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Normally I save discussions of Style until later, but here I’m going to reverse things because if anything is going to chase off potential customers who happen to glance at ICONS, it’s the Style of the book. I’m not saying everybody will hate it, but I know it certainly scared me off at first. This appearance is quite intentional though, with artist Dan Houser trying to channel the style of super hero cartoons like “Danny Phantom” or “Ben 10”, in order to capture the feel of more “family friendly” super hero cartoons and comics. It’s simple, effective, and colorful. And while I don’t like all of Houser’s work (a few pieces are just bad), I think he succeeds in creating the desired atmosphere of something gamers of all ages might enjoy. Layout is not so hot by comparison. There’s hardly any wasted space for margins, which is a plus, but everything feels badly crammed. There’s no index, and the Table of Contents is a bit of a joke. The only saving grace for the layout is that the book is so short and so light mechanically that things don’t take too long to flip through and find, but even that can be a pain if you’re hunting more obscure rules since things are kind of scattered around in an almost train of consciousness way. Seriously, hunting up anything specific is more painful than it should be, especially for a game that feels so mechanically light.
Okay, I didn’t like the presentation of the book, but what about the actual game? It’s an exercise in FATE-powered super hero gaming driven by mechanics that are based on GM fiat and player-controlled narratives. I really want to say it’s great and perfect and wonderful, because the idea of FATE-powered super heroic gaming excites me. For that matter, ICONS as a system excites me. But everything in ICONS strives for vagueness, with the underlying idea seeming to be that narrative control mechanics will alleviate any sort of imbalances. And a lot of gamers are going to balk at this, badly.
In ICONS everything is measured in “levels” from 1 to 10. For human Abilities, 1 to 2 is poor, 3 is average, 6 is human maximum, 8 is high superhuman, and 10 is the maximum. Other concepts are measured differently, with “low” and “average” being quantified differently, but the mechanical scale of 1 to 10 remains the same. Players roll two differently colored six-sided dice, choosing one to be positive and the other to be negative. The numbers rolled are added together, giving a result from -5 to +5, which is added to the level being tested. Totals of 0 or less are failures, and positive rolls are varying degress of success. A character with a level 10 in a power or Attribute who gets a +5 on his roll can literally harness cosmic power. Only players roll tests. Villains don’t roll to hit PCs, players roll to see if they successfully weren’t hit. It’s actually an interesting idea, but the book doesn’t mention anything about “PC versus PC” conflicts. Maybe it’s somewhere else?
To actually create your hero you roll on randomization tables. The levels of your Abilities, the number and type (and levels) of your Powers, your Specializations (ICONS version of skills), and even your character’s Origin are all randomly rolled. There’s a simple option for a point-buy system (basically, pick what you want and put points into it), and a random Origin table for determining the source of powers. Honestly, I think it’s kind of neat and fun. It’s not very well balanced at all, but it is a decent little idea stimulator for players who can’t think up a super character concept. There’s also a points-buy system tacked on, but honestly the random rolls really are kind of fun. Balance between characters is supposedly measured in starting Determination; characters with superhuman Abilities or super-powers start off with less Determination than those with merely high human level Abilities. And for those wondering, guns and swords and utility belts and such are actually considered “super powers” for the purposes of ICONS. No free meal here Batman.
Team Creation is covered next. It’s mildly interesting, touching on the standbys of team equipment and identity. Team Determination, a pool of Determination bought by the group and available to all, is a pretty neat idea though since it brings in team Aspects, and the idea of the party having shared Aspects that can be Compelled or Tagged is pretty cool I think.
Abilities, also known as stats or attributes in other games, consist of Prowess (your close combat skill), Coordination (agility and dexterity), Strength (lifting, endurance, and determining damage in close combat, as well as how much damage you can take), Intellect (your intelligence, ability to recall facts, etc.), Awareness (intuition and sensory ability), and Willpower (your ability to influence and resist other’s influence, and adds to how much damage you can take). Adding your Strength and Willpower together, you have your character’s Stamina, the measure of damage he can take. Instead of numerous skills or talents, characters in ICONS have a few Specialties. Specialties raise the relevant Ability by one level, Expert Specialties (the same Specialty taken twice) raise it by two levels, and Masteries (the same Specialty taken three times) raise it by three levels. Specialties allow for characters who are master swordsmen but not very good with martial arts, for example. They’re a simple way to allow for more customization and flavor in a mechanically light system.
Powers. I won’t give a full listing, other than to say the following: there are just over six dozen powers, they cover pretty much all the classic types of comic book powers as well as a few others, and those used to customization options like “extras” and “flaws” that other supers games have will be disappointed. ICONS takes a pretty broad approach to powers, and relies heavily on trappings. While some games offer extensive mechanical differences between “assault rifle” and “optic laser blast”, in ICONS both are the same power and only differentiated by level rating. Truthfully, that part doesn’t bother me so much; by this point hopefully a potential player understands that ICONS is more about “flavor trappings” and consensus between GM and players, and less about a mechanically balanced system. Anyway, all the major examples of super powers seems to be in ICONS. Even though players are supposed to roll to see how many powers they have and what they are, some powers cost more (reducing the number of powers a character has) and some powers offer “bonus” powers (which really just let a player choose a thematically related power, reducing the number of powers the character would otherwise roll for).
