Godzilla The RPG - Impressive First Impressions

Today I returned from PAX Unplugged with two systems sticking out in my mind among the priceless revelry, the exciting zine swapping, the enthralling games and the absurdly quality Red Bull™ tavern; One was Twilight County, a cunningly simple little indie game about cowboys pushing their luck against lurking folk horrors. The other was Godzilla...

Godzilla: The Roleplaying Game (Or Godzilla Kai-Sei: The Roleplaying Game?) not only represents Comic Book Publisher IDW's first swing into Roleplaying Games[*1] but also everyone's favorite giant lizard getting its first official foray into the TTRPG scene. Now there's two very important caveats here: Firstly, I had the pleasure of playing what was very obviously an early build of the game (PAX Unplugged was its first public showing) so everything I talk about liking and disliking is subject to change yada-yada. Secondly, this game is very much Godzilla: Kai-Sei, from the art to the lore to the mechanics, so if you have no idea what that is be sure to read the background section. With that said, I went into this game pretty excited (and deeply relieved) to see a big publisher using an internationally beloved IP without defaulting to the world's most publicized roleplaying game. I was not, however, expecting to leave so thoroughly impressed by a game willing bring fresh ideas and take some big swings - I liked it so much in fact, that if they keep this up into the release this'll probably replace Dread as my default system for running something evocative and exciting on zero prep with minimal rules explanation needed.

BACKGROUND : WELCOME TO THE KAI-SEI ERA

If you (like me) have been following The Kai-Sei Era since its big promises in Godzilla: The New Heroes, you can skip this section unless you want my thoughts on the comic line. For those in the dark, Kai-Sei is IDW's second multi-series comic run involving its own proprietary timeline. Unlike Rulers of Earth and its brethren which (effectively) crutched on a monster-of-the-week formula drawing deep from Toho's well of monster IPs, Kai-Sei (effectively) crutches on striking visuals and a bold apocalyptic reimagining of a world inhabited by monsters. 

Here mysterious Getter Rays Kai-Sei energy empowers kaiju, lays waste to whole territories and mutates some people into super heroic living weapons. While the series is split into three equally "pretty alright" series, this RPG only involves the flagship Godzilla: Kai-Sei, which plays out a bit like if Pacific Rim was about super heroes instead of mechs (the main G-Force cast have varying powers derived from Kai-Sei energy in a way that feels all at once fitting and foreign to a Godzilla title). The premise and art dwarf the middling writing and half-baked emotional beats, but we're still at the start of the run. The point is, Godzilla Kai-Sei is just fine. It's a neat set-up with likeable character and gorgeous art, but you're missing nothing by skipping it. But all this set-up? All this art? In an RPG? With a good system? That is the special sauce. That I think is worth your attention.

THE HAND YOU'RE DEALT

OK so enough background, how does the damn game work? Players share one standard deck of 52 Cards with Jokers, and the GM has their own. On the GM side, they draw cards at the end of each round (or if they feel something's been done to ramp the tension) from their deck to slowly add up a "Crisis Clock" that triggers specific consequences at certain thresholds. In our game there was a 90 score count-down before HQ thought shit would hit the fan. Later we were chased by Biolante-infested zombies and had a mere 11 score before they were upon us. It's up to GM discretion if you reveal this number, but I'd recommend it. It feels so perfect for a game that wants to keep things moving, keep the stakes high, and keep the sword of damocles dangling overhead as the clock ticks away. It's simple and elegant and oh so chef's kiss. You could easily slot this system into any game you're playing to tighten the bolts with some player facing stakes.

On the player side this can be labeled a "bonus stacking" type of game. Each player is dealt cards equal to their Willpower at the start of the game (these cards are hard to replenish), and the rest of the deck sits in the middle. You have 4 attributes that correlate to the 4 suits and your "score" for an action starts as your base score with an applicable attribute. After that you add relevant ability, gear, traits and bonds based off of the kind of action you're taking and the way you're taking it. Then you can add one card from your hand for their number value (Aces are 1, Face Cards are 10), and if the card matches the suit it counts as a 10. Finally, to add a nice bit of randomness, you must flip one card from the deck, black cards add score while red cards subtract it. Drawing a Joker is an instant failure... and while on reflection I was never told what a Joker does if you get it into your hand and play it, I'd guess it's an instant success. The number to beat remains hidden and depends on the danger of the task at hand. Over-succeeding at particularly dangerous tasks allows you to claim rewards like extra cards or extra damage (because yes this is also the central procedure for combat), while failure can incur damage and more cards on the Crisis Clock. Write on some unique character abilities and that's how easy it is to explain the game ~

As an example of a check: I played a live-streaming wise-cracking crack-shot[*2], and hacked a panel using Intelligence (Diamonds - +3), my Pattern Recognition (+2), called in my traits of "Always Ready" slapping on a branded quick-hack sticker (+1), "Pressure is a Privilege" (+1) since we were in a room piled with bodies that were waking up, and cracked a joke for "Constant Commentator" (+1) before adding my Rivalry with the squad's resident hacker Hawk (+2) who I wanted to prove myself to. Finally I played a 4 of Diamonds which counted as a 10 due to it matching the check for a full score of 20, before flipping a card to... a 3 of Hearts, which brought my score down to a respectable and successful 17, enough to open the door at least. Of note, success and failure seems to hinge on intervals of 5 which I quite liked. Part of me thinks a "Push Your Fate" style mechanic would go well here with drawing an extra card at the risk of a critical failure, but also part of me thinks the central procedure is complicated enough for a pretty lightweight game.

