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A Game By

Jon Gilmour & Doug Levandowski

Art By

Heather Vaughan, JJ Moore, Monica Magaña, Andy Gruba

 

Copyeditors

S Gavis-Hughson, Nick Sauer, & Dustin Schwartz

Graphic Design & Layout

Matthias Bonnici

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KIDS ON BIKES - DELUXE EDITION

Game Creators: Jon Gilmour & Doug Levandowski Illustrator: Heather Vaughan, JJ Moore, Monica Magaña, Andy Gruba Graphic Design & Layout: Matthias Bonnici Lead Copyeditor: Dustin Schwartz

Copyeditors: S Gavis-Hughson & Nick Sauer Renegade Game Studios - San Diego, California

Hunters Entertainment - Burbank, California

All text and artwork in this book are

©2018 Hunters Entertainment LLC. All rights reserved www.renegadegames.com

www.huntersbooks.com

Facebook: facebook.com/PlayRGS

facebook.com/HuntersEntertainment

Twitter: @PlayRenegade

@OutbreakUndead

Instagram: @renegade_game_studios

RGS4808

ISBN-13: 978-0-9998548-0-8

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Made in China

Deluxe Edition

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Table of Contents

SETTING BOUNDARIES

PAGE 3

WORLD BUILDING

PAGE 5

CHARACTER CREATION

PAGE 9

PLAYING THE GAME

PAGE 27

POWERED CHARACTERS

PAGE 41

INFORMATION FOR THE GM

PAGE 47

APPENDIX A - RELATIONSHIP QUESTIONS

PAGE 56

APPENDIX B - STRENGTHS

PAGE 59

APPENDIX C - FLAWS

PAGE 61

APPENDIX D - POSSIBLE ASPECTS FOR POWERED CHARACTERS

PAGE 62

APPENDIX E - TROPES

PAGE 66

APPENDIX F - DIFFICULTY RATINGS AND CONSEQUENCES

PAGE 72

BLANK CHARACTER SHEET

PAGE 75

Deluxe Edition Adventure Modules

PAGE 77

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Kids on Bikes

The door to the old house creaks open,

the rust on the hinges groaning as you

see the dust floating like spores in the air inside. By the faint light of your cheap flash-lights, you see the stairs to the upper floor,

its railings gnarled and broken like crooked

teeth. Their curve makes the stairs seem

almost like a hungry grin, and you wonder if

their age will support your weight. Still, you

must go in.

The only question is who will go first?

In Kids on Bikes, you’ll take on the roles of everyday people grappling with strange,

terrifying, and exceptionally powerful forces

that they cannot defeat, control, or even fully

understand. The only way to face them is to

work together, use your strengths, and know

when you just have to run as fast as you can.

NOTE: Most of this book is written with players in mind and directed toward them. GMs, all of this information will be pertinent to you, too, and we’ve included

more information for you at the end

of the book, starting on page 47.

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- Setting Boundaries -

Before starting to create your characters, you and the gamemaster (GM) should address the kinds of things that the players want to see in the game and the things they don’t want to see. You’ll already have agreed on the over-all tone you want the game to have, but it’s important to know what narrative elements might upset players so the group can avoid them. Doing so will make the game more enjoyable for everyone. To start this process, the GM

will ask whether the players would like to discuss these boundaries or simply give the GM lists.

If players agree to have a discussion, everyone will talk about what they’re okay with and what they want to avoid. During this discussion, don’t ask others to explain why they don’t want certain elements in the game; take their requests at face value and respect them. However, do feel free to ask for clarification.

If players would rather give the GM lists, they’ll each write down the topics they’d like to avoid, and the GM will compile that list anonymously. As with the other method, there shouldn’t be discussion of why players don’t want to address certain topics.

In addition to the group’s comfort, another factor to consider while establishing boundaries is where you’re playing the game. If you’re playing in the privacy of your own home or in a conference room at a convention, you only need to consider the players’ preferences. However, if you’re in a public place, if you’re around younger people, or if there are other factors beyond the preferences of the group, you should consider them when establishing boundaries. In general, you should be playing the game in a way that will be comfortable for everyone who may hear it. For example, your group may be comfortable addressing issues of race in ’50s suburbia — but if you’re in public, everyone who overhears you might not be. Try to keep this in mind and be respectful to anyone who might overhear your game.

If, during the game, someone accidentally brings up one of the topics that should be avoided — or if anything that is part of the story is making you uncomfortable — simply knock quickly and lightly on the table. Whoever is currently narrating should simply rewind and proceed down a different path.

There is no need to discuss your request to go in a different direction; the group will just move on with the story in another direction.

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- World Building -

Kids on Bikes should probably be set in a small town at any point in history before everyone had a video camera in their pocket at all times. It should probably be a place remote enough that the rest of the world just doesn’t care about it but close enough that black helicopters can be there within hours. Everyone in the town probably knows everyone else — for better or for worse. People look out for each other, but rumor also travels fast.

Ultimately, though, this is all up to you.

We recommend letting the players work together to craft the town, possibly in a short session prior to playing, or even during the same session if the players are okay with the GM thinking on their feet.

For groups who aren’t comfortable creating their world together or for groups who want to dive right into the gameplay, the GM can also create a setting for the group instead, answering the questions below ahead of time and then sharing the answers with the group to start the game.

Collaborative Creation

If you choose to collaboratively build the world, players should first agree on the tone they want the game to take — whether that’s serious, goofy, or somewhere in the middle. This decision will help guide the decisions you’ll make when creating the town. As with the rest of the game, there are no wrong answers here! It’s whatever you want the game to be.

Second, all players should discuss the era in which you want the adventure to take place. Early ’80s? Mid ’60s? Present day? Since the time period will have such a strong impact on the course of the game, make this decision as a group, with as much discussion as you need.

If you choose to build the world together, answer the following questions to create the location, adapting the number of questions asked, as indicated below, so that each player is answering the same number of questions about the town.

1. Our adventure takes place in… (name of town and state) 2. The industry our location is best known for is…

3. Our town is famous for…

4. Our town is infamous for...

5. Economically, our town is… (prospering, floundering, stagnant, etc.) 6. A notable local organization is… (Duplicate in a five-player game.) 7. A notable local landmark is… (Duplicate in a three-player game or five-player game.)

8. Our school’s sports team is called…

After constructing the town, each player shares one rumor about the town.

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Especially in a small town, rumors drive a lot of what goes on. The GM writes these rumors down, keeping them in mind so that they can influence the upcoming game — though there may be sources for the rumor that the|

players can’t even imagine. Also, not all rumors have any truth to them.

Finally, keep in mind that as long as you’re within the bounds of what the group has agreed to include in the game, there are no wrong answers.

