Jasper Hawk
United States
Lebanon
Oregon
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Welcome to BSG PBF Game V19 - Deeply Flawed
This will be a 5-Player Base game, with a minor tweak to Loyalty and a new incentive mechanic. It will follow the format established by Our Overlord of Kobol/New Caprica/Ionian Nebula, Brian (ColtsFan76). Game state will be tracked using the absolutely excellent OpenOffice/Gimp toolset created by Orphius. The rest of this opening post is shamelessly ripped off from Selwyth.
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The fine print. Read if this is your first BSG PBF game. Skim if it isn’t.
Post typography
* Normal text for discussions, etc
* Italics for flavour text/fluff – love reading it, keeps the game fun and interesting.
* Bold for in-game moves and actions. I won't process any decisions/actions unless bolded in the thread.
Images
Avatars change, images don't. Images can be found here. Please use an image or banner for all of your posts (especially in-character).
Players
This game is by invite only - there is a waiting list being maintained here - http://www.boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/BSG_PBF_Variant
- Rules & Regulations for the PBF games apply.
- To make things easier on myself, I will refer to all players by your character name and noun.
- For game speed, CO’s are a great way to keep things moving along.
- I will not wait for you to use your OncePerGame unless you say so, and if you’re going to interrupt in favor of the Cylons then please leave a CO beforehand, since I’m not going to check specifically for this every time there’s an attack.
And some more game-specific rules, which you might not have encountered in other BSG PBF games.
 You must check in at least twice a day, about 12 hours apart. The more frequently you check in, the better. I moderate games how I like to play them: warp-speed fast, and I use an extensive CO system to keep it going. I want to go through a whole player turn most days, so this is not for you if you cannot commit to this pace. If you have not made a move in 12 hours when you have to act, I will issue a reminder. If you still have not moved in 24 hours, I will issue a warning and remove you from the game for repeat offenses.
 The first rule will not be enforced if you notify me ahead of time that you may not be able to post in time (work, travel, vacation etc).
 Public COs are strictly forbidden, and so are “CO sent” announcements. All COs are strictly confidential in geekmail between you and me. Bolding actions when it's not your go is also forbidden (since they're public COs by another name). In the real game, you are never publicly bound to actions as you are with COs, so they should stay private. This is to protect an unrevealed Cylon’s right to lie, and to decrease the certainty of future events (and hence maintain paranoia). I also do not want to create an environment of “gaming” the CO system.
 You are encouraged not to click back through too many previous pages to track cards played that you weren't actively trying to remember. If you do have to discuss something obscure that happened in the past, do not quote or link, but use your own words to describe what you think happened.
 For Interrupts:
If you CO me to pass on an Interrupt (i.e. you have a standing CO to always pass on SP, only use your 1 - EM and never your 2, etc.) I will enforce this after everyone else's response has been gathered. This will give you time to reconsider.
Everyone is considered to have a standing CO to pass if they do not have the Interrupt in question. In the beginning portion of the game, if you have never drawn the appropriate color, this will be enforced when the Interrupt Token is posted (as it's fairly public knowledge) to speed things up. I will switch to enforcing this at the same time as all other Pass COs at some point during the game.
Declare Emergency: I will not wait for these after a skill check. You have PLENTY of time to send in a CO once the check is posted.
Strategic Planning: I will not wait for SP on Scouts until there are two Raptors left. I will not ask for SPs on shots against Vipers, Raiders, or Galactica (Cylons, if you want to soft-reveal this way or you already have, CO these in ASAP). I will always ask for SPs on shots against Heavies, Centurions, and Basestars, unless everyone has put in their COs already.
Evasive Maneuvers: I will wait for EMs exactly once, after which I will request that Pilots send in COs for how they'd prefer to use them.
If you disagree with these, send in a CO, even if it's just "Wait for SP on any die roll you speedy bastard." If I think the game situation warrants it, I'll slow down for Interrupts even if it conflicts with COs and/or the above.
