TEXT: Kenson • Houser
  A to Z
  A to Z
  
  Icons A to Z
  A Sourcebook for Icons 
  Superpowered Roleplaying
  Illustrated by 
  Dan Houser
  Designed by 
  Steve Kenson
  Icons A to Z is © 2015, Steve Kenson and Ad Inﬁnitum Adventures. All rights reserved. 
  Reference to other copyrighted material in no way constitutes a challenge to the 
  respective copyright holders of the material. Icons and the Ad Inﬁnitum Adventures logo 
  are trademarks of Ad Inﬁnitum Adventures.
  
  Contents 
  “A” is for “Aliens” 
  1 
  ...........................................................................
  “B” is for “Battles” 
  7 
  ........................................................................
  “C” is for “Cosmic” 
  13 
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  “D” is for “Demons” 
  19 
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  “E” is for “Environments” 
  25 
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  “F” is for “Fear” 
  31 
  ...........................................................................
  “G” is for “Golden Age” 
  37 
  .............................................................
  “H” is for “Headquarters” 
  43 
  ..........................................................
  “i” is for “Interaction” 
  49 
  ................................................................
  “J” is for “Justice” 
  55 
  .......................................................................
  “K” is for “Knacks” 
  61 
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  “L” is for “Lost Worlds” 
  67 
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  “M” is for “Magic” 
  73 
  .......................................................................
  “N” is for “Narrative Abilities” 
  79 
  ..................................................
  “O” is for “Organizations” 
  85 
  .........................................................
  “P” is for “Pets” 
  91 
  ...........................................................................
  “Q” is for “Qualities” 
  97 
  ..................................................................
  “R” is for “Rescue” 
  103 
  ...................................................................
  “S” is for “Support” 
  109 
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  “T” is for “Teams” 
  115 
  ......................................................................
  “U” is for “Universe” 
  121 
  ..................................................................
  “V” is for “Variants” 
  127 
  ..................................................................
  “W” is for “Wealth” 
  133 
  ...................................................................
  “X” is for “X-Factors” 
  139 
  ...............................................................
  “Y” is for “Youth” 
  145 
  ......................................................................
  “Z” is for “Zombies” 
  151
  ..................................................................
  
  “A” is for “Aliens” 
   
  Strange visitors from other planets have been a staple of the comic books 
  from the very beginning, including various heroes Not of This Earth. 
  Certainly, superheroes have faced off against alien foes from rampaging 
  monsters to invading armies or the heralds of cosmic catastrophe. 
  ALIEN ORIGINS 
  “Alien” is a fairly common origin for comic book heroes, usually falling 
  under the Unearthly origin in ICONS. For players and Game Masters looking 
  for a little more when it comes to creating alien heroes, consider the 
  following. 
  If you decide a hero’s Unearthly origin means the character is from another 
  planet (and, presumably, another species) then the hero’s traits may tell 
  you something about the species as well as the hero. The abilities you 
   
  
  choose to increase are generally higher for that species and one or more of 
  the hero’s powers may be innate species abilities. This is not a hard-and-
  fast rule, but a guideline for thinking about where the hero comes from. 
  If you use the Villain Creation option from ICONS, a villain associated with an 
  alien hero might be a member of the same species, or an alien from a 
  different (rival or opposed) species, and could share some abilities in 
  common with the hero. 
  Most of the other origins in ICONS can also represent alien characters. A 
  Birthright, for example, can be someone born from an alien heritage (either 
  on Earth or away from it) while an Artiﬁcial character might have been 
  constructed by aliens, perhaps as an emissary to humanity or a probe to 
  study other worlds like Earth. The Trained and Gimmick origins assume the 
  character has traits similar to humans, but that could be a case of a 
  humanoid alien very like Earthly life or the application of suitable alien 
  qualities. 
  RANDOM ALIENS 
  If you need a random alien for your game, roll on this table and follow the 
  directions given, or just choose an alien type from the table and go from 
  there. 
  Humanoids look very much like humans. They may have some minor 
  cosmetic differences. Roll 1d6: 1 = unusual skin color or texture, 2 = unusual 
  ear or brow shape, 3 = unusual eye color or shape, 4 = Extra Body Parts 
  (roll type and level normally), 5 = roll twice, ignoring results of 5-6, 6 = 
  virtually identical looking to humans. 
  Bipeds are humanoid, in that they have two arms, two legs, and at least one 
  head and stand upright on their legs. Choose a creature type from the 
  2d6 roll
  Type
  2
  Psychic Life
  3–4
  Alternate Life
  5–6
  Biped
  7–9
  Humanoid
  10–11
  Protean Life
  12
  Machine Life
   
  
  Creatures section in ICONS and raise one of its below average abilities to 3. 
  You can then also roll for cosmetic differences as humanoids, previously, if 
  you wish, with a 6 meaning there are none. 
  Example: The GM randomly picks a hippo, making it a humanoid and 
  increasing its Weak (1) Intellect to Average (3), for a hippo-like race 
  of alien bipeds. The GM then decides to roll for a cosmetic difference, 
  getting a 3, and choosing to give the race compound eyes like an 
  insect’s. 
  Alternate Life forms have the Alternate Form power from ICONS. Roll 
  randomly or choose one; this is the alien’s “natural” form. So, for example, 
  there might be alien energy beings, gaseous beings, and so forth. 
  Psychic Life forms are Astral Projections (as the power) with a randomly 
  determined level except they have no physical body. A psychic life form 
  also has 0-4 (1d6–2) Mental Powers, rolled randomly or chosen by the GM. 
  Protean Life forms have the Fluid Form power (from Alternate Form) at a 
  random level as well as the Transformation power at a random level and 0–
  2 Transformation extras (1d6: 1–2 = 0, 3–4 = 1, 5–6 = 2). 
  Machine Life forms are Artiﬁcial in origin and created just like other 
  Artiﬁcial characters in ICONS. 
  ALIEN QUALITIES 
  “Alien” can be a quality for otherworldly characters, possibly reﬁned with 
  reference to a particular planet, species, or type of alien, such as “Alien 
  Gladiator” or “Amorphous Alien” (or even “Amorphous Alien Gladiator”…). 
  Advantages associated with an alien quality may include access to superior 
  technology or scientiﬁc knowledge, connections with the greater universe 
  beyond Earth, and unusual alien traits or physiology for stunts (“My species 
  does not require as much oxygen as yours,” etc.). 
  Trouble can include a lack of familiarity with Earth culture and customs, 
  troublesome ties with the alien’s home world, unusual biology causing 
  problems with medical treatment, or differences in customs causing social 
  problems (“I don’t understand the human obsession with wearing clothing 
  all of the time…”). 
  ALIEN INVASIONS 
  “Aliens invade” is a classic comic book plot and a suitable threat for a team 
  of heroes. Using the random plot element tables from the Assembled 
  Edition of ICONS, things like Attack, Control, Inﬁltrate, Seize, Conquer, 
   
  
  Possess, Eliminate, and Capture could all indicate alien activity, with almost 
  any of the elements on Table 2 as subjects, particularly Country, City, 
  World,  Head of State, and Resource. 
  STAGE 1: EARLY WARNING SIGNS 
  The invaders scout out whether or not Earth is suitable for invasion. They 
  might looking for some particular resource, or studying Earth’s technology 
  and defenses to see if a conquest will be easy. Scouting may include long-
  range observation (from high orbit or even further out, if the aliens have 
  sophisticated sensors) or close observation by probes or alien scouts. 
  Naturally, the aliens take precautions not to be discovered during this 
  stage. They may have advanced masking or cloaking technology or 
  shapeshifting powers to conceal their presence. Still, heroes may encounter 
  alien scouts in the pursuit of their mission: perhaps a series of unexplained 
  crimes is the result of alien scouts going after samples of technology or 
  resources, or abducting people for study and experimentation. 
  How the heroes confront the invaders during this stage may inﬂuence the 
  progress of the invasion, or whether it even happens at all. On the one 
  hand, a quick and decisive response by the heroes may convince the 
  invaders Earth is too well-defended. Perhaps they can even feed false 
  information back to the invaders via their scouts or probes, encouraging 
  them to give up on their plans. 
  On the other hand, interference from Earthlings may convince the aliens 
  they need to invade, especially if their initial overture was to determine 
  whether or not Earth constitutes a threat—if the heroes prove the answer is 
  a deﬁnite “yes” then the invaders have no choice but to respond! 
  STAGE 2: INVASION! 
  When the actual invasion begins, it may come as a complete surprise. 
  Unless the aliens are completely conﬁdent in their invulnerability to Earth’s 
  defenses, they are likely to at least try the element of surprise, hoping to 
  knock out as many of those defenses as possible before humanity can 
  attempt to ﬁght back. If heroes discovered the invasion plan in Stage 1, the 
  aliens may act quickly to invade before Earth can marshall much of a 
  defense. 
  The classic ﬁrst wave of an invasion is the ominous appearance of a ﬂeet of 
  alien ships in the sky, or giant motherships hovering over capitol cities, 
  disgorging ﬁghters and ground troops. Preceding them may be some type 
  of distraction: a massive energy pulse that disrupts power systems around 
  the world, for example, or a meteor shower engineered by the aliens. The 
  meteors themselves might be “landers” for the invaders, a planetary 
   
  
  bombardment to soften up Earth’s defenses, or just a harmless distraction 
  to cover their approach. 
  In a “secret invasion” scenario, the ﬁrst wave may not even be noticeable 
  until it’s too late and the invaders have made their move. They might 
  already be amongst us, wearing human guises, or the aliens might arrive 
  openly, declaring their friendship and desire to help humanity, but covering 
  up their sinister plans until they are ready to move on to the next stage. In a 
  secret invasion, this stage may overlap with Stage 1, as the aliens continue 
  gathering information and making preparations in secret, leaving clues for 
  the heroes to discover their true intentions. 
  STAGE 3: OCCUPATION 
  If the invasion is successful, the aliens establish a beachhead and 
  consolidate their gains. They may assume effective control over the whole 
  planet, rather than just a region of it. Once an occupation has begun, the 
  invaders work to quell and eliminate resistance and begin pursuing their 
  goals for invading in the ﬁrst place, whether it is taking humans for genetic 
  experimentation, slave labor, breeding, or food, stealing Earth’s resources, 
  or building a hyperspace bypass on a strategic planet as their next move in 
  an interstellar war. 
  How long the occupation lasts depends on the scenario, and the actions of 
  Earth’s defenders. Some alien occupations last no longer than a single 
  adventure, others can last longer, perhaps much longer (see the Our Alien 
  Overlords for some ideas). The length of the occupation also depends on 
  the aliens’ goals, and may impose another deadline: If the invaders plan to 
  destroy Earth, or humanity, once they have seized control, then the heroes 
  have to act quickly! 
  STAGE 4: THE TURNING POINT 
  The turning point in the invasion is when the heroes (or their allies) uncover 
  an important quality of the aliens or their plans that they can use to their 
  advantage. 
  The clues may have been planted during the ﬁrst stages: The mysterious 
  sabotage of the world-wide communications grid is not only to disrupt 
  human response to the invasion, but because the invaders are sensitive to 
  speciﬁc radio wavelengths, which disrupt their own technology or nervous 
  systems. In assuming human forms, the aliens also take on a “Human” 
  quality that can be appealed to. Alien technology has an exploitable 
  weakness, and so forth. 
  The turning point gives the heroes a potential weapon to turn against the 
  invaders, and one they can share with others to do the same. This stage is 
   
  
  typical for fairly short invasions, intended to last for just an adventure or 
  two, with the potential to end quickly. For longer invasion scenarios, the 
  turning point may involve a long and drawn-out struggle, with no easy way 
  of getting rid of the invaders. 
  STAGE 5: THE FINAL BATTLE 
  Whether the culmination of a long and difficult struggle or a lightning 
  reversal after the turning point, the ﬁght against the invaders comes down 
  to a ﬁnal battle that decides whether they will be ousted from Earth or 
  break all resistance (at least for now) perhaps leading into an Our Alien 
  Overlords scenario. 
  Given the challenges the heroes have faced up until this point, they should 
  have built up their Determination Points and learned or created some 
  useful qualities to spend them on in order to gain advantages. This is a 
  good thing, since the ﬁnal battle is usually a ﬁght against all odds. 
  Of course, it doesn’t have to be a “battle” at all. It might be a daring 
  commando raid to seize an alien command center or leader, or to neutralize 
  an alien power source or weapon, forcing the invaders the retreat when 
  they have lost the upper hand. It could likewise be a desperate ﬁnal 
  negotiation with a potential ally, a debate with alien leaders, or resolving a 
  conﬂict or misunderstanding between the invaders and Earth, such as 
  proving to an invading force that humans are not what they have been led 
  to believe. 
   
   
   
  
  “B” is for “Battles” 
   
  While comic book conﬂicts in ICONS often feature heroes and villains 
  ﬁghting one-on-one or in small groups, stories sometimes include much 
  larger battles of entire armies ﬁghting against each other. You can simply 
  use the guidelines for pyramid tests from ICONS to handle battles, usually 
  making them long, competitive pyramid tests. The following system adds 
  some detail while keeping the process of running a large battle fairly 
  abstract and simple. 
  FORCES & ABILITIES 
  A battle is made up of two or more forces in conﬂict. A force is an 
  abstraction of one side in a battle, and may range for an entire army to just 
  a handful of characters, creatures, or machines, depending on its makeup. 
  Just like characters, forces have abilities, rated on the scale from 1–10. 
  Unlike characters, forces have only three abilities: Strength, Prowess, and 
  Willpower. 
   
  
  STRENGTH 
  The Strength of a force is its overall power and ability to withstand attack, 
  which might come from sheer numbers, training, superior equipment or 
  powers, or various other factors. The strongest force in any given battle is 
  Supreme (level 10) with lesser forces given a proportionately lower level. 
  Note that this means a force’s Strength is situational and relative to that of 
  the other forces involved, rather than a set level, and can change from 
  battle to battle, unless the GM wants to set Strength levels proportionate to 
  every force in the setting, much as is done with characters. 
  PROWESS 
  A force’s Prowess serves as its combat effectiveness, combining both 
  tactical and strategic deployment and the ability to execute battle plans. 
  Prowess is the acting and opposing ability in most battle tests. 
  WILLPOWER 
  Lastly, a force’s Willpower measures its morale and discipline, the ability to 
  retain cohesion and keep ﬁghting in difficult conditions, following losses, 
  and so forth. It is the acting ability for morale tests. In same cases, the 
  Game Master may wish to limit a force’s other abilities for tests by 
  Willpower. See Ability Limits under Tests in The Basics chapter of ICONS for 
  details. 
  Example: Dan is setting up a battle between Metaskulk invaders and 
  the united military forces of Earth. The Metaskulks are the Supreme 
  force in this battle, so they have Strength 10. Comparatively, Dan 
  decides that Earth’s forces are a little more than half as powerful, 
  giving them Strength 6. The Metaskulks have considerable combat 
  effectiveness, but so do Earth’s troops, putting the aliens at Prowess 
  6 and Earth at Prowess 5. Lastly, Dan sets the Willpower of the 
  Metaskulk force at 6 and that of the Earth force at 7, since humanity is 
  ﬁghting for the survival of its home planet! 
  BATTLE TESTS 
  Once battle is joined, make an opposed Prowess test for each of the forces. 
  Success inﬂicts the loss of one level of Strength on the other force for each 
  degree (moderate, major, or massive). A marginal success is a tie and 
  inﬂicts no losses, nor does any degree of failure. So ten total degrees of 
  success are required to defeat the Supreme force in the battle, while lesser 
  forces require fewer degrees of success. 
   
  
  If a force is reduced to Strength 0, it is defeated and removed from the 
  battle. If only one force remains, it is victorious. See Losses in Battle, 
  following, for determining the aftermath of the conﬂict. 
  Example: As the Metaskulk ships and troops descend on Earth’s 
  cities, battle begins. Dan and the player representing Earth’s forces 
  each roll a Prowess test: the Metaskulks roll Prowess 6 plus 4 on the 
  die versus a difficulty of Earth’s Prowess 5 plus 2 on the die (a major 
  success for the invaders) while Earth rolls Prowess 5 plus 3 on the die 
  versus the Metaskulks’ Prowess 6 plus 2 on the die, a tie for a 
  marginal success (and no effect for a battle test). Earth’s force loses 
  2 levels of Strength. 
  MULTIPLE FORCES 
  In conﬂicts where there are more than two forces all contending against 
  each other, have each force make an opposed Prowess test against each of 
  the others, reading the results like the battle tests previously. Such multiple 
  force conﬂicts tend to be particularly fast and vicious, especially for the 
  smaller or weaker forces! 
  Example: The alien Zoon are opposed to the Metaskulk invasion of 
  Earth because they claim the right to conquer this world! Zoon forces 
  intercede and ﬁght against the Metaskulks, but they are also working 
  to overcome Earth’s defenders and claim the planet for themselves. 
  The Metaskulks and the Zoon do some damage to each other, but 
  there’s a good chance of them wiping out Earth’s forces in the 
  crossﬁre unless something is done. 
  In the case of two or more allied forces uniting against another, treat the 
  allied forces as a single force with appropriate ability levels as compared to 
  the opposing force, there’s no need to handle the allied forces or their tests 
  separately. 
  Example: An alliance of Earth’s super-criminal masterminds convinces 
  the Zoon to ally with Earth’s forces to repel the Metaskulks, promising 
  them the opportunity to turn on and betray humanity once the other 
  invading force is dealt with and the Zoon are welcomed as allied 
  (naturally, the villains will get ﬁrst pick of places on Earth to rule as 
  the Zoon’s appointed governors). The GM assigns Strength, Prowess, 
  and Willpower levels for the combined forces of Earth and the Zoon 
  against the Metaskulks, creating a much more even conﬂict, with the 
  allies even having a slight edge over the invaders! 
   
  
  MORALE TESTS 
  On any page where a force suffers a loss, that force must make a morale 
  test using Willpower: the base difficulty is 2, +1 per total level of Strength 
  the force has lost in the battle. So a force that suffers a major loss (2 levels 
  of Strength) makes a Willpower test against difficulty 4 (base 2 + 2 for 
  levels of Strength loss). The next test on a loss will be at least difficulty 5 
  (for 1 or more levels of Strength loss), and so forth. 
  Failure on the morale test means the force will retreat, conceding the battle 
  (see Conceding, following). Make one more battle test of Prowess on the 
  following page: unless the force that failed the morale tests scores a 
  massive success on the battle test, the conﬂict is over and the other force 
  wins. 
  A massive failure on a morale test results in a rout: The battle ends 
  immediately with the other force as victor and the losing force scatters, 
  ﬂeeing or surrendering as quickly as possible. 
  Example: In the battle of the Metaskulk invasion force against Earth’s 
  defenders, the Metaskulks score some early victories, resulting in the 
  loss of 2 Strength levels from Earth’s force (reducing it to Strength 
  4). This requires a morale test, using the Willpower 7 of Earth’s force 
  against difficulty 4 (base 2 + 2 for the Strength loss). Fortunately, 
  Earth’s force succeeds with relative ease, and will ﬁght on, despite 
  the odds. With only Strength 4 left, chances are good the Earth’s 
  defenders will ﬁght to the last before their morale breaks. 
  CONCEDING 
  The commander of a force can choose to yield the concede the conﬂict at 
  any time. This ends the battle in the favor of the opposing force without 
  any further battle tests. The conceding force makes one ﬁnal morale test: 
  on a massive failure, there’s a rout (just as with a massive failure on any 
  other morale test). Otherwise, the force surrenders in an orderly fashion. 
  If part of an allied force chooses to concede or otherwise quit the ﬁeld of 
  battle, then the force loses the ability levels granted by that ally, reverting 
  to the levels of the remaining force(s). 
  QUALITIES IN BATTLE 
  Unlike characters, forces do not generally have qualities of their own, 
  although the GM may choose to set up some qualities associated with the 
  battleﬁeld or situation when and where a battle takes place. Characters can 
  also create qualities associated with a force or battle through their actions 
  (see Characters in Battle, following). 
   
  
  During battle, a force can use its panel on a page for a maneuver to 
  activate a quality, rather than making a Prowess test. This means the 
  difficulty for the opposing force’s Prowess test is just the maneuvering 
  force’s Prowess level, without a die roll. 
  Forces can also use tactics to activate qualities, creating trouble for 
  themselves by doing so. This usually reﬂects things like a more aggressive 
  approach that offers improved effort on the Prowess test to attack in 
  exchange for increased difficulty on the test to defend. 
  CHARACTERS IN BATTLE 
  Heroes and villains can also take action during a battle, looking to make a 
  difference in its outcome. This assumes characters are taking key roles in 
  the battle, serving as rallying points or a vanguard to shift the ﬂow of 
  combat in their side’s favor. 
  This is a maneuver, as described under Learning & Creating Qualities in 
  The Basics section of ICONS. The player controlling the maneuvering 
  character chooses an appropriate ability, depending on the character’s 
  described action, and makes a test, typically opposed by one of the enemy 
  force’s abilities (Prowess and Willpower being most common). Success 
  creates the desired quality, and higher degrees of success allow the 
  character’s force to activate that quality a number of times for free to 
  provide advantage or create trouble for the opposing side. 
  Example: Aiding in battle against the undead minions of the God of 
  Death, Miss Tikal uses her Magic to mire the enemy forces and bog 
  them down. The GM decides this maneuver is a test of her Magic 
  against the enemy force’s Prowess, and Miss Tikal’s player gets a 
  moderate success. This allows her to create the quality “Mired” and 
  activate it once for free to impose increased difficulty on the 
  undead’s next Prowess test in the battle, increasing the chances of 
  her own force to overcome their superior numbers. 
  Intervening in battle in this fashion is not without risk: A failed maneuver 
  test means the character suffers some Stamina loss due to damage, stress, 
  or other battle conditions: 2 points of Stamina per degree of failure. 
  Characters brought to 0 Stamina in this way are incapacitated, as usual. 
  Game Masters can treat this much like a Costly pyramid test with the 
  potential Stamina loss as the cost for intervening in a battle (see Pyramid 
  Tests in The Basics chapter of ICONS). 
   
  
  LOSSES IN BATTLE 
  Once a battle is over, you may want to assess losses to each force involved. 
  In some ICONS games, this isn’t important: losses happen “off-panel” and 
  those of the enemy force aren’t that important, particularly is the force is 
  made up of non-humans, or non-living soldiers (like robots, undead, or 
  animated plant creatures, for examples). 
  If you do want to assess losses, have the force make a test using its 
  unmodiﬁed Strength against the difficulty of its unmodiﬁed Strength; each 
  degree of success restores one lost level of Strength, while failure or 
  marginal success have no effect. The remaining lost levels of Strength are 
  the percentage of the force lost as casualties (killed or destroyed). For the 
  Supreme force, each lost level is equal to 10% of the force. For lesser forces, 
  determine the percentage each level of strength is of the force’s total; a 
  Strength 6 force, for example, loses one-sixth of its total as casualties per 
  lost level of Strength. A force reduced to Strength 0 that does not recover 
  any levels of Strength in the aftermath is completely wiped out (100% 
  casualties). 
  COLLATERAL DAMAGE 
  Loss of life amongst the participants is not the only tragic result of battle. 
  There’s also the considerable collateral damage battles may cause, both in 
  terms of bystanders and civilians and destruction of property and 
  infrastructure. 
  Game Masters who want to take this damage into consideration should 
  make an unmodiﬁed test (d6 effort vs. d6 difficulty), adding the Strength 
  levels lost by the victor (if any) to the difficulty and reading the result as an 
  indication of the amount of collateral damage done. A massive success on 
  the test means little or no collateral damage while a massive failure means 
  the area surrounding the battle is practically leveled, with considerable loss 
  of life. 
  Combatants who make a special effort to limit collateral damage grant 
  improved efforts (a +2 bonus) on the test to determine it, at a cost of 
  suffering some trouble of the Game Master’s choice during the battle due 
  to their greater caution. 
   
  
  “C” is for “Cosmic” 
   
  “Cosmic” is both a sub-genre and a power level in superhero comics: 
  adventures occurring out in the vastness of space involving other planets 
  and stars, alien civilizations, and vast, powerful entities. Cosmic characters 
  tend to be quite powerful, operating at a larger scale than heroes 
  concerned with just a single city, nation, or even planet. 
  COSMIC SCALING 
  “Cosmic” is quite often a matter of scale: cosmic adventures occur out 
  amongst the stars, involving tremendous distances, and cosmic characters 
  may have abilities that go beyond even the top levels of the scale given in 
  ICONS. 
  COSMIC ABILITIES 
  “Cosmic” is typically the same as “off the scale” in most ICONS games, so 
  vast and powerful it’s not really worth measuring. In settings and games 
  where it is quantiﬁable, there are basically two approaches to handling 
  cosmic levels of ability: 
   
  
  Extend the Scale: The 1–10 scale is largely for simplicity, and there’s nothing 
  saying that it can’t be extended past 10 almost indeﬁnitely, although there 
  is a point beyond where measuring numerically doesn’t really matter any 
  more. For a cosmic game, you can extend the ICONS scale past level 10 as 
  far as you want. Keep in mind that the best effort any character will achieve 
  without advantage is (ability + 6), so a difference of 5 levels is hugely 
  signiﬁcant. 
  The scale can even become more “granular” at the cosmic levels, not 
  needing to include every intermediate value, but leapfrogging over some of 
  them to add on just a few truly powerful levels, such as: Vast (12), Cosmic 
  (15), and Godlike (20). Cosmic level (15) is such that even a Supreme 
  character will only achieve that level with a massive outcome, and Godlike 
  is as far beyond Supreme on the scale as Supreme is beyond Weak! 
  Cosmic level abilities require some extension of the Benchmarks Table from 
  ICONS, as follows. The “virtually anywhere” distance of level 10 becomes 
  “Stellar” (that is, “virtually anywhere within the same star system”). 
  Recalibrate the Scale: Instead of changing the scale, you can instead 
  change what the scale means. In essence, you shift the descriptions on the 
  Benchmarks Table given in The Basics chapter of ICONS, pushing the lower 
  levels down “off the scale” to make room for even higher levels above. 
  Example: Let’s say you decide that Incredible level is going to be the 
  new “average” on your scale, shifting everything down by four levels. 
  This makes Great (the “human maximum”) the cosmic equivalent of 
  Poor, and Supreme the cosmic equivalent of Incredible. Now you have 
  room to add four more levels (7–10) at the top of the scale with 
  benchmarks higher than those already given. 
  This approach is best suited to series where human-scale abilities are 
  largely irrelevant and mere mortals are no more of a concern to cosmic 
  beings than the ants and other insigniﬁcant creatures that are normally off 
  the low end of the scale in ICONS. This approach keeps the 1–10 scale for 
  simplicity. 
  Level
  Weight
  Material
  Distance
  Speed
  Vast (12)
  Asteriod
  Super-alloy
  Interstellar
  Warp speed
  Cosmic (15)
  Planet
  Dwarf star
  Intergalactic
  Trans-warp
  Godlike (20)
  Star
  Invincible
  Anywhere
  Limitless
   
  
   
  COSMIC CHARACTERS 
  In creating characters for a cosmic ICONS game, the Game Master may want 
  to take a few capabilities into consideration: 
  Life Support: Much of the action in a cosmic series takes place in the void 
  of space or hostile planetary environments, and characters need the ability 
  to survive in such conditions. Game Masters may wish to assign a minimum 
  level of the Life Support power to all characters: Life Support 4 is needed 
  to ignore the airless cold vacuum and radiation of space. Those characters 
  who receive Life Support as a regular power can add the free bonus levels 
  to their rolled level, topping out at 10, as usual. The “free” Life Support 
  levels may be an innate power, derived from a device, or some mix of the 
  two, depending on the characters and the series. 
  Anyone lacking such Life Support suffers 1 Stamina damage per page of 
  exposure to space for each one missing (4 damage per page for all 4). 
  Damage Resistance does not protect against this damage. Upon reaching 0 
  Stamina, the character begins losing Strength, just like a failed test against 
  a killing outcome. 
  Movement: To cover the kind of interstellar (or even intergalactic) distances 
  involved in a cosmic setting, characters need some kind of faster-than-light 
  movement, either the Spaceﬂight extra of Flight or Supreme (or higher 
   
  
  level) Teleportation, perhaps using “star-gates” or “hyperspace.” As with 
  Life Support, this power might be an innate capability or come from a 
  device, particularly a vehicle. A shared space vehicle is a common resource 
  for a team of cosmic characters, possibly also serving as their mobile 
  headquarters and a team quality (see Team Qualities in The Basics chapter 
  of ICONS). 
  Communication: Lastly, there is the question of communicating across 
  interplanetary or interstellar distances. This isn’t as essential a capability as 
  the ﬁrst two and, in fact, may not be available in some cosmic settings. A 
  limit on communication tends to isolate characters in different parts of 
  space, making it more difficult to coordinate and pass on information, while 
  freely available universal communication means characters can call for help 
  or pass information on to each other from almost anywhere. 
  Communication is generally handled by the Super-Senses power, and the 
  GM may wish to require a level of Extended for truly universal (interstellar 
  or intergalactic) communication. Powerful telepaths may also bridge the 
  distance between planets and stars; ICONS is deliberately vague about the 
  maximum range of things like telepathic links for exactly that reason. 
  Any such bonus powers don’t count against starting Determination level for 
  a cosmic series, since all characters are assumed to have them. 
  Power Levels: Given the greater power of cosmic characters, you may wish 
  to increase the results of the Level Determination table by 2, so the 
  minimum rolled level is 3 and the maximum is 10. The maximum adjusted 
  level will depend on how you’ve adjusted the scale (see Cosmic Abilities, 
  previously). This adjustment to level determination applies to powers as 
  well as attributes. For the point-based character option, consider increasing 
  the number of points to at least 60 for cosmic characters. 
  COSMIC CHALLENGES 
  Everything in the cosmic genre is big: rather than protecting a city, the 
  heroes are out to protect the galaxy or the entire universe. Likewise, rather 
  than saving the world from conquest or destruction, they save the cosmos 
  on a semi-regular basis. When coming up with stories, themes, and 
  antagonists for cosmic ICONS adventures think BIG! 
  You can use the same guidelines from Destroying a Planet to save one, and 
  perform similar feats of cosmic awesomeness. Essentially, a difficulty 15 
  pyramid test (that is, a massive success on a difficulty 15 test) should be 
  enough to accomplish pretty much anything with higher difficulties 
  reserved for truly Godlike accomplishments. Saving the entire cosmos (or 
  omniverse), for example, might be a difficulty 16–20 pyramid test for 
  Godlike characters. 
   
  
  ACTION IN SPACE 
  Slam outcomes in the microgravity of space result in the slammed target 
  moving continuously in a straight line until impacting an obstacle of some 
  sort. The GM may wish to give a slammed hero the opportunity for a 
  Coordination test to grab onto something before being thrown off into 
  empty space unless there is someone else able to catch them! Targets in 
  microgravity can potentially be slammed regardless of comparative 
  Strength and damage levels. 
  POWERS IN SPACE 
  The primary issue with powers in space is the lack of an atmospheric 
  medium or gravity. So, for example, Fire Control is largely ineffective 
  without oxygen to feed ﬂames. Likewise Sonic Control—and other powers 
  dependent on sound waves—cannot carry through airless vacuum. 
  Although objects in space have little or no weight, they do still have mass, 
  which affects powers used to lift or move things. So a hero with Earth 
  Control can still move the same mass of space rock as ordinary earthbound 
  stone, and Telekinesis still affects the same mass whether on Earth or in 
  space. 
  As with the aquatic environment, the GM can treat the inability to use some 
  powers in space as a temporary challenge, tagging it and awarding the 
  hero’s player Determination. The player, in turn, can use that Determination 
  for some creative stunts to get around the limitations of operating in space. 
  COSMIC DISTANCES 
  Space is big and, once you leave the conﬁnes of the surface of a planet, 
  distances become a whole different story. Game Masters may want to 
  modify abstract and benchmark distances when dealing with events 
  happening Out There. 
  Generally speaking, extended distance attacks should be useful in things 
  like space dogﬁghts and similar battles, even if the actual distance between 
  targets is much more than it would be on the surface of a planet. Visual 
  distance can be quite far, without a horizon to block line of sight or 
  atmospheric distortion to limit it. The GM should decide if, for example, 
  being able to see a distant star (that is actually many light years away) 
  counts as “visual”. 
  Abilities reaching beyond visual distance, or at the “nearly anywhere” 
  benchmark of level 10 should be able to extend universally, unless the GM 
  wants to reﬁne the benchmarks to account for cosmic level abilities, as 
  described previously. 
   
  
  COSMIC ENTITIES 
  Superhero universes are full of powerful cosmic entities, embodiments of 
  fundamental forces or ancient alien beings so far in advance of humanity 
  that they are to us what we are to single-celled organisms in terms of their 
  power and knowledge. From time to time, these entities take an interest in 
  Earth and its inhabitants, or their conﬂicts spill over to affect humanity or 
  involve Earth’s defenders, its superheroes. 
  Whether or not cosmic entities are off the scale (having no capabilities 
  measurable at those levels) or possess cosmic levels of ability depends on 
  how the series handles them (see Cosmic Abilities, previously). Since 
  cosmic levels of ability are somewhat compressed, making all such entities 
  seem the same (all having Godlike abilities, for example) an important area 
  to differentiate cosmic entities tends to be their qualities, which also 
  provide heroes with ways to interact with them, by activating the entity’s 
  qualities to gain advantage or to create trouble for the entity, such as 
  compelling a particular action (or using a compel to prevent or delay an 
  action, like say destroying the Earth). 
   
