Invincible RPG: I want to succeed more often and not break the Stunt rules

I really like the Invincible RPG and therefore the Dice Pool version of the Year Zero Engine. However, only succeeding on 6s and Pushing aren't what I want to emulate with my Super Hero games. But how do you increase your probability of succeeding without breaking the Stunt system? I think I have a good solution for that.

Step 1: When rolling every 5 or 6 is a Success.

Step 2: Each pair of 5s or 6s generates a Stunt. So if my Agility is a 5 and I roll 5,6,3,4,5, I have three Success (5,5,6) and generate one Stunt (5,5).


That is it.

I hope to test it soon.

Staturday: Captain Freedom for Superpowered!

 

Captain Freedom for Superpowered!

Combat 1

Knowledge 1

Physical 1

Social 1

Stealth 0

Superpower 1

Technology 0

Endurance 21

Lifeblood 42

Move 10m; Fly 20m

Traits: Strong

Origin Agent of the Sons of Liberty

Powers: Common - Agility, Flight, Willpower

Attacks: Unarmed 1d

Armor 3 Suit

OSR Heroes: Mister Hex for Guardians

Mister Hex (Level 3) for Guardians

Aidan Doyle

Strength 14 (+1)

Dexterity 12 (+0)

Constitution 16 (+2)

Intelligence 19 (+3)

Wisdom 13 (+1)
Charisma 19 (+3)

Energy Points 12
Hit Points 26

Saving Throw 10+

Bonus To Hit +3 melee; +2 ranged

AC 15 (ballistic bodysuit)

Origin: Supernatural 

Class: Power-Wielder

Gifts: Detective; Occultist

Powers: Bad Luck; Invisibility; Mind Blast; Retrocognition, True Sight

Limits: Bound (Merlin); Power Focus (Talisman)

Issue: Duty (C.A.M.E.L.O.T.)

Money: $7,000

Languages: Brythonic, Hebrew, Latin

Miscreant Monday: Crime Wave for Savage Worlds + the Supers Companion for Earth 72

Artwork by Storn Cook

Hamilton Fox, a con man and drug dealer, had dreamed of becoming an Olympic runner for as long as he could remember. Sadly, he was willing to do anything to be the best and was caught using performance enhancing drugs and banned from competing any further.

Blaming everyone but himself he fell in with the wrong crowd and began dealing drugs before being caught and doing time in the Holloway Detention Center on the outskirts of Opal City. It was there that he met Joseph Klein who took him under his wing.  When Klein was released he told Fox to look him up for a job when he got out. 

Hamilton did just that 18 months later when he found Klein working for the crime syndicate known as the One-Thousand and serving as a trusted right hand for the Mist who was in charge of operations in Opal City. Two years later, after proving himself loyal and reliable, the Mist asked Fox if he would be interested in an experiment that could give him superpowers and without a moment's hesitation he told her he was in.

The 1,000 had put a member of the Dominator species known as Gunther in touch with a new iteration of H.I.V.E.. Gunther had defected to Earth during its Invasion by a coalition of aliens. The Dominator's research involved unlocking the metagene and he and two other subjects underwent the procedure.

Hamilton was really lucky. He only had flu-like symptoms for a couple of days before his super speed manifested while the other two subjects died very, very painful deaths.

The Mist has been training Fox in the use of his powers and he has taken up the codename the Crime Wave. She's been having him operate in Hub City to save him as secret weapon when the time is right. Fox is running faster than ever and is enjoying the rush.

You can download a PDF for Crime Wave here.

I used the excellent Savaged.us to build him at Power Level II.

Miscreant Monday: DC Comics' H.I.V.E. Soldiers for Savage Worlds and Earth 72

H.I.V.E. is a mercenary organization that specializes in high-level contract assassinations, the training and even creation of metahuman operatives, and acts of terrorism. The current incarnation has begun operating in Opal City on the East coast of the U.S. and the Department of Extranormal Operations had identified its new Queen to be the brilliant and deadly Cheshire.

Here is a PDF download.

5E: Fantomah, A Free Comic Book Day Superhero from the Lone Bards

My buddy Justin Isaac, of the Halls of the Nephilim blog and the Lone Bards, has a special Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition compatible superhero in honor of Free Comic Book Day. It is Pay What You Want on DriveThruRPG and is available now.

