The Resistance! [Concluded]

[LazyMcCrow]

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, 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 (possibly including himself/herself). 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.



Basic Rules

BoardGameGeek Link

I'm casting this game as a 'mini-mafia' and so will accept up to 8 sign-ups, which I believe is the limit. There is no player elimination and the game will probably last a little over a week. Rest assured I shall go over the rules of play in much greater detail when we have our 8 players, (I may be including some of the expansion rules to the vanilla game - not decided yet) but please - before you sign up - bear in mind that the phases of the game may be quicker than 24 hours and you will be required to browse the thread at least once every 24 hours and to contribute each 'day'.

I've played this a couple of times but it didn't go down amazingly well with my usual gaming group, but then I don't think they'd enjoy mafia either, so I'm interested to see if this game translates to a forum as well as Mafia/Werewolves clearly does - and I'll be happy to run it again if it goes well.

SIGN UPS:
1) BSmith
2) Jarema
3) Chaotix
4) Darth Feather
5) edse
6) B Ray
7) Makrell
8) Visorslash

[BSmith]

I'll try this out!

[Jarema]

in!

[Chaotix]

I always love a new concept! In.

[LazyMcCrow]

Roll up roll up! Five more players and this can begin!

For those who need a little more information about what they're dipping their toes into: Here is a complete rule set, which I've adapted from the face to face game. If there are any questions about the rules, please feel free to post them in this thread:

THE RULES:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Each Player will be sent a Role PM. Five players will be genuine members of the resistance and the other three will be Imperial Agents who have infiltrated the group.

The Imperial Agents will be informed of each others identities, but MUST NOT COMMUNICATE OUTSIDE THE THREAD! - This is fundamental to the success of the game - ANY communication by ANY player outside the game thread will break the game - please rethink your commitment to the game if you do not feel you can obey this simple rule!.

The Resistance Team will then be informed of the missions they will be required to undertake and also who their initial Leader is.

1st Mission Team: 3 Members
2nd Mission Team: 4 Members
3rd Mission Team: 4 Members
4th Mission Team: 5 Members*
5th Mission Team: 5 Members

*This Mission requires a minimum of 2 MISSION FAILS orders for it to fail.

At this point the thread is open for discussion. All players may offer any opinions and thoughts at any time, including how they intend to vote, or why Askthepizzaguy is an imperial spy; as long as it is ONLY in the thread, or to myself via PM.

The Leader must then select the members they wish to send on the first Mission - they may choose to include themselves.

FIRST VOTING PHASE:
Once the Leader has posted their proposed Mission Team, all players are required to vote in a secret ballot. They may vote to either:

A) APPROVE the Mission Team

or

B) OPPOSE the Mission Team

Players must send their vote via PM to me within 12 hours, BUT: I shall post the results as soon as I have received a complete set. Players personal votes will be revealed. (The reason for the ballot being secret is that the voting is supposed to be simultaneous.)

If the majority have voted to APPROVE the Mission Team then the Mission goes ahead.

If the majority has voted to OPPOSE the Mission Team then Leadership passes to the next player on the List and they must propose a Mission Team.

Ties count as if the Mission Team has been OPPOSED

IMPORTANT: IF MISSION TEAM PROPOSALS ARE OPPOSED 5 TIMES IN A ROW THEN THE IMPERIAL SPIES WIN AUTOMATICALLY!!!!

Once a Mission Team has been APPROVED, we move onto the Mission Phase.

MISSION PHASE:

The players who have been selected for the Mission are required to send me - via PM - their orders.
Genuine Resistance MUST send the order: MISSION SUCCEEDS
Imperial Spies may send either: MISSION SUCCEEDS, or MISSION FAILS as their order.

Deadlines will vary for this phase, but should not exceed 24 hours. AGAIN: I shall post the results as soon as I have received a complete set of orders and done the write up, so there is an outside chance (if the correct planets are aligned) that they may be resolved within an hour or two!

If I have received any MISSION FAIL orders then the Mission automatically fails*. Players will be informed the number of SUCCESS / FAIL orders received, but not - of course - who sent them.

