A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement The Icarus

The Icarus is a role playing game supplement published by Monkey’s Paw Games. The supplement is an Incursion, or adventure, for Trophy Dark.

The supplement is available as a ten-page PDF from itch. One page is the front cover and around half a page is the front matter.

The supplement first starts with some new options for Trophy Dark which can be used with The Icarus and other sci-fi horror Incursions; Trophy Dark defaults to a fantasy setting so science fiction Incursions require more options. There are new occupations, new backgrounds, new drives and new rituals.

The theme of the Incursion is claustrophobia. The Icarus itself is an old space tale, a salvage ship that disappeared that is rumoured to have extremely valuable salvage on it. The players are assumed to be modern-day salvagers who have encountered and entered the Icarus. There are the standard Conditions and Moments; the Conditions largely relate to space suit problems and the Moments to what the interior of the ship is like. It then follows the standard five-ring format, with Terrors and Temptations in each ring, as the player progress through the ship until they finally find the salvage and the ship’s dead captain.

The Icarus in Review

The PDF lacks bookmarks and, though not essential, given the length, they would have been appreciated. Navigation could be better. The text maintains a two-column format and appeared to be free of errors. There are no illustrations, bar the front cover, though there are page backgrounds. Presentation is okay.

The Incursion needs Trophy Dark in order to play, as it lacks the rules, which is normally the case. The extra options for the game are useful; they are essential for a science fiction game and useful for creating other Incursions. As with all Incursions, this is not a cheerful one. It is a futuristic horror game and failure is almost certain. That is the type of game Trophy Dark is. If this does not appeal, it should be avoided. The Icarus is a decent Incursion for Trophy Dark and it can be found by clicking here.