Please check it out here.

Destined: Flash Mob

I've been waiting for Destined from The Design Mechanism for the Mythras system for awhile and was very excited when it released last week. It has exceed my already high expectations and I hope to get to do something with it soon. I was able to make Flash Mob in about 30 minutes but did use the Quick Character Method included in the book. Destined is a complete RPG in one book and does not need Mythras, however I cannot recommend The Design Mechanism enough. Their work is exceptional and prolific, something I feel that Chaosium still hasn't figured out how to do. Additionally, they offer a simple licensing situation which is very attractive especially compared to Chaosium's Basic Role Play SRD.

Flash Mob for Destined and Mythras

POWER LEVEL: Epic

ORIGIN: Experimentation

STR:      13

CON:     15

SIZE:     10 

DEX:     14   

INT:       15

POW:     12      

CHA:      11

ACTION POINTS:              3

DAMAGE MODIFIER:     +0

HEALING RATE:                3

INITIATIVE BONUS:        14

LUCK POINTS:                    2

POWER POINTS:                12    

MOVEMENT RATE:            6m

1d20              Location       AP/HP

1-3                Right Leg        2/9

4-6                Left Leg          2/9

7-9                Abdomen        4/10

8-12              Chest               4/11

13-15            Right Arm       4/8

16-18.           Left Arm         4/8

19-20.           Head               6/9

Skills

Athletics 63%, Brawn 43%, Combat Style (ECHELON Training) 33%, Computers 40%, Conceal 36%, Deceit 26%, Drive 36%, Endurance 70%, Evade 48%, First Aid 29%, Influence 32%, Insight 47%, Medicine 72%, Perception 37%, Research 47%, Science 90%, Stealth 29%, Streetwise 23%, Unarmed 68%, Willpower 64%

Passions

All you have is family 53%

Make a better world 67%

Map the polyverse 47%

Powers

Duplication

   Boosts: Additional Duplicate, Army of One, Human Target

   Parallel Lives

Durability

Enhanced Strength

Combat Style & Weapons

Unarmed

ECHELON Training

Weapon        Size/Force     Reach      Damage         AP/HP    

Unarmed             L                 S          1d3+1d8        As for Arm         

Doctor Jon Martin Cooper Jr. is the oldest son of Jon Martin Cooper Sr. and Dr. Lena Cooper.  His parents met while going to college at Texas State University in Houston.  After graduating, they married and moved to San Diego, California with Lena becoming a biochemist at Future Perfect and Jon Sr. becoming an guidance counselor at Sizemore High School.

Jon Jr. or JJ's science and math scores were off the chart and after graduating high school at 15, he was offered a full scholarship from Future Perfect in exchange for a 3 year contract upon graduation.

JJ, only 19 when he gained his PhD in Biotechnology, took a position on a Future Perfect team in Abilene, TX led by his Mom's best friend, Dr. Jill Chandler.  Jill's team was working on several solutions to help veteran's that had lost limbs and they were given access to material from Project Apogee which lead to the creation of the first Minuteman, the speedster who helped pacify Iraq in a matter of hours during the first Gulf War. Unknown to JJ one of his co-workers botched opening the container housing the extraterrestrial Isotope X that was used to create Minuteman and the whole team was exposed to it.

JJ woke up 22 days later to find that he, Jill, and Dr. Ajax Zang were the only survivors of the breach. Within hours after waking he was interviewed by the the U.S. Defense Department and the United Nation's anti-metahuman task force, ECHELON, with both organizations seeking to put him through a barrage of tests to determine if he was a metahuman.

He chose to work with ECHELON as they also had an interest in his biotechnology background in their quest to trace illegal derivatives of Isotope X such as Summit and Apotheosis. On the second day of testing they discovered that he could create duplicates of himself and he eventually chose the codename Flash Mob. He has inquired about Dr. Chandlers and Zang's fate but has been told that information is classified at this time.

For ECHELON he is part of King Savage's INDIGO team with Headstrong, Jumpjet, and Operator.

