Town Creation

One of the fun parts of Kids on Bikes is to create a town together where the game will take place.

Everyone, please answer some of the questions below:


1. Our adventure takes place in… (name of town and state/province/territory/region)
2. The industry our town is best known for is…
3. Our town is famous for…
4. Our town is infamous for...
5. Economically, our town is… (e.g., prospering, floundering, starting to stagnate) and one effect of that is...
6a. A notable local organization is…
6b. A notable local organization is…
7a. A notable local landmark is…
7b. A notable local landmark is…
8. Our school is named..., our principal is..., our mascot is... and something notable about our school is...
9. The town closest to us is named… and our relationship with that town is…
(e.g., amicably competitive, unrestrainedly resentful, economically
envious, paternalistically helpful).
10. It is currently the month... of the year... (1990's)

Answer as a group with as much discussion as you need.



I would everyone also like to throw in a rumour about town.

I have a pitch that I’m not attached to, but I think it would be cool to play a town set on an island in the Pacific Northwest. It seems like treat wouldn’t be the standard setting, but a medium sized island is basically an isolated small town, there are lots of industry and plot hooks (tourism, fishing, weird boats or sea creatures, shipwrecks, the old abandoned lighthouse, etc.).

How does that strike folks?

I remember in the previous KoB game I joined, the GM found some random country generator and rolled on that to determine where we were playing. We ended up in Norway, which was fun.

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As for natknight's suggestion, I'm not too familiar with the different regions of the US and their differences, but I like the idea of being set on an island, fairly isolated.

I like the idea of an island of some sort. Been playing Oxenfree. Only way in or not of town is by Ferry that comes by 2x a week. Air shipment of supplies 3x a week. Town has only a few cars and trucks. Carts, bikes and scooters. ?horses?

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I cheated. I put all the questions into ChatGPT. This is what it came up with.



I can create a fictional town based on your prompt:

1. Our adventure takes place in "Harborville," located on Harbor Island, in the state of "Maritime Province."

2. The industry our town is best known for is fishing and seafood processing. Harborville is renowned for its fresh catches and delicious seafood products.

3. Our town is famous for its annual "Harborfest" seafood festival, which attracts visitors from all over the region to indulge in our delectable seafood dishes, live music, and vibrant cultural events.

4. Our town is infamous for a series of mysterious shipwrecks that occurred off the coast several decades ago. Locals still tell stories of ghost ships haunting the waters, adding an air of mystery to the area.

5. Economically, our town is prospering due to the thriving fishing industry. One effect of this prosperity is the development of a bustling harbor district, creating jobs and boosting tourism.

6a. A notable local organization is the "Harborville Fishermen's Association," which supports local fishermen and promotes sustainable fishing practices.

6b. Another notable local organization is the "Harborville Historical Society," dedicated to preserving the town's rich maritime history and artifacts.

7a. A notable local landmark is the "Harbor Lighthouse," perched at the entrance to the harbor, guiding ships safely to shore for over a century.

7b. Another notable local landmark is "Cliffside Park," offering breathtaking views of the harbor and surrounding islands, making it a popular spot for picnics and outdoor activities.

8. Our school is named "Harborview High School," our principal is Mr. Jameson, our mascot is the "Harbor Hawks," and something notable about our school is its strong emphasis on marine biology education, given our town's maritime heritage.

Well, I guess nobody could ever accuse the AI of being creative

Damn, the AI is coming for leisure activities now. 😂

I like the school it gave us, but I’d propose a different name than "Harbour Island" and "Maritime State".

A Pacific Northwest island could be in Washington state near Seattle (temperate climate, lush forests, mountains).

There would be a ferry a few times a day and possibly sea planes for fancier tourists (sport fishing, whale watching, B&B’s).

I propose that the lighthouse was automated in the seventies and is now full of electronics with a derelict light keeper’s house.

I’ll also add a location+rumour: the wreck of the Metro Morsk, a small cargo ship that ran aground on the island a decade ago in a massive storm. It’s rumoured that there was a government coverup during the cleanup. Maybe it was carrying something dangerous?

I use ChatGPT as a DM for a 1 on 1 Roleplay game that is DnD 5e style. I also DM a lot and use it to generate bounty boards, npcs, shops, and town basics.

