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Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest Thread
« on: May 11, 2019, 02:46:40 am »
Challenge #28 - Commentary and Results
I am terribly sorry about the delay in judging. I definitely bit off more than I could chew, so to speak.
Shortlisted card types are bolded.
My greatest fear with these cards is racing to collide $6P to gain one, similar to colliding Tournament with Province to gain a Prize, but even more pronounced. On a board with no +Buy, whichever player gains Princess Starsapphire might decide the game. On the other hand, there are other Princesses such as Princess Luna and Princess Lily that are more endgame-oriented. One variation might be to have Princesses with different costs, to introduce the decision of getting a Princess early for earlygame benefit but missing out on a more powerful benefit lategame.
It was quite difficult to choose which card type I liked the most. Ultimately, I based my decision on how it changed the game of Dominion, added interesting decisions to gameplay, and how thematic it was.
Runner-up: Work Cards by Fragasnap. I thought that the new choices on where to spend Actions was neat, and the different ways to do so (as a payment, investment, or simply alternate effect) made this a top choice.
WINNER: Traitor Cards by Commodore Chuckles. I really liked the idea of opponents being able to steal some of the benefit from your cards, and adds interesting player interaction to Dominion. Definitely a unique concept, and very thematic too.
Thanks for all of the interesting card types and cards, and again, I deeply apologize for delaying this contest.
I am terribly sorry about the delay in judging. I definitely bit off more than I could chew, so to speak.
Shortlisted card types are bolded.
The Kin TypeThe idea of modifying card types is cute and adds replayability. Nice mix of card categories, ranging from alt-vp to village variant. One gripe I have is how difficult it is to balance the cards due to the amount of variability in which cards become Kins.
When you add a Kin pile to the Kingdom, put the 2 Kin Markers under random other non-Victory, non-Kin kingdom piles. This game, cards from those piles are also Kins.
The Automatic TypeI like the ideas and mechanics in the cards, especially Nomadic Tribe, which makes +Buy give diminishing returns. However, I feel like the Automatic type is overly broad and could be represented in ways easier to remember. I would prefer a physical, distinct card similar to a Landmark to remind me of the changed rule instead of a blurb under a line in the card.
Duration cards are orange because they need to be distinguished from other cards during the cleanup phase. I feel like "In games using this" clauses should be better distinguished in the same way. There is precedent for creating a new type for a function that already exists: Lost in the Woods behaves exactly like an artifact.
The stuff below the line happens if the card is in the supply. Now let's do some crazy stuff with it!
The Work TypeA neat concept with similarities to Reserve cards and overpay with Actions. The work mechanic adds an interesting decision on where to spend Actions, and the ability to have them pseudo-trash themselves until they are needed, or worked to get their on-play effect again (à la Wine Merchant) makes them very flexible.
Work cards remain in play each Clean-Up until they have been worked sufficiently as indicated by the Work card. During Clean-Up, a card with "-3 Work-" on it is only discarded if it has been worked 3 times.
During your Action phase whenever you could play an Action, if you have any Work cards in play that have not met their Work count, you may "Work" that card by spending a +action and placing a Work token onto the card. You may work any number of work cards as much as you want in a turn (so long as you have +actions to spend and the card can take more work). Work tokens remain on the card until is discarded during a Clean-Up phase.
The Princess TypeThe Princess cards are a set of cards with high opportunity cost (more than a Province), but very powerful effects. The idea is thematic, but very swingy.
The Princesses are six differently-named unique cards that are not in the supply, but can be gained by buying Marriage ($6P).
My greatest fear with these cards is racing to collide $6P to gain one, similar to colliding Tournament with Province to gain a Prize, but even more pronounced. On a board with no +Buy, whichever player gains Princess Starsapphire might decide the game. On the other hand, there are other Princesses such as Princess Luna and Princess Lily that are more endgame-oriented. One variation might be to have Princesses with different costs, to introduce the decision of getting a Princess early for earlygame benefit but missing out on a more powerful benefit lategame.
Series CardsThe idea of cards that transcend the boundary between games is a cool concept. I like how Escort introduces negative feedback into the game, and how Scribe makes your deck weaker this game to boost your deck next game, but Scribe might snowball too hard since it carries into the starting deck of each game in the series. Also, I think the scoring mechanic might need tweaking, since it adds a new dynamic, trying to maximize the point difference between you and your opponent, which might not be fun. Definitely a card type more suited to serious Dominion players than the average casual boardgamer.
Cards with the Series type are to be used in a Dominion series. A series is multiple games of Dominion (usually 3-7 games) played in a row, where points are added after each game and the player with the most points at the end of the series is the winner.
Fame CardsI like how everyone has their own "achievements" to work towards, and the decisions involved in choosing whether and what order to go for them to boost Fame cards or to go a more traditional route. I like Pawn Shop, an interesting variant of Artificer that gets more powerful as Feats are earned. One potential issue I see is in balancing Feat mats (assuming everyone starts with a different one).