 Secrecy: You all know the rules. Don't use specific point values at any time unless you're playing the card. When contributing to a check, say High or Low; you may say Medium if you're contributing more than one card, don't collude with other players on the meanings of those words (and don't pointedly remark that you're not saying one of those values). If you're playing into an interrupt, and you think there's a chance that someone else will play the same interrupt, only announce that you'll use one, not the strength. I will forward relevant information to the Current Player, who will decide which one to play.
You may ask another player if they have a specific type of card ("Can you Repair?"), but don't use that as a license to suss out a player's hand. Same with Quorum cards. For other secret information (Destinations, buried Crises, Civilians) use sound judgment, but again without specifics (no, you can't even say "no jump icon" when burying a Crisis).
 The Quorum Hand is limited to 10 cards as it would be in Pegasus. This is to prevent cycling ABFs (among other exploits).
 We will be using the Loyalty passing rules from Pegasus as well: Cylons, when they Reveal, will pass off their Loyalty Cards immediately. If a Cylon receives a Loyalty Card after they Reveal, it will also be passed off immediately.
 The Caprica Location will bury Crises rather than Discarding them. The other Cylon locations are unchanged.
 We will be using Complex Destiny and the Investigative Committees from Pegasus.
Loyalty Variant Rules
Loyalty will not be distributed in phases. Instead, it will be distributed on a continual basis throughout the game. Players will not be told when others receive Loyalty Cards. Loyalty Cards will only be distributed at the end of a turn, i.e. between the Prepare For Jump step and the next player's draw step. Loyalty will not necessarily be distributed to the Current Player, though. Loyalty will not necessarily be dealt after every turn. If you have no Loyalty Cards, you are considered Human.
There are four exceptions to the above:
Baltar publicly receives a single Loyalty Card at the beginning of the game.
Boomer publicly receives a single Loyalty Card when she is sent to the Brig by her drawback.
When a Cylon Reveals, they publicly announce who they pass their Loyalty Cards to, but not the number of cards they are passing.
When a Revealed Cylon receives a Loyalty Card (yes, they are still eligible), they pass it publicly.
Players may not discuss the number of Loyalty Cards they hold. This includes making claims that you have none. It is public knowledge that no one (except Baltar) has a Loyalty Card during turn one. That's a freebie. After that, anyone could have one (but perhaps no one does).
Baltar's OPG, and cards that allow you to look at a random Loyalty Card, work as normal. If you look at a random Loyalty Card, you will not be told how many cards the player holds. If you inspect someone's Loyalty and they have no Loyalty Cards, you will be told.
Changes from V11
The number of Loyalty Cards remaining in the Loyalty deck will be announced after each increase in Distance.
Once a Player has been dealt two Loyalty Cards (not including Drawbacks), they will be ineligible to receive more. I'm not completely sold on this as a way of minimizing the chances of a person receiving 0 Loyalty Cards, but it's worth playtesting.
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Just making sure everyone checks in here.
Invitees
Akumakei - In
Zalendar - In
Hannibal Rex - In
Asahi - In
Vagrant Lustoid - In
You may also post your character preferences if/when you check in. This will be the only time Public COs will be allowed before both Cylons have Revealed.
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Jasper Hawk
United States
Lebanon
Oregon
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This is an up-to-date version, for reference during the game.
Okay, I think I've got an interesting incentive mechanic here, and though I'm not sure it's finished it's ready to be brought into the open and batted around.
Flaws:
Each player is dealt a Flaw when Loyalty would normally be distributed at the start of the game (i.e. after choosing a character, before drawing skills). The Flaw is secret information, but is not a Loyalty card - more like an Agenda, but does not give victory conditions. Instead, it gives the player a secret minor drawback.
There's choice involved, though, as the drawback is not set in stone. Instead, it functions such that when a player fulfills a certain condition, the card is automatically Revealed. This is bad, as the Flaw becomes public and imposes a much stronger, permanent drawback.
On the other hand, each Flaw can be voluntarily Revealed and Discarded after 6 Distance to give the player a specific benefit. As you cannot Reveal a public card, this is an either-or situation. If you break the conditions on your Flaw, you lose the benefit. Some of the benefits are Actions, some are Interrupts.
