# The Troubleshooters: 60's Cartoon Themed RPG



## Ulfgeir (Mar 11, 2020)

It is a very cool game. Been fortunate to have playtested it, and the maker of the game is one of my colleagues.


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## Arilyn (Mar 11, 2020)

Sounds fun. I'd love to give this game a spin.


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## Ulfgeir (Mar 11, 2020)

Arilyn said:


> Sounds fun. I'd love to give this game a spin.




The Quickstart rules and an intro-adventure (written by me, and heavily edited by the maker of the game), is availible now at https://helmgast.se/troubleshooters/ 

edit: if you print the quickstart-rules double-sided print 1-43 first, and then 44-55. If you take all in one go, the characters will be messed up.  We will put in some minor tweaks in the scenario later, but we gladly take feedback on it.


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## Arilyn (Mar 11, 2020)

Thanks Ulfgeir!


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## Kannik (Mar 11, 2020)

Ooohhhh.... as someone who grew up reading Tintin this has seriously piqued my interest.  For the setting/adventures at least, though I absolutely love the character sheet done as a passport!


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## WisdomOfWombats (Mar 11, 2020)

Since the character sheet is a passport, it's also available in German.  Even though, some of the translations seem a bit strange.


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## Undrave (Mar 11, 2020)

My interest is piqued as well! 



Ulfgeir said:


> The Quickstart rules and an intro-adventure (written by me, and heavily edited by the maker of the game), is availible now at https://helmgast.se/troubleshooters/
> 
> edit: if you print the quickstart-rules double-sided print 1-43 first, and then 44-55. If you take all in one go, the characters will be messed up.  We will put in some minor tweaks in the scenario later, but we gladly take feedback on it.




Could be because North-America and Europe use different standard of papers?


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## Ulfgeir (Mar 11, 2020)

WisdomOfWombats said:


> Since the character sheet is a passport, it's also available in German.  Even though, some of the translations seem a bit strange.




It is my understanding that the maker of the game got help from a native speaker (I might be wrong on that, so don't quote me)

Edit: @WisdomOfWombats  Appearently some of the phrases is taken from a real passport and some is google-translated. The creator would very much like better suggestions if you spot somthing that is outrageously wrong. He would also like to know what "torpedo loading hatch"  is in German.


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## Ulfgeir (Mar 11, 2020)

Undrave said:


> Could be because North-America and Europe use different standard of papers?




Nope. Each character takes 2 pages. Should have been a blank page before them to get the characters to start on the right side. But it is for A4 and not Letter.


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## Undrave (Mar 11, 2020)

Ulfgeir said:


> Nope. Each character takes 2 pages. Should have been a blank page before them to get the characters to start on the right side. But it is for A4 and not Letter.




could it cause printing issues?


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## Ulfgeir (Mar 11, 2020)

Undrave said:


> could it cause printing issues?




Unknown. I can ask the creator of the game.

edit: I asked, and he said one of 3 things could happen.

1: The page shrinks somewhat.
2: Some of the marigns at the top and bottom disapperars.
3: The printer planly refuses to print it. This is more common if you have a "smart" printer, and don't explicitively tells it that it should be a differnet format. It can also refuse to even handle it at all if you are too much in what it considers to be its margins.


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## Panda-s1 (Mar 11, 2020)

this looks awesome, but isn't there already a tactics game called Troubleshooters? I hope people don't get the two mixed up.

I'm also a little surprised they didn't mention Johnny Quest as an inspiration, or at all (or the Venture Brothers for that matter), they're not quite "Franco-Belgian adventure comic", but neither are Scooby-Doo or Carmen Sandiego.


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## Ulfgeir (Mar 11, 2020)

Panda-s1 said:


> this looks awesome, but isn't there already a tactics game called Troubleshooters? I hope people don't get the two mixed up.
> 
> I'm also a little surprised they didn't mention Johnny Quest as an inspiration, or at all (or the Venture Brothers for that matter), they're not quite "Franco-Belgian adventure comic", but neither are Scooby-Doo or Carmen Sandiego.




Krister (the creator of the game) said he hadn't seen Johny Quest. Swedish TV wasn't very fond of American TV at the time we grew up.  He also said he thought it was a minimal risk for confusion,

So I think, he might not have been aware of Johnny Quest or Venture Brothers.


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## Panda-s1 (Mar 11, 2020)

Ulfgeir said:


> Krister (the creator of the game) said he hadn't seen Johny Quest. Swedish TV wasn't very fond of American TV at the time we grew up.  He also said he thought it was a minimal risk for confusion,
> 
> So I think, he might not have been aware of Johnny Quest or Venture Brothers.



I mean Scooby-Doo and Carmen Sandiego both appeared on American TV, though both appeared after Jonny Quest. I find it a little weird he wouldn't be aware of them, and mentioning Jonny Quest is probably the best way to market this game to Americans. also the Venture Bros., though that's actually a tongue-in-cheek satire of Jonny Quest and other adventure cartoons from the 60's.


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## Morrus (Mar 11, 2020)

Panda-s1 said:


> I mean Scooby-Doo and Carmen Sandiego both appeared on American TV, though both appeared after Jonny Quest. I find it a little weird he wouldn't be aware of them, and mentioning Jonny Quest is probably the best way to market this game to Americans. also the Venture Bros., though that's actually a tongue-in-cheek satire of Jonny Quest and other adventure cartoons from the 60's.



