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Bugs: Recent Topics Paging, Uploading Images & Preview (11 Dec 2020)

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× Talk about the latest and greatest AT, and the Classics.

Battlestar Atlantica?

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11 Jun 2021 17:46 #323919 by mads b.
Replied by mads b. on topic Battlestar Atlantica?
I think it's great that they are doing a reskin of a classic game and I think the Arkham Files setting is an okay fit - maybe it will even give the paranoia feeling in the game a different kind of horror vibe. My issue is on a personal level. In the first preview it looked as if it was a direct port, and I don't want that. If I want to play BSG I know people who has it, and a simple change of setting is not enough to make me want to try Unfathomable let alone by it. So I hope the upcoming previews will show that they've made some changes - both to tweak the original design (which was, probably, more clunky and slow than it needed to be), but also to make it a better fit for the new setting and, I hope, theme.
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12 Jun 2021 09:09 #323927 by jason10mm
Replied by jason10mm on topic Battlestar Atlantica?
Lovecraft works pretty well as a theme because you could have players go mad or discover their Deep One lineage and switch sides versus being a cultist from the get go.

Far better than that Final 5 BS from the show IMHO.

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12 Jun 2021 09:38 #323929 by Sagrilarus
Replied by Sagrilarus on topic Battlestar Atlantica?

jason10mm wrote: Lovecraft works pretty well as a theme because you could have players go mad or discover their Deep One lineage and switch sides versus being a cultist from the get go.

Far better than that Final 5 BS from the show IMHO.


And it’s free and people love it.
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12 Jun 2021 11:57 - 12 Jun 2021 13:50 #323930 by ubarose
Replied by ubarose on topic Battlestar Atlantica?
I am absolutely horrified and disgusted that they used Shadow Over Innsmouth as the inspiration for this game. In my opinion it is his most blatantly racist work. There is no excuse for using it. I had hopes it would have been hidden cultists, people who blindly follow a great evil in the pursuit of personal power and enrichment. Their is no justification or rational for taping into fear and demonization of biracial people.
Last edit: 12 Jun 2021 13:50 by ubarose.
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12 Jun 2021 12:55 - 12 Jun 2021 12:56 #323931 by Gary Sax
Replied by Gary Sax on topic Battlestar Atlantica?
Yeah, making the "hybrid" bit of Shadows the central game mechanic of a game is rough stuff given what explicitly it was supposed to allegory.
Last edit: 12 Jun 2021 12:56 by Gary Sax.
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12 Jun 2021 15:31 #323934 by Michael Barnes
Well I mean look at the fucking cards- the “you are a human” card is a bunch of white people happily bidding bon voyage...the “you are a hybrid” card shows a man with exaggerated features and a darker complexion. It’s in plain sight, FFG isn’t even really trying to hide it to the point where I have to question if someone over there is making a right wing statement. It’s either that or willful ignorance to protect their cash cow IP.

You can not divorce Lovecraft’s concept of hybridization from pure racism. Period. He was a white New Englander that viewed “foreigners” as monstrous, slimy, and degenerate subhuman creatures. It’s all about white fear of miscegenation and discovering that your white European bloodline is “tainted” or “corrupted”...this is as straight up on the nose racist as it gets, sorry but the fish people don’t hide it very well.

Because of this, this game is founded on racist concepts. I know most white board gamers will shrug and and lay out a wide range of feeble excuses for buying this game or continuing to play Arkham Horror LCG or whatever but it’s all just another example of how so much of this hobby is still white boys club. “Aw shucks, well you know racism was common back in those days and now he’s dead and I sure do love Shub-Niggurath!”

HP Lovecraft is “geek” culture’s Birth of a Nation.
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12 Jun 2021 16:10 #323935 by Sagrilarus
Replied by Sagrilarus on topic Battlestar Atlantica?
I guess the Blade Runner IP was unavailable as well. If only FFG had access to an IP like that, none of this would have been an issue.

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12 Jun 2021 20:38 #323940 by ChristopherMD
Replied by ChristopherMD on topic Battlestar Atlantica?
Never played BSG so don't really have an opinion on the reprint, but if possible they should do the Cold War. There are communist agents among us!