This is probably better explained by example. These are the Flaws I've got already:
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Selfish
Reveal this card when you have no Skill Cards in your hand. You may not contribute to Skill Checks if you have 3 or fewer Skill Cards in your hand.
Action: If Distance is 6 or more, Reveal and Discard this card. Draw 4 Skill Cards. These may come from outside your Skill Set.
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Absent-Minded
Reveal this card when you play more than 3 Skill Cards into a Skill Check. You may not play more than 2 Skill Cards into Skill Checks.
If Distance is 6 or more, you may Reveal and Discard this card afer cards have been revealed in a Skill Check. Add any number of cards from your hand to the Skill Check.
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Power Hungry
Reveal this card when the Fleet reaches 6 Distance if you don't hold a Title. You may not hold Titles.
If Distance is 6 or more, you may Reveal and Discard this card when an Event is drawn. You make the choice for the Event.
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Intolerant
Reveal this card when the Fleet reaches 6 Distance if no one is in the Brig. You are sent to the Brig.
Action: If Distance is 6 or more, choose one character and move them to the Brig.
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Reckless
Reveal this card if you play a Strategic Planning. All die rolls you make suffer a -1 penalty.
If Distance is 6 or more, you may Reveal and Discard this card before a die roll is made. You choose the result (it may not be modified).
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Works Alone
Reveal this card if you play an Executive Order. You may not be the target of Executive Orders.
Action: If Distance is 6 or more, Reveal and Discard this card. You may move once and take up to two Actions, in any order.
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Secretive
Reveal this card when another Player looks at any of your Loyalty Cards. Shuffle two You Are Not a Cylon cards into the Loyalty Deck, then draw two Loyalty Cards.
Action: If Distance is 6 or more, Reveal and Discard this card. Either play one Quorum Card of your choice from the Quorum hand, or draw 4 Quorum cards, play one, and discard the others.
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Amoral
Reveal this card if you choose the bottom choice on a Player Chooses Crisis. You must choose the top choice on all Crisis cards where the choice is yours to make.
If Distance is 6 or more, you may Reveal and Discard this card before a Skill Check is made. You choose the outcome.
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Antisocial
Reveal this card if you begin your turn and end your Action Step in the same Location as any other Player. You may not voluntarily move to a Location that contains another Character.
Action: If Distance is 6 or more, Reveal and Discard this card. You may Activate up to two unoccupied Locations (including your Location, if no one else is there - you may Activate the same Location twice).
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Rash:
Reveal this card if the Fleet Token reaches the Auto Jump space on the Jump Prep Track. Every time the Fleet Jumps, you are sent to Sickbay.
If Distance is 6 or more, you may Reveal and Discard this card when the Fleet Jumps. You draw 3 Destinations instead of the Admiral, and choose one to resolve.
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The theme here is that if a player is forced to deal with their flaw before they're ready, it gets worse. However, if they manage to get to 6 Distance without running afoul of it, they find a way to turn it to their advantage.
A lot of the drawbacks and advantages are copies of character abilities, but there's not a whole lot of wiggle room for creating abilities that are mostly personal. As well, the advantages need to be powerful enough to act as an incentive to keep Cylons around for a while. Flaws are discarded when a Cylon Reveals, so they don't need to worry about their drawback as much (and a crafty Cylon could intentionally trigger it in order to negatively affect the Humans for a while).
The drawbacks need to be worse than the flaws, but balanced against the advantages: a minor drawback shouldn't come with a major advantage. But if a player needs to work to avoid their drawback, they should be rewarded for it, Human or not.
I've got a couple other conditions, drawbacks, and advantages I'm tossing around, but none that fit together into a cohesive Flaw yet (a couple of the above probably need some work, too). I would love to get some feedback before we begin this trip. There need to be enough Flaws that there's not even close to a guarantee that any one of them is in the game - about 10 seems right, so that half of them are used in a 5-Player game.
