 | |
| Designers | Jonathan Gilmour and Doug Levandowski |
|---|---|
| Publishers |
|
| Genres | tabletop role-playing game, adventure |
Kids on Bikes is atabletop role-playing game system, and a series of games that use that system. It has won multipleENNIE Awards.
The first game in the series,Kids on Bikes, was inspired by 1980s coming-of-age movies likeThe Goonies. In 2022, the second edition ofKids on Bikes raised $182,049 onKickstarter from 2,793 backers.[1]
There are three other games in the series: the space-themedTeens in Space, a game about a school for wizards and witches calledKids on Brooms,[2][3][4] and a forthcoming superhero game calledKids in Capes.[5] On February 10, 2023, the designers held a charity sale ofKids on Brooms with all profits donated totransgender rights organizationSylvia Rivera Law Project. This was part of a larger boycott movement againstHogwarts Legacy due to theanti-transgender activities of authorJ. K. Rowling.[6]
Kids on Bikes won the 2019 GoldENNIE Awards for Best Family Game / Product, andKids on Bikes: Strange Adventures! Volume Two won the same award in 2020.[7][8] Cass Marshall forPolygon recommended it for fans ofStranger Things.[9]
Rachel Johnson of CBR recommendedKids on Brooms for fans of theHarry Potter series, lauding it for its accessibility to tabletop players old and new.[10] Dicebreaker also had praise for the game's flexible spellcasting system.[11] Polygon called it one of the best tabletop role-playing games of 2022, calling out its character creation process for creating interesting relationships and rumors.[12]
Kids on Bikes character creation involves assigningstandard roleplaying dice to each of sixstats. Unlike traditional DnD, where players roll a 20-sided die and then add a modifier based on their character's skill in a given category, the number of sides of each die correlates to the character's skill in each statistic. When a player rolls the maximum value on one of their die, they are allowed to roll again, and add the result of the next roll.[13] Players andgamemaster construct the setting together.[2]
The game features a mechanic to allow for a "powered" character like those fromE.T. andStranger Things. While Powered characters are similar tonon-player characters, players are able to exhibit some narrative control over the actions these characters take.[2]
The Kids on Bikes system has been featured on multiple seasons of theactual play seriesDimension 20, includingMisfits and Magic usingKids on Brooms,[14]Mentopolis using "a 'noir-ified' version of Kids on Bikes",[15] andNever Stop Blowing Up using a system "heavily inspired by"Kids on Bikes.[16]
Dropout, publisher ofDimension 20, later released a four-page version of theNever Stop Blowing Up rules system.[17]Christian Hoffer ofEN World notes the system is intended to create "action movie-style" stories with "outlandish" action.[17]
 | Thisrole-playing game related article is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |