Resistance:

Road to Liberation

A game by
Charles F. Wheaton

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 “From our barracks we could see the gas chambers.
A heart rending cry of women and children reached us there
We were overcome
By a feeling of helplessness.
There we were,
watching
and unable to do anything.
We had already worked out a plan of escape.
But
At that moment I decided we must not simply escape.
We must destroy the fascists and the camp.”

-- Alxander Pechersky

Russian soldier and Holocaust survivor

who led the revolt at Sobibor extermination camp
(Quote taken from the Holocaust Memorial in Boston)

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 Resistance:
Road to Liberation

Producer and Game Designer:

Charles F. Wheaton

For questions or comments

email me at
Charlie.wheaton@gmail.com

Or visit my website at:

https://sites.google.com/site/theresistanceroad/

or see my blog:
www.iaatgd.blogspot.com

This work is licensed under the

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United
States License.

To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-

nd/3.0/us/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San
Francisco, California, 94105, USA.

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Introduction
Welcome to Resistance: Road To Liberation! This is a game about
heroism, loss, revenge, justice, and fighting back. Resistance is a World
War II role-playing game where the player plays a character that is fighting
for one of the many resistance movements in counties occupied by the Axis
forces of Germany, Italy, and Japan.

I was inspired to create this game after the release of Call of Duty: World
at War made by EA Games. However, this was not my only inspiration for
this game. I lived in Europe for most of my childhood, so I saw many of
the battlefields and places that played great roles in WWII.

This copy of the game -- as you see it now -- is only the beginning. I will
go back later and revise it to include your comments and suggestions,
create more enemies for characters to fight and add supplements to the
rules and additional scenarios to the game. One could almost call this the
“Beta test” version of this game.

I have put a lot of work in to this game and I had a lot of fun making it. I
hope you enjoy this game as much as I had creating it and play testing it
myself.

Cheers and have fun,

Charles F. Wheaton

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Role Playing Games 101
A role playing game is sort of like a play; you have something called a
Game master or GM, who is a lot like a director. He provides the
environment – the backstory, setting, conflict, and plot.

However the GM is nothing without players. Players are the actors of the
play; they create characters and control their actions. A character is an
extension of the player somewhat; the character can be almost anything the
player wants as long as the GM approves.

Through the combined minds of the players and the GM they create a story
of epic proportion. In Resistance this epic story takes place in WWII so it
is a story bound to have heroes, tragic heroes, loss, and vengeance. All the
player characters in this story have lost something to the Nazis: Faith,
freedom, family, home, or country.

For the GM a good place to find inspiration might be movies like Defiance,
or TV series like Band of Brothers or books like the Streets of Warsaw.
Even the Diary of Anne Frank could help with creating your war story.
However, in the end, the whole point is to have fun. It is a story that is
created and shared by the GM and the players and you can do almost
anything you want.

Character Creation
The Works: In the game Resistance, there are five main parts to character
creation: Class, Hit points (HP), Attributes, Proficiencies, and Skills.

Hit points:
Each Character has hit points based on their class. A foot soldier has one
die twelve for his hit points, a sniper has one die ten, a saboteur has one die
five (take a ten sided and half it), a decoy has one die four, and the medic
has one die four. Whatever the players roll for hit points for their
characters, each player should increase the total number of hit points by an
amount equal to the strength of the character.

Attributes:
There are four attributes, all of which are ranked on a five point scale.
These are the four attributes:

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Aim: the equivalent to dexterity in most games. It is how well a player
shoots and dodges melee attacks.
Muscle: or strength. This is how well a Character performs manual labor or
melee combat.
Smooth Talk: charm and grace. This attribute allows Characters to talk their
way into and out of things.
Brains: whether it is hot wiring a car or understanding the plans to a secret
weapon you have the education and smarts to understand it.

During character creation players get ten points to spend on these four
attributes. No attribute can have more than five points and every attribute
must have at least one. When in play, the GM may force you or you may
want to use one or more of these attributes. For each point in the attribute,
you get to roll 1D6. Five and sixes are considered successful rolls
(obviously, the more die you get to roll the more likely you are to get a 5 or
a 6).