For Example: Carlos goes first and says that they’re in a town called Perkins, Colorado. Yasmin follows and says that the town is best known for mining. Emily then says that the town is famous for its candles, which it has made and sold to the world for years. Carlos then says that the town is infamous for a mining accident that trapped twelve miners underground a decade ago. Yasmin decides that the town is economically floundering as people move away from coal energy. Emily says that a notable local organization is the Elks, an organization that most of the adult men in the town belong to. Carlos says that one notable local landmark is the closed mine that no one is allowed to go near.

Yasmin adds that another notable landmark is the diving cliff, a place where teens often jump into the river that surges during the late spring thaw. Emily rounds out the answers by saying that the high school’s sports team is called the Mountain Lions.

As they move into the rumors, Carlos says that he heard that the Elks is really a front for a devil-worshipping cult. Yasmin says that she heard that Mr. Worthy, the principal of the high school, is carrying on an affair with Mrs. Yates, the principal of the middle school. Finally, Emily says that she heard that when they found the bodies of the trapped miners, two were missing — and that the ten that were recovered seemed to have been attacked by some sort of animal.

Gautier, the GM, should abide by the elements that the players created for the town. But over the course of the game, the GM and the players can decide together whether any — or all — of those rumors are true.

Our Suggestions

We suggest that the game takes place in a town where children can ride their bicycles from one side of town to the other relatively quickly, probably in under an hour — so a town that’s no more than ten miles across. A town this size also allows non-player characters (NPCs) to spread information and rumors more quickly — and for NPCs who are important to the characters to hear about these rumors just as quickly. And, more frighteningly, it prevents the characters from having a lot of places to hide. It’s also important that there will be parts of town that are empty, especially at night. In a place like New York City, nothing could happen without at least a few people seeing it…

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A note about historical accuracy: While avoiding anachronisms makes the experience more realistic, nobody likes that person at the table who says,

“Well, actually, the Millennium Falcon toy in question wasn’t released until 1978!” Just roll with it — unless a person in 1973 whips out a smartphone. In general, leave it to the GM to correct any necessary anachronisms.

Multiple Sessions

We hope that you’ll enjoy Kids on Bikes enough to play it over multiple sessions, developing and growing your characters and the world around them. Assuming that time has elapsed in the world of the game between sessions, before you start a new session, each player should explain one thing that has changed in the town between then and now — big or small. Perhaps it’s a new rumor that’s floating around. Perhaps in the time between the last adventure and the new one, things have changed about the town, like the mill that was struggling finally closed, or the school mysteriously burned down.

These new events can help to drive the narrative of the new game — and give the players some control over where the story goes.

For Example: In the story, the characters go into the mine to see if there’s any truth to the rumors. They find another body down there, another one of the miners, but it has been very badly attacked... by what seem like human teeth. And they swear that they hear something down there with them, but it is too dark to really see. At the start of their next game, Emily says that she heard that some of the livestock around town have started to go missing — victims of strange, midnight attacks.

Yasmin says that one change to the town is that government agents have come in to investigate the mine further after the group’s discovery.

Carlos says that a new restaurant has opened up, and the food isn’t very good — but all of the Elks seem to always be there. Again, the rumors may be true or they may not be. But the changes to the town (in this case, the arrival of government agents and the opening of a new restaurant) should be taken as fact.

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- Character Creation -

The core of any RPG is the character you’ll be embodying. You and your GM

should work together to agree upon a character you’ll be excited to play. One who reminds you of yourself in important ways — but who also is different enough from you to be an escape from the real world.

If there are boundaries that you want the characters to have or modifications that you want to make to the creation process, as a player or GM, please do!

The core of the game is the experience that the players will have, and anything you want to do to augment that experience is great.

Process Overview

When creating your character, you’ll move through the following steps, likely in this order:

1. Select a trope from the Playbook and take the appropriate character sheet.

2. Make trope selections for your character: age, strengths, flaws, first name.

3. Introduce your character to the rest of the group.

4. Answer questions about your character’s relationship with the other characters in the game.

5. Complete the finishing touches for your character: motivations, fears, backpacks, last name, trope-specific questions.

Selecting a Trope

To streamline the character creation process, we’ve created a set of tropes that you can use at the start of game to get into character more quickly. These tropes, which fall into categories like Loner Weirdo, Stoic Professional, or Brilliant Mathlete, will determine your character’s stat dice and streamline some choices for you. Tropes can be found in the Playbook, which is available at huntersbooks.com/downloads-kidsonbikes. Alternatively, you can find the information for these tropes in Appendix E on page 66.

Choose the trope that you’re most interested in playing. There’s no right or wrong answers here, and your GM will work with you to make sure that, whatever character you choose, you’ll be central to the story of the game. And remember, selecting a trope does not mean that you’ll be forced into a certain style of play. True, the Brutish Jock isn’t going to be as charming as the Popular Kid, but, as in life, be careful not to assume too much about a personality based on only a few descriptors.

If you don’t find a trope that fits your sense of your character, feel free to work with the GM to create your character from the ground up! This will take more time, but for players who already have a clear vision of who they want their character to be — or for players who don’t want their character to fit into one trope or another — this might be the most satisfying way to create a character. (For more details on this process, refer to “Creating a Character from Scratch” on page 24.)

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In the bottom right corner of your trope sheet, you’ll find two questions specific to your trope and, likely, your age. These will help you flesh out who you are. You don’t need to answer these out loud, but by the end of the character creation process, you should know what your answers are.

Character Stats

The trope you choose will determine how you assign dice to your six stats.

The higher the possible value on a die, the better your character is with that stat. The six stats are:

Brains: This stat determines how book-smart a character is. This will determine how well they understand problems, how well they did or are doing in school, and how quickly they’re able to solve academic problems.

Brawn: This stat determines how much brute strength a character has.

It does not determine how well they can fight — just how well they can lift things and how much physical damage they can take. It also determines how physically intimidating a character is.

Fight: This stat determines how good a combatant a character is with whatever weapons or fighting skills you decide your character knows.

While a character with a high Fight stat won’t be able to pick up a gun and use it effectively if they have never fired one before, this stat will make them good with weapons that they do have experience with. Also, they’ll be able to learn how to use new weapons and fighting skills more easily, if given proper training.

Flight: This stat determines how fast a character is — as well as how skilled they are at evading their problems (both literally and figuratively). Characters with a high Flight stat will be fast and tough to trap both physically and verbally.

Charm: This stat determines how socially adept a character is and how good they are at reading the emotions of another person or group of people. Characters with a high Charm stat will be able to talk themselves out of tough situations and into good ones with relative ease — within reason.

