So there are 30 games up for perusal at Conpulsion (not yet including mine, or Gar's) and that's the traditional magic number for a random list to base adventure hooks on. So...
30 Buffy Hooks Named After Conpulsion 2012 Adventures
Part One
The Children Of Doctor Zavos
Hook: Doctor Zavos is a mad scientist, and his “children” are killer robots.
Problem: He’s also a tenured professor at UC Sunnydale.
Complications: Zavos is using his creations to steal items of power - mystical power - to build a world-conquering super-robot.
Sub-Plots: A friend doing a heavy-study degree is having trouble funding her research, and wouldn’t it be tempting not to return that enchanted diamond?
Resolution: Giant Robot Fight!
Fun Stuff: Killer Robots! In particular, funny Killer Robots! Ideally funnier than Battle Droids.
Theme: Power can really go to one’s head.
No Place Like Home
Hook: The slayer gets back from a routine patrol to find her key isn’t working...
Problem: Because someone else has moved in, apparently months ago.
Complications: The deeply average people claiming the house don’t seem evil. And the neighbours all appear to know them.
Sub-Plots: While looking for vanished family, the slayer has to deal with being persona non grata, known only to those with the mystical sense to see a change in the world.
Resolution: Find the controls to a gate to a different universe (where the slayer’s family moved to Pasadena instead of Sunnydale) and smash it.
Fun Stuff: No-one remembers your name when you’re strange...
Theme: We take so much for granted.
BYOB
Hook: So the Archaeology department just brought this dingy glass bottle back from north Africa.
Problem: Complete with genie. Wish-granting genie. Stir-crazy genie. Vindictive genie.
Complications: He gives wishes a spin that furthers his own agenda - which is to be free to wreak havoc on the world - but to begin with he has plenty to offer, including the solutions to various ongoing problems.
Sub-Plots: And the Cast aren’t the only people that know about it. So there are others after the bottle, either for their own wishes, or guardians trying to re-bury it.
Resolution: Well, Wishmaster solved this problem with a wish that the bottle was never opened, so...?
Fun Stuff: Inadvertent wishes. A sudden outbreak of Arabian Nights style.
Theme: Be careful what you wish for. Yeah, I know.
Saints And Sinners
Hook: So who stole the heart of a saint from the cathedral? Because, for one thing, eww.
Problem: It’s said to have miraculous healing properties.
Complications: It’s also not the first artefact to be stolen lately. Is there a gang of relic hunters in town? And if so, who are they working for? And will they stop at old relics, or would they be as happy with the resale value of a fresh heart taken from a living healer?
Sub-Plots: The church has people out looking, as well as the police and curious paranormal geek types.
Resolution: Chase the clues, team up with the church authorities trying to keep a lid on this, get the heart back.
Fun Stuff: Chasing thieves through catacombs, the mastermind’s mansion full of weird stolen items.
Theme: You can’t put a price on some things. But that doesn’t stop people trying.
Death To The Old King
Hook: King Af’Madsa of the Cold Flame People has reigned for three hundred years, and his heir, grand-heir and grand-grand-heirs are getting restless. And not just because a triple-platinum anniversary is hard to shop for.
Problem: An attempt to paint the king as weak by the grand-heir leads to a lot of demons who seem rather fusty and Victorian to mortals acting out in somewhat unconvincing but dangerous manners. Attempting to incite the slayer to duels, for example.
Complications: There’s another, even fustier, faction trying to stop them.
Sub-Plots: A Cast Member is also annoyed with a set-in-their-ways elder, like a parent, a Watcher, or a professor who doesn’t approve of new research methods.
Resolution: Take up that duel. Marquis of Queensberry rules.
Fun Stuff: Punk demon kids acting like 19th century ruffians.
Theme: Are the old ways necessarily the best? Is change worth it for the sake of change?
The Murder Shack
Hook: So there’s this old cabin in the woods and people disappear there all the time - oh, you’ve heard that one?
Problem: Thing is, though, a group of kids went up to the woods and didn’t come back.
Complications: And a couple at makeout point really did just find a hook jammed in a car door handle. And a slumber party appears to have had a real visit from Bloody Mary. And if those goes on, how long until “step on a crack and the bears will get you” becomes a genuine health and safety issue?
Sub-Plots: The afflicted can easily include Cast Members and loved ones. Dawn knows all the goriest urban legends off by heart.
Resolution: Enter the murder shack and find... that old glass bottle looks familiar...
Fun Stuff: Urban legends coming true. Savvy Cast Members trying to set up advantageous ones.
Theme: Cautionary tales have something to teach us - but what is it? Do these lessons really apply?
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