ICON

ICON
RPG published by Massif Press
Rule System	Powered by the Apocalypse/Shadow of the Demon Lord Hybrid
No. of Players	3-5
Session Time	40 minutes - 1 hour
Authors	Tom Parkinson-Morgan
First Publication	Unpublished (Playtest only)

ICON is a fantasy roleplaying game inspired by "classic mythic fantasy, anime, and video games". It currently exists in a playtest format at Massif Press's itch.io page.

The Rules

Unlike Lancer, where the rules for narrative and combat play are at least somewhat identical, ICON has the two forms of gameplay completely divorced from each other. Rather unusually, characters here have a 12-level progression.

Narrative Play

Narrative Play currently works as a PbtA styled game. Races are purely cosmetic, cultures offer a small boost on one skill, and the central role the characters focus upon are the Bonds - Factoring on how you contribute to your party. As you level up, you gain various special tricks. Essentially all rolls are resolved by rolling a number of d6 equal to the rating to the skill involved, with a 1-3 being bad, 4-5 being a pass with complications, and 6 being great and can become critical wins by stacking more 6s.

The Bonds present in the playtest are:

• The Pathfinder: The traveler, the guy who's probably seen it all and been everywhere.
• The Seeker: The scholar who purveys knowledge in any form. While they are able to channel forbidden powers in order to pursue their goals, they may not like what they see.
• The Mighty: The muscular brute. They're able to take whatever punishment is dished out and crush their enemies.
• The Wolf: The Edgy loner who hides in a corner and sulks all day rather than contributing to the party. They're quite good at internalizing their own troubles and standing strong, but even that has limits.
• The Harlequin: The dickass thief. They're very much the troublemaker of the party and know plenty of tricks to confound adversaries.
• The Bright: The heart of the party, likely played by a girl. They're very good at handling the issues of others and can sorta be like a Cleric, they don't have much to support themselves.
• The Brave: The archetypal hero. They espouse teamwork the way evangelists talk about gods and work best with coordinating their partners.

Tactical Play

Tactical Combat will sound more familiar to those who played Lancer. d20s using d6s for boons or banes on a roll, 4E style combat effects and saving throws with only AC (named Defense here) being the only target number for attacking. As with Shadow of the Demon Lord, players have the option for either fast turns or slow turns (which only allow you to act after everything happens and powers up some abilities). They also use the tier system used in 4E and later 13th Age, with stats each tier improving all your stats.

As with the narrative segment, damage here is rather abstracted - stabbing with a spear does the same amount of damage as bonking them with a rock or throwing a fireball so long as it's wielded by the same class and how hard you throw it. On top of the class-specific resources, there's also Resolve, a power that grows over the course of an in-game day (as well as a party resource that grows each turn of combat) that can be spent to power Limit Breaks, super-big badass Super Moves available to each class. The classes also take a page off the PbtA book and allow you to pick off certain abilities to use during combat (including an ability from other classes at certain points), but as you level up you can also improve these abilities instead of buying new ones.

The jobs and classes available during the playtest are as follows:

• Stalwart: The Fighters and Paladins. The big beefy bastards, slow but the best-armored. They're so tanky they even start each battle with some overheal and have the ability to intercept certain attacks in the place of a nearby ally. Their special resource is Heroics, which is a limited resource they can expend to power up their moves like a mini-Limit Break.
  • Bastion: The walking fortress. They focus a lot on controlling the battlefield by shoving enemies around and use their shields in all sorts of ways, including as weapons. Their Limit Break is Helion, letting the Bastion toss their shield and shove enemies and allies in the direction he wishes.
  • Demon Slayer: Monstrous warriors who seek to kill with overwhelming force. They favor using slow turns to power up their abilities, dealing vicious damage and handicaps with each blow. Their Limit Break is Split Heaven and Hell, an attack so powerful that the Demon Slayer has to take up a turn just to power it up, thankfully also making them plenty resistant to any interruptions. Their next attack unleashes a massive shockwave that blows everyone away.
  • Head Lopper (Supplement): The bloodthirsty berserker, channeling the wrath of a viking seeking Valhalla. They become particularly dangerous when they get bloodied and can sacrifice health to use Heroic powers. Several of your powers also become more powerful if they're hampered by something. Their Limit Break is the Gigantas Crusher, a mighty piledriver that deals REAL SOVIET DAMAGE to both the Head Lopper and their unlucky prey.
• Vagabond: The Rogues and Rangers. They're unarmored but aren't helpless and are quite nimble as well. They can sprint far more easily than other classes and ignore any damage they would take from a missed attack or passing a save. Rather than a class resource, they have Finishing Blow, which powers up their attacks when they hit a bloodied foe.
  • Shade:' The edgy shadow ninja. They are especially mobile in shadows, being able to walk through walls and teleport around to summon a shadow-clone to swap places with whenever they wish. Their abilities allow them to teleport around the field to annoy enemies and soften them up for more dangerous blows. Their Limit Break is Abyssal Ecstasy, blinding all enemies on the field and rendering the Shade and their allies invisible until they attack or get hit.
  • Freelancer: The gunslinger, keying off critical hits and bouncing around when they can. They gain several abilities to control the distance from enemies, including being able to summon a literal angel. Their Limit Break is Aether Overdrive, making the Freelancer empty their gun at everyone at range to the point that they're literally firing magic bullets until the gun overheats.
• Medicant: The Clerics and healers. Only Medicants have special actions for in-combat healing to restore health and cure status effects as well being able to help downed allies from a comfortable distance. Their unique resource is Blessings, a special mark they can grant friends and foes alike before being exploited as the job describes.
  • Seer: A reader of the fates, utilizing tarot cards that allies can spend Blessings for. They can use their AoE attacks to fix allies. Their other abilities help guide allies and expanding the party's reach. Their Limit Break is the High Prophecy, forcing all d6s you roll to become either a 1 or a 6.
  • Sealer: More of a shugenja/warpriest. Their blessings can be used to bolster attacks - whether it's on their own or an ally's. They're a bit more focused on close-ranged combat while also supporting their allies. Their Limit Break is To the Afterlife, a dangerous attack that also lets the Sealer teleport in their allies for additional damage.
  • Harvester (Supplement): A strange blend of Druid that can consume Blessings to help themselves and spread marks to friend and foe alike. Also curious is their ability to summon a plant monster to trap enemies. Their Limit Break is Death Sentence, a power that rips the soul out of the victim's body to make a second, more vulnerable weak spot for the Harvester's allies to strike at.
• Wrights: The Wizards and Sorcerers. While wimpier than other classes with even laughable damage, they focus heavily on Fray Damage (static damage that is always dealt on a hit) as well as being protected from long-range attacks. Their class resource is Aether, a resource that Wrights constantly manage, gathering it during combat and expending it to power up abilities (well, the ones that don't take forever just to happen). Of course, you can hoard that aether until it sends them into an aether rage.

Links

The itch.io page, where it can be downloaded for free.