Publishers have just been notified of a roughly 5% increase in the cost of print-on-demand products over on DriveThruRPG starting February 1st, which may require a reevaluation of print product pricing. So, if you’ve been thinking about picking up one or more Ad Infinitum Adventures products in print at current prices, this coming week would be a good time to do that.
Calling All Heroes!
Hey, folks, can I both commit capitalism and get a bit personal for a moment? I wanna talk a bit about the upcoming Kickstarter for the fourth edition of Mutants & Masterminds.
As GR COO Nicole Lindroos said, now feels like a weird time to be running a crowd-funder for a game, but the last decade has felt like a weird time to be making games, honestly.
That said, I make games. They’re my passion, and M&M has a very special place in my heart. It truly changed my life.
The first edition of M&M back in 2002 changed the trajectory of my career: It led to my coming on-staff with Green Ronin and it cemented me as “the superhero RPG guy” in a lot of people’s minds — folks are still surprised to this day about the other stuff I’ve done!
Add to that, it has been a rough 5+ years in TTRPGs with a pandemic, trade-wars, tariffs, and distribution bankruptcies, all with no real let-up. That’s doubly-true if you’re not D&D, Pathfinder, or associated with streaming show with a huge fanbase. So a successful Kickstarter can mean a lot.
All of that said, I really believe the power-fantasy of the superhero is being powerful enough to help, to respond to that cry of “save me!” To swoop in and save the day. That’s a power fantasy we need more than ever: Not to wait around for a hero, but to BE a hero, to stand up for what’s right.
I don’t know about you, but creating stories at the game-table with my friends has helped keep me sane this past decade or so, and helped remind me why I create games and adventures and worlds to tell those stories in. I sincerely hope you’ve enjoyed those efforts over the years.
Still, right now, it feels a bit like I’m the battered Captain America, facing Thanos and his army alone with just a broken shield and a borrowed hammer. I could really use for some portals to open up and for some much-needed help to arrive in my hour of need.
If that’s you, I’m asking this: Please do what you can to support the M&M 4e Kickstarter. That may be signing up on the KS page and backing it when it launches, or it may just be sharing it and hyping it to friends you think might be interested. Every bit helps and is so appreciated. Thank you!
It’s World Snake Day, Everyone!
A New Ophidian Adventure for Icons!
Okay, technically, World Snake Day is July 16th this year, but we couldn’t wait until then to share this exciting new adventure from new Icons author Brandon Crilly!
When the heroes are invited to be guests of honor for World Snake Day, promoting awareness of our ophidian friends, they’re in for a surprise from the Scalemaster, who doesn’t think anyone’s love for snakes can be as sincere as his!
But Scalemaster’s takeover of the vivarium is just the first step in someone else’s sinister plan to exploit fear of snakes and to turn World Snake Day into a terror such as the city has never known! Can the heroes prove themselves friends to the serpentine and save World Snake Day from disaster?
Get It’s World Snake Day, Everyone! on DriveThruRPG now!
Icons Black Friday Sale!
As you might have heard (a lot, if you’re subscribed to publisher updates) DriveThruRPG is doing the traditional capitalism this weekend and holding a Black Friday sale, which actually begins now and runs until Cyber Monday, but what do you care? It’s a sale! You can get 30% off on tons of RPG products, including Icons Superpowered Roleplaying and its sourcebooks and adventures. It’s also a great time to pick up the Icons Annuals for a good deal less than the cost of individual articles, so fill out your collection, grab whatever’s been lingering on your wish-list, or just check out the game finally!
It’s Christmas in July!
It’s time for the annual Christmas in July sale over at DriveThruRPG, and Icons Superpowered Roleplaying is included under the palm-tree with dozens of products available at a discount. It’s a great time to pick up that supplement or adventure you had your eye on, fill out your collection, or even jump in and try out Icons for the first time! If you’re in the mood to bring a little more Christmas into your July, check out the Holiday Hijinks bundle and get both Santa Claus vs. the Metaskulks and Size Queen’s Humongous Holiday Heist together for one low price! The sale runs July 17–31, so don’t miss out on some of the biggest savings of the year!
