Dawn of the

DAIKAIJU

written and illustrated by Dan Houser

 INTRODUCTION

In Dawn of the Daikaiju our heroes find themselves at the start of an era of
towering beasts striding the Earth, leaving catastrophe in their wake,
daikaiju—“gigantic monsters” in Japanese. Their battles tear cities apart,
flattening buildings, and rendering comedic any thought that humans are
masters of the Earth any longer.

ADVENTURE OVERVIEW
The titular creature, a daikaiju called Dracostroyer, hatches from an egg lost
deep in an undersea chasm when GreenLife Energy Co. is wildcatting for
mineral wealth just offshore from the city. The egg is exposed to an alien
meteorite along with chemical residue castoff from the drill-anchor array,
which mutates the creature within. The chemicals and energies mix within
the confines of the egg and shortly after the bipedal devastator emerges
from the ocean off the coast of Victory City!

PAGE 1 ICONS: DAWN OF THE DAIKAIJU

Dracostroyer moves inland, drawn towards half of a meteor that struck the
Earth thousands of years ago. The creature’s swath of destruction
eventually leads to a mountain range north of the city housing both the
meteor and, unbeknownst to the citizens of Victory City, a dormant
volcano!

The other half of the meteor is embedded in the daikaiju’s chest.

Dracostroyer’s mutated body has grown, slowly, around that half of the
meteor, which emits Tau radiation, the catalyst for the mutations in the
creature. The heroes respond to the havoc the creature is causing, then
manage the disastrous results of a military response to Dracostroyer’s
relentless march of destruction.

The heroes are driven to extreme measures and mad scientist Dr. Hans
Morta may subject one (or more!) of their number to an experimental
treatment, transforming them into daikaiju to counter Dracostroyer! The
battle between daikaiju nearly ends the confrontation, but Dracostroyer
expends the power in the meteor to overcome the heroes. They are laid
low, and Dracostroyer is halted, temporarily.

The climax of the story presents the heroes with a last-ditch effort from
super-scientists and new hero Shaper: King Mechakaiser! The mecha is a
gestalt machine piloted by the heroes, powered by the same energies as
the meteor. They don’t have much time to train in its use, as Dracostroyer
wakes, heading for the meteor and the dormant volcano. The final battle
between King Mechakaiser and Dracostroyer finishes out the adventure.
Who will win? That’s up to your heroes!

ICONS: DAWN OF THE DAIKAIJU PAGE 2

 Chapter One:
It’s Huge! It’s Alive!

A ship, the Nordic Breeze, owned by the energy conglomerate GreenLife

Energy Company, was in the process of dragging an anchored undersea
drilling rig across the bottom of the bay near Victory City. During this
process, the ship dislodged an egg of enormous girth; which has enveloped
half of a meteor that crashed to Earth long, long, ago. The egg is cracked,
and a rush of seawater and chemicals from the rig mix with the strange
radiation of the meteor…and the creature within begins to grow.

The ship continues to drill, for a half a week, while the creature grows. Then,
with a surge of the ocean, flipping the Nordic Breeze, the creature beneath
them begins its furious rampage! The heroes are alerted to the distress call,

PAGE 3 ICONS: DAWN OF THE DAIKAIJU

as the ocean is punished by a severe storm, and only superheroes would be
capable of surviving the storm to rescue the Nordic Breeze crew.

After dealing with the emergencies; the heroes face-off against the
creature itself in the downtown area of the city, during a harrowing military
strike!

MAYDAY! MAYDAY!
As the story opens, the heroes are on patrol, at their homes sleeping, or out
early in the morning on some other business. Roll 1D6: On a result of 1-2,
the heroes are on patrol, on a 3-4, they are at home, and on a 5-6 they are
out in the downtown area of the city on their own business.
Read or paraphrase the following to your players:

Morning. The time of day that reminds a hero why they do what
they do. The peace, the low hum of the early traffic—it all melds into
a feeling of contentment and hope that, for once, the peace will hold.

But of course, it is interrupted by a transmission coming across your

communication devices, an emergency!

“MAYDAY! MAYDAY! Green <static, garbled> Company Ship Nordic

Breeze! We are <static> Repeat: We have a hull breach! We are going
down! MAYDAY!” This is followed by a roar of static—or possibly
something else roaring altogether.

Turn the page, and any heroes who want to respond to the distress call are
at the site of the sinking Nordic Breeze, using whatever means of
transportation they have at their disposal. If they can’t get out to the ship
under their own power, the Coast Guard takes them along on a vessel
responding to the call, either a ship, helicopter, or both. The seas are rough
around the sinking vessel and the sky is dark, as if nature itself has been
disturbed by whatever is happening.

The heroes can help to evacuate the crew of the Breeze, either to lifeboats
and inflatable rafts or to rescue craft, depending on what they brought with
them. The ship’s hull is badly rent open and it is sinking fast. You can
generally assume that the heroes are successful in their efforts, but if you
want to provide a bit more challenge in the opening scene, consider some
of the following:

ICONS: DAWN OF THE DAIKAIJU PAGE 4

Dragged Down: The damaged drilling rig is helping to pull the Nordic
Breeze down faster. If the heroes can separate it from the ship, they can
delay its loss for a bit. This takes Amazing (8) or greater Strength or other
effort to tear the damaged rig free.

Trapped! Some of the crew are trapped in a partially flooded chamber

below decks. Damage has blocked access, needing Incredible (7) or greater
Strength or damage to clear it away to reach them.

Blood in the Water: Crew members have already jumped into the water to
escape the sinking ship, but there are sharks draw to their struggles! Use
the stats from the Creatures section of the Game Mastering chapter of
ICONS, with half as many sharks as there are heroes.

