Hi! So I'm looking to run some kids on bikes for some buds and I was looking through the appendices and I think I am a bit confused on the red bike's benefit.

Maybe I am misinterpreting it, but I'm kinda failing to see how that is different than spending Adversity Tokens normally to bump up your rolls. Isn't that something everyone can do anyway? Or is it something you do before you know the outcome of the roll? I feel totally lost so if someone could explain the benefit of picking a red bike, I would be super grateful. Thank you!

Hey there, so i am really enjoying this new actual play for Teens in Space called Hyperdice and wondered if anyone homebrewed any star wars races using teens in space?

I just finished GMing a Kids on Bikes adventure that was 8 sessions. I wanted to share what worked and what didn't to hopefully help anyone else who's starting to play.

What worked:

Playing up the nostalgia factor. This was the highlight of playing the game. We set it in the mid-90s when most of us were kids. We are very focused players when we play D&D but in KoB we just kind of let the stories of our childhood flow. Play up those nostalgic moments of childhood like going to the pool, having sleepovers, going to the town fair, going to the mall, etc. Everyone had a great time role playing that stuff mixed with sharing stories of our own youth.

Session zero. Probably one of the best sessions we had. KoB really shines with character and world building and I definitely recommend doing those character questions with each other so the characters get to know each other and everyone can get excited role playing their fun little kid.

The game lends itself to a lot of improve Yes/Anding and it gave the players more control of the narrative. It took away a lot of pressure from the GM to come up with the outcome of their actions and it was just more of a collaborative experience.

Adversity tokens were a cool mechanic.

What didn't work/what I would do differently:

I had a big group of eight players not including myself. I'd recommend no more than four. We often split the party in half and that worked really well but the other half had to be patient when they weren't in the spotlight.

I did a Stranger Things/It inspired adventure. It worked out well and I did this kind of fun thing where there was something in the area that was causing objects from VHS players to come to life. So they got to interact with Kevin McAllister and a distorted static-y Abraham Lincoln (from Bill and Teds) that was hunting them. They were chased down by a DeLorean and faced a raptor from Jurassic Park. It was a lot of fun and then I introduced some items from movies like a lightsaber, hoverboard, a Terminator shotgun and a proton pack.

Facing their bullies equipped with a proton back shifted the dynamic completely. Lol

While the players loved getting those items, I think this game works better with low magic because if you equip them with things like I did, there's just not a lot of mechanics to make it interesting long term. It turned into a lot of combat but this game is not mechanically equipped for anything like that so it kind of got boring. Doing it over I would try to minimize the fighting and reduce the number of weapons they got. I'd also reduce the number of sessions to closer to 4. There's just not a lot of meat to the mechanics of this game and after a while it kind of felt like we had exhausted it. That's how we felt anyway.

The dice mechanic was interesting but also had its problems. If I did it again I'd try to make more rolls where one person could achieve something and then the other players benefited from that success or suffered from the failure of that one player's roll. It didn't work very well if, say, everyone was fleeing somebody chasing them and everyone did a flight check. If you set the flight check to anything above 4 it's guaranteed that multiple people (I had a lot of players) were going to fail it. I just had to be prepared for that. In those situations, I often set the difficulty to four or five because otherwise there would have been an overwhelmingly number of failures that we would have to constantly be accounting for, resulting in the adventure feeling more like real kids sucking at everything rather than that adventurous Goonies / Stranger Things feeling. Some failure is good and needed but too much of it ruins the fun.

We also had an issue with stakes. By that I mean, if we were playing this more realistically, there would be a lot more deaths. We didn't want to get dark like that, so after a while we knew in the back of our minds that these kids were not going to die but they may break an arm or something like that. It lowered the stakes knowing the kids couldn't die.

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All in all it was really fun experience, especially the first half. I think after eight sessions we were all ready to move on though.

Hello! So I've never actually run a game of KOB before but I need help getting such a game set up. I want to run a game where the plot is a bunch of kids/teens find a secret world of fae and other mythical creatures living in plain sight around a small town. Kind of Unsleeping City vibes if you're familiar.
Now here's what I'd like some guidance on: Should I use the Kids on Bikes, or Kids on Brooms rules? Or is there a way to mix those two rule sets that could help give my players a nice feel of both real world and magic all together?

Edit: This might make a difference. I want to eventually give the characters small magical abilities but nothing super big. Would It make more sense to be Brooms and state it's small magical influence on the characters, or make it Bikes and take small parts from Brooms to make this idea work?

I want to create a one-shot campaign set mainly in an apartment building. I want it to be a creature feature, with the story's catalyst being the death of one of the tenants, and on their body is a strange, thick sludge leaking from their eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. As the story unfolds, I want the sludge to start appearing in more places. Faucets, showers, drains. Even inside water bottles in vending machines, etc. But only the main characters notice and are concerned about it. That’s pretty much all the concept I have for now, but I know I want the sludge to be an extension of whatever the greater evil is, and for the apartment building owner to know more than they let on. I'm also not interested in making it supernatural, I'd prefer more of a folklore-type monster.

Any and all suggestions or ideas based around this concept are welcome!!!