Grit: This stat determines how hard it is to break a character emotionally or physically. Characters with a high Grit stat will be able to keep a level head in the worst of situations and will be able to keep their cool even when pushed hard. Finally, this stat also determines how street-smart a character is.

The higher a stat is, the better a character is at skills involving that stat — and the more likely they are to succeed when using that stat. While there’s no guarantee that you’ll roll your maximum, generally, characters will be better able to pass checks with their higher dice.

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Die

Brief Explanation

Superb — Even upon first meeting you, anyone would be able d20

to readily tell that this is a strength of yours. You are remarkably good with respect to this stat.

Impressive — People who know you would say that you’re pretty d12

good with respect to this stat, but it wouldn’t be something that’s obvious during a first encounter.

d10

Above Average — You aren’t remarkably good in terms of this stat, but you’re slightly above average.

Below Average — You aren’t too bad in terms of this stat, but d8

you’re certainly not good, either. You’re just slightly worse than average.

Bad — People who know you would say that you’re pretty bad d6

with respect to this stat, but it wouldn’t be something that’s obvious during a first encounter.

Terrible — Upon first meeting you, people would immediately d4

be able to tell that this is a weakness of yours. You are remarkably bad with respect to this stat.

When creating your character, think carefully about how your d20 stat and your d4 stat balance each other out. If your character has a d20 in Charm and a d4 in Flight, consider what that means for your character. Have they always talked their way out of their problems instead of having to run from them —

including gym class? Or were they always so slow that they had to use humor and kindness to compensate for their inability to escape? Think about how your other stats relate to this balance, too.

Stats will also be used to resolve skill checks and combat, which we’ll address in “Stat Checks” on page 27 and “Combat Encounters” on page 34.

Character Ages

For some of the tropes, you’ll also need to pick your character’s age: child, teen, or adult. Groups of characters can certainly be a mixture of all three ages. The GM and the players will just need to establish early on what draws their characters together for their first adventure. For future adventures, you’ll be linked by the events of the first session. The age of the characters has implications throughout the character creation process and during gameplay.

The rules will discuss these implications as they become important.

At the start of the character creation process, the character’s age determines what strengths each character gets for free — and what modifiers they have to roll with their stat dice.

Children automatically receive the Quick Healing strength, and they cannot take the Rebellious strength. When rolling stat checks (described in the “Stat PAGE 11

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Checks” section, starting on page 27), children add +1 to their Flight and Charm checks, as they’re fast and likeable.

Teens automatically receive the Rebellious strength. When rolling stat checks, teens add +1 to their Fight and Brawn checks, as they’re pugnacious and in their prime.

Adults automatically receive the Skilled at ___ strength. This skill will correspond to their profession — either legal or illegal. When rolling stat checks, adults add +1 to their Brains and Grit checks. Even if they aren’t always geniuses, they’ve seen enough of the world to know what it’s about and to not get shaken by much.

Selecting Strengths and Flaws

Once you’ve selected your trope and age, choose from the strengths and flaws associated with that character. Strengths are mechanical advantages that your character will have when playing the game. Flaws are not mechanical, but they’ll help you develop your character’s personality. Choose two strengths and two flaws from those associated with your character’s trope.

Or, if you want to draw from the larger list when deciding, you may. The full lists can be found in Appendix B: Strengths (page 59) and Appendix C: Flaws (page 61).

Once you have done this, give your character a first name — or a nickname that they go by. Hold off on a last name for now just in case you find out, as you’re introducing your characters, that they’re related to another character.

Including Characters Who Are Disabled or Neuroatypical

For some players, a traditionally “able-bodied” or “neurotypical” character might not fit their vision of their character. Instead, a player may want to play a character who is physically disabled or whose brain functions differently. As long as the players and the GM agree that you will be appropriately sensitive in playing the character, you can play any kind of character you want to play.

When embracing these differences, keep in mind all of the likely consequences, both positive and negative. Fleshing out these traits will help you play your character better.

For Example: If Helene’s character has been using crutches to get around for most of her life, she won’t be quite as mobile, but her upper body might be accordingly stronger. If Raj is deaf, he may have picked up the ability to read lips. Also, think about what your character needs to do in response to their difference. If Hana is on the autism spectrum, she might need time after experiencing sensory overload before she can focus again, and she might have a process that helps her refocus more quickly.

Remember that the limitations that accompany these differences should consistently develop the role-playing experience. Some differences may present situations that require more complex problem solving — or may lead PAGE 12

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to easier solutions to others. Remember, the GM and player should both carefully consider whether or not a player is ready to embrace this role-playing respectfully before agreeing — and you should make sure that everyone at the table is comfortable with the direction of the character.

Also, remember that things that would make a character disabled or neuroatypical are almost always on a spectrum, not a binary. To the casual observer, a character with autism, for example, might be indistinguishable from other members of the party — or that character may be non-verbal. If the character is hearing-impaired, they might be able to hear normally with hearing aids — or they may be completely deaf. It’s up to you where you put your character along any spectrum.

Two words of caution about these changes, though: First, make sure that you’re playing them in order to develop the character and the story, not for jokes or for novelty. Second, the GM should take care to not consistently exclude characters from events based on any agreed-upon changes.

As stated before, playing a character with limitations provides you with an opportunity to problem-solve or think about a situation that you may not have considered. How would Raj problem-solve in a scenario where he couldn’t see the lips of a person who is trying to communicate with him? How would Helene problem-solve if the only way of a situation is to run away? As in real life, differing abilities provide an opportunity for what could be considered non-traditional problem solving.

There may be a few moments when a character who is confined to a wheel-chair might not be able to stay with the group. However, since the GM agreed to a player’s modifications to their character, they should take care not to make these moments frequent. And the GM should encourage players to feel good about the choices they made for their characters, especially if they made those choices to deepen the role-playing in the game.

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For Example: Priya chooses to create a character named Becky, who is on the autism spectrum. All of the players and the GM agree that they’re comfortable with Priya’s ability to play this character thoughtfully. Priya decides that Becky is a Scout who knows quite a lot about the great outdoors. She can identify all local vegetation by sight, knows which plants are edible and which are poisonous, knows when they flower, and can vividly describe all of these plants from memory. One of Becky’s favorite things is to be outside, away from lots of people and loud noises, both of which make her very uncomfortable. Sometimes, Becky gets overwhelmed if too much is going on around her, and as a consequence, she has learned every inch of the wilderness in and around Perkins.

When Becky gets overstimulated, which often happens if she’s around too many people or if it gets too noisy, she starts to have trouble focusing. She needs to go to a quiet place and, if possible, spend time grounding herself by looking at plants and studying their details for a few minutes. That’s usually enough to help her feel like herself again.

Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Sexuality

When creating your character, carefully consider their race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. These parts of your own identity are important to who you are

— and they will be important to who your character is, too.

As a group, you will need to decide to what extent historical accuracy influences the treatment of different races, non-local ethnicities, and LGBTQIA people within your game. However, keep in mind that historical accuracy is not an excuse to be horrible. “But this is how people would have talked back then” doesn’t go far when you’ve established boundaries. If paranormal events can happen regularly in the town, then a mining town in the 1950s can be accepting of all people.

If handled appropriately, race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality contribute quite meaningfully to your sense of the character and to narrative elements in the game. As long as your group agrees on the way these elements will be addressed and everyone is comfortable with these decisions — and as long as you are addressing these issues seriously and compassionately — you’ll be playing within the spirit of the game.

For Example: Dale creates Harper, a gender-queer character who is out to their closest friends and their family, but not to the town at large. As with Priya’s character Becky, all of the players and the GM agree that they’re comfortable with Dale’s ability to portray this character well.

Based on the ground rules that they set — during which they agreed that there would be no slurs related to, or mistreatment of, LGBTQIA people — they agree that they aren’t going to make Harper’s gender identity something that non-player characters really take much note of.

The players and the GM agree that it won’t be something that non-player characters address unless Harper brings it up.

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Introductions and Questions

Now that you have the basics of your character sketched out, think about how they’re related to the other characters at the table. We encourage you to make these decisions based on what the players tell you about their characters. While it probably wouldn’t make much sense for every character in a five-player game to know every other character at the table well, each character should have at least one meaningful connection to another character.

This will give your GM ways to bring your characters together in the narrative.

If you’re feeling stuck, some possible relationships include parents and children; siblings, step-siblings, and half-siblings; cousins; classmates, teachers and students; best friends or worst enemies; neighbors; mentors and mentees; bosses and employees; and significant others or spouses.

This is a good time to start talking as your character would: “We know each other from back when we were in high school” rather than “My character dated their character for a few years.”

For Example: Oswald, Isabella, and Yoon are talking about how they know each other. Oswald is a teen with the Lone Weirdo trope, Isabella is a teen with the Wannabe trope, and Yoon is an adult with the Blue-Collar Worker trope. Isabella says that she and Oswald used to be close friends, since they’re neighbors, but when she started trying to be one of the cool kids a few years ago, she stopped hanging out with Oswald completely and quite suddenly. Oswald adds that since they started out as friends because they’re neighbors, he wasn’t all that hurt when they stopped hanging out. He just kind of shifted to hanging out with other people, and it was fine.

Yoon says that she knows Oswald because he’s friends with her son, Daniel, who’s also not that popular in school. She says that Oswald often sleeps over, so she knows him well enough to know what he likes on his pizza. Oswald adds that he feels comfortable talking to Yoon — more-so than his parents sometimes, so he often confides in her. Yoon and Isabella agree that they don’t know each other well. Since it’s a small town, though, they know each other by sight. Everyone in their small town knows everyone else in their small town by sight.

Having broadly established how you know and don’t know each other, each player will answer questions about the other characters. You’ll do this one at a time, passing the list of questions around the table and collaborating to make the established relationships more complex and to hint at information about who you don’t know. This process will make the story of the game richer, even before the strange events start happening.

Depending on the length of time that you have for character creation, you could take one of three approaches to answering the questions: quick start, one sided, or complete.

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Quick Start Questions (2 minutes per player) In the shortest version of setup, each player will answer one question about the character clockwise from them at the table. Before answering the questions, you should move so that you are sitting next to someone you have a close relationship with.

We do not recommend this setup — though if you’re trying to get a group up and running for a demo of the game, this can cut down on the time needed to start playing.

For a character you know:

• Decide whether your relationship with that character is mostly positive or mostly negative.

• Roll a d20 and answer the corresponding question from the “Character You Know - Positive” list on page 56 in Appendix A or the “Character You Know - Negative” list on page 57 in Appendix A. (If the question doesn’t fit the relationship that you have in mind or if the question you roll has already been answered, you may answer a question above or below theone you rolled that hasn’t been answered yet or reroll.)

• Cross out that question.

For a character you don’t know:

• Roll a d20 and answer the corresponding question from the “Character You Don’t Know” list on page 58 in Appendix A. (If the question doesn’t fit the concept of that character that you have in mind or if the question you rollhas already been answered, you may answer a question above or below theone you rolled that hasn’t been answered yet or reroll.)

• Cross out that question.

Once each player has answered a question about the person to their left, this part of the setup is complete.

For Example: Yoon, Isabella, and Oswald are answering the Quick Start Questions about each other. Oswald goes first and feels mostly positive about Yoon and rolls a 15: “What do you and this character have a mutual, weird love of?” He decides that they both really like fantasy novels.

Yoon was reading The Hobbit when he was over at Daniel’s house a few years ago, and he borrowed it, read it, and couldn’t get enough fantasy novels. In Arkansas in the early ’80s, where the game takes place, there aren’t that many people who read those kinds of books.

Next, Yoon rolls for Isabella, whom she doesn’t know. She rolls a 6: “Why is this character’s family so important in town?” Yoon tells the group that Isabella’s mom is the sheriff in town and her dad owns the grocery store, so both of them are pillars of the community. They’re both good people, and they’re well respected in town.

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Finally, Isabella feels more negative than positive about Oswald and rolls a 20: “How did this character betray you the last time you confided in them?” Isabella and Oswald agree that he’s not the type to betray people easily, and Oswald pointed out earlier that he’d have to want something pretty badly to betray her — so Isabella decides that it was unintentional. A few years ago, Isabella told Oswald about how much pressure her parents were putting on her, and Oswald talked to Daniel about it. A few of the cool kids overheard, and they made fun of Isabella for even talking to Oswald.

One-Sided Questions (5 minutes per player) In the mid-range version of the setup, each of you will answer a question about each other character. Seating arrangement is not important for this version of character questions.

We recommend this approach if you want to jump into the game, especially if you are running a one-off session of the game.

For a character you know:

• If you feel mostly positive about them, roll a d20 and answer the corresponding question from the “Character You Know - Positive” list on page 56 in Appendix A. (If the question doesn’t fit the relationship that you have in mind or if the question you roll has already been answered, you may answer a question above or below the one you rolled that hasn’t been answered yet or reroll.)

• If you feel mostly negative about them, roll a d20 and answer the corresponding question from the “Character You Know - Negative” list on page 57 in Appendix A. (If the question doesn’t fit the relationship that you have in mind or if the question you roll has already been answered, you may answer a question above or below the one you rolled that hasn’tbeen answered yet or reroll.)

• Cross out that question.