*The only exception to this is Mission 4, when a minimum of 2 MISSION FAIL orders are required for the Mission to fail.

If no end of game conditions have been met, then Leadership moves in turn to the next player.

END OF GAME:

The game ends when the Team either:

A) Achieves three successful Missions (Resistance Victory)

B) Fail three Missions (Imperial Victory)

or, as stated above:
C) Five Team Proposals in a row are OPPOSED (Imperial Victory)

[Darth Feather]

I like the concept and I am in. Just one question: why would Imperial spies ever send mission succeeds?

[LazyMcCrow]

I like the concept and I am in. Just one question: why would Imperial spies ever send mission succeeds?

Glad to have you aboard Darth :) In answer to your question: It is true that it is less likely an Imperial Spy will send a Succeeds order in a game with more than 7 players. In games with 7 or less the first mission only has two Team members assigned to it, so it is very difficult for either of them to get picked again if there is a FAIL order submitted: In this instance a Spy may try to blend in in order to get picked again and cause a 'busier' mission to fail.

Also - and this is the main reason for NO OUT OF THREAD COMMUNICATION! - although the Spies know the identity of their fellows - they do not know how what orders they will submit. Imagine a scenario in which two spies and only one resistance have been selected for Mission 1 - what do the Spies do? If they both sabotage the Mission then there is no chance they can both remain undercover and little chance that either of them will be selected again! I am very interested to see whether this game works in a forum format for this reason. If two spies are caught out in this way face-to-face it is very difficult to argue against the single resistance member who will be screaming for their blood

[Visor]

I know what this is, and have considered playing it before. If this was starting on the 30th or thereabout I would join, but can't at the moment.

Anyone who is thinking of joining, give it a shot!

[edse]

In since I die all the time.

[LazyMcCrow]

well good to have you on board edse. I guess the equivalent in this game would be to get mistrusted from the start and never picked for a mission!

@Visorslash - thanks for the shout - sorry you won't be around.

So - 3 more players and we can begin :)

[B-Wing]

Sign me up! Mafia games have been too long and large for me to participate in lately, but I've wanted to get back in the action on this forum again. This sounds perfect.

[LazyMcCrow]

great! - thanks B Ray, hopefully you are the tipping point - I was worried this wouldn't get going! - but just 2 more to go and we can begin. Any more rebels out there?

[Makrell]

insane in the mainframe

[LazyMcCrow]

Great! - thanks for signing up Makrell. Just 1 more to go!

[Visor]

Great! - thanks for signing up Makrell. Just 1 more to go!

I'll sign up. I'll be active at least twice a day until the 31st when I will be more active.

[LazyMcCrow]

Great. That's our 8. I've nearly finished the initial write-up and will PM you the roles imminently.

Please ensure you've read and understood the rules - see post 5 of this thread - any questions - pop them in this thread for all to see or PM me.

Once you've all received your roles and I've received a confirmation PM in reply: The game will begin.

Thank you all for your interest - I hope we all have fun.

[LazyMcCrow]

‘Lazy’ McCrow’s focus snapped from the ancient British sit-com she’d been vegetating in front of - to the CCTV feed.

The first of the team had arrived at the personnel airlock.

A disc in the server rack whirred as Lazy pulled the operative’s file up onto the main screen.

Ah yes: The sharpshooter with the comms jamming and uplink enhancements.

McCrow had worked with ‘B SMITH’ just the once before - back in her days as a field operative. She had seen him pick off Imperial Guardsmen from over a mile away with the XM21 he currently carried in a small flight case. His audio bio-enhancement had also proven a valuable tactical asset on more than one mission - shutting down the outgoing communications capabilities of Guard-Nests and re-routing Imperial APCs to false locations.



‘B SMITH’ had 2 years of frontline experience under his belt as a fully fledged operative and the Gods only knew how long he’d been honing his craft before that. His Trial Mission had resulted in 4 Kills - Lazy scanned through the report - three had been Headshots.



