So, I've already submitted "The Artifact" which stays fairly close to the original Wretched & Alone template, with one little twist around using a joker to extend the story. After reading through some of the other posts in this thread, I've got a few more ideas, and I think I'd like to develop at least one more of them before the time runs down on this game jam. They all play with the rules/idea of the game in different ways.
1. Hunter/Hunted - The idea behind this game is to have you switch perspectives halfway through. You start as an assassin stalking your target, and when you inevitably fail, the assassin's guild sends someone after you, and you basically play the game again, but this time you are the one fleeing from the assassins.
2. I don't have a good name for this one yet, but it plays with the idea of the unreliable narrator. Here's the overview: you are investigating a conspiracy theory, and it is much easier to win the game than usual. However, when you get to the end and "win", you discover that the conspiracy you have been obsessing over is invented and not true at all.
3. You Are A Volcano - In this game, you are literally a volcano. You recently emerged from beneath the ocean to form a volcanic island, and some people have settled on you. Each "day" is about 100 years, and for each day you would draw one card of each suit, representing things like cultural developments, technological developments, weather/climate/geological patterns, threats to society, etc. and describe how the society that has settled on you deals with/incorporates those four things. Your goal, as the volcano, is to find a way to relieve the pressure that is building up in you before you explode and wipe out this little civilization. The tower would represent catastrophic eruption, not sure about the Kings yet - maybe they abandon the island? I'm thinking about ways to make the pulls from the tower work in this situation, and maybe make it a bit more winnable? Or, like the Downfall RPG, maybe the point is to build the society before destroying it?
I'm really leaning towards doing the Volcano one. That seems like a fun challenge to me,
-B