THE LEGEND LIVES

The heroes rescue the sailors, and one of them, Professor Jun Anavami, a
limnologist and biologist from Japan, claims they were attacked by a
legendary sea creature called Dracostroyer, an undersea dragon fated to
destroy the world. As they’re getting this information, an alert across the
city describes several emergency situations, and there are dozens of
eyewitness and video accounts of what appears to be a bipedal dragon
stomping through the industrial and sea-side portion of the city!

RANDOM EMERGENCIES
Let’s go ahead and create some initial hoopla for our heroes. The following
table will deliver some action right away. Between each event, insert your
own radio reports describing things that seem impossible – a dragon
bigger than a skyscraper slowly emerging from the ocean amidst the
wreckages of cargo ships , containers raining down from it like droplets of
water.

Roll 1D6 with the following results. Roll once for each hero.

1. Chemical Fire! A fire has broken out in a chemical processing plant on

the oceanfront! It will require three Tests with a result of 6 or better to
put out the flame OR rescue the workers. Choose three tests of
increasing difficulty and appropriate to the skills of your players to
represent the threat of the chemical fire.

2. Collapsing Overpass! An overpass of the freeway, an off-ramp leading to

the wharf district, is collapsing due to stresses down the line where
Dracostroyer has snapped a suspension bridge in half heading past the
wharf district and into the business district of the city. A Test with an
Intensity of 7 is required to successfully keep the bridge from crushing a
large city bus filled with workers making their way to their morning job.

PAGE 5 ICONS: DAWN OF THE DAIKAIJU

3. Flooding! A half-dozen civilian vehicles are being swept away. There are
a number of victims being swept away equal to the number of players x2.
There should be a few Tests requiring your heroes to pry open doors,
perhaps diverting the flood waters. Nothing should go over 7 at this
point.

4. Reports Coming In! No danger to overcome, but a moment where the

players get a good look at the sheer size and mass of Dracostroyer. This
will give heroes with sensory powers or detective skills to get a chance
to tag Aspects of the beast to give them a chance during their coming
encounters with the beast.

5. Taking Advantage! You can pick a villain from Adversaries, Rogues, or

the Assembled Edition book to try and use the chaos to rob a pawn
shop, jewelry store, or small scale industrial or scientific location. Nothing
major – just a MacGuffin, but enough to keep the players on their toes.

6. Choose one danger and roll again. If you’ve rolled this a second time,
use #4 instead.

When the events are wrapped and the heroes are finished with the
emerging dangers caused by the beast’s arrival, the sounds of the civil
defense klaxons begin rising on the morning wind.

Read or paraphrase the following:

There, moving steadily, inexorably, through the wreckage of the

city’s waterfront, is a beast like something out of the fever dream of
prehistory. A bipedal sauroid, like dragon with a row of spines down
its back and emerging from its chest a black igneous rock, glowing
from within with a red-purple energy. A living impossibility, hundreds
of feet tall from the depths of the sea, dragging train-cars around its
foot like a groggy drunk.

A screaming roar erupts from the monster as it shoulders through

brownstones like someone shoving their way through a crowd. Its
primal scream is met with the high-pitched screams overhead of
several flights of fighter jets preparing to strike!

ICONS: DAWN OF THE DAIKAIJU PAGE 6

 Chapter Two:
This Is Not A Drill!

The heroes scramble to try and stop the Dracostroyer as an announcement

comes across every broadcast band in the city instructing everyone to
evacuate immediately. This chapter is a countdown to the air strike against
the daikaiju. The heroes can attack Dracostroyer, or work on evacuating and
controlling the fleeing citizens confronted with a horror from the depths.

They are working against time as soon as the heroes deal with the last
emergency event in Chapter One. First, there is a strike against
Dracostroyer from a naval ship in the harbor. There’s minor collateral
damage, but Dracostroyer blasts the ship using the meteor lodged in its
chest, annihilating it, unless the heroes intervene. Next is the countdown to

PAGE 7 ICONS: DAWN OF THE DAIKAIJU

an airstrike using particle weapons and missiles, which slow Dracostroyer,
and cause it to begin lashing out physically while the meteor in its chest
regains its primary blast ability, which causes devastation within the city.

At this point, Dr. Hans Morta, a notorious criminal scientist, contacts the
heroes to offer them an option, to come to his hidden lab where he will
share with them a weapon against the Dracostroyer. This requires the
heroes slip past the slowing daikaiju, ending in an encounter with Morta
and his mad plan: to transform one or more of the heroes into kaiju
themselves!

THE FIELD OF BATTLE

The overview map shows how the different city districts are arranged.
Dracostroyer takes a fairly straight-line path from the Waterfront (1)
through the other districts towards the Outlying Districts (6) moving
towards exiting the map in the upper left corner.

DISTRICT DAMAGE TRACK

Each of the city’s distracts has a Damage Track, with a number of effects
from the battle to come with Dracostroyer.

ICONS: DAWN OF THE DAIKAIJU PAGE 8

Each page the daikaiju moves through the district or a conflict with
Dracostroyer takes place there, the district’s Damage Track increases by 1.
The total of the track measures the relative damage to the district as

• 1 or more: Damage to roadways and some buildings, crushed and

overturned vehicles.

• 5 or more: Small structures leveled, damage to larger structures, minor

injuries.

• 10 or more: Small- and medium-sized structures under five stories

flattened, large buildings damaged. Infrastructure is compromised.
• 15 or more: Small- and medium-sized structures are cratered down a full
story, and larger buildings have the Quality Compromised Structure, and
some may fall if damaged in this state. Infrastructure is defunct, no
passage for any vehicles that aren’t military grade, and movement
through the area is slowed to half. The districts also has the Qualities
Building Fires and Unstable Ground.