Just because one American tv show appeared in Swedish TV doesn’t mean every American tv show did. It’s honestly not all that weird. The guy’s seen what he’s seen.


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## Arilyn (Mar 11, 2020)

Morrus said:


> Just because one American tv show appeared in Swedish TV doesn’t mean every American tv show did. It’s honestly not all that weird. The guy’s seen what he’s seen.



And the examples given tell us what the game is about without Johnny Quest.


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## Panda-s1 (Mar 11, 2020)

Morrus said:


> Just because one American tv show appeared in Swedish TV doesn’t mean every American tv show did. It’s honestly not all that weird. The guy’s seen what he’s seen.



I'm not saying it's weird that he hasn't seen it, I just find it weird that he wouldn't be aware of it, like I can't be the first person to liken this rpg to Jonny Quest.


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## Fenris-77 (Mar 11, 2020)

This looks awesome. A Tintin RPG (essentially)? Great googly-moogly I'm in.


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## Ulfgeir (Mar 11, 2020)

Panda-s1 said:


> I'm not saying it's weird that he hasn't seen it, I just find it weird that he wouldn't be aware of it, like I can't be the first person to liken this rpg to Jonny Quest.




He is aware of it now. Not sure how aware he was before.


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## Bercilak (Mar 12, 2020)

Anybody know what comics influenced this game, besides Tintin?


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## Fenris-77 (Mar 12, 2020)

First line of the OP - Scooby Do and the Man from UNCLE are mentioned.


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## Bercilak (Mar 12, 2020)

Fenris-77 said:


> First line of the OP - Scooby Do and the Man from UNCLE are mentioned.



 I wasn't clear earlier. My apologies. What Franco-Belgian comics besides Tintin influenced this game? I'm interested in this game, but also interested in reading some of the source material that influenced it However,  aside from Tintin and Asterix, I'm not very knowledgeable about Franco-Belgian comics.


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## Morrus (Mar 12, 2020)

Bercilak said:


> I wasn't clear earlier. My apologies. What Franco-Belgian comics besides Tintin influenced this game? I'm interested in this game, but also interested in reading some of the source material that influenced it However,  aside from Tintin and Asterix, I'm not very knowledgeable about Franco-Belgian comics.



Dunno! I'm sure the author is well versed in the comics of his own region, but this press release is directed at Americans.


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## JeffB (Mar 12, 2020)

If the creators  have not experienced the original Johnny Quest, then they should make a concerted effort to do so. That show ran in primetime originally in the US,  Which was nearly unheard of at the time.. It would be wise from a business standpoint and as mentioned will likely draw more potential US customers than  my avatar as a example of the bad guys.

But who knows.. I have no idea  what Franco-Belgian comics are. I sure as hell would buy a Johnny Quest or MFU game though.

Robert Vaughn lived near me. Used to see him at the local diner all the time. First time I saw him, I just gave him a wave . After that time he always waved to me and my son and gave us a genuine smile first when he walked in.  I never went over to gush or introduce myself and pester him like other customers and I think he really appreciated that. He died in recent years. Great actor. RIP.


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## Bercilak (Mar 12, 2020)

As an American, the only reason I'm asking about influences is because the sub-title of the game is "Action-Adventure Roleplaying in the *Franco-Belgian Comics* Tradition." And I don't know what that means. If it's copyright-code for Tintin, cool. But if it's something else, I'm curious what it is. I'm with JeffB, finding MFU and JQ pretty cool, and if there are other comics in the vein of those or Tintin, I'd like to read them and then use them as inspiration for running this game.


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## Ulfgeir (Mar 12, 2020)

You have a bit more info in this article. The Style of The Troubleshooters

But here is a list of some things I know the creator has mentioned:
Tintin
Spirou
Yoko Tsuno
Franka
Blake & Mortimer
Lupin III


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## Clansmansix (Mar 12, 2020)

This looks great! Of course, knowing my players it will quickly turn out to be less "Johnny Quest" and more "Venture Brothers" but that could be okay too. LOL!


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## WisdomOfWombats (Mar 12, 2020)

Ulfgeir said:


> It is my understanding that the maker of the game got help from a native speaker (I might be wrong on that, so don't quote me)
> 
> Edit: @WisdomOfWombats  Appearently some of the phrases is taken from a real passport and some is google-translated. The creator would very much like better suggestions if you spot somthing that is outrageously wrong. He would also like to know what "torpedo loading hatch"  is in German.




Just some quick ones:
Handlungshaken sounds strange in German (even though it's technically a correct translation). You'd rather say Handlungsaufhänger.
From the Skills section:
Contacts would also be plural: Kontakte
Credit would be Kreditwürdigkeit
Entertainment as "Underhaltung" is a typo, it would be "Unterhaltung"
Investigation is usually translated as Nachforschungen instead of Untersuchung
Machinery would be something like Maschinerie instead of just Maschine

Also "Torpedo Loading Hatch" would be word-by-word "Torpedo Ladeluke", but I guess using just "Torpedoluke" is a lot shorter.