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Dominic Bennetts
Australia
Lenah Valley
Tasmania
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Hmm, this Flaws system looks quite interesting, looking forward to trying it out. After last game I'd say I want to try Apollo, but last game has also scared me into assuming that I won't be able to play him anywhere near as effectively
I've used pretty much all the base characters equally, I'm not at all fussed about who or what role I have to end up playing.
Accepting the invite, obviously.
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Shayne Gray
United States
Akron
Ohio
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I am in! I am open to any character really, though since I just played Apollo in the last game I'll most likely not play him in this one even though it was very fun playing him.
I have not read all the mods for this one yet, little short on time right now. But I'll read them soon!
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Kevin Armstrong
United States
Seattle
Washington
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I'm also in!
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Jasper Hawk
United States
Lebanon
Oregon
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I'm copying the Flaws to this post so that I can edit the upper post if changes are made, but keep a record of the original versions (it has irked me in the past when reading Variant threads and the discussion doesn't match what I'm reading).
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Selfish
Reveal this card when you have no Skill Cards in your hand. You may not contribute to Skill Checks if you have 3 or fewer Skill Cards in your hand.
Action: If Distance is 6 or more, Reveal and Discard this card. Draw 5 Skill Cards. These may come from outside your Skill Set.
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Absent-Minded
Reveal this card when you play more than 3 Skill Cards into a Skill Check. You may not play more than 2 Skill Cards into Skill Checks.
If Distance is 6 or more, you may Reveal and Discard this card afer cards have been revealed in a Skill Check. Add any number of cards from your hand to the Skill Check.
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Power Hungry
Reveal this card when the Fleet reaches 6 Distance if you don't hold a Title. You may not hold Titles.
If Distance is 6 or more, you may Reveal and Discard this card when an Event is drawn. You make the choice for the Event.
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Secretive
Reveal this card when another Player looks at any of your Loyalty Cards. Shuffle two You Are Not a Cylon cards into the Loyalty Deck, then draw two Loyalty Cards.
Action: If Distance is 6 or more, Reveal and Discard this card. Either play one Quorum Card of your choice from the Quorum hand, or draw 4 Quorum cards, play one, and discard the others.
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Antisocial
Reveal this card if you begin your turn and end your Action Step in the same Location as any other Player. You may not voluntarily move to a Location that contains another Character.
Action: If Distance is 6 or more, Reveal and Discard this card. You may Activate up to two unoccupied Locations (including your Location, if no one else is there - you may Activate the same Location twice).
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Reckless
Reveal this card if you play a Strategic Planning. All die rolls you make suffer a -1 penalty.
If Distance is 6 or more, you may Reveal and Discard this card before a die roll is made. You choose the result (it may not be modified).
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Works Alone
Reveal this card if you play an Executive Order. You may not be the target of Executive Orders.
Action: If Distance is 6 or more, Reveal and Discard this card. You may move once and take up to two Actions, in any order.
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Amoral
Reveal this card if you choose the bottom choice on a Player Chooses Crisis. You must choose the top choice on all Crisis cards where the choice is yours to make.
If Distance is 6 or more, you may Reveal and Discard this card before a Skill Check is made. You choose the outcome.
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I'm absolutely in!
It's good to be back!
Two things, though: I'd like you to wait for SPs on raptors as soon as there are only 2 left. There are a number of ways to lose one apart from scouting, and when one of those comes up when you're already down to one...
Second, would you consider using the Pegasus Cylon locations? (Maybe skip the Resurrection Ship. Additional Super Crises are a bad ide when there are only the base game ones to pick from.)
And I didn't see it in the opening post - are we using Pegasus ICs, complex destiny, or neither?
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Shayne Gray
United States
Akron
Ohio
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I have a question about the Secretive Flaw and the way that Loyalty is going to be handed out this game.
Secretive says if a player looks at any of your Loyalty cards you end up getting two more loyalty cards. Would these extra loyalty cards count towards the 2 loyalty cards that a player is dealt thus meaning they would be ineligible for more?
So for instance if you have 1 loyalty card, someone looks at it and you reveal Secretive and receive 2 more cards thus giving you 3. Would you then be ineligible to receive more loyalty cards?
