How to Play Celestia: A Little Help

Game Objective

With the "A Little Help" expansion, players can use the new Equipment: A Little Help cards when the airship is about to crash and the new Upgraded Equipment cards to face Celestia's most adverse conditions. Your character will also grant a special power, and the new Power cards will help gain an advantage over other adventurers.

The end-game condition remains the same: as soon as a player reaches 50 points or more through Treasure cards at the start of a new journey, they win.

Preparation (Setup)

1. Add the 14 Equipment: A Little Help cards, the 8 Upgraded Equipment cards, and the 4 new Special cards to the original game's deck.
2. Each player randomly takes an Adventurer pawn and then chooses the corresponding Character card. Players can also choose their favorite character.
3. Place a Character card in front of you.
4. Then, finalize the setup as explained in the regular Celestia game.

Game Flow

Refer to the manual for details on this section.

Actions and How to Play

Character Cards

Each player starts the game with a Character card placed in front of them. Each character has a unique power that can only be used once during the game:

• Red: Amelia Lorna-Lou / Lord Hawkins
  • When: When the airship is about to crash.
  • Power: Discard a Treasure card to re-roll all dice.
• Blue: Mel Katansky / Orville Russell K.
  • When: When the airship is about to crash.
  • Power: You take over as captain. You will have to play the necessary Equipment cards. When you are the new captain, Power cards can be played, but not Equipment: A Little Help cards.
• Green: Sonja Blixxen / Ambroise Septimus
  • When: When the airship is about to crash.
  • Power: Ignore all Pirate events (no need for an Equipment card to face them and dice cannot be re-rolled).
• Yellow: Aleshanee Eyota / Howard McFerty
  • When: When the airship is about to crash.
  • Power: Draw the first two cards from the Equipment deck to face the upcoming events without adding them to your own deck. Equipment: A Little Help cards can also be used to face these events. The cards are then discarded, whether the airship crashes or not.
• Black: Claudia Harker / Alekseï Timovitch
  • When: Before you or another captain rolls the dice.
  • Power: Set two dice aside and only roll the others.
• Purple: Victoria de Beckliss / Marcus Hartmann
  • When: When all passengers have announced their intention.
  • Power: Force someone to stay with you, whether you remain or leave the airship.

Power Cards

• Bandit
  • Who: All players.
  • When: Before the captain rolls the die.
  • Effect: The captain must roll one extra die.
• Mooring line
  • Who: All players.
  • When: When the captain plays their cards.
  • Effect: The airship does not travel to the next city and remains on the same tile. The captain discards the cards they used to face the events, and the next player becomes the captain.

Equipment: A Little Help Cards

When the captain announces that the airship is about to crash, all passengers (and only them) can place – if they wish – one or more Equipment: A Little Help cards face down on the table. Once all cards have been placed face down, reveal them all at once.

If the captain has the necessary Equipment cards in their hand to complete the challenge with the help of the Equipment: A Little Help cards played by the passengers, they must play them and continue the journey. Each Equipment: A Little Help card allows facing an event with the same symbol.

Then all Equipment: A Little Help cards are discarded, whether the plane crashes or not.

If the airship still crashes, it is no longer possible to play any Equipment: A Little Help cards for this journey, but you can still use Special cards.

Attention: When taking on the role of captain, a player cannot use their own Equipment: A Little Help cards.

Upgraded Equipment Cards

These new cards allow facing 2 events of the same type (2 dice with the same symbol) with only a single Upgraded Equipment card. Like the other Equipment cards, the captain must play them, even if they only have to face one event. These cards can only be played when you are not the captain of the airship.

End of Game and Scoring

The game ends as soon as a player reaches 50 points or more through Treasure cards at the start of a new journey. That player wins the game.

When counting points, each player loses 2 points for each remaining Equipment: A Little Help card they have. For example, if a player has 50 treasure points and calls for the end of the game, but has two Equipment: A Little Help cards left, they lose 4 points and end the game with only 46 points.

Tips for Winning

• Use Equipment: A Little Help cards to help the captain overcome challenges, but be aware that they can cost points at the end of the game if unused.
• Take advantage of the unique powers of Character cards at strategic moments, as each power can only be used once per game.
• Consider using Upgraded Equipment cards to face multiple events of the same type with a single card, optimizing your resources.