At the start of the game, one third of the set of players (rounded up) is randomly and secretly chosen to be government spies infiltrating the rest of the group (the Resistance).
All of the players then discuss the Leader's choice and, simultaneous and in public, vote[1] on whether to accept the team make-up or not.
This continues until a majority of players agrees with the current Leader's mission assignment.
These effects allow a player to view specific hidden information, or to change the usual flow of play.
Reviewers from Ars Technica praised the game's engagement, and described the gameplay "requires more than a little cunning, treachery, and a willingness to make wild, baseless accusations".
[5] Avalon includes six new character roles which alter the game: two good and four evil.
Hidden Agenda introduces three rule modules to the base game that may be played alone or combined with one another.
The plot cards from the second edition return to the third edition, and the Sergeant and Rogue modules which were originally released bonuses with the 2014 Kickstarter campaign for Hostile Intent and Hidden Agenda make an appearance.
However, in games like Mafia there is a Narrator, a person with an omniscient point of view which allows more of the storytelling aspect that Resistance lacks.
Deception is a similar game using investigators and items clues to guess who is the murderer.