This system is loosely based on Kids on brooms/ bikes, and then the season right after, they play a sort of Never stop blowing up - Kids on brooms mash-up that also seems like so much fun.
I think it's terrible. It makes NO sense. You get worse not better as you level up if the difficult is the same. Difficult 8 as in the example on a d4 you have a 25% chance to hit a 4 and then the d6 to add it to get to a 8 difficult is relatively easy. But that is a 16.67% on a d6 so leveling up and getting the bigger dice just made is less likely to actually hit the 8 difficulty target. Then eventually as you start rolling a d10 or higher it slowly starts to get easier. But that requires you to succeed a 25% chance roll on a d4, a 16.67% roll on a d6, a 12.5% on a d8 and then it is still only 30% chance on a d10. So after leveling up 3 times you you have a 5% increases of hitting the 8 difficult compared to the d4 you started with :|
@@cerellitv2978if you are a novice at something it's easier to become okay at it. It is slightly more difficult to get good at it. Mastering it will require a lot more trials and failures. It makes sense. Mechanically in the game it is fun to level up different things. Also remember you can use turbo tokens to explode
@@cerellitv2978this only really affects smaller numbers that are already *really close* to the die numbers, and it falls off pretty quick. For a difficulty 8 roll your odds of making it with no tokens are: 12.5% (1/8) for a d4, ~14.6% (7/48) for a d6, 12.5% (1/8) again for a d8, 30% (3/10) for a d10, ~42% (5/12) for a d12, and 65% (13/20) for a d20. For bigger DC’s there’s no such fall-off at all. To reach a DC of 16, the odds are d4: 1/64=~1.6%, d6: 3/160=~1.9%, d8: 3/80=~3.8%, d10: 7/120=~5.8%, d12: 17/240=~7.1%, and d20: 1/4=25%. Also this whole thing only speaks the vertical progression of “big numbers go brrrr” while totally ignoring the horizontal progression of gaining new abilities as your dice and the table’s dice all blow up
I agree that this system might not be good for long campaigns, but for medium length is not bad. I think that if the players blow their dice, they do become overpowered but that would encourage them to try even more absurd and outrageous actions, giving the opportunity to the GM to set higher dice rolls. This happened in misfits and magic 2, where Aabria set some DCs of 50 and of a 100, when the players wanted to do really godly feats.
I think it works for a game session, maybe two. Too many more and you are going to quickly reach a d20 in every skill. Which might make you want to do some crazy things. But anything over 30 is so unlikely that it's just not worth trying.
Oh, you're thinking in terms of DnD my friend. The season they played in Dimension 20 there was wild things such as driving to almost 5000 (yes, 3 zeros) miles/h. It was hilarious
@bradleyhurley6755 You don't get a choice. The dm doesn't set the DC until you have set yourself on the path of the action. If you say "I want to leap from this train and tackle that dude off his motorcycle" and the dm says "Stunt:16", you don't get to say nevermind. The system let's you get away with a lot, but backing out of your crazy idea because the numbers aren't in your favor is not one of them.
@@DParkerNunya I would just find that insanely stupid. Like as a person who lives in the world and knows my own capabilities, I should have a general idea of how difficult something is going to be. Anything over 30 is so statistically unlikely that there is no point in attempting it.
@@danieldiaz143 Honestly I would just find that stupid. No one would drive 5,000 miles per hour. You should honestly never do anything with a DC over like 15 because it just isn't going to happen. Setting yourself up for failure there.
Great timing worthy of an 80s action hero. I just downloaded this game yesterday. I agree it's not suited to long-term term play (for over the top 80s action campaigns, I'd use "Shadow of the Century" or "Extreme Vengeance"). You might be able to run a 2-3 session mini campaign, though. Running the same characters through increasingly ridiculous sequels might be possible, too, if everything resets back to d4 after each "movie."
In the current season if you get to a d20 and blow up on it you can forge a magic item of your choice. If you need to you can destroy the item for tokens. Then reset the dice to a d4. I think this is a good way up prevent people speed running and getting everything as a d20.
This system is SUPPOSED to be wacky and unrealistic and silly. It's not made for grimdark dungeon crawls, it's made for being insane action movie heroes. The DCs typically go up with you progressing, and no, setting a DC at 30/40 is not hard when you have a d12/d20 and some tokens and friends nearby. Considering this system in terms of realism is not only doing it a disservice, it's just missing the concept altogether. Also the Dimension20 season lasted 20 hours. If you don't roll for any small thing you do every 3 minutes, you can really wait some time before all your dice max out. Also - they shouldn't, since you're playing an action hero character, they never have All the skills. It's for playing cliches and having fun. It's much more narrative than math based.
