Session 0 - town building

One of the great things in Kids on Bikes is the collaborative town building.

Based on a list of questions, we will build a town.

The game will take place in the 1990s in a small town (it could be any year, but as I said in the invite post, I love the '90s :) ). It should take a kid on a bike an hour to pedal from one side of town to the other. The town should be remote enough from society that no one cares, but close enough that government helicopters can be there within two hours.

We will collaboratively answer a list of questions. After the questions have been answered, I will draw up a map (a simple one, I am not an artist; maybe I can manipulate AI into making it). The best way to do this in PBP is for everyone to pick one set of questions and answer them. After that, we can discuss and tweak them a little.

In case of a 3-PC game, the GM will answer the remaining set of questions 1-4.
In case of a 5-PC game there is a set of extra questions.

Set 1
Our adventure starts in the .....(season) of the year 199...
The industry our town is best known for is…
A notable local organization is…
A notable NPC in town is... Who are they? What do they look like?
A rumor about town or someone in town is.... (can be true or false, big or small)

Set 2
Our adventure takes place in… (name of town and state/province/territory/region)
Our town is famous for…
A notable local organization is…
A notable NPC in town is... Who are they? What do they look like?
A rumor about town or someone in town is.... (can be true or false, big or small)

Set 3
The town closest to us is named… and our relationship with that town is… (e.g., amicably competitive, unrestrainedly resentful, economically envious, paternalistically helpful).
Economically, our town is… (e.g., prospering, floundering, starting to stagnate) and one effect of that is...
A notable local landmark is…
A notable NPC in town is... Who are they? What do they look like?
A rumor about town or someone in town is.... (can be true or false, big or small)

Set 4
Our school’s name is .... and our mascot is…
Our town is infamous for...
A notable local landmark is…
A notable NPC in town is... Who are they? What do they look like?
A rumor about town or someone in town is.... (can be true or false, big or small)

Set 5 (in a 5-pc game)
A tradition in our town is...
A notable local landmark is…
A notable local organization is…
A notable NPC in town is... Who are they? What do they look like?
A rumor about town or someone in town is.... (can be true or false, big or small)

This is fun. I am going to start the ball rolling, but happy to change all/any of these (or even to change Set of questions if someone else wants these)

Set 2
Our adventure takes place in… (name of town and state/province/territory/region)
This is a biggie, and we should decide it together. I will propose a small town called Prudence, somewhere in New Jersey? (just to get the conversation going)

Our town is famous for…
a particular kind of Pecan Pie, called Prudence Pride

A notable local organization is…
The Jersey Minstrels, a marching band that rehearse all year for the 4th July performance, when they always parade down the streets, with grand finale at the Bandstand in Washington Park. Their hit is a brass arrangement of Thriller by M. Jackson, to which all kids like to dance doing zombie moves.

A notable NPC in town is... Who are they? What do they look like?
Clyde, the town tramp. Clyde is in his sixties (but a vagrant's life makes him look older - or ancient, as our kids would say).
He is a free spirit who wants to live without the rigid conventions of a job, a family and a set of rules. He is harmless, and fairly well liked. He gets by with people's donations - sometimes a cigarette, others a hot dog, or an old jacket for the cold nights.
People know he is good-natured, and kids like him for his wacky stories. He has spiky white hair, a wrinkled, sun-baked face, and he is missing every other tooth. He usually wears threadbare overalls and a faded baseball cap that reads Bud's Tyres.

A rumor about town or someone in town is.... (can be true or false, big or small)
The middle school librarian, Evelyn, used to be filthy rich, but she lost her fortune gambling it all in Reno. They say she only kept a large diamond, that she hides at home.
how do these sound?

Off to a great start. Here is my shot at question set 3, open to your feedback:

The town closest to us is named Williamswood. It's about twenty minutes drive up north, and is somewhat smaller than Prudence. There is a friendly sort of rivalry between the two towns; Williamswood have their own kind of Pecan pie which they claim is in every way superior to Prudence Pride. They have their own marching band, county fairs - and a website that boasts they are the town from which it is best to explore the region's natural attractions.

Economically, our town is starting to stagnate. Living in Prudence is tranquil and peaceful, but the town offers few opportunities to advance economically, and none of the entertainment and amenities of the bigger city. Young people leaving for college rarely return to Prudence, and the town's population is slowly aging.

A notable local landmark is the surrounding forest. Dense and primeval, it envelops Prudence from all sides. Children enjoy playing on its outskirts, and numerous scenic nature trails weave between the wild trees. However, it is probably unwise to venture too far inside, especially alone or after dark.


A notable NPC in town is Chief Montgomery (‘Monty’) Tidwell. Him, and his handful of deputies, comprise Prudence's police department. Monty is a laidback Chief of police; the small town is relatively quiet and peaceful, and most of his job consists of writing tickets for parking violation (when he can’t find the owner and ask him to move his car), DUIs, and settling disputes over rose bushes crossing property lines. Don’t get on his bad side, however; if he can’t get troublemakers to see reason, he’s not above driving them way outside of town in the back of his patrol car and letting them walk back in the dead of night, or roughing them up till he’s sure they ‘got the message’. Everything to keep his beloved town from degenerating like the much more densely populated urban centers across the US.




A rumor about town or someone in town is about Mr. Ashby, an ornery old man who lives by himself in a small log cabin on the outskirts of town. His young wife went missing a few years ago, and the (never substantiated) rumors are that he chopped her up with his wood-axe and hid her body after discovering she had an affair.

I already love where this is going guys :)

Set 1 for me.

Our adventure starts in the .....(season) of the year 199...