To increase these stats a player must tell the GM that they are practicing to
improve his attributes. For example if a player says to the GM that
whenever his character has down time he is reading books or working out,
then after several sessions of play that character should have an increase in
that attribute. In the end, the GM gets the final say in when a character gets
an increase in attributes.

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Proficiencies:
These are the weapons a character can use. If the character is not proficient
with the weapon, this does not mean the character cannot use it, it simply
means he can’t use it well. When this happens, take a die away from the
roll to use it. There are six different weapon proficiencies:

Improvised: These weapons can vary from a smashed glass bottle to a

two-by-four.
Knifes/Bayonets: Whether it be a combat knife to a bonnet on you
gun you have been taught to use them well enough to kill someone
with it.
Pistols: The character can use any hand guns with ease.
Rifles: Whether it is an M1 assault rifle or an M39 sniper rifle, the
character can use them with ease.
Machine Guns: From the Thompson to the FN-30 the character can
use them.
Bazooka: The character is able to use any anti-tank weapon.

Skills:
There are no set skills; whatever the character has learned thoughout the
game is what their skills are. If the character has learned how to set a time
bomb he adds it to his skills. Like in attributes, in the end, the GM is the
one who decides when the character acquires new skills.

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Character Classes:
There are five classes: foot soldier, sniper, saboteur, decoy, and medic.
Each player should select which kind of class they want to be. There can
be more than one character with the same class.

Foot solider
Ruthless and strong, they are the men and women that hold the line
when all others retreat. They are also the ones who lead the charge
during attack.

HP: 1d12

Favored Attributes:

Muscle and Aim

Proficiency:
Improvised
Knifes/Bayonet
Pistols
Rifles
Machine guns
Bazookas

Skills
Bullet absorber: Rather than taking one point of damage when
shot, you must be hit twice to get a wound
Ruthless: A soldier’s wrath is relentless and has a tendency to
leave no prisoners. Whenever the soldier is enraged by something
(at the GM’s discretion) all enemies in the area must see if they
don’t panic and run (which is a roll against brains + any skills you
may have that will help)

Standard Equipment:
Backpack
Week’s worth of rations
Shovel
Flash light
Map
Radio
Pistol (revolver)
Rifle (bolt)
Knife (hunting)
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Sniper
Axis officers fear the dark because of these masters of death. Snipers
are the men and women who give covering fire to their fellow freedom
fighters or are the ones who have the pleasure of taking out an enemy
of the people from a distance.

HP: 1d10

Favored Attributes:
Aim and Brains

Proficiency:
Improvised
Knife/bayonet
Pistol
Rifle

Skills
Master shot: Snipers are
masters of aim whenever
they are firing their
weapons they get a +1 to
their dice throw.
Shadows: Snipers sneak
and hide until the moment
of the kill. They are masters
of blending into the
shadows. Whenever
someone is trying to find
the sniper when he is
hidden they get a -2 to their
dice throw.

Standard Equipment
Backpack
Week’s worth of rations
Flash light
Radio
Map
Pistol (revolver)
Knife (hunting)
Rifle (bolt modified with scope +2 aim)
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Saboteur
Need a train destroyed? Want to kill the power to a portion of the city?
Just want to see the bar where all of the German officers go to burn
down? Well, then, the Saboteur is the man or women to do the job.

HP: 1d8

Favored attributes:
Brains and Muscle

Proficiency:
Improvised
Knife/bayonet
Pistol
Bazooka

Skills:
Explosives expert: When it comes to blowing things up, saboteurs
are the masters, they get a +2 to brains when making a bomb or
setting one.
Key master: When the door is locked and he can’t blow the door
open, the saboteur
can lock pick his
way in. He gets +2
to aim when he is
lock-picking.

Standard
Equipment
Backpack
Week’s worth of
rations
Flash light
Radio
Map
Lock pick
Composition B
(explosives)
Timer
Pistol (revolver)
Knife

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Decoy
Though not as strong as their counterparts, Decoys can stand up for
themselves well enough. Along with distracting the enemies with
small talk, decoys are also spies. They can make agreements with less
cooperative people and they can find out info from the enemy with
some talk as well.