This sounds like such an interesting system to try out, definitely sounds perfect for a shorter campaign, and like you mentioned leans more into the fun and wacky side of things which is always good!
I fixed the dice issue. After you explode you keep the previous dice (max of 1). So if you explode on a d4 and level up the next roll you make will be a 1d4 + 1d6. As a GM this fixes the difficult curve as all you have to do is take the max possible roles 4 +6 = 10 then half it and you have the medium difficulty level which in this case is around 5~7. If they then explode their d6 and go to a d8 the next round you drop the d4 and roll the d6 + the d8 which has a max roll of 14 meaning that a 7 ~9 will be about mid difficulty. This makes it much easier to set difficulty levels that are actually obtainable by players which I think is critical to a game that is all about the power fantasy trope that is an action movie and if you do set the difficulty above what they can roll in those clutch moments it will just hit all the harder.
OH, This is the Monty Python RPG system but with a normal 7 piece dice set. The thing about that system though is that if you rolled a 1, then you go 'down' a dice size. They also had 'more' dice to use as you used one of those wacky "Dungeon Crawl Classic" style sets. It feels fun, I think the main issue is that its always just a 'progressive upward trend' as opposed to being able to roll a 1 and fall downwards that might be an issue. Cause you can very easily get a D20 in all stats after a handful of roll heavy sessions. That and the 'main' issue with the Kids on Bikes system of them 'not' stopping at a D12 and being able to jump all the way to a D20 without anything in between, as normally it just went up 2 every dice size. Though yeah, this is certainly another one of those "Short game rulesets" that I'm seeing more and more of, especially around the 'liveplay' scene.
I don't know which episode it was, but during the season on D20, Brennan mentioned there was a problem with the game mechanics because it's possible to critically fail and still blow up to max because of how failure works. He alluded to it basically breaking the game and needing to address that. Did they fix this with the release version?
If the issue is that say, you can roll a 1, but then still use collected turbo tokens to turn it in to a BLOW UP, then I think that is still possible... But to have that many turbo tokens available, it means you will have had to fail ALOT of times already.
Glancing over the rules, it looks to me like the game is exactly what was in the show. The main issue I remember was that the high level stuff wasn't tested much before filming, so the players found some insane synergies. Those things are still in the ruleset. If I were running this, I would make two home-rules 1) You can only double your tokens from double exploding once per turn. When combined with some of the other mechanics, this can lead to a loop where people are able to keep blowing up over and over, effectively using their tokens to get more tokens. Limiting it to once per turn would fix that. 2) No letting players be the GM on nat 20s. That was super fun in the show when trained improv comics were using it, but I don't think you can trust every table with that. Plus, the other nat 20 based abilities from that suite are great, but nobody will ever choose them because this ability is so overpowered.
Totally going to try this! And the joy of a simple system is that it’s easy to run for new players. And it’s a rare case of meta ludonarrarive resonance - not only does the rules reinforce the theming (ludonarrative resonance), but the jank of the rules fits it too!
It's weird that they release this as "based on Kids on..." since those systems don't have an Open License. Maybe they figure they're safe since they're giving it away for free.
"Based on" is basically free advertising in this case. They're not using any copyrightable material from Kids on Bikes, gaming systems can't be copywritten or patented at all, and they've made so many changes to the gameplay that it's barely reminiscent of that game. There's no legal need for them to mention Kids on Bikes at all, they're just giving credit to the team that gave them the inspiration.
Brennan played in Candela Obscura on CR - in part created by Spencer Stark who also worked on Kids on Bikes - so probably has a relationship to the people who made the system. If there was an issue with them publishing it I think Dropout’s legal team would’ve stopped them.
This dice math makes no sense to me. Why does the game get more difficult as you level up? Shouldn't you get better not worse at your skill? Getting a 8 difficulty is by far the easiest at lvl 1 when you a roll a d4 which has a 25% chance to be a max number and then it is pretty likely you roll at least a 4 or higher on the d6 (50%). Then it goes down from there. ???
This system is loosely based on Kids on brooms/ bikes, and then the season right after, they play a sort of Never stop blowing up - Kids on brooms mash-up that also seems like so much fun.
I am watching that season next!
@@BonusActionit is so good. So many good moments/quotes
duuuuuuude. that Blowing Up mechanic is genius.
It looks so addictive, I can not wait to play it!
I think it's terrible. It makes NO sense. You get worse not better as you level up if the difficult is the same.
Difficult 8 as in the example on a d4 you have a 25% chance to hit a 4 and then the d6 to add it to get to a 8 difficult is relatively easy.
