Following the conclusion of its latest campaign, Dimension 20, the popular actual play series on Dropout, recently released a trailer for its next season, Never Stop Blowing Up.
However, according to the official FAQ for the new ’80s-flavored campaign, it won’t rely on a version of the D&D 5E ruleset, instead returning to homebrew of the Kids on Bikes system by Hunter Entertainment. This is the third time the actual play series has used Kids on Bikes to empower its players, and was previously used in the Mentopolis and Misfits & Magic campaigns.
Image: Heather Vaughan
The Kids on Bikes system is also heavily inspired by 1980s films and pop-culture (i.e., Stranger Things, The Goonies, Paper Girls), which makes it an obvious choice for a campaign about six mall employees who get sucked into a magical VHS tape.
If the new season of Dimension 20 has inspired you to whip up your own version of Kids on Bikes, PDFs of the revised, second-edition rulebook are available from DriveThruRPG for $9.99, while physical copies can be purchased from Amazon for around $36. The second-edition ruleset contains a handful of updated and expanded rules but is otherwise fully compatible with all previously published first-edition content.
Compared to systems like D&D 5E, Kids on Bikes is far lighter on mechanics, placing a greater emphasis on narrative, and the absence of a class system allows for more creativity when building your characters. You’ll also rely on a smaller pool of core stats (Brains, Brawn, Fight, Flight, Charm, and Grit), which offers more flexibility in how you tackle different challenges. Dice are still a key factor in determining success or failure, with a different die attached to each key stat for your character.