In my opinion, Secretive Flaw should be extra cards above what you would get. So theoretically you could end up with 4 loyalty cards. The 2 you can get plus the bonus 2 from Secretive.
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Dominic Bennetts
Australia
Lenah Valley
Tasmania
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Given that two extra cards are added into the deck and this means you could potentially end up with 1 card left over and all characters at 2 Loyalty already, I think that was the intent, yes. I believe the idea is you can only get dealt out 2 Loyalty through the core distribution mechanic, whatever it is.
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Shayne Gray
United States
Akron
Ohio
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The Flaws are definitely interesting and I can see them having quite the impact on the game. Going to be fun I think.
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Jasper Hawk
United States
Lebanon
Oregon
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Hannibal Rex wrote: Two things, though: I'd like you to wait for SPs on raptors as soon as there are only 2 left. There are a number of ways to lose one apart from scouting, and when one of those comes up when you're already down to one...
Second, would you consider using the Pegasus Cylon locations? (Maybe skip the Resurrection Ship. Additional Super Crises are a bad ide when there are only the base game ones to pick from.)
And I didn't see it in the opening post - are we using Pegasus ICs, complex destiny, or neither?
First: not a problem.
Second: Is this to swap out the Human Fleet? Or to have Caprica give Jump icons? The former I'd be fine with (though I don't know how much of a difference it makes). I feel like the Base game is better tuned without the latter, but I'll make the change if it's a popular one.
I'll look back at the old thread, I remember that Pegasus ICs and Complex Destiny were brought up. If I choose one, I'd tend to the latter.
Zalendar wrote: I have a question about the Secretive Flaw and the way that Loyalty is going to be handed out this game.
Secretive says if a player looks at any of your Loyalty cards you end up getting two more loyalty cards. Would these extra loyalty cards count towards the 2 loyalty cards that a player is dealt thus meaning they would be ineligible for more?
So for instance if you have 1 loyalty card, someone looks at it and you reveal Secretive and receive 2 more cards thus giving you 3. Would you then be ineligible to receive more loyalty cards?
In my opinion, Secretive Flaw should be extra cards above what you would get. So theoretically you could end up with 4 loyalty cards. The 2 you can get plus the bonus 2 from Secretive.
You're correct. The two Loyalty Cards from Secretive don't count toward the Variant distribution. I should amend that, players will only receive two Loyalty cards privately. Drawbacks, Secretive, and being passed cards by Revealed Cylons are all public, and don't count to that limit.
Also, the two cards drawn from Secretive are drawn after your Loyalty is inspected. It also triggers if your Loyalty is inspected and you have no Loyalty Cards.
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Dominic Bennetts
Australia
Lenah Valley
Tasmania
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I'm happy with the Human Fleet being changed, but I think that Resurrection Ship, Caprica and obviously Cylon Fleet are all good as they are.
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I'm in.
As character I would favour Tigh, Baltar or Apollo (I want to play every character in a PBF and these are the remaining in the base game  ).
I will comment later when I have more time on the Flaw rules.
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In my opinion the Human Fleet of the Base game isn't worse than the version in Pegasus. But I like the Pegasus Caprica (with the possibility of jump preps on the crises) much more, because then the balancing with the other locations is much better and revealed cylons lose a bit of power, what has the advantage that playing the hidden cylon becomes more attractive and that all over the human side gets a small raise in their winning chance (looking at the statistics for base games this couldn't hurt the balancing).
The Flaws look really nice. It will be interesting to test it.
"Event" in Power Hungry means a crises for which the President or Admiral has to choose, yes?
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I think the Pegasus Cylon locations are much better balanced between each other. Base game Caprica is an obvious pick almost all the time. I'm not convinced that changing it would weaken the Cylons too much. But if you're worried about that, I can understand that you want to leave it as is.
The base game Human Fleet would have crippled us last game, as you could simply have stolen our Repair cards and piled on more damage. I don't really like it - either it's pretty useless, or it turns an already bad situation for the humans into a hopeless one.