• 20 or more: Rubble, pits, sliding earth beneath the feet of the

gargantuan combatants. Large buildings are shattered, their frames
standing, some broken in half horizontally. Stronger buildings stand with
windows broken, and floors exposed to the air. The area has the Qualities
Weapons At Hand, Unstable Ground, On Fire, and Impassable.

Casualties and injuries are left up to the GM to describe (or not) based on
the style of the game. If evacuation is successful, all the Damage Track
covers is property damage. If there are people still left in a district,
casualties start in the tens at a total of 10, then the hundreds, and
thousands as it progresses.

1. WATERFRONT
The waterfront consists of wharfs, warehouses, and shipping docks, many
damaged by Dracostroyer's arrival. The Damage Track here is already set at
10 by the time the heroes have dealt with the events in Chapter One and it
only gets worse from there..

2. INDUSTRIAL DISTRICT
The Industrial District features warehouses and factories, often shipping
goods out through the waterfront. It is the first to evacuate when
Dracostroyer is spotted headed for the city, so there are virtually no
civilians in the area, making it a place where the heroes can potentially let
loose on the daikaiju as they try to stop it, but also where Dracostroyer’s
rampage is likely to do a lot of damage, once conflict begins.

PAGE 9 ICONS: DAWN OF THE DAIKAIJU

3. COMMERCIAL DISTRICT
The Commercial District is being evacuated when the heroes arrive, and still
has members of CRASH there to assist with any conflict with Dracostroyer.
It has some of the tallest buildings in the city, which can provide the heroes
with some elevation, but also offer targets for the daikaiju to destroy.

4. RESIDENTIAL DISTRICT
The Residential District is in the middle of a mass evacuation, civilian
casualties are possible if the players don't take caution to avoid them. The
area is not damaged yet. The area has the Quality Panicked Crowds in
addition to others from the Damage Track.

5. CENTRAL CITY DISTRICT

The Central City District has a massive park, and a handful of occupied
skyscrapers, and some commercial buildings. It is in the process of being
evacuated, but is more likely to be clear before Dracostroyer reaches it than
anywhere else in the city.

6. OUTLYING DISTRICTS
The Outlying Districts of smaller homes and single and two-level
commercial structures surround the City lead to the mountains where the
dormant volcano rests with the other half of the meteor. The terrain slopes
upwards slightly towards the top and left edges of the map, giving heroes a
+1 bonus on tests to push Dracostroyer back into other districts of the city,
if they try to do so.

BOMBARDMENT
Your heroes don’t have much time to coordinate a counter-attack, or even
try to triangulate Dracostroyer’s path before the air raid siren sound of
disaster alerts rise up across the city. As soon as the heroes have finished
their emergency scenarios from Chapter One, read or paraphrase the
following to your players:

You have one moment, maybe two, before the sound of the city’s
warning sirens rise as one to warn the citizens of the danger. In the
distance you hear the sounds of brick and glass giving way to the
massive beast on its catastrophic path through the city. And the
creature itself defies comparisons to anything you’ve ever seen as its
own furious roar matches the sirens of the city.

ICONS: DAWN OF THE DAIKAIJU PAGE 10

 The moment in time is frozen—the enormity of the creature taking
up your entire sense of chronology. The frozen space is suddenly
filled with explosions on the surface of the beast, artillery falling in an
arc from the oceanfront.

The beast winces and staggers, shouldering through an office block.

The momentary feeling of victory melts as the creature exhales pure
devastation down the path it has walked, setting buildings ablaze!

The heroes are again confronted with emergencies in this chapter, part of a
pyramid test to determine the state of the city’s infrastructure and rescue
personnel in the next chapter.
Each player can roll a difficulty 7 test to aid and rescuing people and city
structures from annihilation using whatever abilities they wish to help. Let
the players describe what each of their heroes is doing in relation to the
ability they are using for their test. For each failed test as part of the
pyramid test, the city’s Damage Track increases by 1. Once the heroes have

PAGE 11 ICONS: DAWN OF THE DAIKAIJU

achieved a total massive success, read or paraphrase the following to the
players:

Moving the last of the civilians out of the way, your strength wanes,
its limits tested. Another roar, and the air goes still. The beast, smoke
and debris pouring off of it, shows an expression of pure rage. The
creature’s expression twists with pain and fury, and the large purple-
black stone in its chest glows and then fires! A blast of power tears
through the city like a torrent from a firehose, obliterating everything
left in the path the creature has carved before striking the ship
bombarding the creature. Its side torn open, it begins to sink.

AIR-STRIKE
Radios nearby crackle, chatter from the military shouting orders and the
counter-attack is being called. An air-strike is incoming!

From the time of the announcement the heroes have five pages to assist
with evacuating civilians from the remains of the business sector. This is
another Incredible (7) difficulty pyramid test, using whatever abilities the
players describe their heroes using. Each failed test increases the city’s
Damage Track by 1. Once the heroes achieve a total massive success, read
or paraphrase the following to the players:

Military fighter jets streak overhead and all over the creature's body
bloom multiple particle cannon explosions. For a moment, something
other than its own powers have caused it pain and you can see a
sliver of light through the darkness.

The creature is wounded, angered, and staggering out of the

business district, and into the commercial district's towering spires,
where you lose sight of it as it slips into the shadows offered by
human civilization.

DEAL WITH DOCTOR MORTA

The heroes realize the creature is hurt, and they can possibly press their
advantage but before they do, read or paraphrase the following:

ICONS: DAWN OF THE DAIKAIJU PAGE 12

 The creature may be hurt, in which case you may have an
opportunity, but you cannot be sure how many people still are
endangered. Suddenly, over your comms, you hear a new voice
breaking-in.

