The Resistance IV

[Tables]

[spoiler=fluff]

The Empire must fall. Our mission must succeed. By destroying their key bases, we will shatter Imperial strength and liberate our people. Yet spies have infiltrated our ranks, ready for sabotage. We must unmask them. In five nights we reshape destiny or die trying. We are the Resistance!

The Resistance is a party game of social deduction. It is designed for five to ten players, lasts about 30 minutes, and has no player elimination. The Resistance is inspired by Mafia/Werewolf, yet it is unique in its core mechanics which increase the resources for informed decisions, intensify player interaction, and eliminate player elimination.

Players are either Resistance Operatives or Imperial Spies. For three to five rounds, they must depend on each other to carry out missions against the Empire. At the same time, they must try to deduce the other players’ identities and gain their trust. Each round begins with discussion. When ready, the Leader entrusts sets of Plans to a certain number of players. Everyone votes on whether or not to approve the assignment. Once an assignment passes, the chosen players secretly decide to Support or Sabotage the mission. Based on the results, the mission succeeds (Resistance win) or fails (Empire win). When a team wins three missions, they have won the game.

Welcome to The Resistance IV. The above gives a brief overview of the game. Of course, being a forum game it's going to last significantly longer than 30 minutes (probably over a month).

The Resistance is a simple, mafia style team game, with a focus on information and deductions as well as reading people's behaviours. Each round is split into multiple phases: First the leader (who changes each round) chooses people for the mission. Then, people vote to approve or reject the mission. If rejected, leadership moves around to the next person. If approved, then each person chooses to complete the mission, or if they're a spy, may choose to sabotage the mission. A sabotaged mission is a success for the spies, while no sabotage is a success for the rebels. The first team to score a majority of successes wins the game.

That's an outline of the game. Here's some more in-depth rules, for your reading pleasure (this includes the two variant rules)

The game is NOC, which includes the spies (they may not communicate via PM). No communicating via direct code is allowed. That being said, the spies may want to try and drop hints about who should do what in their messages if they think it'll help, but of course should be very subtle - if they aren't, they may just sell out both themselves and a friend.

At the start of the game, each player is told they're either a rebel or a spy - two players will be spies, the other four will be rebels. Rebels know nothing more than they are rebels, spies know themselves and the other spy. They do NOT have outside contact with the other spies, they just know their identities. Also randomised at this point is the player order, which is essentially how leadership moves around the group.

This game will have 6 players. There are five missions which need the following number of people: 2-3-4-3-4. However, only the final mission here is directly relevant, due to the Mission Targetting variant being used (read below)

At the start of each round the leader (who is known publicly) has 24 hours (this can be extended to 48 on request) to propose a team. This team MAY include themselves, but MAY choose not to (there are good reasons for why both may be good ideas).

After the team has been proposed, each person must privately vote yes or no to the proposal. After 24 hours, everyone's votes will be revealed and totalled (in other words, everyone makes the choice to vote yes/no and reveals it at the same time - so people will know how you voted). If you don't vote, your vote will be randomised. The leader does also vote, and in fact sometimes may want to vote no himself. If there is a majority decision saying yes, then the mission goes ahead. If there is no majority yes, then the vote fails and leadership passes on to the next person.

Be careful - if the resistance votes no 5 times on a single mission, then the resistance collapses due to a lack of strong leadership and the spies win! (Therefore, always vote yes on the 5th mission proposal).

Once the team has been decided, the mission moves on to the mission phase. Here, all of the chosen people for the mission must choose whether to support the mission (pass) or sabotage it (fail). This is done secretly, and who chose what is not made public - just the number of sabotages is revealed. Each operative on the mission has 24 hours to make their choice - spies may choose to sabotage or support the mission, while resistance MUST choose to support it. After 24 hours have passed, all operatives (including spies) will be assumed to support the mission.

Finally, the results of the mission are revealed, leadership passes on to the next person, and the next mission starts.

The resistance win by succeeding on 3 missions. The spies win by sabotaging 3 missions.