   
   
  
  “D” is for “Demons” 
   
  …and devils, and other dark denizens of the daemonic dimensions. 
  Demons of various sorts show up in superhero settings as antagonists, 
  minions of sorcerers, scheming master-villains, and even occasional heroes, 
  working—if not “on the side of the angels”—at least against the bad guys 
  for the beneﬁt of humanity. 
  DEMONIC DIMENSIONS 
  Where do demons come from? In most superhero universes (multiverses, 
  really) there are myriad other dimensions. Some are parallel worlds while 
  others are realms of imagination—or nightmare. Demonic or “hell” 
  dimensions are strikingly similar to mythic and religious hells from human 
  religion. Did these hellish realms inspire earthly prophets and religious 
  teachers or did their faiths create infernal other-worlds for the punishment 
   
  
  of the damned? No one can say for sure, and the demons themselves are 
  infamous liars. 
  Demonic dimensions tend to appear like classic mythic “underworld” 
  places: vast cave and tunnel complexes, often ﬁlled with lakes or rivers of 
  ﬁre or molten lava, which may or may not contain (or be made up of) 
  tormented souls. Their tunnels and passages are maze-like and confusing 
  places where one could wander, lost forever, without guidance. Some 
  feature speciﬁc strongholds of archﬁends and other infernal powers, who 
  have shaped the realm to suit them, gathering their followers and 
  underlings around them. 
  Demons get to Earth from their home dimensions either via the 
  Dimensional Travel power or by being summoned by mortals (see Demon 
  Summoning). At the GM’s discretion, demonic dimensions might have a 
  higher initial difficulty to visit than the base 3 difficulty given for the 
  Dimensional Travel power in ICONS. 
  DEMONIC CULTS 
  Demons—particularly powerful ones—tend to attract cults of mortal 
  followers, usually believing service to a demon will be rewarded with 
  earthly power and the fulﬁllment of their desires. These cults work to 
  further the demon’s schemes on the earthly plane, usually arranging for 
  some type of summoning ritual, allowing the demon to manifest there, or 
  acquiring sacriﬁces or arcane offerings to enhance their master’s power. 
  The Cultist from the Stock Characters section of ICONS covers most rank-
  and-ﬁle members of demonic cults. Cult-leaders may simply be cultists with 
  higher abilities, more levels in Occult and related specialties, possibly even 
  levels in the Magic power, or full-ﬂedged villains in their own right. 
  DEMONIC QUALITIES 
  The primary quality for demons is simply “Demon” or “Demonic” or related 
  qualities like Infernal, Hellish, Devilish, and so forth. These can represent all 
  of the things associated with demons, from their otherworldly and infernal 
  nature to their occult power and their vulnerabilities involving holy items, 
  hallowed ground, and potentially substances like silver or cold iron. It can 
  also include (understandably) prejudiced reactions or fears, and trouble like 
  demon-hunters who are not interested in the nuances of Creatures of the 
  Pit who are looking to do good, and think the only “good” demon is a 
  banished or destroyed one. 
   
  
  A related quality describes the demonic tendency towards evil, which can 
  be a part of the general Demon quality, or something separate. This can 
  include things like demonic possession, where a character has a 
  “Possessed” quality to reﬂect the presence of a demon inﬂuencing the 
  character’s actions. The possessing demon can grant certain advantages, 
  but also creates all kinds of trouble, including compulsions and strange 
  disabilities (like vulnerabilities traditionally associated with demons). 
  THE LEGIONS OF HELL 
  Demons come in many forms. The following are some of the major types 
  that show up in the superhero comics, for use in your own ICONS games. 
  IMP 
  Specialties: Occult 
  Powers: Damage Resistance 2, Extra Body Parts (Tail 3, Wings 3), Life 
  Support 10, Teleport 3 
  Qualities: Demonic Imp, Devilish Cunning, Easily Underestimated 
  Among the lowest castes of demons, imps tend to be small, vicious 
  creatures sent to serve demon summoners. Still, imps are cunning and 
  mortals underestimate them at their peril. 
  TEMPTER 
  Specialties: Performance (Acting) Master, Psychology Expert 
  Powers: Emotion Control 6, Energy Drain 4, Life Support 10, Transformation 
  (Humanoids) 5 
  Qualities: Demonic Tempter, Let’s Make a Deal, Not What It Appears 
  Tempers exist to prey on human weakness and desire and bargain for 
  things ranging from seemingly innocuous favors to ownership of souls, 
  which they can turn over to their infernal masters to curry favor. 
  PROWESS
  COORD.
  STRENGTH
  INTELLECT
  AWARENESS
  WILLPOWER
  STAMINA
  3
  4
  2
  3
  3
  4
  6
  PROWESS
  COORD.
  STRENGTH
  INTELLECT
  AWARENESS
  WILLPOWER
  STAMINA
  3
  3
  4
  3
  5
  5
  9
   
  
  WARRIOR 
  Specialties: Blades, Bludgeons, Throwing 
  Powers: Damage Resistance 3, Life Support 10, Strike 5 (demonic weapon) 
  Qualities: Fights Like the Devil, Infernal Soldier 
  Warrior demons are the mainline shock-troops and soldiers of the infernal 
  realms, the prime constituents of its legions. 
  BRUTE 
  Specialties: Wrestling 
  Powers: Damage Resistance 5, Life Support 10 
  Qualities: Hulking Demon, Savage Brute 
  Brute demons are just what their name implies: sheer muscle, used to bully 
  and push around less powerful creatures (including other demons) and to 
  do physical grunt-work. Brute demons are known to not be very bright, 
  although some powerful brutes have been around long enough to develop 
  their cunning and intellect. 
  POSSESSOR 
  Specialties: Occult Expert, Psychology Expert 
  Powers: Ghost Form 7, Life Support 10, Mind Control 7 (Merge) 
  Qualities: Demonic Presence, Unseen Inﬂuence 
  The opposite of the Brute, a Possessor demon has no physical presence at 
  all. Instead, it is a malign force that takes over the body of a host, ideally an 
  innocent human being, granting that host certain demonic powers and 
  PROWESS
  COORD.
  STRENGTH
  INTELLECT
  AWARENESS
  WILLPOWER
  STAMINA
  5
  3
  4
  2
  3
  4
  8
  PROWESS
  COORD.
  STRENGTH
  INTELLECT
  AWARENESS
  WILLPOWER
  STAMINA
  4
  3
  6
  1
  2
  3
  9
  PROWESS
  COORD.
  STRENGTH
  INTELLECT
  AWARENESS
  WILLPOWER
  STAMINA
  0
  0
  0
  3
  4
  5
  5
   
  
  using their body to cause evil in the world. Getting rid of a Possessor 
  demon without harming the host usually requires some type of exorcism, 
  casting out the evil spirit while (hopefully) leaving the host unharmed. 
  MONSTER 
  “Monster” is a catch-all for the vast array of nightmare creatures spat out 
  by the bottomless pits of the hell-dimensions, ranging from scorpion-men 
  to hell-hounds, or tentacled things that should never see the light of day.  
  You can easily create some demonic monsters by applying powers like 
  Damage Resistance and Life Support along with demonic qualities to some 
  of the creatures from the ICONS book, particularly predatory animals. 
  ARCHFIEND 
  Finally, there are the archﬁends, the self-proclaimed Rulers of the Pit, those 
  demons who have risen to power over their kind, often forging vast 
  dominions in their own dimensions, with legions of servants and underlings. 
  DEMON SUMMONING 
  Characters with the Servant power from ICONS may be able to summon 
  demons, particularly with the Variable extra from Great Power, allowing 
  Summon to call up a wide range of demons. A few “boss” level demons 
  have the Servant power themselves, calling upon their demonic underlings 
  to do their bidding. 
  Those lacking Servant (or the ability to mimic it using another power like 
  Magic) have to make do with demon summoning rituals. An Occult Master 
  can perform a summoning ritual as a stunt using the guidelines from Icons: 
  a summoner with advantage can duplicate the effects of the Servant power 
  at a chosen level. Typically, the summoner gains advantage through a 
  maneuver, performing a ritual and making a test of Willpower (plus Occult 
  specialty) against the difficulty of the desired Servant level. 
  Demon summoning is dangerous enough for Occult Masters; it is especially 
  foolhardy for those with a lesser level of the specialty, or no Occult 
  specialty at all. Normally, they would be incapable of performing a stunt to 
  gain the Servant power. Unfortunately for mortals, and fortunately for 
  demons, would-be summoners can choose (knowingly or not) to open 
  themselves up to the trouble of “demonic bargaining.” In essence, they 
  accept the trouble of drawing a demon to them, hoping they can come out 
  ahead in the end. Most don’t. 
   
  
  HELLFIRE CONTROL 
  You can summon and control hellﬁre, also known as soul-ﬁre or demon-ﬁre, 
  a ﬁre-like mystical energy capable of causing excruciating pain to living 
  beings through direct stimulation of a person's life force (or soul). Hellﬁre 
  does not physically burn in the sense that true ﬁre does, but can be 
  perceived by its target as heat if its wielder wills it. 
  You can make a hellﬁre blasting or shooting attack (choose one when you 
  acquire this power); make a Coordination versus Coordination test for the 
  attack and use your power level for the damage, ignoring Damage 
  Resistance, but not Mental or Magical Resistance. As an extra, you can 
  choose between a blasting or shooting attack each time you attack with 
  your hellﬁre. 
  For random character creation purposes, treat Hellﬁre Control as a form of 
  Energy Control (see the Powers chapter of ICONS). 
  EXTRAS 
  Standard: Reversible, Slow Recovery 
  Powers: Affliction, Aura, Blast, Dazzle, Dimensional Travel, Emotion Control 
  (fear and hate only), Energy Drain, Servant (summoned demons)  
  Hellﬁre Weapons: You can form close combat weapons out of hellﬁre, 
  giving you a slashing Strike attack at your power level. 
  Hellride: You can form a mount or vehicle of hellﬁre to carry you, giving 
  you Flight or Super-Speed at your Hellﬁre level (choose one). 
  Tormenting Stare: At a personal distance, you can glare into a target’s eyes. 
  Roll a test of your Hellﬁre Control vs. the target’s Willpower, reading the 
  results like a Stunning attack. 
  LIMITS 
  Standard: Blocked, Performance (Ritual), Tiring, Uncontrolled 
   
  
  “E” is for 
  “Environments” 
   
  Superheroic adventure doesn’t just happen on (and above) the city streets, 
  heroes visit all sorts of exotic locales in the pursuit of their calling, and 
  ICONS Game Masters should be prepared to take their heroes from the 
  bottom of the ocean or the depths of the Earth into the vastness of space 
  and beyond. This section looks at some different environments for ICONS 
  adventures and how to handle them in the game. 
  AQUATIC 
  Superheroes end up beneath the waves for any number of reasons: sunken 
  civilizations, pursuing aquatic creatures, exploring the ocean depths, or 
  perhaps the underwater world is already their home! Whatever the case, if 
   
  
  you take the plunge with your ICONS game and go underwater, there are 
  some things to consider. 
  DROWNING 
  First and foremost: how are the heroes going to breathe? As detailed under 
  Exhaustion in the Taking Action chapter of ICONS, characters holding their 
  breath must make an escalating Strength test each page to avoid 
  unconsciousness and drowning: the difficulty increases by +1 per page until 
  the character can take a breath. Even the strongest heroes can only last so 
  long. Obviously, those with the Aquatic power have no concerns, but the 
  rest need some way to keep breathing. 
  They may have access to underwater equipment like SCUBA gear or 
  miniature “rebreathers” that can stave off the need for Strength tests for a 
  short while (anywhere from 10 to 20 pages). You can provide the heroes 
  with this gear as part of the plot, or they might spend Determination to 
  retcon having it around. Similarly, a hero might be able to use Gadgets or a 
  stunt of a specialty like Occult or Technology to whip up some underwater 
  breathing gear for the team, from something SCUBA-like to personal life-
  support ﬁelds or even magical spells or amulets of water-breathing! 
  UNDERWATER MOVEMENT 
  By deﬁnition, movement underwater requires either swimming or some 
  other means of propulsion. See Swimming under Movement in the Taking 
  Action chapter of ICONS. 
  Aquatic characters move at a speed based on their level, as noted for the 
  power. Treat Flight as an equivalent level of Aquatic while underwater—
  slowed by the greater resistance—provided the power works in that 
  medium at all. (See Powers Underwater, following, for some possible 
  adjustments.) 
  Most other movement powers either work unchanged underwater 
  (Dimensional Travel, Teleportation) or don’t work at all (Leaping, Swinging). 
  Also note that any level of the Density power gives the character negative 
  buoyancy; while the power is active, the hero literally sinks like a stone! 
  UNDERWATER CONFLICT 
  The Underwater Combat specialty increases the character’s combat tests 
  underwater. Aquatic characters also beneﬁt from an increase in 
  Coordination and Awareness while submerged, giving them an added 
  advantage in combat (along with not having to worry about breathing, of 
  course). 
   
  
  Underwater targets have less bracing, and can be slammed regardless of 
  comparative Strength and damage levels. 
  POWERS UNDERWATER 
  The underwater environment affects how some powers work. 
  Powers relying on combustion, like Fire Control or ﬁery Blasts, do not work 
  underwater. Air Control only works if the character has the ability to 
  generate air. Otherwise, there’s very little to control. Water Control, 
  conversely, works much like Air Control, commanding the medium all 
  around the characters, even creating strong currents in place of “winds.” 
  Plant Control works on kelp, seaweed, and other underwater plants, but 
  may be limited away from them in open water. 
  Light-based powers tend to be limited due to the way water refracts light. 
  Laser Blasts tend to scatter, as do light-based Blinding attacks. On the 
  other hand, sound carries more easily through water than air, so sonic 
  attacks may affect all targets in a close distance, much like an explosive 
  blast. The same is true for electricity, but the difficulty is such attacks can 
  be difficult to limit to just one target! 
  As previously mentioned, some movement powers are reduced in effect 
  underwater. Flight and Super-Speed provide, at best, the equivalent speed 
  of the same level of the Aquatic power (half power level) due to the denser 
  medium. Some forms of Flight, like wings or rockets, won’t work at all due 
  to the lack of air. 
  Most other powers work normally underwater, so long as they are not 
  dependent on air as a medium or upon something else not found in the 
  aquatic environment. For example, Animal Control limited to avians is of 
  little use, as is Interface, unless the heroes happen to be someplace (like a 
  sea-base or submarine) with underwater electronics. 
  In situations where a character is a real “ﬁsh out of water” in the aquatic 
  realm (so to speak), the GM can treat the trouble of powers working poorly 
  or not at all as a challenge or disability, awarding the player Determination. 
  So, for example, when the heroes venture beneath the waves to negotiate 
  with the Lost Kingdom of Atlantis and come under attack, and the ﬂame-
  controlling hero’s powers prove useless, you can award his player some 
  Determination. 
  The good part about this is players can turn the added Determination 
  towards stunts intended to compensate for the challenges of the 
  environment. Perhaps the ﬂame-controlling hero can learn to superheat the 
  water, for example, or turn to other strengths. Encourage clever ideas and 
  innovation from the players, as always. 
   
  
  HEAT & COLD 
  Heroes can end up in places from burning deserts to arctic blizzards, or 
  alien environments just as extreme (or more so). Normal variations of 
  temperature are of little concern, but if characters spend a considerable 
  amount of time in a particularly hot or cold environment without proper 
  care or protection, they may have problems. Treat exposure as exhaustion 
  (see Exhaustion in the Taking Action chapter of ICONS) with Strength tests 
  to avoid collapse. A complete collapse due to exposure results in the 
  character losing Strength levels like a killing outcome, unless treatment is 
  received immediately. 
  Temperature extremes can create trouble for characters in other ways as 
  well. Some may be especially vulnerable or sensitive to heat or cold, 
  running into challenges or disabilities (and earning Determination for 
  them). An ice- or cold-base hero, for example, might suffer greatly from 
  heat exposure. On the other hand, such a character might have built-in “air 
  conditioning” and actually be less affected! Conversely, a plant-based hero 
  may have a difficult time when it’s below freezing and all of the plants are 
  withering! 
  Similarly, temperature extremes can cause trouble for powers and devices, 
  which may be less effective—or not work at all—when it is especially hot or 
  cold. Using powers to create ice or water in a hot, arid, environment, for 
  example, may result in a reduced effect, or none at all, while extreme cold 
  might freeze up mechanisms from vehicles to power armor. 
  UNDERGROUND 
  There is a lot going on beneath the surface of most superheroic worlds: lost 
  civilizations, vast cave and tunnel complexes inhabited by mole people, 
  dwarves, or magma men (or all of these), passages to the “center of the 
  Earth” where dinosaurs still roam, and so forth. Here are some guidelines 
  for when adventures take the heroes beneath the earth. 
  SURVIVAL 
  Assuming the heroes ﬁnd sufficient passages and tunnels to take them 
  underground, their primary concerns are having sufficient air to breathe 
  and the potential for collapses and cave-ins. 
  Running out of air results in suffocation similar to drowning (see Aquatic, 
  previously): escalating Strength tests to avoid unconsciousness and loss of 
  Strength. This only occurs once the heroes are actually out of oxygen; more 
  often, the threat in an underground adventure is being trapped and having 
   
  
  to escape before the available air is exhausted, potentially handled as a 
  timed pyramid test, possibly balanced or collapsing, if conditions are 
  precarious. 
  Underground tunnels and caverns are often unstable, particularly with the 
  kind of force superheroes are known to exert. Most of the materials around 
  them are Strength 6. Any attack which misses its target within range of a 
  nearby surface may trigger a collapse: total the levels of damage striking 
  the surrounding area, subtract the material’s Strength, and roll a die, if the 
  result on the die is less than the value, there is a cave-in. If not, nothing 
  happens, but damage to the area continues to accumulate. 
  Example: Volcano and some allies have cornered some of Gorn’s Molten 
  Men in a cavern and a ﬁght breaks out. Volcano carefully blocks a Molten 
  Man’s attack, but Electric Judy dodges out the way and the Molten Man hits 
  the cave wall. He has Strength 8, inﬂicting 2 points of damage above the 
  wall’s Strength 6. The GM rolls a die and gets a 3. That’s not less than the 2 
  total damage, so while the wall cracks a bit, nothing happens. Then Thruster 
  blasts at one of the Molten Men... “Thruster, no!” Volcano calls out, too late. 
  Thruster misses. His level 8 Blast of Tau energy strikes the cave wall for 
  another 2 damage. The GM rolls the die again... and gets a 2. The cavern 
  shakes and collapses. 
  A collapse does level 3 damage to all characters in the area plus an amount 
  equal to the accumulated damage that caused the collapse (or simply  3 
  plus the roll of one die, if you prefer). Characters are pinned under debris 
  and must have a Strength at least equal to the damage level to pull free. 
  Otherwise they suffer the same damage each page until they reach 
  Stamina 0 and begin losing Strength. Other characters can help a pinned 
  character get free (see Combined Effort in The Basics chapter of ICONS). 
  Example: Thruster’s blast collapses the cavern. The collapse does level 7 
  damage to everyone there (3, plus the accumulated 4 levels of damage) 
  and they need Strength 7 or better to pull themselves free from the rubble 
  to avoid taking another 7 damage each page thereafter. 
  PERCEPTION 
  Unless there are light sources in place (artiﬁcial lightning, luminescent moss 
  or fungi, glowing crystal deposits, etc.) characters will not be able to see 
  much, if at all, deep underground. All actions requiring vision have +2 
  difficulty and the GM may call for Coordination or Awareness tests to avoid 
  blundering into obstacles or hazards. 
   
  
  MOVEMENT 
  Movement underground is limited to available tunnels or passages unless 
  characters have powers like Burrowing or Phasing (or can stunt them off of 
  their existing powers). In some situations, the GM may call for tests of 
  Coordination to slip through tight passages or narrow openings, with failure 
  meaning the character gets stuck and must make another test to get free. 
  High levels of Strength can potentially widen narrow spaces by force, but at 
  the risk of causing a cave-in or collapse (see Survival, previously). 
  POWERS 
  Most powers are unaffected by the underground environment, although 
  some Elemental Control powers—Water and Weather, for example—may be 
  less effective when their user is surrounded by tons of earth and stone. 
  Earth Control, on the other hand, has plenty to work with! 
  Heroes mainly need to be concerned about the potential of causing 
  collapses with their damaging powers (see Survival, previously) and some 
  other side effects, like ﬂame-based powers burning up the available oxygen 
  in an area. The GM should feel free to consider heroes seriously hindered by 
  the environment facing a challenge and award their players Determination. 
   
   
  
  “F” is for “Fear” 
   
  Heroes and villains alike in the comics use fear as a weapon, heroes striking 
  at the heart of a “superstitious cowardly lot” and villains obsessed with the 
  power that sheer terror gives them over people. Heroes face fearsome 
  challenges and ﬁnd the courage to overcome them. Sometimes they 
  encounter monsters out of myth and legend, or sanity-blasting horrors 
  from beyond reality. What are the ways of incorporating an element of fear 
  into your ICONS games? 
   
  
  FEARSOME QUALITIES 
  First and foremost, fear—like other character emotions—arises out of 
  different qualities in ICONS. Fear is one aspect of activating a particular 
  quality, and has as wide a range as the qualities themselves. 
  Some qualities are obviously associated with fears: A character with a 
  “Claustrophobic” quality, or any “-phobic” quality, is clearly afraid of 
  something. The GM can activate that quality to cause trouble related to the 
  character’s fear, while sometimes the character may draw strength and 
  Determination from overcoming that fear, an opportunity for the player to 
  activate the quality for advantage. 
  Other qualities may have the seeds of fear within them. Relationship 
  qualities like “In Love with X,” “Sense of Duty/Responsibility” or a particular 
  supporting character listed as a quality can lead to fears of loss, break-up, 
  or harm befalling that character. Similarly, a threat or enemy associated 
  with a quality can be fearsome, perhaps triggering deep-seated fears or 
  trauma. 
  Even seemingly unrelated qualities can be associated with fears. A 
  “Patriotic” hero might fear for the future of the nation or fear becoming a 
  political pawn. An “Industrialist Inventor” could fear the misguided 
  applications of technology, or that inventions are not enough to help 
  people. Characters with particular codes of ethics or inspirations may fear 
  failing to live up to them, and so forth. Almost any quality can contain an 
  element of fear, if you look at it in the right way. 
  Game Masters commonly activate qualities for fear to create trouble. The 
  most common is a compulsion: fear causing someone to act irrationally or 
  against their best interests, but it can just as easily be a moment of 
  hesitation (lost panel) or a weakening of resolve (increased difficulty). Fear 
  can be paralyzing or even undermine conﬁdence so severely that a 
  character is unable to function normally (disability). Fear-based challenges 
  tend to be a consequence of actions taken out of fear, although it can also 
  represent bringing a fearsome element into play, such as having a feared 
  opponent unexpectedly show up, or a phobia “coincidentally” occur. 
  Note, as always, that players can also activate their qualities to cause this 
  kind of trouble for their characters, if they want to bring a character’s fears 
  to light and earn some Determination Points for doing so. Bringing out a 
  hero’s fears in play can be an excellent spotlight for learning about the 
  character, as well as a great roleplaying opportunity. 
   
  
  INTIMIDATION 
  Heroes and villains often use force, and threats, to cow their opponents into 
  cooperating: heroes may rely on fear both to keep criminals off-balance 
  and to interrogate them for information. 
  In ICONS terms, intimidation is a maneuver (see Maneuvering in the Taking 
  Action chapter), usually relying on Willpower: as your action, roll a test of 
  Willpower against the target’s Willpower. You’re looking to create an 
  “Intimidated” quality for your target; marginal success means you create it 
  and can then activate it normally. A moderate or better success means you 
  also get to activate the quality for free (once per degree of success above 
  marginal). 
  Example: Hangman, about to confront Speed Demon, wants to use fear and 
  intimidation to take away the advantage of the villain’s super-speed. So he 
  looms up, his shadow falling across the villain, and dropping the loop of the 
  Noose of Justice so it is clearly visible. “Going somewhere…?” Hangman 
  asks in an ominous tone. 
  Hangman’s player rolls a 4 on the die, adding the hero’s Good (5) Willpower 
  for an effort of 9. The GM rolls a 3 for Speed Demon, adding his Fair (4) 
  Willpower for a difficulty of 7. Hangman’s player also spends a point of 
  Determination to activate the hero’s “Grim Guardian of the Gallows” quality, 
  applying improved effort to the test (increasing Hangman’s effort from 9 to 
  11). That is a major success (11 effort – 7 difficulty), garnering Hangman two 
  free activations of the “Intimidated” quality he places on Speed Demon, 
  who gulps in fear at the hero’s appearance. He uses the ﬁrst to impose the 
  lost panel trouble on the villain as Speed Demon hesitates and Hangman 
  leaps into action! 
  Note that, rather than imposing a quality on the target, characters can use 
  an intimidation maneuver to give themselves a temporary quality of being 
  more fearsome or intimidating. This is useful for those who do not have 
  such qualities regularly. It’s also a way to use abilities other than Willpower 
  to lend the character the necessary quality—any ability can be intimidating 
  if the character shows it off in the right way. 
  For example, All-American Girl isn’t particularly intimidating, but when she 
  gets really mad … watch out! Her player could use a maneuver to give All-
  American Girl the temporary “You Don’t Want to Make Me Angry” quality, 
  and potentially gain one or more free activations of it. Of course, the 
  drawback of gaining such a quality is that others might be able to activate 
  it as well, such as a villain taking advantage of All-American Girl losing her 
  temper to cause trouble for America’s Sweetheart. 
   
  
  FEAR AND MADNESS 
  Fear can go beyond mere intimidation or a sudden fright into trauma that 
  threatens the victim’s sanity, causing lasting harm. 
  Growing inﬂuence of madness and the crumbling of a character’s sanity can 
  be handled through a pyramid test (see The Basics chapter of ICONS). The 
  following modiﬁer may apply: 
  • Collapsing if the pyramid loses successes over time, meaning the 
  character recovers from the shock and fright and eliminates some of the 
  accumulated successes. This reﬂects the hazards of a rapid succession of 
  traumatic shocks versus time to recover. 
  • Escalating if, the more the victim experiences, the worse it becomes, and 
  the more difficult it is to resist further trauma. 
  • Fragile if outside aid or treatment can remove accumulated successes. 
  This can be anything from therapy and psychic assistance to just having a 
  chance to receive comfort from a friend. 
  • Long or Wide to draw out the process, requiring more degrees of success 
  to the character’s mind to truly crumble under the weight of all of the fear 
  and horror. 
  Like short-term fear, madness imposes qualities on the victim, ranging from 
  speciﬁc phobias or behaviors to a general “Madness” or “Insanity” quality. 
  At moderate and major degrees, the madness qualities are short-lived, 
  lasting for only pages or minutes, but a massive degree of madness makes 
  the quality essentially permanent unless the character receives some kind 
  of treatment to facilitate recovery. 
  FEAR POWERS 
  A number of different powers interact with or use fear in a variety of ways: 
  DREAM CONTROL 
  This is a common power for nightmare-creating charters, able to inﬁltrate 
  dreams and dredge up the victim’s deepest fears. It often has the Psychic 
  extra of Illusion (following) and a dream-thief or nightmare creature may 
  also have Fear Absorption (following) to enhance its powers. 
  EMOTION CONTROL 
  The primary power for creating and controlling is Emotion Control, of 
  course, potentially limited to Fear Only. It creates and imposes fear-related 
  qualities on targets, essentially using the same approach as Intimidation 
   
  
  (previously) but potentially lasting for much longer, with greater 
  opportunities to activate that quality for compels or other types of 
  advantage or trouble. 
  Emotion Control may be a mental power, but it can just as easily come from 
  other sources. For some it is a magical or mystical ability, either an 
  enchantment or an innate power for a fear-mongering demon or nightmare 
  being. In other cases, Emotion Control is scientiﬁc, ranging from 
  biochemical compounds delivered in a variety of different ways to 
  subliminal ultrasonics or radiation stimulating the fear centers of the brain. 
  FEAR ABSORPTION 
  A character—usually a villain—may “feed” on fear, becoming more powerful 
  the more others’ fears grow. Generally speaking, this is an example of 
  Ability Boost, with the Source limit. The level of Ability Boost sets the 
  upper limit of how much fear the character can absorb, while the ambient 
  level of fear sets a limit of how much “energy” is available to improve the 
  character’s abilities. The Ability Boost may have extras broadening the 
  abilities it enhances as well. 
  A character can also have a “Feeds on Fear” quality, which can be activated 
  to grant advantage when the character has fear to draw upon, but also 
  causes trouble, since the character is dependent on fear, and may suffer 
  disability when deprived of it, or be compelled to create and feed upon it. 
  ILLUSION 
  The Illusion power (and Images as well) can add the following extra: 
  Psychic: Your power taps into the target’s mind to produce its effect, 
  lending support from the target’s own thoughts, emotions, and 
  expectations. You can use your power to learn the target’s qualities as well 
  as impose them through maneuvers, creating illusions like your target’s 
  greatest fear, heart’s desire, and so forth. 
  Naturally, fear-based illusions often have Limited to Fears in addition to the 
  Psychic extra, suitable for a character who only creates terrifying illusions 
  out of the victim’s subconscious. 
  RESISTANCE 
  Mental Resistance generally protects against fear-based attacks, although 
  some biological forms of fear (see Emotion Control, previously) might 
  work around it. A character can also have a Limited Resistance to Fear, 
  which only works against fear-based effects. This reﬂects a character with a 
  speciﬁc resistance to having fear imposed from outside inﬂuences; for 
  someone who is generally more courageous and fearless overall, increase 
   
  
  the character’s Willpower level and add qualities like “Courageous” and 
  “Without Fear”. 
  SERVANT 
  More than just conjuring up illusions and nightmare images of people’s 
  worst fears, this power, coupled with the Psychic and Variable Extras, and 
  possibly Limited to Fears, can literally summon “creatures from the id”—
  turning a target’s worst fear into reality. Arachnophobia becomes a swarm 
  of spiders or a giant spider-monster, while fear of clowns (coulrophobia) 
  could be a group of demonic clowns or a giant monster in greasepaint and 
  ﬂoppy shoes. 
  MOB SCENES 
  “A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals,” says 
  Agent Kay in Men in Black. Fear is a force that creates mobs and drives 
  them. 
  Rather than dealing with a mob as individuals, you can handle it as a single 
  entity in ICONS game terms, with its own ability levels. In particular, a mob 
  effectively has the Burst extra (see Extras in the Powers chapter of ICONS) 
  on its attacks: able to simultaneously attack all targets within reach of the 
  mob. The ability to gang-up on targets may also grant a mob slightly 
  greater effective Prowess and Strength compared to its individual 
  members. 
  A mob’s Willpower largely represents the forces driving it and holding the 
  mob together. The mob’s Stamina is a combination of its physical make-up 
  (effectively increased Strength) and this drive, or Willpower. You can base a 
  deliberately created mob’s Willpower on the level of the effect that created 
  it, be it a power like Emotion Control or the Willpower level of an instigator. 
  Example: The Serpent Sphinx whips up a mob of mind-blitzed 
  bystanders to distract and delay the heroes. The people making up 
  the mob are strictly Average, but the GM decides the mob as a whole 
  has Fair (4) Prowess and Strength and Great (6) Willpower from the 
  Sphinx’s Great Mind Control. That gives the mob as a whole Stamina 
  10 and the GM gives it Poor (2) Damage Resistance to Bashing and 
  Blasting, representing that little bumps and bruises aren’t going to 
  deter it. If the Sphinx’s power lets him keep replenishing the mob 
  with more and more people, the GM can assign it a Regeneration 
  level as well. The mob has the Burst extra on its attacks, able to affect 
  any target within close range of any part of the mob. 
   
  
  “G” is for 
  “Golden Age” 
   
  The Golden Age of comic books, from the late 1930s until the 1950s, 
  encompasses both a more innocent and a more raw portrayal of 
  superheroes, before that term was even commonly in use. The heroes of the 
  Golden Age are known as fearless spy-busters and ﬁghters against fascism 
  in the World War II era, but also include elements of the more violent pulp 
  characters of earlier decades, before the imposition of the Comics Code 
  created the more paciﬁst and “sanitized” heroes of the Silver Age. 
  You can use ICONS to run superhero games set in the Golden Age with fairly 
  little modiﬁcation, whether the characters are all-star home-front heroes or 
  fearless invaders of enemy territory. 
   
