An unusual reference which mixes essential information useful during play with stuff that is useless. I printed some of these pages as references to have on the table for all players, but some pages are a mix of things useful to players and things only useful to the GM. It could use a reorganization and a replacement of some information, such as removal of the character creation stuff to make more room for stuff you need to look up on the fly during a session. I ended up crafting my own cheatsheet to print out for players to understand how to use qualities/advantage/trouble.

I had downloaded the newest version which is supposed to be compatible with the assembled edition. Just recently I found a typo about the dice rolled. I went back to see if there is a correction, and there isn't. Its kind of major. The test resolution roll is made with (power + d6) - (difficulty + d6) = effort. On the GM screen, though, it says (power + d6) - (difficulty + 6) = effort. That skews the whole result an every roll made by five points and not in the player's direction. That's half the chart.

I kind of heavily modify my GM chart, so its not noticable to me. I can use a highlight with the correction. It could be distracting or completely game crashing to a newbie.

Rubbish. Mostly taken up with character creation tables which are completely useless for a GM screen. The only useful features of it are a lot of animal stats, some NPCs and the benchmarks table.

I normally make my own GM screens because I can be sure to include all the information I need. I purchases this because it was a buck.

The 11-page GM screen is nicely laid out with a good 3-panel graphic for the players' side.

3 of the pages contain a character creation summary, which is nice to have in the packet, but not useful for a GM screen. Other handy tables like random events, sample vehicles, sample animals, NPCs, etc. are nice and you can pick-and-choose which to include on your GM screen. The Uses of Determination are welcome, but they should been put on the same page with the rest of the core rules.

I give it a low rating because it is missing a table for stuns, slams, and other combat effects. Meanwhile, it dedicates space for the dice probabilities, which is not nearly as useful or necessary.

Awesome book! New powers, better explained, clearer rules. If you play ICONS, then you definitely want this! Dan Houser's art is fun & fits the ICON comic style. I hope there are more books like this in the future. If you played Marvel RPG, this is like the Ultimate Powers book, but better! GET IT!

Does a game as straightforward as ICONS really need a GM screen? “Need” might be too strong a word, but ICONS GMs will certainly find much to like about this low-priced collection of tables and reminders. Also, a printable GM screen might seem inconvenient, but it’s great for those running the game from an iPad or similar tablet, or for GMs who, like me, use customizable GM screens that allow you to swap out insert pages. The PDFs (the screen and printer versions contain the same charts) provide eight pages of tables. Here’s a quick rundown, by page:

1. The standard scale from ICONS, test formulas, outcomes, the “Benchmarks” table from Great Power, and a table of dice probabilities. All but the last are close to indispensable. Fans have been asking for benchmarks for years, and I’m always forgetting where the cutoffs are for major and massive successes and failures. It should be noted that the outcomes table incorporates the “0 = marginal success” concept from the still-unreleased ICONS Team-Up product from Adamant Entertainment. This would definitely make the cut for my three-panel customizable GM screen, even though I really have no use for the dice probabilities table. I would much rather have had the “Uses for Determination” panel from p. 5 here instead.

2–4. Character creation tables. Page 2 includes origin, level determination, number of powers and specialties, and power type tables. Pages 3–4 include power tables for each of the power types, and p. 4 has a list of specialties. The power tables assume the use of Great Power rather than the original ICONS rulebook. (This is a good thing, but you should be aware of it going in.) I wouldn’t really want or need these in-game.

1. A collection of sample vehicles, definitions of the distance categories, and a bullet list of ways to use Determination. I’m inclined to cut out the “Uses of Determination” list and paste it on an index card to hand to players for their quick reference. I would definitely include this page in my customizable screen.

2. Random plot elements, villain origin, and a strong reminder to keep Determination flowing freely. I might include this as the third panel in my customizable screen if I expected to play pick-up games of ICONS. Otherwise, I’d just refer to it on-screen during my game prep.

3. A collection of sample animals, reproduced from the ICONS core rulebook. I think I’d keep this nearby, but probably wouldn’t insert it into my screen (if I had four panels, I’d include it, but I only have three).

4. A collection of stock characters and a collection of dinosaurs. I’d probably use this as my third panel, for the stock characters. There’s also a big ICONS logo here, which I don’t really need, but I’m not sure what else they might have put down there. Probably a table of weapons and other common devices would have been more useful than dinosaurs.

I’m very happy with this product except for one thing: the PDF presents the pages in portrait orientation, although the material is arranged on the pages in landscape orientation. In other words, when you open this on your computer or tablet screen, the pages will be sideways. You can quickly rotate the pages in Adobe Reader, but you shouldn’t have to. This, however, is really the product’s only significant drawback, and something that Ad Infinitum could easily fix with an update.

The “PF” (for “printer-friendly”) PDF omits the “heroes vs. villains” artwork that Dan Houser contributed for the outward-facing side of the screen, so look for it in the other PDF. The package also includes a panoramic JPG, but you’ll probably find it more convenient to print out the version from the PDF. While the artwork is beautifully executed in Dan’s signature style, the layout is disappointing because the three panels overlap. The repetition of elements from the center panel on the side panels creates an unattractive and distracting visual “stuttering.” Personally, I would probably use the outer panels only, replacing the center panel with page 1, with a copy of the “Uses of Determination” table pasted over the dice probabilities table.

So the product isn’t perfect, but it’s incredibly useful and only a dollar. The cost-to-benefit ratio is really, as we say in ICONS, “off the scale.”

Two thumbs up! I love the layout. The art is spot on. This really is a wonderful addition to the ICONS line!