Halcyon City Hero Program — Summer 2026
HALCYON CITY HCHI · EST. 1962
Halcyon City Hero Program — Summer 2026

You're powerful.
You're overwhelmed.
You're figuring it out.

A therapeutic tabletop roleplaying group for teens who want to tell stories about young heroes — and maybe learn something about themselves along the way.

Ages 13 and up Fridays · 5:00–7:30 PM Orlando / Winter Park, FL Therapeutically facilitated No experience required
Choose your hero → Learn more
About the group

What is this, actually?

This is a small group — six to eight teens — who meet every Friday afternoon to play Masks: A New Generation, a tabletop roleplaying game about young superheroes. It's facilitated by a licensed counselor who specialises in therapeutic game facilitation.

That means the game is the structure, not the point. The point is the stories you tell inside it — about identity, about pressure, about who gets to decide who you are. Those stories have a way of mattering beyond the table.

You don't need to know anything about superheroes, tabletop games, or therapy to join. You need to be willing to show up and try something.

It's a game, not a class
We tell collaborative stories using dice and character sheets. There's no homework, no performance, no right answers. You play a character and see what happens.
It's a safe space
The group has safety tools built into every session — including a card you can use at any moment to pause or redirect a scene, no questions asked.
Open enrollment
The group runs all summer. You can come every week or drop in when you can. New players can join anytime — the game is designed to welcome arrivals and work around absences.
Your character, your story
You choose a hero archetype that resonates with you and play them through a summer-long arc in the fictional city of Halcyon. What you do with your character is up to you.
Logistics

The details

When
Fridays
5:00 – 7:30 PM
Summer 2026
Where
Orlando /
Winter Park, FL
Location shared after enrollment
Who
Ages 13 +
6–8 players per group
No experience needed
Attendance
Flexible
Come every week or drop in — the game accommodates both
Format
In-person
Small group, seated at a table, all materials provided
Facilitated by
Adam Baldowski,
PhD, LMHC
Licensed counselor, certified therapeutic game facilitator
About the game

What is Masks: A New Generation?

Masks is a tabletop roleplaying game — collaborative storytelling with dice and rules. No console, no screen, no special equipment. You sit around a table, play a character, and help tell a story together.

What makes Masks different is what it's actually about. You're not trying to defeat enemies — you're trying to figure out who you are while the world has strong opinions about it. Adults have expectations. Teammates need things. Somewhere underneath all of that, your hero is asking: who am I, really?

How it works
You say what your hero does. Then we find out what happens.
The facilitator describes the world. You say what your character does. Sometimes you roll two dice to find out how it goes. A high roll means it works cleanly. A middle roll means it works — but something gets complicated. That's where the interesting stories live.
Labels
Other people's opinions about you are a mechanic.
Your hero has five Labels — Freak, Danger, Savior, Superior, Mundane — measuring how the world sees them. When someone tells your hero who they are and it lands, a Label shifts. You decide: accept it, or push back? That decision is the core of the game.
Conditions
Your emotions affect what you can do next.
When something hard happens, your hero might mark a Condition — Afraid, Angry, Guilty, Hopeless, or Insecure. These aren't failures. They're emotional states that shape how you play until you work through them. You don't just take damage and move on.
This summer's arc
"The Bleed"
Something has been seeping into Halcyon City from the space between worlds — a force that feeds on the worst version of what we think about ourselves. In a parallel Halcyon City it already won. The team that couldn't stop it has crossed over to warn this one. The question the group will wrestle with all summer: who do you choose to be when the stakes are so high that being yourself feels like a luxury?
Choose your hero

Each hero is a kind of person, not a power set

Find the archetype where the question at the center feels like something real to you — not the most powerful, not the one that sounds coolest. Then claim it before someone else does.

One player per archetype. Greyed-out cards are taken.

The Beacon
No powers. Just heart. Somehow, that's enough.
Their question
"What makes me special if I have nothing special about me?"
Think of
Clint BartonKate BishopCaptain America (early)
The Bull
Everything you love, you're afraid you'll destroy.
Their question
"Can I get what I need without breaking it?"
Think of
The HulkCarrieCyclops (early)
The Delinquent
Rules are a dare. Authority is a suggestion.
Their question
"Who gets to decide who I am — and why should I let them?"
Think of
Miles MoralesAmerica ChavezJubilee
The Doomed
You know how your story ends. You're playing anyway.
Their question
"Does what I do matter if it ends badly?"
Think of
Jean GreyRogue (early)Doctor Strange
The Janus
Two lives. Neither one completely true.
Their question
"Who am I when no one's watching — and which version is real?"
Think of
Peter ParkerMs. MarvelSupergirl
The Legacy
The name was great. Now it has to be yours.
Their question
"Am I my own person, or just the family's expectations in a costume?"
Think of
Wally WestCassandra CainKamala Khan
The Nova
The power inside you is enormous. So is the fear of it.
Their question
"Can I control what's inside me — and what if I can't?"
Think of
ElsaJean Grey (early)David Haller
The Outsider
You came from somewhere else. You're still figuring out here.
Their question
"Can I really belong somewhere I wasn't made for?"
Think of
Thor