A nice program for generating characters but I was disappointed that it is not updated with the rules in the Great Powers supplement.

High adventure in classic comic-book style, yet right up to date as regards plotline and gameplay.

Opening in media res, the characters are called to help with an accident to a prisoner transport convoy (super-powered convicts, of course), and the action just hots up from there on in. The background is clear, setting the scene nicely for the GM. This adventure is written as a sequel to the earlier Flight of the Nova-1 from the same publisher, but if you have not run it not to worry, it works as well as a stand-alone game. You can even reverse the order and run Flight of the Nova-1 later, notes are provided to show you how this can work.

Events are explained clearly, with a lot of detail about the sequence in which things ought to happen, the options available to the party - and to the opposition! - laid out just where you need them. This is particularly notable when a brawl occurs, but other opportunities are equally well signposted - the opportunity for the party heroes to get some airtime as TV reports home in on the accident, for example.

Once the initial challenge has been met, and the characters settled into their new base (yes, a philanthropist has provided one), the adventure proper begins with a trip to Russia to help guard nuclear warheads on their way to destruction. Alas, someone else has an eye on those WMDs and a dastardly plan to put into action...

Events flow thick and fast, with action and investigation playing their part as our heroes work to thwart that villainous plan. Support for the GM, especially during the rather tricky bits of the investigation, is good despite it being presented quite free-form with plenty of leads for the party to follow up, tasks which will take them all over the former Soviet Union and elsewhere as well.

The fittingly climatic battle takes place at a former 'Science City' once the jewel in the USSR's crown, and rounds off the adventure in a satisfying manner.

Good solid classic adventure well-presented, what more could you ask?

I gave this one star. On a mac running OSX 10.8.5 it just reports that the app file is damaged and suggests I move it to the trash. Also looking around (after the purchase) it seems that its not being worked on and may have Java incompatibilities. The blurb has a selling point of full support but no-where in the documentation or on RPGNow is any indication on how to get that support. It may have been a great idea at the time but I'd suggest this puppy be pulled from sale.

This game is great for silly, fun super heroic action, and presumably can be used for non-silly ones, though it'll require a bit of tinkering. It is rules-light, which is great for new players or for one-timers. While being light, it still has some awesome mechanics (anything and everything dealing with Determination, really) - but some of them are very difficult to use while running a one-time, because they require either diverting attention or knowing the characters Challenges really well.

I am definitely pleased, and will use this for a few one timers and mini-campaigns.

Great fun was had.

I really like Dan's Hero Packs. I even had him do a character for me in Hero Pack 4. ( Crimson Fist) Hero Pack 5 is top notch. A cool mix of unique characters. Art is great. Nice set up of descriptions, background & powers. If id have one negative- it would be set up. For the teams, if goes hero/villain, hero/villain. Id rather have seen one team, then the other. But I understand that is how the hero spots were done, you bought a hero/villain slot. Very small complaint for me. A top notch product. I have all the Hero Packs and will continue. Hopefully I can get in on the next one!! A must for any serious ICONS! fan.

Sorry, I will give one star because it is just impossible to install it. I have read the ICF-manual.pdf (you have to search for it under Mac "file", which is not obvious when you are working on a pc), I work under windows 7, and this is supposed to be the V1.1.1 of Icons Character Folio. Unfortunately when you unzip the file ICF-v1.1.1 you don't really get the Icons_charcater_folio_installer.jar, or if you get it, when you double click on it opens one more zip file ?!? I don't know if it is normal, but the lack of information doesn't help at all. Personally this product is just a total waste of money, I am very disappointed. If I can give people a piece of advice, avoid this product by all means.

Operation: Shatterstone combines the “planetary disaster” and “alien invasion” motifs into a rollicking fun ICONS adventure. Author Dain Lybarger has populated this adventure with compelling situations, engaging NPCs, and interesting villains. Many possible plot elements and variations are included, so even novice ICONS GMs should be able to run the adventure pretty easily. The adventure would work fine as a one-shot, the beginning to a campaign, or an episode within a larger campaign. Dan Houser’s artwork lives up to the high standards he’s set in previous ICONS products. The layout mimics the layout of Great Power, but reverts to Helvetica Neue for body type, resulting in an overall less attractive presentation. Dozens of grammatical and typesetting errors and/or inconsistencies unfortunately mar the presentation. These issues aren’t significant enough to impede readers’ understanding, but they are noticeable. If DTRPG supported half stars, I’d add half a star to my rating.

