Honestly, a friend and I almost immediately agreed as soon as we started playing it the first time, TSSSF is so mechanically sound that it's kind of a wonder the play style hasn't been adopted and adapted as happens a lot in board gaming. Like, discard the "shipping aspect" and it could easily be something like building a space station or making a maze to escape a monster.
I feel that such a statement is going against the spirit of the question, though.
So, what if it was a big ol' crossover shipfic for Shonen Jump manga/anime? You could have the MANLIEST of ships with Chad from BLEACH x Zoro from One Piece. Or have the emo relationship of your dreams between Light from Death Note and Sasuke from Naruto.