World of Warcraft: ICONS - The Tauren

  O.k, since my last post about using ICONS for a tabletop RPG set in the World of Warcraft was basically just me saying "Hey, this system would work pretty well for this!", here's an actual example of how I would apply it. It's very simple.

  Here are the Tauren's racial traits, taken from WoWWiki:

• War Stomp: Grab the 'Stunning' power with the 'Burst' Extra. 
• Endurance: I would say Taurens should be allowed to take Strength up to 7, which is Low Superhuman. Since in ICONS the Stamina stat is partially derived from Strength, I don't think it's required to take Endurance as a power, their toughness in combat is already taken care of there. (I don't think any Tauren character should take a Strength below 4.)
• Cultivation: ICONS states that the Science Specialty can optionally be divided into separate Specialties for individual Sciences. It seems like a fitting rule for Warcraft. This one would become 'Science: Herbalism'. I wouldn't really bother with the fact that Tauren are supposedly better than other races at this. If a Tauren player feels it's really important, they can always take the Specialty, but honestly in WoW there's plenty of Tauren players who don't pick up Herbalism. Optionally, players could take their Race and Class as Qualities and apply their 'Tauren' Quality to use their Herbalism better and faster than others.
• Nature Resistance: We use the 'Resistance' power to create 'Resistance: Nature'. The Game Master can use common sense regarding what would apply as a 'Nature' attack or not.

  Simple as that! I'd basically tell players to take their Racial Traits first, and then they can choose their 'Class' powers. I wouldn't feel a strict need for players to replicate a starting character in WoW, since the needs of the MMORPG don't reflect exactly how things work in the lore. For example, if someone wants to make a Goblin Engineer, I wouldn't demand that they also choose a Class from the game. Plus players can always replicate Class Skills they might not have access to yet via Stunts.

  

World of Warcraft using ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying

  Just a quick idea here, but it occurs to me that ICONS is well-suited to replicate something like a high-powered Fantasy MMORPG at the table in a storytelling-focused way instead of mechanically. <Insert 4th Edition D&D jokes here.>

  The way I see it is that ICONS already has everything to replicate all the racial traits, abilities, skills and powers you could find in the game.

  You want to make a Draenei Warrior with the Gift of the Naaru? No problem. A Goblin Engineer with outlandish gadgets? Easy as pie. Magic objects and weapons would obviously be devices too.

  Honestly I don't even see the need to come up with house rules here. I would simply say, use the optional point-buy system in this case, refer to the Warcraft games and/or lore when creating characters, and you should be fine. (For example, yes you can make a Tauren with a Strength of 7, but not a Gnome with that same Strength, or at least not without the right device/explanation.)

P.S: Yes, I know there was an OGL game for Warcraft/World of Warcraft but it's out-of-print and many things are not up to date with the game as we know it now, even by the time Burning Crusade came out.