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## Tonguez (Mar 12, 2020)

Bercilak said:


> I wasn't clear earlier. My apologies. What Franco-Belgian comics besides Tintin influenced this game? I'm interested in this game, but also interested in reading some of the source material that influenced it However,  aside from Tintin and Asterix, I'm not very knowledgeable about Franco-Belgian comics.




Im guessing _*Blake and Mortimer *is a key influence as thats the most prominent Franco-Belgium comic of this particular genre I can think of besides Tintin._
Of course Im far from being an expert and most of the Belgian comics I can recall are comedic in nature. Blake and Mortimer is about a British scientist (Mortimer) and an MI5 Agent (Blake), their enemy is Colonel Olrik a Hungarian spy working for the asian ‘Yellow Empire’ who have conquered the world


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## Undrave (Mar 12, 2020)

Bercilak said:


> I wasn't clear earlier. My apologies. What Franco-Belgian comics besides Tintin influenced this game? I'm interested in this game, but also interested in reading some of the source material that influenced it However,  aside from Tintin and Asterix, I'm not very knowledgeable about Franco-Belgian comics.





Bercilak said:


> As an American, the only reason I'm asking about influences is because the sub-title of the game is "Action-Adventure Roleplaying in the *Franco-Belgian Comics* Tradition." And I don't know what that means. If it's copyright-code for Tintin, cool. But if it's something else, I'm curious what it is. I'm with JeffB, finding MFU and JQ pretty cool, and if there are other comics in the vein of those or Tintin, I'd like to read them and then use them as inspiration for running this game.




*Franco-Belgian comics* are, of courses, French-speaking comics from France and Belgium, often rendered as "Bandes dessinées" or "BD". Specifically, in this case, those who were first presented weekly/monthly in magazines _Pilote, Tintin_ and _Spirou, _later collected in hardback 'albums' (usually A4 format, 48 pages or so, one story or a collection of comedic strips) from the 60's onward_._

There is, of course, a lot of comedic stories in those (looking at you _Gaston Lagaffe_), but there is also a lot of non-superhero adventures stories. _Tintin_ and _Asterix,_ and also_ Lucky Luke,_ are the most famous but not the only ones.

There's off course _Spirou & Fantasio_. Spirou had a cartoon in the 90s that actually had an English dub so you can check that out if you want some inspiration. It got popular enough to create a 'genre' of comics about 'Two guys solving crime', usually with a vague 'journalist' job. A lot of short lived knockoffs exist out there, like Jacky & Celestin.

Another one of that genre that's got some legs is _Tif & Tondu_, about a pair of private investigators. Those two are well known for their enemy, Monsieur Choc, a mysterious super genius criminal who always wears a medieval helmet and a smoking. The guy is believed dead multiple times and you never see his face!

Another series that was going to be a knock off 'two guys on adventure' is what eventually became the _Yoko Tsuno_ comic. The author first created the titular heroine's two male sidekick, Vic and Pol, and had them encounter and hire Yoko, a Japanese electrical engineer, to help them on their first investigative report... But then a few pages later she judo throw an alien security guard and the author realized SHE was his new main character. _Yoko Tsuno_ is also one I would recommend and that has some English version out there. Yoko Tsuno's author got started doing planes and other machines in Tintin and it shows in the details of his air craft and spacecraft. It's a sci-fi series with Yoko dealing with all sorts of issues on Earth, on alien planet Vinea and even deals with time travel.

Another one that would be a good influence is _Clifton_, a comic about a retired british spy who ends up being pulled back for investigations all the time. I remember one particularly fun story where a computer glitch causes him to be put on an assassination hit list and he has to survive for like 7 days until the assassins checks back in and can be called off.

And of course the aforementioned _Blake & Mortimer_. Blake & Mortimer also had a cartoon series.

Another series that is set in contemporary times and often deals with international politic is _Natacha_, a series starring a stewardess who usually end up in complicated situations.

One I could see working is _Les Petits Hommes_, a series about the population of a whole village who was shrunk down to the size of action figures by a mysterious meteorite who then begin living in secret in caves and now try to keep away from humans. Their lower weight allowed them to develop fantastic flying machines and they even created a temporary shrink ray based on the meteorite. The series ends with them taking off for space.

I could also see_ Marsupilami_. The Marsupilami was a fantastic southamerican creature created by Franquin for _Spirou & Fantasio_ and then spin-off into its own series. The conceit being that the main character is a wild animal with no dialogue or whatever, but he always ends up implicated with various adventures in the fictional Palombian jungle.

A few others I'm not super familiar with but could work:


_Buck Danny about an American fighter pilot, with adventures ranging from WWII to the Bosnian conflict._
_Archie Cash_ which his basically Charles Branson as a detective and vigilante in South America.
_Gil Jourdan_ a story about a private investigator and his former criminal sidekick.
_Michel Vaillant_ starring a race car pilot
_Soda_ about New York City police officer Solomon David who never told his ailing mother, who now lives with him, that he's a police officer and not a pastor and has to hide his dual life from her.

A few more adventure series of note that are not set in contemporary times, or too far into sci-fi or fantasy, or too far into a more realist style, or not from the same era as those mentioned previously :

_The Smurfs_
_Johan & Pirlouit_
_Valerian & Laureline_
_Les Tuniques Bleues_
_Papyrus_
_Barbe Rouge_
_Scrameustache_
_Blueberry_
_XIII_
Technically_ Blacksad_
_Philémon_
_Lanfeust de Troy _and its spin offs.

