Unity
Genre: Zombies
Genre Themes:
- individual passion as moral superiority
- willpower, not capability, makes heroes
- individual betrayal vs. working together
Introduced Themes:
- zombification as collective behaviour, rather than undead (actually pretty common in rpgs, but I assume you haven’t come across it or didn’t recognize it as zombie-related, so it’s fair game)
Rules:
The game uses a rotating gamemaster position. This is very problematic for this sort of game, because Unity revolves around a mystery. Two things need to happen for a mystery to really work: there must be clues building up towards the solution, and the clues (not including red herrings) must be consistent with the solution. A rotating gamemaster can easily disrupt both of these things.
Resolution uses the prisoner’s dilemma. This is a very appropriate mechanic for the genre, but there are some quirks to it. The prisoner’s dilemma is really a 2-person game. When a third (or more) enters play, new possibilities emerge, such as two people cooperating to betray another or the group splitting into teams.
The game avoids this in a novel, but not-so-fun way, by jumping over any opportunity for interplay between characters, and going immediately to situation resolution. The scene is introduced, the players secretly make their choice, the resolution is narrated. If you want to react to what is happening between characters, you have to wait until the next scene.
The voting mechanics are odd, moving away from game theory mathematics. Instead they are purely a meta-mechanic, having no direct influence upon the narrative, taking players out of the “in-game” mindset.
Setting:
The endgame of Unity is to reveal the cause of the unity, but this is problematic. From a setting standpoint, certain causes must be ruled out because the characters must be able to confront the cause (it must be in a place that can be visited, and not, say, a passing comet).
Suggestions:
This game was an interesting experiment in rotating gamemaster rules-building, but it really would benefit from a more traditional rpg structure.