HP: 1d8

Favored attributes:
Smooth Talk and Brains

Proficiency:
Improvised
Knife/bayonet
Pistol

Skills
Master of disguise: When it comes to getting info from the enemy
the Decoy is a master of getting it, but also they are able to blend
into the Axis crowd. When the Decoy tries to get info they get a +2
and automatically understand and
can speak the language of the
enemy.
Diplomat: When it comes to
forging agreements, the Decoy
knows what he or she is doing.
Decoys get a +2 to all smooth talk
rolls involving diplomacy.

Standard equipment:
Backpack
Week’s worth of rations
Flash light
Radio
Map
Pistol (revolver)
Knife (hunting)

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Medic

“Some Catholics, including Father Amyot, invited me to

join them in prayer, secretly of course, in the shed used
as a lavatory in prayer we laid before god our suffering,
our rages, our faith, our fatigue, our exposure, our
hunger, and our misery.”

Aime Bonifas
Holocaust survivor and member of the French Resistance
Quote taken from the holocaust memorial in Boston

When a man is hit, “Medic!” is the first to come out of his mouth.
Medics are the angels of the battlefield. They keep the men’s morale
up and keep them alive for as long as they can. I n the resistance,
having a man or woman who knows their way around medicine and a
scalpel is something to be cherished and thankful for.

HP: 1d8

Favored attributes:
Brains and Aim

Proficiency:
Improvised
Knife/bayonet
Pistol

Skills:
Medicine man: The
medic knows his way
around medicine. He
gets 2 additional die
whenever he is trying
to heal wounds. For
each success he rolls,
the target gets one
health point back.
Man of confidence:
Whether it is from
tough love or by tender
kindness, people feel
more confident when
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the medic is around. Therefore, once per day the medic can activate
this skill and add +1 to all other player character’s dice rolls for 5
turns.

Standard equipment
Backpack
Week’s worth of rations
Flash light
Radio
Map
Pistol (revolver)
Knife (hunting)
Med kit (last for 5 times of healing)
Alcohol (for disinfecting and for drinking)

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Weapons and combat

Initiative
Initiative is simple; the player takes his Aim plus his Brains score and adds
them together, that is the amount of dice you will roll. When all the players
and the enemies roll their Initiative whoever gets the most successes goes
first. The second highest goes second and so on.

Weapons
There are six weapon proficiencies and therefore six types of weapons.
When it comes to combat, how much damage you cause is determined by
how many successes you get with the players Aim (for aimed weapons) or
Muscle (for hand to hand combat) roll. However, each weapon has bonus
dice based on what type it is. There is then ammo and speed for certain
weapons. You can only fire so much and then it may take time to reload

This table explains how many Bonus dice are given to the player for each
weapon type:

Weapon type: Bonus Dice: Ammo: speed:

Improvised +0 0 1 turn (till broken)

Knifes/Bayonet +1 0 1 turn

Pistols +0 10 1 turn (reload 1 turn)

Rifles +1 5 1 turn (reload clip 1, bolt 2)

Machine gun Light +2 30 1 turn (reload 1)

Machine gun Heavy +4 100 1 turn (reload 3)

Bazookas +3 1 1turn (reload 2 turns)

When in combat there are + and – given according to the skills the
character or enemy may possess. If they are behind cover, this is all at the
GM’s discretion with the general rule being that good cover subtracts one
die from the total number of dice rolled. Heavy cover (such as a concrete
wall) might result in two dice being subtracted.

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Grenades:
Though grenades are weapons, they have special rules based on how they
work. Grenades are thrown weapons so, when thrown, the player must roll
for his aim to see if it will land near his target or targets. Grenades have
their own muscle rating so when the grenade lands, if it lands near anything
that can be destroyed, it’s muscle rating must be rolled so it can be
determined how much damage it does (the grenade muscle rating is 6).
Also when a grenade lands, it has a blast radius of 5 yards so anything
within that radius will sustain damage.