  
  KEEP ‘EM FLYIN’, HEROES! 
  A central element of the the Golden Age of comics is the Second World 
  War, which began shortly after the appearance of the ﬁrst superheroes, and 
  involved the United States of America within a couple of years of those ﬁrst 
  appearances. The comic book publishing business sold millions of books to 
  overseas G.I.s as well as kids at home, and beneﬁtted from building on 
  patriotic themes. 
  Any Golden Age series will have to ask the question: will superheroes ﬁght 
  on the various fronts of the war or not and, if not, why not? 
  HOME-FRONT HEROES 
  A common approach for the comics is to ban superheroes from the front-
  lines of the war. Practically, this is both to keep the horrors of warfare out of 
  the pages of the comics and to avoid the logical issue of heroes powerful 
  enough to end the war in an afternoon by invading Berlin, Rome, and Tokyo 
  and rounding up the Axis leaders. 
  In the context of the setting, there might be various reasons why costumed 
  and super-powered heroes don’t ﬁght on the front lines, including: 
  Countermeasures: The Axis powers have some type of countermeasure 
  against super-powered soldiers, making it too risky for them to enter the 
  war directly. A classic example is the magical barrier created by the Axis in 
  DC Comics’ All-Star Squadron, which would brainwash superhumans to 
  their cause. The great heroes of the Allies couldn’t risk invading Axis 
  territory or else they would be turned against their own people! Similar 
  countermeasures might deprive all superhumans of their powers (keeping 
  both Allied and Axis supers off the battleﬁeld), prevent them from entering 
  certain nations or territories, or keep them from intervening in the outcome 
  of battles. 
  Propaganda: Costumed heroes are great rallying points for troops and 
  civilians alike, but the loss of a major hero on the battleﬁeld would be a 
  terrible blow to morale and a propaganda victory for the opposing side. 
  This might cause the leaders of the different factions to forbid their 
  superhumans from taking part in battles, so as not to risk such a setback. 
  This might be particularly true if the super-powered assets or 
  countermeasures of the other side are unclear, making it difficult to assess 
  the risks involved. 
  Secrecy: Super-soldiers tend to be unique and special assets, and a faction 
  might be reluctant to reveal the full extent of their capabilities. Since most 
  superhumans aren’t likely to make more difference in a major battle than a 
   
  
  couple of tanks, bombers, or similar weapons, they’re often better kept in 
  reserve and used for special commando missions, to guard important 
  targets, or as propaganda weapons, keeping them visible to support troop 
  morale. An extension of the secrecy factor is the “secret war” approach: An 
  entire other conﬂict is being fought behind the scenes of the war by super-
  powered assets on either side, where the Axis and Allied super-agents 
  largely balance each other out, allowing the mundane course of the war to 
  occur essentially unchanged. 
  ON THE FRONT LINES 
  On the other hand, the Golden Age comics were full of heroes punching out 
  Axis soldiers, even leaders like Hitler and Tojo! So there’s plenty of 
  precedent for superheroes ﬁghting on the front lines of the war, either as 
  “super-soldiers” working for the military, or independent vigilantes 
  operating on their own, but in concert with the Allied war effort. Axis 
  super-soldiers nearly always work for the military, although some Axis 
  super-villains operate on their own, or even have designs to overthrow and 
  seize power from their own leaders eventually. 
  Powers vs. Powers: Often, the super-soldiers on either side of the conﬂict 
  cancel each other out, particularly in the larger scheme of things in the war. 
  They certainly tend to be draw to each other: When Axis super-soldiers 
  show up on the battleﬁeld, their Allied counterparts are likely to appear in 
  order to deal with them and vice versa. 
  The Tank Standard: While combatants with super-powers are a signiﬁcant 
  difference from the real World War II, they’re not necessarily that signiﬁcant 
  a difference. Most of the costumed heroes and villains of the Golden Age 
  aren’t that much more powerful an asset than a main battle tank, ﬁghter 
  plane (or squadron) or the like, certainly more maneuverable and easier to 
  conceal than a tank, but not likely to make that much more difference in a 
  vast battle between thousands of soldiers than a single tank or machine-
  gun nest or squadron of planes. So long as most of the super-soldiers 
  involved are less than Fantastic levels of power, it’s quite believable that 
  they don’t hugely alter history as we know it in terms of the progress and 
  ending of the war. 
  BEHIND ENEMY LINES 
  Lastly, superheroes often served as spies and covert operatives for either 
  side in the war, operating behind enemy lines to gather intelligence, commit 
  sabotage, and otherwise hinder the enemy’s war-efforts, while keeping out 
  of the spotlight and off of the front lines, where they would be obvious 
  targets. This is a compromise position between the home-front heroes and 
   
  
  front-line ﬁghters, offering some action in the theatre of war, but staying 
  away from the major battles. 
   
   
  THE WARTIME SERIES 
  American involvement in World War II lasts from the Japanese attack on 
  Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 (“A date which will live in infamy,” 
  according to President Franklin D. Roosevelt) until V-J Day on August 15, 
  1945, about three and a half years, which is certainly time enough for a 
  detailed Golden Age ICONS series, particularly one that starts before the 
  end of 1941 (as the Golden Age comics did). 
  Game Masters can use timelines of events during the war, as well as the 
  history of the comics themselves, to ﬁll out adventures and storylines 
  connected to major wartime events, from the attack on Pearl Harbor itself 
  through D-Day in Europe and the ﬁnal days of the conﬂict with the Empire 
  of Japan. 
  GOLDEN AGE ORIGINS 
  All of the origins found in the Hero Creation chapter of ICONS are suitable 
  for a Golden Age setting. In fact, all of them appeared for the ﬁrst time in 
  the Golden Age of comics in one form or another. Gimmicks in the Golden 
  Age are just as often wielders of some magical talisman as they are 
   
  
  technological, and technological devices tend to be different (see Golden 
  Age Devices following) but, otherwise, things work pretty much as-written. 
  PUBLIC DOMAIN CHARACTERS 
  The ﬁrst decade of comic book publishing in America saw an explosion of 
  costumed characters, as publishers sought to cash-in on the superhero fad. 
  Many of these publishers, and characters, didn’t last and have since shifted 
  into the public domain. A quick search of “public domain super heroes” on 
  the Internet will turn up hundreds of largely forgotten heroes and villains 
  from this era of the comics, including entire comic book stories now in 
  digital formats. Players and Game Masters of a Golden Age (or even 
  modern) ICONS series can use these characters and stories as an 
  inspirational resource. Some publishers have even produced ICONS 
  supplements using public domain characters suitable for use in the Golden 
  Age. 
  GOLDEN AGE DEVICES 
  Many Golden Age heroes and villains wield various devices as part of their 
  powers. Gimmick characters based around a particular device are fairly 
  common, as are Trained characters with one or more devices to 
  supplement their abilities and specialties. 
  SUPER-SCIENCE 
  “High-tech” in the world of the 1930s and ‘40s is quite different from the 
  post-transistor era: home radios are the most common piece of electronics, 
  and broadcast television is still “new fangled”. Electronic computers 
  develop during the war, primarily as code- and encryption-breakers, but 
  they’re massive, delicate machines. 
  Much of the super-science of the Golden Age takes the form of mysterious 
  rays, exotic radiation, chemical compounds, and the like. So various types 
  of ray guys—from heat and lighting Blasts to different Alteration Rays—are 
  common inventions. So are formulae for advanced synthetic materials and 
  compounds: solvents, adhesives, metal alloys, and “wonder materials” like 
  bullet- or ﬁre-proof cloth. Chemical compounds also included wonder-
  drugs, from super-serums to pills able to grant temporary powers. 
  Artiﬁcial characters also make their ﬁrst major appearance in this era, with 
  synthetic “life” appearing in the form of androids, robots, and “mechanical 
  marvels.” They range from virtually indistinguishable from human to clunky 
  automatons, not so different from most of the history of comics. 
  “Mad science” (and mad scientists) abound in the Golden Age, although 
  inventors are more likely to be either the supporting characters behind the 
   
  
  heroes (and sometimes responsible for giving them their abilities), the 
  victims of villainous plots, or villains themselves. Inventor-heroes tend to be 
  somewhat less common. Preventing some new scientiﬁc device or 
  discovery from being misused is a common plot in the Golden Age, 
  particularly when war-time heroes are keeping dangerous new weapons 
  out of enemy hands, or preventing the kidnapping of the greatest scientiﬁc 
  minds of the free world. 
  MYSTERIOUS MAGIC 
  Magical devices are also quite common for Golden Age characters, 
  particularly Gimmicks, who draw all of their powers from a particular 
  magical device. Such devices are usually unique ancient artifacts, often 
  unearthed by archeologists and treasure-hunters, or awaiting a destined 
  wielder, although their initial appearance might seem like an accident or 
  coincidence. Ancient Egypt, and the Far East—particularly Nepal and Tibet
  —are common sources of magical devices. Unearthly Golden Age 
  characters tend to be magical, visiting gods or immortals, rather than alien, 
  as becomes more common in the science-ﬁction inﬂuenced Silver Age. 
   
   
   
  
  “H” is for 
  “Headquarters” 
   
  Most super-teams, and many solo heroes, have some kind of headquarters 
  or base of operations, at least a place to stash their cape and park their 
  super-vehicle or the like. For some it may be a getaway from the mundane 
  world, for others, it’s a workplace where they can do their job. Such bases 
  are largely background color in ICONS, although they can come into play as 
  qualities (discussed in the Team Qualities and Team Devices sections of the 
  Assembled Edition as well as here). 
  This chapter offers additional rules for the creation and use of bases in 
  ICONS. For the purposes of these rules a “base” describes such an 
  installation in general, or when used by a single hero, while “headquarters” 
   
  
  refers to the center of operations for a group or team. During play, of 
  course, feel free to use whichever name you prefer. 
  There are three options for handling bases in Icons: as qualities, as devices, 
  or as full-ﬂedged installations. Choose the option that best suits your own 
  group and series. 
  BASE AS QUALITY 
  The default approach to bases in ICONS is to handle them as qualities, or 
  aspects of qualities, activated for advantage or trouble when the base is 
  relevant to the story. 
  A base might be an entirely self-contained quality of its own, such as “The 
  Tower of Justice” or “The Unseen Academy” or it can be part of another 
  quality, such as “Vast Resources,” “Billionaire Industrialist,” or even “World’s 
  Greatest Heroes” (you would expect the world’s greatest heroes to have a 
  headquarters, after all). 
  BASE ADVANTAGES 
  Players can activate a base quality for an advantage just like any other. 
  Consider some of the following possibilities: 
  • Improved Effort: Resources at or from the base help the hero to succeed 
  on a test. This can be anything from power-boosting devices to the 
  information from an extensive library or database for doing research. 
  • Insight: Speaking of research, a base’s informational resources are an 
  excellent opportunity for insight, looking for ﬁles on the crime computer 
  or reading dusty tomes of ancient lore. 
  • Push Ability: Similar to improve effort, a base might have resources to 
  enhance a character’s capabilities, particularly things like power-boosting 
  equipment to improve the range of abilities like ESP or Teleportation, for 
  example. 
  • Recover: Bases often feature inﬁrmaries, medical bays, or even “auto-
  doc” systems to treat injuries. These may include “quick-ﬁx” resources 
  suitable for this advantage. 
  • Retcon: The catch-all category for having something useful at or from a 
  base, adding a particular detail that wasn’t there before, or revealing an 
  item from the base’s trophy room, arsenal, or just stock of supplies. 
  • Stunt: The other useful category for base advantages, allowing the 
  character to substitute one ability level for another, including temporary 
   
  
  use of an otherwise unavailable ability. This includes attribute stunts for 
  jury-rigging devices from the base’s resources. 
  BASE TROUBLE 
  Players and the GM can also activate a base quality to cause trouble for a 
  character, such as: 
  • Challenge: The most common trouble associated with bases. Something 
  about the base poses a challenge for the heroes. It can be anything from 
  trouble with their landlord or the city for not having the right permits to a 
  malfunction in the base’s inter-dimensional portal allowing roaches from 
  the Zed-Zone to ﬁnd their way into the base’s infrastructure. 
  • Compulsion: While it’s rare for a base to compel a character to act in a 
  particular way, bases can place certain responsibilities upon their owners 
  and custodians (more covered by Challenges, previously) and certain 
  bases may indeed compel characters, especially if they are supernatural in 
  nature. 
  • Disability: The quality of a base might cause some disability, such as a 
  “Temple of Peace” where “violence is never a solution” or a base screened 
  against certain kinds of entities. A base that simulates the conditions of a 
  character’s home-world might be a comfort, but also a condition that 
  disables some of the powers that character has in Earth’s environment. In 
  addition to disability for a character, this can also relate to disabling of 
  some of the base’s systems—such as say, life support—causing trouble for 
  the heroes. 
  • Increased Difficulty: Related to Disability, certain qualities of the base 
  might make some tests more difficult. Perhaps it has an “anti-technology” 
  effect due to its mystical nature, causing trouble for technological devices 
  and related tests, for example. 
  • Lost Panel: Something about or within the headquarters causes a 
  momentary distraction. A character linked to the base might receive an 
  alert signal, for example, or even a direct experience of the base’s “pain” 
  from an attack, resulting in a lost panel. The same can occur due to a 
  sudden input from sensors, or the concentration required to activate the 
  base’s quality in exchange for an advantage. 
  HEADQUARTERS QUALITIES 
  A team’s headquarters can be a team quality (ICONS: The Assembled 
  Edition, pp. 33 and 120), shared by the team as a whole and available to all 
  of them for activation (for both advantage and trouble). 
   
  
  BASE AS DEVICE 
  A base can be considered an ability in its own right, a kind of device. In this 
  case, a Base is a power any hero can choose to substitute for a rolled 
  power (or spent points on in the point-build option). Determine the base’s 
  level normally. 
  BASE 
  You have your own headquarters. The base’s structure has a Material level 
  equal to the power level + 2 (maximum of 10) and one of the following 
  features for each power level. You can add (power level) additional features 
  to the base as an extra. 
  • Concealed: The base is hidden from casual sight by some kind of 
  camouﬂage and/or its location is not generally known. The difficulty of 
  ﬁnding the base 3 + its level (maximum of 10). 
  • Communications: The base can communicate via radio and TV waves (or 
  one other means of the owner’s choice). 
  • Computer: A computer capable of processing information from a library 
  and running the base’s systems. As an additional feature, the computer 
  can be artiﬁcially intelligent, with an Intellect equal to the base’s level. 
  • Danger Room: A room capable of creating various holographic threats 
  and traps for training and testing purposes. 
  • Deathtrap: The difference between a deathtrap and a defense system is 
  generally that the deathtrap pulls no punches; it tries to kill you. Villain 
  bases may have many different deathtraps as part of the defense system, 
  or reserved for putting captured heroes in. 
  • Defense System: A defense system provides the base with weapons it can 
  use to protect itself from intruders. Choose an attack power at the base’s 
  level. 
  • Inﬁrmary: A medical facility for treating injuries, illness and other 
  maladies, giving the base the Medicine specialty at its level. 
  • Isolated: The base is isolated from the rest of the world in some way, 
  making it more difficult to reach. It may be deep underground, 
  underwater, in a distant place (like Antarctica), in outer space, on the 
  Moon or even in another dimension. An isolated base must be Sealed if it 
  exists in a hostile environment. 
  • Mobile: The base can move under its own power, like a vehicle. Give it an 
  appropriate movement power at its level. 
   
  
  • Power: The base has an inherent power at a level equal to its level. 
  • Prison: A facility for holding people captive. It includes power nulliﬁers or 
  other measures to hold super-powered prisoners at the base’s level. 
  • Sealed: The base is independent of the outside environment and has its 
  own air, food and water resources. 
  • Security System: The base has alarms and sensors designed to detect 
  intruders. The base difficulty of overcoming the the security system is 3 + 
  the base’s level (maximum of 10). 
  • Sensors: The base can visually detect things inside and outside (using 
  closed-circuit cameras or something similar) with an Awareness equal to 
  its level. 
  • Staff: The base has a staff of personnel to take care of it and the needs of 
  its residents. This may be a single very efficient butler or housekeeper, or 
  a full staff of specialized personnel. 
  • Vast: The base is much larger than a mansion, castle or office building. It 
  may be a tesseract, larger on the inside than it appears outside, or a huge 
  installation, perhaps even an entire world or dimension! 
  You can give a base a one-time use of a feature it doesn’t have as a stunt 
  by activating an appropriate quality. 
  BASE AS INSTALLATION 
  Lastly, bases can be installations as detailed as vehicles (see Vehicles in the 
  Assembled Edition), constructed by their owners and custom-designed to 
  have particular abilities. 
  INSTALLATION ABILITIES 
  The abilities deﬁning installations, like those of vehicles, are different from 
  those that deﬁne characters. A base has three abilities: Resources, Security, 
  and Structure. 
  Resources is a measure of the bases’ useful resources and covers 
  everything not covered by the other two abilities. 
  Security rates the headquarters’ defenses to inﬁltration (whether physical, 
  electronic, or sensory) and sets the difficulty for attempts to overcome the 
  base’s security. 
  Structure is a rating of the overall material strength of the base itself.  Note 
  that Structure is only general material strength, exceeding the Structure in 
  combat will certainly damage the base, breach walls, etc., but a villain 
   
  
  would have to achieve a massive success (possibly via a pyramid test) to 
  destroy the base entirely. 
  CREATING AN INSTALLATION 
  An installation is built with a number of points equal to the Base power 
  level x 4. Each ability costs 1 point per level, to a maximum of 10. Resources 
  and Security start out at level 0, while Structure starts out at Poor (level 2) 
  and is increased from there. 
  INSTALLATION FEATURES 
  The installation can have features from the list given under Base as Device. 
  Each feature costs 1 point from the installation’s pool of points. The GM is 
  free to invent additional features, or to allow the players to do with with GM 
  approval. The Concealed, Defense System, Prison, Security System, and 
  Sensors features use the installation’s Security as their level. Other features 
  use the installation’s Resources level as their level, where applicable. 
  INSTALLATION QUALITIES 
  Lastly, the installation can have up to three qualities of its own that further 
  deﬁne it. These qualities can be activated normally for advantage or to 
  cause trouble for the installation or the characters using it (see Base as 
  Quality, previously). 
  Examples of installation qualities include things like: Abandoned Subway 
  Platform, Above It All, Alien Ruin, Ancient Dimensional Schooner, Arctic 
  Fortress, Dark Cavern, Haunted, Hidden Island, Last Refuge, Living 
  Structure, Industrial Warehouse, Mind of Its Own, Mysterious Inheritance, 
  Part of the Neighborhood, Old World Mansion, Orbiting Satellite, Sanctum, 
  Powered by a Black Hole, School for Special Students, and Trans-Temporal 
  Tower, just to name a few. 
   
  
  “i” is for 
  “Interaction” 
  Characters interacting with their environment, and each other, is covered in 
  a few pages in the Taking Action chapter of The Assembled Edition of 
  ICONS. Such interactions broadly break down into interpersonal—
  interactions between characters—and perceptive, interactions between 
  characters, their surroundings, and their own experiences and mental 
  processes. This A to Z entry focuses primarily on interpersonal interactions, 
  although there are elements of the perceptive, particularly as it applies to 
  interpersonal interaction. 
  INTERACTIONS 
  The interactions described here tend to fall under the categories of 
  communicating, knowing, or maneuvers as described under Interactions in 
  the Assembled Edition of ICONS. Communicating and knowing are largely 
  unlimited during action time while maneuvers involving interaction actions 
  involving tests. 
   
  
  DECEPTION 
  Make an Intellect or Willpower test, opposed by your target’s Awareness, to 
  tell a convincing lie, or otherwise deceive your target into believing 
  something that isn’t true. The GM may modify the difficulty (effectively 
  granting your target a bonus or penalty) based on the believability of your 
  deception. 
  Deception as a maneuver uses success to impose a quality on the target 
  such as “deceived,” which can be activated for advantage against that 
  target or to cause trouble for the target, such as someone acting on false 
  information and losing a panel or suffering increase difficulty or a 
  temporary disability. 
  INTIMIDATION 
  As described in “F” is for “Fear” intimidation uses threats and shows of 
  force to cow targets into cooperating. As your action, roll a test of 
  Willpower against the target’s Willpower. You’re looking to create an 
  “Intimidated” quality for your target; marginal success means you create it 
  and can then activate it normally. A moderate or better success means you 
  also get to activate the quality for free (once per degree of success above 
  marginal). 
  Intimidation relying largely on a bluff or deception might be opposed by 
  the higher of Awareness or Willpower, as the target might realize the 
  character’s threat is an empty one. 
  INSIGHT 
  A part of interaction is insight into the thoughts, feelings, and motives of 
  others, essentially the knowing and learning interactions from the 
  Assembled Edition of ICONS. Roll a test of Awareness against someone’s 
  Willpower to gain insight about them, with success meaning you pick up on 
  something about their true feelings or motives. 
  Insight (through Awareness) is often the opposing ability for interaction 
  tests. It can also be a maneuver for learning someone’s qualities in order to 
  activate them, as described under Learning & Creating Qualities in The 
  Basics chapter of the Assembled Edition. 
  PERFORMANCE 
  Various forms of performance can be considered interaction, particularly 
  when done with the intention of impressing an audience or inﬂuencing their 
  mood or opinions. Such performances are usually Willpower tests 
  (modiﬁed by specialty) with the outcome determining how impressive or 
  effective the performance is overall. The difficulty may be based on the 
   
  
  Willpower of the audience or a level chosen by the GM based on the 
  intention of the performance. 
  PERSUASION 
  Outside of action time, roll an opposed test of Willpower versus Willpower 
  when one character tries to persuade another to go along with a proposal. 
  If each character is trying to convince the other, have them both roll 
  Willpower tests, with the higher outcome succeeding. 
  It can be difficult to use persuasion during action time, when a lot is going 
  on, but in instances where one character is looking to persuade another to 
  do (or not do) something, handle it as a maneuver that places as 
  “persuaded” quality on the subject, which the persuader can activate, 
  usually to compel the character to go along for the moment, or for a lost 
  panel where the persuaded character wrestles with the decision and 
  hesitates, not doing anything for that page. 
  SEDUCTION 
  When using romance and ﬂirtation to get others to do what you want, roll 
  an opposed test of Willpower versus Willpower, much like persuasion. 
  Indeed, seduction is essentially a particular form of persuasion. If you 
  succeed, you get your target to do what you want. The GM may modify 
  your difficulty based on the approach you take, and whether or not your 
  target is open to seduction at all. As with other interactions, the subject 
  may use the higher of Awareness or Willpower to oppose the attempt if 
  your efforts are insincere or otherwise based on deception. 
   
  
  INTERACTION SPECIALTIES 
  Each of the interactions described in the previous section can be a 
  specialty unto itself: 
  Deception: You’re a skilled liar and prevaricator. Add your specialty bonus 
  to tests to deceive or otherwise convince someone you are telling the truth. 
  Intimidation: You know how to use threats to get what you want. Add you 
  specialty bonus to tests to intimidate or frighten others. 
  Insight: You know what makes people tick. Add your specialty bonus to 
  tests to learn about someone’s thoughts, feelings, or motives, and to tests 
  to resist interactions where knowing those things can help you, such as 
  telling when someone is lying to you. 
  Persuasion: You’re good at making a convincing argument or getting 
  people to come around to your way of thinking. Add your specialty bonus 
  to tests to persuade or otherwise convince people to go along with you. 
  Seduction: You’re skilled in the subtle art of seduction, using romance and 
  ﬂirtation to get what you want, even when the ultimate goal is neither 
  romantic nor ﬂirtatious. 
  Additionally, Leadership and Performance from the Assembled Edition can 
  be considered interaction specialties, and Psychiatry can function much like 
  Insight in interaction. Performance includes things like acting and public 
  speaking as well as other art forms. 
  Other specialties might apply their bonus to interactions associated with 
  them. For example, Business, Law, and Military specialties could provide 
  their bonus to interactions in those ﬁelds, such as a board meeting, court 
  case, or staring down a stubborn military officer, respectively. 
  INTERACTION RULES 
  The following rules expand on the use of interaction from the Assembled 
  Edition of ICONS for Game Master and players who want additional options 
  for their games. 
  INTERACTION CONTESTS & CONFLICTS 
  Some situations may call for a contest of interaction, such as two 
  characters trying to persuade a third of a course of action, or one character 
  trying to intimidate another while another character offers support to make 
  the situation less intimidating, to name a few. 
   
  
  The most basic of these can be handled with a simple test: whichever 
  character gets the best outcome wins the contest. In situations where two 
  characters are pitted against each other, one character’s effort becomes 
  the difficulty for the opposing character and vice versa, and the character 
  with the greater effort succeeds by a margin equal to the difference 
  between them. 
  More involved interactions can be played out as pyramid tests from the 
  Assembled Edition of ICONS (see Pyramid Tests in The Basics chapter). A 
  court battle, for example, could be a competitive, fragile pyramid test, 
  where the side that achieves a massive success ﬁrst wins the case, but the 
  opposing side can choose to either add degrees of success to their own 
  pyramid or subtract them from the opposition, to keep them from 
  achieving the total they need to win. 
  INTERACTION QUALITIES 
  Qualities—whether permanent or temporary—can add nuance to 
  interactions. 
   
  
  Learning Qualities: Sometimes the purpose of an interaction is to learn one 
  or more of another character’s qualities, particularly ones relating to things 
  the character feels. For example, does the character have particular goals, 
  fears, loves, hatreds, and so forth? Interaction can be the way to ﬁnd these 
  things out, as detailed under Learning & Creating Qualities in The Basics 
  chapter of the Assembled Edition of ICONS and Interactions in the Taking 
  Action chapter. 
  Creating Qualities: If you can’t ﬁnd a quality, create it. A character might 
  not have a particular phobia, but that doesn’t mean you can’t create and 
  impose an “Frightened” or “Intimidated” quality through interaction to use 
  fear as leverage for compels or other trouble for that character. Similarly, 
  you can use interaction to create and apply other qualities to characters, 
  ranging from “Friendly” or “Reasonable” to “Opposed to the Ultra-Mind’s 
  Schemes”. 
  Activating Qualities: Once a quality is discovered or created, you can 
  activate it, either to give yourself an advantage or to cause trouble for the 
  character with that quality. The process of learning or creating the quality 
  may give you some free opportunities to activate it, and this is the “pay-
  off” of the interaction process, as the effect of the advantage or trouble is 
  often what you were going for in the ﬁrst place, such as giving yourself an 
  edge over an opponent, or convincing someone to go along with what you 
  want, at least for the time being. 
  POPULARITY & PUBLIC OPINION 
  Icons Game Masters have a number of ways to handle the rise and fall of 
  heroes’ popularity based on public opinion and the hero’s own reputation. 
  First and foremost, popular heroes may have suitable qualities, ranging 
  from “National Icon” to “America’s Sweetheart” or “Champion of the 
  People”. Heroes can activate these for advantages related to their 
  popularity and inﬂuence, such as retconning a connection or access to a 
  resource, recovery from being cheered-on by the crowd, or insight from a 
  helpful admirer. Of course, popularity can be double-edged, and those 
  same qualities might be activated to cause trouble for the heroes when 
  public opinion turns against them and they have to deal with governmental 
  road-blocks, an intrusive media, and mobs of protesters outside their 
  headquarters. 
  Shifts in public opinion might be temporary qualities, applied to the heroes 
  for the duration of a chapter or most of an issue, similarly activated for an 
  advantage to cause trouble for them. Such qualities can ranged from 
  “Media Darlings” or “Heroes of the Hour” to “Threat or Menace?” or 
  “Dangerous Vigilantes” to name a few. 
   
  
  “J” is for “Justice” 
  Superheroes act as agents of justice, often in instances where other law-
  enforcement is limited, but how do heroes interact with the justice system 
  and the law? What happens after they nab the villains and turn them over 
  to the authorities, and how can you make the justice system an interesting 
  part of your ICONS series? 
  SUPERHEROES AND THE LAW 
  While heroes generally share an interest in justice, not all of them are so 
  interested in the letter of the law. Indeed, some vigilante heroes go outside 
  the law precisely because they feel conventional authorities can’t or won’t 
  do enough. This leads to two main types of heroes: sanctioned and 
  vigilante. 
   
  
  Sanctioned heroes have some official or semi-official status with law 
  enforcement. They might be deputized by the local police or sheriff’s 
  department, or given jurisdiction by a federal or even international agency, 
  from the American Federal Bureau of Investigation to Interpol, or ﬁctional 
  equivalents thereof. Sanctioned heroes have the advantage of legal status 
  and the support of the system, but are also subject to its rules and 
  regulations, which can tie their hands. 
  Vigilante heroes have no legal status, they act on their own, outside the 
  law. Exactly how the law deals with them often depends on the heroes and 
  their actions. Heroic vigilantes tend to get quite a bit of leeway in comic 
  book settings, using precedent for “good samaritans” and “citizen’s arrests” 
  and the like to wave away the fact that vigilantes are quite often technically 
  breaking the law. Vigilantes who display a disregard for human life and 
  contempt for the law tend to be treated the same as the criminals they go 
  after. 
  GATHERING EVIDENCE 
  Law enforcement is limited in its ability to surveil subjects and to conduct 
  searches without either a search warrant issued by a judge or just cause to 
  suspect criminal activity. The same is generally true of sanctioned heroes, 
  who would be legally prohibited, for example, from entering private 
  property to search for stolen goods or other evidence of a crime without 
  legal authorization. Vigilantes are not so limited, and their ability to get 
  around evidence-gathering restrictions can make them more effective, so 
  long as their arrests are not later thrown out of court. 
  Similarly, the law requires evidence which can be examined and veriﬁed, 
  and testimony subject to cross-examination. This generally means that 
  evidence gathered using sensory powers and similar abilities is inadmissible 
  in court, unless it can be independently veriﬁed is some fashion. This is 
  particularly true of mental powers like Precognition or Telepathy. Few 
  courts are going to convict, or even charge someone, based on a vision of a 
  possible future, or testimony that the defendant was thinking about 
  committing a crime! A setting where those kinds of things are law is more 
  likely an interesting parallel world than anything resembling our own. On 
  the other hand, sensory and mental powers that lead heroes to veriﬁable 
  evidence, such as the location of contraband or stolen goods, for example, 
  may be admissible, particularly if the heroes are “good samaritans” acting 
  on their extraordinary abilities to prevent a crime or assist the authorities in 
  the arrest of a criminal. 
   
  
  ARRESTS 
  Heroes apprehending a criminal usually do so as a “citizen’s arrest,” which is 
  a commonly accepted legal practice, particularly when a person who is not 
  a member of a law enforcement organization stops a crime in progress or 
  apprehends a suspected criminal. Sanctioned heroes may have speciﬁc 
  procedures to follow in arresting criminals, although this is often handled 
  by police or other law enforcement officers when the criminal is turned 
  over to them, including things like reading suspects their rights and 
  ensuring they receive legal representation. 
  Since most villains choose not to come quietly when heroes show up, most 
  superhero arrests involve some sort of a ﬁght. Like the authorities, heroes 
  are excused from a certain amount of force used in the apprehension of 
  criminals, or in self-defense. Vigilantes who use excessive force, much less 
  murder criminals in cold blood, quickly ﬁnd themselves on the wrong side 
  of the law, and may have a difficult time coming back from crossing that 
  line, if at all. 
  LEGAL IDENTITIES 
  Many heroes conceal their true identities, creating various legal 
  complications in both criminal and civil matters. 
  First and foremost is whether or not the authorities can trust a hero with a 
  secret identity. Gaining legal sanction (previously) may require heroes to 
  disclose their real identities, to the authorities at the least, if not to the 
  general public, and providing the authorities with some way of identifying 
  the hero, since it could be anyone under that concealing costume! 
  Authorities may recognize the practice of secret identities as akin to 
  “undercover work” for law enforcement, providing some protection of the 
  hero’s true identity in the name of safeguarding the hero’s loved ones and 
  “civilian” life. 
  Secondly, courts must decide if a masked or concealed identity violates a 
  defendant’s legal right to confront their accuser in court. If so, then heroes 
  who conceal their true identities cannot give testimony in court, and cases 
  relying on their testimony may fail. If testimony by masked heroes and 
  others concealing their identity is allowed, then how is the identity of the 
  individual to be veriﬁed? Anyone can wear a mask or a costume, after all. 
  There may still need to be some type of registry or legal recognition of a 
  costumed hero. 
  Third is the question of the legal status of a hero’s costumed identity. Is that 
  name, likeness, and appearance or costume legally protected? Ordinary 
  people have some protection against their name or likeness being used 
   
  
  without their permission. Costumed heroes may or may not have the same 
  rights. If they do not, then all sorts of unscrupulous types may try and use a 
  hero to promote a product, brand, or cause without their permission, and 
  there may not be anything the hero can do about it. This can also hold true 
  for villains as well, although they’re more likely to use threats and violence 
  to deal with such problems, without worrying about the legal 
  consequences! 
  Lastly, there’s the question of a character’s legal identity status: A great 
  many heroes are not citizens of any earthly nation, or even human at all! 
  Does an unearthly hero have a legally recognized identity? Are there 
  “immigration” or citizenship issues? Is an artiﬁcial hero the property of its 
  creator or an independent, legally-recognized “person”? Is a transformed 
  hero still legally the same person as before? These and other legal 
  entanglements can cause trouble for the heroes (see Heroes on Trial, 
  following). 
  COPS & LAWYERS 
  Superhero involvement with the justice system tends to connect them with 
  police officers and lawyers in various ways. Indeed, some superheroes are 
  police officers or lawyers in their secret identities, or previously worked 
  those jobs, before deciding they needed to work outside of the law in order 
  to seek justice. Heroes might also have police officers or attorneys as 
  friends, family members, or allies in their work. 
  How cops and lawyers react to heroes varies. Many cops take a dim view of 
  vigilantes, costumed or otherwise, especially heroes who think they are 
  somehow above the law. Superheroes can win over local law-enforcement 
  but, unless they are sanctioned—and sometimes even then—the cops tend 
  to be suspicious. Similarly, lawyers are often concerned about ensuring 
  criminal cases are pursued correctly, and heroes tend to complicate 
  matters. 
  That said, both parts of the justice system ﬁnd ways to cooperate with 
  superheroes, either openly or behind-the-scenes. Sympathetic police 
  officers may pass tips along to the heroes and gladly take their calls to pick 
  up captured criminals, even if they risk their own badges by doing so. 
  Likewise, lawyers working criminal justice may choose to give superheroes 
  the beneﬁt of the doubt rather than pursuing them for vigilantism, so long 
  as their activities are to the net beneﬁt of the community and stay arguably 
  within the letter of the law. 
   