Now you may be thinking "wait, doesn't that mean you can stack a crazy amount of bonuses and a face card and draw into an even higher number?" And the answer is yes, and it was kind of awesome when I did it (I stacked my bonuses all the way to 38 before drawing into an 8 for a wild 46 on a sniper shot - see the hurried scrawls on the side of my sheet). However, all this counting is a lot to keep track of in your head. They gave us poker chips to help add (look, I get it, a full Godzilla Poker set would be incredible and a great way to get people who aren't sure they'll play the RPG to still back the Kickstarter) but earnestly I think I'd also want a count-up dial of some kind if I was playing this game routinely.

The character sheet says it all re; the system and its elegant simplicity. While I was a little sad that (unlike Inheritors) the barcode isn't functional, this still looks super clean and stylish to my sensibilities. Nothing avant-garde or ground-breaking, just readable and pleasant to look at.

System-wise it's all a bit Worm-pilled, albeit with less of a focus on thoughtful combat/survival, and a greater focus on being powerful and leveraging character quirks - It feels to His Majesty the Worm as Blades in the Dark feels to Into the Odd - In fact, the whole game I kept reflecting on how exciting it is to see so many developers embracing this card based gameplay (see also earlier mentions of Twilight County), never mind developers with the reigns of an internationally titanic IP.

While it's certainly simpler than the Worm, it's that simplicity that I think makes it perfect for the IP its holding. This actually may be a lot of players' first freeform tabletop games, and it'll be one that's not just intuitive but encourages creativity and leveraging every part of your character and the scenario. While it's still an early build, I have to assume there'll be rules and advice to give bonuses or penalties to the score you're building based on environmental factors, further encouraging new players to look for answers off of their character sheets. It's all just so clean, and frankly it's the first big-name IP game I've felt good about since Alien The RPG, and frankly? I think this takes bigger risks to greater effect.

A KAIJU GAME BUT ITS ABOUT THE PEOPLE[*3]

So Godzilla: The RPG is clearly, in my mind, a good game. Hell, it may even end up being a great game. But is it a good Godzilla game? The answer feels a little nuanced, and is also deeply tied to the actual IP it's attached to which is not Godzilla, but Godzilla Kai-Sei. Kai-Sei means the main cast on the ground often have super powers, miraculous talents, big obvious pulpy character quirks, and I think the RPG is explicitly adapting this with gusto. This also makes it a system that'd feel effortlessly at home for a game about super heroes, or even super critters[*4]. 

Now is this going to bring you the political drama of Shin-Godzilla? Let you feel the powerless chill of a survivor in Godzilla Minus One? Be conducive to replicating that fateful day in 1954? Absolutely not. This is a system aimed at making you powerful. It favors success and frankly is geared around heroically solving the problem head-on. That's not to say we felt totally invincible - in fact the playtest scenario did a great job of keeping us guessing as to what was too dangerous to risk - It's just to say that we all felt very powerful, very heroic. 

It wasn't until I was talking with Reynaldo about whether this system would be good for adapting a story like Godzilla: Singular Point that I realized, actually maybe it would be. Most characters in Godzilla films are miraculously talented, either by luck, telepathy or plot convenience. Sure they don't have super powers, but they sure do survive and problem solve so well that they might as well have them.

This feels important too because when I mentioned I'd be playing in the Godzilla RPG to a group of peers, their first thought was half-jokes that it must be something akin to Rampage or War of the Monsters - And honestly you could absolutely run a game with this system where everyone is giant kaiju and it'd probably be smooth as butter. Kaiju No. 8 and Pacific Rim fans eat your heart out with hacks of this.

It's an inherently pulpier take on Godzilla, but one that feels no less good to play and arguably one that'll have broader appeal. If the end product of Godzilla: The RPG ends up being as good as the playtest, I'll be utterly sold and recommend you give it a shot. If it ends up being somehow better? I'll probably never shut up about it.

[*1 : OK so truth be told, the history is a bit messy and a mystery to me so maybe there was an RPG I missed in the mix - IDW once had a Games division that made some games I've never tried before closing up shop in 2021. They're back though, and hopefully here to stay if they put out stuff like this.]

[*2 - As an aside the Pre-Gens for this albeit simple adventure were absolutely delightful and took the character tropes from the main Kai-Sei cast and built characters who were just as if not more compelling  - While the bar is low to surpass the writing quality of the comics, I have a feeling this RPG will do just that and hopefully more.]

[*3 - This is a nod to the common meme of people saying that a Kaiju movie is good and unique because "it's about the people" or they only like the niche few mecha "that are about the pilots" when in reality, most of them are still that - It's more a question of how pulpy the story ends up being - Is it full camp like Godzilla vs King Gidora (1991) or is it a brooding and horrifying political thriller like Shin-Godzilla?]

[*4 - So we all know how a publishing brand making a proprietary system goes, yeah? They make one hit and then they staple the engine on to every IP they can get their hands on (looking at you Free League). But unlike the Year Zero engine, I'm actually pretty smitten with IDW's in-house Crisis Core or whatever they end up calling it. If they want to slap this into TMNT or Sonic then frankly this system feels like it would adapt to those pretty perfectly.]