Kids on Bikes vs Sentinel Comics RPG
Compare Kids on Bikes and Sentinel Comics RPG side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Kids on Bikes | Sentinel Comics RPG | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Horror, Modern | Modern, Superhero |
| Play Style | Beginner-Friendly, Cinematic, Collaborative, Worldbuilding, Mystery, Atmospheric, One-Shot Friendly, Theater of the Mind, Narrative, Roleplay-Heavy, Drama, GM-Friendly | Heroic, Narrative, Superhero, Combat-Heavy, Cinematic, Theater of the Mind |
| Core Mechanic | 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. | Roll three dice (from powers, qualities, and status) and use the middle result vs. difficulty. Your status zone (green/yellow/red) changes available abilities as you take damage. |
| Dice | d4–d20 | d4–d12 |
| Complexity | Low | Medium |
| Accessibility | Medium | Medium |
| Community | High | Low |
| License | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Cost | $$ | $$ |
| Publisher | Hunters Entertainment / Renegade Game Studios | Greater Than Games |
| Year | 2018 | 2022 |
| Best For | 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. | Superhero campaigns that feel like reading a comic book, with a unique status-shifting system and structured hero/villain/environment turns. |
| Highlights | 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 | Captures comic book pacing well, status system creates dramatic arcs, villain/environment turns keep things dynamic, developed published setting |
| Considerations | 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 | Tightly tied to the Sentinel Comics universe, status dice tracking requires careful bookkeeping, can feel constrained for freeform players |