Alternate Season 4 ideas thread

[thetopher]

So, my niece wants to have a stab (a stake-like stab) at the Buffy RPG and has managed to get a few of her friends (3 Buffy fans and 1 RPG fan who is a Buffy-virgin) to join in with her. I'm shocked that my niece has this many role-playing nerd friends...

Anyway she's asked me to be the 'Director' (that's the one who gets to make up all the plots and stuff...) and, since I'm at a loose end with some spare time I've readily agreed.
But I've decided to call upon the collective Buffy-wisdom of this very board for like, ideas and stuff. Could be fun- hopefully.

The era they've all decided on is 'post-high school'; that tricky first year of college, and have left it up to me to come up with the Big Bad, season arc and various interesting 'episodes', just like the show.
They did have some stipulations/requests:
- No Initiative; they basically want something new and mysterious so, not the Initiative as depicted. No Walsh(unless she's some sort of red herring), no Riley, no Adam. I could maybe try to do something fresh with them, but I'm not 100% convinced that I wouldn't be better doing something completely original. So new ideas for BIG evil are welcome.

- No Anya: This is simply because the guy playing Xander wants to keep his options open when it comes to romantic options. A strong possibility that Xander is going to be the one re-discovering their sexuality in college...

- Spike still appears in some capacity: Lot of fans of Spike in the group but he probably won't be chipped; a recurring baddie is most likely unless I can think of something moderately clever.

Other than that things remain solidly canon from S3; Angel and Cordelia have left for LA, the high school is a smoking ruin, Faith is still in a coma, Amy is still a rat, etc

The characters are:
Buffy Summers: Slayer comma The. (played by my niece- big surprise)
Xander Harris: heroic ex-stripper
Willow Rosenberg: Nerdy-yet-cute Witch
Original character 1 : (Teodoro 'Theo' Hernandez)- an actual Hispanic male (college age) will be joining the cast. He's new in town and his description so far seems somewhere between Gunn (street level amateur vampire hunter) and Fred; since he's real good in shop class and has built his own vampire-slaying devices. (this is the 'Buffy-virgin' player just to clarify).
Original character 2 : female- yet to be determined. The player seems to have trouble coming up with a concept but she wants somebody original & supernatural

Which means I get to sub for 'Oz' and 'Giles' on a regular basis; which is fine because Oz doesn't say much and Giles is often exposition man and not very college-going.
I have some ideas already for mini-arcs and stuff which I might post later on.

So, questions? Comments? Wise-cracks? Ideas that I could use? Go nuts. 🙂

 

[ChaseRules]

Well I was thinking since there no Initiative that would mean that there a lot more monsters around. Just a thought & while in Cannon Dawn didn't come around until Season 5 you could have her around at the start of Season 4 instead .

 

[Mrs Gordo]

My dream in life (ok well that hyperbole but y’know...) is to write a fic with the Watcher’s Council as the big bad. Buffy has quit it’s mutiny. They plot against her.

I would have also liked more college plots in s4.

Instead of the weirdness of WTWTA we get a party where they are all stuck and can’t leave and they can’t stop partying bc - reasons.

Buffy rushes a sorority they turn out to be like pod people controlled by a demon.

Dean of university turns out to be evil is also a cool concept.

 

[thetopher]

UPDATE:

Busy spinning my mental wheels trying to come up with a theme for Season 4; apart from 'self-exploration' I'm leaning towards 'growing up is about working hard rather than the easy fix' since a lot about college is the contrasting those new freedoms you're exposed to compared to the previous rigidity of high school.
There are strong temptations to party, cut class, do drugs, cheat on exams, join pod people-like sororities/fraternities that encourage crappy behavior all seem like nice impediments to 'growing up'.

I'm also thinking about ditching the Initiative entirely and using the Big Bad from the rules book; the Djinn, an ancient wish-granting, soul-eating demon that feeds on the desires of the weak and the damned. College is full of those types.

Episodes I can re-use and adapt:
The Freshman: Vampire gang on campus makes a nice 'bringing the group together' first adventure. I'll probably re-use Sunday because she's pretty darn great; maybe she'll even survive her encounter with Buffy and become a returning antagonist.
Harsh Light Of Day: The return of Spike in search of a magical doodad is another one ripe for re-imagining.
Fear Itself: Halloween ep that's basically a nightmare journey through a dungeon frat-house? Yep, also a good way to reveal intimate stuff about the two newbie characters, though I'm might push it back a couple of episodes; so Episode 6 instead of 4.
Beer Bad: Evil beer? Oh yes, or at least something that plays on this party-hardy aspect of college culture. Only less moralizing and much less ape-man grunting. But potential is there for something light-hearted. Who doesn't like cave-Buffy?
Wild At Heart: Oz's 'werewolf hottie' episode is going to be greatly expanded and turned into a running sub-plot.
Pangs: I always thought that more could've been done with an enraged, vengeance-fueled Indian spirit on Thanksgiving. Plus I'll keep the Angel-crossover part.
Hush: YES! So much.
Doomed: Not exactly as is but a plot where the gang must return to the ruins of the high school and stop a demonic attempt to re-open the Hellmouth sounds fetile enough for a re-write. The actual episode's a bit by-the-numbers so easy to improve upon.
A New Man: (or something like it) Basically 'the return of Ethan Rayne', who's up to something and will be used to foreshadow Big Bad happenings.
Where The Wild Things Are: Not hard to improve given that this is the weakest of weak S4 sauce. A house party going wrong is an easy one to adapt. What did Giles say; a satyr's prank? That has potential.

