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The Resistance is a Social Deduction board game for 5-10 players. It was designed by Don Eskridge and released in 2010.

The game is set in an Empire that the titular Resistance is trying to defeat. Players are either Resistance operatives or Imperial spies. The spies know who their compatriots are. Every round, a selected group of players go on a missions, which must be approved by the team. The spies can choose to sabotage the mission at the risk of revealing their allegiances; a successful mission means a point for the Resistance, while a sabotaged mission means a point for the spies. Resistance operatives must use the information gained from mission planning and operations to deduce the traitors. The game ends when one side wins three points.

There are expansion packs (Hidden Agenda, Hostile Intent, and The Plot Thickens) that add additional gameplay elements.

Avalon, a version of the game set in Camelot, was released in 2012. Here, players are either loyal to King Arthur's court or to Mordred, who is trying to take Camelot. Avalon introduces additional roles to complicate the game, such as Merlin, who knows who the spies are, and Oberon, a secret servant of Mordred; some of these roles are in turn present in the original game's expansion packs.


Tropes in the original game and expansion packs:

  • Deep Cover Agent: The Hidden Agenda expansion pack adds a "Deep Cover" role, who can hide themselves from the Commander (who knows who the spies are). This is analogous to the Oberon Avalon card.
  • The Empire: The Resistance is trying to defeat the implicitly evil Empire.
  • Good Colors, Evil Colors: The heroic Resistance members are blue, while the traitorous Empire spies are red.
  • Instant-Win Condition: Can happen for the Resistance, if the spies play really badly. It requires that a spy be randomly selected as the first team leader, chose only other spies as team-mates, and then that every spy turns in a fail card. That this involves Comically Missing the Point of the game does not prevent it from occurring.
  • The Mole: Some players (randomly chosen) are the Resistance, and some are The Mole. The aim of the resistance is to accomplish at least three out of five missions.
  • La RĂ©sistance: The goal of the Resistance is to topple the Empire. Unfortunately, there are spies in their midst.
  • Social Deduction Game: There are spies (informed minority) within a greater group of Resistance agents (uninformed majority); the latter only knows how many spies there are and not who is one. Players go on 'missions' that must be approved by the group; during the mission, 'good' members turn in Mission Success cards while spies can sabotage the mission by turning in a Mission Fail card (at the risk of their identity being exposed). The game continues in this manner until one team gets three points.
  • We ARE Struggling Together: An alternative win condition for the spies is to cause so much distrust and disagreement among the rest of the players that nobody can get a team approved to go on a mission.
  • Wild Card: The Rogue module puts a wild card on both teams, who have their own agendas and win conditions separate from the Resistance or the Empire.

Tropes in Avalon:

  • Black Eyes of Evil: Evil sorceress Morgana has black sclera.
  • Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: The leader of the bad guys, Mordred, has chalk-white skin and jet-black hair. Contrast with Arthur, who is handsomely tanned.
  • Recycled with a Gimmick: Avalon punts the concept of The Resistance to Camelot. The Resistance becomes Arthur's loyalists, while the Imperial Spies become Mordred's forces. It also introduces new roles, such as Merlin and Percival.
  • Sexy Backless Outfit: The Lady of the Lake role art is a beautiful woman in water whose back is uncovered by the cloth she brings up to her chest.

Alternative Title(s): Avalon

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