[The Resistance - Avalon] Game 30: Firefly
Rules shamelessly stolen from Falc, with editing for thematic purposes.
The Story
Malcolm Reynolds is the captain of a Firefly-class transport ship, Serenity. Having fought unsuccessfully against the Union of Allied Planets in the Unification War, Captain Reynolds and his crew are often forced to resort to operations of questionable legality in order to make a living.
In the course of one of his smuggling operations, Mal picks up a few extra passengers on the planet Persephone, among them a doctor named Simon Tam. Simon also secretly brings along his sister River, whom he is trying to protect from the Alliance, which has been, to put it delicately, messing with her brain. But the Alliance wants her back. Some of its agents have infiltrated the crew of Serenity, and will find a way to bring her back by any means necessary.
The Serenity crew need to complete various jobs in order to have enough money to continue on the run; they also need to keep River hidden so that the Alliance does not capture her and kill the rest of the crew. If they fail at either of these tasks, they will all die.
Game Setup
This is a game for 5 to 10 players. After sign-ups are closed, each player will be either on the side of the Serenity Crew or the Alliance agents. Distribution of these allegiances depends on the number of players:
| Players | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Serenity Crew | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 |
| Alliance Agents | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
The Alliance agents are working together and will all know each other, except for certain optional roles.
At the very least, one of the Serenity Crew will be given the role of River Tam, while one Alliance Agent will be the Blue Gloves. Depending on the amount of players, other roles may be assigned as well.
For all roles, see below.
The GM will randomly determine the order of Leadership.
Game Play
The game consists of between three and five Missions.
Gather the Party
First, a Party must be appointed to go on the Mission. The size of the Party depends on the number of players and which mission is being attempted, according to the following table:
| Players | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| 1st Mission | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 2nd Mission | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 3rd Mission | 2 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 4th Mission | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| 5th Mission | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
The current Leader must choose this many players and reveal their names in public. All players must then vote to either APPROVE or REJECT the proposed Party.
The Party is approved and goes on their mission if they receive a majority of approvals (a tied vote means the proposal is rejected). If the proposal is rejected, Leadership passes to the next player in the order who will make a new proposal. Should there ever be 5 proposals rejected for the same mission, then the Alliance Agents win the game immediately.
Voting may be done in private or in public. Once all votes are tallied, everyone's vote will be revealed.
Undertaking Missions
Each player going on the mission must either SUPPORT or SABOTAGE the mission. The Serenity Crew must SUPPORT, while Alliance Agents are free to SUPPORT or SABOTAGE at will.
A mission is successful only if every member of the Party supports it; if one or more sabotages occur, the mission fails. Note that with games of 7 players or more, the 4th mission requires at least two sabotages to fail.
Supporting or sabotaging is done in private. Once all actions are tallied, only the tally is revealed and not who did what.
Victory
The Serenity Crew win when they complete 3 missions successfully, unless the Blue Gloves can find and capture River Tam.
The Alliance Agents win when they sabotage 3 Expeditions, when the Blue Gloves find and capture River Tam, or when 5 proposals are rejected for the same mission.
Roles
All roles are optional except for River Tam and the Blue Gloves.
River Tam - Serenity Crew
River Tam can read the minds of everybody aboard ship, and knows who is good and who is not. At the start of the game, she will be given the names of all the Alliance Agents.
Blue Gloves - Alliance Agent
This mysterious man has been tasked with capturing River Tam, and will stop at nothing to achieve this. If he figure out who she is, he will kill everyone around her and bring her back to The Academy.
Simon Tam - Serenity Crew
Simon is River's older brother, and is especially concerned with protecting her. At the start of the game, Simon is given the name of the player who is River Tam. Adding Simon Tam helps the Serenity Crew.
Academy Doctor - Alliance Agent
Has sufficient knowledge of River's psychic abilities that he can also block them to prevent his intentions from being read. At the start of the game, the Academy Doctor's name is NOT given to River Tam. Adding the Academy Doctor helps the Alliance Agents.
Jubal Early - Alliance Agent
A bounty hunter who is working independently from the other Alliance Agents to bring River into custody. At the start of the game, Jubal Early's name is not given to the other Alliance Agents, nor is he told the names of the other Alliance Agents. Adding Jubal Early helps the Serenity Crew.