  
  TRIALS 
  Once a criminal is apprehended and charged, there’s an arraignment to 
  determine if a trial is warranted and, if it is, the defendant is brought to trial. 
  Depending on whether or not they are legally allowed to do so, heroes 
  involved in the apprehension of a criminal may be asked to give a 
  statement or to testify at the trail (see Legal Identities, previously). If the 
  hero’s statements or testimony is inadmissible, and is the prime evidence 
  against the defendant, then it will be difficult to obtain a conviction, if not 
  impossible. 
  In ICONS game terms, a trial is often a pyramid test between the defense 
  and prosecution, using whatever modiﬁers are appropriate for the 
  particular trial. Generally, the prosecution is trying to build a Fragile 
  pyramid using tests of Intellect and Willpower (with Law specialty applied) 
  while the defense removes successes from the prosecution’s case. 
  The key parts of trials can also be played out, with roleplaying offering 
  opportunities to learn, create, and activate qualities for advantage on tests 
  for either side, or potentially to create trouble for the opposing side. 
  HEROES ON TRIAL 
  Heroes themselves can run into trouble with the legal system, particularly if 
  they are cavalier in their disregard for the law and those who enforce it. 
  Game Masters can use law enforcement and the threat of legal action to 
  keep over-zealous vigilantes in-line, particularly in games where the heroes 
  are supposed to uphold the law, even if they sometimes act outside of it. 
  Two trial scenarios are common even for law-abiding heroes: framed for a 
  crime they did not commit, or on trial over a question of legal rights or 
  status. 
  Framed! A foe might set up heroes and frame them for a crime, either to 
  damage their reputations and the public’s trust in them or as a distraction 
  for some other scheme. After all, heroes tied-up in court can’t be out 
  thwarting the villain’s plans. With shapeshifters and other forms of disguise, 
  illusion, and mind control, it’s a fairly easy matter to implicate a hero in a 
  crime. Secret identities can cause trouble here; a costume and mask that 
  effectively conceal the hero’s identity can just as easily be used by 
  someone else to impersonate that hero. 
  “On Trial for My Life!” Many heroes, particularly with the artiﬁcial and 
  unearthly origins, have questionable legal status. As mentioned under Legal 
  Identities, heroes may run into trouble with the legal system and even go 
  to trial to determine their rights and status. 
   
  
  SUPER-PRISONS 
  “J” is also for “Jail.” After super-criminals are convicted, the question 
  becomes: What to do with them? 
  Most comic book universes feature some type of “super-prison.” It might be 
  a specially modiﬁed wing of an existing prison or an independent facility 
  dedicated to holding only super-criminals. There might be just one super-
  prison, perhaps under the authority of an international body, one such 
  prison per region or nation, or several super-prisons. 
  LOCATION 
  The ﬁrst question concerning a super-prison is: Where is it? Placing the 
  prison close to a major urban area offers easy access, heroes can literally 
  drop new prisoners off. On the other hand, having the prison close to an 
  innocent population puts people at risk if there is a break-out or similar 
  incident, and givens escapees access to resources and places to hide.  
  Conversely, putting the prison out in the middle of nowhere limits access 
  and adds a layer of security, since escapees have to deal with the 
  environment, but also adds the logistics of transporting prisoners to the 
  facility, offering an opportunity for break-out attempts, and the need to 
  ship supplies and personnel to the facility. Some super-prisons are very 
  isolated, hidden away in deserts, arctic ice ﬁelds, the bottom of the ocean, 
  or even in space or another dimension altogether. 
  RESTRAINT METHODS 
  The other primary question is: How do you contain super-powered 
  prisoners? Answers usually involve some combination of the following: 
  • Reinforced materials: Cells and restraints strong enough to contain 
  prisoners with high levels of Strength or damaging attacks. 
  • Nulliﬁers: Technology that generates a Nulliﬁcation effect on prisoners, 
  limiting their powers. 
  • Countermeasures: Use of prisoners’ weaknesses to contain them, such as 
  keeping the cell of darkness-based inmate brightly lit, or a demon 
  contained inside a magic circle. 
  • Stasis: Especially difficult or dangerous prisoners might be kept sedated, 
  in suspended animation, or some form of stasis. 
  Some of these restraint methods can raise issues with civil rights and the 
  fair treatment of prisoners, and their necessity must be weighed against the 
  morality of their use. 
   
  
  “K” is for “Knacks” 
  Knacks are a special type of trait for ICONS, neither ability, specialty, nor 
  power. A knack can have one of the following effects, chosen when the 
  knack is created and acquired—substitution, bonus, power, or beneﬁt: 
  • Substitute one ability level for another in relation to a speciﬁc kind of 
  test or usage. Examples include swapping Strength for Willpower for 
  intimidating ("My might is intimidating!") or Intellect for Coordination for 
  Dodging ("Totally saw that one coming."). 
  • Provides a +2 bonus for a speciﬁc type of test in the form: "Because I 
  [something unique about the character] I get a bonus when I [particular 
  situation or test]." For example, "Because I once belonged to the criminal 
  underworld, I get a bonus when I interact with criminals on their own 
  terms." 
  • Power effect at a level equal to a "linked" ability. Note that this does not 
  count as the "Ability-Linked" limit for powers that feature it (see 
  the Great Power sourcebook for details). 
   
  
  • Provides a declared beneﬁt the player can bring into play based on a 
  speciﬁc Specialty, reﬂecting the character's knowledge, experience, or 
  resources. For example, "As a Business Expert, I know a lot of people in 
  this ﬁeld. One of them should be able to help us out." This follows the 
  same guidelines as a retcon. 
  Each knack a character has costs 1 level of Determination. If you think 
  knacks sound a lot like the beneﬁts of spending Determination Points, 
  you're right: knacks are essentially permanent versions of a speciﬁc type of 
  Determination spending, at the "cost" of a permanently "committed" point 
  of Determination. 
  The key differences are that the player doesn't need to spend 
  Determination to use a knack (other than the permanent point it costs) and 
  therefore does not need to activate a Quality in order to use it. While 
  players can use knacks an unlimited number of times during a game (unlike 
  spending Determination) there are also likely to be adventures where the 
  knack is of little or no use, where it might have been better to have that 
  point of Determination available instead. 
  KNACKS AND HERO CREATION 
  Players can add knacks to their heroes during hero creation at the cost of 1 
  level of Determination per knack. Heroes are not required to have any 
  knacks, and they are all chosen by the player, rather than rolled randomly. 
  SAMPLE KNACKS 
  The follow are just a sample of the full range of possible knacks. You can 
  create a fairly extensive list of knacks for use in your game, and feel free to 
  allow players to come up with their own as desired, using the guidelines 
  given previously. 
  ANIMAL EMPATHY 
  Because of your strong connection with animals, you have a +2 bonus to 
  tests to interact with them (see “I is for Interaction” for additional ideas). 
  This knack also works as a model for other types of empathy with other 
  speciﬁc kinds of creatures, such as aliens, demons, plants, machines, spirits 
  or ghosts, and so forth. 
  ATTRACTIVE 
  Because you’re attractive, you have a +2 bonus to tests where your good 
  looks can inﬂuence the outcome. 
   
  
  BEGINNER’S LUCK 
  Because of your beginner’s luck, you have a +2 bonus to tests when you are 
  attempting something you’ve never tried before (and do not have any 
  specialty in). 
  BULLET TIME 
  Your ﬁghting skills and reﬂexes allow you to substitute your Prowess for 
  Coordination for dodging reactions, allowing you to use Prowess to dodge 
  ranged attacks. 
  COMMON SENSE 
  Whenever your hero is about to do something foolhardy or potentially 
  hazardous, you have the beneﬁt of the Game Master giving you a warning, 
  usually in the form of “Are you sure you want to do that, because…?” 
  Among other things, this allows an impulsive player to more easily play an 
  aware and level-headed hero. 
  COSMIC AWARENESS 
  Due to your connection to higher powers, you can substitute your 
  Awareness level for your Intellect to determine if you know things of a 
  cosmic nature. You might also have the separate beneﬁt of just being able 
  to know certain things based on your connection to the cosmos—this 
  counts as two knacks if you can do both. 
  DREADFUL PRESENCE 
  Your dreadful presence, appearance, or manner gives you Emotion Control 
  at a level equal to your Willpower with the Burst extra, but limited only to 
  causing fear. 
  FAVORED FOE 
  Because you have carefully studied a particular opponent, you gain a +2 
  bonus when making attack tests against that foe. This might include 
  individual villains or a general type of bad guys like demons, Nazis, or 
  robots. 
  GADGETEER 
  Your inventive genius is such that you have the Gadgets power at a level 
  equal to your Intellect, so long as you have access to sufficient parts, 
  equipment, and resources to assemble various gadgets. 
   
  
  GREAT ENDURANCE 
  Because of your great endurance, you get a +2 bonus to Strength tests to 
  resist pain, fatigue, and otherwise carry on in the face of physical 
  difficulties. 
  INSTANT UP 
  Do to your training in agility and combat reﬂexes, you have the beneﬁt of 
  being able to get up from being knocked prone as a reaction rather than a 
  move action once per page. 
  INTERPOSE 
  Your protective reﬂexes are such that you have the beneﬁt of being able to 
  interpose yourself between an ally and an attack against that ally as a 
  reaction rather than a move action once per page. The attack misses your 
  ally and you become the new target of the attack, which is resolved against 
  you normally. 
  LIVING LEGEND 
  You're incredibly well known and beloved, giving you the beneﬁt of calling 
  upon people for favors and generally getting favorable treatment. (See “I” 
  is for “Interaction” for some additional detail.) 
  MASTER PLAN 
  Because of your knack for planning ahead, you get a +2 bonus on tests 
  where you have the opportunity to plan all of the circumstances in advance. 
  MATCHLESS MIND 
  Your matchless mental discipline gives you Resistance to Mental Powers 
  equal to your Intellect level. 
  MASTER OF DISGUISE 
  Your skill with make-up, costuming, and acting techniques gives you the 
  effects of the Transformation power at a level equal to your Performance or 
  Stealth specialty (whichever is higher) for impersonating other people. 
  MIND OVER MATTER 
  You use Willpower rather than Strength for tests of endurance, overcoming 
  pain, and so forth. 
  POWER DEFENSE 
  You know how to use a power to defend yourself in combat, substituting 
  that power’s level for dodging reactions. The power has to be one you 
   
  
  actively use and you have to be capable of action in order to use it 
  defensively. 
  PRECISE STRIKE 
  With your uncanny precision, you can substitute your Coordination or 
  Intellect (choose one when you take this knack) for your Strength for 
  damage with close combat attacks. 
  SPEED OF THOUGHT 
  You can substitute your Intellect or Awareness (choose one when you take 
  this knack) for your Coordination for initiative tests. 
  STUNNING STRIKE 
  Your mastery of vital pressure points allows you to make a close Stunning 
  attack at a level equal to your Strength (or another ability, chosen when 
  you take this knack). 
  SWIFT DEFENSE 
  You can substitute your level in a movement power for your Coordination in 
  order to dodge attacks. (This is essentially the same as the Defending extra 
  of Super-Speed in Great Power.) 
  TEAMWORK 
  Because you are such an excellent team-player, you get a +2 bonus on all 
  combined effort tests to assist someone else (see Combined Effort in The 
  Basics chapter of ICONS). 
  TOTAL RECALL 
  You have the beneﬁt of being able to exactly recall anything you have 
  experienced, including details like memorizing entire written works or 
  redrawing maps or diagrams from memory. 
  WEALTH 
  Because you have access to considerable ﬁnancial and material resources, 
  you have the beneﬁt of being able to retcon many problems by throwing 
  money at them. Things like travel or mundane goods, for example, are 
  trivial for you. (See “W” is for “Wealth” for expanded options.) 
  WHIRLWIND STRIKE 
  You can attack swiftly enough to hit every target within close distance with 
  a single action, applying the Burst extra to your unarmed strikes or a 
  particular close weapon attack (chosen when you take this knack). 
   
  
  KNACKS & QUALITIES 
  Of course, some knacks can also easily be qualities, activated for a variety 
  of advantages: "Living Legend" might even be both a quality and a knack, 
  the knack not costing Determination (or requiring activation) while calling 
  upon the quality requires both. 
  Even if you don't use knacks per se in your ICONS game, they can give you 
  and your players some additional ways of looking at activating qualities for 
  advantage to ﬁll-in some of the details provided by other game systems, 
  which the looser ICONS structure tends to leave out, putting such things in 
  the players’ hands to whip-up during play via Determination. 
  KNACKS AS STUNTS 
  As mentioned in the initial description, knacks are essentially permanent 
  versions of advantages. This means you can also use the sample knacks 
  and knack construction guidelines as a catalog of potential stunts for ICONS 
  characters. Rather than spending a level of Determination to have a knack 
  permanently, a player can spend a Determination Point in order to give a 
  character a single use of a knack during play. 
  Similarly, players can outline different knacks appropriate for their heroes 
  and, rather than spending the Determination levels necessary to have them 
  as permanent traits, spend Determination Points in play as-needed to use 
  those knacks, a “pay-to-play” approach like the other uses of Determination 
  Points. Just be careful players don’t create such giant catalogs of knacks 
  that they can’t keep track of them all and suffer from indecision during 
  game-play! 
  KNACKS AS GENRE RULES 
  You may wish to institute some knacks, not as special abilities, but as 
  default rules in your ICONS game, usable by all characters. This can reﬂect a 
  preferred play style or modiﬁcations to the rules to suit a particular genre. 
  In these cases, the knack is no longer a character trait, and therefore does 
  not cost Determination, since anyone can use it at any time, just like any 
  other rule. 
  For example, a strongly martial arts inﬂuenced game might allow Bullet 
  Time, Mind Over Matter, Speed of Thought, and Stunning Strike as standard 
  rules for all characters, without the need to take them as knacks. 
   
  
  “L” is for 
  “Lost Worlds” 
   
  The exploration of the hidden corners and fantastic places of the world has 
  been a part of the heroic genre from the beginning, and quickly found its 
  way into the superhero comics, with some worlds ﬁtting lost and hidden 
  civilizations into every nook and cranny. 
  Lost worlds make for offbeat adventure locales, potential setting features 
  for Universe Creation (see the Game Mastering chapter of the Assembled 
  Edition of ICONS), and places for Unearthly characters—and sometimes 
  those of other origins—to call home. 
   
  
  LOST WORLD CREATION 
  To create a quick lost world (or series of them), roll on the following tables, 
  rolling once each for the lost world’s location, what conceals it, and what 
  causes or creates that concealment, then roll a die to determine how many 
  different things the lost world contains and roll on the table to determine 
  what those things are, either re-rolling duplicates or creating different 
  versions of duplicates (such as two or more different kinds of creatures, 
  hazards, and so forth) as you prefer. 
  As always, feel free to pick from the tables or adjust your rolls to suit your 
  own inspiration. 
  LOCATION 
  Hidden in Plain Sight: The lost world is right here, but cannot easily be 
  found or reached for some reason. It might be disguised as something 
  seemingly innocuous or other than what it appears to be. 
  Island: The lost world is on an island, most likely far out in an ocean, 
  isolated or surrounded by other islands, although it could be in a lake or 
  other body of water. 
  d6
  Location…
  Contains 1d6 of…
  1
  Hidden in Plain Sight
  Creatures
  2
  Island
  Features
  3
  Underground
  Hazards
  4
  Underwater
  Inhabitants
  5
  Valley
  Treasure
  6
  Wilderness
  Weirdness
  d6
  Concealed by…
  Caused by…
  1
  Barrier
  Natural
  2-3
  Cloak
  Magic
  4-5
  Dimensional Anomaly
  Technology
  6
  Secret
  Weirdness
   
  
  Underground: The lost world site is under the ground, going down in layers 
  from the sewer, storm drain, and subway tunnels under a city to ancient 
  catacombs, or caverns and underground passages. There may even be a 
  “hollow world” inside the planet containing one or more lost worlds. See 
  “E” is for “Environments for more on underground settings. 
  Underwater: The lost world is under water, or is reached deep under water, 
  whether an ocean, sea, lake, or the like, and might be far from shore (and 
  quite deep) or relatively close by. The lost world site itself might be aquatic 
  (see “E” is for “Environments) or an air-ﬁlled pocket of some sort. 
  Valley: The lost world is in an isolated or hidden valley, surrounded by cliffs 
  or high mountain peaks. Alternately (a roll of 5–6 on a die, if you want to 
  decide randomly) the lost world is on a high mountain peak or plateau. 
  Wilderness: The lost world setting is in some inhospitable wilderness far 
  from civilization. It could be a desert, jungle, radioactive wasteland, or 
  frozen tundra or glacier, to name a few. 
  CONTENTS 
  What will visitors ﬁnd in the lost world setting? You can roll a die to 
  determine the number of different results on the contents table, and then 
  roll for each one, either re-rolling doubles or creating a different example of 
  the same type of contents. 
  Creatures: The lost world contains unusual or dangerous creatures other 
  than just ordinary animals and plants. 
  • Aliens: The fauna (and possibly ﬂora) of the lost world includes alien life 
  forms from other planets or dimensions. Perhaps the site was an outpost, 
  laboratory site, or “nature preserve” of some type for an alien race. See 
  “A” is for “Aliens” to help create them. 
  d6
  Creatures
  Inhabitants
  1
  Aliens
  Aliens
  2
  Chimerical Hybrids
  Castaways
  3
  Dinosaurs
  Lost Civilization
  4
  Giant Creatures
  Natives
  5
  Macro-form
  Transformed
  6
  Mythic Creatures
  Unearthly
   
  
  • Chimerical Hybrids: Some or all of the creatures are combinations of 
  ordinary Earth creatures, such as eagle-bears, serpent-wolves, shark-
  squids, or any other two or three animals you want to put together. This 
  includes combining any animal with human for intelligent humanoid 
  animals. The hybrids might be the result of genetic experimentation, 
  chaos energy, occult rituals, or the like. 
  • Dinosaurs: Creatures from previous epochs of Earth’s history survive in 
  the lost world. This may include not only dinosaurs but megafauna like 
  sabertooth tigers and wooly mammoths, to name a few. The creatures 
  could have lived in the environment since their earthly cousins became 
  extinct, or might be recreations via genetics or time-travel. 
  • Giant Creatures: The site is home to gigantic versions of ordinary Earth 
  animals, or even insects, from giant apes and reptiles to giant moths or 
  wasps, to name a few. 
  • Macro-form: Instead of being home to gigantic life forms, the entire lost 
  world is a gigantic life form, a vast collective macro-form with a 
  collective intelligence. It might be a hive-mind of distinct entities or a 
  collective mass able to manifest seemingly separate creatures. 
  • Mythic Creatures: The lost world is a haven for creatures out of 
  mythology, either a speciﬁc human culture, such as Greek, Japanese, or 
  Indian, for example, or a mix of cultures throughout history. Griffons and 
  dragons might lair in the mountains while herds of centaurs thunder 
  across the plains and satyrs and unicorns dwell in the deep wood, for 
  examples. 
  Features: The setting has prominent or unusual geographic features 
  including, but not limited to: volcanos, waterfalls, ancient ruins, craters, 
  caves, or high mountain peaks. 
  Hazards: The lost world setting is host to particular hazards or dangers 
  other than those created by its other contents. Examples include plant- or 
  mineral-based toxins, unusual diseases, malfunctioning technology (or 
  magic), creeping madness, or strange radiation. 
  Inhabitants: The lost world has intelligent inhabitants who may or may not 
  be originally from there. 
  • Aliens: An intelligent alien race lives in the lost world, possibly exiles or 
  the last survivors of their species. See “A” is for “Aliens” to help create 
  them. 
  • Castaways: Some people from Earth have become trapped in the lost 
  world at some point. This could be survivors from an expedition, or the 
  site might be a “Sargasso” of castaways lost there for years, even 
   
  
  centuries, explaining numerous mysterious disappearances. Some of the 
  castaways might want to ﬁnd a way out, while others have settled into 
  new lives. 
  • Lost Civilization: The lost world is home to a “lost” civilization, a nearly 
  perfectly preserved example of some historical human society, which 
  may have adapted in some ways to it new home. The classic example is 
  some version of the Roman Empire, by lost civilizations can include 
  ancient Egypt, Babylon, or Sumeria, classical Greece, medieval Europe, 
  Arabia, or Asia, ancient Aztecs, Olmecs, Incas, or Mayans, and so forth. 
  • Natives: The lost world has a native civilization, although “native” does 
  not necessarily mean “primitive,” nor does it necessarily mean “human.” 
  The natives might not have originated here, but they have lived here so 
  long that they might as well have, and they have their own unique 
  civilization and culture. 
  • Transformed: Some or all of the inhabitants have the transformed origin 
  from ICONS, with corresponding powers and abilities. 
  • Unearthly: Some or all of the inhabitants have the Unearthly origin from 
  ICONS, with corresponding powers and abilities. 
  Treasure: The site holds some type of valuable “treasure,” which may or 
  may not be actual physical valuables. Treasures can include magical or 
  technological knowledge or items, rare “X-element” materials, precious 
  metals and gemstones, or cosmic Items of Power, to name a few. 
  Weirdness: There’s some weird, random thing about the setting, a catch-all 
  for phenomena and contents not falling into the other categories. It might 
  be a “zone of genre enforcement” for example, transforming visitors to suit 
  its idiom (such as making characters into fantasy or historical analogues of 
  their usual selves), nullifying certain powers, or having fantastic sites like 
  ﬂoating islands. 
  CONCEALMENT 
  How does the lost world stay “lost” from the rest of human civilization? 
  Barrier: The setting is separated from the outside world by some type of 
  barrier. It might be a dome of mysterious (and near-indestructible) material, 
  a force ﬁeld, a high wall or fence, or even a container like a bottle holding a 
  shrunken miniature or the like. For an underground setting, the barrier 
  might simply be vast layers of rock and metal, or speciﬁc sealed 
  passageways. 
   
  
  Cloak: The lost world is cloaked against detection in some fashion. It might 
  be protected by an invisibility or camouﬂage screen or impenetrable fog 
  bank, shielded from being scanned by surveillance satellites (useful for an 
  isolated wilderness setting) or even surrounded by a “somebody else’s 
  problem” ﬁeld that causes most casual observers to simply not notice the 
  place and pass it by. 
  Dimensional Anomaly: Some anomaly of space, time, or dimension 
  conceals the locale, effectively rendering it undetectable, and potentially 
  making it difficult to get in and out. The lost world might exist in an isolated 
  “pocket” dimension, or out of phase with ordinary space-time. It could be a 
  “micro-verse” contained within a single molecule, or a “macro-verse” 
  containing our entire universe inside one of its molecules! 
  Secret: The lost world’s primary concealment is that few, if any, people from 
  the outside world know of its existence, location, or how to get there. This 
  is easiest for settings with some other natural form of concealment, such as 
  existing underground or underwater, although secret islands or valleys can 
  exist, so long as you explain why no one has spotted them from orbit or the 
  like. 
  SOURCE 
  What creates and sustains the lost world’s concealment? You may also 
  want to consider how it was originally set in place and why. 
  Magic: The lost world is concealed by magic, from an ancient enchantment 
  woven by its founders or creators, to spells worked by its leaders or 
  inhabitants, some of whom may have levels of Occult specialty or even the 
  Magic power. 
  Natural: The concealment is a quirk of nature in some fashion, such as a 
  conﬂuence of dimensional energies, a nexus of ley lines, an arrangement of 
  rare elements or materials, and so forth. 
  Technology: Advanced—possibly alien—technology conceals the lost world 
  site from the outside world. It could be the work of whoever created the 
  place, in which case its inhabitants may not even understand it, or it could 
  be their technology, suggesting a technologically advanced civilization. 
  Weirdness: The lost world’s concealment is just plain weird. It might be the 
  work of gods, spirits, or cosmic entities, or the effect of something outside 
  of the human experience. Maybe the site is built in or around the corpse of 
  an otherworldly entity, or formed of dream-stuff, or willed into existence by 
  the unleashed powers of someone lying in a coma someplace. Who knows? 
   
  
  “M” is for “Magic” 
  The mystic arts, occult powers far beyond the ken of ordinary mortals. It is 
  in this shadowy world of mysticism that magicians of good intent maintain 
  eternal vigilance against hordes of demons, corrupt wizards, evil gods, and 
  cosmic conquerors from other dimensions, protecting an unsuspecting 
  world from the threats they pose. 
  The Assembled Edition of ICONS provides basic information on the Magic 
  power and the Great Power sourcebook offers an expanded version. This 
  article offers more detail on the mystic arts, with additional information and 
  options usable by players and Game Masters alike. 
  Magic is the study of forces and how to use them to cause things to 
  happen. Magicians who learn how to manipulate the right energies in the 
  proper way can do almost anything, limited only by the extent of their 
  knowledge and will. 
   
  
  THE MAGIC POWER 
  While many powers may be magical in nature, Magic is a singular power, 
  the ability to harness certain energies to cast a variety of spells. While 
  Magic is often learned, whether from books or a teacher, it may also be 
  bestowed in a variety of ways, depending on the character’s origin. A 
  trained magician may have studied for years while a gimmick has an item 
  like a helm, amulet, or wand, granting the Magic power. A birthright or 
  unearthly origin might have innate Magic they have learned to master. 
  Regardless of origin, wielders of Magic tend to be classiﬁed into three levels 
  based on their power and versatility: novice, adept, and master. 
  NOVICE 
  The majority of magicians are “novices,” dabblers who have learned a few 
  spells, but do not have the power or versatility of a true Master of the 
  Mystic Arts. 
  Novices generally have a Good (level 5) or lower level of Magic and can 
  cast spells to duplicate a limited list of powers, as follows: Astral Projection, 
  Binding, Blast, Dazzle, Detection (Magic), Dimensional Travel, ESP, Flight, 
  Force Field, Illusion, Life Support, Servant, Stunning, Telekinesis, Telepathy 
  and Teleportation. 
  ADEPT 
  Magicians with a Magic level of Great (6) or higher are true adepts, able to 
  cast spells to duplicate virtually any power. Magic does not normally allow a 
  mage (even a master) to affect their own body, ability scores or skills. For 
  this reason, mages often make use of various helpers and henchmen to 
  handle physical matters. 
  The following powers generally cannot be duplicated using Magic: Ability 
  Boost, Ability Increase, Alter Ego, Cosmic Power, Extra Body Parts, 
  Gadgets, Healing, Immortality (apart from rumors of secret rituals granting 
  it), Interface, Mimicry, and Regeneration. This is not a hard-and-fast rule, 
  but the Game Master should consider carefully before allowing a magician 
  to duplicate these powers. 
  MASTER 
  A true master of the mystic arts typically has Incredible (7) or greater 
  powers, but it is not just sheer power that makes a master, it is skill. Mystic 
  masters often have one or more Mastery extras on their Magic power, spells 
  they have honed until they are second nature, and can be invoked at a 
  moment’s notice. The Psychic extra from Great Power is also common for 
   
  
  masters, allowing them to use their magic to duplicate mental or sensory 
  powers like Astral Projection, Detection, ESP, and Telepathy with nothing 
  more than concentration and focus. 
  SCHOOLS OF MAGIC 
  Magic is often divided into different “schools,” also known as orders, paths, 
  styles, or traditions. Each school of magic encompasses a basic philosophy 
  and various techniques or spellcasting and may have certain “signature” 
  powers or spells. Examples include (but are not limited to): 
  • Chaos: The school of chaos rests upon the foundation of the cosmos as a 
  chaotic, meaningless place where a magician can impose change. 
  • Divine: Magic—miracles really—drawing upon celestial divine powers and 
  the blessings of a god or gods. 
  • Infernal: Magic granted by or taken from infernal, demonic forces. See 
  “D” is for “Demons” for additional resources. 
  • Nature: Associated with pagan or Earth-reverent traditions, nature magic 
  draws its power from the elements and forces of the natural world. 
  • Necromantic: Conversely, necromancy deals with the forces of death and 
  decay, and summoning and commanding the spirits of the dead. 
  • Order: The school of order believes there is an inherent purpose to 
  everything and magic properly defends this cosmic order. 
  Schools of magic are most often used as qualities, or parts of qualities, to 
  describe and deﬁne a particular magician, such as “Agent of the Archons of 
  Order” or “Last of the Druids” (a Nature school), for examples. 
  MAGICAL DEVICES 
  As the Assembled Edition of Icons and Great Power both note, devices can 
  be magical in nature rather than (or as well as) technological, and some 
  magical characters are gimmicks who derive their powers from enchanted 
  talismans and objects of power. 
  • Alteration Devices are typically things that are worn, such as belts, 
  jewelry, or clothing (particularly capes and cloaks) or things that are 
  consumed like potions. 
  • Control Devices tend to be wands, staffs, crowns, and similar symbols of 
  authority, although gems and crystals are also common. 
  • Defensive Devices can be actual armor or shields or various sorts of 
  amulets, rings, bracers, or protective cloaks. 
   
  
  • Mental Devices are typically crowns, circlets, or other headwear or 
  crystals or gemstones, or some combination of the two. 
  • Movement Devices may be clothing, particularly gloves, boots, or cloaks, 
  or magical vehicles ranging from carpets to broomsticks. 
  • Offensive Devices include enchanted weapons as well as wands, rings, or 
  gauntlets projecting an offensive power. 
  • Sensory Devices are most often masks, lenses, or scrying devices like 
  crystals, mirrors, or pendulums. 
  THE ASTRAL PLANE 
  Some magical heroes venture into an “astral” or “ethereal” plane of 
  existence in the course of their adventures. 
  GETTING THERE 
  One of the key challenges of the astral plane is getting there in the ﬁrst 
  place. You need the Astral Projection power to send your spirit form into 
  the astral realm or the Dimensional Travel power to go and take your body 
  along for the ride. Dimensional Travel also offers the potential to bring 
  others with you or open a portal between the two realms. At the Game 
  Master’s discretion the Phasing power may also interface with the astral 
  plane; it could be where the character’s mass goes while physical 
  appearance remains on this plane of existence. 
  Heroes may also ﬁnd getting back from the astral plane a challenge. An 
  astral projector could be blocked from returning to his body by a force 
  ﬁeld, magical ward, or similar countermeasure, or simply by ﬁnding their 
  body already occupied by another spirit! Likewise, travelers to the astral 
  realm could ﬁnd their return blocked by magical or technological means to 
  “harden” the walls between worlds. Returning could become a pyramid test 
  with speciﬁc parameters based around overcoming these difficulties. 
  PERCEPTION 
  Perceptions in the astral realm may be distorted. The GM can play with 
  distances, with things appearing much closer or further away than they 
  actually are. A specialty in the Occult (or a related psychic discipline) may 
  add to Awareness tests on the astral at the GM’s discretion, allowing 
  knowledgable and experienced characters to notice things there they 
  might otherwise overlook. 
   
  
  MOVEMENT 
  Movement on the astral plane is as easy and swift as thought, or as slow 
  and difficult as a nightmare, depending on the circumstances. Most of the 
  time, astral beings can move quickly and easily, unhindered by gravity or 
  physical obstacles (through which they pass harmlessly). Certain mystic 
  forces (or foes) can shape the stuff of the astral realm to make things 
  difficult, however, and the GM can place traps and other challenges in the 
  heroes’ path. 
  CONFLICT 
  Conﬂict for heroes who have physically entered the astral is similar to the 
  real world, although affected by local inﬂuences on movement, perception, 
  and so forth. 
  For astral projectors, conﬂict in the astral realm is entirely a matter of mind 
  and spirit, not body. Use the hero’s mental abilities in place of the 
  corresponding physical abilities: Astral Prowess is equal to Intellect, Astral 
  Coordination is equal to Awareness, and Astral Strength is equal to 
  Willpower. A character might be a 90-pound weakling in the physical world, 
  but a powerhouse on the astral plane! 
  POWERS 
  A mental and mystical realm, the astral plane is most attuned to mental 
  powers and mystical ones like Magic. Physical powers—technological 
  devices, in particular—may not function as expected there. The Game 
  Master can cause trouble by having a hero’s powers disrupted or changed 
  on the astral in some way in order to spice-up astral adventures and 
  provide opportunities for the heroes better-suited to working on the astral 
  plane to strut their stuff. 
  MAGICAL CREATURES 
  All of the creatures of myth, imagination, and nightmares exist somewhere 
  in the magical world, and can show up in adventures involving magic and 
  magicians. The following are just some of the magical creatures you can 
  include in your ICONS games. 
  For additional stock characters and creatures suited to magical ICONS 
  adventures, see “D” is for “Demons” and the Game Mastering chapter of 
  the Assembled Edition, particularly for Cultists, Ninjas, and Zombies, as well 
  as Pythons, Swarms, Vipers, Wolves, and dinosaurs! 
   