Awesome book! New powers, better explained, clearer rules. If you play ICONS, then you definitely want this! Dan Houser's art is fun & fits the ICON comic style. I hope there are more books like this in the future. If you played Marvel RPG, this is like the Ultimate Powers book, but better! GET IT!

Awesome book! New powers, better explained, clearer rules. If you play ICONS, then you definitely want this! Dan Houser's art is fun & fits the ICON comic style. I hope there are more books like this in the future. If you played Marvel RPG, this is like the Ultimate Powers book, but better! GET IT!

Does a game as straightforward as ICONS really need a GM screen? “Need” might be too strong a word, but ICONS GMs will certainly find much to like about this low-priced collection of tables and reminders. Also, a printable GM screen might seem inconvenient, but it’s great for those running the game from an iPad or similar tablet, or for GMs who, like me, use customizable GM screens that allow you to swap out insert pages. The PDFs (the screen and printer versions contain the same charts) provide eight pages of tables. Here’s a quick rundown, by page:

1. The standard scale from ICONS, test formulas, outcomes, the “Benchmarks” table from Great Power, and a table of dice probabilities. All but the last are close to indispensable. Fans have been asking for benchmarks for years, and I’m always forgetting where the cutoffs are for major and massive successes and failures. It should be noted that the outcomes table incorporates the “0 = marginal success” concept from the still-unreleased ICONS Team-Up product from Adamant Entertainment. This would definitely make the cut for my three-panel customizable GM screen, even though I really have no use for the dice probabilities table. I would much rather have had the “Uses for Determination” panel from p. 5 here instead.

2–4. Character creation tables. Page 2 includes origin, level determination, number of powers and specialties, and power type tables. Pages 3–4 include power tables for each of the power types, and p. 4 has a list of specialties. The power tables assume the use of Great Power rather than the original ICONS rulebook. (This is a good thing, but you should be aware of it going in.) I wouldn’t really want or need these in-game.

1. A collection of sample vehicles, definitions of the distance categories, and a bullet list of ways to use Determination. I’m inclined to cut out the “Uses of Determination” list and paste it on an index card to hand to players for their quick reference. I would definitely include this page in my customizable screen.

2. Random plot elements, villain origin, and a strong reminder to keep Determination flowing freely. I might include this as the third panel in my customizable screen if I expected to play pick-up games of ICONS. Otherwise, I’d just refer to it on-screen during my game prep.

3. A collection of sample animals, reproduced from the ICONS core rulebook. I think I’d keep this nearby, but probably wouldn’t insert it into my screen (if I had four panels, I’d include it, but I only have three).

4. A collection of stock characters and a collection of dinosaurs. I’d probably use this as my third panel, for the stock characters. There’s also a big ICONS logo here, which I don’t really need, but I’m not sure what else they might have put down there. Probably a table of weapons and other common devices would have been more useful than dinosaurs.

I’m very happy with this product except for one thing: the PDF presents the pages in portrait orientation, although the material is arranged on the pages in landscape orientation. In other words, when you open this on your computer or tablet screen, the pages will be sideways. You can quickly rotate the pages in Adobe Reader, but you shouldn’t have to. This, however, is really the product’s only significant drawback, and something that Ad Infinitum could easily fix with an update.

The “PF” (for “printer-friendly”) PDF omits the “heroes vs. villains” artwork that Dan Houser contributed for the outward-facing side of the screen, so look for it in the other PDF. The package also includes a panoramic JPG, but you’ll probably find it more convenient to print out the version from the PDF. While the artwork is beautifully executed in Dan’s signature style, the layout is disappointing because the three panels overlap. The repetition of elements from the center panel on the side panels creates an unattractive and distracting visual “stuttering.” Personally, I would probably use the outer panels only, replacing the center panel with page 1, with a copy of the “Uses of Determination” table pasted over the dice probabilities table.