But that is a 16.67% on a d6 so leveling up and getting the bigger dice just made is less likely to actually hit the 8 difficulty target. Then eventually as you start rolling a d10 or higher it slowly starts to get easier. But that requires you to succeed a 25% chance roll on a d4, a 16.67% roll on a d6, a 12.5% on a d8 and then it is still only 30% chance on a d10. So after leveling up 3 times you you have a 5% increases of hitting the 8 difficult compared to the d4 you started with :|
@@cerellitv2978if you are a novice at something it's easier to become okay at it. It is slightly more difficult to get good at it. Mastering it will require a lot more trials and failures. It makes sense.
Mechanically in the game it is fun to level up different things. Also remember you can use turbo tokens to explode
@@cerellitv2978this only really affects smaller numbers that are already *really close* to the die numbers, and it falls off pretty quick. For a difficulty 8 roll your odds of making it with no tokens are: 12.5% (1/8) for a d4, ~14.6% (7/48) for a d6, 12.5% (1/8) again for a d8, 30% (3/10) for a d10, ~42% (5/12) for a d12, and 65% (13/20) for a d20. For bigger DC’s there’s no such fall-off at all. To reach a DC of 16, the odds are d4: 1/64=~1.6%, d6: 3/160=~1.9%, d8: 3/80=~3.8%, d10: 7/120=~5.8%, d12: 17/240=~7.1%, and d20: 1/4=25%. Also this whole thing only speaks the vertical progression of “big numbers go brrrr” while totally ignoring the horizontal progression of gaining new abilities as your dice and the table’s dice all blow up
@@cerellitv2978next time consider actually doing the math before claiming it’s easier to hit a DC 8 with a d4 than with a d6 lmao
I agree that this system might not be good for long campaigns, but for medium length is not bad. I think that if the players blow their dice, they do become overpowered but that would encourage them to try even more absurd and outrageous actions, giving the opportunity to the GM to set higher dice rolls. This happened in misfits and magic 2, where Aabria set some DCs of 50 and of a 100, when the players wanted to do really godly feats.
I think it works for a game session, maybe two. Too many more and you are going to quickly reach a d20 in every skill. Which might make you want to do some crazy things. But anything over 30 is so unlikely that it's just not worth trying.
Oh, you're thinking in terms of DnD my friend. The season they played in Dimension 20 there was wild things such as driving to almost 5000 (yes, 3 zeros) miles/h. It was hilarious
@bradleyhurley6755 You don't get a choice. The dm doesn't set the DC until you have set yourself on the path of the action. If you say "I want to leap from this train and tackle that dude off his motorcycle" and the dm says "Stunt:16", you don't get to say nevermind. The system let's you get away with a lot, but backing out of your crazy idea because the numbers aren't in your favor is not one of them.
@@DParkerNunya I would just find that insanely stupid. Like as a person who lives in the world and knows my own capabilities, I should have a general idea of how difficult something is going to be. Anything over 30 is so statistically unlikely that there is no point in attempting it.
@@danieldiaz143 Honestly I would just find that stupid. No one would drive 5,000 miles per hour. You should honestly never do anything with a DC over like 15 because it just isn't going to happen. Setting yourself up for failure there.
Great timing worthy of an 80s action hero. I just downloaded this game yesterday.
I agree it's not suited to long-term term play (for over the top 80s action campaigns, I'd use "Shadow of the Century" or "Extreme Vengeance"). You might be able to run a 2-3 session mini campaign, though. Running the same characters through increasingly ridiculous sequels might be possible, too, if everything resets back to d4 after each "movie."
In the current season if you get to a d20 and blow up on it you can forge a magic item of your choice. If you need to you can destroy the item for tokens. Then reset the dice to a d4. I think this is a good way up prevent people speed running and getting everything as a d20.
Excellent breakdown video
This system is SUPPOSED to be wacky and unrealistic and silly. It's not made for grimdark dungeon crawls, it's made for being insane action movie heroes. The DCs typically go up with you progressing, and no, setting a DC at 30/40 is not hard when you have a d12/d20 and some tokens and friends nearby. Considering this system in terms of realism is not only doing it a disservice, it's just missing the concept altogether.
Also the Dimension20 season lasted 20 hours. If you don't roll for any small thing you do every 3 minutes, you can really wait some time before all your dice max out. Also - they shouldn't, since you're playing an action hero character, they never have All the skills. It's for playing cliches and having fun. It's much more narrative than math based.
Necksnapper - 'harmlessly incapacitate' something is not adding up... haha
Its very Batman where he does stuff that'll 100% kill them irl but he checks their pulse and its fine
This sounds like such an interesting system to try out, definitely sounds perfect for a shorter campaign, and like you mentioned leans more into the fun and wacky side of things which is always good!
Thanks for the intro and info. Going to give it a go.