And you could always read the _Bob Morane_ pulp novels, which also had its own comic adaptation and a cartoon series too.


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## Eyes of Nine (Mar 12, 2020)

Undrave said:


> *Franco-Belgian comics* are, of courses, French-speaking comics from France and Belgium, often rendered as "Bandes dessinées" or "BD". Specifically, in this case, those who were first presented weekly/monthly in magazines _Pilote, Tintin_ and _Spirou, _later collected in hardback 'albums' (usually A4 format, 48 pages or so, one story or a collection of comedic strips) from the 60's onward_._
> 
> There is, of course, a lot of comedic stories in those (looking at you _Gaston Lagaffe_), but there is also a lot of non-superhero adventures stories. _Tintin_ and _Asterix,_ and also_ Lucky Luke,_ are the most famous but not the only ones.
> 
> ...




Great survey.
There's also Herge's own _Jo, Zette & Jocko _ which was recently published in English - at least by recently, within the past 20 years. I know this because I have them on my shelf at home.


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## Undrave (Mar 12, 2020)

Eyes of Nine said:


> Great survey.
> There's also Herge's own _Jo, Zette & Jocko _ which was recently published in English - at least by recently, within the past 20 years. I know this because I have them on my shelf at home.




Not sure how well it would mesh with the style but it is indeed worth mentioning.


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## Eyes of Nine (Mar 12, 2020)

Undrave said:


> Not sure how well it would mesh with the style but it is indeed worth mentioning.




They certainly skewed a little younger; but they had the same action/adventure feel that I think this game is going for.


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## Undrave (Mar 12, 2020)

Eyes of Nine said:


> They certainly skewed a little younger; but they had the same action/adventure feel that I think this game is going for.




it’s also generally older too


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## Morrus (Mar 12, 2020)

JeffB said:


> But who knows.. I have no idea  what Franco-Belgian comics are. I sure as hell would buy a Johnny Quest or MFU game though.



I know what TinTin is. Haven’t the foggiest what Johnny Quest is.


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## Undrave (Mar 12, 2020)

Morrus said:


> I know what TinTin is. Haven’t the foggiest what Johnny Quest is.




Hannah Barberra cartoon I believe?


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## JeffB (Mar 12, 2020)

Morrus said:


> I know what TinTin is. Haven’t the foggiest what Johnny Quest is.




It is by far the most well known and popular 60s action cartoon in the USA and ran in primetime slots, which made it a BFD here. Cartoons did not run in primetime slots on a friday or saturday night in the USA. I thinkn. perhaps the Flinstones was the only other one.


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## JPL (Mar 12, 2020)

After decades of nerdery, it's still strangely thrilling to see something like "1960s Franco-Belgian adventure comics" and say, I have no idea what the hell they are talking about.


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## JPL (Mar 12, 2020)

I mean, it's 2020, I can Google it, I can click the links, sure.  It's just always interesting that whatever nerd stuff you're into, there's probably this other nerd stuff that is closely related, but you have just never gotten around to it.


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## Morrus (Mar 12, 2020)

JeffB said:


> It is by far the most well known and popular 60s action cartoon in the USA



I believe you.


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## JeffB (Mar 12, 2020)

Morrus said:


> I believe you.




Just some background info about it as the game would likely market better to Americans of a certain age- The Man from Uncle  though better than most tends to be thrown in with the mass of sub-par 60s James Bond/Spy knockoffs on TV.


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## Undrave (Mar 12, 2020)

JPL said:


> After decades of nerdery, it's still strangely thrilling to see something like "1960s Franco-Belgian adventure comics" and say, I have no idea what the hell they are talking about.





JPL said:


> I mean, it's 2020, I can Google it, I can click the links, sure.  It's just always interesting that whatever nerd stuff you're into, there's probably this other nerd stuff that is closely related, but you have just never gotten around to it.




Hahaha, there's a few of 'em on Comixology if you're ever curious. 

I think for this game the closest available would be Spirou

It's a bit of a haphazard collection, covering multiple 'eras' of the character (Spirou had a lot of teams working on it, something of an oddity in the Franco-belgian world were creators work on their own characters for decades). 

Ooh they also have Clifton and Blake & Mortimer too!


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## Morrus (Mar 12, 2020)

JeffB said:


> Just some background info about it as the game would likely market better to Americans of a certain age



Maybe you're not their primary market? I know it's hard to imagine.


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## JeffB (Mar 12, 2020)

Morrus said:


> Maybe you're not their primary market? I know it's hard to imagine.




No need to be a smartass. I thought this was a discussion thread?

I understand that Americans may not be marketed to. I'm offering it as a suggestion as I stated in my initial post if they are interested because most of us  who remember 60s comics in the USA probably have no idea WTF Franco Belgian comics are. If they are only concerned about Europe then that is fine and dandy. 

However, they did mention an extremely popular American TV show. So I'm throwing out another.


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## Morrus (Mar 12, 2020)

JeffB said:


> I thought this was a discussion thread?



In what way is it not a discussion thread?


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## JeffB (Mar 12, 2020)

Morrus said:


> In what way is it not a discussion thread?