Claim the Sky: Flash Mob for Claim the Sky & the Cypher System

Art by Storn Cook

FLASH MOB (Tier 1) for the Cypher System and Claim the Sky

An Intelligent Explorer Who Exists in Two Places at Once

Might:         13     Edge:  1

Speed:          10    Edge:  0

Intellect:      14    Edge:  1

Effort: 1

Armor: 2

Cypher Use: 2

Practiced: Light Weapons, Medium Weapons

Trained:  Biology, Engineering, Medicine, Remembering

Specialized: Climbing

Inability: Heavy Weapons

Special Abilities: Improved Edge, Knowledge Skills, No Need For Weapons, Practiced in Armor

Exists in Two Places at Once: Duplicate

Power Shifts: Accuracy x1, Dexterity x1, Healing x1, Power Duplicate x2

Equipment: ECHELON Action Suit (2 armor)

*When Flash Mob uses Duplicate he can create up to 3 duplicates.

Jon Martin Cooper Jr. is the oldest son of Jon Martin Cooper Sr. and Dr. Lena Cooper.  His parents met while going to college at Texas State University in Houston.  After graduating, they married and moved to San Diego, California with Lena becoming a biochemist at Future Perfect and Jon Sr. becoming an guidance counselor at Sizemore High School.

Jon Jr. or JJ's science and math scores were off the chart and after graduating high school at 15, he was offered a full scholarship from Future Perfect in exchange for a 3 year contract upon graduation.

JJ, only 19 when he gained his PhD in Biotechnology, took a position on a Future Perfect team in Abilene, TX led by his Mom's best friend, Dr. Jill Chandler.  Jill's team was working on several solutions to help veteran's that had lost limbs and they were given access to material from Project Apogee which lead to the creation of the first Minuteman, the speedster who helped pacify Iraq in a matter of hours during the first Gulf War. Unknown to JJ one of his co-workers botched opening the container housing the extraterrestrial Isotope X that was used to create Minuteman and the whole team was exposed to it.

JJ woke up 22 days later to find that he, Jill, and Dr. Ajax Zang were the only survivors of the breach. Within hours after waking he was interviewed by the the U.S. Defense Department and the United Nation's anti-metahuman task force, ECHELON, with both organizations seeking to put him through a barrage of tests to determine if he was a metahuman.

He chose to work with ECHELON as they also had an interest in his biotechnology background in their quest to trace illegal derivates of Isotope X such as Summit and Apotheosis. On the second day of testing they discovered that he could create duplicates and he eventually chose the codename Flash Mob. 

For ECHELON he is part of King Savage's INDIGO team with Headstrong, Jumpjet, and the Operator.

DC Comics Presents: Starro for Godbound

        

Starro for Godbound

AC: 7 (Requires a magic weapon)

HD: 20
Attack: +10 x5

Morale: 11

Move: 60'

Save: 6+

Damage: 1d4 straight

Effort: 12

Words: Command, Knowledge, Might

Powers

• A Thousand Loyal Troops

• Bearer of the Scarlet Crown

• Guards Seize Him

• Descent of the Mountain

• Disclose the Flaw

• Invincible Iron General

• Stronger Than You

• The Lieutenant's Wisdom

• The Omniscient Scholar

• The Soldier's Faith

• Thrall Making Shout

(If you like this post and others like it and have an extra $1 a month, please consider becoming a Patron of Cross Planes on Patreon.)

Gamestorming: Numenera X Worlds Without Number -- Bears a Halo of Fire

I'm a big fan of the Numenera setting but I have some issues with the Cypher System so I've decided to look at attempting converting Numenera's Foci to Kevin Crawford's Worlds Without Number/Stars Without Number.

Nuemenera's Bears a Halo of Fire for Worlds Without Number

Shroud of Flame: Commit Effort for the Scene as an On Turn Action to become a living inferno. While shrouded in flame your melee attacks deal 1d6 damage and a Shock of 1/-. Additionally, you have a resistance to fire damage forcing a second damage roll and using the lesser of the two.

Hurl Flame: While Shroud of Flame is active you can Commit Effort as an Instant Action to make a fire attack as a Main Action that deals 1d8 damage with a range of 30/60 feet.

Wings of Fire: While your Shroud of Flame is active, you can Commit Effort for the Scene as an On Turn Action to spread wings of fire moving at a speed of up 30 feet per round in any direction. 

