Basic Action Super Heroes!

I've agreed to run a con style game... (no problem I've done this before)... for a group of 3-6... (more variable than I'm used to but ok, I can cope).... 11-14 year olds. (Crap)

Does anybody have any Ideas. Left to my own devices my stories have a more horror bent to them, which is (probably) wholly inappropriate.

you should probably rent some episodes of Static Shock and/or Teen Titans Go! for inspiration....

Definitely agree about the Teen Titans show as a good inspiration.

Also the "Legion of SuperHeroes" show was pretty good for a Teen-themed supers game. X-Men: Evolution is another good choice, as is any of the 1990s Marvel cartoons (Spider-Man and X-Men especially).

And check out Young Justice!

True, but Young Justice does have a darker edge to it than the other shows mentioned (not that it cannot be softened, but since the OP mentions he has a tendency to go to dark places, I think it better to avoid shows that lean even a little bit in that direction).

I considered something based on Young Justice, but like BASHMAN said, I naturally drift to darker elements. And Young Justice gives me a lot of opportunities to do that.

spAC-TACT-ular, spAC-TACT-ular,...
SPIDER-Man!!
spAC-TACT-ular, spAC-TACT-ular,...
SPIDER-Man!!!



'nuff said! hehe

6 kids 1 Spiderman, I don't know how to make that math work. These are kids so each of their characters needs to be cool, to minimize hard feelings over being stuck with a character.

At that age, I was always partial to the Jim Shooter/Mike Grell "Legion of Super-Heroes" run (yes, I'm old school).

Future earth- most members were "equal" with one main power - spaceships - alien monsters - Legion Rings, etc. Of course girls in spandex didn't hurt either.

Some of the play time would be taken up by explaining the future world, etc. so it might not be worth any pluses from using this storyline.

Other ideas:

-What about a family team, a la the Fantastic Four? Could even be a bunch of teen heroes, offspring of Mr. & Mrs. Hero, sporting a variety of powers.

-X-Men or even Runaways style game -- basically kids with powers who some kind of authoritarian organization is out to get / capture / etc.

-Power Pack type stuff? Kid heroes with secret IDs, who often come across "major players" like the Hulk, Wolverine, etc.

-A game *I've* always wanted to run called 'Branetrust' -- basically, a bunch of gifted, super-smart kids are captured by an evil weapon-making organization, forced to toil and invent awesome and nasty things for a Hydra-like organization. The story would pick up at the remote Pacific island facility, and would be all about how they're going to escape captivity...

A family of heroes? Anybody remember the Bionic Six?

How about turning the basic X-Men setting on its head. An orphanage instead of a private school with all the heroes as orphans/inmates. Instead of kindly professor X, you have a far less benign adult who has gathered a bunch of kids with 'Troubles' in order to exploit their abilities. The kids must learn to trust each other and escape the clutches of their keeper.

Or, for the younger set, take a page from "The Magic School Bus".

They're a class of "special" kids led by a decidedly odd but unusually capable teacher with a penchant for field trips.

My 13-year old is fascinated by the premise of the P.S. 238 series , which is a grade-school for the offspring of superheroes (and supervillains).

Hero Games came out with a rather well-written sourcebook for it that might be helpful.