Tim Wayne from Drake U asks, “What is your fascination with ICONS RPG?”

[Disclaimer: Any semblance to persons living or deceased are completely unintentional.]

There are two levels to this answer. The first is why we play superhero TTRPGs at all, and the second is why I personally prefer ICONS RPG. I’ve stuck with ICONS for almost two decades already. It’s one of the games that pulled me back into TTRPGs at a time when I was ready to be done.

Disclaimer: Statements expressed in this article are strictly my opinion. If you disagree or have a different opinion, that’s okay. I’m not an expert on everything. I’m not always right. I’m just writing from my experience as I know it. Your mileage may vary.

Why superhero games?

I grew up on Justice League of America, JLI, JLE, (yes the bad years,) Justice Society, Detective, Uncanny X-Men, and a lot of odds and ends comics in the 1980s. My first every RPG experience was Marvel Superheroes RPG. The Ultimate Powers sourcebook is still easily in my Top 10 list. I also ran DC Heroes all the way through high school. In college I branched out into Champions, Heroes Unlimited, GURPS, and some other titles.

Needless to say I love comic books, and gaming is in my blood. There’s just something very relaxing about roleplaying superheroes. Most comics based RPGs take place in the current era, possibly the current year. I still occasionally dip a toe into the near future, 2030 and beyond, or back into the Golden Age of comics that took place in WW2. I was also heavily into the alternate universe stuff before DC and Marvel popularized them (again) in comics and cinematic universes.

It’s time to armor up, suit up, Hulk up, Hero up, (Did I really just go there?) or whatever the character does, and go slug it out with some bad guys for a few hours and then come home in character to do some mellow secret identity stuff. Because yeah, we all pretend to be adults during the week, but it’s nice to engage in some non-fantasy escapism for four hours that has very little to do with the real world.

It’s also nice to see the younger generation who came in via the MCU or DC’s TV universe getting into supers gaming. That makes at least one way to bridge the generation gap when it comes to tabletop roleplaying. Now we can share the joys of saving the world or just one city together.

Why ICONS?

There are really three main reasons and tons of little ones. First, because Steve Kenson also created Mutants & Masterminds and he’s kind of a real life hero. Second, because the system works so well. Lastly is because ICONS was my go-to in the lean years when I just had kids and was busy running between work and their events/school/diaper changes to try to raise a family.

ICONs was my creative outlet because I was getting my fantasy fix from World of Warcraft. I have a huge catalog of rogues from my DC and Marvel days that I made up. I’m still coming up with new bad guys every day. Some are even worth writing down. I still have all my notebooks from work and kids’ baseball practices that I wrote down entire campaigns in. I have notebooks for team books that might not ever get played, but I remember writing them because I was at early swimming lessons with the son who’s now an accomplished high school swimmer.

As a complete aside, I actually have some ICONS campaigns based on the little kids shows my three oldest used to watch. There’s one team that I ported over to my main universe that’s based loosely on Super Why meets Teen Titans. My ongoing storyline eventually began to look more like Titans or Young Justice, but the original four characters vaguely resembled the Super Why kids before one when supervillain and one died. What can I say? I have a vivid solo gaming imagination.

Going back to the first reason, real quick. Steve Kenson is superhero TTRPG royalty not only from Green Ronin’s Mutants & Masterminds days, but for saving ICONS when it looked like the game might be going under along with Adamant Entertainment. Kenson elevated the game and added tons of stuff to the Assembled Edition of the game. Needless to say he knows his stuff. He’s always been super nice any time I’ve run into him on social media. I’d join his Patreon in a heartbeat if I had the money. ICONS Annual editions are developed on Patreon and then we get them on DriveThruRPG in January. (I’m still saving up for the physical copies.)

The other reason I mentioned is the game itself. I can run it using d6s, FATE dice, or a dice pool system. I can make the rolls all player facing and never pick up a die as the GM. The powers, characters, and system are super easy to understand to help new players learn the game. Plus there’s the Dan Houser art that we’ve all loved for years.

Final thoughts.

Supers gaming made me the loveable nut that I am today. It has helped me become a better Game Master. It has stretched my imagination in ways that make me a better science fiction/fantasy writer. It has even helped my mental health along at times.

Not every TTRPG player is going to be into fantasy, supers, horror, or space gaming. I’m lucky I only have a few very specific subgenres that I steer clear of regularly. I know there are some players out there who will only play certain things or who actively avoid fantasy games. I hear you and I’m here for you.

One other final thought before I go. Supers games don’t have to take 4-6 hours like other games do. Solo, duo, or trio supers sessions can take an hour to hour and a half if we’re doing one character’s series. Nor does ever supers game need to be combat focused. There’s always a game there.

Happy Mega March. Let’s get out there and game.

Thank you for being here with me today. I appreciate you. Keep it real, but please strive for positivity, too. Please embrace the things that bring you the most joy in your life.