• Now have them answer a question about you from the other list: Negative if you answered a Positive question about them, or vice versa.

• Cross out that question.

For a character you don’t know:

• Roll a d20 and answer the appropriate question from the “Character You Don’t Know” list on page 58 in Appendix A. (If the question doesn’t fit the concept of that character that you have in mind or if the question you roll has already been answered, you may answer a question above or belowthe one you rolled that hasn’t been answered yet or reroll.)

• Cross out that question.

• Now have them answer a question about you from the same list.

• Cross out that question.

Once each player has answered one question about each other character at the table, this part of the setup is complete.

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For Example: Yoon, Isabella, and Oswald are answering the One-Sided Questions about each other. Oswald goes first, since he knows both characters well. He starts with Isabella and a positive question and rolls a 5: “Why do you care about this character more than they care about you?” He decides that Isabella really seems to have forgotten about him, and he misses hanging out with her — but his few overtures to her have been misinterpreted, he thinks.

Isabella then rolls for a negative question about Oswald (since he rolled a positive one for her) and gets a 16: “What would losing this character mean to you?” Isabella says that she and Oswald don’t have much of a relationship anymore, but that Oswald reminds her of her past. Even though she wants to be a cool kid, every once in awhile she wants to go back to not caring about what other people think about her. Hanging out with Oswald would definitely be that.

Next, Oswald rolls for a positive question about Yoon and gets a 15:

“What do you and this character have a mutual, weird love of?” He decides that they both really, really like fantasy novels. Yoon was reading The Hobbit when he was over at Daniel’s house a few years ago, and he borrowed it, read it, and couldn’t get enough fantasy novels. In Arkansas in the early ’80s, where the game takes place, there aren’t that many people who read those kinds of books.

Yoon then rolls a negative question for Oswald, and gets an 18: “You hurt this character years ago. Why can’t you apologize?” Yoon decides that, about a year ago, Yoon and Oswald’s father nearly had an affair. Though nothing more than a few kisses happened, it caused serious tension between Oswald’s parents. Yoon doesn’t know if Oswald’s mother knows or if Yoon just projected the concerns. She’s fairly sure that Oswald has no idea even though he has said that things have been weird between his parents. (This would be something that the player controlling Oswald would know but, in the game, Oswald would not.) Because he doesn’t know, she can’t apologize to him for what she assumes is her role in that tension.

Next, Yoon rolls for Isabella, whom she doesn’t know. She gets a 6: “Why is this character’s family so important in town?” Yoon tells the group that Isabella’s mom is the sheriff in town and her dad owns the grocery store, so both of them are pillars of the community. They’re both good people, and they’re well respected in town.

As a final question, Isabella rolls an 18 for her question about Yoon, whom she doesn’t know well: “What is this character doing to threaten their family’s reputation?” Since Yoon is a first-generation immigrant, her family doesn’t have a reputation in the town, so she rerolls and PAGE 18

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gets a 14: “Who does this character have a very public feud with?”

Isabella asks Yoon what she did before she moved to America, and Yoon tells her that she was training to be a pharmacist. Isabella decides that, some years ago, Mr. Talbot the local pharmacist was giving bad advice to people about what’s dangerous for children. Yoon heard about it and warned parents. Though she was right, Mr. Talbot said some unkind things about her, both about her level of training and her race. Mr. Talbot isn’t a particularly good person, Isabella says — and most people think he’s wrong on this one.

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Complete Questions (8 minutes per player) In the long version of the setup, each player will answer two questions about each character they know at the table and one question about each character they do not know.

For multi-session plays of Kids on Bikes, this is the approach we recommend.

It takes a while, but it helps you to develop rich, interesting relationships with each other, and it can lead to good directions for the story to take as you play.

To foster this, while others are establishing their relationships, start thinking about how you could insert yourself into their dramas. For example, if Hector thinks Esme stole his bicycle even though she didn’t, perhaps you were the one who actually did. Or, if Hank cheated on Morris, perhaps you were the other man... or you know who was.

Remember, this is a big part of the world building of the game. As long as you’re within the bounds of what everyone wants from the game, there are no wrong answers here. Create the game you want to play by answering these questions!

For a character you know:

• Roll a d20 and answer the appropriate question from the “Character You Know - Positive” list on page 56 in Appendix or the “Character You Know

- Negative” list on page 57 in Appendix A. (If the question doesn’t fit the relationship you have in mind or if the question you roll has already been answered, you may answer a question above or below the one you rolledthat hasn’t been answered yet or reroll.)

• Cross out that question.

• Roll a d20 and answer the appropriate question from the “Character You Know - Negatives” list in Appendix A. (Same caveats as above.)

• Cross out that question.

For a character you don’t know:

• Roll a d20 and answer the corresponding question from the “Character You Don’t Know” list on page 58 in Appendix A. (If the question doesn’t fit the concept of that character that you have in mind or if the question you rollhas already been answered, you may answer a question above or below theone you rolled that hasn’t been answered yet or reroll.)

• Cross out that question.

Once you answer questions about all other characters, pass the sheets to your left, and that player repeats the process until every player has answered questions about all other characters.

For Example: Yoon, Isabella, and Oswald are answering the questions about each other. Oswald goes first, since he knows both characters well. He starts with Isabella and a positive question and rolls a 5: “Why do you care about this character more than they care about you?” He decides that Isabella really seems to have forgotten about him, and he PAGE 20

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misses hanging out with her — but his few overtures to her have been misinterpreted, he thinks.

Next, he rolls for a negative question about her and gets a 3: “What could make you betray this character?” He decides that he’s feeling kind of disconnected from her, so it wouldn’t take much. The last time he tried to talk to her at school, she was really nasty to him, so if it would get him something he wanted, he’d betray her — but not in a major way.

Next, he rolls for a positive question about Yoon and gets a 15: “What do you and this character have a mutual, weird love of?” He decides that they both really, really like fantasy novels. Yoon was reading The Hobbit when he was over at Daniel’s house a few years ago, and he borrowed it, read it, and couldn’t get enough fantasy novels. In Arkansas in the early ’80s, where the game takes place, there aren’t that many people who read those kinds of books. Then he rolls a negative question about her and gets an 11: “What does this character do that makes you immediately lose your temper?” Oswald decides that doesn’t really fit their relationship and rerolls, getting a 15: “What insanity has this character shown warning signs of?” Oswald has seen Yoon be a little bit too fastidious and worries that she might be tending toward compulsive behavior — but he’s a teen and doesn’t necessarily know what all of the warning signs are.

Next, Yoon rolls for Isabella, whom she doesn’t know. She gets a 6: “Why is this character’s family so important in town?” Yoon tells the group that Isabella’s mom is the sheriff in town and her dad owns the grocery store, so both of them are pillars of the community. They’re both good people, and they’re well respected in town.