Well apparently my input is being minimalized by the site owner who feels the need to push back on my post after directly quoting me, and I offered a genuine  explanation to his comment/question. Then said siteowner felt the need to make a smartass comment about my explanation for no reason whatsoever.

Go play coy with some newbie, I know it's  hard to imagine but I've seen you be a smartass to enough people over the 20ish years to know your schtick when I see it.


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## Morrus (Mar 12, 2020)

JeffB said:


> Well apparently my input is being minimalized by the site owner who feels the need to push back on my post after directly quoting me, and I offered a genuine  explanation to his comment/question. Then said siteowner felt the need to make a smartass comment about my explanation for no reason whatsoever.
> 
> Go play coy with some newbie, I know it's  hard to imagine but I've seen you be a smartass to enough people over the 20ish years to know your schtick when I see it.



I'll leave you to it.


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## Warren Ellis (Mar 13, 2020)

Panda-s1 said:


> I mean Scooby-Doo and Carmen Sandiego both appeared on American TV, though both appeared after Jonny Quest. I find it a little weird he wouldn't be aware of them, and mentioning Jonny Quest is probably the best way to market this game to Americans. also the Venture Bros., though that's actually a tongue-in-cheek satire of Jonny Quest and other adventure cartoons from the 60's.



There was also _Johnny Quest: The Real Adventures_ from the 1990s.
And yeah, _Johnny Quest_ was a grest cartoon example of superscientists taking their children along with them on dangerous adventures.

To the point _Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law_ made a hilarious episode about it.


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## Ravenbrook (Mar 13, 2020)

Since I'm a fan of French comics, this might be just the thing for me.


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## Undrave (Mar 13, 2020)

Oooh, I found a neat blog post on Spirou & Fantasio from the Franquin era. 









						Spirou and Fantasio
					

This is part of a blog series about European graphic novels. See this blog post for a small introduction. As an European, my childhood reading was dominated by the Franco-Belgian graphic novels, of…




					olivi.chordian.net


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## Kannik (Mar 13, 2020)

Undrave said:


> ...but there is also a lot of non-superhero adventures stories. _Tintin_ and _Asterix,_ and also_ Lucky Luke,_ are the most famous but not the only ones.




You just described a great chunk of my childhood reads right there.  

Also, now I'm wondering if they'll include an option to play as the animal companion.  It could be a lot of fun playing Milou!  (I mean, it might also get old after a while, but he did save the day more than once, so... )


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## Panda-s1 (Mar 13, 2020)

Warren Ellis said:


> To the point _Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law_ made a hilarious episode about it.



idk I think the real indicator here is the development and success of The Venture Bros. lol.

also as a 90's kid I'm way more familiar with The Real Adventures; the original show was too old and dated for my tastes, but now that I'm older I can appreciate what it meant during its time.


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## Warren Ellis (Mar 13, 2020)

Panda-s1 said:


> idk I think the real indicator here is the development and success of The Venture Bros. lol.
> 
> also as a 90's kid I'm way more familiar with The Real Adventures; the original show was too old and dated for my tastes, but now that I'm older I can appreciate what it meant during its time.



The Venture Brothers is hilarious.
And truth be told, superscientist dads taking their 12-13 year old son and his friend on their dangerous adventures is not exactly great for mental health, as both Rusty Venture and "Action Johnny" show.


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## Beleriphon (Mar 13, 2020)

Warren Ellis said:


> The Venture Brothers is hilarious.
> And truth be told, superscientist dads taking their 12-13 year old son and his friend on their dangerous adventures is not exactly great for mental health, as both Rusty Venture and "Action Johnny" show.




The main reason for that is that Doc Hammer and Jason Publick have outright said that the main theme of the show is failure. Post season 5 this is less so, and it becomes less a parody of the boy-adventurer comic/cartoon and turns into its own weird thing. It still has parodies for sure, I mean Dr Orpheous is clearly making of Doctor Strange, but they tend to support the show as a whole or parody something very specific; and most have moved past the obvious parody stage into characters that fill similar tropes and archetypes.

For example Venture Bros. would have a character like Tintin that works basically the same way, but he steals other people's stories to achieve his own success, or otherwise has some other weird hang up like being addicted to snorting ground up porcupine quills.


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## Warren Ellis (Mar 14, 2020)

Beleriphon said:


> For example Venture Bros. would have a character like Tintin that works basically the same way, but he steals other people's stories to achieve his own success, or otherwise has some other weird hang up like being addicted to snorting ground up porcupine quills.



Yeah I know. I remember stuff like their Scooby Doo parody


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## Undrave (Mar 16, 2020)

Bercilak said:


> As an American, the only reason I'm asking about influences is because the sub-title of the game is "Action-Adventure Roleplaying in the *Franco-Belgian Comics* Tradition." And I don't know what that means. If it's copyright-code for Tintin, cool. But if it's something else, I'm curious what it is. I'm with JeffB, finding MFU and JQ pretty cool, and if there are other comics in the vein of those or Tintin, I'd like to read them and then use them as inspiration for running this game.





JPL said:


> I mean, it's 2020, I can Google it, I can click the links, sure.  It's just always interesting that whatever nerd stuff you're into, there's probably this other nerd stuff that is closely related, but you have just never gotten around to it.




So I just remembered one Franco-Belgian comic book that, while not from the 60s and not in the right genre, might be of interest to a DnD player: The Legendaries! 