When one or more Fame cards are in the kingdom, each player gets their own Fame mat. Fame mats track a number of "Feats" you can achieve during the game, and Fame cards become better the more of those you achieved. Whenever you achive a Feat, e.g. gain a Gold, you cover up the Feat on the board with a coin token. However, to achieve a Feat, not only must you fulfill the Feat's condition, but at the time you do, the Feat must be either one from the bottom row, or reachable by an arrow coming from an already achieved Feat (sort of like a skill tree).
The Queue TypeThe Queue deck functions almost like a second deck, from which only one card is drawn each turn. This will reward careful deck tracking, as cards in the Queue deck do not change order (for the most part). I like how these cards first enter the deck as an Action, before entering the Queue for their main effect. The theme could use some work though.
The entirety of each player’s Queue pile is face down except for the topmost card, and you can only look at the topmost card of a given queue pile. During the appropriate phase, you may play the top card of your Queue pile (this costs an Action during your Action phase). Unless stated otherwise, cards played this way are discarded as normal at end of turn. Each player starts with a Borough, Royal Library, and Marketplace shuffled into their Queue piles.
DecreesI like how the effect of Decrees are applied roughly evenly to all players due to everyone sharing its effect. Tithes seems very brutal in multiplayer games, especially in the opening. There is a nice variety of effects, good, bad, and in between. Decrees might make first player advantage more pronounced due to them getting an extra effect.
Decrees are similar to Landmarks, but they are only valid for one round. Before each regular turn of the first player, a new decree is revealed, which is valid until the next regular turn of that player. Extra turns from cards like Possession, Outpost, Mission and Fleet do not count as regular turns. In each game 10 decrees are randomly selected. The pile has the same shuffle rules like the player’s decks.
Morning CardsA nice counterpart to the Night type. Since these give ongoing effects, and are designed to be stronger, playing these in multiples seems to be either quite strong (Mudlark engine?) or almost pointless (Mudlark engine?). Regardless, a solid idea with interesting interactions with existing cards, such as Clock Tower's synergy with disappearing money. Brownie points for the flavour text.
Nocturne gave us the Night, a new phase with cards to be played after the Buy phase. Now, I introduce its logical opposite, the Morning phase. This phase takes place before the Action phase, but after any Duration effects take place. This means that you must have the Morning card in your hand at the start of your turn (or through a Duration draw effect) if you wish to play it. That will make playing these cards more difficult, so I tried to make the effects rather powerful as a result.
Toll CardsAn interesting concept with similarities to Embargo and Tax. Road seems unbalanced, being an engine component that snowballs. Force your opponent to waste money and a buy on an expensive copper if they want a key card. The cards aren't my idea of fun, but the different ways of stalling the game are interesting.
Ever wished games would just last that little bit longer? Think you could get the edge on your opponent if you had just one more turn? These cards are meant to give the ending of the game a bit more drama, if it needed it. They sit outside of the Supply until placed on top of supply piles (One type each for Treasures, Actions and Victory cards, each with a different way to place them there) and serve to make the cards people really want just out of reach, until someone buys one and get its negative effect.
Traitor CardsI really like this idea, being able to get a good effect but letting your opponent get some benefit from it too. There is a good variety of different effects here, a powerful effect with the opponent getting a lesser effect for free, and a powerful attack that counters itself. The only issue I see with this idea is in the physical implementation, since a unique back also allows you to see if it is the top card (or more with a messy draw pile).
Traitor cards are cards that your opponents can play from your hand during their turn. They would ideally have different backs similar to Stash. When an opponent plays one of your Traitors, the Traitor is set on the table and then put back in your hand during their Cleanup phase. You play the Traitors in your Action phase, and you may play any number of Traitors from any number of opponents' hands in a single phase. You may look at a Traitor from your opponents' hand and then choose not to play it.
Activity CardsMy understanding of the theme here is that Activities are strong cards with different play conditions, where playing more than one has a negative effect? All three seem quite luck-dependent, Falconer possibly trashing opponents' engine components (though offset by discarding it from your starting hand), and the other two depending on the state of top of deck. There are some interesting ideas in the cards, but too swingy for my taste.
Depletion cardsThe decisions involved in when to deplete the cards (potentially for the rest of the game) are interesting. Factory is a good source of economy with the choice of boosting the early game in exchange for not being able to use its +Buy for the rest of the game. I think the concept is good, being able to replenish depleted cards on play might be too similar to how the Journey token works though.
Depletion cards can be depleted (putting one of your depletion tokens on its pile) for an additional benefit but then become weaker in some way. Some cards can replenish themselves after being depleted.
It was quite difficult to choose which card type I liked the most. Ultimately, I based my decision on how it changed the game of Dominion, added interesting decisions to gameplay, and how thematic it was.
Runner-up: Work Cards by Fragasnap. I thought that the new choices on where to spend Actions was neat, and the different ways to do so (as a payment, investment, or simply alternate effect) made this a top choice.
WINNER: Traitor Cards by Commodore Chuckles. I really liked the idea of opponents being able to steal some of the benefit from your cards, and adds interesting player interaction to Dominion. Definitely a unique concept, and very thematic too.
Thanks for all of the interesting card types and cards, and again, I deeply apologize for delaying this contest.
or 
, buy Cellar if you have 
and the Gardens pile is not gone (use cellar to discard extra Workshops and green), Workshop on 
if you happen to get that.