“I don't have time to waste going through channels,” the voice says.
“My name is Doctor Hans Morta, formerly head geneticist at MADco.
The creature destroying the city is a danger to us all. I have a plan,
possibly the only plan that will actually work. Come to my lab,
quickly. I may be your only hope. Coordinates to follow.”
You know Dr. Morta by reputation—his genetic experiments were
deemed practically weapons of mass destruction—he is part of a
group of dangerous super-scientists known as the Conclave.

“I hope that you're intelligent enough to make the correct decision.

Morta out."

Feel free to let the players discuss whether or not working with a known
supervillain is a good idea. The heroes are aware of Dr. Morta’s shady
reputation, but a Great (6) Intellect test (apply appropriate specialties like
Science) can provide more information about him and his background.
Each higher degree includes all of the previous ones:
• Marginal Success: You have seen his name somewhere. You’re aware that
Morta’s an important name in the field of exogenetics, super-science, and
fields of questionable experimentation.

• Moderate Success: You know Morta’s work with MADCo resulted in at

least one animal-human genetic hybrid, the supervillain Buck Bronco.

• Major Success: You know that Dr. Morta is part of a shadowy cabal
pushing the edges of science and morality called “The Conclave.” He is
however, undoubtedly one of the most intelligent people on the planet.

• Massive Success: Morta is definitely taking a risk in revealing himself, as

there are a number of warrants out for his arrest. He definitely has the
scientific skills, and possibly the first-hand experience in this kind of
monster-making to be of use, but he’s definitely not to be trusted.

The heroes should be made aware that following the creature is definitely
the priority, but it should be tempting to hear Dr. Morta out at the very
least. To go to Dr. Morta’s lab, they will need to divert their attention from
the creature, but the damage it suffered from the military assault might buy
them the time needed to do so.

PAGE 13 ICONS: DAWN OF THE DAIKAIJU

 Chapter Three:
Desperate Measures

Dracostroyer has taken shelter in the Civic Auditorium building in the

Commercial District. It is regaining its strength and, with the destruction of
the auditorium and environs, the creature has managed to hide within a
cocoon of concrete.

The heroes can choose to accept the help of Dr. Morta, who has a radical
solution to the current situation: Altering one of the heroes into equally
large and devastating creatures to do battle with the daikaiju! This is a
dream come true for Dr. Morta—and possibly one or more of the heroes.

ICONS: DAWN OF THE DAIKAIJU PAGE 14

If the heroes decide to forego involvement with Dr. Morta, or decide to
bring him in instead of taking him up on his offer, the only change to this
chapter’s events is the battle with Dracostroyer is decidedly shorter and the
heroes have a chance to investigate the creature itself, its origins, and begin
discovering ways it can be tracked, and possibly defeated.
If the heroes choose to take Dr. Morta up on his offer, he provides his “deus
lepus” serum, a genetic tonic that accelerates growth and mutates the
being taking it into a daikaiju. He has enough for one of the heroes to take
the serum; the rest are tasked with helping corral Dracostroyer away from
its intended path: a mountain near the city which is actually a dormant, but
waking, volcano!

THERE GOES TOKYO…

At this point, your players have decided their course of action. If the heroes
follow the coordinates to Dr. Morta’s hidden lab, read or paraphrase the
following:

PAGE 15 ICONS: DAWN OF THE DAIKAIJU

 The coordinates bring you to a part of the city’s commercial district
formerly called the Stockyards—when the city was known for
processing cattle. The Ponder’s Home Slaughterhouse opens its
doors automatically as you approach, a slab of old grimy concrete
grinds to one side to provide access to a hidden stairwell.

Dr. Morta’s laboratory is a highly sophisticated geneticist’s paradise.

Especially if that geneticist’s ethical boundaries could be measured in
parsecs.

Dr. Morta is an officious little man, dressed in pristine laboratory gear,

and waves to a series of elaborate chairs leaning back head-first into
tubes leading away from the location.

“We don’t have much time. My plan is simple, I will mutate one of you
into a creature the same size and dimensions as the beast attacking
our city, which I have dubbed Dracostroyer!”

He seems unduly excited over his naming prowess. He also begins

motioning to the sensors along the wall, which activate robotic
gimbals and arms to begin scanning those willing to undergo the
procedure.

Morta’s lab is prepped and ready for one of the heroes to go through his
temporary treatment, using his methods perfected while at MADCo. The
process gives the affected hero Supreme (10) Growth and Strength and
Amazing (8) Damage Resistance, plus a random Alteration power (choose
or roll for the power and its level from the hero creation tables in ICONS).

Once the process has begun, the chair the hero is strapped into launches
them out of the laboratory as they begin to grow and transform, sending
them towards a chosen field of battle from the previous chapter for the
confrontation with Dracostroyer.

INVESTIGATING THE DAIKAIJU

If the heroes have chosen to investigate Dracostroyer rather than work with
Morta, read or paraphrase the following for the players:

ICONS: DAWN OF THE DAIKAIJU PAGE 16

 Even half-a-dozen blocks away, the heat radiating from the beast is
ungodly. It’s a massive violet-colored nightmare. A bipedal reptile
with bladed ridges down its back and a set of cranial horns that
make it appear to be a cross between a dragon of myth and a demon
from the depths.

It is laying supine, unconscious. The sound of it breathing are

mountain ranges settling after an earthquake. Energy pulses with a
dim glow within the glassy meteorite embedded in its chest.

Several of the city’s metahuman CRASH response teams are

cordoning off the area as you arrive, wearing thick radiation-blocking
armor, and measuring same said radiation with their multiple
scanning devices.

