Stranger Things-esque 80’s adventure RPG Kids on Bikes is getting a second edition
An “inexpensive” PDF will move players from 1E to 2E.
A second edition of Kids on Bikes, the tabletop roleplaying game inspired by 1980s adventure films, is on its way.
Revealed in a tweet from Doug Levandowski, one of the co-designers of the original tabletop RPG, a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for Kids on Bikes: Second Edition will be launching sometime in the near future. Kids on Bikes 2E will be the newest version of the roleplaying game that sees players becoming young people living in small-town America during the 1980s.
According to Levandowski, the second edition will include a set of expanded storytelling tools for game masters to use, alongside more rules around Powered Characters – which are stronger characters that are co-controlled by several players in the group. Other changes coming in the upcoming RPG are new rules to give players more agency in the outcomes of violence, options for character elements “like bonded actions,” and 24 more stat-balanced tropes for players to choose from when making their characters.
Another inclusion in the new edition will make the rules and options around bikes – originally introduced in the Strange Adventures 2 expansion – part of the core tabletop RPG. Players who are already familiar with the original edition will be able to use an “inexpensive PDF” to upgrade their existing copy of the Kids on Bikes core rulebook into one in-line with Second Edition.
Kids on Bikes is a roleplaying game inspired by classic 1980s adventure films such as ET: The Extra-Terrestrial and The Goonies, with players taking the role of a group of young people who suddenly find their small-town peace disturbed by strange goings-on.
A collaborative world-building TRPG, Kids on Bikes has players working together as a team of unlikely heroes attempting to save their town from an otherworldly threat. As a rules-light RPG, Kids on Bikes has more of a focus on storytelling over gameplay mechanics, with the title being awarded the 2019 gold Ennie for Best Family Game/Product - one of the most prestigious awards a tabletop RPG can receive.
Besides Levandowski, Kids on Bikes was co-created by Jonathan Gilmour, who also co-designed various spin-off titles for the series such as the fantasy TRPG Kids on Brooms and the sci-fi RPG Teens in Space. Hunters Entertainment – the studio behind tabletop roleplaying games such as Alice is Missing and Icarus – is the company responsible for releasing Kids on Bikes alongside Renegade Game Studios.
The Kickstarter campaign for Kids on Bikes: Second Edition is yet to receive a launch date or pledge amounts.