ICON does what DC Heroes Already did, or ICONS/DC Heroes Conversion Guide

I’ve found Icons, one of the latest ttrpg supers game released with some decent popularity, to be completely backwards compatible with the old-as-dirt-old-school supers game DC Heroes. Currently the only copy of this great Mayfair game from the 80’s easily had is the retro-clone from Polaris called The Blood of Heroes. BoH is a complete set of rules which incorporate all the powers and mechanics through DC 3 edition. I like that it is also divorced from the DC Universe, emphasizing the best utility of the game is as your game system used in your own super’s hero universe. 

Icons should be noted lends itself to creating your unique superhero setting. It does this with its character creation process. World building and super villains are created the same time everyone is making up their random character. But I’ve used the Icons random character creation method generate BoH/DC Hero characters. The two systems are so compatible it fits like peanut butter and jelly.

Interesting, the game Icons bills itself as rather FATE-adjacent, with its inclusion of Aspects and the use of FUDGE dice, but really, it is just a recasting of Mayfair’s ground-breaking Exponential Game System! It also shows these “innovations” FATE’s story-telling system touts as a new way of playing ttrpg’s with a more player-focused set of rules is not. Early superhero games like TSR’s Marvel and Mayfair’s DC Heroes had these player-facing rules and mechanics consciously built into the fabric of these games. I’m obviously referring to the supers’ genre conceit of heroic flaws, disadvantages, drawbacks, complications, etc.   Every superhero role playing game at the dawn of the hobby included these character-driven world building and character-building elements. Really, a new game of Champions, or Villains & Vigilantes always started players and referee bouncing ideas off each other and coming up with their various enemies and power-origins. The act of character creation in any superhero game is automatically player-gm world building collaboration.

The next reveal this thought experiment of mine gave me is the relationship between the superhero genre and story-game intent. The juice of a superhero game is the soap-opera level drama players get involved with due to their alter-ego and the consequence of ultimate power. I mean SOAP-OPERA, afternoon television over the top back from the dead silly storytelling. And then you get to have a monster fight which wrecks cities!

This isn’t for everyone and running a supers’ game is a good challenge for Game Masters just on that point alone. It is a refreshing take from general murder-hoboing and the black and white moralities of the fantasy gaming realm. Supers’ games, like most games set in a contemporary setting, are NPC-heavy. A city street is a city street. It is the people who make the place fascinating, dramatic and filled with tension. The ordinary has to be made extraordinary without descending into camp. And this is what story games are really about. Spinning tales of interpersonal conflict in a very soap-opera way.

But back to the conversion method. Really, it is so simple I just went on the above rant to fill out the post.

Here is how the ICONS attributes translate to MEGS attributes:

Prowess = Influence

Coordination = Dexterity

Strength = Strength

Intellect = Intelligence

Awareness = Aura and Mind

Willpower = Will and Spirit

Stamina/2 = Body

Stamina is a derived stat in Icons and is a simple addition of two other attributes. When attributes are added together in BoH’s it is an increase in one point, not a straight addition. This is because the system is exponential, each number is twice the value of the number before it. 3 is twice as much as 2.

Now it is just a matter of plugging the Icons values into the appropriate BoH’s attributes.

Powers work the same way. A Flight of 10 in Icons is a 10 in Flight in BOH. Specialties are Skills. Qualities and Aspects are Drawbacks, Limitations, Advantages, and Bonuses from old-school BoH. Even resolution is identical. Both compare an Acting to an Opposing value and establish a degree of success. The spread of results, from terrible to nothing to exceptional success, is the same to.

Vehicles work the same way. You can take Icon stats and use them directly with BoH/DC Heroes rules, no modification!

I don’t have much interest in playing Icons. Blood of Heroes gives me a denser supers experience and the level of “crunch” and dramatic roleplay and pace of combat all come together perfectly for me with these rules. I don’t really much care for ICONS adventure material. I find the stuff terribly derivative framing of superhero cliches. Buuut, if you love your game of ICONS you have the whole DC Catalogue of heroes and villains all in ICONS numbers. Any of these old-school adventures can be dropped into your Icons campaign world with no mechanical prep required. The official Icons setting of Stark City and its sourcebook can be used with any DC Heroes/MEGS campaign you may have. Any of the Icons third party adventures and books can be used with your MEGS.