The Legendaries is the nickname of a group of five famous adventurer, we're talking like epic-tier DnD characters here. In their final confrontation with their BBEG nemesis, something goes wrong...REALLY wrong... and every adult in the known world is turned back into a kid! The population blames the Legendaries and they split up in shame... but a certain amount of time later, their leader discovers there might be a way to turn everybody back to normal and so he gathers his former companion for one more epic quest...


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## Tonguez (Mar 16, 2020)

Undrave said:


> Hahaha, there's a few of 'em on Comixology if you're ever curious.
> 
> I think for this game the closest available would be Spirou
> 
> ...




Theres a lot of content on Youtube too, since this thread Ive been watching Mortimer and Blake and Spirou and Fantasio animations (in english), great for getting the feel


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## Undrave (Mar 16, 2020)

Tonguez said:


> Theres a lot of content on Youtube too, since this thread Ive been watching Mortimer and Blake and Spirou and Fantasio animations (in english), great for getting the feel




Indeed! I just don't like to outright promote illegal uploads  even if they really should be available somewhere. I myself watched some Blake & Mortimer. I had forgotten the stories were two parters! And they're more deadly than I remember... dudes get SHOT dead in there!  

And I have Spirou DVDs to watch hehe.

I wonder if the game will have rules for getting knocked out by a sap to the back of the head?


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## Ravenbrook (Mar 16, 2020)

Tbh, when I read "Action-Adventure Roleplaying in the Franco-Belgian Comics Tradition," it didn't make me think of Spirou or Blake & Mortimer, but of Lefranc and Buck Danny. They were, of course, contained in the Tintin and Spirou magazines,.


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## Ulfgeir (Mar 18, 2020)

WisdomOfWombats said:


> Just some quick ones:
> Handlungshaken sounds strange in German (even though it's technically a correct translation). You'd rather say Handlungsaufhänger.
> From the Skills section:
> Contacts would also be plural: Kontakte
> ...




The maker of the game says thank you for the translations.


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## Ravenbrook (Mar 19, 2020)

Ulfgeir said:


> The maker of the game says thank you for the translations.



I'm not sure about "Torpedoluke". The U-Boot Museum in Hamburg uses the term "Torpedoladeluke."


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## Ulfgeir (Mar 19, 2020)

Ravenbrook said:


> I'm not sure about "Torpedoluke". The U-Boot Museum in Hamburg uses the term "Torpedoladeluke."




Thank you. I will pass that on to the maker of the game.


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## Undrave (Mar 19, 2020)

Ravenbrook said:


> Tbh, when I read "Action-Adventure Roleplaying in the Franco-Belgian Comics Tradition," it didn't make me think of Spirou or Blake & Mortimer, but of Lefranc and Buck Danny. They were, of course, contained in the Tintin and Spirou magazines,.
> View attachment 119957




As a kid I always thought Buck Danny looked too serious for me  I think the realism of it turned me off... but I probably should have given it a shot once or twice.

Also, did you have the situation where the library around you never had complete collections of some titles? Like, there was always a number missing somewhere. Not just on loan, just absent from the collection? that was annoying.


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## Eyes of Nine (Mar 19, 2020)

Undrave said:


> Also, did you have the situation where the library around you never had complete collections of some titles? Like, there was always a number missing somewhere. Not just on loan, just absent from the collection? that was annoying.




I have found most libraries are like this, except on the most popular titles. Sometimes gaps can be covered if the library is part of a network of libraries (a couple counties' worth for example). When I was a kid, my library had a ton of Asterix and Tintins; but since there was no internet, I actually had no idea if they had a complete collection or not...


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## Undrave (Mar 19, 2020)

Eyes of Nine said:


> I have found most libraries are like this, except on the most popular titles. Sometimes gaps can be covered if the library is part of a network of libraries (a couple counties' worth for example). When I was a kid, my library had a ton of Asterix and Tintins; but since there was no internet, I actually had no idea if they had a complete collection or not...




My school library was like that too.

And my hometown wasn't part of a network at the time :/

For a lot of series the albums were numbered, and a lot of them had a series list (Dupuis for exemple had a cross promotion list at the end of a lot of their series for a while, and Asterix and Tintin had the full collection listed on the back) so you could tell if any were missing without the internet.

When _Scameustache_ and _Les Petits Hommes_ had a friggin' CROSSOVER story (SO cool!), my town and school only had one half of it ><


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## aramis erak (Mar 19, 2020)

Ulfgeir said:


> Unknown. I can ask the creator of the game.
> 
> edit: I asked, and he said one of 3 things could happen.
> 
> ...



There is a utility called briss (BRISS - The Bright Snippet Sire) which can be used to trim PDFs. 

If the margins on the A4 are greater than printer minimum + 6mm (my own laser printer strongly prefers a 0.2" or 5mm margin, so I'd need 11mm clearance top and bottom) trimming can work nicely..
A4 is longer and narrower (210 × 297  vs 216 × 279mm) Shave 6mm off top and bottom, print centered and full size


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## Ulfgeir (Mar 24, 2020)

Unfortunately, it seems that the kickstarter will be postponed a bit due to a certain pandemic.  

Here's a pressrelease.


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## Undrave (Mar 24, 2020)

Ulfgeir said:


> Unfortunately, it seems that the kickstarter will be postponed a bit due to a certain pandemic.
> 
> Here's a pressrelease.




