Godzilla the Roleplaying Game Preview | PAX East 2026

One of my favorite things I got to do at PAX East was play Godzilla the Roleplaying Game from IDW Games. It’s rare that I get to be a player in TTRPGs, since I’m usually the one running the game, so this was a refreshing change of pace.

After playing the one-shot, I found myself curious about what it would be like to run the game as a DM, or “Deck Master,” as they’re called in Godzilla RPG. I’ll get into that more in a bit.

The mechanics feel different from most TTRPGs I’ve played, and putting players into a world of kaiju is both fun and a little stressful.

When we sat down, we were given character sheets and a short demo book. I played as Cordell, the self-appointed leader of the group. There were four other players at the table, and according to my character sheet, Cordell had established connections with two of them, which gave me an advantage when coordinating our actions.

After a brief introduction, we jumped into the game. The strike force I was part of was sent to investigate a possible kaiju disturbance. Once we decided where to land, we immediately ran into our first challenge, a locked door guarding a weapons cache.

To perform feats, each character has bonuses tied to different stats: coordination, mindfulness, intelligence, and strength. Each stat is associated with a card suit. Unlike most TTRPGs, Godzilla is played using two standard decks of playing cards, which together form the Destiny Deck.

Each player starts with a hand equal to their willpower. In my case, that meant drawing five random cards.

When I wanted to perform a feat, I had to explain what I was trying to do, and the Deck Master would determine which stat to use. For example, opening the sealed door required a strength check. I started with a +2 bonus, then added one of my abilities, as long as I could justify how it fit the situation.

In this case, I used my “Spot an Opening” ability, describing how I searched for weak points in the door, which gave me an additional +4. I could also factor in any relevant gear for another bonus, along with up to three traits, each adding +1, as long as they made sense for the action.

The catch is that I couldn’t rely on the same traits every time. I had to mix and match, which encouraged creativity instead of repeating the same approach.

Once I calculated my total, I could play a card from my hand. The value of the card is added to my score, with a bonus if the suit matches the stat being used.

In this case, clubs are tied to strength, so I played a two of clubs, which boosted my total by ten points.

This is where things got interesting. After adding up my total, I flipped the top card from the Destiny Deck. If it was black, its value was added to my score. If it was red, that value was subtracted instead.

This created a real sense of risk and reward. I had to decide if I felt confident enough in my total before flipping, or if I should play a card from my hand to boost my chances. Since those cards in my hand are a limited resource, I wanted to make sure I played them when my actions mattered the most.

I can earn more cards through successful actions. The better the outcome, the more rewards I receive in the form of points that can be spent on dealing damage, drawing new cards, and more. Even then, gaining a card is limited to one per success. This limited the resources I had, which also made them much more valuable.

Then there’s the crisis clock. After each major event, the Deck Master flips a card and adds its value to the clock’s total. At certain thresholds, new events are triggered.

This kept the pressure on our team and made the story feel alive and constantly evolving.

I won’t go any further into the adventure, especially since this one-shot may be included with the starter set. What I will say is that I had such a great time playing that I immediately backed the project on Kickstarter.

If you’re interested in backing the project, now is the time. Tomorrow, 4/2, is the final day to back it.