Comparison
Avalon vs Werewolf
Werewolf (or Mafia) is the classic: a moderator runs the nights and players are killed off one by one. Avalon keeps the hidden teams and the arguing, but drops the moderator and the elimination.
At a glance
| Werewolf / Mafia | The Resistance: Avalon | |
|---|---|---|
| Players | Usually 8 or more; boxed editions go much larger | 5–10 |
| Length | 30–90 min | About 30 min |
| Origin | Mafia, Dimitry Davidoff, 1986; Werewolf theme 1997; many editions | 2012, Indie Boards & Cards |
| Moderator | Yes: one person runs the game and doesn't play | No: a player reads a short opening |
| Knocked out | Yes, at night and by the day vote | No |
| Each round | A night of secret actions, then a day vote to eliminate | A team vote, then a secret mission |
| How it ends | One side is eliminated or outnumbered | Three missions, then the Assassin's guess |
How Werewolf plays
Everyone gets a secret role. At night all eyes close and the moderator wakes the werewolves to choose a victim, then any special roles (a seer who checks a player, for example). By day the table argues and votes someone out. Eliminated players reveal nothing more and sit out until the end.
It scales to big groups and gives the moderator room to tell a story, but it needs a confident moderator, and early victims can spend most of the game watching.
How Avalon plays
The hidden teams are known from the first minute: Good and Evil. A leader proposes a mission team, everyone votes, and the team plays Success or Fail in secret. Three failed missions win for Evil; three successes give the Assassin one guess at Merlin, who knows the Evil players.
There is no night to run and no one is eliminated, so everyone argues to the last vote.
The main differences
A moderator
Werewolf needs one person out of the game to run it. Avalon runs itself.
Elimination
Werewolf removes players as it goes. In Avalon everyone plays to the end.
Evidence
Werewolf's evidence is who died and who said what. Avalon's is mission results and vote records.
Group size
Werewolf shines at 10 and up. Avalon stops at 10.
Length
A Werewolf night can run an hour or more. Avalon usually ends in about half an hour.
Which one for your group?
More than 10 people
Werewolf, or split into two tables.
Nobody wants to moderate
Avalon, or a moderator-free one-night game.
Some players hate sitting out
Avalon: no elimination.
Only 15 minutes
A one-night game such as Moon & Mask below.
Both styles on your phones
Oath & Dagger, our own mission game, runs the opening and the votes on everyone's phone. Moon & Mask is our own one-night game in the Werewolf family: everyone acts at once on their phone, cards change hands, and a single vote decides it. No moderator for either.
Oath & Dagger
Trust the oath. Fear the dagger.
5–10 players · 30–45 min · Voice host or screen guide
Moon & Mask
Swap by moonlight. Lie by dawn.
3–10 players · 10–15 min · Voice host or screen guide
Questions
Is Avalon a version of Werewolf?
They belong to the same family of hidden-role games, but Avalon has no night phase, no moderator and no elimination; it is built around missions instead.
Which is better for 6 players?
Avalon: Werewolf with 6 tends to end after a couple of eliminations.
Can you play Werewolf without a moderator?
One-night variants let everyone act at the same time, so nobody has to sit out and run the night. Moon & Mask does this on your phones.
Everyone in the same room?
partygame is for playing face to face, not online matchmaking: each phone keeps your secret and counts the votes, the talking happens at the table. Open a table in the browser, free, no app.