SIGILS

One of the nice things about ICONS is how adaptable it is.  The basic system is quite simple and open enough to mess around with and not worry about breaking something.  This morning, I ran across a very ambitious attempt to do something different with the base system.  SIGILS is an sword and sorcery rules set based on ICONS, written by Mike Olson of Roll Some Dice.  It retains the mini-game of random character creation, and looks like a lot of fun at first glance.  For grins, I decided to roll up a character using these rules and see what happens.

Tyburn the Blade

Prowess  5
Coordination 4
Strength 4
Intellect 4
Awareness 3
Willpower 4

Determination 5
Stamina 8
Spirit 9

Culture: Great City
Backgrounds:  Soldier, Criminal (Murder)

Specialties
Trade
Languages
Weapons (Blades)
Stealth

Resources
Sword
Horse

Qualities
Well-Mannered
Handsome
Duellist

Challenge
Enemy - Lord Lazslo Mopas

Background
Tyburn is a River's Ender born and bred.  After a brief stint in a nobleman's private army, he fell into a career as a professional duellist.  In River's End, nobles do not deign to cross swords themselves -- they fight their duels through paid proxies.  At least the smart ones do.  Sadly, Ilen Mopas, heir to the great and wealthy Lord Lazslo, was not a smart one.  When offended by a romantic rival, Ilen demanded satisfaction and drew his own sword.  Sadly, his rival had Tyburn close at hand.  The affair was quick, bloody, and entirely legal, at least as the laws of River's End were concerned.  Lord Lazslo had other ideas.

The assassins came in the night.  Tyburn evaded them, with only his sword at hand and the clothes on his back.  Now he roams the Westerlands, avoiding Lazslo's hired killers and making a name for himself.

Notes and Impressions
Per the Resource rules, I'm unclear as to whether or not he should actually have a sword and a horse.  This may become more clear upon further reading.

All in all, I think the character creation process hangs together pretty well. I could certainly see using something ICONS-ish in a non-superhero environment, but I'd honestly prefer to use Barbarians of Lemuria as my first choice.  Still, SIGILS is a worthy effort and worth further investigation.