Most paranormal tabletop RPGs these days are about grown-ups and superhuman beings, but some TTRPGs still focus instead on the adventures of pre-teen kids and teenage gangs straight out of franchises like Stranger Things or Scooby-Doo. The players of these RPGs can create characters who go on supernatural adventures, solve mysteries, or confront monsters - but they'll also have to worry about getting good grades in school, dealing with local bullies, talking to their crushes, and not getting grounded by their parents.
Currently, Stranger Things on Netflix is the main franchise people think of when talking about supernatural coming-of-age stories - narratives where kids and teenagers have to deal with supernatural creatures and mysteries without support from their parents, teachers, or other friendly authority figures. Stranger Things itself draws a lot of inspiration from The Goonies, The Lost Boys, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and other 1980s movies about young kids dealing with grown-up problems and challenges.
Since the tabletop RPGs below are about kids and teenagers, their basic rules and gameplay modes are very different from RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons. First, the rules of these RPGs aren't combat-focused; a PC fighting an antagonist might end the fight by bonking them in the head and running off, but will rarely (if ever), kill someone. By the same token, the mechanical consequence of failure in these games is (mostly) less lethal for the PCs, who are, after all, just kids; instead of dying or going mad, unlucky PCs might instead run away in fright or get grounded by their parents.
Kids On Bikes Is A Perfect TTRPG For Stranger Things Fans
Kids on Bikes, published by Renegade Studios, is a compact tabletop RPG about ordinary kids investigating the strange other-worldly mysteries and nightmares in their hometown – the haunted house at the end of the road, and the strange creature lurking in the woods. Players roll different types of polyhedral dice based on the qualities of their kid PCs and the stuff they carry in their backpacks, while collectively describing the behavior of a "Powered Character" that can bail the kid PCs out of trouble (like Hopper from Stranger Things). The Kids On Bikes RPG has two spin-offs: the sci-fi game Teens In Space, and a Harry Potter-themed game called Kids On Brooms.
Don't Tell Mom & Dad Is A Great TTRPG For Scooby-Doo Fans
Recently funded on Kickstarter, Don't Tell Mom & Dad, unlike Kids on Bikes, is less about mystery and more about fighting monsters. Guided by the Game Master - called "The Guidance Counselor" in this system - players of Don't Tell Mom & Dad create kid heroes who investigate and defeat the various ghouls, ghosts, aliens, and creepy critters in their small-town community. Alongside classic RPG character features such as Skills and Hit Points, character sheets in Don't Tell Mom & Dad also have features such as "Cool Points" or the "Scared-O-Meeter."
Scooby-Doo Fans Should Love The Bubblegumshoe TTRPG
Bubblegumshoe, a crime-solving RPG published by Evil Hat Productions, is about teenage sleuths in the vein of Nancy Drew, Encyclopedia Brown, or The Hardy Boys solving mysteries and catching crooks in American small-town settings. The modified GUMSHOE system used in Bubblegumshoe is designed to let GMs create a mystery with a solid framework that lets players challenge themselves with the gathering and interpretation of clues and throw down with antagonists in a non-lethal way.
By default, Bubblegumshoe isn't intended to tell paranormal stories, but it is well-suited for it. It's great for the weaving of Scooby-Doo-style tales where the supernatural creatures that players investigate are mostly (but not always) clever hoaxes.
Sleepaway Is An Ideal Tabletop RPG For People Who Love Stranger Things
Sleepaway, a paranormal summertime RPG available on itch.io, is about young counselors at a summer camp, working to engage their younger charges in the beauty of nature and togetherness while also protecting them from a terrifying Cryptid called the Lindworm. Players of Sleepaway, using the GM-less, dice-less "Belonging Outside Belonging" system, create characters a bit like older, wiser, and scarred than the kid protagonists from Stranger Things, then collaboratively imagine a vividly unique Summer Camp setting, strange moments of magic and wonder, and terrifying encounters with the Lindworm.
Sources: Don't Tell Mom & Dad/Kickstarter, Renegade Studios, Sleepaway/itch.io