PC can progress/change during a one-shot. It's often forgiven. You can go "20 years later..." In the middle of the game. That's great

Stabber, think *Scream* with student partying a house during a snowstorm and suddenly one of them is killed. There is something in the spaceship, think *Alien* also works better in one shot Actually, most horror games work better in one shot because nobody believes in monsters and if you see one you want to run away, not hurt them

One-shots work well with pretty much any cliché storyline that the players can swiftly get the grasp of and jump into without too much time spent on exposition or build-up. > "There is [Evil character] doing [evil stuff] in [place], please go and defeat them." The evil character could be a tyrant overtaxing the population, a ghost tormenting a small rural town, a lich in the nearby dungeon doing shady stuff, a dragon who kidnapped a princess, etc... Pretty much anything that the players may have familiarity with and without arguing too much about the best course of action. Depending on the premise, you could lead the players straight to the dungeon, or let them investigate a bit and come up with a plan to infiltrate the evil character's lair. Whatever you choose, keep it short and easy to do: one-shots have very little time to dwell on specific details or plot beats, and if your players waste too much time on the planning/investigation phase, there won't be time left to actually fight the bad guy. Even if it's a one-shot that won't ever have a follow-up, including loot for the players to find is always an exciting addition. Players, like crows, love shiny thingies

Yeah, I'm not generally much of a horror fan, but it can definitely see how eldritch themes can make for some quick self-contained action

Not really sure how this answers the question.. Am I missing something?

Yeah, what I'm really asking for is a big list of clichés that could make up the core story of a one-shot

- pcs were kidnapped/tricked into a dangerous place to be sacrificed/experimented on/turned into pie, they have four hours to escape before Elvis McEvil is finished preparing whatever. - a long lost ruin/dungeon/secret lab has been discovered, because a metorite impact/a flood/an earthquake and Elvis McEvil is allready looting the place to obtain the blade of world ending/dna samples of a killer virus/an army of mutated chihuahuas - townspeople keep disapearing, they are kidnapped by a cult/mad scientists/crazy bakers and are used by Elvis McEvil to further his evil plans. - Every full moon an evil sorcerer/a cartel boss/a giant squirrel demands people to be sacrificed/lots of money/hazel nuts otherwise a portal to hell will be opened/the townhall will be bombed/the giant squirrel gets sad. the demands can not be met and tonight is full moon. - there is cool shit in a secret hidden labyrinth underneath the cathedral. - the evil under the cathedral/the university/the cemetery is about to escape, because whoever imprisoned it can't complete the necessary ritual/keep a highly advanced sentintent computer system running/did not have enough hazel nuts to keep a giant squirrel happy which is now rampaging through the graveyard.the pcs must enable the keeper to do his job, do the job themselves.

I second the horror/scary movie trope suggestion. PCs being the hunted instead of the hunters means that the DM can keep the pacing tight and not getting derailed, as the enemy will find them wherever they go until they die or escape (or defeat the monster). If you place them in a contained area where they have explore to find a way out, they can lay traps to slow down (or defeat) the monster, they can find clues as to the monsters strength or weakness, they can try to hide when they hear the monster drawing neat, they can find slightly helpful items (batteries that can be used for a flashlight or in a baby monitor as an early warning system, slippers for better sneaking but worse running, vodka for temporary HP but worse constitution, scissors or letter openers to distract in close combat for a chance to escape) but not straight up weapons, they can take damage to deal damage, or take damage to escape whenever they get found. The monster will let them think they've gotten away but they'll never be safe, it will always find them while they're in this location. The goal can be survive until sunrise, or try to get as many people out of the haunted house as possible, or survive/beat a set amount of the attractions at a demons fair to be released. It'll be lika a hit+run or cat+mouse game.

The other user wrote a very good list of cliché plot hooks, so I'll write a few that are a bit less cliché but still pretty straightforward. DEFEND THE VILLAGE: very easy and straightforward quests for people new to the game and people who want to chill for a bit and slay a few goblins. - For the past few weeks, cattle have been disappearing every night, and a small town has been looking for courageous adventurers to find the cause. The clues lead to a nearby abandoned castle where a tribe of hungry kobolds has been squatting for the past few months. The castle, however, is the old fortress of a fallen order of paladins full of traps that have been laying dormant for decades, and that the kobolds have managed to get back up and running. - In the middle of a snowstorm, the party crashes into a village that's recently been attacked by quite the ferocious pack of wolves. The local hunter went missing looking for their nest, and the local population whispers of the local fairy tale of the "Winter witch". The party searches for clues and either finds out that the wolves' alpha is a shapeshifter druid (and the winter witch was just a red herring), or that the wolves are being charmed by a real and newly reborn witch that wants the village destroyed because of what they did to her a few centuries earlier. FOR QUEST AND GLORY: for more adventurous parties who look forward to sailing into the unknown. - In the middle of the forest, the party finds a few corpses of bandits and a lone, wounded knight. With his last breath, the knight tells the party she has discovered a conspiracy against the king, the details of which are in a sealed letter. She pleas them to carry on her mission, and dies. Unfortunately, more bandits are on their tracks and won't stop at nothing to destroy the content of the parchment. - A drunk sailor, the last living member of his crew, talks of a cursed treasure. He begs the party to embark on a journey towards the nearby atoll and return the cursed amulet to its rightful place. The rightful place turns out to be the ancient necropolis of a Yuan-ti tribe who went extinct a few millennia prior to the events of the campaign, whose ghosts may be around still. SHENANIGANS AND BOOZE: for chaotic parties and experienced DMs who can manage improvising on the spot. - A downpour forces the party to seek shelter in an old monastery in the middle of nowhere. Shenanigans ensue in the middle of the night, as other people have the same idea. A few ideas: a rich girl and her escort travelling north who turns out to be a pair of lovers running away from her rich father, a cutthroat mercenary looking for the aforementioned noblewoman, a wounded woman who turns out to be the local Robin Hood, a merchant who has lost his entire shipment to a pack of wolves and has unknowingly contracted lycanthropy, and the friendly priest of the monastery who is actually an evil cultist intending to sacrifice everyone to his pagan gods. - The Gods have deemed the mortals unworthy, and have thus decided that punishment is due. From dusk 'till dawn, the demons will be allowed to roam the land, exercising their powers as they deem fit, and they are intent on making the most out of the allotted time. One of them may be a lone hunter looking to infiltrate the town and kill everyone, or it may be a demonic general laying siege to the city with an army of ungodly monstrosities. The evil team may have multiple objectives which the party need to protect, such as: the church, protecting the icon of the only god who has refused to agree with the apocalypse; a family with a pregnant woman, who will give birth at the end of the day and whose smell has the demons riled up; an old crone, whose pagan magic is protecting the village; a wounded demon huntress currently resting in the village, who a few decades prior repelled the same demon that's now attacking the village; a former cultist who has repented and has been hiding in the village for the past few years, who the demons want to make an example of.