The heroes can investigate three aspects of Dracostroyer: its offensive and
defensive abilities and its qualities. They have time for six attempts at an
Incredible (7) difficulty pyramid test, dividing their successes amongst the
three areas of investigation as they see fit. Once the test is complete,
Dracostroyer awakens and attacks!

ATTACKS
Successes from the investigation pyramid test tell the heroes the following:

• Marginal Success: The beast is massive, able to topple buildings with just
one or two attack. It also can emit a blast from the meteor embedded in
its chest that annihilates anything in its path.

• Moderate Success: The heroes also learn creature’s blast is a mix of Tau
radiation and tachyons, meaning things blasted by it are both rocked by
energy and annihilated by being thrown through the time stream. They
learn one of Dracostroyer’s qualities.

• Major Success: The heroes also learn the back blade-spines are capable
of emitting its power blast as well. They learn all of Dracostroyer’s
offensive abilities and their levels. They either learn an additional quality
or gain a free activation of a previously-learned quality.
• Massive Success: The heroes also learn that Dracostoyer’s power blast is
an attack of last-resort and requires some time to “recharge” between
blasts. They either learn an additional quality or gain a free activation of
a previously-learned quality.

PAGE 17 ICONS: DAWN OF THE DAIKAIJU

DEFENSES
Successes from the investigation pyramid test tell the heroes the following:

• Marginal Success: The heroes learn the skin of the beast is as tough as
tank armor, and its claws, horns and teeth are virtually unbreakable.

• Moderate Success: The heroes also learn the meteor fragment in

Dracostroyer’s chest is made of a material unknown to normal science. It
radiates Tau radiation. They learn one of Dracostroyer’s qualities.

• Major Success: The heroes also learn all of creature’s defensive powers
and their levels. They either learn an additional quality or gain a free
activation of a previously-learned quality.
• Massive Success: The heroes also learn an additional quality or gain a
free activation of a previously-learned quality.

QUALITIES
Successes from the investigation pyramid test tell the heroes the following:

• Marginal Success: The creature is smarter than it appears, and infused

with alien radiation that enhances its powers.

• Moderate Success: The heroes also learn one of Dracostroyer’s qualities.

• Major Success: The heroes learn an additional quality or gain a free

activation of a previously-learned quality.

• Massive Success: The heroes learn an additional quality or gain a free

activation of a previously-learned quality.

When investigating qualities, the heroes can choose to create and impose a
quality rather than discovering an existing one. This can represent efforts to
restrain or weaken Dracostroyer. The new quality is activated normally and
they can apply a free activation from their qualities investigation to it.

ICONS: DAWN OF THE DAIKAIJU PAGE 18

 THE EMPRESS OF MONSTERS!
Whether one of the heroes “goes full daikaiju” in an attempt to battle
Dracostroyer or the heroes investigate in hopes of finding a weakness, the
daikaiju awakens recovered and ready for battle!

The fight continues until Dracostroyer is reduced to half its Stamina or the
district where the fight takes place reaches 20 on its Damage Track, as
detailed in Chapter 2. When either event occurs, the meteor in
Dracostroyer’ explodes outward in a massive blast of Tau Radiation,
dropping all combatants.

Read or paraphrase the following for your players if the district reaches 20
on the Damage Track:

PAGE 19 ICONS: DAWN OF THE DAIKAIJU

 The air crackles with energy from the stone in Dracostroyer’s chest.
Your mutual attacks have shattered this area of the city. With a
mighty, wounded roar, Dracostroyer’s stone engulfs the area in a
blinding surge of energy, and for a time, you are removed from the
land of the waking.

If the heroes reduce Dracostroyer to half Stamina, describe their final

attack, then read or paraphrase the following for your players:

The creature’s eyes squint close as it leans, staggered. But at the

last moment, its eyes snap open, blazing from within with radioactive
fire, and it howls a piteous cry of rage and pain! Everything is
engulfed in its Tau radiation blast! The world goes white—and then
dark.

In either instance, the heroes are incapacitated by Dracostroyer’s blast.

Award each player a Determination Point and move on to Chapter Four.

ICONS: DAWN OF THE DAIKAIJU PAGE 20

 Chapter Four:
The Reckless
Ambitions of Man

This chapter features the final conflict between Dracostroyer and the last
hope for humanity, King Mechakaiser, a product of a new superhero and the
greatest minds in the world working together. The battle takes place on the
slopes of the dormant volcano outside of the city, the resting place of the
other half of the meteor lodged into Dracostroyer’s body.

PAGE 21 ICONS: DAWN OF THE DAIKAIJU

ICONS: DAWN OF THE DAIKAIJU PAGE 22
Dracostroyer is looking for a nesting ground, a place to lay its eggs, which
would bring more and greater devastation to the city, and of course, the
world. The heroes awaken in the laboratory of Shaper, who has King
Mechakaiser in a readying stage. Dracostroyer woke shortly after the blast
went off, made her way out of the city, and is crossing the distance
between the city and the mountain where she may become aggressive
beyond measure once it becomes her nesting ground.

Dracostroyer, for better or worse, must be stopped and waiting in the wings
is Dr. Hans Morta and a second group of mutates, transformed into daikaiju
to ambush Dracostroyer, and capture it! The heroes, will need to fend off
Morta’s beasts, and figure out how to deal with Dracostroyer to save the
city and the world!

THE LAST HOPE

Read or paraphrase the following for your players as the heroes regain
consciousness from their previous battle:

You open your eyes and, as you all wake, you find yourselves in a
modern medical bay, looking for all the world like the set of a science
fiction movie. Some of you have IVs with glowing liquids being fed to
you, others have gel-based casts and bracings, healing you rapidly.