Fiery Hand of Doom: While your Shroud of Flame is active, you can reach into your halo and produce a hand made of animate flame that is twice the size of a human hand by Committing Effort for the Scene as an On Turn Action. The hand acts as you direct, floating in the air. Directing the hand is Main Action. Without a command, the hand does nothing. It can move 30 feet in a round, but it never moves farther away from you than 90 feet. The hand can grab, move, and carry things, but anything it touches takes 1d8+1 damage per round and a Shock of 2/AC 15 from the heat. The hand can also attack as a Main Action. It has 10 Hit Points and an AC of 13.

Flameblade: When you wish it, you extend your halo of fire to cover a weapon you wield in flame by Committing Effort as an Instant Action. The flame ends if you stop holding or carrying the weapon. While the flame lasts, the weapon inflicts an additional 1d8 points of damage.

Fire Tendrils: When you Commit Effort for the Scene as an On Turn Action your halo sprouts three tendrils of flame. As a Main Action, you can use the tendrils to attack with all three, making a separate attack roll for each. Each tendril inflicts 1d10 points of damage. If you don’t use the tendrils to attack, they remain but do nothing. 

Fire Servant: You commit Effort for the Scene and reach into your halo and produce an automaton of fire that is your general shape and size as a Main Action. The servant has 25 Hit Points an AC of 15 and deals 2d8+1 damage and Shock of 3/AC 10. Directing the servant is a Main Action, and you can command it only when you are within 90 feet of it. Without a new command, the servant continues to follow your previous command. You can also give it a simple programmed action, such as “Wait here, and attack anyone who comes within short range until they’re dead.” The servant lasts for the scene.

Guardians: The Killdet

I've recently gotten into 3.75" action figures and my six-year old and I have, in her own words, "epic battles" with them. I'm also slowly adding in a bit of rules and dice rolling here in there to introduce her to my other hobby.

Finally, I also really like Thomas Denmark's Guardians OSR RPG and it's on sale for $6.

Yes, this is a Kenner Star Wars Imperial Commander Action Figure

The Killdet

Mutant Power Wielder, 1st level

Str 12 (0) Dex 12 (0) Int 16 (+2)
Wis 18 (+3) Con 12 (0) Cha 13 (+1)

Powers: Telekinesis, Flight, Force Field, Form Wall, Projectile Fire

Gifts: Military Contacts 
Issues: Young, Wanted 
AC 12. HP 19. EP 9. Force Field grants AC 16 and DR 10.

Costume: Black with medals from his service to WARSTAR

Kalvin Koenig IV started reading when he was two, had mastered physics at age five, and entered West Point at age eleven. He was 18 months into his time at the military academy when his telekinesis expressed itself while he was being bullied by two 19-year-olds. When the encounter ended he had crushed Henry Steward's skull, hurled Jasper Wayne's body through a plate glass window, and crippled Colonel Tara Horton as she tried to calm him down. 

The U.S. Army managed to alter the incident report to keep Kalvin from being arrested in exchange for his induction into Project Carnifex where he was trained as a super-soldier. Unbeknownst, to the Army one of his handlers was a double-agent for WARSTAR and he managed to turn Kalvin to their cause just before his 13th birthday.

Kalvin is a very confused teenager who has been let down by nearly everyone in his life and his powers and intellect make him very, very dangerous.

#RPGaDAY 2020 Day 14: Banner

         

 

Invincible Iron Man Vol 1, #131 featured a procedure that locked the Hulk's personality into Bruce Banner's body.

RPGaDAY 2020 Day 4: Vision

"The robot Ultron is the creator of Vision, a type of android he calls a "synthezoid", for use against Ultron's own creator, Dr. Hank Pym (Ant-Man/Giant Man/Goliath/Yellowjacket) and Pym's wife, Janet van Dyne (the Wasp) of the superhero team the Avengers. Ultron sends his new servant to lead the Avengers into a trap. Wasp is the first to encounter the synthezoid, and describes it as a "vision" while trying to escape. Adopting the name, Vision is convinced by the Avengers to turn against Ultron.[6] After learning how Ultron created him, using the brain patterns of then-deceased Simon Williams (Wonder Man), Vision becomes a member of the team.[7] The team initially believes the Vision's body was created from that of the android original Human Torch.[8] The Avengers later are told that the time lord Immortus used the power of the Forever Crystal to split the original Human Torch into two entities – one body remained the original Torch while Ultron rebuilt the other as the Vision. This was part of his plan to nurture a relationship for the Scarlet Witch that would prevent her from having any children, as her power level meant that any offspring she might have could threaten the cosmic beings of the Marvel Universe."

