Icons of Infamy

ICONS is intended as a game for playing super heroes, but sometimes a

group might want a change of pace, or decide it would be interesting to
see how “the other half lives” by playing some super villains instead.
Certainly, the comic books themselves have taken plenty of looks at stories
from the perspective of “the other side” in one way or another, and there’s
nothing that says you can’t do the same at your game table, if you want.

Icons of Infamy takes a look at a number of different approaches to

“playing the bad guys” with an emphasis on those that are at least
somewhat ambiguous or offer a possible redemption arc. The primary thing
to keep in mind when running a villainous ICONS game is boundaries: While
the players’ characters might be law-breakers, criminals, or outlaws, it’s
important to draw some clear lines and to gives the players a means of
making it clear to everyone when a line is touched on, much less crossed.
Don’t let players use the excuse “but I’m playing evil!” to do things that are
going to make other players uncomfortable and ruin the game for everyone
else.

ICONS PRESENTS: ICONS OF INFAMY PAGE 1

 LAST CHANCE
In a Last Chance setting, something disastrous has happened to all of the
heroes, and the only chance the world has left is that the villains will step
up and save it! After all, plenty of super-criminals don’t want to see the
world conquered or destroyed—they live here too! Other villains are willing
to band together to stop a mutual threat who is taking away their chance
to rule the world!

THE ENEMY OF MY ENEMY

The main thing to decide in a Last Chance setting is, who is the mutual foe
that has wiped out the heroes and united the remaining villains? It could be
a powerful master villain and their followers, whose scheme for world
conquest has finally succeeded. Alternately, it could be an invading force
that has eliminated the world’s heroes and conquered it. It might even be a
world destroying force that heroes attempted to stop and failed and now
the villains are all that stands between the world and total annihilation. You
can find a number of potential antagonists for a Last Chance series in both
the Adversaries and Rogues sourcebooks.

AN ALLIANCE OF CONVENIENCE?
What happens after the common enemy is defeated is almost as important
to a Last Chance story as defeating the enemy in the first place. Does
fighting for the freedom and survival of the world change the protagonists
in any way? What is it like for them to have purpose beyond just
overcoming their heroic foes? How do they feel now that those heroes are
gone forever? What are their goals beyond just saving the world and how
are they going to deal with their fellow super criminals—including each
other—after the fact?

A WORLD WITHOUT HEROES

A World Without Heroes goes a step beyond Last Chance in that not only
are there no super heroes, there basically never were or, at the least, the
super heroes have always been ineffectual (and probably few) in
comparison to the super criminals. Indeed, it may be hard to call those with
super-powers in this world “criminals,” especially if they make up the ruling
class!

The classic A World Without Heroes setting is an “Opposite Earth” where

villains occupy the traditional roles of heroes and vice versa. Crime and
corruption are the status quo and it is the heroes who are rebels and
outlaws looking to change things. The players might take on the roles of
more villainous versions of traditional heroes (maybe even their own heroes

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from another ICONS game) or create original villains using the hero creation
guidelines from ICONS, but substituting suitable qualities.

THE FRUIT OF KNOWLEDGE

A World Without Heroes setting can remain so or might see the greater
development of heroes as time goes on. The players characters could move
in a more heroic direction, perhaps with guidance from mentors or allies.
Alternately, the setting might come into contact with a more heroic parallel
universe, creating opportunities for the characters to interact with real
heroes for the first time. Do they seize the opportunity to invade this new
universe and conquer it (perhaps exploiting an In Hero’s Guise opportunity,
following)? Are they inspired by the example of their heroic opposite
numbers to change things on their own world?

SPECIAL MISSIONS FORCE

Sometimes, when a government or other organization needs someone to
do the dirty work, they turn, not to the principled heroes, but to the super
criminals with fewer scruples and more to gain. In particular, a secret “black
ops” team might be made up of incarcerated villains who are offered a deal:
Take on certain secret missions, and they’ll get their freedom. Of course,
they first have to survive the missions, and a Special Missions Force is often
chosen for expendability and deniability as much as for their ability to get
the job done.