As expected: The next member of the team arrived unexpectedly. One moment ‘JAREMA’ wasn’t there - the next - she just was. It was always the way, and it unnerved Lazy almost as much as the assassin’s penchant for torturing her targets when she had time at her disposal. Fitted with a complete respiratory overhaul, ‘JAREMA’ could ‘breathe’ in extreme heat, cold and sub-aqua conditions as well as in the midst of whichever cloud of poison you might care to throw at her.



The next arrival at the bunker needed little introduction. ‘CHAOTIX’ was a legend of the Resistance - operating since its inception; she had refused to accept any kind of promotion and had run countless missions - always leading from the front. Lazy couldn’t help respecting the uncompromising veteran, despite the implication ‘CHAOTIX’ constantly made about Lazy’s ...we ll. ….laziness.





The next two members arrived together. Both large and intimidating and both well-used to smashing imperial skulls. ‘DARTH FEATHER’ was seven feet tall and - aside from a few dents and scratches, and some rough looking grafitti - looked identical to any other biotic Imperial General Infantryman. Re-wired by Resistance Techs, the biotic soldier behaved with no less fervour than any of his human comrades - and often with more wit and charm about him than many of his human cohorts. FIeld Operative ‘EDSE’, by comparison, was largely human - largely that is except for his reinforced rib cage, and Biotic arm - completely fitted with all attachments suited to melee combat that the Resistance could find. Both operatives were deadlier than a house falling on you. A house wielding a chainsaw.


Lazy rubbed her eyes. She was exhausted. Her metaphors were beginning to suffer, and she had a muscle tic in her left eye that was thrumming like a rabbit in a sack.

Hitting the comlink to the Resistance canteen two floors up - she barked an order for more coffee and turned back to the screen; just in time to witness the arrival of the next two operatives.

‘B RAY’ and ‘MAKRELL’ were both reasonably new hands, but had already proved their worth in the field - and then some. ‘B RAY’ was a psyker, providing disarmingly effective tech support. By simply plugging himself into any Imperial console, his abilty as a hacker (and as a world class sprinter before his initiation to the Resistance) had seen him rise swiftly through the ranks. His 6 kills in the trial mission had been matched only by ‘CHAOTIX’ who had surprisingly indulged the rookie with a raised eyebrow and a nod.



‘MAKRELL’ was an outstanding support agent with the makings of a fine field medic. His ability to artificially ‘gland’ himself with a variety of helpful hormonal concoctions allowed him to operate under more stress and trauma than any of his human comrades. The junior member of the team seemed to get no joy from his job though. His commitment to the resistance was fuelled by a desire to avenge his family - all victims of the Empires iron-fist rule over its subjects.



A story all too familiar to Lazy herself.

Lazy checked the files. That made seven. She was waiting on the final member of the team. The demolitions expert. ‘Late as usual’ Lazy grimaced - partly at the tardiness of arguably the most vital member of the team - and partly at the chaos the loki-ish character always trailed behind him. That was the trouble with 'VISORSLASH' You never knew whether he was just joking with you.. or if he was actually mad.

Sign-Ups are complete. I shall post the roles imminently via PM. YOU ARE REQUIRED TO RESPOND TO CONFIRM YOUR PARTICIPATION.

Once I have a complete set of confirmations, the game will begin

[Beskar]

[You can have me as a reserve if required.]

[LazyMcCrow]

[You can have me as a reserve if required.]

Thanks Tiaexz, You're first on the list. I'm just waiting on 2 confirmations and we're off. I'm sure that will happen in the next 12 hours or so. Thanks to all for your prompt replies.

[LazyMcCrow]

Thirty miles below the surface, the seven members of the Resistance sat pensively in the operations bunker - glancing at one another around the planning table.

Some of the field agents had worked together previously, and after some clipped small talk; discussion about the absent eighth member of the team ensued: Before a stern comment from CHAOTIX brought the group to an attentive silence.

Finally the distant squeak of the elevator, which had delivered them deep down from the airlock on the surface, caught their attention and as the industrial doors rolled back - all eyes strained across the bunker to identify the last team member.

A shambolic figure lurched from the elevator and stumbled a little as he took a lengthy pull on a bottle. There were a few exhalations and mutterings from the more experienced operatives, and a few quizzical glances exchanged between some of the new blood.