Sneak attack:
When attacking an enemy that does not know that the player character is
there, the player gets one extra die to Aim if shooting (unless the target is
moving then discount this bonus) and one extra die to Muscle when in
melee.

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Leveling:
There are three ways of leveling in Resistance: personal, rank, and group.
There are no experience points in Resistance. This makes if much easier
but also a little more complicated.

Personal:
Personal is for a single player. This is where the player has the Character
perform an extended action for a long time in order to boost a single
Attribute, Skill, or Proficiency.

For example: Charles decides that for a month every morning he will
practice his aim with his rifle. After a month or so the GM decides that his
aim attribute goes up one.

In the end, it is the GM’s decision of which attributes, skills or

proficiencies go up and when they go up. Take the same example above but
instead of going up in an attribute, the GM gives Charles a skill that
improves his aim. It is all up to the GM.

Rank:
In this way of leveling, the GM has no control whatsoever. The
players/characters alone get to do this. At the beginning of the campaign
the group must decide the chain of command. They must choose a
character to be the leader of the group and who will fill in whatever ranks
the unit has all the way to the bottom. In game play this may lead to back-
stabbing to get to the top of the chain. This will give the characters many
moral decisions to make. The way to go up in rank is by re-election by the
group, one of the characters dies, one of the character’s turns to the Nazis,
etc.

Group:
This is a new concept when it comes to gaming. As the character’s group
gathers more attention from the Allies and Axis powers the better and
tougher things get. Basically the more stuff you blow up and the more
Nazis you kill the more people take notice of you.

When it comes to Group leveling, there are ten levels. Zero is the lowest of
the low. At this level, if an Axis soldier sees you in the street he won’t
even make a second glance. Level ten on the other hand signifies that you
are so infamous among the Axis that even Hitler knows who you are and he
wants you dead! At the same time, with the allies at level zero no one has
even heard of you. While at level ten you are a crucial part of the war effort
and the allies will try their hardest to keep you alive and well supplied.
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At level two you are able to give your group a name. It is by then your
group is known by a small group of Axis and Allies that you can give
yourself a name to strike fear into the Axis soldier’s hearts.

Performing repeated actions can give the group level jumps. For example,
killing one Nazi in a mission is no great feat, but killing ten or twenty
Nazis will definitely get some attention.

In the end, it is the GM’s decision to give a level to the group. If they
manage to kill a powerful Gestapo officer in a single mission then the
group may jump a level or two, but again it is the GM’s decision as to what
qualifies as being able to go up in Group leveling.

Level Attention from Axis and Allies Example of

Achievement
0 You are an ordinary citizen. NA
The Axis and Allies don’t even know
you exist.

1 You are a criminal in the eyes Killing a single Nazi

of the law. murder or arson is a crime
anywhere you are no different

2 The pattern of murder and arson kill twenty Nazis

from you has made the Axis finally
realize
you are more then just a bunch of
murders or arsonists. They know you
are resistance members.

The Allies (if able) will try to make

contact with you

3 The local Axis police force has your Destroy supply train
picture (if they could get any) on a
wanted poster.

The Allies contact you for small

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 missions but do not supply you

4 The Mayor of the city or town knows Set fire to a “symbol”

who you are and is being pressured by of Nazi Oppression in
the local Governor/General to get his your home town like
city under control or he will have to do the town meeting hall
something. now adorned with Nazi
flags
The Allies now pay more attention to
you. They will supply you, but their
pockets are not that deep for you.
5 The Governor/general knows who you Destroy the Mayor ‘s
are and wants you dead. home

The allies will now supply you more

often when you ask, as long as it is not
too hefty on the budget
6 All of the occupied county’s Axis forces Set fire to the
have heard of you and want to be the Governor’s mansion
first to kill or capture you so they can
collect on the hefty bounty on your
head.

The Allies want you alive and well so

they will supply you with better
weapons and better medical supplies.
Rumor has it that you even have a stock
pile of chocolate and cigarettes.
7 The whole country is whispering about Destroy a Nazi barracks
you, but hearing whispers is the in your home city
Gestapo’s specialty.

