CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION.................... 4 SPECIALTIES......................122
Levels of Specialty........................123
THE BASICS........................... 8 Specialty Descriptions..................124
Levels and Scale............................... 9
Time..................................................10 TAKING ACTION................128
Distance............................................ 12 Action Order..................................129

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Benchmarks..................................... 13 Movement......................................130
Abilities............................................. 15 Actions...........................................132
Stamina............................................ 16 Reactions.......................................138

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Determination.................................. 17 Interactions.................................... 141
Tests.................................................. 18 Ambushed by Evil!........................145
Qualities.......................................... 29
Damage...........................................40 GAME MASTERING........... 156
Recovery.........................................44 Game Mastering Basics................ 157
Grudge Match!................................ 46 Handling Hero Creation................158

HERO CREATION................54
e Creating Adventures.................... 160
Random Adventure Creation.......167
Phase 1: Origin................................ 56 Handling the Rules.........................171
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Phase 2: Attributes......................... 58 Troubleshooting............................ 178
Phase 3: Powers............................. 59 Comic Book Tropes...................... 180
Phase 4: Specialties....................... 62 Achievements................................184
Phase 5: Description...................... 65 Changes.........................................185
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Phase 6: Qualities........................... 66 Villain Creation..............................186

Phase 7: Game Master Approval.. 68 Stock Characters.......................... 190
The Secret Origin of ... Saguaro!... 69 Creatures........................................193
Team Creation................................ 73 DeathTraps.....................................196
Disasters.........................................198
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POWERS.............................. 76 Universe Creation........................ 200

Using Powers.................................. 79
Extras................................................ 81 ALLIES................................ 210
Limits............................................... 84
Power Descriptions........................ 87 ADVERSARIES................... 219
Devices............................................112
GLOSSARY.........................228
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C T I O N
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IN T R O D U
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What kid hasn’t pretended to be a superhero at some point:

worn a cape, “flown” around, bounced imaginary bullets, or shot
“blasts of power” from hands or eyes? After all, the superhero is
pretty much the perfect modern fantasy: powerful, respected,
and loved by the public, but with a message of responsibility,
truth, and justice. In countless comic books, cartoons, and
live-action television shows and films, superheroes continue to
thrill and capture our imagination while also celebrating some
of our better qualities. Who wouldn’t want to be a hero? With
Icons, you can be.
 ROLE-PLAYING
Icons is a role-playing game: a game of imagination where you and other
players take on the roles of superheroes you create and embark on imaginary
adventures, guided by one player who takes on the responsibility of Game
Master (“GM” for short), both the narrator and referee of the game. The GM
comes up with a situation and presents it to the players. They, in turn, decide
what their characters do. The GM responds with what happens next, and
from this conversation a complete story unfolds. Along the way, the heroes

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encounter challenges, including fights with villains, and the game rules help
the players and Game Master to resolve the outcome of those challenges,
changing the direction of the story. A part of the thrill of a role-playing game

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is that it is fiction you and your friends create together and you never know
how it will all turn out!

WHY cons?I
Superhero role-playing games have been around nearly as long as the
game style. Role-playing started out with medieval fantasy and quickly
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moved on to science fiction, but superheroes were not far behind, and the
adventures of brightly-clad heroes with strange powers has been one of the
most enduring sub-genres of role-playing games throughout their history.
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Icons is hardly the first superhero role-playing game — it’s not even the
tenth! In fact, it is not even the first superhero game I have designed, nor is
this book the first version of Icons, for that matter.
So if there are older—and presumably still fun—superhero role-playing
games around, and if I already designed one of them, why create another?
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If there’s already an Icons rulebook, why publish this “Assembled” edition?

There are several reasons:
First and perhaps foremost, I do not believe in the concept of “one true
game.” Saying there is only room for one superhero RPG is like suggesting
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there should only be one board game where you move pieces around squares.
Why have checkers when you’ve already got chess? Neither game is “better”
than the other; they both deliver fun and some interesting challenges, but in
their own ways. The same is true of Icons and other superhero games.

Introduction 5
 Second, I’m a game designer, and designers like to play around with ideas
for games: different mechanics, different approaches, seeing how things
work in various ways. Again, some designs are not necessarily “better,” just
different. A lot of role-playing game design and play is a matter of taste,
rather than objective value. Just like an artist benefits from having a broad
palette, so does a game designer benefit from having a breadth of experience
creating different kinds of games.
Lastly, just as a writer writes, a designer designs. Some concepts just

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lodge themselves into the folds of your brain and stick there until you do
something with them to get them out and onto the page. Icons is one of those.
I wanted to play around with some system ideas and even started on an

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earlier version of Icons years ago that I nicknamed “the Superlative System.”
However cliché it may sound to say that I “had” to design this game, that’s
how it was. So I did.
The creation of this game (or even this edition) does not mean I think
Icons is better than everything that came before it, or that it is the “right”
way to do a superhero RPG (as if there were only one!), or that the previous
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version of the game needed “fixing,” just that I think this a good one and
that it’s fun, which, after all, is the point of playing a game in the first place.
I hope you think so, too.
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 WHAT’S IN THE GAME?
So, what will you find in these pages? The tools you need for you and
your friends to create your own colorful world of heroes and villains and
to play out fun and exciting adventures with them. In practical terms, what
you’ll find here is a system, a set of rules, for creating your own heroes and
telling stories with them.
Compared to a lot of role-playing games on the market today, Icons is fairly
short and simple. You won’t find exhaustive details or situational rules, and

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there’s no built-in setting beyond “the world of comic book superheroes,”
which pretty much anyone reading this game is going to know. Mix-and-match
heroes and villains from Icons books, other games, your favorite comics, and

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your own imagination.
Icons places the power in your hands, where it belongs. Take the basic
rules of the game, get together with your friends, and create! Make your own
heroes, villains, adventures, stories ... whole worlds! Have fun!

WHAT YOU NEED TO PLAY

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In addition to this book, which contains all the rules of the game, you
will want to have:
• One player to take the role of Game Master (or “GM”). This player
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serves as narrator, referee, and stage manager for the game.
• Other players, from just one to six or more, to take the roles of the
heroes. The minimum and maximum numbers of players depend on
what the GM is comfortable with managing. Ideally, the game aims
for around four to six.
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• At least two six-sided dice (abbreviated “d6”), one for the players
and one for the GM. Each player may wish to have his or her own die.
• Pencils, pens, and paper, for writing down information about characters
and making notes during play.
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Some game groups also like to use things like tactical maps, miniature
figures or counters, and other markers to show where characters are in
relation to each other during action scenes, as well as tokens like poker chips
or glass beads for keeping track of resources, but these are not necessary.
Use them (or not) as your group prefers.
What are you waiting for, heroes? The world needs saving!

Introduction 7
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TH E BA S I C S
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Icons uses systems to describe things in game-terms and help

determine the outcome of actions the heroes take in the course
of the story. This section looks at the basics of the game and
is essential in understanding the rest of the game rules, which
build on these basic concepts. Both players and Game Masters
should familiarize themselves with these rules.