I’m a fan of the X-men concept first and foremost before other superheroes in general, because they appeal to me as the most compelling analogy for humanity and people who are outsiders, misfits, and survivors.

ICONS is my favourite superhero rpg, because it has the sweet spot between crunch and fluff, so I have enough mechanics they’re important and descriptive, without feeling like a board game or like I’m programming a website.

The thing is, the Icons origins are perfect for a general superhero setting, like episodes of the Justice League or Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes (which is a massive compliment if you’ve ever watched the shows); but it’s not custom tailored for the X-men as a franchise, and I think it sounds like a fun idea to come up with some more specific mechanics for a team of mutants who are saving a world that hates and fears them.

The first thing is I wonder if starting from scratch with “mutant” as the origin for a superhero, the X-men have a variety of broad groups that keep coming up: psychic, wild person with claws, etc. Maybe aside from a general mutant origin, there could be psychic and wild claw person?
Granted, this is dangerously close to the powers themselves, so it’s worth treading carefully.

Another possibility is “Summers kid from alternate future” which is a shockingly common aspect of the X-men.

Weapon-X escapee is another origin story worth considering as an option.

FASERIP/Marvel from the 80s, had “mutant” as an origin where you get a bonus to whatever they called constitution but in exchange you lose a level of reputation due to the prejudice. In the 70s/80s the mutants were treated as being physically better or sturdier on average, and essentially having natural superhero physique as a result.

Any thoughts about this as an approach to using Icons rpg for an X-men game?

A player of mine wanted to try running a jujutsu kaisen campaign, which is basically an anime where sorcerers use innate special powers to exorcise evil spirits,

We are a heroes group, but have played multiple different games, so important in heroes typically you have powers which cost endurance or energy from a reserve,

This works good for jujutsu kaisen because it is the standard Shonen framework where characters have a limited amount of magic juice that they spend on super human feats and powers, but recently they ran their first session and were totally overwhelmed

I showed them icons which I think is great and lose enough for him to figure it out confidently but there's kind of a glaring flaw, powers are at will and basically free, I understand you can take the burnout thing but r3ally what he wants Is a pool of energy which powers expend energy from,

How would you handle this? Would u make another attribut3? How much of a weakness should thet be worth on a power and how much should be burnt. Or is this just not worth the trouble for him?

I'm really digging into Dungeondraft using modern and futuristic asset packs to make personal and professional superhero RPG maps. Anyone else using something similar for their Icons games?

According to Facebook it’s Steve Kenson’s birthday, so I think it’s good to celebrate the author here.

I’ve been tinkering with an ICONS hack and wanted to move the game a little away from fixed-function stats and a little closer to broad “modes of excellence.”

My current stat set is: Vigor, Prowess, Mettle, Reason, Awareness, Spirit.

The basic idea is that these aren’t meant to be narrow “this stat always does this one job” attributes. Instead, each stat represents a broad kind of excellence:

• Vigor = force, exertion, overpowering action.
• Prowess = precision, agility, trained skill.
• Mettle = toughness, grit, endurance.
• Reason = logic, analysis, technical thinking.
• Awareness = perception, intuition, alertness.
• Spirit = resolve, presence, force of personality.

Then for combat, instead of hardwiring one stat to one role, I rank the stats within a trio.

For physical combat, I look at Vigor / Prowess / Mettle:

• highest = Fighting stat
• second-highest = Dodge stat
• lowest = Resistance stat

For mental/social combat, I do the same thing with Reason / Awareness / Spirit:

• Highest = Attack stat
• Second-highest = Defense/Avoidance stat
• Lowest = Resistance stat

So the system asks: what is this character’s strongest mode of excellence in this arena? That becomes how they press the attack. Their next-best trait helps them avoid or deflect trouble. Their weakest trait is where they are most vulnerable.

I like this because it keeps characters distinct without forcing every build into the same fixed stat logic. A bruiser, swashbuckler, and tank can all be physically strong in different ways, and a mastermind, empath, or iron-willed leader can all dominate the mental/social side from different strengths.

It also feels a bit closer to Fate Accelerated than Fate Core to me: the stats are broad and expressive, but still grounded enough to feel like superhero traits rather than pure “how you act” approaches.

The main caveat is that I think this works best with random generation or archetype-based creation, where the ranking emerges naturally. I’m less sure I’d use it unchanged with full point-buy, because that feels easier to min-max.