So that is really all there is to it. DC Heroes and ICONS are completely compatible games! It seems Steve Kenson has successfully traveled from writing a supers game on an old D&D chassis to writing a supers game on and old DC Heroes chassis and calling it some kind of original or different take on FATE, FUDGE and story-games is off the mark. The “neat” things ICONS claims in bullet points on the back of their book are old achievements by various old school games made a long, long time ago.

Multiple GMs

My first opportunity to roleplay in my own campaign world happened. Even Heroes Bleed had an alternate Game Master, one of the other players, this past Sunday and I was able to run an NPC Hero I created. Sitting on the other side was an incredible treat to see how the city smelt from the perspective of one. 

First "fact" of interest was campaign date. This adventure is occurring a month in the future from the current game action. This means the facts we established during the session are now future facts, events which will occur. My next thought of intrigue was how easy it was to become part of the player group. Makes sense, I've grown to know these characters right along side their players. Same with my PCs roleplay. I created the character and they have fought on the streets of Capitol City already. 

It also triggered some cool ideas for the current adventure I am running back in "real" world Capitol City circa May 2020. The entirety of the campaign's length is 7 days. A half a year of game play and we have advanced through seven days of activity. And what a busy seven days it has been! There is a record of history on each character which has so far appeared in the game, including the other Player Characters. This made for a deeper connection between my Player Character and the others. Ultra Rosa (my PC Hero) has formed opinions on her co-workers already and has had a chance to respond in kind. 

Last but not least, I got to "not know" what I was going to do because I was not in charge of pace. I could increase pace of action by having my PC do increasingly extreme actions in the game world right then. But overall, if the Referee says it is tomorrow, well, it is tomorrow gosh darn it! This type of control over pace is not something the players get to dictate as much as the Referee does. 

I have two more sessions (more or less) before this adventure will conclude and I am back in charge of the who, what, where of Capitol City and I intend to use Ultra-Rosa's guns before then. Before I have to release her back to the game world I want to see her light some shit up!

Long and short of it, I am sold on mixing up the game master work with the other players at the table. I don't know if any of the other Players wish to referee a game session, but I hope so. I think it is fostering greater and greater investment in the game world by everyone at the table.

Quantum Weavers Class Requirements

Here is the Quantum Weaver Class more detailed as far as needed for character creation in my Setting Suns Space Opera Campaign;

Quantum Weaver (Tech); requires an Empathy score and GTA score of 15 or greater. They are technicians specialized in using and maintaining the technology created ages ago to allow interaction with the Taakar. They are required to take Combat Training to qualify for Fusion Gun and ARP Projectors skills. Quantum Weavers may take the Street Fighting & Brawling Skill, which is an additional cost, and must be paid for at full price even with Combat Training for Fusion Guns and ARP Projectors. 

Technician skills required to be purchased are as follows, Scientific Programming, Cybernetic Brains, Alien Computers, Anti-Matter Generation Systems and Beamed Power Transmission. 

They are frequently performing tasks in the alien and hostile environment surrounding the Taakar at the center of the Spica system, see to the operation of the complex ships of the Merchant Masters and are used as soldiers in any large-scale conflict the ruling class may face.

Quantum Weaver Class Requirements (Tech); requires an Empathy score and GTA score of 15 or greater. 

Skills required 

Computer Tech: Scientific Programming, Cybernetic Brains, and Alien Computers. 

Power Tech: Anti-Matter Generation Systems, and Beamed Power Transmission. 

Combat Training to qualify for Fusion Gun and ARP Projectors skills. 

FTL Pilot. 

Quantum Weavers may take the Street Fighting & Brawling Skill, which is an additional cost, and must be paid for at full price even though Combat Training for Fusion Guns and ARP Projectors has been purchased. 

Ranks of Command among Quantum Weavers is set by their level of FTL Pilot: 

FTL Pilot 3rd Class, Weaver of the Watch/1-6, 

FTL Pilot 2nd Class, Tachyon Weaver/7-9, and 

FTL Pilot 1st Class, Quantum Weaver/10 

Unless a Quantum Weaver is onboard a Crystal Ship, they are headquartered and trained on Spica. Primary duties planet side are evaluation and recruitment of potential Quantum Weavers, administration of limited martial training, and debriefing Sword Minds and their agents.