This Year's Girl/Who Are You?/Superstar: Bizarrely I've got an idea of how to use aspects of all of these and combine them in the Djinn plot. Hi-jinx will no doubt ensue if I can get the ideas to click together.

Ones I'm ditching- all the Initiative-heavy ones: The Initiative (obviously), The I In Team/Goodbye Iowa, New Moon Rising, The Yoko Factor/Primeval,
Living Conditions: nope.
Something Blue: Sort-of reliant on Willow getting left heartbroken by Oz- which may happen but not guaranteed. So nope.
Restless (dream episodes that are heavy on metaphor are fun to watch, not much fun to play).

My dream in life (ok well that hyperbole but y’know...) is to write a fic with the Watcher’s Council as the big bad. Buffy has quit it’s mutiny. They plot against her.

I like this idea, but I might foreshadow it by having a rogue contingent of ex-Watcher's (including Wesley?) approach Giles for some reason. Because he's feeling useless and side-lined he might end up doing something unwise. 🙂

Buffy rushes a sorority they turn out to be like pod people controlled by a demon.

Haha, I like this! We've already had an evil frat house so we should be equal opportunity evil. Plus the metaphor would work. It could be like 'The Witch' as Buffy tries to do the 'fitting in' thing but it goes wrong. Again. 🙂

Dean of university turns out to be evil is also a cool concept.

Possible. I need a good reason as to why the Big Bad is mostly focused on campus rather than the Hellmouth. Evil faculty member would make sense.

 

[HowiMetdaSlayer]

Will Willow still have her own personal arc happening in this 'verse? 😵

 

[ChaseRules]

I would hope so since that when Willow really came into her own.

Post automatically merged: Apr 9, 2018

Also is the Wiccan group at the College going to be a dud like in the series or actually into Magic ?

 

[thetopher]

2nd UPDATE:

2nd Original Character is...the 'Former Vampire Groupie' from the rules book. One of those sad cases from the group in 'Lie To Me'- remember?

Well, finding out that 'the lonely ones' weren't really that 'Anne Rice'-like meant she got disillusioned, and then she got angry/vengeful. Creatures of the night needed killing so- looking for a purpose- she was going to go out and do it. If only it were that easy.

She's still got that 'goth-y' outlook on life (so fitting neatly into a high school stereotype) but has a bit more purpose/need to belong.
She name is Nissa Cabot (her actual first name is the less pretentious Heather, which she doesn't tell anyone.)
The player even sent me a couple of 'character likenesses':

Doesn't exactly scream 'goth' to me but whatever. 🙂

Hopefully in a few days I'll be getting more detailed bios for both characters; let me know if anyone's interested.


Also; anyone got any original ideas for a potential boyfriend for Buffy? No secret-militart dudes or chipped vampires need apply.

Will Willow still have her own personal arc happening in this 'verse?

The thing about RP's is that they're interactive; so- to an extent- the girl playing Willow decides how she reacts to stuff that I place in front of her.
I'll probably ask some general questions before actual play begins; does she prefer Willow with Oz or with Tara or does she want to try something different. That's going to affect how the whole Oz-subplot plays out and some of my expectations after that.

In terms of magic then yes Willow's still going to have a strong arc about discovering her magical potential and how powerful she's going to become; I've got lots of ideas for that. 🙂

Also is the Wiccan group at the College going to be a dud like in the series or actually into Magic ?

I'm thinking dud, just for the realism of it- normies don't get the real deal when it comes to the occult- plus its funner that way if Willow has to go looking elsewhere for magic enlightenment/tuition. She might meet Tara or some other witch type.

 

[MarieVampSlayer]

My ideas for a new Buffy boyfriend would be a Winchester brother kinda guy. The only good thing about Riley and Buffy that was good was the way they were both fighting evil and therefore Buffy didn't need to save Riley all the time or protect him from danger. But Buffy desperately needed a fun boyfriend so maybe someone with more humor like Dean Winchester but more romantic like Sam. It would be interesting for him to not be old and white too!

 

[ChaseRules]

2nd UPDATE:

I'm thinking dud, just for the realism of it- normies don't get the real deal when it comes to the occult- plus its funner that way if Willow has to go looking elsewhere for magic enlightenment/tuition. She might meet Tara or some other witch type.

Ok but I was thinking they might know a few things so Willow has to go there a few times before finding that out . I thought that in the series that when Willow asked about spells they had said we need to get to know you first . If you did it in the game Willow would have to go there for some time before she finds out it dud . Also if the person playing likes going to the group you can change things if you like.

For all you know Willow could decide to take it over & start teaching them . It seemed a bit lazy of Willow to just drop out instead of changing them but that my thought .