Of course, most covert employers are not likely to trust super-criminals.

They may use “insurance policies” like wearables or implants capable of
applying punishment in the form of electrical shocks, drugs, or the like, and
perhaps even remotely executing anyone who gets too far out of line.
Others will also use blackmail or holding something a team member values
hostage to ensure their cooperation.

The criminal “volunteers” need to somehow function as a team while many

of them look for any opportunity to cut a better deal, even if that means
betraying the rest of the group. Some might find the experience of serving
with the Special Missions Force changes them, while others revert to their
old criminal ways as soon as they can. This can lead to the force going up
against some of their old “teammates” on a future mission!

For players and Game Masters looking to mix things up, a Special Missions
Force team is also a good place for “fallen” or vigilante heroes to find ways
to serve and continue their own missions. Criminal recruited could find
themselves working alongside more principled teammates with something
to prove, both to themselves and to their superiors.

ICONS PRESENTS: ICONS OF INFAMY PAGE 3

 IN HERO’S GUISE
A group of ne’er do wells might try to carry out their plans In Hero’s Guise,
pretending to be superheroes while actually furthering their villainous
schemes behind the scenes! Of course, the process of adopting the roles of
heroes can lead to some characters discovering what it is really like to be a
hero, and they might decide that they like it!

Villainous scammers pretend to be heroes in order to win over public trust,

usually so they can eventually betray that trust in some spectacular way,
such as gaining access to top-secret government files or technology, or to
important places or people. The scammers have to maintain their cover
until it is time to put their plan into motion, and they need to decide how to
deal with various threats and challenges along the way.

The duplicates impersonate existing heroes, either copying them as closely

as possible or else actually being duplicates of them: clones, copies, or
from a parallel reality, for example. This raises the question of just how
close the duplicates are to the originals: Can they fool close friends and
loved ones? Are they susceptible to some of the same motives as the
original heroes? Also, what happened to the originals? Are they dead or
imprisoned? Banished to another reality? What happens if they come back?

Finally, sleepers might not even know that they are villains! Their heroic
disguises include psychological implants, hypnosis, or brainwashing that
blocks out any conscious awareness of their real identities, allowing them
to fool even surface-level psychic scans. Underneath, they might be
scammers or duplicates, even artificial beings or aliens. This can be a tricky
one to run without having the players in on it, although you can reveal to a
group of heroes that they are actually sleeper impersonators, while the
“real” heroes have been imprisoned elsewhere. When the truth is revealed,
switch to players over to playing the real heroes so they can plan an escape
and overcome their impersonators.

VILLAIN SCHOOL
Villain School takes the classic School Days trope (detailed in “Y” is for
“Youth” in ICONS A to Z) and adds the twist that the school trains budding
supervillains! The main questions are whether or not the student body
knows this and whether or not the school only trains villains.

In a secret school setting, the true agenda of the school is kept hidden
from its students, at least at first. The goal is to mold young and super-
powered minds towards the goals of the school administration, which
might be a secret cabal or a villainous mastermind. Students are often
chosen for their vulnerability or criminal proclivities, so characters can

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range from outright delinquents to teens who could follow a different path,
depending on their influences, role-models, and choices. Part of the series
may be the students discovering the school’s true nature and deciding
what, if anything, they want to do about it.

A sinister school, on the other hand, is known for turning out fine young
criminals and honing their power and potential, or at least ensuring they’ll
make capable hirelings. This villain academy may be a secret prep school
attended by the scions of criminal dynasties, the offspring of various super
villains intended to follow in the “family business.”

Lastly, a super school like that described in ICONS A to Z might be

considered “neutral ground” to train teen supers regardless of their parents’
legal status or their own proclivities. The need for youngsters to understand
and control their unique abilities and to have peers takes precedence over
anything else. While at least some (if not all) of the school administration
hopes to guide their students to a law-abiding life, some students may end
up choosing lives of crime.

The school could even include the children of super-criminals, with a strict
policy of neutrality to protect the minors, making for some interesting PTA
meetings and chaperoned school events! If the super school has been
around for some time, then the current student body might be the latest of
several generations, some of whom are still “active alumni” involved in
school affairs.

