I'll probably be up for joining at that point.

I'd be in then.

I think Felicia Day's commentary for the most recent Supernatural episode contains many things that a lot of us will be excited to learn. Spoilery for Supernatural and The Guild.

BSG

Hear ye, hear ye. Game 17 of Battlestar Galactice ("Nilly in Space") will commence this coming weekend. I am therefore putting out the call. Who will join the crew of Galactica for this outing? Veterans and newbies are both welcome. If you'd like in, you can either throw your hat into the ring in this thread, or send me an email.

The secondary question is which game elements we shall use. Our most recent games have used the following options:

• Base game, Pegasus and Exodus
• Cylon leader (if 6 or more players)
• Destination: Kobol
• Conflicted Loyalties (Personal Goals and Final Five)
• Cylon Fleet

We have not been using these options: the New Caprica destination (from Pegasus), or the Ionian Nebula (from Exodus). (We have had games with New Caprica; we haven't yet played with the Ionian Nebula.) While we're sorting out the crew, I'll also ask for preferences on two questions:

1. Do we want to keep the basic elements (characters, crisis cards etc) from both expansions? Or should we go retro and have a game using base game only?

2. If we do stick with the full set, we can include one of the following three modules: New Caprica, Cylon Fleet (the current option) or Ionian Nebula. Shall we stick with the Cylon Fleet for now, or go for one of the others?

The floor is open.

BSG

I'm in, and I'd be interested in switching Cylon Fleet for New Caprica or Ionian Nebula, though that one is much more complicated, right? Keep ALL THE THINGS otherwise, though. If I want to go retro, I can play in real life, where I only have the base game and have almost never played it in real life because woe.

I'm in.

BSG

I'm in. Can someone remind me what the Ionian Nebula is all about? My google-fu is weak.

It's where you get good and bad karma throughout the game and then basically everyone gets executed for being bad at the end.

Or something.

BSG

It's where you get good and bad karma throughout the game and then basically everyone gets executed for being bad at the end.

No, not everyone! Just one person. Maybe.

Here's the longer explanation of the Ionian Nebula:

The most noticeable change for most of the game is that at any time, there will be three 'Allies' ensconced at various locations. When you encounter them, they can help or hurt the fleet, depending on whether they have good or bad trauma.

Everyone has trauma. Accumulate too much of the wrong sort, and you can get booted from the game. You can manage your trauma by encountering allies, because you contribute a piece of your damage to decide their replacement's mood. However, bad trauma for you is also bad trauma for the Ally. You can get more trauma in various ways, notably by landing in Sickbay or the Brig.

When the fleet hits Distance 8, you reach the Crossraods phase. Everyone (Cylons included) faces a personal crisis, the resolution of which depends on (again) your trauma. After resolving the Crossroads, if anyone has too much wrong trauma, there's an elimination! And after that, the Cylons launch an all-out assault on Galactica, the outcome of which decides the game.

In practice, eliminations don't seem to happen very often; but the threat of them changes player behaviour. Going by the bgg experience, the Ionian Nebula makes the game notably harder for the humans - more so than the Cylon Fleet. Nonetheless, it's proven popular on bgg, and is the last module that we haven't yet tried here.

BSG

the Ionian Nebula makes the game notably harder for the humans

Because until then, the humans were having just too easy a time of it.