesson for Editors here is to give the players a chance to spot a clue about a planned ambush before springing it on them, particularly if it's going to be a particularly brutal encounter if the Heroes are surprised.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)

Adventure Comics #34

Fang Gow purchases a mind control drug in this installment of Barry O'Neill. The drug has to be injected (at least in this form). Worth discussing here is the nature of mind control and what it can and cannot force someone to do. Characters in stories with their minds controlled, even supporting cast, often shake off the effects at the last moment for maximum dramatic effect. In this case, it is notable that Inspector Le Grand is not able to shake off the effect. Evidence of saving throws?

In Tom Brent, the First Mate gets shot when Tom dodges a bullet -- proof both of the save vs. missiles rule, and the dangers of shooting into a melee. The story also involves a shipboard mutiny...Hideouts & Hoodlums briefly touches on Loyalty as a game mechanic, but it is basically just treated as Morale under another name. Loyalty might need to be expanded on in 2nd edition, particularly in terms of how it could cause mutinies among supporting cast members.

Steve Carson of Federal Men goes on a car chase. I've talked before about using hit points and combat for ending car chases, but there needs to be a competing mechanic of evasion at work too. Can Steve make an evasion roll before his opponents shoot up his car? I don't want evasion to just be a single roll, though, because that's boring. Maybe evasion should work in degrees, so the first successful roll moves you from short range to medium, the next roll could move you from medium to long range - or back to short range if you bungle the roll. It needs more thought.

Dale Daring and her boyfriend encounter a trap that consists of a pit/crevice. The unusual thing here is that the pit is not covered or concealed in any way, but the Heroes may fall into the pit because the uneven floor around it is not safe to walk on.

Tod Hunter faces cannibals. I had once considered treating cannibals as its own mobster type, but decided to lump them under Natives instead. There is also an 8' gorilla in this story. In the normal/large/huge/giant categories for animal-mobsters, would an 8' gorilla be large or huge? I would think it would fall somewhere in between, but would probably side conservatively with making it a "large ape", so that "giant ape" could still be something more King Kong-sized.  Also, we know from this story that apes should get a crushing hug attack and a bite attack.

In The Gold Dragon -- we finally see the gold dragon. It's been a long set-up for this (this is the 29th episode), so much so that this is not our first dragon in comics at this point, or even our second. It is the first dragon to fit the dragon types found in H&H, though the gold dragon has, luckily, always been found in the game since Book II: Mobsters & Trophies.

Anchors Aweigh reminded me of several issues this month. One is keeping track of ammo -- because being on your last bullet should be a suspenseful moment for every Fighter relying on guns. Two is fatigue from running. H&H has a fatigue rule that is more combat-oriented; it needs to apply to running as well. Three is when Marshall's last shot fails to frighten off the natives because of their large numbers -- morale needs to be modified so that number encountered affects morale saves.

(Summaries from DC Wikia)