A nice mix between Mutants & Masterminds and Fate. Great work Steve!

Steve Kenson has an impressive portfolio in roleplaying games, and Icons draws on that wealth of experience to form a sleek system that can model virtually any comics character you care to think of, while keeping the mechanical cruft to a minimum.

Character creation is a breeze if you choose to roll your hero up on the tables provided, and there's enough room to customise the results to ensure you can get a hero you're happy with (even when you'd never in a million years have expected to roll THAT combo!). But if that's not to your liking, the game includes a point buy system as well.

With all the variety in abilities and powers, you might be wondering how the game balances out. And with the Determination rules, I can say it does so quite nicely. The game responds well to player improvisation, so Aunt May can still shine next to her partner Galactus, if her player just spends their Determination wisely.

Beyond the rules, the book gives you all you need to build challenges for the players, with guidelines for rolling up villains just like the heroes, or even rolling up an entire universe to set your adventures in! There are also character sheets for some of the star players in the Icons universe, in case you want inspiration or just a quick villain to use if you're in a hurry. Finally, I want to acknowledge Dan Houser's great work illustrating the whole book and, I believe, the entire line beyond it. Houser's style fits great with the feel of Icons, and his art alongside Kenson's writing gives the game such a strong sense of character that's really quite charming.

This game uses its very easy to grasp system to give players access to a variety of powers and abilities without bogging them down in overly complex rules for every one. It is a system that knows how to get out of the way so great stories can be told, and it inspires a lot of creativity. I run a variety of games for various groups and this one is very highly requested whenever it's time to switch systems again.

This is a fantastic superhero role-playing game. Simple and quick in play, so you can get straight to the narritive, and easy to pick up and learn. The random character creation also has a lot more fun that it's has any right to be. Certainly more fun than than most games.

When I heard Steve Kenson was writing a new superhero RPG, I will admit to being one of the first people to ask myself 'Why?' After all, I reasoned, Steve already nailed the formula for a successful supers RPG with the amazing Mutants & Masterminds. Did the world really need another superhero system?

As I later discovered, Steve had anticipated this critique, and as he himself said in the introduction of Icons, there is 'no one perfect system' for any genre. Icons scores high initially by not trying to be something it isn't. Here you will not see reams and reams of detailed charts for every conceivable eventuality that may occur in-game. Nor is there a definitive list of superpowers or a rigidly defined campaign setting. Instead, what GMs and players get here is a rules-light, fast-paced and just plain fun book with engaging visual style and class to spare, that encourages the player to remember their Saturday mornings as a kid watching DC SuperFriends or the brilliantly Claremont-esque 90s X-Men cartoon, and to take that wonder and enthusiasm to the game table to kick some villainous butt.

A few die-rolls in, you're already on your way to creating an exciting character, guided through the process with easy-to-remember rules and charts that, while random, never try to screw you over or saddle you with an unplayable character. I'm reminded of the character creation charts in the M&M GM's Kit here; make some rolls, write down what you get, and you're ready to dispense some justice! Of course there are options for tailoring a character to your own needs, but as a grognard whose first experience of superhero RPGs was the old FASERIP system, this addition of randomly rolled characters was a sheer joy to try out (And no, I'm not going to tell you what I ended up with initially...shudder).

Most of all, the randomness of character creation is a great tool to jumpstart the players' imaginations, as it encourages you to think about your character's background and personality based on what you roll, which is an exercise in itself. Claws, hyper-leaping and superstrength? Sounds like a modern-day lord-of-the-jungle analog to me! Watching players come up with rationales for the random elements that tie into a cohesive story for their characters is a lot of fun, almost like a game-within-the-game where there are no bad ideas and classic heroic tropes are the rule (a welcome change from the tendency of many publishers towards edgier superhero content).

Once you have a character ready to roll, you can hit the streets and see how much good you can do, and Icons places control for the narrative firmly with the entire group. Players feel like legitimate heroes, with abilities far beyond the norm and a clever, useful Determination mechanic where the motivations and personality of the character can drive them to great feats. This mechanic is a terrific balance, as characters with few or no powers get more intitial Determination and can therefore effect more change on the scene personally, rendering them as valid as the major powerhouses. Watch an episode of Justice League Unlimited and see how the unpowered Batman runs alongside the heavy-hitters and you'll see what I mean. The fact that the author added this as a core conceit of the system speaks to his love of the genre, and made me smile ear-to-ear.

