Initial Impressions of Icons in Play


Beyond character generation, we've had a pair of sessions running Icons. How is it going so far?

I'd say early indications are decent, but the jury is still out. Which, to be honest, is better than my normal track record with superhero gaming. For whatever reason, while I greatly enjoy the superhero genre, I have an incredibly difficult time getting a campaign going in it.

As I've mentioned in the past, Icons is a close relative of the Fate RPG. For task resolution you roll a d6 plus some stat and subtract from that the opposition's ability plus a d6. To be honest, the task resolution system isn't doing a ton for me - I suspect because we're doing it on a virtual tabletop. I'm leaning pretty heavily towards using the optional rule of using the task resolution from the original version of Icons, which was Stat +1d6 - 1d6 vs. a difficulty. Mathematically it's the same but involves only a single roll. 

While Fate has Aspects, Icons has Qualities - both of which are used to describe characters, situations, environments, etc. Fate has Fate Points, Icons has Determination Points.  A Quality used against you can give you Determination Points and beneficial use of Qualities can give you an excuse to spend Determination to get some bonus. As in earlier Fate games I've played, I'm having a bear of a time making use of them. Fortunately Icons is far less dependent on strong use of Qualities than Fate is on its use of Aspects. However, I have in mind an adventure with a bit less fighting that allows for more use of Qualities. If for no other reason than I'm going to want to play the Fate Accelerated version of  Dresden Files when it comes out...

Overall the rules and superpowers work pretty simply. They don't fade into the background quite as easily as I experience with Call of Cthulhu, but then again, I have a ton of experience with Call of Cthulhu. I am struggling a bit to remember combat rules for things like slamming and stunning. 

What I have in mind are a few tweaks and other ideas. First, I'm probably going to go ahead and switch dice rolling so there is only a single roll in any action. I've a hunch that will speed things up moderately.

I also plan on making a GM screen of my own. It will include a Quality and Determination Cheat Sheet. This would be a listing of bullet points as to what Qualities and Determination Points can be used for as well as a listing of all the PC and NPC Qualities. Additionally, I'll go ahead and add to it the rules that I often find myself looking up - degrees of success, how to resolve slams and stuns, etc. I'm picturing something a bit like the back of the old Marvel Superheroes RPG from TSR.

I've definitely got at least a few more adventures in me - we've some interesting character backgrounds that I want to make a point of taking advantage of. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jules Verne Translations That Don't Stink

Image
Shortly after I graduated from college R. Talsorian published their fantasy steampunk RPG,  Castle Falkenstein. Having missed out on Space: 1889  when it first came out this was my first steampunk RPG, though I had been exposed to the genre by Gibson and Sterling's novel The Difference Engine (a novel which, though I though I found the setting compelling, I did not particularly care for - must reread some day). Jules Verne was one of the authors in the inspirational reading section of Castle Falkenstein.  Heck, the game also made him into France's scientific advisor, having him responsible for their massive Verne Cannons  which formed a sort of nuclear deterrent.  With that in mind, one Sunday afternoon I was at a Barnes & Noble bookstore my new girlfriend (now my wife of nearly 16 years!).  On a whim I decided to pick up a Jules Verne novel. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea . That night I started reading it, never having read any of his works before but having vagu
Keep reading

Stepping Away and a New Beginning

Image
After maintaining this blog for nearly seven years (an eternity in internet time), I've decided to step away from it. When I first began I wasn't 100% certain what it would be about. For a while I thought it would be a blog related to OSR type RPGs but I found my own tastes not firmly rooted there. Looking at the history of the blog, I see a lot of Call of Cthulhu which is hardly surprising. However, some lack of consistency definitely made it tough for me find a defined niche and over the past few months I've been giving some thought to starting a new, more narrowly focused blog. The imminent end of Google+ played a part in these thoughts, with much of my traffic coming from that site. I write because I enjoy writing, but I do enjoy growing an audience. My plan to start a narrowly-focused blog took a turn when I had the opportunity to join the  Rolling Boxcars  blog. Talking with the contributors (one of whom I game with on Discord already) and going through thei
Keep reading

RPG Review: Fate Accelerated

Image
Fate is a difficult system for me to grok. I like it conceptually, but I have a difficult time when it comes to running it.  Fate is what's considered a narrative game. Instead of modeling a simulation of the reality of the RPG setting, it is designed at supporting a story. I've seen arguments as to whether or not this makes it a "real" RPG. I think the whole debate is a bit silly, dealing with issues of "bad wrong fun". Truthfully the challenges I have with it are largely a function of me being a grizzled gaming grognard, gaming since the early 1980's. To paraphrase Yoda, I must unlearn what I have learned. I've a hunch that I'd actually have an easier time grokking Fate were I to know less.  Overview With that prelude behind us, let's take a look at the Fate Accelerated game. It is a variant of the Fate Core game. Fate Core looks a lot like what one would expect from an RPG book - pretty thick, lots of skills, stunts, etc. F
Keep reading

Using the Force in D6 Star Wars

Image
Defending yourself with just 1D in Sense is not easy, as Luke discovers when training with a remote. My previous post discussed the proto-D6 System as found in the Ghostbusters RPG. For those unfamiliar with the D6 System and the way it does the Force (or for a brief review) the essentials are: You roll a bunch of six sided dice against a target number, typically ranging from 5-ish (easy) to 20 or even higher. Your rating is listed as something like 2D+2 which means roll 2d6+2. By default, most normal/non-heroic people have 2D in most stats.  Starting heroes will might have their best skill be at 5D or a touch higher. You can take as many actions as you want in a round. However, taking two actions in a round reduces all dice codes by 1D, taking three reduces all by 2D, etc. Starting with Force skills will lower a characters starting attributes. Unlike most skills they start off at 1D. There are three Force skills - control, sense, and alter. Control lets you control t
Keep reading

Developing Boston for 1920s Call of Cthulhu

Image
While Chaosium has produced sourcebooks for many locations in Lovecraft Country (Kingsport, Arkham, and Innsmouth) as well as non-fictional cities of the 1920s (such as New York City and New Orleans), the nearby city of Boston, while being featured in many adventures, has never received its own full sourcebook. The most common era for my Call of Cthulhu  games has been in the 1920s - some campaigns have been in New York City while others have been in Lovecraft country. For those in Lovecraft Country, many adventures have been in nearby Boston. Over the years I've slowly been building up some expertise in the area and I thought it might be of interest to others gaming in the same setting - whether with Mythos horrors or a purely mundane game. First, let us investigate those official sources. While Boston has found its way into many adventures, I can think of two sources where it has been given a fair amount of detail. First, The Unspeakable Oath  double issue 16/17 has a ref
Keep reading