I will point out two bits I found interesting among the actual powers themselves however. The first is Invisibility versus Chameleon. They both hide your character, they cost the same amount (namely a power slot), but Invisibility makes a character impossible to see and allows the character to try and turn other objects invisible too while Chameleon makes a character harder to see. I know I keep harping on how ICONS doesn’t try to be balanced, but this was a bit much. Personally I’d drop Invisibility altogether and just rename Chameleon. I’d also point out that the text of Chameleon implies that NPCs can roll to detect PCs, which contradicts the rule that only players ever roll (and that rule seems to be ignored in other places). Minor problems at most, especially considering how easy it is to houserule ICONS, but they really jumped out at me. By comparison, ICONS has possibly the single coolest Precognition mechanic I’ve ever seen in an RPG. Besides the standard “GM gives visions of the future to drive the plot”, Precognition allows a character to spend Determination after a dice roll has failed to reflect the character seeing something bad happen and taking steps to correct it, or even retcon an event as a “precognitive warning”. As a power Precognition is possibly overpowered or underpriced, even with the limit of spending Determination, but I still find it a really clever approach to what had previously felt like a GM-plot device.
Taking Action covers how you use Abilities in more detail, how you measure time (it’s pretty standard turns/rounds/sessions, but using terms like panels/pages/issues instead), how you measure distance (personal/close/extended/visual/beyond), how you inflict and receive and heal from damage, and how you determine initiative. And GMs will probably end up wanting to house rule a lot of these. Take damage for instance: you compare the level of the attack (the character’s Strength level or the power’s level typically) against the defenses of the character, resulting in a system where it’s possible for two characters to impotently attack one another. Personally, I’d allow the dice modifier to apply to damage as well, so that the system can reflect Darkseid actually hurting Superman (and vice versa). Likewise, initiative is determined by starting off “with the panels of whichever side initiates” which seems like a fancy way of saying “GM’s choice”. Coordination tests are suggested as an alternative means to determine who goes first, but since the scale of ICONS is so small I suspect there will be a lot of tie-breaking roll offs.
Those familiar with other FATE games will recognize a lot of the Determination chapter. In a nut shell, characters have Qualities (generally double-edged character traits like a Secret Identity, Connections, Motivation, a Catchphrase, or a Title) which they can spend Determination points on to justify in-character knowledge, contacts, reserves of strength, and so on. Characters also have Challenges (generally a bad trait) which they can call upon to earn Determination. In other words, if it hinders you you gain Determination and if it helps you then it costs Determination. Determination can be spent in general on improving rolls, using irregular traits to make a roll (like Strength instead of Willpower to Intimidate someone), reducing damage, establishing setting details (called Retconning by the book, and somewhat confusing given the power of Precognition to actually Retcon events), and pushing powers in original new ways.
Game Mastering is a fairly standard chapter for GMs, with advice on running the game, a little random adventure generator, some rules for advancement, and the like. Nothing earth-shattering, but it’s nice to have.
While ICONS says it has no setting, the section on Villains gives it a bit of unique fluffy flavor anyway. 13 sample villains are included, ranging from world-conquering mastermind, to glory hound rival for the PCs, to simple bricks. My two favorites were probably Diamond (think Superman, but as a media hog) and Confederape (a sentient gorilla that wants to usher in ape dominance, and really like the Civil War). Several stock NPCs and creatures are included, provided some nice benchmarks for comparison. A pre-made adventure (with another villain, bringing the book’s total to 14 NPCs) is also included, but it’s pretty basic and serves more as a test of the system than something likely to grab players.
Who Should Get This: Fans of light mechanics, FATE-style Aspects, and random rolling for character creation should enjoy this. Also it’s OGL, so there’s that for those so inclined.
Who Shouldn’t Get This: Those looking for detailed mechanics, or hate GM fiat, will be disappointed. Tactics are existent in ICONS, but fairly minimal as fits a light system. The art and general feel of a Saturday-morning super hero cartoon may also drive a lot of potential players off.
How Does It Compare to Other Games: It’s a mechanics light supers game. As such I find it to be more mechanically complex than Truth & Justice, but less so than Mutants & Masterminds. I’d put it about on par with Savage Worlds: Necessary Evil, stronger in some ways (more powers, able to scale various degrees of power better) and worse in others (less depth in combat and damage, more reliant on fiat).
Style: I’ll give it a very low 4. It’s not my cup of tea, but the presentation is pretty effective. What knocks the book down to being just barely above average is the rather clumsy way things are organized. It shouldn’t feel so cluttered or hard to navigate. Glossy color pages help distract me from this though, so there’s that.
Substance: I’ll give it a low 4. Ultimately it’s a system book, and fans of game settings shouldn’t purchase it for such. But the book admits it has no real setting so I shouldn’t criticize it for not delivering what it intentionally didn’t offer. I’m really torn with giving it a high 3 for substance, but I think that’s because I’m trying to see it as something it’s not. Ultimately the system is minimalistic, and perhaps a bit wonky in places, but it feels fast and fun because of it. I won’t say it’s my favorite supers system or that it’s for everyone, but for those looking for a light system that adds some FATE-style elements to player interactivity with the game ICONS has a lot to offer.
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