Not too surprising. It's only a matter of time though!


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## Kannik (Mar 24, 2020)

Seems prudent.  I've marked it on KS to be notified once it launches!


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## Ulfgeir (Mar 24, 2020)

As the creator pointed out on the facebook page to someone else: "Note that the release-date hasn't been changed, just the time when you can throw money at us."


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## ProfessorDetective (Mar 25, 2020)

French Pulp Comics (plus a bit of Lupin-ish Manga) the RPG? Sign me up the Hades up!


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## Ulfgeir (May 14, 2020)

The Kickstarter for this game is now live.


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## Fenris-77 (May 14, 2020)

Ok, now I'm excited.


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## Kannik (May 14, 2020)

Ulfgeir said:


> The Kickstarter for this game is now live.




I'd say I backed it as soon as I saw the notification in my inbox, but I had to do work first...   Backed now, woo! 

Wonder if it is possible to get both the English and French PDFs?  

A l'aventure!

Kannik


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## Ulfgeir (May 14, 2020)

Kannik said:


> I'd say I backed it as soon as I saw the notification in my inbox, but I had to do work first...   Backed now, woo!
> 
> Wonder if it is possible to get both the English and French PDFs?
> 
> ...




It should be possible. But I think you need to add extra amount for another set.  Ask the creator to be certain, but that is usually how it works.


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## Undrave (May 14, 2020)

Ulfgeir said:


> The Kickstarter for this game is now live.




I'll check it out when I'm back home!


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## Kannik (May 14, 2020)

Ulfgeir said:


> It should be possible. But I think you need to add extra amount for another set.  Ask the creator to be certain, but that is usually how it works.




Will do!  I've only ever read Tintin in french, so it just seems more... real that way.


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## Ulfgeir (May 14, 2020)

The question regarding the pdf's are now included in the FAQ on the kickstarter.

Quote:
"What languages are the Troubleshooters available in?

The Troubleshooters will be released in an English and a French edition simultaneously. In the Pledgemanager which opens after the Kickstarter, backers will get to pick which language they want in the physical print, and are offered both languages for any PDFs."


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## Eyes of Nine (May 15, 2020)

Ulfgeir said:


> The question regarding the pdf's are now included in the FAQ on the kickstarter.
> 
> Quote:
> "What languages are the Troubleshooters available in?
> ...




The creator has confirmed that you can also in the pledge manager purchase the "other" language (whichever that is for you) as well. So if you want both a French and English version, it's totally doable.


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## Kannik (May 15, 2020)

Ulfgeir said:


> ...and are offered both languages for any PDFs."




Excellent!  I'm all covered.   Merci!


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## Ulfgeir (May 16, 2020)

And here is a diegetic playlist on spotify with French popsongs from 1964-1965 (a few older ones are included), but it is stuff you could hear on the radio at the time.  I think most people will have no problem finding the more popular English-language hits from the era, which is why I didn't include them.


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## Ulfgeir (May 17, 2020)

The latest update (nr 6) on the kickstarter includes a video about character creation for those that are interested. If I recall correctly, you can also create characters in a template-less way. Little bit more work, but not by much. That was the second video-interview that Andy from The Wee Gamers & The Bunker Club did the creator of the game.


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## Ulfgeir (May 18, 2020)

Quoted from another thread...


Eyes of Nine said:


> Interested to hear a sentence or two about how you felt Troubleshooters went? Or maybe over on the Troubleshooters thread, which I am watching also...




I think it went relatively well. Especially since I hadn't prepped properly. I had to work during the day, but sent out the characters to the players early, and when I got home it was time to play. Since I was asked the same day to GM, that left no time for prepping...

Did I get every rule right? Probably not, but everyone had fun, which is the important part. I might have had an advantage here as I wrote the scenario, and I have GM'd it once before (the creator of the game was one of the player's at that time), I reread it relatively recently to play if it was needed, and since I worked with the creator of the game, we have been talking a lot about the game, and the adventure.

We played it with 5 characters (all of the example-characters except Frida). I might have taken it a bit easy on them in the combat on a certain Island.


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## Eyes of Nine (May 19, 2020)

Ulfgeir said:


> I might have had an advantage here as I wrote the scenario




Yeah, that might give you a bit of a leg up  I'm hoping to get in on the kickstarter, as the source material is right up my alley (glances at bookshelf with Jo Zette and Jocko books next to entire run of Tintin...)


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## Ulfgeir (May 19, 2020)

Eyes of Nine said:


> Yeah, that might give you a bit of a leg up  I'm hoping to get in on the kickstarter, as the source material is right up my alley (glances at bookshelf with Jo Zette and Jocko books next to entire run of Tintin...)




One thing that is important in The Troubleshooters, is that the players accept the built in tropes in the genre. Like people get knocked out, seldom real injurirs, and little death. Weird Science, and that you have a passport, and will travel.


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## Eyes of Nine (May 19, 2020)

Ulfgeir said:


> One thing that is important in The Troubleshooters, is that the players accept the built in tropes in the genre. Like people get knocked out, seldom real injurirs, and little death. Weird Science, and that you have a passport, and will travel.




Good tip... And does the game address ways to handle the sometimes problematic content of the original source material?