Merchant Masters and their Psionic Abilities

Continuing to build out my original Space Opera science fiction setting here are the specific class abilities for the 

Merchant Masters (any class); requires both an Empathy and Psionic score of 15 or greater.    

A Merchant Master is defined by their level of Psionic ability. The field of psionics practiced is Telekinesis and the Psycho-Kinetic Crystals are a physical object they all possess. The PK Crystal is what the Taakar have provided to make them what they are, possessors of advanced science which represents only a minuet fraction of the power coursing through the otherworld entity of the Taakar. Merchant Masters begin the game psionically awakened and have access to their full talents. 

The psionic talents level 6 and above are changed in the following ways: 

Morass/6; is now called Dissolution, and instead of making physical materials “soft” it destroys the material entirely. The percentages and volume figures should be interpreted as the amount of materials terminated as the atomic structure is unwound. 

Mind Touch/6, Life Sense/6, and Psychic Force/7 remain unchanged. 

Energize/7; is now the ability to bring any type of powered equipment to full charge/power. 

Magnetoscreen/8, Negafield/8 and Radshield/8 remain unchanged. 

Battlescreen/9; is now called Cosmicscreen, a protective shield which provides a complete life support system for the adept against electromagnetism, anti-matter, radiation, and the cold vacuum of space. 

Power/9; is now limited to increasing the power of a Crystal Ship. 

Maneuver Drive/9; is now the ability for a Merchant Master to set an interstellar course with 100% accuracy, subject to the standard modifiers. Since this is a level 9 talent there are only two standard modifiers, +100% for Maneuver Drive/9 and +200% for Maneuver Drive/10. Well, then how do they fail? As far as a Merchant Master is concerned, they do not. It will be up to the PCS and SM to create such situations. The actual translation into tachyon hyperspace is completed by Quantum Weavers. 

FTL Drive/10; is now the ability for a Merchant Master to transfer into the Taakar at the center of the Spica solar system and conduct audience. This is usually only every fifty years when they need to be infused with the drug of immortality, but they may have to make this translation at any time based on the will of the Taakar or a Merchant Master’s current needs. If transfer is attempted within the Spica system from a Crystal Ship success is automatic. If transfer is attempted withing the Spica system not on a Crystal Ship, there is a 3% chance of failure. Transfer attempts within the Sardis system while on a Crystal Ship has a 5% chance of failure. Without being on a Crystal Ship chance of failure is 11%. Chance of failure from Tharon are 9% and 18% respectively.

Lizardman Diaries Megaslum NPC Generator Automated

Michael Raston over at his Lizardman Diaries blog regularly writes up split tables for all sorts of interesting gaming content. What I like about the lists he posts is they usually are four separate categories or more. This makes them ripe to plopped into Last Gasp's random generator creator. I just copy the content, put it in the html engine and wa-la, I have a new button in my bookmark bar for instant content available for my online game session in real time.  

His current random generator is for Cyberpunk Megaslum NPCs. Always handy for any sc-fi, cyberpunk game I'm running. Feel free to bookmark this page to keep Michael's table handy!

Megaslum NPC Generator

Avodad Evuu, First Merchant Master

Merchant Masters (any class); requires both an Empathy and Psionic score of 15 or greater.

Avodad Evuu was the first Merchant Master come the arrival of the Taakar. It is recorded he and a scientific team of 20 boarded the Naval vessel Kliest Rain and set out to investigate anomalies on the sun’s surface which had been picked up by Spica orbital satellites. The Kliest Rain took orbit around the stellar primary at 6 million kilometers and Evuu’s team launched probes into it.

21 days prior, routine satellite scanning beamed back to Spica City unusual sunspot activity which grew daily into gigantic circles of blue radiance. By the time Spica authorities had decided who and what would go an investigate these changes to the sun had turned completely into a blue radiating surface. No changes in temperature from this anomaly, no changes to Spica’s atmosphere could be detected as this transformation completed. Outside of the optical change in appearance the system’s sun behaved as normal.