So the product isn’t perfect, but it’s incredibly useful and only a dollar. The cost-to-benefit ratio is really, as we say in ICONS, “off the scale.”

Two thumbs up! I love the layout. The art is spot on. This really is a wonderful addition to the ICONS line!

Great Power is an awesome product! I love the art and the layout is amazing! As always, Steve Kenson has put out the best material possible for the ICONS line. The only thing I can say negative about Great Power PDF is the lack of bookmarks and the Vehicle power is a little unclear as to what kind of vehicle you can get for your power level. Otherwise perfect!

This add on neatly updates and simplifies an already excellent systems!

I love this newest addition to my library. I had been reluctant to commit to the Icons system after reading the book. It seemed nebulous on too many details. Once I wrapped my head around it, though. It proved to be a system very ideally suited to me. It is in essence a simplified rendition of Marvel Superheroes tier system with the Aspect mechanic of the Fate system. Oh, and using an easier to acquire d6-d6 mechanic which was always my favorite equivalent to the FUDGE dice.

I still had problems with the system. The powers were too limited. Heck, they werent even listed alphabetically which really stunk. I didnt yet fully trust the range and movement systems. This book is like a patch filling in all the holes in the system. It makes Icons purr like a kitten. A lot of ideas I had been totting around from other systems, like a list of inter-related power listings from Alpha Chronicles, have been made redundant by this one book. Imagine how wonderful it is to just not have to concider and peruse three or more other books to get the feel you want from your setting or magic.

In one book is everything you need to really customize your character. If you are a FASERIP fan, this is like the 'Ultimate Powers' book. It adds a few twists to the system, twists which I at first resisted, like not having some powers be twice as expensive as others. Once you get the feel of the system, though, you start to understand. Instead of just rolling stupid powers on some list... you are developing and interweaving your abilities... almost effortlessly. The book showing you how even just with its listings which suggest possibilities and, as stated before, alphabeticaly listed for ease of use with symbols to help organize the seven different power catagories. It even has a Servent power... and listings under Summon. This is always wonderful for smoothe mechanics for making up characters on the spot.

If you are even the vaguest bit interested in the Icons system and if you have some knowledge of the basic system, this book is a wonderful read which really opens up the possibilities of this system. Of course, being a sourcebook, it doesnt cover all the basic rules like panel and page meaning and such. It assumes one has those rules in place. This book mostly just streamlines the power and stunt systems. It is much simpler than most crunchy type games, like the Hero system or even D&D. It still gives you a lot of variance, though, and a lot of options. To me, this system is an ideal hybrid of the story driven Aspects (called Qualities) with the very simple and direct 10 level mechanics. I could give no higher endorsement to a game.

I hope they keep making these kind of products, but could they vary the art a bit. Maybe in the next issues they make a remake of the Icons basic book without its power and stunt system... and just try a different tone or two from the Silver Age illustrations. They are exciting and evocative, but kind of childish sometimes. Id like it if they made a 'gritty' edition of thier next book or urban fantasy toned edition. Maybe even the same book with different tones so the rulebook can be matched with the tone of the game. Hopefullly at a reduced price, because its a reprint, of course.

I look forward to a future with even more Icons material.

Great Power updates the ICONS power rules with more detail, more flexibility, and greater variety, while remaining true to the original game's rules-light sensibilities. Extras, Stunts, and Limits allow powers to be customized to suit just about any concept a player can come up with. More detailed information is provided for nearly every power, explaining how to apply it in game terms, and indicating which Extras and Limits work well with it.

The power list here is better organized than the one in the original book, so it's easier to find the specific ability you're looking for. Many 'constructed powers' like Prehensile Hair and Possession get their own entries in the alphabetical list which refer the reader back to the necessary Powers, Extras, and Limits used to build them. It's very easy to use as a reference during play.

The artwork is by Dan Houser, so the book has strong visual continuity with the rest of the ICONS line, but the updated layout and power-icons give the whole package a fresh graphic look.

Summary: If you play ICONS, you want this book!