I never played this RPG as a kid but I remember this ad and thought the plucky robot was kind of cool. Also, the Professor, busy with his Slide Rule while the zombies shuffle-attack from both directions is hilarious.
from Jonah Hex #51, August 1981
Now some of you are probably thinking "Slide Rule? What's a Slide Rule?"
A Slide Rule is what the one-eyed man is going to be using to beat all the blind with over their heads in his new kingdom when civilization collapses and there isn't any electricity or batteries to run your electronic calculators.
Back in the day, Slide Rules took man to the moon and got him home safe. They are great low-tech that can actually beat a calculator-user in speed-summing contests. That's right...when the flickering fluorescents in your trig class are not strong enough to power the LCD of that calculator you got free with you purchase of dish soap, a Slide Rule can still function.
I gotta admit I don't see what result the Professor is expecting to get from his calculations, unless he's figuring out how long his buddies will occupy the chewing of the zombies as he makes his getaway."Let me see...310 pounds of humans...divide by number of bites per minute...times 20 zombie mutants...carry the 8...I've got a 5 minute lead."
You can practice using a java-powered Slide Rule here.
Tags: Comic Book Ad
Félicette, the Feline Astronaut
4 hours ago
Wow - I remember that ad. I hadn't thought about it in years and years, but as soon as I saw it, I remmebered.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I had a slide rule in high school. The cool kids wore them in scabbards on their belts.
I wanted that game so badly when I was a kid. Deprived of the game, I played endless scenarioes with my Star Wars toys and plastic cowboys as I imagined what the game would be like. In hindsight, I bet my playing was more fun than the game could ever be.
ReplyDeleteThe game wasn't bad if I recall correctly. It was a board game, not an RPG. You had the floor plan of the labs and one player would control the mutant hordes and the other would get the hero, girl and scientist characters plus the scientist's robots, rayguns, etc. Simple, but good B-movie fun.
ReplyDeleteThere's more description and some pictures at: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/2706
"The mutants come in three flavours: normal, radio-active and leader."
ReplyDeleteMmmmm...leader...
Thanks for the link!