So I just finished reading the Teens in Space RPG, which is made by the same company that brought you Kids on Bikes, and I have to start out by saying that it is refreshing to see a game come out that is at the right price point for kids to be able to get into. In an industry where games are about $50 to a $100 just to get the core books (love those books too, so don’t take it as criticism), it is nice that Teen in Space comes in at $25. Full color digest sized core book that clocks in at a 122 pages, it is well worth the price.
Earlier in the month, I had read through Kids on Bikes, which is their 80’s RPG homage to stories like Stranger Things and Goonies, and really liked the core rule system but just wasn’t sold on running that type of story. So when I saw the cover on Teens in Space, I bought a copy and tore through it. Being powered by the Kids on Bikes engine, it has the same core rules with some nice add on’s like species and ship design / ship rules, which are tied nicely into the core mechanic. The game uses the standard set of d20 dice, and builds out characters easily by having you assign each die type to a stat or selecting a character trope, which allots the die types to the stats for you. After that is is just a matter of buying a few enhancements, building out your ship as a group, and answering some narrative questions about the character and the group and off you go. It is easy to see how this game could be done for con-game and one-shot pick-up games, but at the same time can be run for longer story arcs for multiple sessions.
Overall it is a very rules light game that is meant to lean towards the narrative and highly encourages player to take part in crafting the setting and the story itself. There is minimal background to the setting, and even the various species are kept wide open for customizing, so this may not be the game for people that like to have all the details colored in for them. That said, I really enjoy the open setting, which gives the group a lot of leeway in the tone that they would like to play in.
Easy to read (the core of the book is only about 60 pages with the other half being suggested species, summary of custom ship design, character tropes / enhancement), the rules are easy to figure out and will have a quick turn around at the table, so it will not bog during critical action scenes. Keeping that in mind, the book does cite examples of rules in action, but there were a few times it wasn’t clear enough which could cause confusion for new players to the hobby.
In the end, I would run this easily for a pre-teen / early teen group (recommended age for the game is 8+, which I could see doing easily) or even adults looking for an energetic lighthearted game. I am so glad that I picked this up and will be picking up their new release in Aug. Kids on Brooms, for designing your own Harry Potter styled world.
| Dimensioni prodotto | 32 x 24 x 0,5 cm; 30 grammi |
|---|---|
| Età consigliata dal produttore | 8 anni e più |
| Numero modello articolo | 69548 |
| Lingua: | Inglese |
| Numero modello | 69548 |
| Numero pezzi | 1 |
| Assemblaggio necessario | No |
| Batterie/Pile necessarie? | No |
| Batterie/Pile incluse? | No |
| Tipi di materiale | Plastica |
| Telecomando incluso? | No |
| Colore | Trasparente |
| Peso articolo | 30 g |
