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ICONS: Hero Pack 2
by Thomas B. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 08/06/2011 12:31:33

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: With the success of the ICONS Hero Pack, it is no real surprise at a Hero Pack 2 came along. All of the art is still provided by Dan Houser, with characters created by ICONS fans, but this one only had 30 slots...which means the PDF is 65 pages, with every character getting a full character sheet and a background "page". Each character also receives a printable standee, so if you like your standees, there's a whole slew of them available for you here.

WHAT WORKS: One of the gripes I had about the first Hero Pack was that many of the characters weren't usable "out of the box", due to Qualities and Challenges not being specified, as well as the characters not having backgrounds...that is a non-issue here. Many of the characters were created by the same people, and have their backstories interwoven with one another. If I had to pick a favorite from this set, it would be Mook, a common thug with Duplication powers who hires himself out as an all-purpose Henchman force.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: Some of the images, names and concepts seem to be an odd fit (Shadowform, the shapeshifter who turns into various tools and wears a green costume comes to mind).

CONCLUSION: From a design standpoint, this is an improvement over Hero Pack 1 in just about every way. The trimming down to 30 characters allows all of the characters room to "breathe", and allowing the artist's work to show off more than the otherwise crowded Hero Pack 1 did, and at $2 less than the first one.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
ICONS: Hero Pack 2
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ICONS: Hero Pack 1
by Thomas B. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 08/03/2011 21:44:29

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: 120 heroes and villains in one PDF, retailing for $9.95. Every character has game stats and art by Dan Houser. This was part of a promotion where people purchased slots for their characters, Mr. Houser drew them in the style associated with the ICONS rulebook and game stats were published for them. In addition, several of the ICONS characters from the corebook are also provided, such as The Whisper, The Hangman, All-Star and All American Girl. A whole slew of standees are also present, which should cover every character in the book as well as some blanks.

WHAT WORKS: If you're a fan of cardboard style standees in your game, having a bunch of new ones to play around with is always fun. Some of Mr. Houser's character designs are really great, providing some very interesting character images.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: Backgrounds are not present for any of the characters. Vital statistics such as height and weight are likely inaccurate as well, as a particular height and weight shows up a LOT (5'6" and 140 lbs) even when it seemingly makes no sense at all in context of the picture . Many of the Aspects are not defined (with only Epithet, Catchphrase, Social, etc.) listed, making the lack of background for several of the characters even worse.

CONCLUSION: While not a bad idea, the execution is flawed. You don't really get 120 ready to use Heroes and Villains, instead getting a few mostly ready to use Heroes and Villains and a bunch of guys you still have to use a little creative work on to make table-ready. While the standees, character images and what you can glean from the concepts aren't bad at all, be warned that this is not an "out of the box" product.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
ICONS: Hero Pack 1
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ICONS: Hero Pack 2.5
by Brandon B. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 07/22/2011 14:15:01

I ran a game based on the mini-adventure in Icons Hero Pack 2.5. I found it very helpful, as I initially had no idea what I was going to run. I think it worked out very well. I also plan to use some of the included characters in a future game. http://www.blackgate.net/blog/citadel-game-podcast-2011-07-15/



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
ICONS: Hero Pack 2.5
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ICONS Character Folio
by Christopher H. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 07/01/2011 16:21:07

Daniel Gallant has done ICONS players a remarkable service with this lightweight and (mostly) easy-to-use character generator for ICONS. ICONS is rules-light enough as it is that you don't really need software support, but using the Character Folio has several advantages over paper-and-pencil, not least being the speed of randomly generating characters and the attractive character sheet options. I'm very glad to have this program as part of my ICONS toolkit. Cleaning up a few aesthetic issues while running on the Macintosh (for example, the window must be resized upon launch in order to see everything) would boost this product to 5 stars; I would give it 4.5 stars if the reviewing system supported half-stars. [NOTE: This review is based on version 1.1, noticeably improved and expanded over 1.0. Version 1.1 only includes material from the original rulebook; I'm eagerly awaiting version 1.1.1, which will include new powers and such from the Villainomicon.]



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
ICONS Character Folio
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ICONS: The Mastermind Affair
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 06/30/2011 13:37:24

This is a very fun little adventure to get your feet wet into the 4-color world of ICONS. There are a lot of tropes here that comic book fans and gamers will find amusing and familiar. The adventure itself is fairly straight forward and to be honest reminded me of a episode of the old Adam West Batman series. I mean that in the best possible way too. Best of all there are some great villains in this book. Most (The Clique) are just the bad guys of the week, but others (particularly Professor Hominid) could be arch-rival level.

The price is right and everything you would want to run an adventure (minus the rulebook, dice and people) is here. Very much designed with your characters in mind (so no archetypes included, but that is fine).