A young woman, dressed in lavender and white skintight armor, her

face half masked by her gear, stands at a monitoring station.

“Morta. Pft! I could have told you that crackpot was on the wrong
path. As if Tau radiation is something to toy with. Welcome back to
the land of the living. You are to be congratulated. You saved the city.
For the moment, at least. But it’s far from over.”

“I’m Shaper, I make things for CRASH and other folks, and I think,
with your help, I may have a solution to our monster problem.”

Shaper, alias Vanessa Takahashi, is a brilliant inventor (as detailed in her

write-up at the end of the adventure). She isn’t arrogant or elitist about her
intellect. In fact, she’s as down to earth as someone as smart as her is could
reasonably be.
Shaper has worked with AI and APEX Labs to create a gestalt mechanical
vehicle, which she whimsically named King Mechakaiser. She’s a fan of old
sci-fi and horror movies, and it shows in the way her inventions have an “old
school” era kitsch to their design and implementation. The vehicle requires

PAGE 23 ICONS: DAWN OF THE DAIKAIJU

minds that are connected, like a team or family. Even better minds that
have experienced being gigantic, if any of the heroes underwent Morta’s
kaiju process in the previous chapter.

Vanessa shows the heroes a map of the side of Grantholm Mountain, and
tells them that it is a dormant volcano. There it seems Dracostroyer, slowed
by their battle, is moving to either create a home, or worse, a nest.

Vanessa and the technicians can load the heroes into Mechakaiser and they
can reach the beast just as it arrives at the slopes of the Mountain. Shaper
will accompany them in a craft of her own design; which doubles as a Tau
Radiation Pulse device, which should short circuit the power supply for
Dracostroyer and knock it out. Provided the heroes can keep the daikaiju
occupied for long enough.

With a turn of the page, the heroes arrive at the foothills of Grantholm
Mountain, where Dracostroyer seems prepared for a life-or-death struggle.

Read or paraphrase the following to your players:

“Impressive!” Shaper observes. “It’s like you’ve been piloting a

gestalt robot mecha-vehicle your entire lives!” Her voice comes over
the comms, and you see her little craft, shaped like a 1950s flying
saucer complete with glass dome, flitting about like an impossible
hummingbird around King Mechakaiser’s crown.

In the distance, turning toward you to meet your gaze is

Dracostroyer, the massive creature smoldering with energy, its eyes
flickering with power.

“I think it sees you.” Shaper says, voice becoming small.

Dracostroyer roars, its call a fury of defiance, rage, and savage drive.
The ground rumbles beneath you as Dracostroyer sprints towards
you. The final battle is about to begin!

But, just then, out of the sky screams a new giant creature that
attacks Dracostroyer! At the same time, another great beast lunges
at you from behind, attempting to bring you down to the ground!

Dr. Morta’s new daikaiju attack both Mechakaiser and Dracostroyer. These
creatures were created using a process similar to how he empowered one
of the heroes, except his new creatures are even less stable and shorter-
lived. Use the Daikaiju Creation system in the Appendix of the adventure to
create these new creatures, as you see fit.

ICONS: DAWN OF THE DAIKAIJU PAGE 24

During the fight Dracostroyer assumes both Mechakaiser and Morta’s
creatures are enemies, unless the heroes give her reason to think otherwise.
The heroes have a number of options of how to deal with Dracostroyer:

• They can fight Dracostroyer, to subdue her. Once Dr. Morta’s beasts are
vanquished, there’s a moment where defeating and trapping her will be
possible.

• They can retrieve the other half of the meteor, and lead Dracostroyer
elsewhere, such as an island in the South Pacific, where she can live.
Shaper or the heroes can create a field to hide the island from
civilization. This is actually Dr. Morta’s plan, creating a “Daikaiju Island”
where he can create an army of monsters! If his beasts overcome
Dracostroyer, they try to carry the creature off with them.

• With the other half of the meteor or insights from Dr. Morta’s creatures
and work (including the temporarily transformed hero), Shaper or the
heroes might be able to come up with a gadget to transform
Dracostroyer into a harmless sea-creature or reptile, either releasing her
into the wild or putting her in captivity for further care and study.

• They can attempt to create a habitat in the mountain for her, but this is
dangerous in the extreme. Shaper can, however assist to make the
mountain livable for Dracostroyer.

Shaper’s inventions, especially when she corroborates with others to create

things like Mechakaiser, tend to be fleeting, unfortunately, so keeping
Mechakaiser active long-term won’t be an option. But it can be kept “at the
ready” as a solution for other possible daikaiju attacks in the future.
Once the heroes have implemented their plan, the world should be safe
from the menace of the dreaded Daikaiju, at least for now!

FURTHER ADVENTURES
The following are just a few further adventures you can use as sequels to
Dawn of the Daikaiju:

• Dr. Morta creates a cybernetic hybrid creature from Dracostroyer’s DNA,

a Cyberstroyer! Can your heroes wake Dracostroyer and team up with her
to defeat Morta’s creation?

• People go missing on Dracostroyer’s island and it is up to the heroes to

rescue them!

• Dracostroyer’s egg hatches, and is a hyper-evolved version of

Dracostroyer, seeking a brooding place of her own and, wouldn’t you
know it? She’s chosen Tokyo!

PAGE 25 ICONS: DAWN OF THE DAIKAIJU

 Dracostroyer
PROWESS Great 6
COORDINATION Fair 4
STRENGTH Supreme 10
INTELLECT Average 3
AWARENESS Average 4
WILLPOWER Incredible 7
SPECIALTIES
Survival Expert

QUALITIES
Empress of Monsters
Force of Destruction
Protective Mother

POWERS
Armored Hide: Dracostroyer has
Amazing (8) Damage Resistance due
to her mass and armored hide.