  
  DRAGON 
  Powers: Blast 7 (ﬁery breath), Damage Resistance 4 (tough scales), Extra 
  Body Parts (Wings) 3, Strike 6 (slashing bite and claws) 
  Qualities: Engine of Destruction, Primordial Power 
  Great ﬁre-breathing reptiles of legend, dragons sometimes serve powerful 
  magicians, or magicians assume draconic form to do battle. Dragons are 
  sometimes powerful sorcerers themselves, having the Magic power and 
  Occult specialty in addition to their other abilities. 
  ELEMENTAL 
  Powers: Alternate Form 6 (Energy, Fluid, Gaseous, or Solid) 
  Qualities: Elemental Nature 
  Elementals are composed entirely of one of the four ancient elements of 
  Air, Earth, Fire, or Water, existing in a permanent Alternate Form. Some 
  powerful elementals have higher levels of Alternate Form or additional 
  powers related to their element, particularly Element Control. 
  GARGOYLE 
  Specialties: Aerial Combat 
  Powers: Damage Resistance 5, Extra Body Parts (Wings) 3, Life Support 10 
  Qualities: Hideous Guardian, Solid As Stone 
  Gargoyles are hideous, demonic humanoid ﬁgures with bat-like wings, 
  animated by magic as servants and guardians. Their traits also serve well 
  for similar horned and bat-winged ﬂying demons. 
  PROWESS
  COORD.
  STRENGTH
  INTELLECT
  AWARENESS
  WILLPOWER
  STAMINA
  5
  3
  8
  3
  3
  4
  12
  PROWESS
  COORD.
  STRENGTH
  INTELLECT
  AWARENESS
  WILLPOWER
  STAMINA
  3
  3
  6
  2
  3
  3
  9
  PROWESS
  COORD.
  STRENGTH
  INTELLECT
  AWARENESS
  WILLPOWER
  STAMINA
  3
  3
  4
  2
  3
  3
  7
   
  
  “N” is for 
  “Narrative Abilities” 
   
  ICONS generally takes a fairly light approach towards abilities in terms of 
  deﬁning heroes, using just attributes, specialties, powers, and qualities to 
  do so. However, some may prefer an even lighter touch when it comes to 
  deﬁning characters in terms of the game system. 
  This A to Z takes a look at a way to do that, along with an approach that 
  replaces the Stamina score from Icons with a narrative system for the 
  effects of damage and strain heroes encounter during adventures. As with 
  all variant and optional systems, consider carefully the overall impact of 
  these changes on your game and implement them on a trial basis to see if 
  they work with the style of ICONS game you want to run. 
   
  
  NARRATIVE ABILITIES 
  In this more freeform approach, characters have no numerically quantiﬁed 
  abilities: no attributes, specialties, or powers, just qualities and 
  Determination, which is set at the starting value of 6 for all of the player 
  characters (since there are no powers or high level abilities to adjust 
  Determination level). Game Masters may wish to allow for more than three 
  starting qualities with this approach, to allow for more description of the 
  characters—as many as ﬁve or six—but this is not necessary. 
  In additional the qualities, players should write a short, narrative description 
  of their heroes, which may include their qualities (called out in bold or 
  colored text for reference). For example: 
  All-American Girl, the Princess of Power, was Trained by All-Star 
  originally as his sidekick, but graduated from that role to become a 
  hero in her own right. Natalie Prentis was infused with a portion of All-
  Star’s power by an accident when she saved him from a trap set by the 
  Ultra-Mind, giving her incredible strength, stamina, and the power of 
  ﬂight. She’s determined to do her mentor proud and her motto is “I 
  can handle this!” 
  All tests in this variant are a straight-up die roll: 1d6 for the player with 1d6 
  from the GM subtracted from it (or the player rolling 1d6 – 1d6) for a result 
  of –5 to +5, modiﬁed only by advantage such as increased effort from 
  activating a quality or qualities. 
  NARRATIVE INTERPRETATION 
  The interpretation of the outcome of a test varies depending on the 
  character, description, and action(s) attempted. For example, since All-
  American Girl is described as having incredible strength, if she achieves a 
  major success in an effort to escape from being chained up, then she 
  probably does it by simply snapping the chains apart. 
  Other heroes lacking such physical power in their descriptions might 
  escape the chains using other described powers or capabilities, such as 
  picking the locks or using escape artist techniques to slip out of them, or 
  even using some aspect of the environment or tricking someone else into 
  freeing them. 
  The narrative abilities approach gives all characters essentially equal 
  capability from a story standpoint: a success is a success, it’s just a matter 
  of interpreting how the character is successful in the context of the 
  narrative. 
   
  
  AUTOMATIC SUCCESS AND FAILURE 
  In some cases using this approach there will be times when the situation 
  and the description of the character makes it clear that either no success is 
  possible (the character is a normal human who wants to lift a building, for 
  example) or no test is necessary (the character is described as one of the 
  world’s greatest archers and wants to hit a stationary target just to show 
  off her skills). In these instances, the GM can just declare a failure or success 
  based on description and qualities with a die roll or test. If the outcome is 
  in doubt, or the character’s efforts are opposed in any way (such as the 
  archer shooting at a moving target) then a test is appropriate. 
  In cases where the GM declares the effort would be an automatic failure, 
  the player may have the opportunity to rephrase the action or approach it 
  differently, based on the character’s description, to have a chance of 
  success. For example, perhaps Hangman has no chance of overcoming the 
  Troll’s fantastic toughness with a simple punch, but the Grim Sentinel of 
  Justice could try an attack that turns the Troll’s great strength against him 
  to hurl him off the bridge (and even catch him in the Noose of Justice as he 
  does so, with a high enough outcome). 
  NARRATIVE DAMAGE 
  In this variant, Stamina is not used to track damage in conﬂicts. You can use 
  narrative damage in conjunction with the regular numerical abilities and 
  resolution in ICONS or with the narrative abilities option, previously. In fact, if 
  using the narrative abilities option, you should also use narrative damage, 
  since characters by deﬁnition don’t have numerical abilities like Stamina. 
  STRAIN 
  One outcome of tests is strain, the taxing of a character’s capabilities. Like 
  all outcomes, strain is measured in four degrees: marginal, moderate, major, 
  and massive. 
  Characters can have only one instance of each degree of strain: a second 
  instance causes the strain to “roll up” to the next degree. So a hero with 
  moderate strain who suffers another moderate degree of strain has the two 
  moderate degrees roll up to major, but the hero now has major strain but 
  no moderate strain (and could suffer another degree of moderate strain). 
  Anyone suffering a massive degree of strain is incapacitated, out of action 
  until able to recover. Otherwise, accumulated strain has no effect on a 
  character other than making it difficult to deal with additional degrees of 
  strain without becoming incapacitated. 
   
  
  Characters acquire degrees of strain in two ways: ﬁrst, it is imposed on 
  them as part of the outcome of a conﬂict, ranging from the physical 
  punishment of an attack to psychological shock or emotional trauma. 
  Second, strain may sometimes be the result of degrees of failure on a test, 
  particularly a costly pyramid test, but also tests involving some degree of 
  risk, such as escaping from a burning or collapsing structure. 
  In some cases, strain is directly from the outcome of an action, in others, 
  such as damaging attacks, it results from the comparison of the attacker’s 
  damage level and the defender’s resistance level, modiﬁed by the degree of 
  success from the initial attack action. In this second case, a major success 
  increases the damage level by 1, while a massive success increases it by 2. 
  Example: All-American Girl is ﬁghting against Troll and the Alliance of Evil. 
  Since she’s ﬂying out of reach, Trolls snaps off a telephone pole and swings 
  it. The GM rolls a 4 + Troll’s Prowess 7 for an effort of 11. All-American Girl’s 
  player rolls a 3 + her Coordination 4 and Athletics for a difficulty of 8. That’s 
  a major success for Troll! The GM then compares All-American Girl’s 
  Damage Resistance of 7 to the Troll’s Strength of 9, with +1 for the major 
  success on the attack. That’s enough for another major success, meaning 
  America’s Sweetheart now has major strain from the hit (and the telephone 
  pole breaks, as Troll’s Strength is greater than the level of its material). 
  OPTION: MULTIPLE STRAIN TRACKS 
  By default, characters have a single strain “track” of four degrees from 
  marginal to massive. If you wish, you can differentiate between types of 
  strain, such as physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, or other descriptors, 
  tracking their effects separately. 
  It is only when one of these strain tracks reaches a massive degree that the 
  character is incapacitated, and it may have different meanings and 
  implications based on the track. For example, an emotionally incapacitated 
  character might be utterly defeated and unable to take further action 
  whereas a physically incapacitated character is unconscious or perhaps 
  even badly injured. 
  In the case of multiple strain tracks, which type of strain a character is 
  looking to cause can affect the outcome and effectiveness of a test: A 
  target resistant to physical strain, for example, might be taken down by 
  mental or spiritual strain, whereas a physically ordinary character might 
  have a tremendous capacity for mental strain. 
  You can even sub-divide types of strain such as splitting the physical strain 
  track into lethal (burns, cuts, wounds, etc.) and non-lethal (bruises and 
  stunning), depending on how you want to measure the effects. 
   
  
  RECOVERY 
  Characters recover strain in-between chapters, unless they have speciﬁc 
  powers allowing them to recover during action time. 
  You can just assume characters erase all levels of strain after a chapter, or 
  you can require a recovery test: this is a difficulty 3 test of an ability, based 
  on the type of strain (Strength for physical, Willpower for mental, for 
  example). The outcome of the test determines the highest level of strain the 
  character removes. 
  Example: All-American Girl get a breather after the ﬁght with the Alliance 
  and makes a Strength test, rolling 2 + Strength 7 for a 9. The GM rolls 3 + 
  difficulty 3 for a 6. That’s a major success for All-American Girl, meaning she 
  eliminates up to major strain, enough to bounce-back from the hit Troll gave 
  her during the ﬁght. 
  In some cases, another character may be able to make the recovery test for 
  someone else, or provide assistance (see Combined Effort in The Basics 
  chapter of ICONS the Assembled Edition). This can represent anything from 
  medical treatment to a friend lending a sympathetic ear to help overcome 
  mental or emotional strain. 
  Advantage: Using advantage to recover removes the character’s highest 
  degree of strain. So if a hero has moderate and major strain and uses 
  advantage to recover, erase the major strain, leaving the hero with just 
  moderate. 
  Healing and Regeneration: The Healing or Regenerations powers allow 
  characters tests to recover during action time, using the power’s level in 
  place of an ability, with the outcome of the test determining the level of 
  strain recovered. These powers generally only affect physical strain but, at 
  the GM’s option, there might be extras or variants affecting other types of 
  strain as well. 
  CONSEQUENCES 
  Another outcome of tests is consequences, limiting a character in various 
  ways. Consequences are also measured in degrees: moderate, major, and 
  massive. There are no marginal consequences. 
  Moderate consequences impose a temporary penalty, such as –1 to an 
  ability or type of test for a page, the loss of the character’s next turn 
  (taking no actions for a page), getting knocked down, and so forth. The 
  consequence lasts until the end of the character’s next turn or takes an 
  action to remove. 
   
  
  Major consequences either impose a greater penalty, equal to a –2 on an 
  ability or type of test, getting knocked into the next distance, or the 
  equivalent of a moderate consequence that lasts longer, at least a number 
  of pages equal to the effect level, perhaps as long as full scene. 
  Massive consequences are quite serious, equal to a –3 penalty or even the 
  loss of an ability (ranging from a power to vision or the ability to walk, for 
  example). A major consequence lasts for at least the rest of the story, and 
  may require special treatment or other aid for the character to recover, at 
  the GM’s option. 
  Some consequences are the direct outcome of tests, but characters also 
  have the option of trading a degree of strain for a consequence of equal 
  degree. The character suffers the consequence and not the strain. So, for 
  example, a character who suffers moderate strain from a hit may choose to 
  take a moderate consequence instead, such as being stunned and unable to 
  act for a page. 
  The primary limitation on this option is characters cannot trade strain for 
  consequence if they already have a consequence of that degree. So a 
  character already suffering from a major consequence cannot choose to 
  trade major strain for another consequence. The decision to trade strain for 
  consequence must be made when the strain occurs and cannot be done 
  later. 
  Stun, Slam & Kill Results: In the Narrative Damage option, consequences 
  largely replace stun, slam and kill results from the standard ICONS rules. The 
  only effect of higher degrees of success on attack tests is a higher degree 
  of outcome for strain, either directly or as a bonus to damage or effect 
  level. 
  OPTION: USING YOUR PAIN 
  Since consequences are essential a kind of temporary quality, there may be 
  instances where characters can activate a consequence for advantage or to 
  cause trouble like any other quality. This can represent the pain of an injury 
  driving a character forward, or causing some distraction, or harnessing the 
  emotional energy of some psychological consequence for a sudden surge 
  of effort or a breakthrough leading to a new stunt. 
  OPTION: CONSEQUENCES & STAMINA 
  Consequences can work in conjunction with the regular Stamina rules from 
  ICONS. In this case, rather than replacing a degree of strain, a consequence 
  reduces the amount of Stamina lost to damage, based on its degree: 2 
  points for a moderate consequence, 4 for major, and 6 points for a massive 
  consequence. 
   
  
  “O” is for 
  “Organizations” 
   
  A wide variety of organizations feature in superhero comic books, from 
  law-enforcement and government “black ops” programs to ancient cults 
  and conspiracies devoted to taking over the world. Some organizations 
  may aid heroes, others oppose them, and a few only incidentally become 
  involved in their affairs, usually because something the organization has or 
  does draws the attention of a hero or villain. 
  This chapter of A to Z offers additional guidelines and traits for handling 
  organizations, and the legions of agents that often come with them. 
   
  
  AGENTS 
  Organizations have agents, individuals (although not necessarily humans) 
  who carry out the organization’s agenda and work to fulﬁll its goals. Agents 
  are essentially the organizational version of the Servant power from ICONS, 
  only on a larger scale. While a hero might have multiple servants, an 
  organization typically has dozens, if not hundreds or thousands, of agents. 
  An interstellar or inter dimensional organization could even have millions of 
  agents—or more! 
  AGENT 
  Specialties: Guns, Martial Arts 
  Devices: Blaster Pistol (Blast 4) 
  Qualities: Loyal to the Agency, One of Many, Outﬁtted Agent 
  This represents the “stock” agent character with very little embellishment. 
  More realistic agents may have regular ﬁrearms rather than a blaster, along 
  with other mundane equipment. Activate the “Outﬁtted Agent” quality to 
  retcon important equipment as needed. Activate “One of Many” to cause 
  trouble for the heroes by having more agents appear as back-up. 
  Variations on the basic agent include Cultists, Henchmen, Ninjas, Soldiers, 
  Thugs, and Zombies from the Stock Characters section of the Assembled 
  Edition of ICONS, as well as: 
  • Armored Agents with 1–3 levels of Damage Resistance from body armor, 
  making them a bit tougher. 
  • Powered Agents with one or more powers, either innate or provided by 
  devices, based on the theme of the organization. Some powered agents 
  may have the Artiﬁcial origin, being constructs such as robots or undead. 
  • Self-Destructing Agents that dissolve, burst into ﬂames, or even explode 
  (like a Burst) when they are reduced to 0 Stamina or captured. 
  • Squad Agents under the command of an agent with one or more levels 
  of the Leadership specialty, providing them with some beneﬁts in terms 
  of maneuvers and activating qualities via teamwork. An effective squad 
  of agents can also be handled using combined effort (see the following). 
  PROWESS
  COORD.
  STRENGTH
  INTELLECT
  AWARENESS
  WILLPOWER
  STAMINA
  3
  3
  3
  3
  3
  3
  6
   
  
   
  ORGANIZATIONS AS QUALITIES 
  Apart from their individual agents, one way of deﬁning organizations in 
  ICONS is as qualities, activated for advantage or trouble when the 
  organization is relevant to the story. 
  The organization itself might be a self-contained quality, usually just the 
  name of the organization, such as “ULTRA Labs” or accompanied by added 
  description, such as “ULTRA Labs, Cutting-Edge Research.” Alternately, it 
  can be part of another quality, such as “Agent of ARROW” or “On the Run 
  from MURK”. 
  ORGANIZATION ADVANTAGES 
  Players can activate an organization quality during play for an advantage 
  just like any other quality. Consider some of the following possibilities: 
  • Improved Effort: This beneﬁt might stem from the character’s extensive 
  training or experience with the organization (“Because I ‘Trained with the 
  League of Shadows…”), the character’s loyalty to, or dislike for, the 
  organization, or even from the presence of the organization or its agents, 
  such as gaining improved effort on an interaction because of an 
  organization’s reputation or inﬂuence. 
  • Insight: Many organizations have extensive information resources, ranging 
  from research libraries and secret archives to intelligence-gathering 
   
  
  networks and spies. Government agencies may have access to classiﬁed 
  information while scientiﬁc organizations have cutting-edge research. 
  • Push Ability: Similar to improve effort, a character’s experience with, 
  feelings towards, or support from an organization could aid in pushing an 
  ability just that extra measure. 
  • Recover: This advantage might also come from training, experience, or 
  inspiration from an organization but is more likely attributed to some 
  resource the organization provides, like an “ace-in-the-hole” device, 
  power, or one-time blessing. (“As you know because I am a Templar of the 
  Church Universal, I can sometimes recover quite rapidly, when there is a 
  need.”) 
  • Retcon: This category covers a great number of advantages an 
  organization can supply, particularly as part of a character’s background, 
  and offers an opportunity to drop hints about said background when 
  activating the quality. (“Because I’m ‘On the Run from Majestic-7’ I’ve had 
  to conceal the truth about a lot of things, including…) 
  • Stunt: While the stunt gained from activating an organization quality 
  could represent training, experience, or research involving the 
  organization, it can also include things like devices provided by the 
  organization (“This force beam can also be adjusted to create a force 
  ﬁeld!”) or calling upon assistance from others in the organization. 
  (“Because I’m a ‘High-Ranking Agent of the Telsa Institute,’ I should be 
  able to access their secret teleport network, at least this once.”) 
  ORGANIZATION TROUBLE 
  Just like all other qualities, players and the GM can also activate 
  organization qualities to cause trouble for a character, such as: 
  • Challenge: A catch-all of the organization (or the character’s connection 
  to it) posing some problem. This can include internal matters of the 
  organization, such as ordered handed down from above, blocking 
  characters from a particular course of action, or running afoul of the 
  organization’s limits or regulations, or it might be something like trouble 
  involving one of the organization’s rivals or enemies, or budget-cuts 
  foreclosing certain opportunities. 
  • Compulsion: This is an even more extreme version of “orders from above,” 
  particularly if the organization does have the ability to compel its agents 
  or members in some fashion. Perhaps the mysterious Heads of the Space 
  Patrol tell their officers stationed on Earth not to interfere in a particular 
  matter, or order them to report to their home base in a distant star-
  system just as something is happening back home. As with other 
   
  
  compulsions (and forms of trouble) the players can refuse, but may still 
  have the deal with the consequences, creating new trouble sometime in 
  the future. 
  • Disability: This trouble is most likely to come up if the organization has 
  the ability to withhold some of the character’s abilities in some way. 
  Perhaps a hero draws some of her power from a “broadcast beam” or 
  regular infusions of an exotic drug or radiation. The organization 
  controlling that resource can withhold it, or it can be stolen or otherwise 
  disabled. Maybe refusing the summons of the Space Patrol means the 
  officers’ Astro Armor ceases to function until they report in! 
  • Increased Difficulty: Sometimes, association with an organization is not 
  an advantage, but actually makes things more difficult. A hero who is a 
  known agent of a governmental organization, for example, might 
  encounter increasing difficulty in dealing with anti-government factions, 
  who simply refuse to listen to what “The Man” has to say, or otherwise 
  assume the character is a dupe or pawn. Likewise, blind-spots in an 
  organization’s training or procedures might cause increased difficulty for 
  characters in some circumstances. 
  • Lost Panel: This type of trouble tends to represent a distraction or some 
  kind, in this case related to the organization. It could be a “handler” or 
  “control” who is in constant radio contact, or an insistent incoming 
  communication from headquarters (particularly if it’s something beamed 
  directly into the character’s mind). A lost panel might also represent an 
  internal struggle, where the character hesitates, torn between duty and a 
  sense of what’s right, for example, or confronted with the disturbing 
  possibility that the organization is not what it appears to be. 
   
   
  
  ORGANIZATION ABILITIES 
  Organizations can also be quantiﬁed much like characters in their own 
  right, with various attribute levels they use for tests, and perhaps qualities 
  of their own. 
  ORGANIZATION ATTRIBUTES 
  The attributes deﬁning organizations are different from those that deﬁne 
  characters. An organization has three attributes: Inﬂuence, Resources, and 
  Security: 
  Inﬂuence measures the organization’s ability to get things done, both 
  overtly and behind the scenes. An Average organization has relatively little 
  inﬂuence, primarily in a local area, whereas a Supreme organization could 
  potentially rule the world (if it doesn’t already do so). 
  Resources reﬂect the organization’s material and personnel resources, from 
  sheer wealth to things like property and equipment. See “W” is for 
  “Wealth” for additional guidelines. 
  Security measures both the organization’s resistance to outside inﬂuences 
  and inﬁltration as well as the overall physical security of its facilities and 
  resources. It is used as a general resistance attribute for tests against the 
  organization. 
  ORGANIZATION SPECIALTIES 
  At the GM’s option, you can further reﬁne an organization by assigning 
  specialties to its attributes. For example, an organization might have Good 
  Inﬂuence but also be a Master of Covert Operations, giving it Fantastic 
  Inﬂuence in that area. Another organization with Fair Resources could be 
  an Expert in Military Operations, giving it Great Resources there, and so 
  forth. 
  ORGANIZATION QUALITIES 
  An organization can have its own qualities, just like characters do, which 
  can be activated for advantage and to cause trouble. This can range from 
  “Hidden Alien Conspiracy” to “Devoted to the Ideal of the American 
  Dream” or “Defeat One of Us, and Two More Will Take His Place.” As with 
  other qualities in ICONS, the GM approves qualities assigned to 
  organizations, and may wish to limit the number to three or less, although 
  larger and older organizations may accumulate more, just as characters to 
  through achievement and change. 
   
  
  “P” is for “Pets” 
   
  For almost as long as there have been superheroes, there have been faithful 
  animal sidekicks and “super-pets” to serve as companions, allies, and 
  (occasionally) comic relief for their heroic friends. While the notion of 
  “super-pets” has gone from virtually every hero seeming to have one to a 
  fairly rare concept in the modern-day comics, there are plenty of options 
  for including pets and animal allies in your own ICONS game, including 
  handling them as qualities of characters, servant or supporting characters, 
  or even heroes and villains in their own right. 
  This A to Z chapter makes use of the various stock creatures found in the 
  Creatures section of the Game Mastering chapter of the Assembled 
  Edition of ICONS. You may ﬁnd it useful to have that section on-hand for 
  reference when using the options described here. 
   
  
  PETS AS QUALITIES 
  The simplest means of handling pets and other allied creatures is by 
  treating them as qualities of their associated hero, such as “Spangle, the 
  American Eagle” or “Crowley, Black Cat Familiar,” which can be activated 
  for advantage or to cause trouble, just like any other quality in the game. 
  ADVANTAGE 
  Sometimes the hero gains an advantage from the pet, such as the beneﬁt 
  of improved effort (often a kind of combined effort), insight from the pet’s 
  senses, knowledge or ability to serve as a scout, or a stunt reﬂecting one of 
  the pet’s powers or abilities. Pet qualities are great for last-second rescues 
  or getting messages to allies (“What’s that Spangle? All-American Girl has 
  been captured? You want us to follow you?”). 
  TROUBLE 
  Similarly, a pet quality can cause trouble for the hero from time to time, as 
  a curious pet goes off on its own, gets captured, used as bait, or chases 
  cars in the downtown area, but with the ability to tear off bumpers or lift 
  entire sedans into the air! Loving and well-meaning super-pets may also not 
  be able to tell the difference between a hero’s costumed and secret 
  identities. As with all instances of trouble, the hero earns Determination 
  Points when these things happen. 
  PETS AS SERVANTS 
  Pets and other animal allies may be a reﬂection of the Servant power, either 
  summoned by the hero as-needed, or effectively permanent always-present 
  servants, meaning the hero never needs to summon them or maintain the 
  power, nor can it be nulliﬁed or turned off, but the hero can be deprived of 
  the pets or servants if they are not close by. The latter is a variant of 
  Servant with effectively no modiﬁer, as the beneﬁts and drawbacks tend to 
  even out. 
  Animal servants are created just like others called upon by the power: a 
  pool of (power level x 4) points allocated to the servant’s abilities. 
  Although servants have no mental abilities by default, the GM can choose 
  to assign animal levels of ability for free, typically Weak (1) Intelligence, and 
  Average (3) Awareness and Willpower, with the option of spending some of 
  the servant’s pool of points to improve those abilities. The Multiple Servants 
  option allows for groups or packs of animal servants and the Enhanced and 
  Sensory Link extras are common for characters who summon animal 
  servants. 
   
  
  ANIMAL SIZE 
  Animals range in size from almost microscopic to massive creatures 
  weighing tons. ICONS Game Masters can use the Growth and Shrinking 
  powers as a rough guideline for determining an animal’s overall physical 
  abilities based on size, as well as a relevant modiﬁer to defense and tests to 
  go unnoticed, essentially assigning the animal permanent levels in either 
  power. Note that while the Shrinking power does not affect Strength level 
  by default, small animals tend to have low Strength levels, and the GM will 
  want to take this into account when creating them. 
   
  PETS AS CHARACTERS 
  If the players are creating animals as characters for them to play, or you just 
  want to come up with a random super-pet, add the following roll for type 
  of animal before the initial roll for origin using the rules from the Hero 
  Creation chapter of ICONS: 
  2d6 roll
  Animal Type
  2
  Aquatic
  3–4
  Avian
  5–6
  Rural
  7–9
  Domestic
  10–11
  Rodent
  12
  Exotic
   
  
  Aquatic animals include amphibians and aquatic mammals as well as ﬁsh. 
  Roll 1d6 for additional type: 1 = ﬁsh, 2 = frog, 3 = turtle, 4 = dolphin, 5 = 
  octopus (or squid), 6 = crustacean (crab or lobster). The animal has the 
  Aquatic power in addition to any rolled powers and may take a movement 
  power of the player’s choice in place of a rolled power. 
  Avian animals include birds of all kinds as well as bats and can include 
  domestic birds like chickens, turkeys, and common pets like parrots as well 
  as species of wild birds like hawks, eagles, and owls. 
  Rural animals are common barnyard species found on farms. Roll 1d6 for 
  additional type: 1 = goat, 2 = sheep, 3 = pig, 4 = cow, 5 = horse, 6 = donkey. 
  Domestic animals are the most common species kept as house-pets. Roll 
  1d6 for additional type: 1-3 = cat, 4-6 = dog. 
  Rodent includes animals properly part of the order Rodentia as well as 
  small, often domesticated, animals like ferrets. Roll 1d6 for additional type: 1 
  = rabbit or hare, 2 = rat, 3 = mouse (also hamsters), 4 = squirrel, 5 = beaver, 
  6 = ferret or weasel. 
  Exotic animals are everything else, including domesticated reptiles (snakes 
  and lizards), apes and monkeys, and strange creatures ranging from alien 
  blobs to tiny dragons. 
  In addition to any power modiﬁcations due to species and origin and any 
  randomly rolled powers, animals have an appropriate level of permanent 
  Growth or Shrinking according to their size (see Animal Size and the 
  following table). Adjust for the animal’s actual size; a “giant” mouse, for 
  example, might be as big as a dog, having only Shrinking 3. Animals able to 
  change their size apply levels of Growth or Shrinking on top of their innate, 
  permanent levels, so an enlarging mouse, for example, would need Growth 
  6 to grow to human-sized (negating its naturally tiny size). 
  Power Level
  Sample Animals
  Shrinking 6
  Mouse, hamster, goldﬁsh
  Shrinking 5
  Rat, squirrel, small bird
  Shrinking 4
  Cat, ferret, bird, small dog, turtle
  Shrinking 3
  Dog, monkey, octopus
  —
  Most animals larger than 3 feet but smaller than 9 feet
  Growth 1
  Horse
   
  
  THE SUPER-PETS SERIES 
  With animals as characters, you can use ICONS to run an entire series based 
  around “super-pet” characters and their exploits, often going on behind the 
  scenes of a regular comic book universe. 
  ANIMAL COMMUNICATION 
  In a super-pets series, where the heroes (and often the villains) are all 
  different sorts of animals, the default assumption is that animals can all 
  “talk” to each other somehow, communicating verbally through whatever 
  vocalizations, sounds, or gestures they make and comprehending each 
  other, but that animals cannot communicate directly with humans lacking 
  some version of Telepathy or the Comprehend Languages Super-Sense 
  (see the Great Power sourcebook). The Game Master is free to decide if 
  different animal species have their own “languages” as best suits the series 
  (see Languages in the Taking Action chapter of the Assembled Edition of 
  ICONS). 
  HUMANS 
  Humans in a super-pets series tend to take on a more distant role. In some, 
  humans may be little more than background color, showing up only to 
  introduce a situation before stepping “off-stage” for the rest of the story. 
  For example, many super-pets stories start with the animals’ human friends 
  bidding them farewell for a while while the humans go off to do something. 
  The animals proceed to have their own adventure, and the humans only 
  show back up at the end of the story, idly wondering what their pets have 
  been doing while they were away. At the most extreme level, humans are 
  not only barely present, they’re almost completely unintelligible, with 
  animals comprehending only bits of their speech (like “Good boy!” and 
  “treat”) with the rest becoming just white noise. 
  In other stories, humans may play a more direct or active role, albeit with 
  the focus on the animals, kind of a reverse of the usual “super-pets” style, 
  where the it is the humans, rather than the animals, who are the 
  companions and even sidekicks. With this approach, the GM may even want 
  to reverse the roles from this chapter, making the human characters into 
  qualities or sidekicks for the animals! 
  The primary exception to the guidelines about humans is human children: 
  Pre-adolescents in super-pets stories are often able to communicate with 
  and understand super-pets in ways that adults cannot, and serve as allies or 
  supporting characters, particularly providing access to the human world, 
  albeit limited due to their status as children. 
   
  
  THE SUPER-ANIMAL ONE-SHOT 
  Rather than an entire series, you can also use the information in this 
  chapter to run the classic comic book plot where the heroes are 
  transformed into animals for one adventure (or a mini-series) and have to 
  deal with the trouble brought on by their animal qualities in addition to 
  whatever villainous scheme they must thwart. Examples include heroes 
  transformed by a magical spell or transmogriﬁcation ray, mind-switched 
  into the bodies of animals (perhaps even their own animal companions), or 
  visiting a dream or fairy-tale reality where they take on the forms of 
  animals. The effect that transforms the heroes may turn them all into the 
  same type of animal or several different types. 
  The transformed heroes may or may not have full versions of their regular 
  powers in animal form and they all acquire the temporary “Animal Form” 
  quality, which the GM can activate to cause trouble ranging from the 
  inability to perform certain tasks requiring humans hands or speech to 
  animalistic behavior encroaching on the heroes’ minds, imposing a deadline 
  before their personalities fade entirely, turning them into ordinary beasts! 
   
   
  
  “Q” is for 
  “Qualities” 
   
  Most of the abilities in ICONS are quantitative, measured on the 1-to-10 scale, 
  with objective values and one level clearly higher or lower than another. 
  This is the case for attributes, powers, even specialties, which have three 
  levels of their own and modify attributes. But there are also qualitative 
  abilities in the game: qualities, which describe, not degrees of how much or 
  how little, but instead things about characters (and places, things, or even 
  events) that make them who and what they are. 
  Qualities are a key part of what makes ICONS work, and also one of the 
  system’s less understood elements. This chapter looks at qualities in more 
  detail and offers additional guidelines and ideas for handling them in play. 
   
  
  CREATING QUALITIES 
  The ﬁrst use of qualities in Icons is creating some for the heroes (and 
  villains) you create. The default number of qualities for starting heroes is 
  three, although Game Master characters can have as many as desired. Still, 
  keeping the number of qualities under a half-dozen or so helps to keep 
  them focused and manageable, whereas a larger number of qualities are 
  less likely to show up in play, and therefore have less value. 
  WHAT MAKES AN EFFECTIVE QUALITY? 
  Creating qualities is far more art than science, since qualities both need to 
  describe things and be useful in terms of advantage and trouble when 
  they’re activated. The following are some things to consider when creating 
  qualities for your heroes (and villains): 
  Focused: A good quality is focused rather than generic, including 
  descriptive modiﬁers. For example, “Avenger” is a rather vague quality, but 
  “Hell-Spawned Avenger of the Innocent” has focus and depth. “Billionaire” 
  is pretty clear, but “Billionaire Playboy” presents a different focus than 
  “Billionaire Inventor” or “Billionaire Corporate Executive”. 
  Flexible: Remember that qualities can be activated for both advantage and 
  to cause trouble, so the best qualities are ﬂexible enough to be seen as 
  potentially good or bad, depending on the situation. Thus “Defender of the 
  Innocent” can inspire a hero to greatness, but can also cause trouble when 
  the innocent are threatened and the hero feels compelled to drop 
  everything to help. “Secret Sorceress of the Sixth Sun” may imply certain 
  duties, responsibilities, and even inherited enemies that come with the role, 
  to say nothing of the trouble caused by keeping the quality secret. 
  Faceted: The more facets or depth a quality has, the more situations where 
  you can activate it. “Robot” is certainly a potential quality but “Secretly a 
  Robot” has additional depth, implying both advantages and trouble that 
  might come from the quality. Likewise, “Alien” is a quality, but “Exiled Alien 
  Royalty” provides a lot more to work with when it comes to activations. 
  In order to keep qualities ﬂexible, you may want to avoid strictly positive or 
  negative qualities, instead trying to ﬁnd ways to incorporate them into 
  broader, more multi-faceted ones. For example, a hero might have a 
  disability such as blindness, deafness, or paralysis. While you can certainly 
  make any of these things into qualities, and such challenges have been 
  known to inspire people to greatness, they might be more effective and 
  interesting in play if included as a part of something else, such as “Blind 
  Agent of Justice” or “Paraplegic Inventor” 
   
  
   
   
  CHANGING & REMOVING QUALITIES 
  Applied qualities (see the following) are, by their nature, temporary, but 
  most qualities are fairly innate and last until something signiﬁcantly 
  changes about the nature of the subject. As detailed under Changes in the 
  Game Mastering chapter of ICONS, a moderate change (earned through 
  achievements) can either replace one of a character’s existing qualities with 
  another, or add a new quality altogether. 
  It’s up to the GM as to whether or not there is a maximum number of 
  qualities a character can have at once. This tends to be self-limiting, as the 
  greater the number of qualities, the less likely any one of them will be 
  activated in a given situation. 
  It’s likewise left to the GM’s discretion whether or not a moderate change 
  can simply remove a quality without replacing it with another. Generally, 
  ICONS characters should have at least two qualities, so long as qualities are 
  being used in the game at all (see the Does Icons Need Qualities? sidebar 
  for details). 
  Lastly, you may want to apply the guidelines from the Qualities On-the-Fly 
  option from the Hero Creation chapter of ICONS to the ﬁrst few issues of 
  the game, allowing players to tweak and modify their heroes’ qualities to 
  ensure a good “ﬁt” and incorporate better ideas that come up in play 
  before “setting” them as innate qualities requiring achievement to change. 
   
