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Critique my Phalla - BSG
TheMadjai
Sir Madjai of SanSanMinnesotaRegistered User regular
Sir Madjai of SanSanMinnesotaRegistered User regular
So, I'm part of a couple online forums. (imagine that) One of them has just discovered the joy of "mafia" games, and I'm going to blow their minds with a 12-player Phalla. Here's the outline. I'd like some advice on this, since it's my first one, and I'm not sure of the balance.
GAMEPLAY:
During the "day," each player gets a move and an action. A move consists of physically moving your character from one Galactica location to another. An action consists of either activating CIC (more on this later), or using your character ability on another player. Once each character has moved and acted (or specified no move/action), the day ends.
SETUP:
Galactica initiates a jump away from a cylon battle and finds itself on the other side of the jump without power and alone. The object of the humans is to either eliminate the cylon presence on board, or to jump her back to the fleet.
CHARACTERS AND ABILITIES:
CYLONS
Cylon Leader - Fleet cannot jump while you are onboard, Scientist returns "human" result.
Mind Cylon - Capable of blocking a player's action as an action.
Cylon Virus - Releases a virus that turns off the player's location, as an action.
Cylon Assassin - Kills a human player in any location (unsure how this would work just yet. I'm thinking that this would be a night action, with the power falling to the first cylon on the above list if this player is killed. Or, possibly just as an action. With everything else going on, it might not be gamebreaking to have this player broadcast their kills...)
HUMANS
Admiral - Execute a player as an action. If player is human, Admiral loses ability and is placed in the Brig.
XO - Place a player in the Brig or release a player from the Brig.
Doc - Revive a killed player / save self once. As an action, can protect a player from Cylon attack.
Scientist - Uses action to force a player to undergo cylon screening. Machine returns either "Human" or "Nonhuman" results only to the Scientist. Player does not know they were scanned. (Or would they?)
Chief - Uses action to explain what a location does. Not all information may be gained on a single scan. Must be in the location that is to be researched. (Not revealed to player - cancels out cylon virus in same location)
Comm - Uses action to allow another player to move, but not take an action.
President - Can execute a player with the permission of two additional players. Immune from death unless alone. (not sure how to get this to work exactly, I'm hoping it would force the president to out themselves right away)
CAG - As an action, saves a player by taking them off Galactica in a raptor. Both CAG and removed player cannot act in the next "day."
GALACTICA LOCATIONS:
(Galactica has 10 units of "power" to be used by the various locations)
CIC - Activate or Deactivate a Galactica location.
Sickbay - 3 power - Allows doctor power.
Armory - 4 power - Allows admiral power.
Brig - 2 power - Allows XO power. If deactivated, players can move from the brig at will. While a player is in the brig, they cannot vote or use a power.
Research Lab - 4 power - Allows scientist power.
FTL - 9 power - In order of chief reveals: (Doesn't work if any other location is activated)(jumps the ship)(must have >50% of the humans in it to jump)
Each player is randomly assigned a character and an ability. (ie- Adama wouldn't necessarily be the Admiral, Roslin the president, etc.)
Thoughts?
GAMEPLAY:
During the "day," each player gets a move and an action. A move consists of physically moving your character from one Galactica location to another. An action consists of either activating CIC (more on this later), or using your character ability on another player. Once each character has moved and acted (or specified no move/action), the day ends.
SETUP:
Galactica initiates a jump away from a cylon battle and finds itself on the other side of the jump without power and alone. The object of the humans is to either eliminate the cylon presence on board, or to jump her back to the fleet.
CHARACTERS AND ABILITIES:
CYLONS
Cylon Leader - Fleet cannot jump while you are onboard, Scientist returns "human" result.
Mind Cylon - Capable of blocking a player's action as an action.
Cylon Virus - Releases a virus that turns off the player's location, as an action.
Cylon Assassin - Kills a human player in any location (unsure how this would work just yet. I'm thinking that this would be a night action, with the power falling to the first cylon on the above list if this player is killed. Or, possibly just as an action. With everything else going on, it might not be gamebreaking to have this player broadcast their kills...)
HUMANS
Admiral - Execute a player as an action. If player is human, Admiral loses ability and is placed in the Brig.
XO - Place a player in the Brig or release a player from the Brig.
Doc - Revive a killed player / save self once. As an action, can protect a player from Cylon attack.
Scientist - Uses action to force a player to undergo cylon screening. Machine returns either "Human" or "Nonhuman" results only to the Scientist. Player does not know they were scanned. (Or would they?)
Chief - Uses action to explain what a location does. Not all information may be gained on a single scan. Must be in the location that is to be researched. (Not revealed to player - cancels out cylon virus in same location)
Comm - Uses action to allow another player to move, but not take an action.
President - Can execute a player with the permission of two additional players. Immune from death unless alone. (not sure how to get this to work exactly, I'm hoping it would force the president to out themselves right away)
CAG - As an action, saves a player by taking them off Galactica in a raptor. Both CAG and removed player cannot act in the next "day."