As the figure lurched his way toward the table, CHAOTIX shook her head.

‘There goes the neighbourhood’ she muttered, as the demolitions expert - codename: VISORSLASH greeted his teammates with a mock salute.



Back up in her control room, McCrow started as several red lights suddenly began flashing and a small alarm hijacked her headphones and over-rode her audio book: The works of Joe Abercrombie read by Tom Waites.

‘INCOMING TRANSMISSION!’ strobed her monitor, and Lazy frowned as she identified the data was encoded to the highest security level.

Once the message had been de-crypted, Lazy’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped as she read the orders from high-command.

As Visorslash slumped into the empty chair in the Operations Bunker two floors below, a siren began to clamour and the phrase ‘YOU ARE UNDER SECURITY LOCKDOWN’ blared from the speakers, leaving the Team in no doubt as to why the reinforced blast doors were rolling down over each of the exits.

‘Hmmm s’true - I ushually have thish affect’, slurred VISORSLASH, as he leered across the table at CHAOTIX, who sneered in return.

‘Somethings never change’ mused the veteran, cracking her knuckles.

Presently the alarms were silenced and a nervous cough sounded over the tannoy.

‘Ahem... Alpha Team - Welcome to the Resistance HQ! I am your Mission Supervisor, Agent McCrow and I am the unfortunate schmuck tasked with salvaging this cluster***k of an Operation.’

The two rookies, ‘B_RAY’ & ‘MAKRELL’ exchanged mildly worried glances while ‘VISORSLASH’ swung his feet up onto the table and pulled a footlong sub from one of the expansive pockets of his great coat and began tucking into it like a ravenous hound.

Lazy McCrow continued:

‘First of all - and by way of an explanation to the current security alert; I must share some rather shocking news with you all.

It has come to the attention of High Command - rather catastrophically late in the day I’m afraid - that while five of you are exactly as you appear, it seems that three of you are not members of our Resistance at all.’

Lazy paused as the implications sunk in.

‘No ladies and gentlemen - this is not an alarm test: I have it on the highest authority, that three of you are...ahem … Imperial spies’.

The tense atmosphere in the room congealed further. While no hands actually reached for weapons, it was clear that it would take but one sudden movement from any of the ‘Team’ - and all hell would break loose.

‘However...’ McCrow continued ‘ What has not been established is which of you are loyal to our cause and which of you are the traitors, so I’d appreciate it if no-one started anything stupid. As soon a move is made by ANY of you, I state plainly that ALL of you will be immediately destroyed.’

Several of the soldiers around the table snarled. Whether genuine Resistance or Imperial Spy - The news was not going down well.

‘It has been made clear to me by High Command that all of our necks are on the line if anything kicks off down here, and I know for a fact that they will not hesitate to nuke us at the drop of a hat.... so, It is in all of our best interests at this moment, that none of us kill anyone else...

AM I clear? ’

A few muttered agreements were heard, but the peace established felt by no means easy.

Satisfied that ‘EDSE’ wasn’t going to fire up the chain-saws on his forearm, McCrow continued to elaborate on the plot High Command had hatched. It didn’t feel like much of a plan.

‘The eight of you have been selected to complete these final Missions, which will allow us to take control of the Imperial Orbital Base, circling the planet Orrrgh. I am informing you now that NOTHING HAS CHANGED! Our Missions will go ahead.

If the Resistance is to stand any chance of turning the tide against the Empire - that Orbital Base must be captured and held.’

There was a pause and a crackling over the speaker system, as McCrow lit one of her foul-smelling cigars.

‘So - a word from our rather demanding superiors, and myself must now follow: To the three of you Imperial scum who have been tasked with sabotaging our efforts - I can only say ‘May you burn in hell you ****-****ing *******s.

When we catch you - and we WILL catch you: I’ll make you pay in pain and blood for anything you EVEN THINK you can do to endanger the success of these Missions.

None of you is above suspicion, but it is going to be up to those of us with genuine loyalty to the cause; to get these Missions underway and to bust open that Base regardless of the three Empire scum amongst us.

