Review: Mecha v. Kaiju

I was surprised and honored when we received the request to review this Cypher Creator supplement for Jonathan Wright. Obviously we agreed to do it. I will be the first to admit that the type of game this book portrays isn’t typically my cup of tea, however I was both pleased and impressed by this book.

Let’s start with layout. Mecha vs Kaiju is neatly laid out with the cover art reminiscent of the older comic books. The preface is well thought out and entices you to read more and he is engaging the audience with his book. The subsequent pages of the book are the standard side-by-side paragraphs, with headers used to great effect for ease of reading. He used the sidebar to include the page number from the Revised Cypher System Rulebook for the rules he referenced in the paragraph next to it, making it easier on the reader.

So as you could probably tell from the name Mecha vs Kaiju, we’re talking about the genre of Science Fiction and specifically the sub-genre of Monster and Machine. Jonathan also broke it down further into multiple categories to help people get mentally into the space of what they want to play. The rules are not at all what I expected, and he hasn’t included rules for the Mechas themselves.  Instead he kept it to the Revised Cypher System Rulebook standard and followed KISS. (Keep It Simple, um… yeah). I’m not going to go into detail about the different rules because that’s what the book is for, but even I, someone who doesn’t typically do mecha games, would find this easy and fun to run. 

On page seven of the book, he goes into more detail for the individual player characters and created archetypes that include both types from the Revised Cypher System Rulebook, flavoring, and then different bonuses to each type to fit the theme of this supplement. He also included samples of Mecha and Kaiju to choose from as well as an instructional way to build your own. Points are used to buy and build your creation, because that’s part of the fun. As well as power shifts for the Kaiju to give them their extra oomph, like Godzilla’s Atomic Heat Beam to King Ghidorah’s lightning breath. A table for size comparisons and you’re good to go.

He wraps up the supplement with discussions of clans, or groups that the PCs could join to increase their activity as fighters against the Kaiju. Each clan listed provides benefits, and other information for people and their background development. 

To conclude, I have been thoroughly impressed by this product and would recommend it for anyone who is into the Mecha and Kaiju genre of science fiction gaming and look forward to seeing more from Jonathan Wright in the future.

• Joann Walles