GameDreaming: Champions 4th Edition

For a long time now I've been looking for that "perfect" Supers RPG, which we all know doesn't really exist. But what I'm kind of mad about is that I didn't think to look at my first RPG love, Champions 4th Edition/HERO System, for the answer.

I know Champions 4 & 5 like the back of my hand, it was like a language, my group, & I learned and used for years. However, I've really been looking for a Supers RPG where you don't roll buckets of D6 (and in Champions case have to count them for Stun, Body, and Knockback) and have huge amounts of Resistant Defenses.

I've also had a Super-Powered Agents Campaign in my brain for well over 20 years that for some reason I decided to run using GURPS which just isn't my bag. I liked buying new game systems and I was convinced GURPS was superior because it had the Wild Cards sourcebooks. I was wrong, for me at least, I mean maybe if I'd found GURPS first it would be my first RPG love, but that is not how it happened.

Anyway, I've been driving back and forth to see my Daughter and my brand-new Granddaughter every weekend and it gives me about 90 minutes to "gamedream" (daydreaming about RPGs) while the rubber meets the road.

It made got me thinking about running Champions at a lower point level, maybe even set Speed at a specific level, and cap Defenses, Combat Values, and Damage Dice. I'm not sure why it took nearly 30 years to have that epiphany but it got me thinking about Champions again.

I do need to think about Disadvantages and Skills a bit, but right now things are cooking with gas.

I think the Characters will belong to an Intelligence Agency dealing with Weird Threats, I'm thinking of naming it ECHELON or SPECTRUM. VESPA was the name I chose back in the day, I didn't realize it was a MoPed though so I'm not sure I'm going to stick with it.

I don't know when or if I'll run it, but it's cool to think about. It would also be nice to teach some of my newer players a full-blown point-buy system.

Ascendant, A New Super Hero RPG is Coming to Kickstarter Very Soon

Yesterday, I discovered that Autarch would be launching a Kickstarter for a new Super Hero RPG, Ascendant, before the end of this month.

Immediately, I wondered if it would be based on Adventurer, Conqueror, King, and Alexander Macris, Autarch's owner, and Ascendant's author was kind of enough to confirm that "No, it's built on an entirely new core that uses logarithmic math. Imagine a hybrid of FASERIP and MEGS."

Then, he was kind enough to give me a preview and I was completely sold within a few pages. All I can say is that if you are a big fan of Marvel Super Heroes (FASERIP) or DC Heroes (MEGS) then you are going to fall in love with Ascendant. Alexander's new game fixes the problems I have with both MSH and DCH and I think the whole project is ingenious.

I don't know exactly when Ascendant will launch this month, but I urge you to back it when the Kickstarter launches.

Tiny Supers: Minuteman

Art by Storn Cook

Minuteman (Controller)
Stress Capacity: 5

Traits
Crowd Control
Super Speed (Tier 1)
Snare (Tier 1)
Phasing (Tier 1, he can only phase through objects while moving)

Power Origin

Enhanced (Lab Accident)

Weakness
Libby Lawrence

Weapons
Light Melee (Unarmed)

Belief
There is Always Time for Justice!

Erik Feist is Pre-Med at Queen City University and was interning at CHON, a bio-tech firm, when the supervillain Saturn attacked the lab searching for a cure to his wife's cancer. During Saturn's search, his powers caused a container of Caduscea Plus to explode and bathed Erik in the experimental prototype.

Erik was in a coma for sixteen days and when he finally came too he was greeted by his Mom and Dad and girlfriend Libby.

When he got out of the hospital he slowly discovered his super speed powers and within a month created the Minuteman identity. 

He has spent the last 6 months protecting the city from the likes of Dr. Kaiju, Orion Major, and the shadowy cabal known as Malefactor.

He does his best to balance his studies, fighting crime, and making time for Libby and his family. Its a lot easier to do when you can run fast enough to phase through matter.

