Review: Kaiju Incorporated RPG

The Kaiju Incorporated RPG (KIRPG) is a Fate Core-powered roleplaying game setting supplement from Evil Hat Productions, designed by Rob Wieland. The RPG serves as a tie-in to the Kaiju Incorporated card game designed by Eric B. Vogel, also from Evil Hat.

In the world of Kaiju Incorporated, giant monsters threaten civilization on a regular basis, and the Earth's only defense is a force of giant robots piloted by Aces. This is certainly a familiar arrangement, but neither KIRPG nor the card game are about these epic battles. Rather, they are about the companies that profit from the cleanup and reconstruction that follows. In the case of KIRPG, you play as the actual cleanup teams on the ground after (or sometimes even during) a kaiju attack.

KIRPG is a simple implementation of Fate Core, akin to a double-sized Fate World. You'll need a copy of the Fate Core rules to play. Characters are built using a pared-down version of the modes from the Atomic Robo RPG, choosing three of Crisis, Lab, Office, and PR. Three of your aspects are tied to the modes you select, as are your stunts. (It is also possible to have a Hybrid Aspect, meaning you were genetically modified by your corporation, in which case you could have Hybrid Stunts as a weak form of super-powers.)

Play centers around kaiju attacks, and each attack is rated on a color-coded danger scale. The color rating determines how many danger aspects are in play for the session. Each danger aspect must be overcome through player actions, and how well the players perform determines what consequences the characters take after the mission. It's an easy way to set up an adventure that serves well to make KIRPG easy to pick up and play. The book contains 15 kaiju to speed up adventures even more.

KIRPG is a 96-page full-color hardcover featuring art by Brian Patterson. The art and text work together to present a light-hearted, cartoon-flavored adventure game. The fact that players portray low-level staff unlikely to be interested in or capable of pursuing the possible mysteries of the setting means that campaign scope is pretty limited. This one is a great purchase if you are looking for something light to play between other games.

Style: 5. Excellent art by Brian Patterson and graphic design by Fred Hicks.
Substance: 4. What's here is good, but it's somewhat slight.