Buffy The Vampire Slayer is very easy to come up with plot hooks for, and has been a recurring feature in the “plot hooks based on this list of random-ish titles” idea for RPG plots that started with song titles.
So to be recursive, there are twenty-four songs in the US and UK releases of the Radio Sunnydale soundtrack album. Close enough, though it includes two versions of the Buffy theme, making it twenty-two. Which is the number of a full season, but I want three more.
So to boost up, Four Star Mary provided songs for Oz’s band Dingoes Ate My Baby, with their three song set from Dead Man’s Party.
The Dandy Warhols - Bohemian Like You
Nikka Costa - Everybody Got Their Something
Christophe Beck - Dead Guys With Bombs
Devics - Key
Lunatic Calm - Sound Of the Revolution
Dashboard Prophets - Ballad For Dead Friends
Angie Hart - Blue
Aimee Mann - Pavlov’s Bell
Alison Krauss - That Kind Of Love
Aberdeen - Sink Or Float
Patty Medina - Still Life
Laika - Black Cat Bone
Man of the Year - Just as Nice
Melanie Doane - I Can’t Take My Eyes Off You
Fonda - The Sun Keeps Shining On Me
Halo Friendlies - Run Away
Emiliana Torrini - Summerbreeze
Cibo Matto - Sugar Water
Robert Duncan - The Final Fight
Joey Ramone - Stop Thinking About It
Blur - There’s No Other Way
Sarah McLachlan - Prayer Of Saint Francis
Four Star Mary - Never Mind
Four Star Mary - Pain
Four Star Mary - Sway
Putting the US and Four Star Mary additions after three UK tracks with one bump to put The Final Fight at the end.
Let’s assume a classic Slayer and Scoobies setup...
A new academic year, a chance to meet new people and impress them with how cool you are - or aren’t. But who is this roguishly attractive musician / artist / something like that? Are they just That Cool or is something supernatural going on? Did somebody summon a muse? And are they going to pay for that with their life sooner rather than later? Or someone else’s?
Everybody Got Their Something
One of the Scoobies gets really into a hobby. Maybe something relevant like a martial art, or reading up on the Watchers’ diaries for strategic tips, or maybe something totally not relevant like the new multiplayer game. Which would be fine, and helps them feel in control of something - except that someone else in town is really into it too, in a “challenge you to a duel to the death” or “eat your brains to gain your knowledge” kind of way.
Dead Guys With Bombs
(Okay, this is a score piece so connects directly to something on screen. But...)
Bomb-throwing disruptive types can be a problem at the best of times. Ghosts of bomb-throwing disruptive types more so.
Key
Why is there a door standing by itself in the middle of the woods? What happens if you open it and go through?
Stop Thinking About It
The Slayer wakes from a portentous nightmare of an impending apocalypse to find hints of it happening all day. And she realises that it’s self-fulfilling. But can she really stop herself doing something that might destroy the world if it doesn’t save it?
Sound Of The Revolution
Young vampires trying to overthrow their old vampire monarch. Which is good in a way, fighting among themselves, but bad because they use people as first aid kits and raw recruits.
Ballad For Dead Friends
Someone known to the gang dies, closer to home than a lot of the weekly backdrop of monster victims. How do you deal with the funeral of someone you know was killed by a demon and their family have no idea?
Blue
The latest act at the gang’s regular hangout has a jazzy vibe and the night starts to feel like a film noir. Can they stop the magical match-the-soundtrack effect before someone gets their heart broken and someone else gets murdered in a suitably dramatic manner?
There’s No Other Way
An occult expert claiming that a human sacrifice is required to keep a demon from awakening. She seems quite adamant about this, and does not appreciate suggestions of making a sacrifice out of tofu. (I stole this joke from The Unspeakable Oath, I knew I stole it from somewhere...)
Pavlov’s Bell
Half of the dogs in town now answer to a mysterious figure with a silent bell. What does he want, how is he going to use a whole lot of dogs to get it, and how do the gang stop this safely?
That Kind Of Love
One of the Scoobies is in love. Big time Hearts And Flowers kind of love. Can’t eat, can’t sleep. Is this a love spell or the real thing?
Sink Or Float
Sea serpents aren’t really part of the gang’s remit, but sometimes you just have to steal a boat and head out off the coast to stop a cult summoning one at two in the morning.
Prayer Of Saint Francis
A stranger comes to town, a monk from that Italian order that seems to have been quietly fighting demons for centuries, who can repel demons with a prayer as easily as the cross can repel vampires. What is he here for, can the Slayer help, or are they going to clash?
Still Life
A new show at the city gallery, pictures that seem almost lifelike. You can almost smell the fruit in the bowl. And if you have supernatural senses you can. Which is fine when they’re bowls of fruit but might be an issue when they’re depictions of the artist’s nightmares.
Black Cat Bone
A talking cat would very much like the gang’s help finding the witch he’s the familiar of. Now is good. What, are they busy?
Just As Nice
One of the Scoobies has a really good first date. This could get serious. Until they discover that the date is actually the psychic projection of the best qualities of somebody they know.
Never Mind
A paper due, social obligations, and one of the gang can’t be reached for the research for a monster attack.
I Can’t Take My Eyes Off You
Has an invisible person really been stealing things all over town?
The Sun Keeps Shining On Me
Vampires nesting in a country house with heavy shutters. You can keep them out of some rooms upstairs, but you need to go into the basement after them.
Run Away
A dependent (like the Slayer’s little sister, to pick an example purely at random) runs away. It’s during the day so it could be worse. But in a few hours the sun will go down and then it will be.
Pain
A vampire warlock curses the Slayer to feel the pain she causes. Which isn’t actually all that bad with vampires as they don’t feel pain all that much, but killing them might be a lot worse.
Summerbreeze
One of the Scoobies has a wonderful idyllic summer in the country. Except he hasn’t gone anywhere. And it’s February. So where is this feeling of warmth and trace of summer flowers coming from? Who is the briefly glimpsed figure of someone dancing ahead of him? And why are the vampires avoiding him?
Sugar Water
The gang’s regular coffee place has a new barista who is just uncannily good. So much so that the local vampires are starting to target people who get her drinks.
Sway
Someone in authority knows about the Scoobies, and they’re not happy about it. So now they’re being moved along when patrolling. It’s almost like somebody’s protecting the monsters...
The Final Fight
The Slayer gets a clearer than average vision of the future, an apocalyptic battle, complete with a good look at the calendar on the partially smashed wall of the Watcher’s office. It’s in three weeks’ time. And she keeps getting it every night, with a little more detail every time, and every detail is bad news. How do you prepare for something like that?
Bonus on RPGnet, featuring I Quit by Jian
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