Mechanically, the rules are simple enough that anyone could pick them up in minutes. At most, 2d6 is all you'll need to roll; roll 1d6 and add the acting attribute or power, then subtract the difficulty determined by the GM. This gives you your Effort, which determines how well you succeed at any given task. Previous editions stated that the GM never rolls dice, but that has been changed for the Assembled Edition. All the previous edition's rules are very much in place as options, however, so if you're reading this book from the perspective of a 1st edition player, the transition will be smooth. Another welcome addition is the pyramid test introduced in the Villainomicon, which allows GMs to add tasks the whole group can help to complete in different ways. Anything that encourages a team of heroes to come together in a crisis is a worthwhile idea in my book.

There are sample characters in the book also, but at no point does the reader feel like these have to be part of their setting. Indeed, Icons feels more like a sandbox RPG than a rigid world with no options for players. The ease with which the system approaches everything seems to encourage players & GMs to explore their creativity and populate their world with heroes, villains, organisations, aliens, you name it. As someone who enjoys world-building, especially with the entire group involved, this is a welcome feature, especially for groups with younger players who might have great ideas but find some systems' approach to realising them daunting.

In summation, I agree with Steve Kenson wholeheartedly. There is no perfect superhero system, but there are perfect systems for specific objectives. If your objective is to have fun, not sweat the small stuff and throw cars at cackling evildoers while wearing a cool costume, Icons might just be everything you're looking for. There's a surprisingly deep and elegant system hidden among the reader-friendly text and colourful art style, and newcomers and grognards alike will find something they enjoy here.

So...until Atomic Roach checks in but doesn't check out...Make Mine Icons! I recommend you do too.

A genuinely great, family-friendly super hero RPG! I first played super hero RPGs over 35 years ago. I played Villains & Vigilantes and Champions, and then TSR's Marvel Super Heroes, as a teenager in the early/mid- 1980s. When Icons: Assembled was first released 5 years ago, I played it with my elenetary school aged daughter and we had a great time. The mechanics are easy enough that they don't alienate/frustrate non-gamers and children. But its mechanics are nonetheless familiar-ish to players of TSR's Marvel Super Heroes, along with the random character generation reminiscent of V&V.

Now that we're under a "stay at home" order because of COVID-19 as I write this review, I suggested to my daughter, who is now a teenager, that we play again. And she agreed. The fact that a teenaged girl did not roll her eyes at the prospect of playing Icons is, as I see it, a validation of the approach to the mechanics, and, in its way, a very high compliment indeed!

This really is a complete game in a single book. But I have also bought and purchased sveral of the supplements and adventures. My personal favorites are Great Power, a powers book (though powers are enumerated in this book), and Icons A to Z.

I gave the system a 4 because it gives a solid framework for a superhero game and allows for telling some really fun stories, but it does require a lot of DM adjustment and house-ruling in order to make it fit the table. The random generation system can make some relatively weak heroes at a table with a nigh invincible supermensch. The problem with this is challenging the overpowered PC with a villain that can oneshot everyone else.

Regardless, there are some flaws, but it is a very fluid and simple system that allows for some changes without it becoming something with Palladium levels of complexity.

I've been on the lookout for a new supers RPG for a couple years now and have often seen this title. After much consideration I went for the plunge and purchased it along with the other helpful titles of Origins, Great Power, and A-Z. I've run a couple sessions with my gaming group and here's what I found I think is worthing mentioning.

