Stranger Things campaign help

[gurgleflep]

Hey folks! I'm in need of some help.
I just finished watching the second season of Stranger Things and watched It when it was in theaters a little while back, and want to run a campaign using 5e inspired by the two of them. A group of roughly 12 year olds in the mid 80s dealing with spooky/paranormal/extraterrestrial things going on in their small town.... But I don't know how to do the character creation part! Its going to be low level and they're just your run of the mill kids, no magic or anything available to them.

Any/all suggestions would be immensely helpful. Build ideas/suggestions, monsters to use (and reflavors to them), equipment.... Go crazy and thank you all!!
Bonus points if the suggestions are mean or threatening, because my players are used to me being pretty nice

[Cl0001]

You could make them take lower point buy builds and stick to levels 1-3. The majority of the campaign could be run as a mystery game with combative moments being dominated by strategy and some highly effective items that they get from their investigations.

[gurgleflep]

You could make them take lower point buy builds and stick to levels 1-3. The majority of the campaign could be run as a mystery game with combative moments being dominated by strategy and some highly effective items that they get from their investigations.

I forgot point buy was a thing thanks for the reminder! Did you have any particular items in mind?