By Allison Watkinson
TLL Reporter
Toho International and IDW Games have teamed up to adapt the Godzilla franchise into a licensed tabletop experience called Godzilla: The Roleplaying Game.
The licensed game is reuniting three experienced developers from the Warhammer franchise to serve as the co-creators of the new Godzilla tabletop property.
“Working on a Godzilla RPG is something of a dream come true – and the fact that I get to team up with Jervis Johnson and Gav Thorpe again feels like getting the band back together,” said co-creator Mark A. Latham. “It’s really exciting to have total freedom in developing a new system: something that really fits with the G-Force era of Godzilla stories, and truly encourages immersive storytelling and character-driven narrative,” added Latham. “I think players and DMs alike are going to be very surprised by this game.”
As the co-creators of the Godzilla: The Roleplaying Game, Johnson, Latham and Thorpe are developing a new game system that uses standard 52-card decks rather than the classic dice format.
“When IDW first approached me about working on a role-playing game system, I was cautious until I found out that the game would be based on their fantastic Godzilla comics — at which point I immediately said ‘Yes please, count me in,”
said co-creator Jervis Johnson. “Godzilla: The Roleplaying Game is the first time I’ve had a chance to help design a fully-fledged RPG, and doing so with Gav and Mark and the IDW creative team has been a fantastic experience. I am really pleased with the way that the game system has come together, especially the way that using cards instead of dice has allowed us to include a number of novel game mechanics in the game system,” added Johnson. “I’ve had a soft-spot for Godzilla ever since I was about eight years old and my mum took me to see Son of Godzilla. I liked it so much I made her stay at the cinema so I could watch the film a second time! As you can imagine, this means that getting to work on the Godzilla roleplaying game is a childhood dream come true for me.”
Centered around IDW Publishing’s Kai-Sei Era comic universe, the upcoming Godzilla game brings a team of players into a mission to defend humanity from kaiju attacks with a gameplay style that uses character sheets, collaboration and playing cards.
“As a fan of RPGs for over four decades it’s a privilege to work on a setting as iconic as Godzilla — one of the most recognisable characters worldwide,” said co-creator Gav Thorpe. “It’s been a great experience working with Jervis and Mark to bring to life our ideas for the IDW roleplaying system, and the Godzilla game,” added Thorpe. “It’s not often that, as a designer, one gets the opportunity to build something completely from the ground up. It’s our intent to make something foundational that adds to the canon of game systems but more importantly is fun, intuitive and rewards player teamwork.”
The new tabletop property will be supported by a Godzilla RPG Kickstarter campaign with a 30-day pledge that will launch in early 2026.
The Kickstarter campaign will feature limited-edition prize tiers with expected fulfillment by fall 2026.
IDW Games will also host special Playtests for attendees of the PAX Unplugged event in Philadelphia from November 21-23, 2025.
Players who participate in the PAX Unplugged Playtests will receive both exclusive player previews and limited-edition merchandise.
In addition, IDW Games will offer a selection of exclusive Godzilla RPG merchandise to fans that will only be available at the PAX Unplugged event.
The exclusive products will include a range of licensed beanies, playmats, notebooks, pins, koozies, playing cards, tote bags and more.
Godzilla: The Roleplaying Game is the first new release from IDW Games in more than 5 years, and the studio already has plans in the works to expand their game line with additional licensed properties.
IDW is a media company that creates multi-platform content and character IP for audiences around the world.
The company’s IDW Publishing and IDW Entertainment divisions are responsible for evaluating, licensing and acquiring IP for franchise development across comics, graphic novels, TV, theatrical, merch and more.
Owned by Toho Co Ltd, the Godzilla brand first appeared in 1954 in the live-action Japanese monster film, Gojira.
Since its initial debut, the Godzilla franchise has expanded to include a wide selection of movies, animated series, video games, published works and licensed consumer products.
The licensing rights to the Godzilla brand are handled by the Toho Co Ltd.’s US-based subsidiary, Toho International, Inc.
Image Credit: IDW Games company logo.
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