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13 Jun 2021 19:44 #323945 by Sagrilarus
Replied by Sagrilarus on topic Battlestar Atlantica?
Now y’all have me looking at the human card and thinking they’re throwing a sieg heil. Thanks for that.

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14 Jun 2021 07:17 #323953 by jason10mm
Replied by jason10mm on topic Battlestar Atlantica?

Sagrilarus wrote: Now y’all have me looking at the human card and thinking they’re throwing a sieg heil. Thanks for that.


Pre WW2 Americans used to do the Bellamy salute (the sieg heil) during the pledge of alliegance. So in a 1930s set game it has no connection to nazis.

Kinda like how the "ok" hand gesture was 100% normal and acceptable until twitter suddenly said it was not.

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14 Jun 2021 09:11 #323955 by mads b.
Replied by mads b. on topic Battlestar Atlantica?
When I looked at the two cards I immediately wondered why there wasn't a POC on the "you're a human" card. And maybe going for a cold, pale look for the hybrid rather than what can easily be seen as a racist stereotype would have been better.

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14 Jun 2021 11:47 #323958 by Michael Barnes
Messaging, whether intentional or not is loud and clear. Humans=Happy white people hybrid=Suspicious degenerate with exaggerated features not unlike how Nazi propagandists illustrated Jewish caricatures. I can’t believe more people haven’t drawn this connection.
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14 Jun 2021 12:57 - 14 Jun 2021 13:11 #323960 by san il defanso
Yeah, you really need to scour your artwork for that stuff if you are doing any kind of Lovecraft-based stuff. If you insist on using source material that others would find problematic, at least go to the trouble of making sure that the overt racial stuff isn't in the material. Even Call of Cthulhu manages to clear that bar, for the most part. (Not looking at it right now, and I have white-guy eyes anyway.) Just shows how lazy this whole thing is. I have trouble imagining a world where this game doesn't land with a $60 thud on shelves, and then molder there for months.

*edit* I took out a second paragraph because upon reflection it wasn't a conversation I was super interested in having.
Last edit: 14 Jun 2021 13:11 by san il defanso.
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14 Jun 2021 15:53 #323963 by Bernie
Replied by Bernie on topic Battlestar Atlantica?
Little late to the party on this thread but I have a few thought I would like to put out into the world.

Let it be known that I am a huge BSG the board game fan. I’ll also be the first to state that to get the most out of it it needs a fairly curated setup depending on the player count. But that’s not what we are here to talk about.

I am not nearly as down on the report as a lot of people seem to be. It’s been a long time since the BSG board game came out. If they tune the rules well a reprint could be decent. It will also be more accessible than BSG is currently. Not saying The Arkham Files is a better setting than BSG but it sure is more approachable to a large chunk of the gamer community at this point.

The art looks bad. Some folks should tell them that it’s bad. If you look at the Arkham Files or Android settings both of FFG’s primary settings at this point they are very inclusive. Male and female characters of color and varied ethnicity. Gay, lesbian and trans characters. At this point I would chill it up to just missing something and not laziness or malice. Don’t excuse it but let’s look at their history a bit.

I won’t be in a rush to pick it up. I have all of BSG. The cutdown in content is its stalling point for me. I would struggle to play core BSG at this point with out all the added skill cards from the expansions.

It’s a 13 year old game at this point. I hope they have some new wrinkles for it.
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14 Jun 2021 18:10 - 14 Jun 2021 18:12 #323965 by Shellhead
Replied by Shellhead on topic Battlestar Atlantica?

Bernie wrote: The art looks bad. Some folks should tell them that it’s bad. If you look at the Arkham Files or Android settings both of FFG’s primary settings at this point they are very inclusive. Male and female characters of color and varied ethnicity. Gay, lesbian and trans characters. At this point I would chill it up to just missing something and not laziness or malice. Don’t excuse it but let’s look at their history a bit.


I'm not convinced that a game set in the '1920s or '1930s should be concerned with representation of gay, lesbian, and trans characters, given that such folks would likely have been deep in the closet as a matter of self-preservation. Sure, the setting is a fictional version of that time period, but it's not intended to be an alternate reality.

EDIT: And since the subject matter of the game is probably not directly addressing any character's sexual orientation, the players should feel free to decide for themselves which characters swing which way.
Last edit: 14 Jun 2021 18:12 by Shellhead.

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