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
ICONS: The Mastermind Affair
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ICONS: Danger In Dunsmouth
by Christopher H. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 06/27/2011 13:09:07

Rare indeed will be the gamer who does not immediately recognize this title’s debt to the weird fiction of H.P. Lovecraft. The plot owes much to Lovecraft, too, with its strange cult, monsters from the depths of the Atlantic, and all that. True fans will catch more allusions (Pickman Ave., the cats’ strange behavior), deepening their enjoyment of the scenario. The adventure itself reads like a lot of fun (I have not had a chance to run the scenario, so this judgment is based on my enjoyment in reading it), but it’s really rather linear and presumes that the heroes reach various milestones in a fairly specific order. If the players are having fun, though, they shouldn’t mind too much.

The module could stand some additional editing. The author and editor should take some time to review comma usage (many sentences lack needed commas), and should repeat “a couple OF, a couple OF” as a mantra once for each brainwash Dunsmouth “cultist” in the scenario. There are also some layout oddities that should be avoided, such as extra leading on the last line of section-ending paragraphs. The inclusion of italic Helvetica and bold italic Times among the comic-book fonts really jars the eye, even the eye untrained in typography (which will find the combinations positively revolting). Also, better coordination between the authors of Adamant’s ICONS modules and artist Dan Houser seems necessary; in “Danger in Dunsmouth,” a key object is described as having a sapphire at its center, but the illustration shows a red gem (and this isn’t the first Adamant module in which the text contradicts the artwork); another gem pictured as red is described in the text as an emerald. Otherwise, Hauser’s art brings additional spark to the module.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
ICONS: Danger In Dunsmouth
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ICONS: The Villainomicon
by Chad K. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 06/23/2011 16:02:57

Very good product. I think its a bit over-priced for a PDF. $10 would have been more suitable. A bunch of decent villains- all statted up with backgrounds. Alot more detail than Hero pack #1. A few optional powers and tips for designing arch-enemies for your players. Good stuff 4 stars.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
ICONS: The Villainomicon
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ICONS: Hero Pack 1
by Chad K. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 06/22/2011 22:27:46

These reviews should be changed. Its NOT $2 anymore- so reviews saying how great it is for ONLY $2 should be gone. Its is now $9.95. It is still a good product. Good- not great. 3 stars Why? They have a spot for the heroes real names, height, weight, first appearance,etc. 90%+ of the heroes names are listed as unknown- so why have it? 90%+ of height/weights are identical. A small skinny hero is 5'6 and 140 pounds. What looks like a large dinosaur lizard hero is- 5'6 and 140 pounds..... "First appearance"- I guess its suppose to be cute- like comic issue Avengers #27. Its not, the numbers just go -"wave zero 025" and just go in order.... Some heroes ahve a catchphrase- either nothing is listed or several have the same thing- "Dont run."....... If you are going to list a catchpharse or epithet- at least list something original. If the things I listed were fixed Id give it a better rating.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
ICONS: Hero Pack 1
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ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying
by Michael H. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 05/02/2011 14:04:56

A solid game that incorporates elements of FATE to create a more character-driven super-heroes game which is just what I like. Overall, an excellent product although the artwork isn't really to my taste. The inclusion of random character generation means you can get started quite fast and even run one-shots with the game. If you like FATE and super-heroes, this is a great game to try.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying
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ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying
by Kasper B. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 04/03/2011 04:21:10

Reading different roleplaying systems has always been a hobby of mine, even though I tend not to play many of them. Maybe it's my group that's a little "system conservative", but that's just the way it is. They often help me understand what it is that I like about roleplaying though, and I can tell you for sure that this is a system that, while it didn't exactly "change" my view on roleplaying, it certainly gave me the desire to implement a lot of what was in the book.

This book is a treasure trove, pure and simple. It has a lot of good stuff that everyone could use and implement in virtually any system, with little effort. I am especially thinking of the "Determination" system that lets the players influence the setting with "retcons". While it may be a minor part of the system, then it was most certainly the thing that made this system so appealing to me. Plus, it's about superheroes, what's not to like?

I have always held rules light systems in high regard, but this system might actually be both as light as a great system can get, but it is also very "full" in it's own way. It has almost no "special case scenarios", and it has a very strong consistency. Everything is handled in one roll, well maybe except combat. Resolution is actually really fast, especially compared to a lot of the bigger commercial systems out there.

Well, that was the system part. The book was a nice read, if you are fast, it can be done in a few hours, if you skip reading every single power that is. Yes, there's a lot of them, but I didn't bother reading all of them. I'm looking more foreward to experience them during play. Yes, as a GM, I like being caught with my pants down by my players.

The book is full of really good descriptions and small nice examples. In this system, flavor is everything, it's the bread and butter of rules light systems afterall. But it is just so full of it everywhere. I wouldn't know how it was ever possible to make a flavorless, grey, boring character in this system. Not if you follow the guidelines that is.

I rate this game 4 out of 5. The last star I can't award it yet, since I have yet to try it in play, but I am, as I write, planning a weekend of Superpowered roleplaying, and I am positive that this system will take down the house. I can't wait to play this game.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 04/01/2011 14:11:19

enjoy Supers games. I don't get to play them as often as I would like, but I enjoy them all the same. I had been playing M&M 2ed and just picked up BASH! so I was hesitant to also get Icons. But Icons comes with a pretty good pedigree. First it is written by Steven Kenson, who gave us Mutants and Masterminds and also worked on Silver Age Sentinels. Steve obviously knows his supers. It has Gareth-Michael Skarka of Adamant Entertainment and one of the minds behind "Hong Kong Action Theater". Walt Ciechanowski has a ton of game systems under his belt too including M&M, True20 and Victoriana (1st ed). And Morgan Davie, whom I'll admit I am not as familiar with. But he is one of the guys that wrote Icons, so that makes him good in my book.