  
  WHAT THINGS HAVE QUALITIES? 
  Potentially anything can have a quality in ICONS, although most things are 
  relatively unimportant to the story and so their qualities are largely 
  irrelevant. That said, characters, objects, places, and even events can have 
  qualities assigned to them, either by the Game Master, or as a result of the 
  players learning or applying qualities (see the following). 
  Assigning (or seeking to learn) a quality about something is a way of saying 
  “this thing should be important in some way” to the game, making it a 
  good cue for the Game Master to include that thing (and its qualities) in the 
  story in some way. 
  LEARNING QUALITIES 
  It’s one thing to activate one of your hero’s own qualities, which you know 
  quite well, and another to activate the qualities of an opponent, situation, 
  or object which are not already known. In order to activate a quality—for 
  either advantage or trouble—you ﬁrst must know it exists. There are three 
  primary ways of learning about an existing quality: 
  Perception: First, you can simply notice an obvious or apparent quality. 
  Essentially, the GM outright tells the players that one exists. It’s best in 
  these situations to have some indication or token of the obvious quality so 
  there’s clear communication. Writing the quality on a sticky note or token, 
  for example, and putting it on the table face-up in front of the players is a 
  good option. Having perceived the quality, characters can attempt to 
  activate it normally. 
  Interaction: Similarly, anyone who knows of the existence of a quality—
  regardless of how they found out about it—can simply tell you about it as 
  an interaction. You then know the quality exists and can attempt to activate 
  it normally. 
  Test: The previous two options are essentially automatic. More often, 
  characters learn qualities through some amount of effort, essentially 
  making a test of some type to learn about the quality. This is covered in the 
  Learning & Creating Qualities section of The Basics in ICONS. The 
  appropriate ability for the test and the ability for the difficulty, are 
  determined by the GM based on the player’s description and the nature of 
  the quality being sought. Common examples include Awareness or Intellect 
  to pick up on most kinds of qualities, Willpower to ferret out qualities 
  through interaction (perhaps even tricking or forcing someone into telling 
  you about one), or various sensory powers to pick up on things beyond 
  most people’s awareness. Specialties may apply to the test to learn a 
  quality, if they are appropriate. 
   
  
  Guesswork: Lastly, you can simply guess at an existing quality, essentially 
  gambling on your attempt to activate the quality. If you’re right, you not 
  only learn the quality, but your attempt to activate it may be successful. If 
  you’re wrong, then you waste the attempt to activate it and do not learn 
  anything other than that the quality you guessed does not apply. 
  In cases of guesswork, the GM should be kind and allow for “close enough” 
  guesses. For example, if a player guesses that a villain is obsessed with 
  circuses due to his clown-based motif and the villain is really obsessed 
  solely with clowns, give the player a break and count that as a successful 
  guess. On the other hand, if the player guesses that a foe with the “Living 
  Vampire” quality is an actual undead vampire vulnerable to religious 
  artifacts, the hero is out of luck, since that is not a part of the villain’s actual 
  quality. 
  APPLYING QUALITIES 
  If a character does not have and cannot ﬁnd a suitable quality, there is 
  always the potential to create qualities in order to activate them. This is 
  covered under the Learning & Creating Qualities section of The Basics in 
  ICONS. Characters either create qualities using a test of an appropriate 
  ability against the target’s ability or a difficulty chosen by the GM (as with 
  learning an existing quality) or by using a power that creates and applies 
  certain qualities. Degrees of success above marginal provide free 
  activations of that quality, which the character can share with teammates. 
  The applied quality usually lasts until the end of the chapter or until 
  someone else takes an action and performs a test to remove it, as detailed 
  under the Removing Qualities section of The Basics in ICONS. Some 
  qualities applied by powers have a duration speciﬁed in the power’s 
  description. For example, the “Controlled” quality applied by Mind Control 
  lasts as long as the character concentrates and degree of success 
  determines how often the target gets a Willpower test to remove the 
  quality. 
  ACTIVATING QUALITIES 
  Bringing qualities into play requires activating them, using the quality to 
  create an advantage or cause trouble for someone. There are four ways in 
  which characters can activate qualities: 
  Determination Points: A player can spend a Determination Point in order to 
  activate a known quality. Similarly, the GM can activate a known quality any 
  time at will, but if the activation affects a player character, then that 
  character is awarded a Determination Point. In essence, the GM has an 
   
  
  unlimited “pool” of DP to spend, but the players get whatever the GM 
  spends against them. 
  Maneuvers: A character can take an action and perform a maneuver, a test 
  with an appropriate ability, to activate a known quality. Additional degrees 
  of success allow the character to activate the quality additional times for 
  free. See Maneuvering in the Taking Action chapter of ICONS for details. 
  Tactics: Characters can choose to cause trouble for themselves in order to 
  activate a quality, essentially immediately using the DP they would 
  otherwise gain for trouble to activate a quality. At the GM’s option, tactics 
  can also be used to create a quality and activate it once to grant an 
  advantage, even if the character doesn’t have a suitable quality otherwise. 
  Free: A few qualities can be activated for “free” in certain circumstances, 
  meaning all players have to do is declare they are activating the quality. 
  Free activations are effectively a kind of interaction with the quality (see 
  Interactions in the Taking Action chapter of ICONS), taking no time, but the 
  GM should feel free to set reasonable limits on free activations per page to 
  keep game playing ﬂowing. 
  The most common free activations are from applied qualities: high degrees 
  of success in applying a quality grant a number of free activations of it, 
  while some powers that apply qualities grant free uses of them for a time.  
   
   
   
  
  “R” is for “Rescue” 
   
  “Help! Save me!” is one of the primal calls of the superhero to action. While 
  RPGs—and superhero media—often focus on the role of heroes in ﬁghting 
  villains (or each other) one of their primary responsibilities is in rescuing 
  people from danger. Indeed, in some of the more restrictive media 
  presentations of superheroes, where violence is all but forbidden, rescues 
  are all that heroes do, saving people from disasters from ﬁres to being lost 
  in the wilderness. 
  This chapter looks at different types of rescue scenarios and how to include 
  them in your ICONS game, from occasional challenges and chapters to an 
  entire series based around rescue operations. It also looks at handling 
  rescues in game terms and making them as exciting and interesting as 
  possible. 
   
  
  DANGERS & DISASTERS 
  The Disasters section of the Game Mastering chapter of ICONS covers the 
  essentials of handling various dangers and disasters. This section expands 
  on those basic concepts and mechanics with more speciﬁc examples. 
  PLANES, TRAINS & AUTOMOBILES 
  Vehicular crashes can result from operator error, mechanical failure, or 
  circumstances such as bad weather or complications from another disaster. 
  The Vehicles section of the Powers chapter of ICONS covers the essential 
  mechanics of what happens in a crash: the vehicle goes out of control due 
  to a failed Handling test and hits an object or obstacle. 
  If heroes have time, they can attempt to prevent the crash by bringing the 
  vehicle back under control, bringing it to stop, or changing its course so it 
  is no longer in immediate danger of collision with an obstacle: 
  • Under Control: The ﬁrst option is a matter of making a new Handling test 
  for the vehicle, either with direct access to its controls or indirect access 
  using powers like Interface or Telekinesis, for examples. 
  • Full Stop: Bringing an out of control vehicle to a stop requires countering 
  its momentum, meaning a test against a difficulty based on the higher of 
  the vehicle’s Speed or overall mass; naturally a slow-moving car is easier 
  to deal with than a jumbo-jet ﬂying at just below the speed of sound! 
  This might be a matter of Strength or an appropriate power, and can be 
  handled as a timed pyramid test, requiring sufficient successes to stop 
  the vehicle before it hits something, with lesser degrees of success 
  reducing the effective level of the crash, if it is not prevented altogether. 
  • Change Course: Rather than bringing the out of control vehicle to a stop, 
  the heroes might redirect it away from collisions. This is similar to a 
  Handling test (previously), except using more brute force methods to 
  push or pull the vehicle in the right direction and can buy additional time 
  for a proper Handling test to regain control of the vehicle or completion 
  of a pyramid test to stop it. 
  If the heroes cannot prevent a crash, they have to deal with the aftermath, 
  including rescuing people from the wreckage, preventing or dealing with 
  Fire from burning fuel and looking out for Innocent Bystanders and 
  Collateral Damage. A signiﬁcant vehicular crash or one that happens in an 
  isolated area may turn into a Search and Rescue operation. 
   
  
  INNOCENT BYSTANDERS 
  The ﬁrst priority for heroes in dealing with disaster is getting innocent 
  people out of harm’s way, if at all possible, after which they can deal with 
  the disaster itself. Rescuing innocent bystanders may be a simple matter of 
  taking the time to do so, with each hero describing a panel of actions 
  wherein they help to rescue people, or the Gamemaster can call for a test 
  for the heroes to accomplish this, being aware of the possibility they might 
  fail. The rescue of a large number of people might be a pyramid test, 
  usually timed, and sometimes escalating. The test could be costly if there’s 
  an ongoing threat or danger to the heroes during the rescue operation. 
  Endangered innocent bystanders make a common challenge for heroes 
  when the GM is looking to create trouble: super-battles and disasters can 
  create dangerous conditions, and villains often take advantage of heroes 
  looking to safeguard innocent lives as a means of distraction or escape, or 
  to otherwise gain an advantage. 
   
  FIRE! 
  Fires, from building ﬁres to forest and prairie ﬁres, offer heroes 
  opportunities to rescue those trapped and endangered by the ﬂames as 
  well as looking for ways to put out the ﬁre itself. An out-of-control ﬁre may 
  range in intensity from Fair (4) to Amazing (8) inﬂicting that amount of 
  heat damage to anyone exposed to it each page. Even areas within a close 
  distance not actively on ﬁre expose characters to choking clouds of smoke, 
  an Affliction with the same level as the ﬁre, affecting those needing to 
  breathe so long as they remain in the area. 
  Putting out a ﬁre is a fragile costly pyramid test, with the ﬁre’s intensity 
  acting as opposition, both for test difficulty and removing accumulated 
  successes as the ﬁre grows and spreads. The cost of the test is exposure to 
   
  
  the smoke, with ﬁre damage on a failed test as well, if the hero is within 
  close distance of the ﬁre. If the pyramid test to extinguish a burning 
  structure is a failure, it may transition into a Collapsing Structure disaster. 
  COLLAPSING STRUCTURE 
  Whether blown up by terrorists, damaged by a disaster, or torn asunder by 
  a giant monster or super-battle, a broken or collapsing structure like a 
  building or bridge presents a considerable challenge for heroes. Their goal 
  is to clear as many people out as they can and to prevent the collapse, if at 
  all possible. Getting people away from a collapsing structure in time may be 
  a contingent pyramid test (see sidebar). 
  Stopping the collapse of a structure of any signiﬁcant size is difficult: a 
  collapsing or timed pyramid test with a difficulty of 7 or more, depending 
  on the structure’s size. Heroes may be able to contribute to the test by 
  either holding the structure together or shoring up its support, using 
  powers to repair, weld, or replace damaged parts, for example. 
   
  MEDICAL EMERGENCIES 
  Medical emergencies tend to break down into rushing those in need of 
  medical attention to hospital facilities, or working to overcome a threat to 
  public health like a disease outbreak. In the ﬁrst case, heroes sometimes 
  have to ﬁrst locate those in need before getting them medical attention 
  (see Search & Rescue, following), such as a lost hiker suffering from an 
  injury or a kidnap victim who has run out of vital medication. 
   
  
  • Emergency Evacuation: Getting people in need to the medical facilities 
  and personnel able to help them is usually an issue of movement powers, 
  which can allow heroes to overcome traffic jams and damage to 
  infrastructure like roads and rails. Again, moving a large number of 
  victims might be a timed pyramid test involving the heroes’ movement 
  power levels and any other abilities the players apply to the test. 
  • Health Crisis: Dealing with a public health crisis is usually more of a 
  matter of research, a pyramid test to ﬁnd a cure or other solution. The 
  test might be collapsing or escalating, depending on how quickly the 
  problem spreads, and long or wide for threats requiring considerable 
  time and resources to solve. It may even involve two tests: one to come 
  up with a solution and another to successfully implement it, depending 
  on how difficult that is, such as developing an antidote and then rapidly 
  distributing it. 
  • Field Medicine: A ﬁnal type of medical emergency is when a hero is 
  forced by circumstances to deliver medical care to a victim in the ﬁeld. If 
  the hero has the Medicine speciality, this is a regular test or pyramid test, 
  potentially complicated by the conditions. If the hero does not have the 
  Medicine specialty, then this may be a pyramid test where someone who 
  does have the specialty guides the hero through the treatment process. 
  This could be another hero, a supporting character, or even the patient! 
  SEARCH AND RESCUE 
  Sometimes, before the heroes can provide aid, they ﬁrst need to ﬁnd those 
  in need. Disasters often result in people lost and trapped, beneath 
  landslides and avalanches, buried in the rubble of buildings, trapped inside 
  damaged vehicles, and so forth. Locating the victims is critical to helping 
  them in time. 
  Heroes can aid the search using both sensory and movement powers, as 
  well as other abilities allowing them to more easily bypass obstacles; a 
  Phasing hero, for example, can pass through wreckage to search for 
  victims, while a hero with Life Support can move through choking smoke or 
  other hazardous conditions. Powers like Burrowing, Flight, and Super-
  Speed let heroes search larger and more difficult areas quickly, while 
  sensory powers can more easily overcome barriers (using things like X-ray 
  vision) or locate victims directly with powers like Detection, ESP, or 
  Telepathy. 
  A search and rescue operation may be a single pyramid test using sensory, 
  movement, and other abilities, or a test to locate the victim(s) and a 
  separate one to deal with their evacuation once they’re found. 
   
  
  IN THE NICK OF TIME 
  One key thing about rescue scenarios is the heroes having the opportunity 
  to intervene in time to prevent (or at least mitigate) the disaster. How do 
  they do that? Usually, it’s a matter of adventure design and Game 
  Mastering, using the heroes’ available resources in the setting to create 
  opportunities for them to get advance warning and take action, such as: 
  • Early Warning: Anything that gives the heroes advance warning of an 
  impending disaster, from Precognition to Super-Senses, can provide 
  enough time for them to take action. Feel free as GM to use these 
  capabilities as story hooks, and don’t overlook the potential of providing 
  free activations of appropriate qualities for insight into the impending 
  danger (“Miss Tikal, the Council of Skulls sends you a psychic message, a 
  vision of impending disaster!”). 
  • Alert Systems: Other early warning and detection systems might warn 
  heroes able to act about things like natural disasters and similar crises. 
  It’s easy to put the heroes into action with an emergency call on the “red 
  phone” or similar hotline. Established hero teams might even have 
  advanced call-centers or online monitoring systems to alert and deploy 
  them to where they’re most needed at any given time, and “monitor 
  duty” of such systems is a common work-rotation for a hero team. 
  • Rapid Deployment: The faster the heroes get to the disaster site, the 
  better, so take character and team movement powers into account. A 
  hero team might have something like a fast vehicle or even a 
  teleportation network to “beam” aid to an emergency or disaster site 
  instantly. If not a device, them perhaps the team has access to a 
  someone with the Teleport power and the Passengers or Gate extras. 
  See “S” is for “Support” for some additional ideas of supporting cast 
  characters and organizations able to aid heroes in reaching disasters in 
  time to make a difference. 
  THE RESCUE SERIES 
  While the typical super-team is made up of “all-purpose heroes” who ﬁght 
  crime, stop alien invasions, and go on rescue missions, you can also create 
  an ICONS series focused on heroes who speciﬁcally handle rescues, leaving 
  all of the other stuff to other heroes or authorities, except when 
  circumstances require them to intervene. A team of rescuers need not be as 
  combat oriented or optimized as most superheroes, allowing for some 
  interesting and unusual character concepts, and providing some challenges 
  on the occasions when circumstances require them to go into combat. 
   
  
  “S” is for “Support” 
   
  Being a super hero protecting the world from evil can be hard work! Super 
  heroes can use some help keeping the world safe and handling the fallout 
  from yet another super-battle downtown. A setting can provide a network 
  of support services for super heroes to call upon in times of need. If you are 
  playing in an ICONS setting of your own creation, use this as inspiration to 
  create your own “support network” for your heroes. 
  HELP AT HEADQUARTERS 
  First off, heroes may need some help around the old headquarters. After all, 
  the heroes are busy ﬁghting evil, they don’t always have time to do light 
  dusting or take out the trash. Headquarters help keeps things running 
  smoothly while the heroes handle the important things (in other words, the 
   
  
  fun stuff). They also make great hostages when the GM is looking to create 
  trouble. Some of the classic headquarters help includes: 
  THE FAITHFUL BUTLER 
  The ultimate heroic helper. The faithful butler is a true gentleman’s 
  gentleman who takes care of the heroes’ headquarters and handles 
  everything from greeting aliens at the door to serving dinner to a collection 
  of mutants, robots, space-gods and other weirdoes without batting an eye. 
  The faithful butler often has hidden talents and may even be the sole 
  support-staff for a hero team; wearing many hats, but handling everything 
  behind the scenes with ease and grace. 
  THE HANDYMAN 
  While the faithful butler is the soul of decorum, the handyman is often a 
  little rough around the edges. He (or she) takes care of the base itself, 
  making sure everything is running properly and keeping the equipment in 
  top-condition. One or more of the heroes themselves may be very handy 
  with machinery, but having a handyman around is useful if the heroes aren’t 
  overly mechanically inclined themselves, or if the gadgeteer heroes are too 
  busy to maintain all of the base’s equipment. 
  THE MECHANIC 
  A mechanic is a specialized type of handyman who mainly takes care of 
  vehicles: building them, maintaining them and ﬁxing them when heroes 
  inevitably wreck them. Generally, only very large or specialized hero teams 
  have a mechanic, but that’s not always the case. 
  THE PILOT 
  Occasionally heroes have someone to drive (or ﬂy) them around to get to 
  trouble-spots quickly. Most of the time heroes get places under their own 
  power, or use their own vehicles, but some teams may qualify for their own 
  pilot. 
  RESERVE HEROES 
  It’s pretty much inevitable for heroes to get captured, injured, lose their 
  powers or otherwise get taken out of action. When that happens, the team 
  can call in the reserve heroes to lend a hand. They might be part-time 
  members of the team, or heroes who agree to be “on call” in case of 
  emergencies, or they may be team members in training, only called upon in 
  times of crisis. Reserve heroes provide the opportunity for players to have 
  additional hero characters “in reserve,” allowing them to play a different 
  hero if their regular character is out of the game for some reason. 
   
  
  SPECIALISTS 
  Super heroes often need to call on the help of scientists and other 
  specialists to solve a particularly tricky problem or get a special piece of 
  gadgetry they need to defeat a particular super-villain. Even if the team 
  includes some super-scientists, heroes might need to consult a specialist in 
  a particular ﬁeld. 
  COSTUMING 
  One particular area of specialty often overlooked in the comics is: Who 
  designs and makes all those superhero costumes? Super-powers don’t 
  necessarily come with skills in fashion design (as made clear by some 
  heroes’ sartorial choices). Are there special considerations for super-suits 
  (“No capes!”)? Certainly, they have to accommodate the wearer’s powers, 
  perhaps using special materials. Teams might have a more uniﬁed look, or 
  common costume elements and “fashion plate” heroes might change 
  costumes at the drop of a cape or gauntlet. For that matter, who makes the 
  costumes for villains? 
  INFORMATION 
  The main thing heroes are going to need is information, whether it is 
  getting something analyzed, studying new powers, or investigating alien 
  artifacts. The gamemaster can pass this information on to the players 
  through a character like a scientist, either independent or part of an 
  organization. 
  MEDICINE 
  Heroes can get injured in super-battles and the unusual biology of many 
  super heroes makes treating them difficult. A team may retain the services 
  of a doctor specialized in super-medicine. A scientiﬁc organization might 
  also offer help to heroes with unusual biologies or to heroes like robots, 
  androids and aliens. A team might even retain a staff psychologist to 
  maintain the members’ mental health! 
  TECHNOLOGY 
  Access to advanced and experimental technology is a tricky issue. 
  Oftentimes an organization may be in a position to offer a piece of 
  technology to the heroes to help them out, but gamemasters have to be 
  careful to keep the organization from becoming a source of quick-ﬁxes. 
  Usually the technology is highly experimental and only good for that 
  particular situation. It may not work in all situations. If it does, the 
   
  
  gamemaster should consider the impact of adding the technology to the 
  game world. 
  OCCULT 
  Science isn’t the only area heroes may need information. Super heroes 
  often encounter magical forces and beings from other dimensions, which 
  may lead to a need for occult information. Unless the team includes a mage 
  or occult character, the heroes will need to consult an expert. There is 
  usually a good reason why the consultant cannot take a direct hand in 
  matters, but there’s nothing wrong with an occasional team-up story where 
  the occultist helps the heroes overcome a magical menace. 
  THE LAW 
  Even if they are shadowy vigilantes, sooner or later super heroes have to 
  cooperate with law-enforcement. Heroes are well-advised to cultivate a 
  good working relationship with local law-enforcement. 
  POLICE SPECIAL FORCES 
  If super-criminals have been around for any length of time, the authorities 
  will have come up with ways to deal with them on their own, special forces 
  outﬁtted to handle super-villains. Generally, these forces still need help 
  from the heroes, which may be welcome or resented by the cops on the 
  squad. Police special forces make a good back-up for heroes and provide 
  logistical support for smaller hero teams. 
  THE SUPER-AGENCY 
  Beyond the police special forces is the super-agency, an organization that 
  handles threats world-wide. A super-agency has the best agents, resources 
  and equipment money can buy and they usually have a lot to offer a group 
  of heroes. In fact, a hero team could easily work for the agency as their 
  “super-agents.” Otherwise, the agency is likely to maintain good relations 
  with public hero teams. They pass information on to them and call on the 
  heroes in times of need. Of course, the agency might also covertly keep 
  tabs on the heroes, in the interest of world-security. After all, heroes have 
  been known to go bad… 
  THE JUSTICE SYSTEM 
  Unless the heroes are the type who take the law into their own hands, once 
  the villains are caught, they’re in the hands of the justice system. The local 
  District Attorney, Public Defenders and judges are all likely characters to 
  show up now and again. Heroes may also ﬁnd themselves caught up in 
  legal issues from time to time. Take a look a “J” is for “Justice” for 
   
  
  additional ideas on including elements of the justice system in your ICONS 
  games. 
  INFORMANTS 
  The informant is the street-level hero’s best ally for keeping up to date on 
  what is going on in the underworld. Some informants are willing helpers, 
  passing information on to the hero out of a desire to help out, improve the 
  neighborhood or get revenge on criminals. Other informants are less 
  altruistic, they help out because of money or because the hero has 
  something to threaten them with (usually some crime the hero caught 
  them at, but is willing to overlook so long as the informant keeps passing 
  on information). 
  THE MEDIA 
  Ever since mild-mannered reporters and great metropolitan newspapers, 
  super heroes have been linked to the media. Certainly the high-proﬁle 
  activities of a super-team attract all kinds of media attention. 
  REPORTERS 
  Reporters all want the inside scoop on what the heroes are up to. Serious 
  journalists are looking for up-to-the-minute news about the latest crisis, or 
  exclusive interviews with heroes. Tabloids want sensational photos and 
  stories that dig up the dirt about the heroes, or even create some if there is 
  none to be found. Heroes may need to deal with the paparazzi as much (or 
  even more) than other celebrities. A nosy reporter might ﬁnd out 
  something about a hero best left unrevealed (like a hero’s secret identity) 
  and a reporter with a grudge against a group of heroes can do a lot of 
  damage with a few well-placed stories. Of course, reporters can also 
  uncover villainous plots and provide valuable leads for the heroes from time 
  to time (usually requiring the heroes to save the intrepid reporter in the 
  process). 
  PR AGENT 
  Of course, there’s nothing that says the heroes can’t have someone who 
  handles the press and the media to make the heroes look good (or at least 
  make sure they look bad as little as possible). A PR agent can issue press 
  statements, handle press conferences and generally maintain the group’s 
  public image. Of course, PR agents can often be a little (or even a lot) 
  sleazy, looking for opportunities to improve the group’s image in less than 
  honest ways. 
   
  
  PUBLISHERS 
  Media publishers and editors are important characters. They interact with 
  reporters (including heroes who are reporters in their secret identities) and 
  write editorials praising or condemning the actions of the heroes. A Game 
  Master looking for a way to point out a mistake on the part of the heroes 
  can always use an angry editorial to get the point across. 
  SUPPORT FOR VILLAINS 
  Why should heroes have all the fun? If anything, being a super-villain is 
  more work, so villains need a helping hand themselves. Naturally, there are 
  those willing to provide them services … for the right price. 
  THE CRIME DOCTOR 
  This guy is pretty much the same as a doctor who works for super heroes, 
  except the crime doctor helps out villains; patching up the occasional 
  gunshot wound, treating injuries and not asking any questions. The crime 
  doctor may be a disgraced member of the medical profession driven to 
  crime, or a famous physician who likes to help criminals because of the 
  thrill or walking on “the dark side” and getting away with it. Some crime 
  doctors only handle medical treatment, while others specialize in treating 
  super-humans, mutants or more criminal activities like designer drugs or 
  even torture. As long as heroes keep beating up their opponents, the crime 
  doctor always has work to do. 
  THE TOY-MAKER 
  Where do villains get all of their wonderful toys? Some villains build their 
  own, but others may turn to the toy-maker to supply them. The toy-maker 
  creates advanced devices from criminal clients with no questions asked. A 
  toy-maker can turn an otherwise weak criminal into a dangerous super-
  villain with the right devices, while a criminal entrepreneur can outﬁt a 
  virtual army of super-criminals. Toy-makers are always on the lookout for 
  interesting technology they can acquire and duplicate for their clients, 
  some of which may belong to the heroes. 
  MERCENARIES 
  No master villain is complete without henchmen, and even a minor-league 
  villain might be in need of a gang to help pull of a job or two. The 
  underworld supplies these criminals with their goons, small-time muscle for 
  heroes to plow through on their way towards the main villain of the story. A 
  super-villain might even run a “school” to train henchmen for other 
  criminals, or a “temp agency” to hire them out. 
   
  
  “T” is for “Teams” 
   
  “Banded together to battle forces no one hero can withstand alone…” The 
  comic book superhero team is the foundation of the superhero roleplaying 
  experience. Indeed, the propensity superheroes have for banding together 
  into teams makes superhero RPGs one of the most naturally group-oriented 
  genres around. 
  Still, there remain many different ways in which heroes can form and 
  maintain a team, and many different options for types and styles of teams. 
  This chapter looks at some of those options in ICONS terms, including how 
  to deﬁne teams with qualities and how to bring the concepts of team 
  dynamics and teamwork into game play, expanding on the basic team 
  material found in the Assembled Edition of the game. 
   
  
  TEAM BENEFITS 
  What are the beneﬁts (and drawbacks) of being in a team in ICONS terms? 
  They’re found in various places of the Assembled Edition, but spelled out 
  are essentially: 
  • Share Activations: Members of the team can share free activations of 
  qualities amongst each other, used particularly for teamwork (see Teams 
  in Action, following). 
  • Leadership: Members of the team gain access to extra Determination 
  Points if led by a character with the Leadership specialty. 
  • Team Qualities: Members of the team share certain team qualities they 
  can all activate for advantage or to cause trouble (see Team Qualities, 
  following). 
  • Team Resources: Members of the team may have access to certain team 
  resources (without activating qualities) by default. 
  It’s up to the GM and the players what needs to happen for a character to 
  “officially” qualify as a member of a team. It could be as simply as the other 
  members agreeing that the new character is “in” or there could be a 
  complex process of application, testing, and approval before that happens.  
  In either case, just like the option for Qualities-on-the-Fly in the Hero 
  Creation chapter of ICONS, the GM may wish to allow a “Team-Up” option 
  whereby certain guest stars are accorded temporary team member status 
  for the duration of a story, allowing them to access some or all of the 
  beneﬁts of being on the team, even if they are not regular members. 
   
   
  
  TEAM QUALITIES 
  Just as individual heroes and villains have qualities, so do teams. The 
  default in ICONS is for teams to have three qualities, just like characters, but 
  the GM should feel free to vary this as best suits the game. The 
  Achievements & Changes rules from the Game Mastering chapter of ICONS 
  can be used to modify team qualities as well, although changes to a team’s 
  qualities must be unanimously agreed upon by all of the members. 
  NAME 
  The simplest catch-all team quality is just the team’s name, perhaps 
  followed by a modiﬁer or an epithet describing them, such as “The 
  Searchers of the Multiverse, Explorers of the Strange and the Unknown!” 
  The epithet can easily be split off into a separate quality, if desired, 
  although keeping them together increases the potential uses of the quality 
  while only taking up one of the team’s total qualities. 
  COMMON ELEMENT 
  The members of the team all have some common element to that ties them 
  together. They might all be mutants, teenagers, mystics, military (or ex-
  military) service members, aliens, techies, or attend the same school, to 
  name just a few. Essentially, there’s a character-deﬁning quality—from “Not 
  From Around Here” to “Powers High School Student” that all members of 
  the team share in common, making it more of a team quality than worth 
  taking up one of the heroes’ individual qualities. 
  ENEMY 
  The team shares a common arch-enemy, usually one capable of taking 
  them on as an entire group. This enemy may also have some common ties 
  to the team, such as a team of aliens working together to defeat a greater 
  alien menace, and the enemy may be actively working against the team as 
  much (if not more) than they are against their common foe. An example is a 
  government or military organization devoted to hunting aliens going after 
  an all-alien team, even if they claim to be working for Earth’s beneﬁt. 
  FAMILY 
  The team members are an extended family, related either by blood, 
  marriage, or choice. Their family and relationship status may related to 
  another common element about the characters (such as a family of super-
  powered mutants or mystics) as well as their origin or a secret. They draw 
  upon their family ties for strength (and advantage) in times of need, but are 
   
  
  sometimes also entangled in them, causing trouble, including Dissent in the 
  Ranks (see Teams in Action). 
  GOAL 
  The team shares a strong common goal, from protecting their city, country 
  or world from danger to exploring the universe, achieving equality and 
  acceptance for their kind (whatever it might be), or protecting the 
  environment. Not all the members may agree on how to go about achieving 
  their goal—a possible source of dissent and trouble—but everyone in the 
  group agrees that the goal is important. 
  MENTOR 
  The team has a guide, mentor, or patron, who may have initially brought 
  them together and still offers guidance and support. Team members can 
  activate the mentor’s quality to gain aid and assistance, ranging from 
  insight or a retcon to improved effort, pushing an ability, or a stunt 
  explained as the beneﬁt of the mentor’s training, guidance, or inspiration, 
  even if the mentor is not actually present. In fact, this same quality can go 
  for an inspiration for the team who is no longer around, such as heroes 
  carrying on the legacy of a previous hero or team. 
  ORIGIN 
  A team might share the same origin, either in hero creation terms, where 
  they are all Trained, Transformed, or the like, or as part of their background, 
  even though their origins in game-terms differ. For example, one hero team 
  might all be Transformed by the same incident, or have the same Birthright 
  (perhaps because they are Family – see the previous). Another might have 
  different, but connected, origins, such as one hero being a Birthright with a 
  half-alien heritage, another a Gimmick using technology from the same 
  alien civilization, and a third an Unearthly hero sent to ﬁnd the Birthright 
  character, who carries the royal bloodline, and so on, giving their team the 
  “Otherworldly Outcasts” quality. 
  RESOURCES 
  A described in pervious A to Z chapters, a team might have resources like 
  its headquarters, supporting cast, connections, or the like as qualities, or as 
  advantage or trouble from activating team qualities. The Team Devices 
  section of the Powers chapter of ICONS recommends asking a player to 
  activate a team quality if the use of a team resource is anything other than 
  a convenient plot device or bit of background color (in which case it should 
  be a free activation). 
   
