Icons Superpowered Roleplaying is a tabletop game of superhero adventure, creating exciting stories of the imagination with friends, based around the heroes you create.

That’s what the cover copy says, anyway. I designed Icons as a side-project some years ago, tinkering with the scale and mechanics of Fudge and similarities to the scale and named ability levels of Marvel Super-Heroes, although with some notions about randomly-generated superheroes as a springboard for players’ imaginations. Later design incorporated concepts from Fate (more famous offspring of Fudge) and my experience designing for the d20-based Mutants & Masterminds.

Icons was first published by Adamant Entertainment. I later parted ways with Adamant, kickstarted the Great Power sourcebook I’d been thinking about, and later published the Assembled Edition of the game under my own Ad Infinitum Adventures banner, printed and distributed by my friends at Green Ronin Publishing. Since then, Ad Infinitum has released a couple more sourcebooks (Icons A to Z and Icons Adversaries) and a number of adventures, including collecting artist and author Dan Houser’s Rise of the Phalanx into a “Giant Size Icons” book.

Icons Resources

Icons has a number of resources located around the internet. If you’re aware of a good one I haven’t mentioned here, drop me a line and let me know!

• Ad Infinitum Adventures Facebook Page: For Icons related news and announcements (also appearing on this site’s blog).
• Assembled Edition at Green Ronin: Green Ronin Publishing prints and distributes the Assembled Edition hardcover rulebook. You can get it from their online store and game stores can order it through distribution.
• Assembled Edition – What’s Different? A summary of changes found in the Assembled Edition of the game for those only familiar with the first printing of Icons.
• Blog Archive: I’ve posted a lot of Icons news and a few articles on this blog you can search and read through. See the blog’s tag cloud for additional ways to search.
• Example of Play: Grudge Match! A PDF excerpt from the Assembled Edition showing how the game plays.
• Example of Play: Ambushed by Evil! Another Assembled Edition PDF excerpt showing game-play in action.
• Icons Crash Course: The “Babies With Knives” podcast offers a 12-minute video crash-course on how to play Icons.
• Icons Character Creation: A two-part “Steve is Board” video walking through the hero creation process.
• Fainting Goat Games: A significant third-party publisher of Icons compatible adventures and source material.
• Iconic Energy: J.H. McMullen’s blog is a regular resource for Icons ideas and discussion.
• Icons Compatibility License: Icons is published under the Open Gaming License, and information about third-party publishing can be found on this page.
• Icons on DriveThruRPG: This site (and its sister site RPGNow) are the primary distributors of Icons material, including from a number of third-party publishers using the Icons Compatibility License. You can also view just Ad Infinitum Adventures content on the site.
• Icons Facebook Group: For general discussion, announcements, and players looking to connect with other players and groups.
• Icons Open Game Content: This material is from the original edition of the game, but still provides a useful reference and sample of things.
• Icons Wiki: A user-driven repository of resources, including variants, characters, options, and adventures.
• Icons Yahoo Group: The longest-running Icons resource, although it currently doesn’t see a great deal of traffic.
• Rogue Genius Games: Another major third-party publisher of Icons material.