The Pegasus Human Fleet is the only way for revealed Cylons to manipulate the destination, and when you're low on cards it's a very useful alternative to (Pegasus) Caprica.
Basically, I think having to decide between Caprica and Human Fleet (to not risk giving the humans a jump icon) is an interesting choice with Pegasus, while in the base game, you'll just spam Caprica. But we'd need to change both locations for that.
But I'm fine either way.
If we keep the base game ICs, I'm in favor of Complex Destiny.
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Jasper Hawk
United States
Lebanon
Oregon
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Asahi wrote: "Event" in Power Hungry means a crises for which the President or Admiral has to choose, yes?
Correct. Note that this is not a copy of Helo's OPG - you decide when the Crisis is drawn whether you're going to discard your Flaw. Once the person who normally makes the choice does so, you no longer have the opportunity. Also, since you probably have one of the Titles already, it really only gives you access to the other type of choice (though, if you get your power stripped, it becomes better).
Note also that Flaws don't turn off at Distance 6. If you don't want to be hampered by your flaw, you'll need to find an opportunity to Reveal as soon as possible. Power Hungry is the only exception (so far) since it makes a single condition check when the Fleet hits 6 Distance.
I've got a couple more Flaws I'm working on, which might allow me to kill a couple of the ones above that I don't like as much, or at least rearrange some of the advantages/drawbacks.
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Jasper Hawk
United States
Lebanon
Oregon
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Jasper Hawk
United States
Lebanon
Oregon
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Homesick
Reveal this card when the Fleet Jumps to a 3-Distance Destination. You are sent to Sickbay every time the Fleet Jumps.
If Distance is 6 or more, you may Reveal and Discard this card when the Fleet Jumps. You draw 3 Destination cards instead of the Admiral, and choose 1 to resolve.
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Cowardly
Reveal this card if the Fleet token reaches the Auto Jump space. (haven't finished this one yet, and I need to head out for a bit. The idea is to give cover for burying Jump icons or pulling FTL early)
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Intolerant
Reveal this card when the Fleet reaches 6 Distance if there is no one in the Brig. You are sent to the Brig.
Action: If Distance is 6 or more, Reveal and Discard this card. Move one Character of your choice to the Brig.
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Jasperhawk wrote: HomesickReveal this card when the Fleet Jumps to a 3-Distance Destination. You are sent to Sickbay every time the Fleet Jumps. If Distance is 6 or more, you may Reveal and Discard this card when the Fleet Jumps. You draw 3 Destination cards instead of the Admiral, and choose 1 to resolve.
I'm not so happy about this flaw. If someone else than the Admiral gets it, he has no real influence about the situation in which it will be revealed. But I don't have a better idea for Homesick.
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I don't like it either. Picking a 2 over a 3 is a huge detriment to the humans. I'd never consider burying a 3 on a scout, even with that flaw. I'd choose the drawback every time.
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Shayne Gray
United States
Akron
Ohio
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I am going to have to agree as well.
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Jasperhawk wrote:
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Selfish
Reveal this card when you have no Skill Cards in your hand. You may not contribute to Skill Checks if you have 3 or fewer Skill Cards in your hand.
Action: If Distance is 6 or more, Reveal and Discard this card. Draw 5 Skill Cards. These may come from outside your Skill Set.
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Absent-Minded
Reveal this card when you play more than 3 Skill Cards into a Skill Check. You may not play more than 2 Skill Cards into Skill Checks.
If Distance is 6 or more, you may Reveal and Discard this card afer cards have been revealed in a Skill Check. Add any number of cards from your hand to the Skill Check.
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Power Hungry
Reveal this card when the Fleet reaches 6 Distance if you don't hold a Title. You may not hold Titles.
If Distance is 6 or more, you may Reveal and Discard this card when an Event is drawn. You make the choice for the Event.
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Secretive
Reveal this card when another Player looks at any of your Loyalty Cards. Shuffle two You Are Not a Cylon cards into the Loyalty Deck, then draw two Loyalty Cards.