On the third day of close observation the sun increased in visible magnitude 1,000 times and knocking out all communication between the Kliest Rain and Spica. When the sudden explosion of light cleared away the Kliest Rain was no more. In addition, the original M Type star which stood sentinel over the Spica system for billions of years was gone. Erased in an instant and unbelievably… replaced! What was once the life-giving sun of the Spica system was a swollen globe of blue purple twice the size of the missing primary. The citizens of Spica were horrified to see in their viewing platforms spiraling arms writhing out for a million miles in all directions. Purple flesh like appendages as thick as a small moon coated in a viscous milky-red liquid. The pliant undulations traced by planet-side recording devices showed these liquid structures were both unaffected by the cold void of lifeless space and the apocalyptic heat which radiated from the large globe’s surface.

Leadership was paralyzed, floundering for what to do. Thousands of years humanity had poked, prodded, and explored the unfathomable reaches of space encountering all sorts of strange and terrible sites and alien entities, but this explosive transformation of a star into something so alien had never been encountered. Never recorded in the annals of creation by themselves or any other species of the universe. The system’s full force of might, Federation Starfleet, ringed the monstrous thing, massive batteries of towering Nova Guns charged, Megatorp warheads activated. Historical records tell of the miracle which, after an impasse of 21 days, the “Anomaly” released 3 gigantic, brilliant crystal globes, equidistant from each other and rotating in a steady triangle formation. Avodad Evuu returned to Spica, appeared it is agreed, in the council halls of the Federation, much changed and full of the radiance of Taakar. He had come from “the Heart of all things” and gave the Taakar’s message of hope and its terms.

The council was horrified at the change in humanity’s destiny Avodad Evuu declared was inevitable. But once the armada of the Federation was vaporized in a crystal rain of plasma from the alien orbs, humanity’s acquiescence was assured and a course of peace, harmony, and eternal life was delivered to Spica by Avodad Evuu and the transformed members of his team which first contacted the Taakar. These are what would become known as the Merchant Masters and Quantum Weavers.

Of course, there was resistance, and the incredible psionic powers of the Masters, and Weavers could only resist so many forces arrayed against them without resorting to planetary annihilation. The fierce natives of Kia Howie were courted, converted, and made into the spear of the Masters. The Sword Minds were born, and with the technology of the Quantum Weavers all Federation resistance was destroyed. 

The Crystal Ships

 In the previous post I am jamming out the text for my FGU's original Space Opera setting and last night I sketched out the ships which the Merchant Masters use to travel between the three remaining systems of humanity; Spica, Tharon and Sardis. 

Space Travel

All in-system, sub-light starship designs are available, and the TISA Maneuver Drive is in common use. It will not possess defensive armaments or armor but may have shields to protect the ship from fast moving debris. Of course, if PCs want to try and get a ship with defensive armaments and battle armor they should be allowed to try. Building an armed starship would be a dramatic adventure arc in itself filled with all sorts of dangers and excitement. 

Ships with FTL capabilities are the province of the Merchant Masters and these ships are designed around schematics drawn up two thousand years ago by the first Quantum Weavers after their contact with the Taakar. More correctly, after their contact with the Taakar they became the first Quantum Weavers who were capable of building what they had been given. 

These ships are shaped like globes consisting of clear, facetted crystal. They are the size of a small asteroid, 21 miles in diameter. They are not affected by gravity wells, and they are 21 times faster than terrestrial jump ships. A ship rated at a 21Warp factor will travel 21 LY in 24 hours. The ships made from the knowledge of the Taakar travel this same distance in an hour. They do not appear to have sub-light capability, the Crystal Ships appear in orbit of their destination, a systems’ Primary. From this orbit the sub-light ships of the system approach to receive the goods the Merchant Masters have delivered. Cavities appear on the surface of the Crystal Ships which become the berths for the terrestrial ships. Goods are then marshaled into their holds by crew in contra-grav harness under the watchful eyes of a Sword-Mind. If there is to be a meeting between leaders, they will be received within the halls of the Crystal Ships. The Merchant Masters only leave the Crystal Ships when home, on Spica, the seat of their power under the unblinking flame of the Taakar. These transits are completed in sparkling sub-light ships which have been built to the Quantum Weaver’s specifications. 

The Crystal Ships have no apparent weapons, why would they need such things? No screens or EW/ECM energy have ever been detected from the Crystal Ships.