Freshman Handbook is the core setting guide to the Hope Preparatory School setting for ICONS. It starts with the characters entering Hope Prep as freshmen before they are anywhere close to a life of superheroics. Freshman Handbook provides a lot of focus on subjects other than super-powers that one may desire in life while working the mundane; not everyone becomes a crime-fighting vigilante. Hope Preparatory School is the setting that looks at what life can be like before you become a superhero.

OVERALL

Few comic books address the life of possessing super-powers before adulthood. Most that do avoid the periods of time spent at school. So what would a school look like if it was filled with students with super abilities? It would look like Hope Preparatory School; the school that prepares you for life and examines avenues outside of superheroics. If you want to explore life before becoming a full-fledged superhero, this is where to start.

RATINGS

Publication Quality: 9 out of 10 Freshman Handbook is a solid, high-quality publication. I wish it had a table of contents (although the PDF is fully bookmarked) and the “side note” text is difficult to read at times due to its color and font (when read on my handheld device). Other than that, the layout and formatting are very professional and the illustrations do a good job of enhancing the content (what few there are). What stands out the most outside of the clean content are the stat blocks in the back, reflecting that ICONS styling.

Mechanics: 10 out of 10 Hope Preparatory School and the Freshman Handbook contain very little mechanical changes to ICONS. These changes come in the form of moving from the concept of superhero teams to the concept of cliques that form throughout the student body. This is an excellent representation of the setting, based within a school and presenting what life is like between students. These are not heroic vigilantes, they’re kids learning the ropes. This change is subtle and fits perfectly.

Desire to Play: 9 out of 10 Freshman Handbook presents users with a complete look at what the Hope Preparatory School is like and what students can expect throughout the time they spend there. It takes the concept of ICONS and moves it to a more juvenile level whereas the superheroes aren’t superheroes yet, but are rather high-school kids learning how they are going to survive once they reach adulthood. It doesn’t quite have the Golden and Silver Age feel that ICONS is essentially designed for, but is generic enough that the setting’s time-line can be moved to an earlier period and much of the content would remain compatible. One could easily use Hope Prep as a precursor to a lengthy campaign as a superhero in any ICONS setting. Additionally, it makes for great stories as there are plenty of opportune moments in a high-school student’s life that is filled with drama and critical decision making.

Overall: 9 out of 10 Hope Preparatory School is a fun setting and Freshman Handbook does a great job of representing its potential. Unless you want to jump straight into a life as a superhero, Hope Prep gives you a good starting point for your life to come. It helps to justify how someone can turn out the way they do (good or evil), what they learn, and maybe even the powers they acquire after finding their true abilities. I think the most appealing part of Hope Prep is the fact that High School is already filled with opportunities to be a hero even without super-powers.

The Freshman Handbook is a great product in the Hope Prep product line. Meant to follow from the Hope Prep Orientation book, this book expands what you know and provides more information.

Like the Orientation Book, this book is multi-system. I had no issue moving from the ICONS version of one to the M&M version of the other.

This book contains everything a new student will need to know about their new school. There are class schedules with information on the teachers (and their powers, listed in back). While there is a wealth of information here it's utility will vary form GM to GM. While somw may like know where the students are at any given moment of any given day, there are others that will hand wave this.

One thing I found a distraction was the multi-colored text of the two students, Maza and Kid Courage. While interesting and provided a good insight to what was "really" going on, I found the font choice and color difficult to read sometimes.

Ever since the X-Men went to class and the Teen Titans went to their tower, being a super powered teen has always been popular in comics. It was popular before that too, but let's stick with high school. Hope Prep is another in a long line of Schools for .... you get the idea. This book was written for ICONS, but I am certain that the same applies for other versions (M&M). The idea here is a day spent learning about your new school, Hope Prep. A new bad guy organization is introduced, which I really liked and will use. And it works as a good introduction to supers roleplaying and the game systems as well.

Each scene is detailed well, but not in a way that tells the GM what everyone needs to do, but instead a framework of what is going on and how to move from one scene to the next. Very nice. There is a starter map of the school grounds and some materials to print and give to your players.

All in all, a very fun intro and certainly makes want to get some more from this line of products.

Orientation is a great first adventure for your players to get acclimated to the ICONS system. I am running this for my own four children who range from 8 to 18 years old. The entire adventure revolves around the players first day orientation and allows them to learn about the school as well as the main instructors of the school. There is a map of the school included which is top notch and will be helpful for future adventures. Overall Orientation was perfect to help me teach my players about the ICONS system especially the three who had never role played before. I look forward to The Substitute being converted to ICONS and would highly recommend this to players who are new to ICONS.

Hope Prep is a great add on to the ICONS world. As a father of four home schooled children I was looking to run something for my kids as a sort of summer school project. Hope Prep provides a great background setting for gamers looking to run a supers campaign for younger supers. This supplement provides background on Hope Prep, teacher info and goes all the way down to class schedules and rival schools. I cannot wait for the Hope Prep #0 to be released for ICONS.