BSG House Rules
Here is a place to put house rules for the BSG board game.
21 Comments
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Comment by kg
January 19, 2009 @ 3:10 pm
At the beginning of the Admiral’s turn, all players who are not playing a Political Leader must salute the Admiral until he acknowledges them: “As you were,” “At ease,” “Fall out,” etc.
Comment by joe
January 19, 2009 @ 3:13 pm
1. Characters in Sick Bay may not be the target of Executive Order.
Rationale: Sick Bay should really cost something. You should have to wait until your next turn to do anything, and you certainly shouldn’t get to move and skip the 1-card draw entirely.
2. Traits described on character cards, including those that wouldn’t really be described as “abilities”, do not apply to revealed Cylons.
Example: When Laura Roslin is a Cylon, she does not need to discard 2 cards to activate a location. When Tom Zarek is a Cylon, he may activate locations occupied by another Cylon character. When Saul Tigh is a Cylon, if he has only one skill card in his hand, he does not need to deactivate it. When Chief Tyrol is a Cylon, his hand limit is not 8 but the normal 10.
Rationale: The rules say nothing about what happens to traits like this when a player changes sides, only about abilities or actions, things the character can choose to do. This is a simple clarification; everything on the character sheet is ignored. It makes no sense to have certain characters be particularly bad Cylons when the intent of the rules in the book is to totally level the field and make all characters the same.
Comment by joe
January 19, 2009 @ 3:35 pm
Here is one we haven’t tested yet but are considering:
3. The Destiny Deck is filled with three cards of each color, and plays three cards.
Rushi and I came up with this rule to counteract the effect of players (you know who you are and I have been guilty of this myself), who watch and count the colors drawn and played, and can fairly quickly deduce which players are unrevealed Cylons sabotaging checks. I think we have all been in a game where three negative cards come up, meaning someone is a Cylon, and based on the colors it’s pretty easy to deduce who it is. Part of me feels like this can be opposed to the thematic elements of the game: when you can figure it all out by the numbers, there’s less human elements, less politicking and convincing. And to me that seems much more fun and interesting than just a card game.
By dealing in three cards, the Destiny deck is a stronger force either for good or ill. When three or more colors are ‘on’ in a skill check, the Destiny deck is slightly more likely to help than to hurt. When two colors are on, the Destiny deck is more likely to hurt by picking off cards. In general I think this will make the game more difficult for the humans.
In three cards, there is more room for unrevealed Cylons to ‘hide’ their negative influence. Three off cards with two Destinies makes it pretty obvious there is a Cylon. Three off cards with three Destinies doesn’t mean there is definitely a Cylon. For the Cylon player, putting in a high-value off card is a good choice since the Destiny’s choice is more likely to be low.
Even when there are so many off cards that there must be a Cylon, there will be a broader range of off colors from the Destiny deck. It will be harder to determine which were from the Cylon and which were from the Destiny deck. With yellow, red, and blue off-cards, that could be the result of the Destiny deck and practically any character.
The overall intention of this rule is to create more fear, uncertainty, and doubt about the unrevealed Cylons. In a group like us, who know each other very well and know how we play, and some of us count the cards, it can be very obvious who the Cylons are based on how they play. If we think this gives too big an advantage to the humans, it may be worth considering stepping up the difficulty by changing the Destiny deck.
We haven’t thought all the way through this rule or played with it yet. I think we should try playtesting it in games with experienced players and see how it goes.
Comment by joe
January 19, 2009 @ 3:51 pm
Once per game, Gaius Baltar must quote the line, “I am not on anybody’s side.”
Comment by Erin
January 19, 2009 @ 4:16 pm
I also think that the character who is playing Tigh must put on an eye patch halfway through the game, regardless of what happens in said game.
Comment by cody
January 19, 2009 @ 4:17 pm
I agree with all of those, expecially the eye patch.
Comment by kg
January 19, 2009 @ 5:58 pm
I actually believe that all player abilities aren’t in effect after the player becomes a revealed cylon. This is a rule I didn’t find out until recently.
Comment by joe
January 19, 2009 @ 6:32 pm
Yah it definitely says your character sheet actions and abilities turn off… but there are some things that arguably aren’t “abilities” like Zarek’s thing? That was just a clarification of the rules.
Also I found out that Fantasy Flight actually errata’d the Sickbay to clarify that you definitely can be Executive Ordered out of there and you don’t get the limited draw unless you start your turn in Sickbay. But then it seems kinda… worthless? Not thematically plausible? So I think we’ll try playing a couple rounds with the house rule.
Comment by Boughter
January 19, 2009 @ 6:34 pm
In agreement with most. Would be willing to try the three destiny to see how it works out. Two is definitely too low sometimes. My house rule:
Sympathizer card: Should be played but no penalties beyond no super crisis (and lack of activating Cylon fleet?). Or let them have a perk, like say “Revealed Sympathizer is allowed to put two cards into a skill check instead of one.” Give them something for being not only forced to be a Cylon but ALSO revealed all at once. They don’t get to use a “reveal ability” or a super crisis but I think it should still be in the game.
P.S. I have an eyepatch somewhere. Will think about putting into Cano’s set so we have it.
Comment by cody
January 19, 2009 @ 7:56 pm
I also believe that we should be able to make custom character cards. I want to make one for the Big Domy and also for Lando Calrissian.
Comment by Dylan
January 21, 2009 @ 9:24 am
awesome ideas. I’m apprehensive about the three card destiny deck though, especially in a 3-4 player game. I like that unrevealed cylons can’t put a negative in every hand and that they have to play strategically. They have to take advantage of the right moments. Once the players know for certain that there is a cylon amongst them, that’s when the chaos begins of seeding out that cylon. It is great for a cylon player that played deceptively because it can lead to false accusations.
Yes to everything that immerses the players into the game (like the eyepatch and saluting).
Comment by cody
January 22, 2009 @ 11:20 pm
Okay so here is a transcript of a conersation between Eric Davis, Dylan and I during BSG Board game. Eric is Admiral Odama.
Dylan: A lot of people get left behind when the Cylons attack. There aren’t that many people left. For the survival of the species people are going to need to start breeding.
Eric: If we have to leave some people behind before we jump to breed I’ll volunteer to stay back.
Cody: No admiral, I don’t think you understand.
Eric: No Corporal. I don’t think you understand.
Comment by kg
January 23, 2009 @ 4:40 pm
I don’t think I’m very good at this game. I haven’t been able to win a a human for a long time. Do you guys think humans are really tough to win as?
Comment by Boughter
January 23, 2009 @ 5:31 pm
Yes. Things go wrong so fast. I’ve been a solo Cylon the last two times I’ve played. Thought I was boned. All I had to do was let the game go a bit and exploit whatever weakness showed up. The game can win by itself. It’s very hard to foresee everything that could/will go wrong. One of the reasons Cano was against the 3 card destiny: “why help the cylons?” I like it just to spice it up, but he’s got a point.
Comment by kg
January 23, 2009 @ 10:03 pm
I think I’m going to start trying to use the suggested adjustments to make the game easier for the human players (+2 to each resource, but maybe I’ll just use +1). I feel like the humans should win by default, and the cylons should have to play well to win. I think the cylons will still have a strong chance.
Comment by Boughter
January 23, 2009 @ 11:49 pm
I feel the opposite about the default thing, but agree with a +1 or even maybe a +2 to resources. Humans are on the rocks, Cylons hold the cards. It takes intuition, skill, and a lot of luck to survive, and that’s what it should take to win as humans.
Comment by kg
January 24, 2009 @ 8:22 am
Intuition, skill, luck, and a Cylon player who chooses to play for the humans?
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