I am not saying to use everything but was just trying to help with getting the juices flowing.


I also agree that I like that School but the town name is crap. 4, 7a, 7b, & 8 I kind of all like.

I'm not a fan of using AI for this in the first place. The whole point of the town creation is for everyone to add some setting details so everyone has some investment in the setting from the very beginning. Outsourcing that to AI kind of ruins the whole point of it.

I am happy to set this on an island.

I don't know much about the Pacific Northwest (and even Wikipedia says that "definitions do not agree" :), but think I would prefer the warmer climate suggested above to the assumption of frigid cold place.

Anything on the coast/seaside provides lots of grist for a game.

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There may be tidbits we can mine from the AI output, but they almost always result in the least interesting options, so I stopped reading what it said after a few lines. The school it suggests looks fine, but nothing special.

Maybe we can take any aspects from there that interest us and then talk about them as a group and come up with the actual answer.

ChatGPT can be a helpful tool at times. I am ping ponging with chatgpt a bit to get ideas for a D&D campaign setting.

But I agree with Bowlofspinach for Kids on Bikes. Town creation is often a lot of fun.
Letting AI do it would be like watching others play. Still, it can provide some inspiration.


I personally love natknight's island idea and it seems that everyone likes the ocean-vibe one way or another with suggestions for atwo different islands: temperate climate, lush forests, mountains or a warmer climate more tropical perhaps?


I like both ideas, but they would offer different experiences.
I admit when reading and island in the pacific, a volcanic/tropical/Hawaii-like land immediatelly popped in my mind, not really thinking about the Washington / Canadian coast.



In order to progress, I'd like to narrow it down.

Either a fictional island as natknight suggested; temperate climate, lush forests off the coast of Washington State.

Or more warmer / maybe semi-tropical island as suggested by vagueGM, possible a fictional island which is part of Hawaii.


As for the locations; being an island is also good, for it can have set partially on it's own traditions and customs.

While I would be as happy with a more Tropical island, I was meaning to agree with natknight about 'warmer Temperate' rather than suggesting even warmer than that. :) 'Pacific Northwest' seemed to include all the way up Alaska, and I was not feeling like that sort of frigid.

Are we assuming some form of slightly altered/alternate history? If so we can just make up an island that suits our desires. If we are setting it mainly in our own world, just with some weirdness, then using an existing island can be fun, but brings complications of 'historical accuracy' and such.

I'd prefer to just go for a fictional island, since that will get rid of any kinds of "Uhm, this isn't accurate" pitfalls. Climate-wise, I'm open for anything. I think the colder climate could be fun, but just warmer temperate or tropical all works for me as well, so I'll just go with what you others prefer.

I think it's best to make it a fictional island.

I have no objections to it being cold if we want, it was only a minor preference.

Warmer or Tropical Climates would have better weather to deal with. Trying to solve a problem during a Monsoon or Tropical Storm.

Always fun. :)

Let's set the game then on an

An island in the North Pacific, somewhere a good distance of the coast of Washington State

This way it is sufficiently isolated that the mainland does not seem to care much, but there would still be some connections.

What would the name be?

And how would the other questions fit on this island?

Is our town the only significant settlement on the island?

2. The industry our town is best known for is…
Maybe we are mainly a tourist destination? Though we may have to supplement that with other income during the off-season? Unless we have something special that means we don' really have an off-season? Fishing makes sense as an alternate income stream, or course, but I am thinking it could be interesting if we also had a military base that did something clandestine (they say it is weather balloons) and many people work there when not dealing with tourists?

I like the Military base idea. Top secret Hush Hush. They have a Small Airport to themselves and a Dock.

Instead of Fishing what about a specialized crop? A rare variety of peaches, or plums? Or even Our climate allows for Saffron or Vanilla to grow or some other rarish herb.

Yeah, saffron or another rare herb does sound cool. Or nuts of some sort. If we are far enough South we can do bandannas or pineapples.

An advantage of fishing is it takes grownups away for long periods, an advantage of crops is it could bring in migrant workers at various times.

If we have a tourism off-season we could also have parents leave to work on the mainland, adding instability to our families.