Action: If Distance is 6 or more, Reveal and Discard this card. Either play one Quorum Card of your choice from the Quorum hand, or draw 4 Quorum cards, play one, and discard the others.
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Antisocial
Reveal this card if you begin your turn and end your Action Step in the same Location as any other Player. You may not voluntarily move to a Location that contains another Character.
Action: If Distance is 6 or more, Reveal and Discard this card. You may Activate up to two unoccupied Locations (including your Location, if no one else is there - you may Activate the same Location twice).
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Reckless
Reveal this card if you play a Strategic Planning. All die rolls you make suffer a -1 penalty.
If Distance is 6 or more, you may Reveal and Discard this card before a die roll is made. You choose the result (it may not be modified).
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Works Alone
Reveal this card if you play an Executive Order. You may not be the target of Executive Orders.
Action: If Distance is 6 or more, Reveal and Discard this card. You may move once and take up to two Actions, in any order.
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Amoral
Reveal this card if you choose the bottom choice on a Player Chooses Crisis. You must choose the top choice on all Crisis cards where the choice is yours to make.
If Distance is 6 or more, you may Reveal and Discard this card before a Skill Check is made. You choose the outcome.
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I have some time to go over these. Here's what I think.
Selfish - Good Flaw, but the reward is too big. By distance 6, skill checks will be hard fought for, and every card counts. I'd reduce the draw to 3.
Absent-Minded - 
Power Hungry - Hard to influence for some characters, but the drawback isn't that harsh. I probably wouldn't go out of my way to pass this.
Secretive - Sounds good. Is the former option available to everyone, or just the President?
Antisocial -
Reckless -
Works Alone - Not sure about the reward, but the Flaw is interesting. Maybe change it to "You receive an additional Leadership card on your turn." No XOs in the early game, but a much greater chance to receive them later on.
Amoral - This should be Current Player Chooses crises only. There isn't the same clear split between the options for Admiral and President Chooses crises.
Homesick - As I said, I'd choose the drawback everytime with this one. We've learned from Cain that abilities that influence distance are a big no-no for game balance.
Intolerant - Again, the problem is that I wouldn't go out of my way for this. Brigging someone (via AQ) costs a move, an action, and skill cards, in addition to having to get them back out again, if they're on your team.
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Jasper Hawk
United States
Lebanon
Oregon
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Hannibal Rex wrote:
Power Hungry - Hard to influence for some characters, but the drawback isn't that harsh. I probably wouldn't go out of my way to pass this.
Secretive - Sounds good. Is the former option available to everyone, or just the President?
Works Alone - Not sure about the reward, but the Flaw is interesting. Maybe change it to "You receive an additional Leadership card on your turn." No XOs in the early game, but a much greater chance to receive them later on.
Amoral - This should be Current Player Chooses crises only. There isn't the same clear split between the options for Admiral and President Chooses crises.
Homesick - As I said, I'd choose the drawback everytime with this one. We've learned from Cain that abilities that influence distance are a big no-no for game balance.
Intolerant - Again, the problem is that I wouldn't go out of my way for this. Brigging someone (via AQ) costs a move, an action, and skill cards, in addition to having to get them back out again, if they're on your team.
Homesick: With such massive dislike, I'll pull this one out. Maybe I can toss that drawback somewhere else, but I think you guys are underestimating it (I certainly did until V5, this was a variant for Roslin's drawback). I agree that burying a 3 would need heavy hitters on both the drawback and the advantage to make it happen.
Intolerant: There are a couple free-Brig Crises, which helps, but the main thing here is that it's a single check relatively soon after - oh. I completely forgot about the Loyalty variant on this one. Makes a lot more sense with regular Loyalty, makes people a little quicker to Brig once you know both Cylons are in the Fleet. This is the kind of Flaw you can safely ignore until that point, especially if Boomer is in the game.
Secretive: It would be so much less fun if the former option weren't available to everyone. Yes, the Secretive person gets to peek at the Quorum hand if he wants to. That may be a little powerful, the Advantage needs to be smaller than those on other Flaws as Loyalty checks aren't common unless Baltar's in the game (and sometimes not even then).