Claws and Teeth: The daikaiju’s natural weapons can inflict Amazing (8)
slashing damage.

Tau Stone: Dracostroyer has half a meteor embedded in her chest, able to
project a devastating Fantastic (9) beam of Tau radiation, but requiring a
page of preparation in between blasts.

BACKGROUND
The creature known as Dracostroyer was born of an amalgamation of a Tau
radiation meteor fragment and an as-yet unknown amphibious reptile from
eons past, forming a formidable monster.

ICONS: DAWN OF THE DAIKAIJU PAGE 26

 King Mechakaiser
PROWESS Amazing 8
COORDINATION Average 3
STRENGTH Fantastic 9
INTELLECT Fair 4
AWARENESS Average 3
WILLPOWER Average 3
SPECIALTIES
Tactics Expert

QUALITIES
Gestalt Entity
Giant Mecha
King-Protector of the City

POWERS
Armor: Mechakaiser’s exterior hull gives it
Amazing (8) Damage Resistance.

Gestalt Control: Mechakaiser is controlled by a psychic gestalt of its

“pilots,” giving it Coordination, Awareness, and Willpower equal to total
number guiding it, up to six. So with a full complement of pilots,
Mechakaiser has a Fantastic (9) level in those abilities.

Kaiser-Punch! In addition to close-in fighting, Mechakaiser can launch

either of its fists and forearms like rockets to Blast for Fantastic (9) damage
at a distance.

BACKGROUND
Shaper and ULTRA Labs created the gestalt robot King Mechakaiser as a
weapon to counter the deadly Dracostroyer.

PAGE 27 ICONS: DAWN OF THE DAIKAIJU

 Shaper
PROWESS Average 3
COORDINATION Average 3
STRENGTH Average 3
INTELLECT Amazing 8
AWARENESS Good 5
WILLPOWER Good 5
SPECIALTIES
Eco-Suit Expert
Science
Technology Expert

QUALITIES
Impetuous and Impulsive
“I’ve got a device for that!”
Mother of Invention

POWERS
Exo-Suit: Shaper’s powered eco-suit grants
her Great (6) Strength, Incredible (7) Damage
Resistance, Good (5) Flight, and an Incredible
(7) Blast attack.

Inventive Collaboration: When collaborating

with others on an invention, Shaper can
“share” her Intellect, boosting the rest of her
team up to Amazing (8) level for the
purposes of combined effort.

BACKGROUND
Among the smartest people in the world, Vanessa Takahashi also has a
natural ability to boost the intellect of those around her, finding her an
important place working with ULTRA Labs.

ICONS: DAWN OF THE DAIKAIJU PAGE 28

 Appendix:
Daikaiju Creation
This adventure features several giant monsters, and such city-flattening
threats are a staple of the superhero comics. This Appendix offers a quick-
creation system for rolling-up daikaiju for this adventure or your own ICONS
games. This system is similar in some regards to the hero creation system in
ICONS and references some of the same resources.

PHASE 1: SIZE & STRENGTH

Roll a die to determine the overall size of the creature and its effective level
of Growth: 1–2 = Amazing (8), 3–4 = Fantastic (9), 5–6 = Supreme (10). This
is also the daikaiju’s Strength level and this level, minus 2, is the creature’s
base level of Damage Resistance.

PHASE 2: OTHER ATTRIBUTES

Roll on the Level Determination table from ICONS for the daikaiju’s
remaining attributes, as follows:

• Prowess & Willpower: Roll 2d6

• Coordination, Intellect & Awareness: Roll 1d6+1

PHASE 3: POWERS
Roll 2d6 on the Number of Powers table from ICONS. Give the creature one
Offensive power automatically and roll the others on the Power Type table.
Re-roll any power result incompatible with the creature’s level of Growth or
Damage Resistance. If a Defensive power comes up, add +2 to the
creature’s Damage Resistance in place of the rolled power, if desired.

PHASE 4: SPECIALTIES
Roll 1d6+2 on the Number of Specialties table from ICONS to determine the
daikaiju’s specialties. Then choose that many specialties or roll on the
following Specialty table. Feel free to add or choose additional specialties
as appropriate for the creature.

PAGE 29 ICONS: DAWN OF THE DAIKAIJU

 d6 roll Specialty

1 Aerial Combat or Underwater Combat

2 Athletics

3 Mental Resistance

4 Power

5 Survival

6 Unarmed Combat

PHASE 5: QUALITIES AND DESCRIPTION

Assign the daikaiju up to three qualities, following the guidelines in The
Assembled Edition of Icons. They can include things like:

• Titles like King of Demons, Creature from the Pit, Winged Shadow of
Destruction, or Three-Headed Dilemma.

• Descriptions like Colossal Robot, Mutant Reptile, Cyborg Sea-Monster,

Rock Creature from Space, or simply Giant [Animal or Other Creature].

• Drives like Must Survive at All Costs, Seeks Its Mate, or Defends Its
Territory.
• Distinctions like Feeds on Energy, Humans Are Tasty (or Cute), Just
Keeps Going, Communicates Through Tiny Faeries, or Victory Dance.

Likewise, come up with a description of what the daikaiju looks like, where
it came from, and its personality (if it has one to speak of). These details
can inspire qualities, or may suggest modifications to the qualities you have
chosen.

Stamina: Determine the daikaiju’s Stamina by adding its Strength and

Willpower levels together. At the Game Master’s discretion, a daikaiju may
determine its Stamina with twice its Strength rather than using Willpower,
especially if Willpower level is below 5.

