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[theory]

Last night I played Resistance: Avalon, which includes a "Merlin" character.  (Others as well, but Merlin is the centerpiece and the only one we played with.)  He is town-aligned, with the special power that he knows who all the Spies/"Minions of Mordred"/scum/mafia are.

The catch is, at the end of the game, if the spies lose, they get to confer and pick out Merlin.  If they are correct, they win the game. 

I played as Merlin last night in a 7p game and boy, it was one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had.  Being Merlin is incredibly stressful.  You hold so much power, but if you overplay your hand, you can totally cost your team the game. 

[Ozle]

Did you do better than the forum gamers did?
http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=5376.0

[theory]

Cool!  I didn't see that.

I know Robz888 thinks Resistance always wins, but I felt like Spies were close to winning the whole time.  In fact, on Quest 5, the person that I had set up to be Merlin actually started proposing the wrong mission.  (He was the force mission too -- he was the 5th proposal.)  I thought I was a goner for sure, since the Spies now knew that he was not Merlin and I'd have to softreveal myself as Merlin to stop him.  Luckily, they interpreted his proposal as exactly the opposite: as a cunning gambit by Merlin himself to throw off the scent.  It only convinced them even further that he was Merlin.  (At the end of the game: "We don't need to confer.  It's obviously X.")

[theory]

I see that Robz thinks differently when plot cards are out.  I agree, I don't particularly care for the cards myself.  Nor do I like that Assassin mechanic; seems like it's better if the Spy team just confers and decides on a Merlin.

[Drab Emordnilap]

I see that Robz thinks differently when plot cards are out.  I agree, I don't particularly care for the cards myself.  Nor do I like that Assassin mechanic; seems like it's better if the Spy team just confers and decides on a Merlin.

I always assumed the bad guys conferred on who to assassinate, and the 'assassin' card is just to make sure the game still mechanically operates in case the bad guys are of split opinion. That way they don't have to have any silly tiebreak rules for voting on Merlin.

[theory]

I see that Robz thinks differently when plot cards are out.  I agree, I don't particularly care for the cards myself.  Nor do I like that Assassin mechanic; seems like it's better if the Spy team just confers and decides on a Merlin.

I always assumed the bad guys conferred on who to assassinate, and the 'assassin' card is just to make sure the game still mechanically operates in case the bad guys are of split opinion. That way they don't have to have any silly tiebreak rules for voting on Merlin.

Makes sense, actually.  Though I would assume that even if you have an even number of Spies, reasonable people can usually confer and come to an agreement.

[Thisisnotasmile]

Yeah, this is what my game group's been playing for a couple of years (I even mentioned it back before the first game of forum Resistance here) as a guy in our group contacted the designer when he was looking for playtesters for some new variants. There were some other variants we've tried out too, but none were as good as Commander and Bodyguard (Commander is Resistance who knows who spies are, Bodyguard is Resistance who knows who the Commander is, but not the spies) which has now been rethemed and released as Avalon.

You can actually play Avalon rules with the base set (as we have done) by assigning certain characters to certain roles. We play old guy with long white hair as Commander and bald black guy as bodyguard. Doesn't work with plot cards as obviously a spy seeing the Commander's character card ruins the game, but you can make adjustments if you want such as showing allegience with vote cards rather than character cards. In the end though, the plot cards suck and this variant is good enough on its own that it doesn't matter.

[Qvist]

I had a hard time in that forum game to play the Merlin. I think this setup is pro-spy because you don't want to help too much and you really have to be subtle. Maybe Merlin + Plot cards is balanced. Or you need more experience playing the Merlin, I don't know.

[Thisisnotasmile]

I had a hard time in that forum game to play the Merlin. I think this setup is pro-spy because you don't want to help too much and you really have to be subtle. Maybe Merlin + Plot cards is balanced. Or you need more experience playing the Merlin, I don't know.

You need the bodyguard really. Just commander (Merlin) has a hard time getting information across.

[Drab Emordnilap]

But it's not Merlin's job to get information across! It's everyone's job to figure out who scum are.

[theory]

We didn't play with the bodyguard.  I think it is important for the other resistance members to assume the role of Merlin.  In my game I managed to pin Merlin on someone else, while simultaneously expressing extreme skepticism about one of my teammates that my teammates also found sketchy.

My favorite part about Merlin is that it makes Resistance a little more worried about each other, since they don't want to pry too hard into Merlin's reasoning.

[Thisisnotasmile]

But it's not Merlin's job to get information across! It's everyone's job to figure out who scum are.

It's up to Merlin how he uses the information he's given at the beginning of the game for free. If he wants, he can not bother to use it to his team's advantage. If he does so, you're basically playing base Resistance with the addition that the Spies get a 1 in X chance of winning at the end even if they lose. If Merlin wants, he could instead use his information to benefit his team. This is hard to do unless he has someone who he knows is able to help hide his identity. Without the bodyguard, Spies will win a vast majority of games. With the bodyuard it is a very balanced variant.

[Drab Emordnilap]

I should clarify; I mean that it isn't Merlin's, and only Merlin's, job to identify traitors. It's everyone's job.

Also, you guys must be much better than my group. The Minions of Mordred rarely win for us without finding Merlin.

[Qvist]

In the end though, the plot cards suck

Why?

[Thisisnotasmile]

In the end though, the plot cards suck

Why?

Well in my group, they just cause endless arguments about who should be given which cards and that they should be forced to agree to use it in such and such way before it will be given to them which just grinds the game to a complete halt and bores me to tears. I'd just rather play without them and actually play the game.

[Tables]

I was merlin in my first game. And my second. And third, but that actually messed up as a spy didn't open their eyes. But yeah, I've been merlin. It's really, really hard. One the one hand, you can choose to not leverage your position by closing your eyes when the spies thumb - that can leave the spies really guessing, but if that were the optimal strategy, Merlin just makes things harder for the spies by adding a 16-33% chance the spies win randomly at the end. So on the other hand, you need to somehow use your information carefully, without giving yourself away. I kinda took the fall in our game, and was apparently really obvious, but ah well.

[papaHav]

This game is nuts =D current favourite.

Favourite variant is +percival+morgana (followed closely by vanilla)

But we play with just +percival when its 7 players