GALACTICA LOCATIONS:
(Galactica has 10 units of "power" to be used by the various locations)
CIC - Activate or Deactivate a Galactica location.
Sickbay - 3 power - Allows doctor power.
Armory - 4 power - Allows admiral power.
Brig - 2 power - Allows XO power. If deactivated, players can move from the brig at will. While a player is in the brig, they cannot vote or use a power.
Research Lab - 4 power - Allows scientist power.
FTL - 9 power - In order of chief reveals: (Doesn't work if any other location is activated)(jumps the ship)(must have >50% of the humans in it to jump)
Each player is randomly assigned a character and an ability. (ie- Adama wouldn't necessarily be the Admiral, Roslin the president, etc.)
Thoughts?
"Yeah, TheMadjai knows whats up." --Lardalish
CURRENTLY PLAYING:
Android: Netrunner, Warhammer: Conquest, Star Realms
CURRENTLY PLAYING:
Android: Netrunner, Warhammer: Conquest, Star Realms
TheMadjai on
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*Also thought about working the president so that if they are targeted with a death ability, someone else in their space would take the bullet instead.
CURRENTLY PLAYING:
Android: Netrunner, Warhammer: Conquest, Star Realms
My thoughts, though (and take them with the knowledge that I have essentially no phalla-creating experience :P):
If there's no vote, it loses a lot of what makes the game Phalla, so that's a big change to make.
4 mafia out of 12 people is a high proportion, especially with them each having an ability. There could be four kills the first night, right? Assassin, admiral, president, vote. If the latter three don't hit a mafia, it's over day one.
The Chief's ability seems to imply no one will know what the locations do. But they have to activate them manually. Are you expecting players to just kind of "waste" their turn (as they will likely see it oftentimes) to experiment with the locations until they figure it out (which, since this is a small game, may not be during the game)?
Also, just looking at the set-up, I'm seeing one gamebreaking strategy: role call. If the Admiral calls his kill, or the President does (more likely, since he has to reveal... and on that topic, can the two players give him assistance privately?), and the narration confirms their results, they will be essentially confirmed. Even if the players don't know the roles, it's going to be very hard to the Cylons to convince the new outed good-guy leader that they have a valid, non-repeating role. ...'course, they may not realize this since most of them will be new and such.
As far as I can tell, the actual character names are just flavor, yes?
I don't know how well the "variable day time" thing works, as we don't really do that here. I personally would be hesitant to suggest it, but perhaps it can work well? I dunno.
Galactica has 10 units of power each day? Or total?
The cylons will know who each other are, right? Or will they be initially unmasoned?
To make sure I understand, as long as the Cylon leader is alive, the humans cannot win, yes?
If a player receives notice that they have been scanned by the Scientist is, I would think, not too important. Up to you.
Comm is essentially a role-blocker, yes?
I'm intrigued though, this sounds like it should have a rare flair for phalla games. Hope it goes well and such!
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Well, only slightly possibly. Keep in mind that the locations have to be turned on for the powers to work. If, for example, the XO tries to action someone and the brig isn't turned on by the end of the "day," then nothing occurs.
The initial post will have everyone starting in CIC, staring at the computer screen. 10 power is available to use, so turning on the brig takes 2 power, so Galactica only has 8 power left to use. Using an action to "activate" the CIC allows the player to turn on or off as many locations as they like, assuming the power is available. They won't know what the locations "do" until the chief scans them. Only one player needs to use the CIC, the locations do not get "turned on" by being in them and wasting an action.
Yeah, this is my issue with the game philosophy, as it were. I think it's sound, but might need some tweaking. If the role call comes out without the locations being turned on, their actions won't do anything. Or, if the cylon roleblocker sees what's going on, he can block. The president power is easily the most likely to change, since I like the idea, but don't think it's functional.. yet.
Names are just flavor, yes.
All of our current mafia games have "days" that last until a lynch majority (hammervote) is achieved. It's annoying, but that's what they're used to.
10 units of power total. To be swung back and forth.
I think the cylons will know who they all are. I recognize that four is a lot of them, so maybe they can't talk to each other unless they're in the same location at day's end?
Yes, if the Cylon leader is alive, the humans cannot win. At all.
I'm not sure about the Comm ability, either. I wanted something that was communicate-y. But it's not a roleblocker. The idea was that it was a player-assisty thing.
Thanks.
CURRENTLY PLAYING:
Android: Netrunner, Warhammer: Conquest, Star Realms
Really though, I don't know.
:^:
I don't know, though. I think that with 8 "town" roles, 4 cylons balances the scales a bit. Maybe a Cylon Prophet with the modified Comm and President roles?
CURRENTLY PLAYING:
Android: Netrunner, Warhammer: Conquest, Star Realms
This is a good question. The board game has turn order, rules, and other things that make it hard to play with very new people. And it's also REAL long. I wanted something that had the feel of the BSG universe, but in a Phalla.
CURRENTLY PLAYING:
Android: Netrunner, Warhammer: Conquest, Star Realms