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## Ulfgeir (May 19, 2020)

I think it does. I tried looking for it now, but just skimmed through all the material and could not find it. I remember that in the guidelines for writing adventures was included that we should avoid stereotypes, and handle people and religions with respect.

I would suggest either asking on the kickstarter or the Facebook-page, and then the game's creator can give you an official answer. I will poke him about this as well, cause it is something that should be in the FAQ's imo.

Here is a question that was asked about diversity:
"Will there be some racial diversity in the core rule book for adventurers etc. E.g. African, Chinese etc.? "

The answer:
"The core book will focus mainly on Europe, France and Paris, but since it is a game of fantasy tourism, there is background information for among others Cairo, Rio de Janeiro, Hong Kong and Kyoto. Character creation is gender and ethnicity agnostic. "


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## Ulfgeir (May 26, 2020)

Eyes of Nine said:


> Good tip... And does the game address ways to handle the sometimes problematic content of the original source material?




And here is another quote from the creator of the game addressing said issue:  

"Just because we're inspired by comics with a past content which today is questionable doesn't mean that we have to faithfully reproduce that content. We're making this game in 2020, not 1930, and our 1960s has a flippin' Concorde in it – not exactly historically accurate."


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## Fenris-77 (May 26, 2020)

One of my boys was reading some Tintin yesterday and was really taken aback by the depiction of African people. He looked over at me and said _Holy cow is this racist!_ I was never worried that this game would reproduce that element of the comics though.


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## Ulfgeir (May 26, 2020)

Fenris-77 said:


> One of my boys was reading some Tintin yesterday and was really taken aback by the depiction of African people. He looked over at me and said _Holy cow is this racist!_ I was never worried that this game would reproduce that element of the comics though.




Yeah, some of the older Tintin-albums were REALLY bad. As far as I gathered from a tv-program about the author of the comics, he got rather hard directions from the editor of the newspaper he worked at, and weren't allowed to do what he wanted. Some reprints have changed some stuff to make it better.  The author of Tintin did regret those earlier depictions.


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## Fenris-77 (May 26, 2020)

Ulfgeir said:


> Yeah, some of the older Tintin-albums were REALLY bad. As far as I gathered from a tv-program about the author of the comics, he got rather hard directions from the editor of the newspaper he worked at, and weren't allowed to do what he wanted. Some reprints have changed some stuff to make it better.  The author of Tintin did regret those earlier depictions.



It was Tintin in America, so not only racist depictions of africans, but also the standard racist depictions of First nations peoples. Yikes. Anyway, I had a good chat with my son about taking the time period of a book into account, and about being able to enjoy something despite a wart or two while still recognizing those warts for what they are. I enjoy Lovecraft for example, despite his being a pretty enormous racist asshat.


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## Ravenbrook (May 26, 2020)

Ulfgeir said:


> And here is another quote from the creator of the game addressing said issue:
> 
> "Just because we're inspired by comics with a past content which today is questionable doesn't mean that we have to faithfully reproduce that content. We're making this game in 2020, not 1930, and our 1960s has a flippin' Concorde in it – not exactly historically accurate."



To be fair, the Concorde had its maiden flight in 1969. Btw, will the French version of the game have a different title? I can imagine that the French won't be too thrilled about an English title for a game set in France!


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## Fenris-77 (May 26, 2020)

Ravenbrook said:


> To be fair, the Concorde had its maiden flight in 1969. Btw, will the French version of the game have a different title? I can imagine that the French won't be too thrilled about an English title for a game set in France!



They can eat some freedom fries and hush.    Seriously though, a French title is probably a good idea.


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## Ulfgeir (May 26, 2020)

Ravenbrook said:


> To be fair, the Concorde had its maiden flight in 1969. Btw, will the French version of the game have a different title? I can imagine that the French won't be too thrilled about an English title for a game set in France!




It will have a French title. Not going to try and write French on the phone. I think the French title is spelled out on the kickstarter page, and If I understood it correctly it is one that the French translators/distributors chose.


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## Undrave (May 26, 2020)

Ravenbrook said:


> Btw, will the French version of the game have a different title? I can imagine that the French won't be too thrilled about an English title for a game set in France!



The game will be subtitled "Les Risque-Tout" in French. Says so on the Kickstarter page.



Ulfgeir said:


> Yeah, some of the older Tintin-albums were REALLY bad. As far as I gathered from a tv-program about the author of the comics, he got rather hard directions from the editor of the newspaper he worked at, and weren't allowed to do what he wanted. Some reprints have changed some stuff to make it better.  The author of Tintin did regret those earlier depictions.





Fenris-77 said:


> It was Tintin in America, so not only racist depictions of africans, but also the standard racist depictions of First nations peoples. Yikes. Anyway, I had a good chat with my son about taking the time period of a book into account, and about being able to enjoy something despite a wart or two while still recognizing those warts for what they are. I enjoy Lovecraft for example, despite his being a pretty enormous racist asshat.




Herge's depiction of other culture really started to shift with The Blue Lotus because he met a Chinese man (who's name I don't have on me at the moment) and became a good friend with him. The boy that Tintin befriends in that story and then goes to Tibet to save later on is inspired by that man (who Herge lost track of because of WWII and only reunited years later). After their meeting Herge would spend more time researching the places he was depicting.


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