Fiasco vs Kids on Bikes
Compare Fiasco and Kids on Bikes side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Fiasco | Kids on Bikes | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Modern | Horror, Modern |
| Play Style | GM-Less, One-Shot Friendly, Rules-Light, Narrative, Collaborative, Drama, Fiction-First, Low-Prep | Beginner-Friendly, Cinematic, Collaborative, Worldbuilding, Mystery, Atmospheric, One-Shot Friendly, Theater of the Mind, Narrative, Roleplay-Heavy, Drama, GM-Friendly |
| Core Mechanic | No GM. Setup uses cards (or dice in Classic edition) to establish relationships, needs, locations, and objects between characters. Scenes alternate between Establish and Resolve — other players either frame the scene or choose its outcome. The Tilt at the midpoint introduces chaos. The Aftermath tallies white and black dice to determine each character's fate. | Six stats (Brains, Brawn, Fight, Flight, Charm, Grit) each get a single die from d4 (terrible) to d20 (superb), with the assignment determined by a chosen Trope (Brilliant Mathlete, Loner Weirdo, Popular Kid, etc.). Roll the relevant stat die against a GM-set difficulty; rolling the die's maximum 'explodes' and the die is rerolled, adding the values together. Failed rolls grant Adversity Tokens, each spendable for +1 on a future roll. Combat is fully narrative — there are no hit points; the margin between attacker and defender rolls determines injury severity and who narrates the outcome. Age (child, teen, or adult) grants +1 to two relevant stats and unlocks a free Strength. Each campaign also features a Powered Character co-controlled by all players through shared Aspect notecards and a pool of Psychic Energy tokens. |
| Dice | d6 | d4–d20 |
| Complexity | Very Low | Low |
| Accessibility | High | Medium |
| Community | Medium | High |
| License | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Cost | $$ | $$ |
| Publisher | Bully Pulpit Games | Hunters Entertainment / Renegade Game Studios |
| Year | 2020 | 2018 |
| Best For | One-shots where players collaboratively build and then dismantle a story of desperate people with big ambitions — inspired by Coen Brothers films and crime-gone-wrong cinema. | Groups who want collaborative small-town supernatural mystery in the vein of Stranger Things or Stand By Me, where character relationships and tropes matter more than mechanical complexity. Especially well suited to one-shots, short campaigns, and tables that include players new to TTRPGs. |
| Highlights | Zero prep, no GM required, playsets define different settings and genres for each session, Diana Jones Award winner, plays in 2–3 hours | Pre-built Tropes turn character creation into a five-minute step, Setting Boundaries safety tools are integrated as the very first step before play, collaborative world-building constructs the town and seeds rumors before the first session, the Powered Character mechanic distributes shared narrative control of the supernatural element across the table via Aspect notecards |
| Considerations | Heavily dependent on player chemistry and group dynamic, Tilt can derail carefully established narrative threads, new players often struggle with self-directed scene framing, outcome quality varies significantly between groups | Combat is fully narrative with no hit points or initiative, which can frustrate groups who want tactical structure, difficulty setting is entirely GM judgment with example anchors but no formulas, the shared-control Powered Character can confuse players new to collaborative narration, long-campaign play requires the GM to invent advancement and pacing because the rules are tuned for one-shots and short arcs |