[spoiler=The Plot Thickens]This is an optional variant that comes with the game, which we will be employing for this game. At the start of each round (that is, mission 1.1, mission 2.1 etc., before the leader makes a proposal, he will be dealt one of seven possible plot cards, which he must resolve (24 hours will be given for this, other players will see the card and be able to advise or discuss what to do with it). These are detailed below, but have moderate effects on the game. On the whole, they help the Resistance by providing more information into the game. Of course, clever spy play can manipulate their usage, and reduce or even invert that advantage.

These are the possible plot cards. I've included notes in italics on how I'll resolve these cards in play.

Strong Leader (2)

Give this card to any other player. That player may discard this card at any point (now or later in the game) before plot or team cards have been distributed to become the leader.

If you have this card and want to use it, it'd be best to tell me during the mission or voting phase immediately before. This can be as simple as 'using Strong Leader' or 'if this vote fails I'll use Strong Leader'

Keeping a Close Eye on You (2)

Give this card to any other player. That player may discard this card after mission cards have been played but before they are revealed to look at the mission card played by any player.

If you want to use this, the best time to tell me is during the vote (assume it's going to pass), or during the mission phase (this is a little risky, as I'll reveal the mission cards as soon as everyone submits)

No Confidence

Give this card to any other player. That player may discard this card after a mission proposal vote has a majority to make that vote count as a failure (the mission does not go ahead and leadership passes, and it counts towards the 5 failures).

Any time during the mission OR the vote is fine. Preferably earlier, as it'd be annoying for people to go through the mission phase only to have a NC at the last minute).

In the Spotlight

Give this card to any other player. That player may discard this card after an approved vote and choose a player, that player submits their mission card face up before any other player submits a mission card

The best time is to tell me during the vote, so the chosen player knows. If you want to risk getting it in during the mission phase go ahead, but timezones and all that might mean you miss the chance.

NOTE: This card replaces the Opinion Maker card that is normally used in 5-6 player games (In The Spotlight is a 7-10 player card, the fairest one in 5-6 player I thought). Opinion Maker requires one person to vote publicly and first for the rest of the game... which is simply going to cause too much delay for a forum game.

Take Responsibility

Give this card to any other player. That player must immediately take a plot card from any other player, if possible.

It's an immediate effect, and there might well not be any choice. If there is, we'll just wait for you to make that choice.

Note: If two or more people want to resolve plot cards simultaneously (e.g. Strong Leader and Take Responsibility), they are resolved in player order, starting from the current leader.

[spoiler=Mission Targeting]Mission Targeting is a pretty simple variant. Instead of resolving the missions in order (which require 2-3-4-3-4 people respectively on each), the leader chooses which mission to try, as well as the team on that mission. The leader may choose a different or the same mission as the leader before him (assuming the vote failed), however once a mission has been attempted, it cannot be tried again. Also, mission 5 (the second with 4 people) CANNOT be attempted until the Resistance has two successful missions (more often than not, that means it'll be the final mission).

A leader, when making his proposal, should make his mission choice clear as well as the team. For example: "Trying mission 2, Sending Tables, VincentASM and Tangerine." This variant, like The Plot Thickens, makes things easier for the Resistance (but only very slightly). I'll leave it to you guys to argue out HOW to take advantage of it (once the game starts, of course...)

Note that The Resistance has no player elimination - in fact, even if a spy is known, they can direct the other spies publicly with suggestions or advice, or can keep denying the evidence, if they can think of an alternate suggestion.

If you enjoy this game, I highly advise you buy it! Okay, this slightly infringes on advertising, but to be honest, this is a commercial game you're playing for free. The game itself is inexpensive (about $15 IIRC) and you get a set of good quality components. It's like playing Mafia IRL, but easier, quicker, with no moderator and it's more about information than reading people's faces. So if you do like the game, supporting the developers is definitely recommended.

Finally if there are any questions, especially about the two variants, feel free to ask. And as long as you understand the rules, you don't need to have played a Resistance before :).