Yoon then rolls a positive question for Oswald, a 10: “What is this character sacrificing to protect you?” She decides that it isn’t protecting her, per se, but Oswald is always willing to talk to Yoon about what’s going on at the high school, something that her son isn’t usually willing to do. He’s giving up some of his time to let her know what’s going on.

Yoon then rolls a negative question for Oswald, and gets an 18: “You hurt this character years ago. Why can’t you apologize?” Yoon decides that, about a year ago, Yoon and Oswald’s father nearly had an affair. Though nothing more than a few kisses happened, it caused serious tension between Oswald’s parents. Yoon doesn’t know if Oswald’s mother knows or if Yoon just projected the concerns. She’s fairly sure that Oswald has no idea even though he has said that things have been weird between his parents. (This would be something that the player controlling Oswald would know but, in the game, Oswald would not.) Because he doesn’t know, she can’t apologize to him for what she assumes is her role in that tension.

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Lastly, Isabella rolls a positive question for Oswald, a 16: “What would losing this character mean to you?” Isabella says that she and Oswald don’t have much of a relationship anymore, but that Oswald reminds her of her past. Even though she wants to be a cool kid, every once in a while she wants to go back to not caring about what other people think about her. Hanging out with Oswald would definitely be that.

She then rolls a 20 for the negative question about him: “How did this character betray you the last time you confided in them?” Isabella and Oswald agree that he’s not the type to betray people easily, and Oswald pointed out earlier that he hadn’t betrayed her yet — so Isabella decides that it was unintentional. A few years ago, Isabella told Oswald about how much pressure her parents were putting on her, and Oswald talked to Daniel about it. A few of the cool kids overheard, and they made fun of Isabella for even talking to Oswald.

As a final question, Isabella rolls an 18 for her question about Yoon, whom she doesn’t know well: “What is this character doing to threaten their family’s reputation?” Since Yoon is a first-generation immigrant, her family doesn’t have a reputation in the town, so she rerolls and gets a 14: “Who does this character have a very public feud with?”

Isabella asks Yoon what she did before she moved to America, and Yoon tells her that she was training to be a pharmacist. Isabella decides that, some years ago, Mr. Talbot the local pharmacist was giving bad advice to people about what’s dangerous for children. Yoon heard about it and warned parents. Though she was right, Mr. Talbot said some unkind things about her, both about her level of training and her race. Mr. Talbot isn’t a particularly good person, Isabella says — and most people think he’s wrong on this one.

Finishing Touches

Full Name: Now that you’ve fleshed out your character and your relationship with the other characters, you’ll add the finishing touches. If you were waiting to complete your name, do that now, keeping in mind that relatives probably have the same last name — but maybe not. Remember, try to keep your name in line with the tone that you and the other players have agreed to for the game.

Motivation: Write down something that strongly motivates you. It might not be the thing that drives all of your decisions, but it should certainly drive most of them — and especially the big decisions. It could be a specific motivation (e.g., “find my son no matter what it costs me” or “impress Tom so that he’ll go out with me”), it could be more general (e.g., “look cool” or “learn”), or it could have to do with concealing some information (e.g., “don’t let the others find out that my business is failing” or “don’t let my children learn that I killed their father”). If appropriate, share these with other players — but most likely, you’ll just be sharing this motivation with the GM.

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Typically, children will be motivated by their curiosity. Teens will often be motivated by social factors like fitting in or finding and maintaining a romantic relationship. Adults will be motivated by holding onto or protecting what they have, whether that’s a business or family. And all ages can be motivated by something or someone that they’ve lost.

Fears: Think about what it is that scares you. There will be some mechanical implications for this fear that will be addressed in “Planned Actions and Snap Decisions” on page 29. In terms of role-playing the fears, you will, of course, want to avoid your fears, and when faced with them, you’ll behave more irrationally. Ultimately, what you fear in the game is up to you.

Children usually fear things that, rationally, they shouldn’t fear — and don’t fear things that they ought to. They’re more likely to walk up to a stranger covered in blood to make sure they’re okay than they are to open up their closets in the middle of the night. Generally, children fear the unknown and what they can’t see. Children are also generally not ashamed of their fears; they’ll gladly declare them to friends and strangers alike.

Teens are all over the place. Some teens are still scared of the things that scared them as children, but they’ll tend to be very tight-lipped about these fears. No teen wants to admit that they’re still scared of the dark.

Often, though, teens are more scared of social isolation, losing friends, or embar-rassing themselves. But sometimes, more mature teens — or ones whose lives have been rough — will have fears more like an adult’s.

Few adults have the fears that children have — and most of them aren’t worried about the kinds of social things that concern teens. Rather, they’re typically afraid of things being taken from them, whether that’s their families, their homes, or their livelihoods. Some adults also fear realistic things going wrong — and there’s nothing saying that an adult can’t be afraid of some-thing that most adults aren’t.

Backpack: The final finishing touch is indicating what you have in your backpack, literally and figuratively. What items are you never without? For children or teens, these might literally be in their backpack.

For adults, these might be in the trunk of their car. Ultimately, though, they’re wherever would make the most sense for you.

Figuratively speaking, the backpack is also a good place to list advantages that you have over other people. While this doesn’t have to consider all of the ways in which you are privileged, it would be a good place to think about the more intangible resources you have at your disposal. For example, Azra’s backpack might indicate that her parents are exceptionally supportive and do everything they can to give her the resources to succeed at school. Adewale’s backpack, on the other hand, might indicate that his bad relation-ship with his parents has given him a strong sense of self-reliance and ability to do for himself. The intangible PAGE 23

resources in your backpack won’t have a

mechanical impact on the game, but they should give you places to turn if you need help in getting out of a problem — or create tension if that resource is suddenly not available.

Trope-Specific Questions: Each trope sheet in the Playbook has two questions about your character that should be answered at some point during the character creation process. So, if you haven’t yet answered them, make sure to do so now!

The answers to these questions do not need to be shared with the other players at the table — but they can be if you would like to. Certainly, though, your responses should be shared with the GM.

Now, you’re ready to start your adventure in Kids on Bikes!

Creating a Character from Scratch

Some players may wish to create their character entirely from scratch rather than beginning with a trope. Doing so takes longer, but it allows for truly unique characters that don’t fit into any specific mold. If this is a route you’re interested in, we encourage you to take it!

Using the blank character sheet in the Playbook (huntersbooks.com/

down-loads-kidsonbikes) or on page 75 of this rulebook, begin by assigning the dice that you’ll use for your stats. The best way to do this is to assign your d20 stat and d4 stat, then think about how those stats complement each other. Then, assign the other dice to the other stats.

