Most Recent RPG Purchase: Hideouts & Hoodlums

Actually, I first bought Hideouts & Hoodlums over two years ago. It comprised three small booklets that correspond to the three little brown books of OD&D-Men and Supermen, Mobsters and Trophies and The Underworld and Metropolis Adventures. However, two weeks ago I purchased a heap of accessories to the game-an adventure module-Sons of the Feathered Serpent-the first three supplements-National, All-American and Better Quality-and the first fifteen issues of the associated newsletter/magazine-The Trophy Case.

It's a brilliant effort that tracks the mechanics, tone and aesthetics of OD&D but adapts it to the era of Golden Age Comics, circa the late 1930's.

The author, Scott Casper, has en encyclopedic knowledge of the material and an obvious love for the genre that comes across on every page. And the OD&D/Swords & Wizardry based rules fit the subject matter surprisingly well, arguably creating a more satisfying, authentic and playable rules set than any of the myriad of other superhero offerings-classic or contemporary. At the very least, anyone familiar with OD&D can pretty much grasp the rules within an hour or so.

Casper writes 90% of the material for Great Scott! games, though he does have a few other collaborators, among them, Steve Lopez of this RPG and comics blog.

All in all it's a formidable set of material. The Trophy Case has roughly tracked the timing and output of Tactical Studies Rules' 1975-76 The Strategic Review, with articles on the game, scholarly seeming but fun essays on Golden Age Comics topics, and various other related odds and ends.

And all the materials-currently available in PDF form-are cheap at the price, which speaks to its affordability not its quality.

A full review of Hideouts & Hoodlums will be forthcoming. Stay tuned, as I assume they might have said in 1939 (although no doubt Casper could correct me on that). Until then, I highly recommend it.