There are 2 spies. Those of you good at basic arithmetic will deduce there are 4 resistance operatives

Signups (order randomised - first leader at the top):

Elieson

BigBangMeteor

apocalypseArisen

Kay

Luster Purge eclipse

Marth

Subs:

Psych

Informed Observers:

Manix

Cyron

Capn' Flint

Role PM's have been sent and the game has started.

[spoiler=role PMs]

You are a resistance operative

You win if the resistance succeed on 3 missions. You lose if the spies sabotage 3 missions

You are a spy

The two spies are:

X

Z

You win if the spies successfully sabotage 3 missions. You lose if the resistance complete 3 missions

You shouldn't discuss it anyway, but all Spy PMs were sent at 06:47 PM (GMT) and all Resistance PMs were sent at 06:45 PM (GMT)

Edited June 7, 2012 by Tableskitty

[Tables]

This post is to record all mission proposal and mission results.

The current available missions are:

Mission 1: 2 operatives (Succeeded in Round 1)

Mission 2: 3 operatives (Failed in Round 2)

Mission 3: 4 operatives (Failed in Round 3)

Mission 4: 3 operatives

Mission 5: 3 operatives (unavailable until two missions have succeeded)

Round 1: Eeilson drew the plot card In the Spotlight and passes it to Kay. Kay uses this on round 3 on ApocalypseArisen

Round 2: BigBangMeteor drew the plot card Strong Leader and gives it to Luster Purge

Round 3: ApocalypseArisen draws the plot card No Confidence and gives it to Luster Purge

Round Prop 1.1: Mission 1 by Elieson

Team: BigBangMeteor, Luster Purge

Yes: Elieson, BigBangMeteor, Kay, Luster Purge

No: apocalypseArisen, Marth

Result: Yes - 4, No - 2

Proposal passes

Round 1: Mission 1 Results

Co-operate

Co-operate

Mission succeeds. Score is now Resistance - 1, Spies - 0

Round 2.1: Mission 2 by BigBangMeteor

Team: Elieson, BigBangMeteor, apocalypseArisen,

Yes: Elieson, BigBangMeteor, Kay, Marth,

No: apocalypseArisen, Luster Purge,

Result: Yes - 4, No - 2

Proposal passes

Round 2: Mission 2 Results

Co-operate

Co-operate

Sabotage

Mission fails. Score is now Resistance - 1, Spy - 1

Round 3.1: Mission 3 by ApocalypseArisen

Team: BigBangMeteor, apocalypseArisen, Luster Purge, Marth,

Yes: Elieson, apocalypseArisen, Marth

No: BigBangMeteor, Kay, Luster Purge,

Result: Yes - 3, No - 3

Proposal Fails

Round 3.2: Mission 3 by Kay

Team: BigBangMeteor, apocalypseArisen, Kay, Luster Purge

Yes: Elieson, BigBangMeteor, apocalypseArisen, Kay, Luster Purge, Marth

No:

Result: Yes - 6, No - 0

Proposal passes

Round 3: Mission 3 Results

Co-operate

Co-operate

Co-operate

Sabotage

Mission fails. Score is now Resistance - 1, Spy - 2

Round 4.1: Mission 4 by eclipse

Team: apocalypseArisen, eclipse, Marth,

Yes: eclipse, Marth,

No: Elieson, BigBangMeteor, apocalypseArisen, Kay,

Result: Yes - 2, No - 4

Proposal Fails

Round Prop 4.2: Mission 4 by Marth

Team: BigBangMeteor, apocalypseArisen, Marth,

Yes: BigBangMeteor, Marth,

No: Elieson, apocalypseArisen, Kay, eclipse,

Result: Yes - 2, No - 4

Proposal Fails

Round Prop 4.3: Mission 4 by Elieson

Team: Elieson, eclipse, Marth,

Yes: Elieson,

No: BigBangMeteor, apocalypseArisen, Kay, eclipse, Marth,

Result: Yes - 1, No - 5

Proposal Fails

Edited June 4, 2012 by Tableskitty

[Tables]

The game is now ready to start. Roles have been distributed.