I fixed the dice issue. After you explode you keep the previous dice (max of 1).
So if you explode on a d4 and level up the next roll you make will be a 1d4 + 1d6.
As a GM this fixes the difficult curve as all you have to do is take the max possible roles 4 +6 = 10 then half it and you have the medium difficulty level which in this case is around 5~7.
If they then explode their d6 and go to a d8 the next round you drop the d4 and roll the d6 + the d8 which has a max roll of 14 meaning that a 7 ~9 will be about mid difficulty.
This makes it much easier to set difficulty levels that are actually obtainable by players which I think is critical to a game that is all about the power fantasy trope that is an action movie and if you do set the difficulty above what they can roll in those clutch moments it will just hit all the harder.
your ability to stream also fits in perfectly with the system :)
OH, This is the Monty Python RPG system but with a normal 7 piece dice set.
The thing about that system though is that if you rolled a 1, then you go 'down' a dice size. They also had 'more' dice to use as you used one of those wacky "Dungeon Crawl Classic" style sets.
It feels fun, I think the main issue is that its always just a 'progressive upward trend' as opposed to being able to roll a 1 and fall downwards that might be an issue. Cause you can very easily get a D20 in all stats after a handful of roll heavy sessions. That and the 'main' issue with the Kids on Bikes system of them 'not' stopping at a D12 and being able to jump all the way to a D20 without anything in between, as normally it just went up 2 every dice size.
Though yeah, this is certainly another one of those "Short game rulesets" that I'm seeing more and more of, especially around the 'liveplay' scene.
I'M FREAKING OUT RIGHT NOW.
I'VE BEEN WANTING TO TRY IT OUT, I THOUGHT I HAD TO LEARN KoB FOR IT
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I don't know which episode it was, but during the season on D20, Brennan mentioned there was a problem with the game mechanics because it's possible to critically fail and still blow up to max because of how failure works. He alluded to it basically breaking the game and needing to address that. Did they fix this with the release version?
If the issue is that say, you can roll a 1, but then still use collected turbo tokens to turn it in to a BLOW UP, then I think that is still possible... But to have that many turbo tokens available, it means you will have had to fail ALOT of times already.
Glancing over the rules, it looks to me like the game is exactly what was in the show. The main issue I remember was that the high level stuff wasn't tested much before filming, so the players found some insane synergies. Those things are still in the ruleset.
If I were running this, I would make two home-rules
1) You can only double your tokens from double exploding once per turn. When combined with some of the other mechanics, this can lead to a loop where people are able to keep blowing up over and over, effectively using their tokens to get more tokens. Limiting it to once per turn would fix that.
2) No letting players be the GM on nat 20s. That was super fun in the show when trained improv comics were using it, but I don't think you can trust every table with that. Plus, the other nat 20 based abilities from that suite are great, but nobody will ever choose them because this ability is so overpowered.
It was the later game ability that lets a 1 be a blow up and i think they were at 20 already so it restarted
Totally going to try this! And the joy of a simple system is that it’s easy to run for new players. And it’s a rare case of meta ludonarrarive resonance - not only does the rules reinforce the theming (ludonarrative resonance), but the jank of the rules fits it too!
Stoked for this vid 🎉
I want to use this system in my swn game where the characters will play an rpg with an npc gm
i would suggest players could spend skill levels to buy new traits instead of spending turbo
The group skills sound so expensive tho... like, getting to 18 turbo tokens seems a bit mad no? ._.
It's weird that they release this as "based on Kids on..." since those systems don't have an Open License. Maybe they figure they're safe since they're giving it away for free.
"Based on" is basically free advertising in this case. They're not using any copyrightable material from Kids on Bikes, gaming systems can't be copywritten or patented at all, and they've made so many changes to the gameplay that it's barely reminiscent of that game. There's no legal need for them to mention Kids on Bikes at all, they're just giving credit to the team that gave them the inspiration.
Brennan played in Candela Obscura on CR - in part created by Spencer Stark who also worked on Kids on Bikes - so probably has a relationship to the people who made the system. If there was an issue with them publishing it I think Dropout’s legal team would’ve stopped them.
They literally worked with the KOB creators to make this system hack
I dont like the fact that this system encourages you to keep solving problems with the same skill just to attempt to blow it up again.
I've never been a fan of the blowing up dice mechanic. Feels too hard to accomplish. For me at least
I assume that's why the Tokens exist
This dice math makes no sense to me. Why does the game get more difficult as you level up? Shouldn't you get better not worse at your skill? Getting a 8 difficulty is by far the easiest at lvl 1 when you a roll a d4 which has a 25% chance to be a max number and then it is pretty likely you roll at least a 4 or higher on the d6 (50%). Then it goes down from there.
???