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Hi everyone!

I'm really excited about being accepted for this game! I am new to this system so please be patient with me if I mess things up.

This game is going to be a blast and I'm glad t be a part of it :) I'm new to this system as well and know I'll make mistakes and ask everyone's patience :)

Hello! This will be my second game of Icons Assembled. Here's hoping this one doesn't peter out like the last!

Trying to make a simpler character this time around. My last character was a shapeshifting emotion-powered gynoid built with tech from alien space wizards. I am not joking. She had seven different alternate forms based on the different Lantern Corps and her creator-master as an NPC sidekick. Her sheet was three pages long. As much fun as that exercise was to learn the system I really don't want to be doing that again.

Instead I will be playing Raven, a cute goth girl. She has Sailor Moon hair. Also superpowers, but that's more of an afterthought.

For those of you making your characters by hand, lesson one on page one is thus: the rules for making your own custom characters are schizophrenic and broken, especially where determination calculations are concerned. On the plus side, that means making a bunch of mistakes in inevitable even if you follow the rules exactly, because they contradict each other in six different places and those are just the ones I know of!

Veteran ICONS player here, feel free to ask me questions.

count on it, thanks! :)

Alright! How would you model a bubble-like Force Field capable of protecting nearby allies and also giving them Life Support against the environment?

That would cost three power slots in character creation: Force Field with Life Support and Affects Others as extras (Force Field does not normally come with power extras, but it works out to the same net number of powers and is far more concise than Force Field with the Affects Others extra, and Life Support with Affects Others and the Only When Surrounded By Force Field limit). Subject to GM approval, of course, as you would have a single power level rather than two. The advantage of two separate power levels is that you could have Life Support 10 without Force Field needing to be that high. (Life Support 10 can be taken as an extra, which would cost another power slot, but only if you take Life Support as a separate power).

Yeah, those are about the same conclusions I reached too. I was really hoping you'd know a way to finagle it such that it wouldn't be so punishingly heavy on my Determination score. Ah well, guess it's going to be relegated to an occasional Power Stunt. Thanks though!

I know more about Raven now! She is a terrifyingly powerful telekinetic, but unlike most telekinetics she cannot generate her own kinetic force; she can stop things easily enough by transferring their motion into the Earth, but in order to push stuff around she needs to scavenge energy from the environment. Equal and opposite forces, don't you know~! In her civilian life she is a private investigator with a passion for fashion; you would be forgiven for thinking that she's just a P.I. to have an excuse to wear different outfits on missions.

she sounds awesome!

I'm going the "GM creates and I learn by trial and error as things happen" route :)

That sounds fun! I seriously considered rolling a completely random character, but all my friends thought it'd be cool if I played a telekinetic. If Raven dies or I join another Icons game I'll definitely go full bore random for my next character. I'd love the challenge of trying to figure out how to unite a bunch of disparate attributes and powers into a cohesive character.

it's an interesting take on the power so I'm glad you went that way :)

I totally want to be the "Ralph lost the instruction manual...again" of the group :)

The truth is that while imagining her being superhero-y and solving problems with her telekinesis I began to realize that Telekinesis is the One Power to Rule Them All if played smartly. I slammed the Source Limit on there not because I needed the extra Determination but rather because I wanted to force myself to pay attention to the environment and engage with the scenery more. Being virtually omnipotent is boring. Just ask Saitama!

I have to get the book out to understand what you're talking about lol and who is Saitama?

Oh dear!

Saitama is the star character of One Punch Man, a Japanese comic that has been adapted into an animated series. In a world obsessed with power levels and being the strongest and fighting for fame and fun, a young man named Saitama has become so powerful that he can defeat any villain with a single punch. His story is a humorous deconstruction and parody of the typical shounen action genre and its tropes that alternates between over-the-top action scenes and setting up badass villains just to get instagibbed by Saitama on his way home from the grocery store, and pontificating on what it means to be a true hero when defeating villains feels as significant as wiping dirt off your shoe.

The first season of the anime was very good. The second season... wasn't, to put it as mildly as I can.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:38, Mon 05 July 2021.

OK I'll be playing gold shield but I have no idea what he will be like or what his powers are as I left it in the hands of the gm to choose his powers... :)

So looking forward to learning about my character

Raven, One Punch I'd heard of, thanks for all the details :)

Hi Gold Shield, welcome!

In reply to Darin Barry (msg # 18):

Hi there :)

Hi all

How's the characters going put up a description of my normal character for people to read..... Basically he's an old fashioned beat cop..... Powers to be revealed by the gm :)

Well, I've asked the GM some questions and to unlock my character sheet but I haven't gotten any sort of reply yet. Aside from that my sheet is basically done, I just need a place to put it and maybe write some basic description.

My origin story is known to the general public, so the basics are posted in my description.

Sorry for the delay. I've been working up the characters. Looks like we have a good mix. Two force field users (Gold Shield and Captain Comet) One Paragon type (P-Princess) Two 'others' (Darin aka WIldcard, and Raven aka Nocturne) Plus there is some overlaps with flight, super strength, etc. Might be adding a 6th after I have the chance to review everything.