Next, select your age: child, teen, or adult. Remember to give yourself the appropriate bonuses based on your age. Children get +1 to Charm and Flight and get Quick Healing for free. Teens get +1 to Brawn and Fight and get Rebellious for free. Adults get +1 to Brains and Grit and Skilled at ___ for free.

Then, select your other two strengths. Referring to the list in Appendix B

on page 59, select two that fit with your vision for your character. Then, select your flaws. You may select any two from the list in Appendix C on page 61.

Finally, give your character a first name. From this point on, character creation continues as normal. Refer to the section titled “Introductions and Questions” on page 15.

Changes to Your Character Across Multiple Sessions

While it’s unlikely that characters will change much over the course of a single game, in the case of longer campaigns, there might be changes to a character based on what happens during play. A character who nearly drowns might develop a fear of water — just as a character who manages to overcome their fear of water in a critical moment might find that they aren’t Pas afraid

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anymore. At the end of each session, the GM and players should discuss the ways in which the characters grew — or regressed — over the course of the game. Each time you play, you should learn more about your character. They should never be static. These changes will likely come in the form of new skills, new fears or flaws, or changed answers to the trope-specific questions.

Except in extreme cases, losses should be counterbalanced by gains. A character who conquered their fear of dogs at a critical moment might become boastful, which could cause tension with friends who previously appreciated their humility. The players and the GM should decide collaboratively what gains and losses occur at the end of one game or before the next one. Again, though, except in the strangest cases, there should always be a balance of what is lost and what is gained.

For Example: In the first game, Yoon, Isabella, and Oswald work together to go looking for Yoon’s son, Daniel, who disappeared before the game began. They were able to find him, but he’s currently in a coma, and doctors aren’t sure if he’ll recover. As a result of seeing the measures that Oswald and even Isabella went to in order to save her son, Yoon has gained the “Protective” strength when it comes to those two; however, because she found her son covered in some kind of strange webbing, she has added “Spiders” as a fear. Oswald and the GM agree that not much has changed for him. Isabella and the GM agree that she’s feeling closer to Oswald again and remembers why she valued him as a friend when they were younger — but there aren’t any mechanical changes for her, either.

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- Playing the Game -

The game will take the form of a story that you, the other players, and the GM

tell together. The GM will help guide the action of the story and will make the

“big picture” stuff happen, but you’ll have a lot of control over what you do and how you face the situations the GM throws in your way.

You’ll even have control over which parts you skip over. If your characters are going to have a pretty run-of-the-mill day at school, you don’t need to tell the story of all nine periods. Think of the game as the important scenes that will carry the narrative forward. Focus on the parts that promote action, excitement, and intrigue.

Stat Checks

While you’re playing, any time you do something that runs the risk of failure, the GM will set a numerical difficulty for the action. You will then roll the appropriate stat die and check the value of that die against the difficulty. If you roll the maximum value of the die and that isn’t enough to succeed at the check, your die will “explode” — meaning that you reroll the die and add the maximum value that you rolled the first time to the new roll. Your die may explode multiple times on a check — but once you succeed at that check, your die no longer explodes for that check.

Keep in mind that the most you can roll (without the luck of exploding a die) is 20, and that number is extraordinarily unlikely. However, that doesn’t mean that the difficulty can’t be higher than 20 in cases where a feat seems truly impossible for mere mortals.

Choosing a Stat for the Check

As in life, there are always multiple ways to solve a problem. If a character is being confronted by bullies, it may seem like they have to start swinging and hope it goes well (Fight) or turn heel and run and hope they’re faster than the bullies (Flight). But depending on who the character is, they might use other stats instead.

A character with high Charm might convince the bullies that he’ll show them a secret entrance into the movie theater if they don’t beat him up. A character with high Grit might tell them that she has taken worse beatings before breakfast and make it not seem worth their time. A character with high Brains might talk the bullies in circles until they let her go because they’re too confused to throw a punch. A character with high Brawn might physically intimidate their aggressors to get them to back down. There are always multiple ways you can solve your problems.

When you’re not sure what kind of check something will call for, you can always just describe what you’re doing and the GM will tell you what check to make. For things like deceit and lying, it’s probably going to be Charm.

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Difficulty

Explanation & Example

A task at which only the most incredible could even possibly succeed

— but if they succeed, it will be one of the most impressive things a 20

character has ever done. This is a nearly guaranteed failure.

Examples: Lifting a car off of someone trapped under it; solving a nearly impossible math problem just by glancing at it.

A task for which success would be incredible and impressive. This, too, is a nearly guaranteed failure.

17-19

Examples: Talking a police officer out of arresting you when you have clearly broken the law and have no relationship with the officer; breaking a school record in track.

A task where success is extraordinary — but decidedly possible for characters who are truly skilled at it.

13-16

Examples: A lucky character finding the right item on the first try; someone trained in espionage withstanding police interrogation.

A task where success is impressive — but completely expected for characters skilled at it.

10-12

Examples: A strong person prying open a heavy, locked door; a computer whiz repairing a computer quickly under pressure.

A task where success is certain for characters who are very skilled at it — but not for those who aren’t.

7-9

Examples: Convincing the principal that it wasn’t you and your friends who started the cafeteria food fight; running a message from one end of a building to the other in a very short time.

A task where success is likely for all characters except those who aren’t skilled or who have a low stat in that field.

3-6

Examples: A lucky person drawing a non-face card from a deck; a character silently withstanding a verbal berating.

A task where success is guaranteed, except in extreme cases.

1-2

Examples: A character lifting a 10-pound weight over their head; a character reciting a multiplication table.

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But if you’re throwing around a lot of science-y words to convince the sheriff that the mine shaft where you’re actually hiding the half-goat, half-child creature is structurally unsound so he should stay away, that might be Brains.

Or if you’re threatening your way into a secure area past a young, scared guard, that might be Brawn — or Fight if you’re describing what you’ll do to him if he doesn’t step aside. The bottom line is that the stats are here to help guide your storytelling and help you have fun. If you aren’t sure what to do, ask the table — and if they aren’t sure, go with your gut.

For Example: Ana has been cornered while she was snooping around an abandoned warehouse that she and her friends noticed a lot of the town’s adults going to. The three deranged members of a cult who cornered her seem intent on sacrificing her to the elder god they worship, and they’re all brandishing really big knives. Ana is a child with the Bully trope, so Fight is her best stat. However, the GM tells her that to fight her way out of this situation would be a very tough Fight check, a difficulty of 14. It’s not impossible, but Ana doesn’t feel good about her odds there. Since the cult members are completely deranged, intimidating them with Brawn (Ana’s d12 stat) is a difficulty of 22.