For those of you around the table who are truly loyal - I am sorry that it has come to this. There is no time to tarry. We must begin at 04:00 hrs, with the de-activation of the Orbital Bases’ shield generators. Take a break. Stow your kit - you will not be leaving this room except for when you are selected to undertake one of our vital strikes against the Empire, and for our freedom.

BSMITH - High command has selected you as the first ‘Leader’. It is your job to make a proposal for our first Mission Team. You will need to select three Agents to undertake the sabotage of the Shield Generators. Pick who you want, Pick who your buddy wants - however you do it, make sure you listen to the advice being given - maybe one of the scum will give themselves away in this very room. Pick yourself if you want, but whatever you do: Pick well - the future of everyone in this System hangs in the balance.

*****************************


ORDER OF PLAY

The first ‘Leader’ will be BSmith. BSmith will propose three members (possibly including himself) to attempt the First Mission. Once the proposal is posted in the thread you are ALL required to send me a PM either APPROVING or OPPOSING the Mission Team proposal.

Once I have a complete set of votes, I shall post the results in the thread - including how each player voted. A clear majority of APPROVAL votes means the proposal succeeds. Ties are counted as OPPOSED.

If BSmith’s proposal succeeds, Mission 1 will begin.

If BSmith’s proposal is opposed then ‘Leadership’ passes to the next player in Turn Order:

1) BSmith
2) Jarema
3) Chaotix
4) Darth Feather
5) edse
6) B Ray
7) Makrell
8) Visorslash

If five Mission Team proposals in a row are OPPOSED the Imperial Spies win automatically!

Once The First Mission has begun, the selected Team Members must send me orders via PM. Loyal Resistance members MUST send ‘MISSION SUCCEEDS’ orders. Imperial Spies may send either ‘MISSION SUCCEEDS’ or ‘MISSION FAILS’ orders.

Once I have a complete set of orders I shall post a write-up of the outcome - checking to see if either of the win conditions have been met - and if not - we shall proceed to the next Mission with a new ‘Leader’

A reminder of the Mission List:

THE MISSIONS:
1st Mission Team: 3 Members
2nd Mission Team: 4 Members
3rd Mission Team: 4 Members
4th Mission Team: 5 Members*
5th Mission Team: 5 Members

*This Mission requires a minimum of 2 MISSION FAILS orders for it to fail.

Anything not clear? Post questions in thread or PM me.

You may now begin open discussion in this thread, about who you think should/shouldn't be included in the first mission. Role Play is encouraged but in no way compulsory. GL&HF

[Jarema]

well well well

I suggest girls should stay at home during first mission.

or quite contrary - sent me, so you will know you can trust me when I will be the leader

[BSmith]

I am going to give everybody a few hours to say why you should or should not be on this first mission.

[edse]

I suggest you chose Jarema, Chaotix and Darth Feather as they are the ones that will lead the following missions and we need as much intel on them as possible.

[Jarema]

I suggest you chose Jarema, Chaotix and Darth Feather as they are the ones that will lead the following missions and we need as much intel on them as possible.

that

[Darth Feather]

I AM A BIOTIC SUPORT UNIT. MY PROGRAMMING DOES NOT ALLOW BETRAYAL. I SHOULD BE ON THE FIRST MISSION.

[Makrell]

i am not certain who should be on the mission, but i will saty this

i am the greatest support medic ever and i am even enhanced with neutral pharmacology.

Also edse makes sense

[edse]

Also edse makes sense

There's a first time for everything.

[BSmith]

I’ll go with edse’s reasoning. Proposed members for the first mission:

Jarema
Chaotix
Darth Feather

[Jarema]

I've sent my approval

[LazyMcCrow]

Thanks to those of you who have already supplied your votes of APPROVAL/OPPOSITION to BSMITH's proposal.

Please feel free to submit votes as soon as the Leader posts their proposal - there is no need to wait for me to post anything official. These phases of the game will take longer than I'd like them to, but that's just one of the side-effects of playing games with people from all the way around the globe! When you think about it - it's amazing how quickly it happens really :D. I'm waiting on a few more vote PMs and I'll post as soon as I've got them all and I'm awake. It may not actually be for another twelve hours or so.