  
  SECRET 
  Lastly, a team might share a secret as one of their qualities (or an aspect of 
  a quality), such as concealing they are actually aliens, mutants, super-
  criminals, robots, or what have you. This is a Common Element (previously) 
  with the added twist that part of the trouble the team encounters is 
  safeguarding their secret. It can result in qualities ranging from “Secretly 
  Empowered by a Top-Secret Experiment” (both a secret and a shared 
  origin) to “World’s Most-Wanted,” about the team being infamous criminals 
  masquerading as popular heroes. 
  TEAMS IN ACTION 
  With team qualities established, players can use them during the game to 
  give their heroes advantages, or to cause them trouble, and the GM can do 
  the same (particularly the causing trouble part). 
  TEAMWORK 
  Team qualities and sharing activations of qualities with teammates are the 
  two primary components of teamwork, allowing heroes to pool their 
  resources and achieve greater effectiveness together than they can 
  individually. During a game, players can: 
  Create or Activate a Quality, either by performing a maneuver, using a 
  tactic, or spending Determination Points (see Activating Qualities in The 
  Basics chapter of ICONS). 
  Share the Activation with someone else on their team. This particularly 
  allows characters performing maneuvers to take their panel to do so, then 
  “hand-off” the beneﬁt to a teammate to follow through that same page. 
  Examples: Here are just a few examples of teamwork using qualities 
  and activations in action: 
  “Don’t give up! You can do this!” All-Star calls out to All-American 
  Girl. His player performs a Willpower maneuver to activate her “I Can 
  Handle This!” quality to give her a recover advantage. Alternately, All-
  Star’s player might just spend a DP for the activation and take 
  another action on his turn, like punching a villain. 
  “There must be something!” Hangman says. “You’re the Sorceress of 
  the Sixth Sun! You must know its weakness!” Hangman’s player 
  activated Miss Tikal’s quality to give her insight into the threat they’re 
  facing, giving the GM a knowing look. 
  “Atomic Roach! Hit me with all of the radiation you can put out!” 
  “But…” “Just do it!” Dr. Punch is calling on Atomic Roach to perform a 
   
  
  maneuver to create an “Energized” quality for his technology, giving 
  him one or more free activations of it (or, failing that, using his own 
  DPs to activate it) to enhance his powers using Roach’s Amazing 
  Radiation Control level for a stunt advantage. 
  “Hey, ugly! Over here!” Saguaro calls, waving his arms at the sea 
  monster. He takes the increased difficulty trouble on his next defense 
  test to put a “Distracted” quality on the monster in hopes that his 
  teammates will use the opening to get the passengers of the cruise 
  ship to safety. 
   
  DISSENT IN THE RANKS 
  One way players can activate qualities to create trouble for the team or 
  their heroes, as well as interesting roleplaying opportunities, is by playing 
  out moments of dissent or conﬂict within the team, a classic comic book 
  element. In these cases, the Game Master may wish to treat certain qualities 
  as trouble not only for the particular hero but for that hero’s teammates as 
  well. 
  For example, if one hero has the “Berserker” quality and activates it for an 
  advantage while also choosing the trouble of the hero going out of control 
  and potentially endangering lives, the GM can consider this trouble for the 
  hero’s teammates as well, when they have to decide to either try and rein-in 
  the berserk hero’s violent tendencies or deal with the consequences. 
  This is basically a variation on the “Rescue Panel” kind of trouble from “R” 
  is for Rescue. Similarly, if a hero has the “Prepared for Every Contingency” 
  quality, the GM might activate it to cause trouble for the whole team by 
  revealing one of the contingencies for which the hero prepared was 
  planning to take out the rest of the team if they were co-opted, controlled, 
  or simply went rogue, a contingency plan now in the hands of one of their 
  arch-enemies…. 
   
  
  “U” is for “Universe” 
   
  The creation of a super-heroic universe is part of the fun of a long-lasting 
  ICONS game: watching new and amazing elements of the setting unfold 
  from the creative imaginations of the players and the Game Master. The 
  Assembled Edition already has a basic system for Universe Creation in the 
  Game Mastering chapter. This chapter looks at ways to expand upon that 
  basic approach. It expands the steps of universe creation to: 
  • Theme: What the overall setting is about. 
  • Scale: The overall scope of the setting. 
  • Heroes: The setting’s various important heroes. 
  • Villains: The setting’s important villains. 
  • Features: The setting’s most notable features. 
  • Places: The setting’s important places, connected to its heroes. 
  • Characters: The setting’s supporting cast, connected to the heroes. 
   
  
  The Heroes, Villains, Features, and Characters (Supporting Cast) steps work 
  just like outlined in The Assembled Edition, particularly if you plan to play 
  “universe style,” as described in the Game Mastering chapter. The 
  additional steps are explained here. 
  Note that elements of these concepts ﬁrst appeared in the Stark City 
  setting from Fainting Goat Games, an excellent example of a fully-realized 
  ICONS setting making use of these elements. 
  THEME 
  A setting’s theme can be thought of as the phrase or idea that sums up 
  what it—and therefore the series—is all about. Generally, the whole group 
  should agree on the overall nature of the theme, with the Game Master 
  offering both input and approval. 
  Setting themes can be anything, from “Truth, Justice, and Freedom” to 
  “Protecting a World that Hates and Fears Them” or “Saving the World...One 
  Neighborhood at a Time”. The theme helps to set the tone of the series 
  and, chances are, the group has a halfway decent idea of what it is before 
  even getting to the setting creation phase. 
  THE STATUS QUO 
  One key piece of information the theme can provide is that nature of the 
  status quo in the setting and whether the heroes are looking to protect it or 
  change it. 
  For example, a “World’s Greatest Heroes” theme suggests the heroes are 
  primarily charged with keeping the world safe and preserving things largely 
  as they already are. The world may have its problems but, for the most part, 
  the goal is to preserve the status quo. On the other hand, a theme of 
  “Struggle Against the Dying of the Light” suggests the heroes are ﬁghting 
  what may seem like a hopeless battle to overturn a terrible status quo, such 
  as a world sliding into darkness due to the totalitarian rule of a supervillain. 
  The same can be said of themes like “Rebellion Against an Alien Army” or 
  “Turning Back the Doomsday Clock”—efforts to change the status quo. 
  Settings where the heroes are protecting the status quo rely on a steady 
  stream of threats, with the players naturally suspicious of anything that 
  seems likely to signiﬁcantly alter the world, since chances are it’s not a 
  good thing. Settings focused on changing the status quo need to offer 
  opportunities to do so, or else the players may become frustrated with the 
  lack of progress towards their ultimate goals. Actually achieving those 
  goals can be a capstone to ﬁnish off the series (the heroes evict the 
  invaders, overthrow the dictator, etc.) or a major turning point towards the 
   
  
  creation of a new theme: Now that the status quo has changed, what 
  direction will the heroes take things in? 
   
  SCALE 
  An important element for a superhero game like ICONS is scale. The default 
  assumption is the group is creating a setting together, but they could scale 
  things so they’re creating a country or world and each of the places are 
  individual cities or even individual planets in a star-spanning setting. 
  Likewise, you can scale down and create a city, neighborhood, town, or 
  district. 
  NEIGHBORHOOD 
  At the neighborhood scale, places are fairly intimate, since no two of them 
  are likely to be more than a few blocks away from each other. The people at 
  these places probably represent a fairly tight-knit community, one the 
  heroes will be seeing quite often. 
  A setting at this scale does not have to be a neighborhood of a larger city 
  or community, of course. It can just as easily be a small town where 
  everybody knows everyone else, or a similarly close community like a 
   
  
  school campus, frontier settlement, or “planned” community (planned with 
  or without superheroes in mind). 
  CITY 
  The city scale is the default when it comes to places in the setting: 
  superheroes tend to be urban-types, since cities are where you ﬁnd the 
  most people and therefore both the most innocent lives and the most 
  criminals preying upon them. 
  Places at the city scale tend to be speciﬁc buildings: places of business, 
  homes, government buildings, and the like, or else particular contained 
  locations like a park, mall, plaza, or monument. They tend to show a greater 
  diversity than the neighborhood scale, and it’s generally a good idea to 
  have a representative place (or two) from each major neighborhood or 
  district of the city to showcase its character. 
  NATION 
  The nation scale is “big picture” for most heroes, looking at the whole of a 
  country or continent as the regular “setting” of the series. This usually 
  means the heroes can expect to go all over the map dealing with different 
  threats, even if they call a particular city their home-base. Other teams at 
  this scale may avoid being “tied down” to a particular city, having a mobile 
  headquarters of some sort, like a ﬂoating sky-island or large vehicle. 
  At the nation scale, “personal places” for the heroes may include their 
  whole home city. For example, a team of heroes gathered from across the 
  nation could each call a particular city or region home, with the hero’s 
  player deﬁning it as a place, complete with a supporting cast, some of 
  whom may be qualities for the hero. The cities could be real-world places 
  or entirely ﬁctional, each with their own character and ﬂavor. The “local” 
  hero gets a “home ﬁeld advantage” from knowing the different qualities of 
  the place and being able to take full advantage of them, and perhaps even 
  having the place as a quality, such as “Defender of Silver City” or the like. 
  WORLD 
  A step above the nation scale is viewing the whole world as the primary 
  setting for the series. This means taking an international view of things, 
  with heroes active on different continents and able to operate in different 
  countries (whether their governments want the heroes there or not 
  perhaps). 
  Places on a world scale can be anything from speciﬁc locales found at the 
  city scale to cities or even small nations. For example, a hero could be the 
  crown princess and heir to a tiny Eastern European or Central Asian 
   
  
  country, which her player deﬁnes as a personal place and part of the 
  character’s background. Obviously, the princess may face trouble 
  occasionally where her homeland is concerned, but knows its qualities well. 
  Heroes operating on the world scale may have a suitable base of operations 
  where they can get the “big picture,” such as an orbiting satellite, moon-
  base, or inter-dimensional realm (strongly linked to Earth). More terrestrial 
  bases are likely located in neutral territory like in international waters or 
  Antarctica, or accorded special status like an embassy, allowing them to 
  exist inside another nation’s territory. 
  SPACE 
  The space scale is common for far-future and cosmic level games where 
  the heroes are expected to regularly travel the stars and visit different 
  planets. At this scale, each place is potentially a different planet or similar 
  interstellar location like a space station. 
  The general rule of thumb is that any place that exists on the city or nation 
  scale should be a “(Place Name) Planet” or “(Place Name) Station” at this 
  scale, such as a “Prison Planet,” “Hospital Station,” or “Capitol World”. 
  Planetary places are painted with a wide brush, and qualities like “Desert 
  World,” “Ice Planet,” and “Water World” are common. 
  Unless the heroes are all from the same world, one of the places each 
  player should be responsible for is creating their hero’s home planet. All of 
  the world’s inhabitants might have powers like the hero’s (particularly for 
  Birthright and Unearthly origins) or they might not. Players can also create 
  additional places (worlds) for use in the series. 
  At the space scale, heroes need some means of getting around very 
  quickly: from a ﬂeet of hyperspace ships to some type of interstellar 
  teleportation. They’re also likely to have a headquarters at least as lofty as 
  the world scale, perhaps even a planetoid, space station, or deep space 
  vessel of their own. 
  DIMENSIONAL 
  Lastly, the broadest scale spans not just one universe, but multiple 
  universes or dimensions, including—but not limited to—parallel worlds, 
  mystic dimensions, alternate realities, weird realms like antimatter or sub-
  atomic universes, and much more. The dimensional scale can also include 
  time travel and other time periods, for heroes with that capability (whether 
  they control it or not). 
  Places at the dimensional scale can be virtually anything, from a particular 
  drinking establishment the heroes frequent (which may or may not exist in 
   
  
  multiple times and dimensions itself) to an entire universe. As with the 
  space scale, players may choose to create whole dimensions as places 
  (personal or otherwise). The crown princess from a small nation at the 
  world scale could now be the heir to the throne of an entire dimensional 
  realm, with similar responsibilities, although perhaps different qualities 
  associated with her home. 
   
  PLACES 
  Each player provides at least one signiﬁcant place or location, along with 
  that place’s concept, connection to the overall theme of the setting, and at 
  least one quality, which can be activated in play (see “Q” is for “Qualities” 
  for additional information on place qualities). You can do as many rounds of 
  creating places as you and the players wish, much the same with features. 
  The main reason for players to create places is to use them as “set-pieces” 
  in the series. Therefore, each place should have some speciﬁc use or 
  purpose, something that ﬁts into the series and offers something 
  interesting or useful. This can range from a local hangout or workplace 
  environment to a potential battleground or target for villainous schemes. 
   
  
  “V” is for “Variants” 
   
  As the Introduction to ICONS points out, there isn’t “one true game.” A lot 
  of tabletop roleplaying is a matter of different styles or approaches to 
  game rules that suit players or groups. As the Introduction also points out, 
  game designers—and gamers—like to tinker‚ so Icons has its share of 
  different ways of doing things. This chapter looks at some of the more 
  popular ones. 
  You may want to try out the game rules “as written” at least once to get a 
  sense of how they work in play before you decide to modify them. It’s 
  possible what you think is going to be a problem is not once you have had 
  a chance to actually it see in action. If it is, then you can certainly modify it. 
  Likewise, consider rules variants carefully, since changing one part of the 
  game can have unforeseen effects on other parts. That said, ICONS is your 
  game, and you should feel free to modify, customize, and tailor it to your 
  hearts’ content! 
   
  
  ABILITY VARIANTS 
  The six basic abilities in ICONS cover a lot of ground in terms of deﬁning 
  characters. However, some may prefer an even simpler set of abilities by 
  dropping one or two of the existing six and subsuming their uses into other 
  abilities. The three easiest abilities to remove from the game are Prowess, 
  Awareness, and Willpower. 
  DROPPING PROWESS 
  Prowess is a bit of an odd duck in terms of abilities, since it is the one most 
  involving an amount of skill or training: close combat ability. Few characters 
  are going to have a Prowess level higher than 4 without some degree of 
  training or experience, and Prowess 6+ characters can be expected to have 
  considerable amounts of both. So why is Prowess an “ability” at all? 
  Primarily because of the ability most likely to subsume its uses: 
  Coordination. Coordination is already used for dodging and ranged 
  combat, along with all other physical actions not involving sheer Strength. 
  Eliminating Prowess makes Coordination the be-all “physical action” ability. 
  It also makes it more difficult to model the highly-coordinated hero who is 
  not necessarily a master of all forms of close combat. Still, you can drop 
  Prowess from the game and shift all of its uses to Coordination, making it 
  easier to view Coordination and Strength and an “acting” and “effect” pair 
  of physical abilities. Be aware, however, that having a high Coordination 
  becomes even more attractive! 
  DROPPING AWARENESS 
  Awareness is differentiated from Intellect as the ability to notice and pick 
  up on things, from simple sensory awareness to gut feelings, instinct, and 
  intuition. It makes it easier to model both the “absent-minded professor” 
  who is highly intelligent, but not overly aware, and the hero with the sharp 
  senses and instincts who is not necessarily any smarter than anyone else. 
  Intellect is the ability most likely to take over the functions of Awareness. 
  The sharp-eyed character is of average Intellect, with an appropriate 
  Specialty in noticing things. The absent-minded professor is a bit more 
  difficult, but still workable with a lower Intellect and more levels in 
  Specialties like Science. 
  DROPPING WILLPOWER 
  Lastly, Willpower represents mental “strength” and resilience, as well as 
  “force of personality”. It is separate from the logic and quick-thinking of 
  Intellect and the instinct of Awareness, but could be subsumed into either if 
   
  
  Willpower was removed from the game. You could even make some 
  Willpower tests with the higher (or the lower) of the two remaining mental 
  abilities, if you wished, making Willpower a kind of “ﬁgured” ability. 
  The personality aspects of Willpower tend to work better with Awareness, 
  which is also focused on dealing with one’s surroundings, and tends to 
  work in with the idea that willful comic book heroes (often focused on 
  mental or mystical powers) tend to be some of the most aware. 
  STAMINA VARIANTS 
  Stamina is intended as a simple means of tracking whether a character is 
  up or down in a ﬁght and how many hits a character can be expected to 
  take of a certain damage level. The default calculations for Stamina take 
  into account that some characters get taken out of ﬁghts fairly quickly but 
  Strength and Willpower are the prime factors to hanging in there, and 
  Determination (for recovery) plays a role. The following variants shift 
  around some of these assumptions to better ﬁt different views of what 
  Stamina should be. 
  For a completely different “Stamina” variant, see “N” is for “Narrative 
  Abilities”. 
  VARIANT STAMINA BASE 
  Rather than basing Stamina off of the sum of Strength and Willpower 
  levels, you can choose to base it off of any two abilities, assuming they all 
  play different roles in keeping a hero going in a ﬁght (or lessening the 
  severity of damage from attacks). These may be two set abilities—such as 
  Strength and Coordination, or Intellect and Willpower—or two abilities 
  determined on a case-by-case basis, such as each character’s two highest 
  abilities, whatever they may be. The latter case tends to mean more 
  characters will have higher, similar Stamina levels, given the two high 
  abilities will tend to be in a narrower range. 
  INCREASED STAMINA 
  If you ﬁnd Stamina values too low in your game, causing conﬂicts to end 
  too quickly (even in spite of using Determination Points for recovery), you 
  may simply wish to increase everyone’s starting Stamina value. Start by 
  doubling the higher of Strength or Willpower and then adding the lower 
  ability to it. So a hero with Strength 4 and Willpower 6 would have 16 
  Stamina: Double level 6 for Willpower (12) plus level 4 Strength. If that isn’t 
  sufficient, double both ability levels before adding them together. In this 
  case the aforementioned hero would have 20 Stamina (Strength 4 + 
  Willpower 6 = 10, doubled to 20). 
   
  
  If you’re using a Variant Stamina Base, you can combine it with Increased 
  Stamina, for example using three different abilities (Strength + 
  Coordination + Willpower or Prowess + Coordination + Strength, for 
  examples). You can make Stamina a summation of characters’ physical or 
  mental abilities, or even all six, although that can lead to greatly inﬂated 
  Stamina levels. 
  FIXED STAMINA 
  Rather than basing Stamina off of abilities, every character has the same 
  amount, say 10, 15, or 20 points, depending on how long you want most 
  ﬁghts to last. This option obviously beneﬁts characters with lower abilities, 
  who get more Stamina out of it. It works best in conjunction with an option 
  like Innate Resistance (following), where another factor determines 
  characters’ resistance to most damage. 
  INNATE RESISTANCE 
  With this variant, all characters have Resistance to Bashing and Blasting 
  Damage equal to half their Strength level, rounded down. This means really 
  strong characters, in addition to having more Stamina, can also stand up to 
  more punishment that’s not a Slashing or Shooting attack. A brute with 
  Great (6) Strength is essentially immune to the puny punches of an 
  Average (3) Strength attacker, having Resistance 3, but still needs to be 
  worried about even a Poor (2) damage blade or shot (no Resistance). 
  This innate Resistance does not count as a power, regardless of its level 
  (since high-level Strength already counts as a power). If a character has 
  Damage Resistance limited to Bashing and Blasting, its level is at least 1 
  higher than the character’s innate Resistance based on Strength. 
  FREE RECOVERY 
  If you want to give heroes a bit more of an edge, allow free uses of the 
  recover option of advantage so they can get back more Stamina during 
  conﬂicts. That is, the character can recover without activating a quality to 
  do so. You can limit free recovery in the following ways. Choose the ones 
  that work best for your game and group, but choose at least one, since 
  otherwise the heroes get unlimited free recoveries any time they want! 
  • Heroes get a limited number of free recoveries per conﬂict, from just one 
  to a set amount (two or more) to a value based on one of the hero’s 
  abilities or something like Determination (so a hero with Determination 1 
  gets one free recovery, but the hero with Determination 4 gets four). 
  • Using a free recovery takes up the hero’s action for that page. This is 
  similar to using a maneuver in order to gain advantage and recover. 
   
  
  DICE VARIANTS 
  The following are some variants for die-rolling and handling die-rolls for 
  tests in ICONS. 
  DICE POOL 
  For some, it’s not “super” unless it involves a handful of dice, rather than 
  just rolling one puny six-sider. You can convert ICONS to a dice pool system 
  using the following guidelines: 
  When a test is called for, roll a number of six-sided dice equal to the acting 
  ability’s level (so a level 6 ability is six dice, for example). Each die that 
  comes up 2–6 adds one to the effort of the test (starting from 0). Dice that 
  come up 1 do not add anything. Each die that comes up 6 adds one and is 
  also re-rolled and its result added to the effort (+0 on a 1, +1 on 2–6) with 
  further 6s re-rolled and added, until no further 6s are rolled. Compare the 
  effort against an opposing ability or a difficulty set by the GM. 
  Example: The Hangman throws a punch. He has Prowess 6 and the Martial 
  Arts specialty, giving him an effective ability level of 7, so his player rolls 7 
  dice, getting: 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 6, 6. The 1 result doesn’t add anything, while the 
  remaining dice add up to 6. The player re-rolls the two 6s, getting 1 and 6. 
  Again the 1 doesn’t add but the 6 adds +1, for a total effort of 7 and is re-
  rolled again, coming up 5. That adds a ﬁnal +1, for a total effort of 8, and no 
  further rolling (since the die didn’t come up 6). The GM compared that 
  effort against the Prowess or Coordination of the Hangman’s target to 
  determine the outcome. 
  This approach involves more die-rolling and counting up numbers, but 
  tends to have a probability curve somewhat like that of regular ICONS play, 
  albeit a bit ﬂatter and wider, since there’s theoretically no limit to the 
  number of re-rolls. 
  For added complexity and variability, roll the difficulty of the action in the 
  same way to determine the ﬁnal difficulty level. In the previous example, 
  rather than using the target’s Prowess or Coordination as a ﬁxed value, the 
  GM would roll dice equal to that ability’s level and count up their value in 
  the same way to ﬁgure the difficulty, including the possibility of 1s and 6s 
  shifting the difficulty lower or higher. 
  FUDGE DICE 
  An “ancestor” of ICONS is the Fudge RPG System (www.fudgerpg.com) 
  which uses a set of four six-sided dice (called “Fudge dice”) marked on 
  each of two sides with a plus (+), a minus (–), and a blank or zero face. 
   
  
  Rolled together, the four dice (abbreviated “4dF”) give a value from +4 to –
  4 by adding up all of the top-facing sides. 
  You can use a set of Fudge dice to play ICONS with some modiﬁcations: 
  note that Fudge dice produce a “steeper” bell curve than the 2d6 system of 
  ICONS, weighted more towards the middle or “0” result. Obviously, Fudge 
  dice also do not produce +5 or –5 results, limiting the range of modiﬁers 
  slightly. This approach may suit more realistic ICONS games where a more 
  reliable middle is sought while also limiting the more extreme results on 
  either end of the spectrum. 
  ADVANTAGE & DISADVANTAGE DICE 
  Rather than the standard Improved Effort and Increasing Difficulty 
  modiﬁers from ICONS, you can use the following idea of advantage and 
  disadvantage dice. 
  With an advantage die, you roll two dice for effort and take the higher or 
  the two. With a disadvantage die, the GM rolls two dice for difficulty and 
  takes the higher of the two. This approach tends to result in a net bonus or 
  penalty, but the potential range of outcomes remains bounded; characters 
  can’t do better than their “personal best,” but they tend to do better (or 
  worse) than average. Because of this, advantage and disadvantage dice 
  work well for settings with less “swing” to their outcomes. 
  FREEFORM QUALITIES 
  The Qualities On-the-Fly option from the Hero Creation chapter of ICONS 
  offers the opportunity to leave characters’ qualities “ﬂuid” and undeﬁned 
  for a time, coming up with them during game play before eventually 
  settling on a ﬁxed list. This variant takes that concept a step further: 
  qualities are never a ﬁxed list, but always remain ﬂuid and changing. 
  Essentially, characters have no set qualities, but can come up with them at 
  any time during play. 
  You may wish to set a limit on how many qualities players can choose for 
  their characters for “free,” that is, without a cost like a maneuver. Three 
  seems a good number, equal to the usual number of set qualities heroes 
  have. After that point in each game session, players need to take a 
  maneuver for their hero or spend a Determination Point in order to come 
  up with a new quality. Also note, this only applies to inventing qualities for 
  their own heroes! Discovering or imposing qualities on other characters still 
  follows the usual maneuver rules from ICONS. 
   
  
  “W” is for “Wealth” 
   
  Although some say “money is the root of all evil,” many heroes with 
  considerable wealth and resources ﬁnd ways to put it to work for the 
  greater good. After all, being a superhero can get expensive: all those 
  uniforms, high-tech headquarters, fancy gadgets, and advanced vehicles 
  don’t come cheap, and “superhero” is rarely a high-paying job when it 
  comes to covering expenses, unless there’s someone else with deep 
  pockets bankrolling the whole thing. 
  So the question is often not “Where does he get all those wonderful toys?” 
  but “Who is paying for all of those toys, and how?” The independently 
  wealthy or heavily-invested superhero is a major archetype of the genre, as 
  are the down-on-their-luck heroes struggling to make ends meet while also 
  trying to do the right thing. As the Great Power sourcebook points out in 
  its Devices chapter, ICONS generally doesn’t worry about where the toys 
  come from, beyond possibly something like a “Wealthy Inventor” quality, 
  but if you want to consider ﬁnancial and material resources a factor in your 
  games, this chapter looks at ways you can do so. 
   
  
  RESOURCES AS QUALITIES 
  The default approach of ICONS is to treat access to resources as a quality. 
  This is obvious in terms of qualities like “Independently Wealthy,” 
  “Billionaire Industrialist,” or “Financial Wizard” but may be implied in many 
  other qualities, from “Corporate CEO” to “Four-Star General” and “Crown 
  Princess of the Hidden Realms” or even “All-American Hero” who might be 
  able to call in favors from the right people to provide resources when 
  they’re needed. Not every quality provides access to the same type or 
  amount of resources, but many can and their activation and use is 
  situational, like all qualities in the game. 
  RESOURCE ADVANTAGES 
  Players can activate a resource quality for an advantage just like any other. 
  A retcon to have something the character didn't have before is by far the 
  most common, essentially “buying” something useful with the advantage, 
  from a cell phone to a car or plane ticket (or even a plane!) so long as the 
  item falls within the description of the resource quality. 
  That is by no means the only possible advantage granted by resources, 
  however. Consider the following possibilities: 
  • Improved Effort: Some problems can be solved by throwing money at 
  them, or at least you can improve your chances of solving them. Having 
  access to wealth or resources may justify an improved effort bonus on a 
  test, ranging from tracking down information through access to expensive 
  or difficult-to-get sources to convincing someone to cooperate through 
  outright bribery. Players can even justify improved effort on tests through 
  resources with things like lessons or access to experts or teachers: 
  “Because I’m Heir to the Empire, I’ve naturally studied extensively, giving 
  me improved effort on this Awareness test for the proper etiquette.” 
  • Insight: Similarly, resources can give characters extensive past 
  experiences to draw upon for insights, or open doors that are closed to 
  less resourceful (and generous) people, providing characters with access 
  to information and knowledge they might otherwise lack. 
  • Push Ability: Probably the most difficult advantage to justify with 
  resources, characters may still be able to push certain abilities by having 
  devices or techniques they have acquired using their resources that allow 
  them to do so. “Because I’m the World’s Best Barista, I’m able to come up 
  with a drink to push my Strength when it comes to tests to stay awake 
  and power through the time it takes to get this done.” 
   
  
  • Recover: Resources can give characters access to facilities, treatments, 
  experts, and other means to help them recover quickly, or retcon having 
  such means on-hand to help with a quick recovery. 
  • Retcon: This is the broadest and most useful advantage for resources, 
  since it deals with pretty much anything characters might acquire, own, or 
  use that isn’t covered by any of the other categories. It includes 
  everything from a home (or safe-house) in every major city, access to a 
  private jet or other vehicles, membership in exclusive clubs, having just 
  the right gadget or piece of equipment on-hand, or knowing just the right 
  person to talk to in order to get something done, to name a few. 
  • Stunt: While activating a resource quality might add a whole new 
  meaning to “buying a stunt,” it can mean things like prior training or 
  experience, access to equipment or techniques that make the stunt 
  possible, or ownership of certain items, including other devices or 
  catalysts for a stunt, such as a trophy room of purloined super-science or 
  a library full of rare volumes of arcana. 
  In some cases, advantages from activating a resource quality might actually 
  be associated with a character’s relative lack of resources, from the need to 
  push an ability to putting in improved effort to make up for resources that 
  just are not there to things the character learned or acquired in the “school 
  of hard knocks” when times have been difficult. 
  RESOURCE TROUBLE 
  Of course, resources are not always advantageous. Players and the GM can 
  also activate a resource quality to cause trouble for a character as well. 
  Even seemingly advantageous qualities like “Billionaire Inventor” or 
  “Captain of Industry” have their potential down-sides that can crop up from 
  time to time. 
  Resource trouble may also stem from a lack of resources, activating 
  qualities reﬂecting that, such as “Under a Dark Cloud” or “Struggling to 
  Make It”. Even otherwise stable jobs or lives might have periods of ﬁnancial 
  difficulty or strain, and heroes often have to juggle the problems of their 
  mundane lives alongside their costumed exploits. Examples of resource 
  trouble include: 
  • Challenge: The catch-all category for trouble arising related to the 
  character’s resources. Resourceful characters might have enemies, from 
  business rivals to family foes, causing them trouble, or debts, with 
  someone coming to collect. 
  • Compulsion: Duty calls, even for the billionaire jet-setter. Resourceful 
  characters often have responsibilities to shareholders, employees, family, 
   
  
  or others who depend on them. While a hero might want to pursue leads 
  in an investigation, she might also have a meeting of the board of 
  directors to prepare for and attend. Another hero has to balance the role 
  of crime-ﬁghter against his ﬂedging law practice, keeping him and his 
  partner (and their employees) in business, and so forth. 
  • Disability: While it’s relatively rare for a character to lose a personal 
  ability due to trouble with resources, it’s entirely possible for heroes to 
  lose access to devices or resources that grant them certain abilities: an 
  armored hero might not own her armor and ﬁnd it repossessed, while a 
  hero wielding a powerful talisman might have it taken away by a higher 
  power. Hero teams get evicted from their headquarters or lose air-space 
  rights over a city, forcing them to place their transportation outside the 
  city limits, and so forth. In cases where a hero’s life depends on a 
  resource, its loss could be a far more serious matter, from losing the 
  device that allows a blind hero to see to an artiﬁcial hero being declared 
  someone else’s property. 
  • Increased Difficulty: Sometimes being amongst the “haves” makes things 
  more difficult rather than less. Resource qualities may result in some blind 
  spots in a character’s background or experience, or cause others to 
  prejudge them. You might activate a “Royal Heir” quality for increased 
  difficulty to reﬂect that the character has little experience with “the 
  common people” and some anti-monarchists are not well-disposed to 
  royalty (increasing the difficulty of persuading them, for example). 
  Characters lacking in resources may certainly face increased difficulty in 
  others areas, particularly where money talks, and the character literally 
  has nothing worth saying. 
  • Lost Panel: While this kind of trouble doesn’t seem like it would come up 
  often, having to pay attention to resources, or things related to them, can 
  be a distraction, from the hero who spends a page rushing about to catch 
  valuable knick-knacks before they can smash on the ﬂoor to the one who 
  has to pause for a moment to make sure her remote camera is catching all 
  of the action so she can upload the video to her online patrons later. 
  RESOURCES AS AN ABILITY 
  Access to resources (or lack thereof) can also be handled as an ability of its 
  own, called Resources, much like Strength or Intellect or any other ability. It 
  represents a quantitative measure of a character’s resources, as shown on 
  the Resources Benchmark Table. 
   
  
  A hero’s Resources are generated just like any other ability: a roll on the 
  Level Determination table, potentially modiﬁed by the hero’s origin. Rather 
  than increasing a mental ability, a Gimmick can choose to increase 
  Resources by +2. An Unearthly hero can also choose Resources as one of 
  the abilities to increase by +2. If creating heroes via the point-based option, 
  increase the total number of points available to 50 to start, having 
  Resources cost the same as any other ability: 1 point per level. 
  RESOURCES TESTS 
  When characters want to acquire or use something from their Resources, 
  players make Resources tests. These are just like other tests in ICONS: a roll 
  of a die plus the Resources level against a roll of a die plus a difficulty level 
  chosen by the GM. 
  Difficulty: The difficulty level for the Resources test is based on the 
  expense of what the character wants, using the Resources Benchmark 
  Table as a guideline. Generally, expenses considered “routine” for that level 
  of resources should be one or two levels lower in difficulty: buying a meal is 
  Weak (1) difficulty, for example. Greater expenditures are higher level. 
  Level
  Description
  Examples
  1
  Weak
  Unemployed, on a limited ﬁxed income
  2
  Poor
  Lower middle class, freelance, student
  3
  Average
  Middle class, average day job
  4
  Fair
  Middle class, professional or salaried 
  employment
  5
  Good
  Upper middle class, successful small business, 
  small inheritance
  6
  Great
  Upper class, successful business or chain of 
  businesses, trust fund
  7
  Incredible
  Millionaire, corporation
  8
  Amazing
  Large corporation, small nation, minor branch 
  of a large government
  9
  Fantastic
  Billionaire, multi-national corporation, major 
  branch of a large government
  10
  Supreme
  Mega-corporation or large nation
   
  
  Buying a new car is a Great (6) difficulty, while a new house is Incredible 
  (7). 
  Success and Failure: If the resource test succeeds, then the character 
  acquires the resource, item, or service in question. If it fails, the character 
  doesn’t have the available cash or credit to manage the purchase at this 
  time. How soon the character can try again is up to the GM, but it should be 
  at least a chapter, and may entail the character making additional 
  arrangements, from visiting an ATM to calling a bank or broker. 
  Automatic Success: Any Resources test with a difficulty ﬁve or more levels 
  lower than the character’s resources is an automatic success, a trivial 
  expense for a character at that level. A character with Fantastic (9) 
  Resources can make Fair (4) or lesser expenditures all day long without any 
  impact, for example. The GM may wish to extend this to Resources tests 
  with difficulty four or more levels less than the character’s resources, given 
  the rarity of failure at that level. 
  Loans and Credit: Characters attempting a Resources test with a difficulty 
  level higher than their Resources are leveraging their available credit and 
  collateral in order to acquire the necessary resources. If the test succeeds, 
  the character must make an additional Resources test each month for a 
  number of months equal to the level of the purchase (so seven months for 
  an Incredible level purchase, for example), with a difficulty two less than the 
  original purchase, in order to pay off the accumulated debt. Alternately, the 
  GM may simply reduce the character’s effective Resources by one level for 
  the duration to reﬂect resources “tied-up” in paying off the new purchase. 
  Advantage and Trouble: Tests using the Resources ability are subject to 
  advantage and trouble just like any other tests, and the advice from the 
  Resources as Qualities section can apply to activating qualities for 
  advantage or trouble on these tests, including improved effort, increased 
  difficulty, or pushing the Resources ability an additional rank for those 
  expensive acquisitions. 
  RESOURCES PYRAMID TESTS 
  Two or more characters may participate in a Resources pyramid test to 
  represent a long-term investment of resources or a more complicated 
  purchase, such as a corporate takeover attempt. This works just like any 
  other pyramid test, and the GM may wish to apply pyramid test modiﬁers 
  appropriate to the situation, such as competitive (for two or more sides 
  looking to acquire the same thing), costly (where each attempt has a cost 
  in resources), or escalating (where the longer the test goes on, the most 
  expensive things become long-term). 
   