The Spring of 1992. Nirvana's Nevermind is out, so It's definitely not the 80s anymore.

The industry our town is best known for is…

Tourism. Prudence is a bit of a "hidden gem" for camping and fishing. As well as the forests, there is some great freshwater fishing (if you know where to go). The busy seasons are Spring and Summer, which tends to get very quiet in the off-seasons.


A notable local organization is…

The Prudence Business Advancement Association has been around for a long time. They're a Masonic lodge with all the associated secrecy, but their also a powerful lobby group within the town.

A notable NPC in town is... Who are they? What do they look like?

Carrington Foote. One of the town's wealthiest residents with plenty of interests in the local economy and deep roots in the town that stretch back generations. He is the president of the PBAA, and also the "Worshipful Master" of the lodge.

Foote is a WASP, in his sixties and always nattily dressed, albeit in out-of-date fashion.



A rumor about town or someone in town is.... (can be true or false, big or small)

There's a really old rumor that a unit of retreating British soldiers buried some looted gold in or around the town in the 1700's. Locals refer to it as The Hessians' gold. Only the very gullible actually believe this is true, but a little bit of revolutionary history is always good for bringing in the tourists.

Set 4

Our school’s name is .... and our mascot is…

The Ulysses S. Grant Public High School, home of the Gators. The mascot has a big goofy set of jaws, and a swishy stuffed tail that gets stepped on very often, and a yellow t-shirt with burgundy letters that say GATORS.

Our town is infamous for...

Emily Carter Morgensen, the Orchard Killer. In the early 60s, the state, even then Martin was shocked by a series of murders. The victims were strung up from pecan trees that grow in the area's orchards. After an extensive manhunt, she was cornered in a bauxite mine and killed in by gunfire.

A notable local landmark is…

The abandoned bauxite mine outside of town, near the scenic Lake Hubberd. It's blocked off but the local teens like to party inside. Last year's post-Homecoming Rocky Rave is still talked about.

A notable NPC in town is... Who are they? What do they look like?

Brian "Wildcat" Cheng, drive time DJ. The radio station in town operates on a shoe string budget, kept afloat primarily by grants and repetitive commercials. Wildcat is the one bright light, a humorous man that serves as the celebrity in a population to small to have proper ones.

A rumor about town or someone in town is.... (can be true or false, big or small)

Porous rock formations underneath the town will one day collapse and the whole town will sink away. It's just one new mining tunnel or earthquake away from happening. Oh, did you feel that?

Amazing stuff, everyone! 😅

Are you happy with the name Prudence (and the New Jersey location), or did you want to brainstorm for something better?

I'm happy with the name and setting. I like towns and other geographical features named after abstract concepts. Here in Aus we have a Mount Disappointment.

That sounds like a visit to skip :)

I love it. Some very interesting NPCs and so.
@spinningdice can still answer some quedtions but I think we have a hood idea for a town now. I shall write up and summarize then get and up a simple map.

I think it's a goid time to start thing of player characters in this town.

Any direction on us envisioning said characters? Did we want to be a similar age, or connected through some common ground?

based on this, I'd say we at least share the same school?

The game advert said "You'd be playing kids in middle school age. You can pick a Trope or create on yourself"

So that means somewhere in the 11-13 age? Sharing the same school makes the most sense in that case.

I think this type of game works best for that age range yes.
And it would be best if all characters are in the same age range.
Like an adult running around with the group would be weird in various ways.
A small town most likely has only one such school. Maybe two. But everyone in the same school gives easier connections.



Other than that - feel free and go wild with your ideas! :)

I like that I named it a high school too, and maybe with the population decline, we've been moved in to share that facility as the middle school was decrepit and moldy.

Sorry - yesterday we had a power cut, and unexpected guests and my brain crashed out from the disrupted day (yay neurodivergence!).

A tradition in our town is... Winters End Fayre, it serves as a final gathering before tourist season starts. A chance to dress up and bring along displays or stalls of local talent and crafts before the

A notable local landmark is… The Community Centre, Built four years ago, it's a large, decorated warehouse of a building, mostly an open space with adjoining kitchen, office and storeroom, about twice the size the town needs, the original plan was to attract large conferences or conventions and bring more money to the town, but Prudence isn't on the radar for that kind of event. Even when the largest parties are held it feels like it's half empty, and it adds an aura of desolation to any event held there.

A notable local organization is… The Knitting Circle. The knitting circle are a loose affiliation of mostly older women in the town, they meet weekly to knit, catch up, arrange charity knits for local organisations and according to local jokes decide on the future of the town.

A notable NPC in town is... Who are they? What do they look like?
Dr Verity Solstice, one of the local GPs, with a paediatric specialty - so she's the one who sees all the kids. She's young (mid 20s?), speaks with a foreign accent no-one can quite place (German? Dutch? eastern Europe?) and hands out sweets to her visitors.

A rumour about town or someone in town is.... (can be true or false, big or small): The school gym hall has a ghost, allegedly it used to have underfloor storage that you could lift up and store equipment in. A kid named Ambrose Parks was locked or got stuck in there just before spring break and they found his body after someone heard tapping on the floor. The underfloor storage has been sealed off/filled in now, but sometimes you still hear tapping on the gym floors...

Love these!

Awesome!

No problem. Take your time.
And yeah - I'm a bit in the same ship as you are.

"Shall we pay a fun visit next week?" Yay! Great!
"Hello, surprise fun visit!" Ack! No, go away!

I love your input. Going to add them to the town sheet right away.


I will put up the NPC's somewhere over the weekend.