Determination: Unless the daikaiju is a player-controlled character (as it

may be in this adventure) do not assign a Determination level or
Determination Points.

The new creature is now ready to menace the population center of your
choice!

ICONS: DAWN OF THE DAIKAIJU PAGE 30

 OPEN GAME LICENSE
The following text is the property of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and is Copyright 2000 Wizards of the
Coast, Inc ("Wizards"). All Rights Reserved.
1. Definitions: (a)"Contributors" means the copyright and/or trademark owners who have contributed
Open Game Content; (b)"Derivative Material" means copyrighted material including derivative works
and translations (including into other computer languages), potation, modification, correction,
addition, extension, upgrade, improvement, compilation, abridgment or other form in which an
existing work may be recast, transformed or adapted; (c) "Distribute" means to reproduce, license,
rent, lease, sell, broadcast, publicly display, transmit or otherwise distribute; (d)"Open Game
Content" means the game mechanic and includes the methods, procedures, processes and routines
to the extent such content does not embody the Product Identity and is an enhancement over the
prior art and any additional content clearly identified as Open Game Content by the Contributor, and
means any work covered by this License, including translations and derivative works under copyright
law, but specifically excludes Product Identity. (e) "Product Identity" means product and product line
names, logos and identifying marks including trade dress; artifacts; creatures characters; stories,
storylines, plots, thematic elements, dialogue, incidents, language, artwork, symbols, designs,
depictions, likenesses, formats, poses, concepts, themes and graphic, photographic and other visual
or audio representations; names and descriptions of characters, spells, enchantments, personalities,
teams, personas, likenesses and special abilities; places, locations, environments, creatures,
equipment, magical or supernatural abilities or effects, logos, symbols, or graphic designs; and any
other trademark or registered trademark clearly identified as Product identity by the owner of the
Product Identity, and which specifically excludes the Open Game Content; (f) "Trademark" means the
logos, names, mark, sign, motto, designs that are used by a Contributor to identify itself or its
products or the associated products contributed to the Open Game License by the Contributor (g)
"Use", "Used" or "Using" means to use, Distribute, copy, edit, format, modify, translate and
otherwise create Derivative Material of Open Game Content. (h) "You" or "Your" means the licensee
in terms of this agreement.
2. The License: This License applies to any Open Game Content that contains a notice indicating
that the Open Game Content may only be Used under and in terms of this License. You must affix
such a notice to any Open Game Content that you Use. No terms may be added to or subtracted
from this License except as described by the License itself. No other terms or conditions may be
applied to any Open Game Content distributed using this License.
3. Offer and Acceptance: By Using the Open Game Content You indicate Your acceptance of the
terms of this License.
4. Grant and Consideration: In consideration for agreeing to use this License, the Contributors grant
You a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license with the exact terms of this License
to Use, the Open Game Content.
5. Representation of Authority to Contribute: If You are contributing original material as Open Game
Content, You represent that Your Contributions are Your original creation and/or You have sufficient
rights to grant the rights conveyed by this License.
6. Notice of License Copyright: You must update the COPYRIGHT NOTICE portion of this License to
include the exact text of the COPYRIGHT NOTICE of any Open Game Content You are copying,
modifying or distributing, and You must add the title, the copyright date, and the copyright holder's
name to the COPYRIGHT NOTICE of any original Open Game Content you Distribute.
7. Use of Product Identity: You agree not to Use any Product Identity, including as an indication as to
compatibility, except as expressly licensed in another, independent Agreement with the owner of
each element of that Product Identity. You agree not to indicate compatibility or co-adaptability with
any Trademark or Registered Trademark in conjunction with a work containing Open Game Content
except as expressly licensed in another, independent Agreement with the owner of such Trademark
or Registered Trademark. The use of any Product Identity in Open Game Content does not constitute
a challenge to the ownership of that Product Identity. The owner of any Product Identity used in
Open Game Content shall retain all rights, title and interest in and to that Product Identity.

PAGE 31 ICONS: DAWN OF THE DAIKAIJU

8. Identification: If you distribute Open Game Content You must clearly indicate which portions of the
work that you are distributing are Open Game Content.
9. Updating the License: Wizards or its designated Agents may publish updated versions of this
License. You may use any authorized version of this License to copy, modify and distribute any Open
Game Content originally distributed under any version of this License.
10. Copy of this License: You MUST include a copy of this License with every copy of the Open
Game Content You Distribute.
11. Use of Contributor Credits: You may not market or advertise the Open Game Content using the
name of any Contributor unless You have written permission from the Contributor to do so.
12. Inability to Comply: If it is impossible for You to comply with any of the terms of this License with
respect to some or all of the Open Game Content due to statute, judicial order, or governmental
regulation then You may not Use any Open Game Material so affected.
13. Termination: This License will terminate automatically if You fail to comply with all terms herein
and fail to cure such breach within 30 days of becoming aware of the breach. All sublicenses shall
survive the termination of this License.
14. Reformation: If any provision of this License is held to be unenforceable, such provision shall be
reformed only to the extent necessary to make it enforceable.
15. COPYRIGHT NOTICE
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
McCormick, Kent Matthewson, Peter Mikelsons, Anthony Roberson, Andy Skinner, Stephan Szabo,
John Ughrin, Dmitri Zagidulin
FATE (Fantastic Adventures in Tabletop Entertainment), Copyright 2003 by Evil Hat Productions LLC;
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, Steve Kenson.
Dawn of the Daikaiju, Copyright 2020, Ad Infinitum Adventures, Author: Dan Houser.

ICONS: DAWN OF THE DAIKAIJU PAGE 32