The Resistance: Game 49 (Avalon)
The Setting
(Roleplaying Background only, skip if you are not interested)
The classic setting of the Avalon game. There are two teams of players, one loyal to King Arthur and the other seeking his overthrow at the hands of his scheming nephew Mordred. Arthur's friends don't know each other, while Merlin's do. They all go on missions which are supposed to help Arthur in some unspecified way if they succeed. Mordred’s allies want to sabotage these missions, while Arthur’s desire for them to succeed. Oh, and Arthur’s advisor Merlin is along for the ride and knows who the bad guys are. But he can’t work against them too openly or they’ll kill him. So yeah.
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The Resistance is a game for 5 to 10 players. All players will be given a role – Resistance (Loyal Servant of Arthur) or Spy (Minion of Mordred) - by the GM. Spies know the other Spies, but Resistance do not know other Resistance.
There are up to 5 rounds, each consisting of 1 to 5 mission Team proposals. Once the Leader (Leadership passes around the players in an order set by the GM at the beginning of the game) passes out Plot Cards, which have a variety of effects, and resolves them if necessary, he makes a proposal of a team of a number of players, possibly including himself, to go on the mission.
All players then make a vote on the team, in-thread or in private with the GM. If a majority of all players APPROVE the team, the team goes on the mission (more on that later). If the number of REJECT votes is equal to or larger than the number of APPROVE votes, the team is rejected. Whether a team is approved or rejected, Leadership passes on to the next player in the list.
If the team is rejected, the next Leader makes his proposal. Only the first Leader of the round receives plot cards to hand out. Up to four teams may be rejected in a single round. If the fifth team of a round is rejected, the Spies win.
If the team is approved, the mission team goes ahead. Resistance members must SUPPORT the team. Spies on the team have the option of SUPPORTING or SABOTAGING the team. Spies may send their orders by PM to the GM. If they do not, their order will default to SABOTAGE. Resistance need not send an order.
If all the orders from the team are SUPPORT orders - i.e. there are no spies on it, or all the spies on the team choose to SUPPORT, the mission is SUCCESSFUL. If at least one SABOTAGE order is sent, the mission FAILS (with one exception - the fourth mission in certain larger games). The number of sabotage orders sent is always revealed by the GM after the mission is resolved. After mission resolution, the round ends, Leadership passes along and the next Leader hands out cards, resolves them, and makes another proposal.
Once there are 3 SUCCESSFUL missions, the Resistance win. Once there are 3 FAILED missions, the Spies win. Remember that the Spies also win if the fifth team of a round is REJECTED.
Role Distribution:
5 players - 3 Resistance, 2 Spies
6 players - 4 Resistance, 2 Spies
7 players - 4 Resistance, 3 Spies
8 players - 5 Resistance, 3 Spies
9 players - 6 Resistance, 3 Spies
10 players - 6 Resistance, 4 Spies
Size of the Mission team by round (1st round - 5th round):
5 players - 2-3-2-3-3
6 players - 2-3-4-3-4
7 players - 2-3-3-4*-4
8 players - 3-4-4-5*-5
9 players - 3-4-4-5*-5
10 players - 3-4-4-5*-5
* - requires at least 2 sabotages for a failed mission and will succeed if there is only one sabotage
Special Roles
(All roles are optional except for Merlin and the Assassin.)
Merlin – Loyal Servant of Arthur
Merlin knows the names of all the Minions of Mordred, except for Mordred himself, if he is in the game.
Assassin – Minion of Mordred
The Assassin has to identify Merlin. If, after 3 successful Missions, the Assassin correctly guesses him, the game is declared a spy victory.
Percival – Loyal Servant of Arthur
Percival knows Merlin. If Morgana is in the game, he knows the names of Merlin and Morgana, but not which is which. Adding Percival aids the Loyal Servants of Arthur.
Mordred – Minion of Mordred
This spy’s name is not given to Merlin at the beginning. Having Mordred makes it easier for the spies.
Oberon – Minion of Mordred
Oberon is not given the names of his fellow Spies and neither are the Spies given his name. Merlin still knows that Oberon is a spy, though. A game with Oberon makes it easier for the Resistance.
Morgana – Minion of Mordred
An evil spy, Morgana appears as Merlin to Percival. Adding Morgana makes it easier for the spies.
Optional Rules
Lady of the Lake
The last player on the Leader list may start the game with Lady of the Lake.
Immediately after the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Expeditions are resolved, the player with the Lady must choose another player, whose allegiance will be revealed to him in private. The Lady then passes to the targeted player.
The Lady may not be used on a player that has used it himself.
Adding the Lady of the Lake helps the Loyal Servants of Arthur.
Excalibur
Yeah, this one’s probably not happening, as I think it’s a mediocre game mechanic at best and I don’t feel like typing up the description or finding it in someone else's rule set.
Lancelots
Miscellaneous rules:
This game does not have a deadline.
Private conversation about the Resistance is strictly forbidden, including speaking about the game on the phone, in the pub, on another site, etc. Since it’s effectively impossible for the GM to police this, we will rely on the players using the honor system here. All conversation about the current Resistance game is to happen in its thread.
The GM is always happy to answer questions about the game.
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