  
  “X” is for “X-Factors” 
   
  One of the fun elements of tabletop roleplaying games is the element of 
  randomness, the unexpected, that challenges our creativity and encourages 
  both players and Game Masters to think in different directions. Part of the 
  reason why random hero generation is the default option in ICONS is 
  precisely that: the challenge of taking an otherwise random collection of 
  abilities and building a story around them. Many players have created ICONS 
  heroes and said, “I never would have come up with this on my own, if the 
  dice hadn’t moved things in this direction!” 
  Similarly, ICONS Game Masters can sometimes use some help when it comes 
  to creating adventures, or just ﬁlling-in some “dead space” in between 
  chapters or issues of an ongoing series. Maybe you need to shake things up 
  a bit, or your players decide to have their heroes head out on patrol “just to 
  see what’s happening” and you need to come up with something. Maybe 
  you’re trying out ICONS for the ﬁrst time, your players have created heroes 
  and they want to play something now. In these cases, the tables in this 
  chapter may be of some help. 
   
  
  RANDOM EVENTS 
  First, roll on the Event table to determine the type of event, then roll on the 
  appropriate sub-table to ﬁnd out the speciﬁc event. Modify as desired to 
  suit the characters and anything else going on in the series. You might want 
  to customize these tables to suit your own ICONS game, excluding options 
  you don’t like or that can’t occur, and adding others in their place. 
  CRIME WAVE! 
  Criminals are on the loose and it’s up to the heroes to stop them. As an 
  optional extra, you can roll a die: 1–2 = petty criminals, 3–4 = organized 
  crime, 5 = alien or super-science, 6 = supernatural. 
  d6
  Event
  1
  Crime Wave!
  2
  Disaster Strikes!
  3
  It’s Personal
  4
  Out of This World
  5
  Strange Tales
  6
  Super-Science
  d6
  Event
  1
  Assassination: Criminals target someone for death: 1d6, 1–2 = 
  politician, 3–4 = business executive, 5–6 = ordinary citizen.
  2
  Chase: Police chase criminals through the area, either in 
  vehicles or on foot.
  3
  Robbery: 1d6, 1–4 = Criminals rob a bank or other business and 
  try to escape with their ill-gotten gains, 5–6 = Ordinary citizens 
  are mugged or robbed.
  4
  Riot: A public event or protest turns into a violent riot.
  5
  Shootout: A violent confrontation between one or more groups 
  of criminals, and possibly the authorities.
  6
  Terrorism: Criminals stage a terrorist act of destruction for 
  intimidation or extortion purposes.
   
  
  DISASTER STRIKES! 
  A disaster occurs and the heroes either hear about it or are called upon to 
  stop it. Place the disaster somewhere the heroes can reach in time—they’re 
  not going to be called upon to stop or deal with an earthquake on the 
  other side of the globe unless they can be there instantly, for example. 
  As an optional extra, roll a die: on a 1–3 the disaster is naturally-occurring. 
  On a 4, the disaster is caused by otherworldly forces. On a 5, the disaster is 
  supernatural in origin and, on a 6, the disaster is caused by some type of 
  technology or super-science. 
  IT’S PERSONAL 
  Something happens that affects one or more of the heroes personally. 
  These are often complications involving a hero’s qualities, so the GM may 
  wish to award Determination Points when such situations arise. 
  d6
  Event
  1
  Earthquake
  2
  Fire (forest, grass, or urban)
  3
  Flood or tsunami
  4
  Severe Weather (blizzard, hurricane, tornado, etc.)
  5
  Spill (oil or chemical)
  6
  Structural Collapse
  d6
  Event
  1
  Authority ﬁgures give the heroes trouble, from questioning 
  their motives to threatening to jail them.
  2
  Bad Press: The media hounds the heroes, causing trouble.
  3
  Framed! Someone is setting the heroes up to look guilty.
  4
  Frenemies: Other heroes cause trouble, out of a sense of rivalry, 
  misunderstanding, or outside inﬂuence.
  5
  Friends & Family: A family member or loved one has a crisis 
  and needs help, often at an inopportune time.
  6
  Secrets: A hero’s secrets are threatened, including possibly a 
  character’s secret identity (if any).
   
  
  OUT OF THIS WORLD 
  The event originates from somewhere (or even somewhen) beyond 
  present-day Earth, usually an alien world or dimension. 
  STRANGE TALES 
  The event is something…strange, very likely supernatural or magical in 
  origin, although in some cases it may just seem supernatural. Roll a die: on 
  a 1, the event is not actually supernatural, but turns out to have a mundane 
  or scientiﬁc explanation. 
  d6
  Event
  1
  Alien Artifacts turn up and potentially cause trouble, either by 
  accidental activation, becoming targets for theft, or triggering 
  origins or other events.
  2
  Earthfall: An otherworldly threat—such as an asteroid impact or 
  solar ﬂare—is headed for Earth, unless the heroes can stop it.
  3
  Invasion! Beings from another world or dimension invade Earth.
  4
  Other Worlds: The heroes are transported to another world or 
  dimension, or discover a portal or other means of passage.
  5
  Prelude: One or more scouts from another world visit Earth to 
  gather information.
  6
  Strange Visitors: An otherworldly visitor ends up on Earth, 
  possibly by accident, and potentially confused or frightened.
  d6
  Event
  1
  Arcane Artifacts turn up, often in a museum, archeological dig, 
  or private collection, causing potential trouble,
  2
  Creatures appear in the area, looking for victims or furthering 
  their own schemes.
  3
  Cults look to expand their power or achieve goals on behalf of 
  their otherworldly patron(s).
  4
  Deviltry caused by wish-granting imps or actual demons.
  5
  Gateway: A portal to a supernatural realm opens.
  6
  Haunting: A ghost, curse, or other supernatural force haunts a 
  person or place.
   
  
  SUPER-SCIENCE 
  The event concerns advanced science or technology beyond most in the 
  modern world. 
  SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS 
  For Disaster Strikes! events, you may ﬁnd “R” is for “Rescue” helpful once 
  you’ve ﬁgured out what the disaster is. For Out of This World events, 
  consult “A” is for “Aliens” and “C” is for “Cosmic” for additional 
  information, while for Strange Tales events, you may ﬁnd “D” is for 
  “Demons” and “M” is for “Magic” helpful. 
  The Crime Wave table is useful for occasions when heroes are just 
  generally “out on patrol” looking for signs of trouble in their city, although 
  you can occasionally expand patrol events to include the whole random 
  events table and its sub-tables, particularly for an ICONS setting where a lot 
  of strange things happen all the time. 
  d6
  Event
  1
  Funding Problems involve thefts, either of cash and valuables 
  or of rare materials or technical components to carry out 
  research or the construction of prototypes.
  2
  Inviting Disaster: A scientiﬁc experiment or discovery threatens 
  to provoke disaster if left unchecked, such as an uncontrolled 
  energy source or dimensional portal, or a new life form, from an 
  artiﬁcial intelligence to a bio-engineered organism.
  3
  Lab Rats: An experiment or technology produces dangerous 
  “test subjects” that escape, ranging from rampaging monsters 
  to potential new supervillains.
  4
  Research Subjects: One or more of the heroes are targeted as 
  potential research subjects, either to ﬁnd out more about how 
  the hero’s physiology or powers work, or because the hero is 
  the ideal test subject for a new technology.
  5
  They Called Me Mad! A frustrated scientist aims to prove a pet 
  theory or invention to all those who dismissed it, often at the 
  price of blackmailing the local population.
  6
  The Wrong Hands: A new invention ends up in the wrong 
  hands, either stolen or covertly funded by criminals who intend 
  to misuse it for their own ends.
   
  
  AND YOU ARE…? 
  Heroes encounter a lot of people and sometimes, in the midst of an 
  adventure certain details about those people may suddenly matter. When 
  that’s the case, consult the following steps to help inspire you: 
  Gender: Roll a die: 1–3 = Female, 4–6 = Male. If you wish, you can treat a 6 
  as roll again with the same results, except on a 1, the individual is 
  transgendered or intersex. 
  Age: Roll a die: 1 = Child, 2 = Teen, 3-5 = Adult, 6 = Elderly. 
  Super-Names: Create random names for superheroes and supervillains by 
  rolling on the ﬁrst table (one die for column another for row) and on the 
  second table and combining or modifying the two name elements in a way 
  that works. 
  d6
  1–3
  4–6
  1
  Aristocratic Title (baron, duke, 
  king, queen, etc.)
  Metal (gold, iron, silver, steel, 
  etc.)
  2
  Color (anything on the 
  spectrum)
  Celestial Body (planet, star, 
  sun, nebula, etc.)
  3
  Gender (man, woman, lad, lass, 
  boy, girl, etc.)
  Weather Condition (cloud, rain, 
  storm, lightning, thunder, etc.)
  4
  Honoriﬁc (mister, miss, mrs., 
  ms., master or mistress)
  Military rank (particularly 
  captain, major, and general)
  5
  Pronoun (he, she, it, or the)
  Word for “unusual”
  6
  Degree (doctor, professor, 
  reverend, etc.)
  Word for “amazing” 
  d6
  1–3
  4–6
  1
  Animal
  Major Arcana Tarot Card
  2
  Insect (or Arachnid)
  Natural Disaster
  3
  Geopolitical Locale
  Mythical Creature
  4
  Greek Letter (particularly 
  Alpha and Omega)
  Elemental (chemical or 
  mythic)
  5
  Playing Card (face or suit)
  Body Part (including bones)
  6
  Chess Piece
  Weapon
   
  
  “Y” is for “Youth” 
   
  Ah, the impetuousness of youth! In the very early years of superhero 
  comics, publishers created teen sidekick characters to work with adult 
  heroes as a means of giving young readers someone with whom they could 
  easily identify, inserting themselves into the story. Ever since, teenaged 
  heroes (and even villains) have been a staple of the genre, creating a sub-
  genre all their own. Indeed, some of the most popular comics have featured 
  the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of teenaged heroes, whether defending 
  a world that hates and fears them, trying to move out from under the 
  shadow of their mentors, or learning the the lesson that with great power, 
  also comes great responsibility. 
  TEEN HEROES 
  You can create teen heroes in ICONS just like regular heroes. Indeed, there’s 
  nothing requiring a newly-created hero in the game be an adult (or of a 
  particular race, gender, or background), but some of the following elements 
  can help to ground your heroes more ﬁrmly in the teen hero genre and 
  style. 
   
  
  ORIGINS 
  All the origins from the Assembled Edition of ICONS apply to teen heroes, 
  but you may wish to add the following additional step to the origin process: 
  Roll once on the following table to determine the hero’s teen origin, 
  combining it with the standard rolled origin from the Creation Creation 
  chapter of ICONS. 
  d6
  Origin
  1
  Original: You’re an original act. Although a teen, your origin 
  isn’t connected directly to another hero or villain. While this 
  tends to make you your own person, it also means you don’t 
  necessarily have the same kind of support network as more 
  connected young heroes.
  2
  Legacy: You’ve inherited the legacy of a previous hero (or 
  villain). This can range from their entire schtick—name, 
  costume, powers, and all—to just an element of their legacy, 
  such as the name or powers. Your predecessor may be a 
  relative, such as a parent, or there might be no connection 
  between you other than your legacy.
  3
  Sidekick: You are a sidekick (or ex-sidekick) to an adult hero. 
  Your abilities and theme may be similar, or quite different. You 
  should also decide if you are still your mentor’s sidekick or have 
  struck out on your own.
  4
  Wayward: You are (or were) a troubled teen. You strayed from 
  the straight and narrow, or circumstances cast you in the role of 
  the bad guy. You might be related to a villain, or maybe you 
  initially used your abilities irresponsibly. You might operate 
  under a dark cloud or a sinister destiny. Now is your chance to 
  make it right and prove you’re a true hero.
  5
  Orphan: You’re alone in the world, at least so far as family goes. 
  You might have lost your parents, your whole family, or even 
  your entire world. Whatever left you on your own may also be 
  what motivates you, and you have opportunities to create a 
  new family, if you can let people in to do it.
  6
  Oddity: You’re only ostensibly a teen. You might be an ageless 
  spirit inhabiting a teenager’s body, an alien with a different life-
  cycle, or an adult de-aged to relive your teen years, or some 
  other oddity that technically makes you a teen, but also makes 
  you different from your “peers.”
   
  
  ABILITIES 
  Teen heroes can have the same level determination for abilities, although 
  the GM may wish to have the Level Determination table top out at 
  Incredible (7), treating a roll of 12 the same as an 11. Teen heroes could still 
  have abilities above 7 by applying bonuses from origins, limits, and the 
  Ability Increase power, unless the GM restricts these as well. 
  Likewise, teen heroes can have any specialties or powers not speciﬁcally 
  prohibited by the Game Master. While it is probably more realistic to limit 
  teens in terms of how many specialities they can have, and how many levels 
  in each, that depends on whether or not realism is at all a concern in a 
  setting where teenagers can also ﬂy, lift trucks, and throw energy blasts. 
  Plenty of teen heroes are high-Intellect geniuses who are Technology 
  Masters, for example. 
  QUALITIES 
  When choosing qualities for your teen hero, consider the following 
  questions, in addition to those in the Phase 6: Qualities section of the Hero 
  Creation chapter of Icons. 
  • Where do you come from? This question includes the secondary teen 
  origin described previously, since several of them imply potential 
  qualities. For example, a Legacy hero might have “Upholds the Legacy 
  of…” as a quality while a Sidekick could have “Sidekick of…” or “Trained 
  by…” as a quality. Similarly, a Wayward could have a quality associated 
  with setbacks to overcome, ranging from “Daughter of the Devil” to 
  “Reformed Student of the Mastermind,” and an Orphan can have a 
  quality about that status, like “Last…” or “Sole Survivor”. Beyond just 
  origin, where a teen character comes from often deﬁnes things like 
  cliques and social groups that are so important at that age. 
  • What are you rebelling against? Related to origin is, what is the teen 
  hero trying to rebel against or chance? “Nothing” is a valid answer, in 
  which case this quality doesn’t really apply, but many teens are looking 
  to deﬁne themselves in opposition to something, often some element of 
  their past or upbringing, or some thing they feel everyone believes about 
  them. A former sidekick might be looking to reinvent herself as 
  independent of her mentor, for example, while a teen hero who is a 
  legacy of an infamous villain may be looking to redeem the name. 
  • What do you aspire towards? Teen heroes are also in the process of 
  becoming adults and realizing their full potential, so they need goals, 
  role-models, and ideals to aspire towards. Sometimes it starts out with 
  what they do not want to become as part of what they’re rebelling 
   
  
  against, but qualities may also include the teen hero’s hopes and 
  aspirations, from “Be Worthy of the Family Name” to “Make Up for My 
  Past Mistakes” or even just “Seeks to Live a Normal Life”. 
  Your group may also want to consider whether or not some version of 
  “teen” or “young” should be considered a quality for individual characters, 
  or if it is quality for the series as a whole. See “U” is for Universe for a 
  discussion of series themes as qualities (and why you generally don’t want 
  to include them as such). 
  TEEN TROUBLE 
  The “T” for “teen” also stands for “trouble,” which is an important element 
  of the teen hero genre. What kind of trouble do teens face? 
  Secrets: “Nobody can understand” is a common refrain involving the 
  variety of things teens keep bottled-up inside, secrets involving how they 
  feel, about their experiences, and about their increasing awareness of 
  themselves as individuals. For teen heroes, this is only compounded by 
  things like maintaining a secret identity, or secrets about their powers or 
  abilities. Oftentimes, the biggest trouble teen heroes have is not the actual 
  problems themselves, but the impulse to keep them secret and deal with 
  them on their own, out of fear or judgment, abandonment, or 
  embarrassment. 
  Relationships: For teen heroes, life is a whirlwind of friends, rivals, social 
  cliques, and who has a crush on or is dating whom. Plus there are 
  relationships with adult authority ﬁgures like parents, teachers, and 
  mentors, as teen heroes struggle to be more independent. All of these 
  relationships are complicated but issues of trust, secrets, and who knows 
  what. Do you tell your parents you have super-powers and ﬁght crime? Do 
  you tell that special someone you have a crush on them? Do you share a 
  secret entrusted to you by a friend, even when you know you shouldn’t? 
  No Control: Sometimes it feels like you have no control over anything, 
  especially when you’re still legally a minor, under the pressures of attending 
  school, and saddled with powers you may not fully understand. Many of the 
  compulsions of teen trouble come from being obligated to do things, 
  whether you want to or not. 
  Doing It All: Then there’s juggling school and homework, extra-circulars 
  (like band, sports, or clubs), having a part-time job, friends and family, oh, 
  and having super-powers and ﬁghting crime, not to mention considering 
  what you’re going to do with your life after school and … well, it can be a lot 
  to juggle, and some teen heroes can feel a bit overwhelmed at times, as 
  other aspects of life intrude upon their costumed good deeds. 
   
  
  SCHOOL DAYS 
  A big element of the teen heroes genre is the experience of having to 
  attend school, both as a regular student and as a young super-hero. The big 
  question is: What kind of school? 
  Mainstream School: Whether public or private, some super-teens attend a 
  mainstream school where the vast majority of the student body doesn’t 
  have super-powers. This usually necessitates maintaining a secret identity, 
  or at least keeping those selfsame powers secret, given the potential 
  danger it brings to the school. 
  Super-School: Other super-teens attend a “school for gifted students” 
  intended to speciﬁcally teach those with super-powers. It might be open to 
  all kinds of students and powers, or just to those with particular origins or 
  powers, such as a school for mutants or other birthrights or an academy of 
  magic. The school may be intended to train students into potential 
  superheroes, or just responsible citizens able to control their special 
  abilities. 
  Training Sessions: Regardless of the school they attend, at least part of the 
  super-teen’s education is power usage and control, and training may also 
  include everything a potential superhero needs to know. Training sessions 
  make great “warm-ups” and practice opportunities for a regular game, 
  along with a chance for the players to pit their heroes against each other in 
  friendly competition. 
  GLORY DAYS 
  While many teen hero teams are like the junior varsity to their adult 
  counterparts, in some settings, teen heroes are pretty much it. They are the 
  heroes the world calls upon in times of need. The reasons for this might be 
  manifold, and are something you can choose to best suit your own series: 
  Coming of Age: Super-powers show up at puberty, so new super-heroes 
  are most likely to be teens (new super-villains, too, for that matter) and 
  most in need of guidance and help in managing their newfound powers. 
  Aging Out: Super-powers tend to fade with physical (and psychological) 
  maturity, meaning most people lose them after their teens, and most 
  deﬁnitely by their mid-20s. 
  Major Minors: Adult superhumans face certain legal restrictions. For 
  example, international (interplanetary, what have you) treaties may specify 
  that adults with super powers cannot function in a para-military or law 
  enforcement context, but super-powered teens provide a loophole in this 
   
  
  agreement, allowing them to do so. Likewise, all costumed vigilantes might 
  be illegal, but minors can get away with it because they’re less likely to be 
  charged and tried as adults. 
  Super-Kids Clubhouse: The teens have banded together to form their own 
  organization, and one of the rules is, once you reach a certain age (20 or 21, 
  most likely), you’re out. This might be due to something like the aging out 
  effect, or just teens wanting to keep their “club” exclusive. They might have 
  adult advisors, mentors, or the like, but membership in the club is teens-
  only. 
  Mandatory Attendance: As minors, super-powered teens may be legally 
  required to attend a super-school or training academy to help them learn 
  to manage their powers. The academy may or may not be looking to turn 
  them into super-heroes, but the kids could have other ideas regardless, 
  forming informal teams and sneaking out to go on “missions” of their own 
  without their instructors knowledge. If there are multiple academies in 
  different states, nations, or even on different planets, then the schools 
  might be rivals, ranging from super-powered sporting competitions to 
  super-battles between their student bodies. 
   
   
  
  “Z” is for “Zombies” 
   
  Zombies. The Walking Dead. They have been a staple of the comics since 
  the beginning, from servants of villainous necromancers to mad science 
  menaces and even unlikely heroes. This chapter looks at a variety of 
  different types of zombies you can include in your ICONS games. 
  TYPES OF ZOMBIES 
  The basic concept of an animate, shambling corpse has spawned (so to 
  speak) a wide variety of different kinds of “zombies” in comics and 
  roleplaying games, many of them suitable for use in ICONS. 
  ANIMATED CORPSE 
  This is the “classic” zombie given as an example in the Assembled Edition 
  of Icons: a shambling, animated human corpse. They’re not much in the 
   
  
  abilities department but, being dead, have supreme resistance to the 
  concerns of living beings. See Zombie Abilities for more on this. 
  While most zombie corpses are animated by supernatural means, one 
  variant is the “necrobot,” a corpse reanimated as a zombie through 
  technological means, such as cybernetics or nanotechnology. In addition to 
  the basic zombie abilities, necrobots may have built-in devices, including 
  armor, sensors, and weapons. See the Devices section of the Powers 
  chapter of ICONS for ideas. 
  VIRAL ZOMBIE 
  Modern horror ﬁction has posited non-magical causes of zombies, 
  particularly contagious diseases (often created in a lab) or strange 
  chemicals or radiation (often unearthly in origin). These “viral zombies” 
  tend to be otherwise like their occult cousins, save that they also tend to be 
  contagious: Those killed by them, sometimes even those only wounded, 
  bitten, or even touched by them, also become zombies of the same type, 
  either immediately or slowly over time, like the progress of a disease. Viral 
  zombies are animated, shambling plagues that can potentially overrun the 
  entire world, making them the focus of apocalyptic scenarios (see Earth-Z 
  for additional information). 
  HUNGRY ZOMBIE 
  Hungry zombies, in addition to their other qualities, must “eat,” usually by 
  consuming the ﬂesh of humans or other living creatures or speciﬁc parts of 
  living creatures, such as the heart or brain. It is possible for hungry zombies 
  to “starve,” although the process usually just drives them into an ever 
  greater feeding frenzy to ﬁnd what they are driven to eat, and eventually 
  only causes them to become sluggish and dormant until a new food source 
  comes along. 
  INTELLIGENT ZOMBIE 
  While zombies are generally all but mindless, with just enough Awareness 
  of their surroundings to move and attack, some zombies have greater, even 
  normal levels of Intellect and Willpower. Depending on their physical 
  condition and appearance, these zombies may even be able to pass for 
  living people under the right circumstances. While it’s possible to interact 
  with intelligent zombies, they are not necessarily sane or moral creatures, 
  given their condition, especially if they are driven by unnatural hungers or a 
  need to pass on their affliction. 
   
  
  PROMETHEAN ZOMBIE 
  Named for the “modern Prometheus” of Mary Shelly’s novel Frankenstein, 
  the Promethean zombie is a once-living person returned to a kind of 
  pseudo-life by mad science, forbidden sorcery, or some combination of the 
  two. Like Frankenstein’s creature from the novel, it may be a composite 
  being of many parts, or an essentially whole but transformed individual. 
  Promethean zombies are often intelligent to at least some degree and may 
  have enhanced physical abilities, although they sometimes also have 
  diminished undead resistances, being more “life-like” than their 
  counterparts. For example, a Promethean zombie might need to eat and 
  drink, even if it doesn’t breathe or sleep. 
  REVENANT 
  Not strictly a “zombie,” a common sort of undead creature in the comics is 
  the revenant, an intelligent, animated corpse driven by a need for 
  vengeance, either against those responsible for its death, or a similar class 
  of individuals, such as all criminals, law-enforcement, or costumed heroes, 
  for examples. Revenants are sometimes tragic dark heroes, walking the line 
  between hero and outlaw, while others are villains out for blood and terrible 
  retribution. Either way, they tend to be Relentless, as described under 
  Zombie Abilities. 
  SUPER-ZOMBIE 
  Generally speaking, most zombies lack the abilities their bodies had in life, 
  not just skills and mental abilities, but often physical ones as well, including 
  most, if not all physical powers. However, some zombies, particularly viral 
  ones, retain some or all of the powers they had in life, making them that 
  much more dangerous. These “super-zombies” have all of the abilities of 
  undead of their type (see Zombie Abilities) along with the powers of a 
  superhero or supervillain! 
   
   
   
  
  ZOMBIE ABILITIES 
  Zombies share certain traits in common, giving them particular powers and 
  abilities. The following is a standard zombie archetype and discussion of 
  some of the common zombie abilities in ICONS terms you can use to modify 
  the archetype to represent different types of zombies. 
  ZOMBIE 
  Powers: Life Support 10, Resistance to Ability, Mental, and Sensory Attacks 
  10 
  Qualities: Zombie 
  UNDEAD 
  First and foremost, zombies are not living creatures, at least not as we 
  know them. While they may be animate, they are more akin to constructs 
  than any form of life. At the least, this means zombies have Supreme (10) 
  Life Support and Resistance to Ability Attacks, since they ignore living 
  concerns like breathing, disease, toxins, and the like. They may also have 
  Resistance to Mental and Sensory Attacks, although whether or not that 
  comes from their undead state or by virtue of zombies being essentially 
  mindless is up to the GM’s interpretation. 
  For some zombies, their undead state simply makes them tireless and 
  immune to pain and fatigue, amongst other things. For others, it actually 
  makes them more physically powerful, increasing their Strength (even to 
  superhuman levels) and providing levels of Damage Resistance as well. This 
  is most common with Promethean zombies. 
  MINDLESS 
  The default zombie archetype is essentially mindless, having no Intellect or 
  Willpower, and only a Weak (1) Awareness. The zombie’s Stamina is based 
  on twice its Strength, as it has no Willpower. Some Game Masters may wish 
  to simply give zombies Stamina 3 or use the optional minion rule for 
  damage, where any successful attack that overcome’s a zombie’s 
  Resistance (if any) reduces it to 0 Stamina. 
  Mindless zombies are immune to mental attacks and interaction, or 
  anything else reliant on having a mind, thoughts, or emotions. While some 
  PROWESS
  COORD.
  STRENGTH
  INTELLECT
  AWARENESS
  WILLPOWER
  STAMINA
  2
  2
  3
  0
  1
  0
  6
   
  
  mindless zombies are able to vocalize, it is usually only to moan, wail, or 
  repeat some word or phrase over and over (like, “braaaaains!”). 
  RELENTLESS 
  One of the most frightful aspects of zombies is they are relentless foes: 
  incapable of feeling pain, or fear, tireless and unwavering in pursuit of their 
  prey. It is usually only the fact that zombies tends to be slow and mindless 
  that gives people any chance against them at all. Some zombies have 
  additional powers that enhance their unstoppable nature, including: 
  Animated Parts: The zombie’s severed body parts don’t stop moving, 
  retaining the same unnatural animation as the rest of the creature. The 
  zombie has the Anatomic Separation extra of Duplication from Great Power 
  with the Extra Only Limit and an Only When Damaged Limit; the level of 
  the power determines how many functional parts the zombie can split into. 
  Defeating such zombies may require reducing them to ash or their 
  component atoms to stop them. 
  Immortality: While most zombies are “killed” when reduced to 0 Stamina, 
  some possess the Immortality power, allowing them to recover from 
  virtually anything short of the aforementioned disintegration. Truly 
  immortal zombies are also usually at least somewhat intelligent—
  Promethean zombies or revenants, for example. 
  Regeneration: Some zombies are not only animate, but constantly 
  repairing or renewing damage, such that nothing short or complete 
  destruction puts them down for long before they get back up again, even 
  reattaching severed body parts with the Regrowth extra. Some—
  particularly hungry zombies—are limited to regenerating only immediately 
  after they have fed, while others just go on repairing indeﬁnitely. 
  Regenerations is one of the signature powers of revenants and may also be 
  an ability of necrobots, especially those created or sustained by 
  nanotechnology. 
  INFECTIOUS 
  Viral zombies are infectious, able to turn over creatures into zombies. This 
  is essentially an Affliction as a Secondary Effect of the zombie’s attacks, 
  such as scratches or bites. Once the target is killed or reduced to 0 
  Stamina, they rise as another zombie of the type that infected them. 
  Zombie Afflictions are usually limited to Slow Effect, if they work on living 
  creatures, progressing like a slow disease. Otherwise, they are limited to 
  only creatures that die after being reduced to 0 Stamina. The former type 
  of zombie infection may be curable, or there may be no hope for the 
  infected creature, save for the possibility of a quick and clean death. 
   
  
   
  EARTH-Z 
  While you might not want to expose your own ICONS setting to a zombie 
  apocalypse, given its potential to truly end the world, that doesn’t mean 
  you can use one as an element in your series. The easiest means of doing 
  so is by using an alternate world dealing with a massive zombie outbreak, 
  what we can call “Earth-Z.” 
  Earth-Z might be a true alternate Earth, a parallel reality where a zombie 
  apocalypse is either imminent, underway, or has already happened, leaving 
  virtually no living people (or no living creatures, for that matter) behind. 
  The heroes may visit Earth-Z through the usual comic book means of 
  dimensional travel, particularly by accident. They have to struggle to ﬁnd a 
  way back home while surviving the deadly zombie onslaught and being 
  careful not to risk infecting their own world—even if it means never 
  returning. They can face the horror of encountering zombie parallels of 
  their friends, loved ones, enemies—even themselves! 
  Earth-Z might also come to to heroes’ world, either by the accidental 
  opening of a dimensional portal, or through deliberate effort on either side: 
  A necromantic villain on Earth looking to summon minions from an entire 
  world of zombies, or a world of hungry zombies desperate for new prey to 
  feed upon and spread their disease. 
  Alternately, “Earth-Z” might be a temporary transformation of the heroes’ 
  world, either through powerful magic or reality warping. The key is that the 
  heroes can potentially undo the transformation and restore things to 
  normal before Earth is doomed to become a dead, zombiﬁed world forever. 
   
  
  License 
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  Coast, Inc ("Wizards"). All Rights Reserved.
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  "Use", "Used" or "Using" means to use, Distribute, copy, edit, format, modify, translate and 
  otherwise create Derivative Material of Open Game Content. (h) "You" or "Your" means the licensee 
  in terms of this agreement.
  2. The License: This License applies to any Open Game Content that contains a notice indicating 
  that the Open Game Content may only be Used under and in terms of this License. You must aﬃx 
  such a notice to any Open Game Content that you Use. No terms may be added to or subtracted 
  from this License except as described by the License itself. No other terms or conditions may be 
  applied to any Open Game Content distributed using this License.
  3.Oﬀer and Acceptance: By Using the Open Game Content You indicate Your acceptance of the 
  terms of this License.
  4. Grant and Consideration: In consideration for agreeing to use this License, the Contributors grant 
  You a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license with the exact terms of this License 
  to Use, the Open Game Content.
  5.Representation of Authority to Contribute: If You are contributing original material as Open Game 
  Content, You represent that Your Contributions are Your original creation and/or You have suﬃcient 
  rights to grant the rights conveyed by this License.
  6.Notice of License Copyright: You must update the COPYRIGHT NOTICE portion of this License to 
  include the exact text of the COPYRIGHT NOTICE of any Open Game Content You are copying, 
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  name to the COPYRIGHT NOTICE of any original Open Game Content you Distribute.
  
  7. Use of Product Identity: You agree not to Use any Product Identity, including as an indication as to 
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  9. Updating the License: Wizards or its designated Agents may publish updated versions of this 
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  10 Copy of this License: You MUST include a copy of this License with every copy of the Open 
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  11. Use of Contributor Credits: You may not market or advertise the Open Game Content using the 
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  12 Inability to Comply: If it is impossible for You to comply with any of the terms of this License with 
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  13 Termination: This License will terminate automatically if You fail to comply with all terms herein 
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  14 Reformation: If any provision of this License is held to be unenforceable, such provision shall be 
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  15 COPYRIGHT NOTICE 
  Open Game License v 1.0 Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
  Fudge System Reference Document Copyright 2005, Grey Ghost Press, Inc.; Authors Steﬀan 
  O’Sullivan and Ann Dupuis, with additional material by Peter Bonney, Deird’Re Brooks, Reimer 
  Behrends, Shawn Garbett, Steven Hammond, Ed Heil, Bernard Hsiung, Sedge Lewis, Gordon 
  McCormick, Kent Matthewson, Peter Mikelsons, Anthony Roberson, Andy Skinner, Stephan Szabo, 
  John Ughrin, Dmitri Zagidulin
  FATE (Fantastic Adventures in Tabletop Entertainment), Copyright 2003 by Evil Hat Productions LLC; 
  Authors Robert Donoghue and Fred Hicks.
  Spirit of the Century, Copyright 2006, Evil Hat Productions LLC. Authors Robert Donoghue, Fred 
  Hicks, and Leonard Balsera.
  ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying, Copyright 2010, Author: Steve Kenson.
  Icons A to Z, Copyright 2015, Ad Inﬁnitum Adventures, Author: Steve Kenson.
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/FUDGE & FATE/Icons/Icons A to Z/ICONS A To Z (Updated).pdf