The Allies now keep you in the loop for

any intelligence that applies to you and
give you hints of their movements.
8 The Gestapo are hunting you but they Kill the
are saving their big guns for later. Governor/general

The Allies let you know everything you

need to know about their plans and
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 supplies come on a regular basis.
9 The Gestapo have the S.S. hunting you Set fire to a “symbol”
and the whole country has been told to of Nazi Oppression in
shoot you on sight. The bounty on your your that the whole
head would even make other Resistance country will recognize
members question whether to stay loyal
or turn you in for the cash.

The Allies want you at the front of any

preparations for a major move on the
Axis forces. Whatever you need, you
will get.
10 “I WANT THEIR HEADS ON MY Help the Allies with a
TABLE!!!” this is Hitler’s response major Operation in
every time your group’s name is said to your occupied country
him.

Eisenhower wants to shake your hand

when this is all done and over with.

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The Enemy:
Axis Foot Soldier:

HP: 7

Attributes:
Muscle (3)
Aim (4)
Smooth talk (3)
Brains (3)

Proficiency:
Improvised
Knifes/Bayonet
Pistols
Rifles
Machine guns
Bazookas

Skills
Merciless: If one of the characters of
the group is found out to be a part of
the resistance, there is no talking to
these loyal soldiers of the Axis
because they will kill or arrest the
character on sight. No smooth talk rolls can be used if the character is
found out.
Technology on their side: When it comes to technology, the Resistance
has nothing on the Axis. Whenever the Axis fight attacks he gets one
additional die to his aim.

Standard Equipment:
Backpack
Week’s worth of rations
Shovel
Flash light
Map

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 Radio
Pistol (luger)
Rifle (clip) or a light Machine gun
Knife (combat)
Grenades 3

S.S. Soldiers

HP: 10

Attributes:
Muscle (4)
Aim (4)
Smooth talk (2)
Brains (4)

Proficiency:
Improvised
Knifes/Bayonet
Pistols
Rifles
Machine guns
Bazookas

Skills
Best of the best: The S.S. are the
elite of the German army. They get
2 additional die to all aim roles.
Fear masters: One of the scariest
things anyone could meet on the battlefield is the S.S. coming after you.
When in combat with the S.S., the target subtracts a die from brains.

Standard Equipment:
Backpack
Week’s worth of rations
Shovel
Flash light
Map
Radio
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 Pistol (luger)
Rifle (clip) or a light Machine gun
Knife (combat)
Grenades 3

Gestapo

HP: 4

Attributes:
Muscle (1) 1
Aim(2)
Smooth talk (4)
Brains (4)

Proficiency:
Improvised
Knifes/Bayonet
Pistols

Skills
Fear masters: Nothing is scarier than
the Gestapo coming after you. When in
combat with the Gestapo the target loses
2 die for all Brains rolls.
Interrogator: When talking to a Gestapo
they are trained to get whatever they
need out of the subject by any means
necessary. They get 2 additional die
when they are trying to get information
out of someone.

Standard Equipment:
Flash light
I.D. card
Map
Pistol (luger)
Knife (combat)

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23
 Acknowledgements:

About the illustrations: The art comes from a collection of official Soviet
art collected right after World War II called “The Great Patriotic War”.
Only one thousand copies were made and the artists responsible for each
piece are unidentified. My father bought one of these in Romania after the
fall of the Soviet Union. He then offered to let me use the art for
Resistance.

Editorial assistance: I would also like to thank Sarah Jones for all her
assistance with the editing. Any errors still in the document are mine.

Play Testers: I would also like to thank the McDowell High School Role
Playing Game Club for spending many hours playtesting Resistance.
Their comments, suggestions and support were invaluable.

Supporters: many people helped me in making this game these are a few I
would like to thank:

Ashley Tittle, my loving girlfriend who motivated me and encouraged me

to keep working on this game.
Joe Wheaton, my brother who gave me the idea for group leveling.
My parents, who have given me the support and encouragement in
pursuing my game design career.

Dedication
To all those who fought in the resistance and stood up for right and justice
and against oppression and prosecution when no one else would.

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