Kids on Bikes vs Tales from the Loop
Compare Kids on Bikes and Tales from the Loop side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Kids on Bikes | Tales from the Loop | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Horror, Modern | Sci-Fi, Modern |
| Tags | Mystery, Worldbuilding, Collaborative, Narrative, Character-Driven, Fear & Stress Mechanics, Superpowers, Rules-Light, One-Shot Friendly, Beginner-Friendly | Narrative, Beginner-Friendly, Character-Driven, Mystery, Rules-Light, Licensed IP |
| Core Mechanic | Assign a different die from d4 to d20 to each stat. Roll the relevant die against a GM-set difficulty. A maximum result lets you reroll and add the new result only while the unmodified total remains below the difficulty. Resolve these explosions before adding bonuses or spending Adversity Tokens to meet or beat the difficulty. Failed checks earn Adversity Tokens that can boost later rolls or activate strengths. Planned actions can use half the die’s maximum instead of rolling. | Roll a d6 dice pool (attribute + skill). Each 6 is a success. Push to reroll failures but take a Condition. Kids cannot die: instead they accumulate Conditions (Upset, Scared, Exhausted, Injured, Broken) and must roleplay recovery with anchors. |
| Dice | d4–d20 | d6 dice pool |
| Complexity | Low | Low |
| Availability | Free quickstart | Paid |
| Runnability | 4 of 5 book tools | 4 of 5 book tools |
| License | All Rights Reserved | Year Zero Engine OGL |
| Third-Party Publishing | No verified route found | Not yet researched |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | Hunters Entertainment / Renegade Game Studios | Free League Publishing |
| Year | 2018 | 2017 |
| Languages | English, Italian, Spanish | English, Swedish, French, German, Italian, Spanish |
| Best For | Groups who want to build a small-town mystery together and share control of its supernatural companion alongside their own everyday characters. | Groups wanting a rules-light, nostalgia-driven RPG about kids solving sci-fi mysteries in an alternate 1980s: Stranger Things meets E.T. |
| Highlights | Shared town-building and relationship questions give the GM player-created hooks for the mystery. Each player controls aspects of a shared supernatural character, distributing its choices across the table. Failed rolls earn tokens that can turn later setbacks into successes. | Very simple rules, distinctive 1980s setting, Conditions system encourages roleplay over combat, accessible for new players and younger teens |
| Considerations | Combat can kill a character outright when the attack roll greatly exceeds the defense roll. Players must help narrate outcomes beyond their own characters under the default shared-control approach. Character growth is negotiated from events in play rather than governed by levels or an experience-point track. | Trouble mechanic resolution can feel arbitrary, limited mechanical differentiation between kid characters, investigation pacing relies heavily on GM skill, sessions can stall without clear mystery structure |