River's Double - Alliance Agent
The Alliance, with its vast resources, has found someone who looks and acts enough like River Tam that her impersonation can fool Simon into not recognizing his own sister. At the start of the game, the name of River's Double is given to Simon Tam in addition to the River. Adding River's Double helps the Alliance Agents.
Mercenary
The mercenary's only guiding principle is that he will fight on the side of whoever pays him more; his loyalty is never assured to remain with one side or the other. There are always two players with the role of mercenaries. One of them starts the game on the side of the Alliance Agents while the other starts on the side of the Serenity Crew.
At the start of the game, the Alliance mercenary will have his name revealed to River Tam and to his fellow Alliance Agents, but will not be given any names. The other Alliance Agents will also be told he is the Alliance mercenary.
During the game, the two mercenaries may swap sides, always remaining opposite one another (see below for the rules). During the game, they must follow all rules of their current allegiance (most notably, the Serenity Crew mercenary may not sabotage a mission).
Note that Roles are never revealed to other people, only names or allegiance (Serenity Crew/Alliance Agent).
For example, River Tam knows the names of all the Alliance Agents (except the Academy Doctor) but not what each player's Role might be. Similarly, Simon Tam would receive the names of River Tam and River's Double without knowing which is which.
Optional Rules
Mercenaries
The mercenaries will either switch allegiance in a random manner or in a predetermined manner:
Random
5 cards are prepared, 2 that force the mercenaries to switch and 3 that leave them their current allegiance.
After Expedition 2, one card is drawn from this deck, shown to all players as it takes effect and then discarded. This is repeated after every subsequent Expedition.
Predetermined
7 cards are prepared, 2 that force the mercenaries to switch and 5 that leave them their current allegiance.
At the start of the game, after roles are assigned, the top 5 cards are drawn and shown to all players. The first card takes affect right before Expedition 1, the second right before Expedition 2, etc.
IMPORTANT! In this variant, the Alliance Mercenary must always sabotage any Expedition he is sent on.
Mercenaries - Alternate Version
Another related variant allows both mercenaries to receive each other's name at the start of the game.
Identity Card Checker
The last player on the Leader list may start the game with the Identity Card Checker.
Immediately after the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Expeditions are resolved, the player with the Identity Card Checker must choose another player, whose allegiance will be revealed to him in private. The Checker then passes to the targeted player.
The Checker may not be used on a player that has used it himself.
Adding the Checker helps the Serenity Crew.
Mind-Control Device
When the Leader proposes a Party, he must also assign the Mind-Control Device to one player of his choosing; he may not keep it for himself.
When the player who carries the Device is sent on the mission, he may publicly select one other member of the Party after they have all chosen their actions. That member's action will be revealed privately to the bearer of the device; furthermore, the opposite action will be counted for the mission's result, ie. a sabotage will be counted as a support and vice-versa.
Note that this does not change what actions a player on a mission can take. Serenity Crew may still only choose to support, but the Device may afterwards turn that into a sabotage.
Formalities
No communication between players about the game may happen outside the public thread. PMs between players are NOT allowed, neither are phone calls, talking in another thread, letting things slip while having a drink, etc. Do not talk about the Resistance.
Each player is solely responsible for clearly communicating to the GM and the other players. Making things like votes and party proposals stand out by using colors, bold text, bigger fonts and such is strongly encouraged. If anything gets missed, it is the fault of the player who did not make himself clear enough.
Votes for or against a party may happen in public or private. Only the last vote will be counted (based on the timestamp).
In order to make the game move smoother, it is strongly recommended to PRELOAD your support or sabotage of the mission while the party is being voted on. This allows the GM to make a single update, counting the votes and handling the mission all at once.
If a player becomes absent, the GM reserves the right to replace him.
If a player fails to vote, the GM reserves the right to close the vote without him.
If a player fails to provide a mission action, the GM reserves the right to default the action to support if the player is Serenity Crew and sabotage if the player is an Alliance Agent.
If a player fails to propose a Party, the GM reserves the right to move on to the next Leader in the order.
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