Works Alone: I'm keeping away from always-on Advantages, since it means you can't Discard the card as easily (you'd need some way to remember that it affects you). What makes you unsure about the reward? It's a bit more powerful than an XO, allowing you an extra move on top that can happen in between or after your Actions. Maybe on par with Cavil's OPG, depending on how necessary that Move is.
Amoral: The drawback needs to be more powerful than the basic Flaw, and I can't see a way to make the basic flaw (which does only affect CPC Crises) less powerful. This drawback is very significant, though, and means you'll see an openly Amoral President (Shortages) stripped of their title quickly. Less so with the Admiral, the top choice on those Crises is not always so severe.
Power Hungry: Certainly for some characters (pilots) it's not worthwhile to even try for this - though it might give someone incentive to hold onto CAG rather than pass it around. Again, like with Intolerant, the idea is to set up a flurry of action just after the second Jump (assume it takes 3 to get to 6 Distance).
Selfish: I can lower the reward here. It was originally the reward for Absent-Minded, but I saw the opportunity for two skill-check-related flaws and went for it.
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I think the idea behind Intolerant and Power Hungry (to force the player to attack another player) is really nice, because it can be used as a cover by cylons, while collecting power/getting rid of other player.
Perhaps I would change it in a way that Intolerant demands that you have brigged/executed a player using the AQ/Airlock (what will be of course difficult and skill card costly) until they hit the distance 6 and in exchange give the player if he has success a really good reward!
Similar with Power Hungry: I would say the player has to have a title he hasn't gotten at the game start or after a reveal (so either he has to be very convincing to the other players or do it by force) when they hit the distance 6 and should get for this a nice reward.
I'm not opposed to the Amoral flaw and agree that it would be not strong enough with only "Current Player crises". And if the crew recognise that their Admiral/President can't freely make their decisions, that's a nice argument for a coup against him.
The Work Alone bonus is quite strong. This would be definitively a flaw a cylon would like to have. He doesn't have to help the humans by XO him and has a really strong ability for a sudden attack.
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Jasper Hawk
United States
Lebanon
Oregon
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Just had a thought on Reckless. In the rulebook it lists that the Current Player rolls the die when Raiders/Basestars attack. These rolls will not be affected by Reckless, as it might entice a Human to intentionally fail their Flaw at the earliest opportunity, especially if they're a Politician. Also, note that when a Crisis is drawn that has a die roll, the Current Player is the one rolling the die (even for Events - though currently there's exactly one Event with a die roll: Food Hoarding in the Fleet).
Other die rolls
Current Player: FTL Control
Admiral: Nuke, Destinations
President: Quorum Cards
In all other cases, the die roll is made by the person who activates the location or their Viper, or plays a skill card. Reckless does not affect the reroll caused by Evasive Maneuvers. If Helo or Gaeta is Reckless, it does affect their rerolls. It does not affect Hotshot or Longshot (as these replace the roll entirely - you can't SP or Calculate them either).
(I realize a lot of these are completely irrelevant in this game, but I'm trying to design the variant to be used elsewhere as well)
Much as I'm trying to stay away from Advantages that persist, I want to stay away from conditions that require memory. So having Power Hungry or Intolerant work based on whether someone has had a title/been in the Brig in the past is out. I thought about changing the wording so that you can Reveal the card voluntarily before Distance 6, then get its advantage after, but that loses the cover-for-cylon-action aspect; if the player reveals their Flaw immediately after grabbing a title, then you know that's why they were doing it - though I suppose they could also be a Power Hungry Cylon.
For Works Alone, you're right, but the same could really be said of all of the Flaws. Do something detrimental to the team, and get rewarded for it in the late game. This variant is probably going to favor the Cylons a little, though again the longer they stay on Galactica, the less damage they can do through Caprica. It's very likely that waiting to 6 Distance means waiting to 7 Distance, or potentially 8, at which point the Cylons might need the advantages from their flaws to have a chance of winning.
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Posted Wed Feb 1, 2012 11:12 pm