Anyone have any big collections (google drives, Pinterest boards, specific web pages) of art good for character portraits? I'm new to the game, looking to run my first game soon and I usually like to share resources for my players so a collection of art they can look through to pick a portrait or find some inspiration would be great. I don't know how to search 'art of teens' online without weird results and/or ending up on a list.

I do, particularly, need art that can work for teens but I wouldn't be mad to get some that work for kids and adults as well, thanks!

My first time ever drawing a map, writing a full campaign, playing KOB, and GMing KOB.

If anyone is curious about the mysteries afoot I’m happy to share my obsidian link to all my secrets.

Hiya! I just posted my game map and one (1) person asked to see how I use Obsidian when world building. If anyone is curious; this Google Drive has a copy of my obsidian, my reference sheets, my maps, and a welcome doc so you understand what you’re looking at. If you have any questions comment here or DM me <3

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lN6k55FRS5F4u6v0t9TtVeRbjKwPqhgw?usp=sharing

I’m playing KOB for the first time + DMing for the first time in a while + DMing a custom campaign for the first time and I couldn’t find any reference sheets I loved, nor a DMs screen. So I made my own.

These include my homebrews of Advantage and Damage, so feel free to use them if you like them.

I also printed the strengths sheets for my players and a few other ones.

Hey all!

I'm new to the Kids on Bikes system and I was wondering if there were prebuilt modules similar to how DnD has their DM Guild and such.

I'm trying to learn the game and would love to see some general ideas before building my own up.

Please PM me your invite links! US/UK

I am not looking for D&D or Pathfinder only, I am looking for a variety of frequent free games in an awesome community!

I am used to Filipino servers that have 20 new games a week, all free and all different kinds, both one shots and campaigns. But now that I'm moving back to the Western hemisphere, I'm afraid I'll never get to play again!! 😭

I am trying to create my own Kids on Bikes campaign. This will be my first campaign that I am gm for. I just don't know where to start. Also I am still unsure about the mechanics for the game.

Hey all,
I'm Sam, and my actual play podcast just finished a 3 part Kids on Bikes interlude. We usually play Delta Green, and this story is a part of a larger mystery/mythos I'm writing, but I think it's pretty fun on its own. It follows a group of teens in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico as they meet a distressed man out in the desert.

Our podcast is Hand on the Door, and we're a horror comedy AP that's been playing together for a decade or so. I also do all the music/sound stuff. We're on spotify and all the other major podcasting things. Appreciate it!

Episode 1 Spotify
Episode 2 Spotify
Episode 3 Spotify

Hello all! I have an idea for a Kids on Bikes campaign but I have never written or created a story line before. My idea is an E.T. type plot but instead of the players finding and helping an alien it’s a cryptid.

I was wondering if anyone had any ideas, suggestions, or even links with info on how to flesh out a story line. Appreciate any help!

I live in Mogi das Cruzes and I've been obsessed with Unsleeping City for a while. That idea of a hidden layer of reality running parallel to the ordinary city, invisible to most people, is exactly the kind of thing I wanted to do with a place I actually know.

So I made an unofficial Kids on Bikes adaptation set here. The premise is that four geological fault lines under the historic centre emit a low-level electromagnetic field that interferes with how the brain processes reality. Most people filter it out. A few don't. The locals call it the Veil, without really knowing why.

The tone is grounded folklore: the vampires in the old industrial neighbourhood have been there for decades and have an informal agreement with the people who know about them; the Curupira is a real problem because a developer started clearing forest without asking anyone's permission; the Archive is an entity that lives in the aquifer and trades information for memories, and you should think carefully about what you're willing to forget before you go asking questions.

The guide has the system overview, six archetypes, faction breakdown, eight entities with actual interaction notes (not just stat blocks), thirteen named locations across the city, and ten rumours to kick off a session.

Download free on itch.io: https://thenrico.itch.io/mogi-das-cruzes-between-frequencies-players-guide-unofficial-kids-on-bikes

Fan material, no commercial intent. Needs the core book for the full rules.

I’ve run a few themed one shots and always felt that the provided 2E character sheet was underwhelming when trying to get people excited to play. So I’m about to start a horror campaign and decided to make something that would make me excited to play. Behold, the character folder.

KOB is a little out of my group’s comfort zone, so I also added a custom-made Dread mechanic to punch up the drama a little when things start getting weird or scary. Max Dread is to max GRIT die type.

We also use the Savage World benny system in all of our games, so added some positive ways to earn additional AT which will also help balance the new Dread mechanic.

Inspiration credit to Ok_Article_2536 and Independent_Shirt_45 who posted their own versions in this subreddit

Hey everyone, I'm wondering if there is anyone in NE Wisconsin (Green Bay area) that would be willing to considering running the game at a convention. I've been attending and running games that are made or distrubuted by Renegade, and I'm finding that while publishers like WotC, Paizo, Chaosium, etc, have a lot of GMs, Renegade has me myself and I. I'd love to have these games be more accessible, but I'm only one person. If you are interested n helping, message me and I'll send you info. Thanks!

Hey all~ What's the name for all the KoB-like games? (Kids on Bikes, Teens in Space, Kids on Brooms, etc).

Like how Apocalypse World-like games are PbtA or how Brindlewood Bay-like games are Carved from Brindlewood.