Nostalgia: Champions

Champions 4th Edition or the "Big Blue Book" was the first Role Playing Game I ever played Game Mastered. I remember seeing it for the first time at our local Walden Books, the fact that it had a George Perez cover is what drew me to it.

I won't lie, it was quite a complex system for a new player, but I had no idea how complex. It was like learning a new language. Some members of our group had been playing for a while so they were better prepared to understand it and did their best to help me understand it.

For years after, it was hard to transition from Champions/HERO where you could literally build anything to games that were often more about what you could not do and focused on empowering the Game Master to make rulings, not rules.

The person that taught me Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Edition was a very strict Dungeon Master. I didn't really understand most of the essential parts of ADnD until I discovered the OSR because of his style of DMing.

I remember dreaming up character concepts and villains for hours and hours on end (it's hard to believe I had the time to do that).

When HERO 5th Edition released we went all-in on it and my best friend and I had a pretty satisfying campaign that spanned a year or two.

I looked at HERO 6th Edition, but it wasn't for me.

I'm curious how Champions Now will turn out.

While I have moved toward simpler game systems, part of me has been daydreaming about Champions. I have some players in my current group that I think would enjoy it's customizations and would probably end up understanding it better than I do.

While I look back on the (mis)adventures of Captain Midnight, Killroy, The Fall Guy, Scythe, Shadow Hunter, and Bearcat -- the Regulators fondly, I don't know if I have that kind of time these days. Our sessions are 2-3 hours and some of our combats lasted that long. For the uninitiated, when you deal damage in Champions/HERO you have to read the d6s you roll in two different ways: sum the dice for damage in Stun, take the number of d6s you rolled and subtract one for 1 and add one for each 2, that is how much Body you do, then you take that number and roll 2d6 which is then subtracted and determines how far your opponent is Knocked Back.

Truthfully, we probably argued about rules as much as we played. I remember that one of the characters, Killroy who was based on DC Comic's Lobo, senselessly murdered two innocents and we spent longer debating how to handle his actions than we played that night and we didn't even reach a consensus! I was 19 or 20 then and we would start playing at 5 or 6pm on a Friday or Saturday night and go into the wee hours of the morning.
You couldn't pay me to have a session last that long these days.

To this day, I don't know that any other Super Hero RPG is as complete a toolkit as the HERO system is.

Who knows? Maybe I'll take Champions out for a spin later this year, show these new guys the system I cut my teeth on.

Mythras Imperative Superheroes

I've been on a D100 system kick for a bit now, mostly due to my ideas to develop a variant D100 system. While looking over what is available, I was very pleased to see that The Design Mechanism, whose RuneQuest 6th Edition became Mythras, have a pretty good collection of settings available. They are chugging along quite nicely and honestly, I'm not that used to such a schedule from D100 game publishers.

They released an adventure, Agony and Ecstasy, which focuses on modern superheroes and must have been a bit of a test for a forthcoming full superhero game using Mythras.

For those who have not purchased Agony and Ecstasy, the free Mythras Imperative has been updated with Magic and Super Power rules. The rules are abbreviated, but they work quite nicely.

One of my dissatisfactions with superhero games are that, generally, buckets of dice are required for damage. I love Champions but you have to roll buckets of dice AND count them for Stun, Body, and Knockback. When I was 19 I had time to do that. Even at 35, I could make the time. At 47? Naw, leave it to the whipper-snappers.

As an example, the Mythras Imperative superhero rules for Energy Blast default to 1d6 to 1d12, depending on a character's POW, but the character may spend 2 Power Points boost the Energy Blast by an additional die.

It's EXACTLY what I have been looking for. Or at least, based on these rules it is.

I'm really looking forward to this project, which at this time is being called Destined.

I've been rereading my own copy of Mythras recently and I'm pretty psyched.

Hopefully this project will be out before the end of 2020.

Review: Icons Presents

Icons Presents is described as "kind of a sequel to Icons A to Z" and presents "an alphabet soup" of options for Icons Superhero Roleplaying: Assembled Edition. The PDF is 142 pages long, the art is by the awesome Dan Houser and written by Steve Kenson. A PDF of Icons Assembled was given to for review purposes.

I've always been fascinated by Icons and Steve Kenson has, in my opinion, a spiritual successor to TSR's Marvel Super Hero RPG (AKA FASERIP), with Dan Houser's art being truly on point.

Armed Forces and their weaponry are covered in this chapter. We are given stats for vehicles used by Land Forces, Sea Forces, Air Forces, and Special Forces (in this case battlesuits and drones).

Next come Countdown to Doomsday!, which walks you through choosing a your game's Apocalypse. Are you just destroying civilization, life on earth, the earth, or everything? And what motivates your villain? Are they bluffing about what they are willing to do? Are they seeking power by sacrificing countless lives? Are they looking to protect a planet from those who endanger it? Are they simply trying to make sure that no matter what they survive? These questions really help you plan your campaign. There are three chapters to your Doomsday Scenario: the looming threat comes first and allows your heroes to become aware of the threat they are facing. The gathering storm is second and can be the longest of the three chapters, it allows the heroes to beginning fighting the main villain and gain insight into what they are trying to destroy. Finally, the final confrontation is the climax where the heroes make their stand, but will they succeed or fail? Failure is explored in this section and expands on how the heroes can move forward and what they might be able to do to pick of the pieces.

Deities and Demigods explores playing or interacting with the gods and their children. It helps you decide who and what the gods are in your game and then explores appropriate Divine Abilities, including Attributes and the various powers, specialties, and qualities they might have. A template is provided as a basis for a god. The differences between demi-gods, divine heroes, divinely empowered and the divinely created are highlighted. And the interaction between god and mortals is explored.

Enemy mine explores the roles of villains. Are they the twisted reflection of a hero, are they equal but opposite to them, the all-important nemesis, or merely an adversary with no restrictions to their theme? Team villains also get spotlighted.

Fists of fury details martial arts and explores if they are Ability or Quality driven, how to use martial art Qualities, explores Maneuvers, explores tactics where the character makes a sacrifice in order to gain a benefit, and presents some martial art Powers.

Icons of infamy presents how to run the bad guys in your campaign. Have all the heroes been defeated and it requires the villains to step up and fight the good fight? And if they win will they continue to work together? Or would you like to run a game inspired by Suicide Squad? Are the new heroes in town really villains in disguise like Marvel Comics' Thunderbolts? Have you ever wanted to be a part of a villain school like the Hellions in the X-Men universe? Are you the type of villain that would help going after worse villains? Is your hero posing as a villain to get on the inside of a sinister team or organization? Or have your heroes been wrongly dubbed outlaws and have to operate illegally to prove their innocence? All of these scenarios are covered in this chapter.

Minions and Masterminds outlines different ways to treat henchman, rivals, masterminds, and menaces within the Icons rules.

Panels vs pages give advice on how to tell your stories, including help with advanced techniques such  as flashbacks, foreshadowing, interludes, retcons. There are also some great tips on handling events, arcs, and even imaginary stories in your campaign.

Situational qualifiers covers Advantages, Trouble, Limited Qualifiers, Place-Based Qualifiers, Time-Based Qualifiers, Status-Based Qualifiers and how to handle Qualities in play.

The space patrol explores handling sci-fi settings such as DC's Tommy Tomorrow or cosmic police al a the Green Lantern Corps.

Sword and sorcery handles using Icons for a fantasy game or moving your heroes to a fantasy setting. New character creation options are presented and common fantasy monsters are presented.

Taking initiative gives new options including variant Abilities for initiative, rolling for initiative each round, who goes first, declared actions, round robin initiative, card-based initiative, bidding for initiative, tiered initiative, and one-shot conflicts.

Tell me the odds presents the dice probabilities of Icons and presents several dice rolling variants.

The world is mine presents schemes for villains to use and include conquest, extortion, mind control, and altering reality. Then we are presented how to rule the world once your scheme succeeds.

The unobtanium factor explores materials like adamantium, Nth metal, and tritanium that permeate comics. Their properties and origins are explored and several examples are presented.

Vigilantes and Villains concludes the book and coverer street-level heroes, their foes, and the gray areas they face. Additionally, new character creation rules, rules options, and tools of the trade are explored.

There is a lot to love about Icons Presents and I think it can help breathe new life into an existing game or help a fledgling Game Master craft their tale. I heartily recommend it and find it a great expansion for Icons.