A Song Without End by Chris Jackson was a Runner-Up in this round.

This is the one with the families and the Man With the Gun. To make sure you all get it, each family has several members including its patriarch, the Man has bullets equal to the number of families (players), and he will shoot exactly that many times.

So, which members of which families are targeted, and whom the bullets hit, are the game. A character is targeted when he or she has no Connections, and super-brilliantly, the patriarch of each family cannot be targeted. So basically, which family head is going to have to watch whom die? Oh, and since bullets might not hit, there's even a chance for a happy ending, which I think is brilliant too.

It almost went into the "Great non-RPG" category, but it hits my RPG bell because of the family patriarch, who fits my bill for player-character. However, play is exceedingly limited and structured, to the point of card/board game. I think that the game therefore needs stronger indivduality and potential for meaningful interactions among the patriarch characters, beyond merely casting suspicion on one another in a tactical way.

My other basic observation is that the current rules call for far too many descriptors per character, leading to what might be thought of as an interminable Universalis Tenets phase. Similarly, three descriptors are plenty for the Man as well. I really like the turn/round options and think it'd be a great evening of play.

I am not too proud and will take this moment to whine about how hard it was to keep straight which game was which, among this one, Stand Off!, October's Shadows, and Defenders of the Union. Thank you (sniff), thank you.

Best,
Ron