Since when is Raven also known as Nocturne? I never said anything to that effect.

In reply to Gamemaster (msg # 23):

Raven was the other Force Field user, not me. My powers chiefly revolve around travel and survival in space.

Raven can't make force fields either. I did ask a question about force fields, but it had to do with my character in another game rather than anything Raven was capable of. Raven uses Reflection rather than Force Field for her defense.

I like my new name :) haven't seen the character sheet yet but fits the personality I have in mind :)

Emma ended up with Material Mimicry and Aquatic, so I themed her Material Mimicry on being able to change into ice, water or water vapor provided it's available for her to mimic.

In reply to Emma King (msg # 28):

Nice consept :)

Emma, very cool! um, no pun intended :)

It seems we will be starting shortly, based on the game introduction, or immediately after the Event occurs. Kinda like N-Day from the Aberrant setting, with the PCs becoming Team Tomorrow.

Everyone should now have characters posting under your character sheets. Please review and contact me with questions or if you would like to modify to better meet your character concepts.

Please review your qualities. I have not created them for you. If you have not decided on your qualities, please do so now!

are Qualities listed in the book or are they something we create ourselves?

They're something we make ourselves. They are three short phrases that help define your character. If you've ever played FATE or Marvel Heroic they're basically the same thing; some games call them Distinctions, others Aspects. Here they're Qualities.

I haven't played those systems, but you've given me what I need to know, thanks!

OK got my character from our gm.... I like him but he will be more of a protector / defender than a front line fighter.... He has flight, force field (usable on others) reflection and an unpredictable telekinesis

Qualities example: I've chosen

1. The Wonderful Water Woman!
   
2. Slippery when wet.
   
3. Fish out of water.

(The last because she's British but studying in the US.)

I was thinking

1) hard boiled cop
2) upholds the law
3) protect the weak

But happy for anyone to chip in with ideas

A good quality has positive and negative casts to it, as that makes earning determination points during play easier. I personally tend to lean a little on the negative side but I think that's just my nature.

Gold Shield seems to have more or less the same powers as Raven. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

In reply to Raven (msg # 39):

Where do we overlap? if I know that I can have a chat with the gm about making them less alike as they created my character for me :)

Raven's a private detective with flight, reflection, and telekinesis.

In reply to Raven (msg # 41):

Ah i see that is very similar

In reply to Raven (msg # 41):

I've PM'd the GM to see about reworking some of my powers so they aren't the same as yours..his main power is his force field as that doesn't match with yours I can keep my concept and cool name :)

To be fair, Raven's power probably works very differently in actual play.

In reply to Raven (msg # 44):

you decide, if you'd rather they don't overlap this much I can tweak mine to be different....

My force field as I said is his primary power.

His reflection is part of his force field and it gives him that little bit of an indirect attack as he doesn't have a direct one.

His telekinesis is unpredictable so doesn't always work and again is more to do with how he manipulates his force field

And his flight is a side effect of him pushing down on the ground with his force field to lift him into the air.

If these descriptions are different enough from how you see yours I'd be happy to keep my character as is  but as I said if you feel there might be problems with them being too alike I can alter mine slightly :)

My approach to potential problems is generally to take note of them and keep an eye on them but wait to see if the potential manifests during play before I start trying to correct things. It's hard to do that here though because Gold Shield suddenly manifesting different powers could be a bit of a continuity snarl, not to mention unfair to you if you enjoy your powers. I'm still reluctant to risk over-correcting, though.

I'll leave it up to you.

Let's leave it and see how it goes shield could always fall into a void, covered in radioactive goo or die and come back with altered powers that the nature of comic book powers :)

Everyone should be able to see your origins thread. If you cannot, please let me know. If you can, go ahead and post.

Force Field and Telekinesis seems to be a common theme.

Do we all have both of those at power level 6 as well?  o.O

I don't have force field or telekinesis.

I don't have either of those, so we're stylin :)

Raven, very cool!

I'm still working on mine, but I think you gave me an idea, thanks for the inspiration..all I can do is be wrong and have to re-do it, right? :)

Thank you! It took me a while to find spare writing energy with all the other stuff I've had to do this week, and the abrupt paradigm shift I had to put Raven through when I realized we wouldn't be starting with existing hero experience under our belt. I hope we get a good time skip after our first chapter, otherwise I'm gonna have to re-conceptualize a bit! Which is fine with me, but it is more work to do.

Anyone else starting to feel like this game is a stillbrith? GM stated a preference for daily posts, but hasn't even checked in over the last six days. I admit I was a little slow to get my first post out, but I should be sharing my thread with Princess and Wildcard but I haven't seen any signs of IC activity from them either.

that's a failing on my part, was trying to get too many specific questions asked instead of just writing a post..

that's my bad and I apologize..

There's nothing wrong with that! It's just impossible to do when the GM has ghosted on us.

In reply to Raven (msg # 54):

Had that exact same thought several days ago.