A few years ago when I first picked up ICONS, I did it because I didn't have access to my copies of Mutants and Masterminds. My friends and I wanted to run something supers related but none of us had our normal materials so I popped onto the internet and did a quick search for something that would let us get to playing quick.

I'd always liked the old school Marvel RPG as well as FUDGE/FATE and ICONS looked simple enough. I figured "Hey, why not".

We rolled up our characters, had a hilarious time trying to sort them out and come up with great names and origin stories. Our game was a little on the wild side, we played Super Powered Lawyers who used their abilities to handle all the different harassment, threats, bribes, and other problems that a single Mega Corp (also run by a powered being) used against our clients (Think Harvey Birdman Attorney At Law, but a whole lot less humor).

The game only lasted one session but that was all I needed to come to appreicate ICONS for what it was.

Assembled Edition did the same thing that the original did for me, I scrolled on through each page of the PDF and was brought back to that moment when I realized what a gem the ICONS Supers RPG is.

This version of the game includes a lot of changes, but they feel more like minor tweaks and additions than full on revisions some from other source books and adventures and others just bits that were adjusted in the new book. While I see what's different, I am definitely able to say at the end of the day "This is ICONS" without any reservation. The new Assembled Edition is different and familiar at the same time; of all the different games I play, it's those types of games which usually remain on my shelf (physical and digital) for the long haul.

One of the changes that I noticed right away was the dice mechanic, the D6-D6 method was replaced by a slightly more intuitive (Attribute+D6)-(Difficulty+D6) method of resolution. It still works the same for the most part but it feels just a little better in my opinion. Other changes include the villain character creation system, pyramid system (an extended test method) and powers being brought in line with the material from their Great Power source book.

The art of the book is great. I've always loved the art styles of Dan Houser (no not that one, the illustrator), his stuff immediately evokes instant memories of the various DC Animated shows I love so much, he blends that comic book with cartoon feel that I think works best for the ICONS products. The cover was the most obvious new piece and it manages to hit that spot in me that suddenly wants to start rolling up new characters right away.

ICONS Assembled Edition clocks in at 232 pages and is absolutely worth the low price of $15.00 for the PDF or $34.95 for the print edition; either version of the book deserves your attention.

Whether you’re a longtime ICONS fan or a new player/GM looking for a relatively rules-light yet richly textured superhero RPG, you’ll welcome ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying: The Assembled Edition.

If you’re not familiar with ICONS but are considering a purchase, this book will give you everything you need to get started … except for some six-sided dice, an adventure and friends to play it with. Chapter 1, “The Basics,” starts off by describing ICONS scale, a system of ranking abilities, powers, difficulties, and so on using a scale of 1 to 10 with corresponding adjectives (think of the classic Marvel Super Heroes RPG). Almost everything in ICONS is measured using this scale. Chapter 1 also defines the six ability scores used for ICONS characters, and explains Determination, a kind of in-game currency that players can spend to gain advantages and GMs can award to cause trouble. Fighting, of course, involves the additional consideration of damage and healing, which are addressed here in chapter 1. Chapter 1 ends with a wonderful example of play that illustrates all the basic concepts.

Chapter 2, “Hero Creation,” obviously covers character creation, but also team creation. The default method of character creation in ICONS is random generation using a series of tables, but a point-buy option is also presented. Character creation is illustrated using the origin of Saguaro, the iconic (heh) cactus-man on the front cover.

Chapters 3 and 4 describe the standard powers and specialties presented in the game. ICONS takes the approach of boiling powers down to their basic essences or most common expressions, then allowing customizations through limits and extras. Specialties are learned skills, and only have a three-step scale (specialist, expert, and master).

Chapter 5 goes into more detail about how characters’ actions are mechanically resolved in ICONS. This straightforward chapter ends with another great example of play.

The book’s longest chapter is chapter 6, on “Game Mastering.” This chapter is chock full of great advice, ideas, and inspiration for ICONS GMs. It’s useful not only for new GMs but for experienced game masters as well, since it provides helpful overviews of comic book tropes, quick villian creation, and so on.

A selection of NPCs, both allies and adversaries, rounds out the book. Some readers have noticed that the superheroes presented here do not have starting Determination values listed, but that’s because they’re intended as NPCs, not as pregenerated player characters.

For those of you who already play ICONS and wonder if you should get the new edition, I’d say “yes.” There are a few significant rules changes that should make gameplay even easier than it was before. To highlight the three most important changes:

1. In the Assembled Edition, GMs now roll dice. The formula for task resolution has changed from relevant ability/power + 1d6 - 1d6 vs. target difficulty or opposing ability/power to 1d6 + relevant ability/power vs. 1d6 + target difficulty or opposing ability/power. The resulting probabilities remain the same as in classic ICONS, but the revised mechanic makes it easier to resolve villains’ actions without mentally inverting the scale.

2. In classic ICONS, characters had aspects, divided into qualities (generally advantageous) and challenges (generally disadvantageous). In the Assembled Edition, the advantageous/disadvantageous distinction is dissolved, and new characters have three qualities that could potentially serve in a variety of circumstances to yield advantage or trouble. This particular change is, in my view, the best rules change in the Assembled Edition. Additionally, the whole system is explained much better in the Assembled Edition than in the classic ICONS rulebook. The Assembled Edition even gives GMs and players a “formula” to use to show how qualities are used: “Because of (quality), I/you get (advantage/trouble).” Through the use of models like “Because I am The World’s Greatest Detective, I get improved effort on the Intellect test to figure out what happened here” or “As a Believer in All Things Good, I am taken aback by this horror and lose my panel this page” and the examples of play at the ends of chapters 1 (“The Basics”) and 5 (“Taking Action”), the use of qualities becomes much clearer to readers of the Assembled Edition.

3. Classic ICONS included some powers that “counted as two powers.” Those powers have been eliminted, revised, or folded into other powers in the Assembled Edition, so that there is no such bookkeeping. All powers “count as one power” for purposes of reckoning starting Determination and point-buy character builds.

Since the Assembled Edition differs only in these two major and a few other minor ways from classic ICONS, it’s very easy to use older adventures and supplements with the Assembled Edition. For the Villainomicon, I would suggest just ignoring the rules material up front in favor of what’s in the Assembled Edition, but most of the villains should work fine with just slight adjustments to terminology and maybe reconfiguring their qualities. A good bit of material from ICONS Team-Up appears in revised form in the Assembled Edition, but that book still retains value in its chapters on exotic environments, sidekicks, and—if you want to use them—vehicles and bases. In general, Great Power also retains its value, especially in “translating” various power concepts into mechanical terms. You can also still use the random power tables in Great Power for the sake of variety, and then build the character according to the power terminology in the Assembled Edition.

Production values for this book are very high. The Assembled Edition uses the same page templates as Great Power, so the pages have plenty of light colors and white space, making them very readable and aesthetically pleasing. The book is also full of wonderful new artwork by ICONic artist Dan Houser.

In short, I enthusiastically recommend ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying: The Assembled Edition. My only “complaint” is that the PDF as initially released did not include bookmarks (but I hope this will be fixed soon).