Similarly, charming them would also be a 22, and since Charm is Ana’s d4

stat, that’s unlikely to work. The cult members, though, are on the older side and thus a bit slower than children. The GM tells Ana that a Flight check would be a difficulty of 7. Ana decides that her chances are best if she goes with that — especially since she gets +1 to her Flight checks as a child and she has a few Adversity Tokens to spend if need be.

Planned Actions and Snap Decisions

Although the GM always sets a numerical difficulty, there are two distinct kinds of stat checks: Planned Actions and Snap Decisions. Planned Actions are stat checks when you have time to think about the best course of action and, perhaps, work with your friends. If the characters are sitting at a kitchen table trying to break a coded message that someone left for them and have all night to do it, that’s definitely a Planned Action. If your character needs to climb up a wall to sneak into an abandoned factory and has the cover of night and no one in pursuit, that’s a Planned Action. In short, Planned Actions are when the conditions are relatively optimal to achieve something.

Snap Decisions, on the other hand, are choices that have to be made quickly under bad conditions — and are thus more chaotic and unpredictable. If your character is being chased through a cave, stat checks they make while fleeing in panic will definitely be Snap Decisions. If your character is under any kind of great pressure, that would likely be a Snap Decision, too.

Ultimately, it’s the GM’s call whether something is a Planned Action or a Snap Decision. Players, though, should feel free to try to convince the GM of how they can get a moment of calm to make a Planned Action in a setting that would seem to call for a Snap Decision.

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In order to make a check for a Planned Action, do the following steps:

• Once you decide to resolve a problem with a particular stat, the GM sets a numerical difficulty. For example, if you are trying to crack a safe in the privacy of your own home with the right tools, you might try to muscle your way in (Brawn), crack the safe (Brains), or sweet talk a buddy of yours to apply their safe-cracking skills (Charm).

• Either roll the appropriate die or, because you have time to think and react calmly, take half the value of that stat’s die. For example, if you have a d20 in Flight, you may choose to take a score of 10 for Planned Actions involving Flight instead of risking a roll.

• If the value of the first die rolled is the maximum value of the die, but still below the difficulty level, the roll “explodes.” Roll the same die again, adding both values together. This may be repeated as many times as you roll the maximum, though you must stop as soon as you succeed at the check.

• After determining whether the roll explodes, add any age bonuses to the roll. Age bonuses cannot cause a roll to explode.

• Children: +1 Charm, +1 Flight

• Teens: +1 Brawn, +1 Fight

• Adults: +1 Grit, +1 Brains

• You may also spend Adversity Tokens (earned from failed checks), with each token adding +1 to the roll. As with age bonuses, Adversity Tokens cannot cause a roll to explode.

• Other players may also spend Adversity Tokens to help you, with each token adding +1 to the roll, though they must also narrate how their actions are also helping your cause. This is at the GM’s discretion.

• If the total roll is greater than or equal to the difficulty level, you have succeeded. You and the GM will narrate the success collaboratively.

• If not, you have failed. The GM will direct the narration with minimal input from you (the greater the failure, the less input from you). The more you miss by, the worse the failure. You also receive one Adversity Token, which can be used on future rolls.

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When things are dicier and you’re under more duress and stress, you’ll have to make a Snap Decision. In most ways, the process works as with Planned Actions but with the following changes:

• First, you cannot take half of the value of the appropriate die. You must roll to see if you succeed since this is a rushed attempt that you cannot plan.

• Second, although you may spend Adversity Tokens to help yourself, other players cannot spend Adversity Tokens to help you. There’s no time for the kind of planning that collaboration requires.

• Third, the GM should make the consequences for failing a Snap Decision less weighty than failing a Planned Action, though you may still gain an Adversity Token. Narratively, when everything’s on the line, the tension is already there, and you aren’t doing something stupid — you’re just in a bad spot. (On the other hand, when you have time to plan and still fail, that usually means you’ve decided to take a risk.)

For Example: Two characters have been captured by government forces and are being aggressively interrogated in different cells to try to get information out of them. Certainly, this is a Snap Decision — the characters are under pressure, and the interrogators aren’t going to wait patiently while the characters plan their responses. The GM might decide that in order to withstand this level of interrogation, each character will need a score of 12.

Rebecca, one of the characters, has a Grit stat of d20. She has seen some rough things in her life, and nothing scares her. She rolls a 13, succeeding. The GM and the player controlling Rebecca narrate her success at holding up under questioning. She just barely held up, though, so there won’t be any benefits beyond the fact that she did succeed.

The other character, Tricia, has a Grit stat of d6. She rolls a 3, failing by 9 points — fairly badly, but not a complete disaster. Perhaps Tricia gives

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up more information than the interrogator even knew she had. Perhaps she breaks quickly, giving them time to act on that information and prevent other characters from being able to do what they need to do, forcing them to scramble to come up with another way to get done what they need to get done. Perhaps she gives them more information than she should have, revealing the identity of her accomplices.

Ultimately, this will be up to the GM with minimal input from the player.

Failing a Roll

Remember, in Kids on Bikes, failing a roll isn’t all bad. First and foremost, it gives you an Adversity Token, which you can use to succeed when you really need it — especially if you pool it with other Adversity Tokens — or to activate your character’s strengths. Adversity Tokens give you more options later on, so failing a few times at the beginning is actually a good thing.

Second, failure can and should push the narrative forward. A failed roll means that what the character wants to happen doesn’t happen — but that doesn’t mean that what happens is bad for the story. For example, if the characters try to hack a computer but aren’t able to, it might mean that they have to seek out an NPC to help them with it. That character might, in turn, inadver-tently give them a clue that helps them puzzle out a mystery. Or, if a character tries to escape on foot from government forces pursuing her, she might be brought to a facility that holds the secret to the next part of the game.

So, while failures won’t be what your character wants, they should almost always feel good for the story — and should give the group more directions to take the narrative you’re building together.

For Example: Tricia rolls a 3 when trying to hold up against the interrogation, but she needed a 12. The result is bad — but not a disaster. As the agent starts applying verbal pressure to her, she cracks and tells the agent everything: where her friends are hiding and enough details about the strange animal she and her friends found in the forest to let the agent know that they’re indeed the children that the government agents are looking for. That agent quickly tells his supervisor, but in his rush to tell the others what’s happening, Tricia manages to not tell him that the animal seems to be able to teleport short distances. Thus, when the agents arrive at the house of Tricia’s friend, the strange animal is able to get to safety.

When deciding on the consequences of a stat check, the GM should consult the following guide:

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Roll - Target

Guidelines for Failure or Success

(with applicable modifiers)

The character succeeds smoothly and easily. Likely, it looks like the character is just showing off, or that the task