ICONS: Great Power by Steve Kenson is a supplement for the ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying Game published by Ad Infinitum Adventures. This supplement considers the various superpowers in the game and goes through them in greater depth, as well as expanding, refining and organising them better. The book is covered by the Open Game License and consequently some of it is considered to be Open Game Content.
The book is available as a watermarked PDF, a softcover colour print on demand book in standard and premium heavyweight paper and hardcover print on demand in premium heavyweight. The PDF version, which is the one reviewed, normally costs $10 but was purchased at the discounted price of $7.50. The two softcover versions cost $20 and $35 respectively, and the hardcover $25. Purchasing PDF and print on demand versions together costs the same as the print on demand copy by itself.
The PDF has 146 pages, one of which is the front cover, four pages are front matter and a list of Kickstarter backers, there are three pages of Contents, a one page Introduction, two pages of Open Game License and one blank page. Great Power was first published prior to the publication of ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying: The Assembled Edition; however, it has been revised since and in the Introduction it is stated that where Great Power differs from the Assembled Edition, the former should be considered to be the most correct and current.
As well as the primary PDF there are two supplementary ones. The first of these is Icons: Great Power Conversion Notes. This six page PDF gives an overview of the changes in Great Power, how they may affect existing characters and what could be done to change them. This PDF is really intended to be for characters created using the original ICONS: Superpowered Roleplaying (which supplement no longer appears to be available), as the Assembled Edition already incorporates most, if not all, of these changes. The second of these is ICONS: Great Power Index, which is a nine page PDF index of the main PDF.
About Powers covers generalities regarding powers, such as types, groups, sources, using, extras, stunts and limits. This is all material that is handled in the Core Rulebook, but it may have been modified for this.
Acquiring Powers adds supplementary rules for the powers and options to those that were found in the old ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying book, and potentially some of those in the new.
Power Descriptions is by far the main part of the book and lists all the powers, cross-referencing them when appropriate. Some powers have only a small description, with a reference to another power that it is actually a part of. Many have longer descriptions, together with some Extras and Limits. The powers are covered in more detail than in the main ICONS core rulebook.
Devices covers all types of devices that provide a power or powers, from battlesuits to cybernetics to magical artefacts. These are broken down into different sections by type, and some examples are given.
The Appendix is Using Great Power with Fate Core. The ICONS system drew heavily on the Fudge system, and its descendant, Fate, for how it works. This appendix covers the differences between ICONS and Fate, and how to use the game with the other system.
ICONS: Great Power in Review
The Contents is thorough and the primary PDF is bookmarked to about the same degree, with all the powers and devices individually listed. Oddly, the Contents are not in the bookmark list; this isn’t the first time that has happened for this game. Additionally, the main About Powers section is missing from the PDF’s bookmarks, as are several of the early subsections in this. There is no alphabetical Index in the main PDF; instead it’s in the separate Great Power Index PDF, which is more than a little odd. To actually use the index with the PDF its indexing requires two PDFs to be open, which is not the most efficient way of going about it. Quite why this index wasn’t included in the main book isn’t made clear. It certainly doesn’t take up much space, and having it only available separately seems an odd decision.
The PDF is laid out with a single column of text, and possibly has less content than might be thought from its size due to how the text is laid out. Most of the pages have minor decorative borders, although usually only along the bottom. There are a number of colour illustrations throughout, but most these are quite small, as they illustrate various powers in limited space. There are a few larger ones, but about a third of a page in size tends to be the largest. Many of the illustrations use characters seen in other ICONS supplements.
Great Power has undergone a number of revisions over the years to keep it relevant and up-to-date with the latest ICONS rules. This does have the unfortunate potential effect of making the printed (including print on demand) versions of the book out of date at some point. Still, regular updates have do have their benefits and show the game is being supported and maintained.
Great Power may not be quite as useful to those with the Assembled Edition as the original game because, as mentioned, the former includes many of the changes that were introduced in this supplement. What differences there are between the rules in both Great Power and the Assembled Edition isn’t known as, unlike the old supplement, there isn’t a sheet covering this. The two supplements are probably reasonably close together, with this one perhaps providing newer versions, especially as, as mentioned in the Introduction, it should be considered to be the most up to date source. Even if there is substantial overlap with the Assembled Edition, ICONS: Great Power does cover powers, and devices, in much more detail than the core rulebook does, and introduces new options for using the, so it’s still worth getting.
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