Round 1: Eeilson is the first leader. Eeilson draws the plot card In the Spotlight

In the Spotlight

Give this card to any other player. That player may discard this card after an approved vote and choose a player, that player submits their mission card face up before any other player submits a mission card

Eeilson: Please give In the Spotlight to any other player. You may then propose a mission to target and the team you wish to send

Everyone else: Discuss the use of this card, the mission to target, and generally start talking.

[BBM]

I'll start off with a question about the card. Is the mission card your decision about whether or not to support the mission, or about the vote on whether or not to sabotage the mission?

Either way, I don't think it really matters who gets this card. We can pressure whoever has it to use it when most of us think it should be used. Besides, since it has to be given before anything about the mission is decided, we don't have any voting data to make hypotheses about who is scummy and who isn't.

[Tables]

My mission card I presume you mean plot card, the thing Eeilson has to give out now? It's neither, it's given to someone and has the effect I listed. After that's given out, Eeilson will choose a team, and everyone will vote on whether they're happy for that team to go ahead. If it's a majority yes, then the mission will happen, the chosen 2-4 people will tell me if they sabotage or co-operate with the mission. If it's a majority no, then that mission doesn't happen. Either way, Leadership passes.

[Elieson]

Just confirming; I post in the thread, my picks of:

a mission (1 thru 5)

Candidates/operatives (2-3, depending on the mission)

Who shall receive my card (anyone but myself)

If this is correct, please tell me. I don't want to publicly make an arse of myself if I can help it

Edited May 11, 2012 by Elieson

[BBM]

My mission card I presume you mean plot card, the thing Eeilson has to give out now? It's neither, it's given to someone and has the effect I listed. After that's given out, Eeilson will choose a team, and everyone will vote on whether they're happy for that team to go ahead. If it's a majority yes, then the mission will happen, the chosen 2-4 people will tell me if they sabotage or co-operate with the mission. If it's a majority no, then that mission doesn't happen. Either way, Leadership passes.

No, I mean the mission card. In the description of the "In the Spotlight" plot card, it says that a player has to submit their mission card face-up.

[Tables]

Ah, I see. Sorry, that was a result of me furiously copying the card effects and not updating it for Forum play. Mission card means your choice of sabotage or co-operating with the mission (you use cards in the face to face game, one sabotage card, one co-operate card).

a mission (1 thru 5)

Candidates/operatives (2-3, depending on the mission)

Who shall receive my card (anyone but myself)

That is correct. Technically, giving out the Plot card comes first, and the mission could be 2-4 people (if you chose mission 3, that has 4 people).

...And the confusion came from me typoing mission numbers. Mission 3 requires 4 people. Please note that mistake, which has been corrected

Edited May 11, 2012 by Tableskitty

[Elieson]

Ok...now, do I need incentive, or do I just pick sporadically?

[riariadne]

There's really nothing you can be sure about for the first mission. For what to start with, Mission 1 might be good because if past games say anything, the spies likely won't stop it from going through, and having an easy point won't hurt. I wouldn't go as far as to say Mission 1 is the only thing we can do, though, since it really doesn't actually tell us much of anything about what's going on.

Also, tables, it looks like you broke the italics tags in the OP somewhere (for the plot thickens thingy)

[Elieson]

Ok so.

I'd pass my card of Spotlight to Kay, as well as nominate BBM and LP for Mission 1, since no one has given me reason not to.

[Tables]

Alright. The earlygame in most mafia(like) games tends to be a bit random... once information starts becoming apparent, discussion and strategy should really heat up.

Also I forgot to mention but for the future, please bold all final decisions. It makes it much clearer to the mod and other players what's discussion and what's a final decision.

Kay receives In The Spotlight

Round Prop 1.1: Mission 1.

Team: BigBangMeteor, Luster Purge

Everyone: Please send me a vote of Yes or No via PM for this mission and team

Edited May 11, 2012 by Tableskitty

[Elieson]

I don't vote, right? (since I'm leader I mean)

[BBM]

You do vote. The leader can choose to vote no for the mission as well, if they so wish. A mission could be proposed, for example, just to see other's reactions to it. As in who thought it would be a good idea and who didn't.