Icons Assembled Edition Deal of the Day!
Icons: The Assembled Edition is the Deal of the Day today over at DriveThru RPG! You can get the PDF of the best-selling superhero RPG for just $6 or 70% off the regular price! This opportunity is only good for the next 24 hours, until 10:00 am Central Time on Sunday, so don’t miss out!
If you’re looking for something for Free RPG Day or to see if Icons is worth a few bucks, check out the Pay What You Want Icons Quickstart!
The GM’s Day Sale is On!
You can get a whole range of Icons Superpowered Roleplaying titles for up to 40% off at the annual GM’s Day Sale over on DriveThruRPG! That includes many third-party titles from the Icons Compatibility License as well as Ad Infinitum products. The sale runs March 3rd until March 17th.
The sale is also a great opportunity to pick up other fun superhero RPG content to add to or inspire your Icons games or just clear out your wishlist with big bargains. Don’t forget to check out the Icons Patreon for all-new Icons content every month!
Icons Annual 4
A Year of Icons to Enhance Your Game
Icons Annual 4 is a collection of content for Icons Superpowered Roleplaying, created for the Icons Patreon online and supported by patrons and the Icons community. This collection of articles includes:
- Variants! Options for the existing Icons rules, ranging from using a d20 instead of 2d6 to different ways to handle advancement to expanded values for ability levels.
- Settings! Modular setting material for your games, from the immortal and reincarnating Mala to pulp and wild west era settings and how to include time travel in your Icons games.
- Adventures! Ready-to-play Icons adventures, including The I-Con Incident intro adventure from the Icons Quickstart and Minions of the Ultra-Mind using the villains from the Assembled Edition rulebook.
Icons Annual 4 gives you a year’s worth of Icons content all at once in one, easy-to-reference book. It makes a great companion volume to Annual 1, Annual 2, Annual 3, and other essay collections like Icons A to Z or Icons Presents to supplement your options for systems, settings, and supplementary material for your Icons game!
For those who prefer their Icons content “a la carte” you can also get the chapters of Annual 4 as individual PDFs on DriveThruRPG, although you save by getting the whole book at once, of course. Icons Annual 4 is on sale now over at DriveThruRPG!
This year (2025) on the Icons Patreon, you can get monthly releases of Icons Adventure Archetypes! You get monthly articles, behind-the-scenes looks, and access to the patron-only channels of the Icons Discord for a minimum “Sidekick” tier of just $3.
Super-Simple Storytelling System (4S) RPG
(inspired by Alan Bahr)
I posted this in a discussion on BlueSky then realized after the fact that I could have made a lil’ blog post out of it, but I’m Bad At Promotion™ … so, here it is!
Choose a schtick: Describe your hero and what they can do in prose, from “Basically Batman” to a multi-page backstory and detail of their various traits and qualities.
Do something: Describe how an action or task falls within your hero’s schtick and roll % dice: 1–25 = Failure, 26–75 = Partial Success, 76+ = Total Success!
Some tasks may require multiple successes to complete: Minor foes might be felled with a single total (or even partial) success, major ones might require three or more.
Momentum Option: Whenever your hero fails, you get 5 points that can be spent on a 1-to-1 basis to improve a future roll.
“Season” with 01 = Critical Failure and 00 = Critical Success options, dice roll modifiers, or use of a 2d6 or 3d6 bell curve with similar probabilities to weight things towards the middle outcomes.
Now you’ve been saved considerable time and expense in learning other RPG systems!
Icons Black Friday Sale!
As you might have heard (a lot, if you’re subscribed to publisher updates) DriveThruRPG is doing the traditional capitalism this weekend and holding a Black Friday sale, which actually begins now and runs until Cyber Monday, but what do you care? It’s a sale! You can get 30% off on tons of RPG products, including Icons Superpowered Roleplaying and its sourcebooks and adventures. It’s also a great time to pick up the Icons Annuals for a good deal less than the cost of individual articles, so fill out your collection, grab whatever’s been lingering on your wish-list, or just check out the game finally!
Steve Kenson 