Comics are a visual medium. Full of art and color and eye catching action. Icons is the same. It is a really good looking book, especially one that has such a "retro" or even "indie" feel to it. It lives somewhere between the free flowing cartoon fun of Cartoon Action Hour and the slick, high production values of Mutants and Masterminds. All three of these games are fantastic and their style really tells us a lot about what they are about. Icons is a comic book game that is close to a Saturday Morning Super Heroes cartoon. The art, which some people have disliked, I think sets the perfect mood for this book. It is simple art, but it is good art and has a earnestness about that I like. That is also true for the rules.

Icons, as you may or may not have heard, is powered by FATE. Though the typical FATE/Fudge trappings of naming the power levels is gone in favor of numbers (sort of a step backwards from the FATE perspective, but fine for me). There is the option for named levels too, and I think it would fit the style of comic book action, but I myself prefer numbers. The scale is pretty simple, 1 to 10, with 3 an average. So very similar already to a lot of games I play.

The rules themselves are really simple. It is a modification of the dF system. Use 2d6 with one as positive and one as negative, roll and add, apply mods. Easy. You can be up and running in less time than it takes to say "Meanwhile back at the Hall of Justice..."

Hero creation is unique for a modern game, it is random. Not that you couldn't do it as a "point buy" system, but the randomness is what I think sets it away from BASH which can fill similar needs.

I feel I must at this point call out the Character Sheet. Long ago I was a reader of Marvel and I loved their "Whos Who" of the Marvel universe where they would have bar charts to rank their heroes on various attributes. It was almost very game-like and I loved them. Icons does something similar and it really gives their characters a different feel.

I would be lying if I didn't see bits of pieces of Silver Age Sentinels or Mutants and Masterminds peeking out every so often. That is fine with me. That familiarity is a good thing in my mind.

Icons is not really the game I would use if I were going to run a multi-year, multi-arc long game; that's what Mutants and Masterminds is for. But if I needed to run a supers game on a rainy afternoon or a convention or just something to have some fun with, then Icons is a great choice.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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ICONS: Hero Pack 1
by Stephen D. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 01/26/2011 06:42:32

Definitely worth 2 bucks. Dan's artwork has grown on me. (As a decent amateur artist myself, I confess that when I originally saw his work I used to think I could do better. Whether or not that is true, as I said his art has grown on me. It is whimsical, seems to capture for me the spirit of ICONS and at the very least gives you an impression of what the characters might look like.) Tons of characters. Some are obviously better than others (much better), but again for 2 bucks there is more than enough raw material to out right use or modify where needed. Thanks Adamant, ICONS, and Dan for this and all your projects which up till has consistently displayed much more love for the game than for the buck... and as such has produced a lot of bang for the buck. I sing your praises with epitaphs such as "The hands down best beer and pretzels game out there" and "One of the best simple games out there". PROS: cost, breadth of characters, Dan's artwork, bonus characters in back of the book CONS: consistency of creativity of characters (nature of the beast of a fan generated work), some formatting glitches (for example: are all the versus villians... I was unclear. Only a few had villian written under determination)



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
ICONS: Hero Pack 1
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ICONS: Hero Pack 1
by Christopher H. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 01/25/2011 23:50:38

What’s not to love about a product that gives you 120 superhero and superhero illustrations by Dan Houser with ICONS stats? Most of these heroes and villains were submitted by ICONS fans in response to the offer printed at the end of the ICONS rulebook, though some are, well, iconic characters from the ICONS products themselves. On the negative side, however, the product offers nothing more than the stats and illustrations—there is no background information on any of the heroes or villains, even those who get a full-page treatment. (In the preview page on Dan Houser’s PhotoBucket account, 1/2 the page is illustration and stats, and 1/2 the page is background and story information.) That kind of “fluff” would make the product significantly more useful.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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ICONS: Hero Pack 1
by William J. D. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 01/24/2011 15:05:17

Cool array of heroes and villains for ICONS rpg. Useful as NPCs or pcs for a pickup game. All art by Dan Houser is cool and fits the genre perfectly. Can't beat the price either.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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ICONS: Hero Pack 1
by Tom H. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 01/22/2011 07:55:25

Awesome product! This is a truly unique because it was not done by one writer but by over 20+ writers. It really is fan generated. As an added bonus you get the Heroes in the rulebook and of different modules with complete stats including new artwork.

Dan Houser's artwork has always been a joy. I love the fun style he uses. In this product, here really comes into his own. The artwork is absolutely awesome. Reverant and Hangman was breath taking as well as many others.

For anyone playing ICONS this is a must have. Not only for the characters, but to see how wonderful the ICONS character engine is. The writers really shine with their imaginative use of the powers mixing to create truly memorable characters.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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