MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

Days of Wonder’s Shadows over Camelot and Indie Boards & Cards’ Resistance: Avalon, two role-playing, cooperative games placed within a medieval setting, utilize deception as a major plot point within the games’ narrative. Shadows pits the knights of Arthur’s court against many different foes: the picts, the scots, sieging war engines, the Black Knight, and, most importantly, one usurper among their own ranks, a traitorous knight who attempts to throw Arthur’s court into chaos and destruction. Resistance: Avalon, a medieval remake of Indie’s original sci-fi themed Resistance, forces the Loyal Servants of Arthur to find the evil Minions of Mordred before the kingdom collapses. Plot-wise, these games allow players to temporarily shed their modern identities to become something more medieval; mechanically, the games function by use of deception, bluffing, and acting, allowing the medieval fantasy to take flesh in an Arthurian role-play. Besides being very competitive, difficult, and fun to play, both of these games implies a connection between sneakiness and the medieval period. Moreover, the game’s understanding of the Arthurian mythos imply a certain paranoia about the stability of the court: the players anticipate the court contains evil, and the players-cum-knights acknowledge there is a traitor among their ranks and from the beginning of the game actively hunt for that character-player. This paper will examine the structured internalized anxiety inherent in the medieval societies of Shadows over Camelot and Resistance: Avalon, revealing the modern insertions found within the games’ very infrastructure.