I've just read the BSG rules for the first time (no expansions etc) and got a bit confused by the sympathizer rules. Specifically, what are your objectives as a sympathizer?

A quick search of the forums suggests that

(a) If you hit the "thrown in the brig" condition, that means you are a cylon who sympathizes with the human cause. You are treated exactly like a human player who has been thrown in the brig, but are in story terms a cylon. Your objectives are the same as the human side.

(b) If you hit the "become a revealed cylon" condition, that means you are a human who sympathizes with the human cause. You are treated like a revealed cylon, with certain changes to reflect the fact you are not in fact a cylon. Your objectives are the same as the cylon side.

Is that right?

If I read it right, you can be a sympathizer and then get a "you are a cylon" card after all. Presumably that would mean that in the case of (a) above you have realised your true calling and switched sides to the cylons, whereas in the case of (b) it turned out that, despite believing yourself to be human, you were in fact a cylon - presumably one of the final five. Correct?

If you're thrown in the brig, you stay a human in all ways. In story terms, you said the wrong thing to the wrong person and were jailed for being too nice to toasters.

If you become a revealed cylon, you are a revealed cylon in all ways. In story terms, you heard some Jimi Hendrix in your head and realized a startling fact about yourself.

Hm, I had sort of assumed that the card always described a human who sympathized with the cylons, and that the only difference was that under normal circumstances (ie: resources in the blue) they would defect (and being a human was the reason why they can't use the cylon fleet, etc), but when times are tough they were more likely to remain loyal and would just sort of voice their support for the cylons (and get brigged for it).

Now that I think about it, however, maybe the difference is that dials in the blue make you Boomer, whereas in the red you're more of an Athena (er, if she had been a sleeper agent, that is).

James McMurray said:

So, you're still working towards the human objective, even though the book says you are a human who "wishes to side with the other team"?

James McMurray said:

Same question as above, plus - you can't activate the cylon fleet or play super crisis cards, which suggests you are not a revealed cylon in all ways after all...

subochre said:

Interesting perspective. Since the game effect is the same either way, I guess you could interpret it either way.

subochre said:

I think the dials in red make you more of an Athena, yes. I guess I'm saying the dials in blue make you some kind of unspecified human character (Baltar, at times, I guess) who switches sides to join the cylons without actually being one.

Anyway, thanks - you've answered my first question about what your objectives are if you get the sympathizer card. What happens if you subsequently get the "you are a cylon" card?

Also: It occurs to me that if you are thrown in the brig as a sympathize a perverse situation arises. Because you have only one more loyalty card, assuming you aren't Baltar/Sharon, you are less likely to turn out to be a cylon than *any other character in the game* (everyone else has at least two loyalty cards). This means you are more trustworthy, in game terms, and there is therefore a strong incentive to release you from the brig (stronger than any other character who gets sent to the brig, that is). This seems counter to both the story of the card (which is that you were thrown in the brig because you are a frackin' toaster-lover), and the spirit of the game (i.e. paranoia and mistrust). Is it therefore worth having a house rule whereby when the sympathizer card is added to the deck, an extra "you are not a cylon" card is also added - and when the sympathizer is revealed, they are dealt an extra loyalty card from the deck?

If you get tossed in jail, you are a Cylon playing for the Human team - think Boomer.

If you get revealed as a Cylon sympathizer, you are a Human working for the Cylon team - think Baltar.

That's the theme behind it. The reason for the mechanic is to equalize the two teams in even-player games depending on how well the humans have managed their resources to this point.

If the player remains on the Human side, their are at a disadvantage because they are in the Brig and resources need to be spent to get them out to work for the humans (plu, they still havea chance of being a full blown Cylon from their first loyalty card).

If they become a Cylon team player, they do NOT get a Super Crisis Card and cannot activate the Cylon fleet (as they are still technically human and can't muster that type of power) but otherwise are Cylon in every way.