It’s too late… you’ve awakened the gazebo

The game genre I wish to make is a secret role game. My favorites in this genre are Secret Hitler, One Night Secret Werewolf, and Push the Button. These games are characterized by players all with a secret role. For each of these roles I will assign a descriptive title, “the good guys who can’t do anything fun,” “the good guys who have a sort of role,” “the bad guy,” “the bad guy’s compatriots,” and “roles which somewhat break the conventions to make the game more fun.” These games often have a night system, sometimes a sort of trial, and often a way to kill the bad guy. These games derive their pleasure not from the mechanics, usually, but rather from the discourse which surrounds the mechanics. For example, voting in Secret Hitler is not inherently fun. However, it is the anger, the chaos, and the confusion which result from the voting which makes the game fun. A problem I have with these games is that the mechanics are often poor and isolated to a few characters. I intend to make a game which gives more roles to more players. I absolutely hate being assigned a role which has no abilities. My game will give a majority of players something to do. There will probably be the useless good guys as that role is essential to these games, the goal will to be have more roles and mechanics which give the useless players more to do than to just sit around. A good example of this is push the button, which often will sabotage the good guys. This forces the good characters to defend themselves, lest they risk death itself. Another game which I think is interesting is One Night Secret Werewolf. In Werewolf, two players switch roles and may be acting without regard for their actual role.