[Kriemhild]

...game started while I was asleep and mission 1's proposal was sent as well, wow. And here I wanted to get everyone to answer which mission they want to start out with and their reasons why. Oh, well, I don't have a problem with Mission 1 so...

[eclipse]

Tables, it's Elieson~!

[Tables]

Sorry Elieson :(.

Votes are in though.

Round Prop 1.1: Mission 1

Team: BigBangMeteor, Luster Purge,

Yes: BigBangMeteor, Marth, Luster Purge, Elieson,

No: apocalypseArisen, Kay,

Result: Yes - 4, No - 2

Proposal passes

BBM, LP, please send me privately if you co-operate or sabotage this mission (as always, resistance members, if there are indeed any on this mission, need to send me a co-operate message just to avoid any 'he wasn't online and Tables said nobody sabotaged, he must be Resistance' kind of play).

(From what Kay said in PM, I believe he doesn't use ItS)

Edited May 12, 2012 by Tableskitty

[BBM]

Kay, AA, any reaosn you guys voted no?

[riariadne]

Just to get a look at voting trends, though that obviously didn't work out. I don't actually see any problem with putting whoever on Mission 1, but I thought it would be useful to keep the mission going on as long as possible so we have more data points to reference in the future. Nothing we can do about it now, though.

[Tables]

Quick round. Hopefully there'll be more discussion from here on out.

Round 1: Mission 1 Results

Co-operate

Co-operate

Mission succeeds. Score is now Resistance - 1, Spies - 0

Having successfully lead a mission, Elieson is stripped of his leadership (Rules, dey be crazy sometimes), and BigBangMeteor is the new leader

BBM draws Strong Leader as a plot card

Strong Leader

Give this card to any other player. That player may discard this card at any point (now or later in the game) before plot or team cards have been distributed to become the leader.

BBM: Please give Strong Leader to another player, then (assuming they don't want to use it immediately) propose a mission to target and a team to send.

Everyone else: Discussion about the previous mission, suspicions, etc.

[BBM]

I'll give the card to Proto.

I think Mission 2 would probably be good for the next mission. It's unlikely we'll get all the resistance if we go with Mission 4, and it'd be harder to find out who the spy is out of 4 as opposed to out of 3, if Mission 2 is sabotaged. As for who to send, what are everyone's opinions? I especially want Kay's opinion, as he voted no and hasn't posted yet either. Marth, you should get in here too.

[Tables]

Is giving the card to Proto a final decision?

[Kay]

Kay, AA, any reaosn you guys voted no?

I didn't. I had thought I voted on time but I guess not. Or I guess Tables wants people to format stuff properly or something. Anyway IDK what it was exactly but I had voted yes and I figure somewhere along the line there was some mistake.

I can see Rein's point about this, but at the same time, the teams really don't matter since there's no way there would be a sabotage on Mission 1. Observing who someone puts on their team won't do us any good because of this since everyone could pick their proposed team by RNG and it wouldn't matter. Information about something meaningless is also meaningless.

BBM and Rein are being useful so far but I think not posting doesn't mean a whole lot just yet. Lots of activity still is a notable thing but the difference between posting not much and posting nothing isn't that important since people can't just vanish, IMO.

[BBM]

Sorry yeah, Give Card to Proto

Also, to get some discussion going,

I propose a team of: BBM, Rein, and Elieson

Let's see what people think of that.

Edit: For Mission 2.

Edited May 13, 2012 by BigBangMeteor

[Tables]

Yeah, so, uh, there's been a spreadsheet problem. Not entirely sure how I managed it, but I managed to mess up everyone's name pointers. So Elieson's vote was showing up as BBM's, BBM's as Marth's etc.. I've fixed it now, and so here is a correct list of who voted who:

Round Prop 1.1: Mission 1.

Team: BigBangMeteor, Luster Purge,

Yes: Elieson, BigBangMeteor, Kay, Luster Purge,

No: apocalypseArisen, Marth,

Result: Yes - 4, No - 2

Proposal passes

Sorry to Kay and Marth who were affected by that.