TO CATCH A THIEF
To Catch a Thief, hire a thief. In this series, the characters are all criminals or
ex-criminals ostensibly working on the side of the law in order to hunt and
thwart their former criminal peers. This is similar in some ways to the
Special Missions Force but the focus is on using criminal skills to deal with
other criminals and less on secret government “black ops.” The characters
in To Catch a Thief may or may not be on “work release” from a prison
sentence, and may or may not want to leave their previous criminal lives
behind.

Like a lot of Icons of Infamy concepts, To Catch a Thief usually features

not-too-bad criminals going after far worse criminals. Some of the
characters may have long and storied criminal careers, but with certain
standards, while others might have been falsely accused or caught up in
circumstance. Either way, they have the requisite experience and abilities to
be useful to the team and the cause.

The prime element of this series is the characters coming up with their own
clever schemes to scam, thwart, or trap their quarry. Encourage the players
to make use of maneuvers to represent their “prior planning” as needed.

ICONS PRESENTS: ICONS OF INFAMY PAGE 5

 ON THE INSIDE
On the Inside takes place in prison, one intended to hold super-criminals. It
may be the only one of its kind in the world or one of a number of such
prisons, but the players’ characters are inmates, having to deal with prison
life and the politics, alliances, and scheming going on behind bars.

An On the Inside series can be just about convicted super-criminals trying

to serve their time and stay out of trouble, despite the forces that keep
trying to pull them off the path to rehabilitation. It can also serve as an
introduction to another type of series, such as a Special Missions Force or
To Catch a Thief, with someone eventually offering the players’ inmate
characters a way out. Or the characters could discover there is a black ops
program operating out of the prison that doesn’t involve them, and then
decide what (if anything) to do about it.
For a reverse of the In Hero’s Guise approach, characters in an On the
Inside game might be heroes going undercover as super-powered inmates
in order to infiltrate the prison and investigate. They could be looking into a
prison gang, a smuggling operation, or an illegal black ops program. For
added verisimilitude, they could be working with “turncoat” criminals, and
facing the possibility their erstwhile allies might betray them.

In a Prison Break scenario, the characters are inmates, but they don’t plan
on staying any longer than necessary. They either become part of a larger
plan to stage a break-out, or else come up with and execute their own plan.
Either way, they have to deal with other inmates, who might want in or
could potentially give them away, prison staff (some of whom might be
susceptible to a bribe or coercion), and overcoming security.

OUTLAWS
Although not technically “villains,” the characters in an Outlaws game do
operate outside the law and without the benefits of its protection. They
might be engaged in other criminal enterprises, part of a gang, crime
family, or syndicate, for example, or part of an outlawed group that has to
operate on its own due to legalized discrimination or conflict with some
other laws, such as an eco-activist group willing to break the law in order to
achieve their goals.

Since they straddle some legal gray areas, outlaws might find themselves
working with more hardened or dangerous criminals on the one hand and
more law-abiding heroes on the other. They can find allies—and enemies—
on both sides. Eventually, circumstances might push the outlaws more
towards on side or the other.

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 License
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Open Game License v 1.0 Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

Fudge System Reference Document Copyright 2005, Grey Ghost Press, Inc.; Authors Steffan
O’Sullivan and Ann Dupuis, with additional material by Peter Bonney, Deird’Re Brooks, Reimer
Behrends, Shawn Garbett, Steven Hammond, Ed Heil, Bernard Hsiung, Sedge Lewis, Gordon
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Authors Robert Donoghue and Fred Hicks.

Spirit of the Century, Copyright 2006, Evil Hat Productions LLC. Authors Robert Donoghue, Fred
Hicks, and Leonard Balsera.

ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying, Copyright 2010, Author: Steve Kenson.

Villainomicon, Copyright 2010, Authors: Steve Kenson, G.M. Skarka, Walt Ciechanowski, Morgan
Davie, and Theron Bretz.

Icons Presents: Icons of Infamy, Copyright 2019, 2020, Ad Infinitum Adventures, Author: Steve
Kenson.

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