1) The gaming system is simple and fast. I've read that ICONS has its roots in FATE (which I've never played). Its resolution of attacks is simple, can be done in a single roll (using some options) and each round can go very quickly. If you like to focus on the story more than the numbers, you might like the way ICONS plays out. Because the system is fairly easy to understand, even a new player can join in readily. 2) Character Creation is very fast an intuitive. I found I could already "see" my character as I'm creating him/her and within about 10-15 minutes I was ready to go. Once you understand the range of 1-10, the GM can create villains and challengers withing moments. Some people enjoy the number crunching within a game vs the story within it. You might be a bit disappointed here, but this fits right within my expectations and hopes. 3) Qualities and Determination. Many games try to provide rules and options for running everything. ICONS likes to use Qualities and Determination points to accomplish many complex tasks. When I first started working with these, I struggled for a bit. But once I started realizing that Determination is basically Bennies in Savage Worlds and Qualities are ways to come up with quantifiable story elements to bonus or negative your results, it was pretty fun. Its also a great way to give those Determination points to a character that you always seem to "pick on" as the GM.

I have been very impressed by this game. I'm a veteran of Champions, Classic Marvel, M&M, Savage Worlds Super Powers Companion, Heroes Unlimited, and have found ICONS to be a great way to play a supers game. Too many times supers end up being so big for some systems that it overwhelms the rules or creates awkward mechanics. ICONS take it all in very well. We are able to have a meaningful adventure and get so much done in a short amount of time.

So far so good, have run a few short games with it. The random generation characters didn't have enough scaling for me. Had to do a bit of house rule work. I like that it lets you be pretty free in combat though not as rules heavy. I use the optional rolling of having the players make most of the rolls.

I had previously read the 1st editon of Icons, the french translation since we were lucky in France to have one.

This "1.5" Assembled Edition is a very refined version of the first Icons, the mechanics has changed a little because the GM is now also throwing dice for the opposition but this is still the same mechanic overall.

What you can do with qualities have been delimited and unified and you have now possibilities to create your character with points but, the random method is still the best if you want to keep the Icons flavour :).

There is now rules for experience, world building, villains building and Icons can now more easily be played in campaign, but I think that there are more adapted games for that ;).

Overall, I never regretted to buy this and this is a much more Iconic Icons than the first :).

Steve Kenson deliver a simple but deep superhero roleplaying game system, that can be pluged into just about any classic RPG superhero or other wise.

Icons is wonderful chacter centered and for campaing perposes, encorages the use of multipule charaters. The univers creation rules develope both the charaters and the world around them simaltainoutly.

Icons is an important tool I am keeping in my GMs tool box.

The flexibility of ICONS is beautiful in its simplicity. The random character creation can be an exercise in creativity without even needing to run a campaign!

My only critique is that the application of Extras was not entirely clearly laid out as well as some of the Extras and Limits themselves.

SIX POINT SUMMARY

• ICONS has a crazy amount of quality, third party support, particularly from Fainting Goat Games and Vigilance Press, so even if Ad Infinitum's already impressive slate of adventures doesn't tide you over, there is more out there.

• As I said in my original review: ICONS character creation is just FUN. Maybe the only game that had character creation as fun is, not surprisingly, the FASERIP Marvel game.

• I was annoyed that this came so close to Great Power (which I backed on Kickstarter), and it wasn't 100% compatible.

• Dan Houser provided every piece of art in the book, continuing to define the distinctive visual appearance of ICONS.

• The Universe rules, which incorporate the Villain Creation Rules, are just one of the coolest things I have ever seen in a game, period.

-I'm not usually a big fan of ".5" style updates, but this thing went almost point by point down my complaints list and addressed them. Hard for me to argue with that.

At the end of the day, though, I need to run this game again. I ran it once, did not care for it, but that was the old rulebook, it was my first time running the game, and I was running it for my then-very young son. My overall gut impression of the game is more positive right now, but I do want to see for myself if it's a game I could love, and the good faith effort in addressing the previous criticisms of the game (including my own) compels me to give it that shot.

For my full review, please visit http://mostunreadblogever.blogspot.com/2015/02/tommys-take-on-icons-assembled-edition.html

I'm still reading this fun and odd game. It's got a lot of inspirational material in it - I'm stoked and can't wait to run a game. I won't be using any of their setting until I get DOOM, but the game drips fun. So what if the die mechanic is really easy? I like it that way. There's no arcane charts littered all over to overly define anything. I really think the level of abstraction here hits my sweet spot.

Character creation is fun even if it makes some weird characters. That's the fun part! The randomness is cool in my book.

This is a textbook example on how to write a new RPG edition; improving the game on every front while maintaining a high level of compatibility with the previous product line.