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[beri]

Inspired by two novel concepts, I have created my own Dominion cards.
These two concepts are the following:
- cards you may only play when you have no actions left – artefacts
- cards that have an on-draw effect – trigger

Then I had ideas for other cards that mainly deal with drawing cards and the fact that you have more than 5 cards in hand between two turns.

I hope these inspire you and you can help me fine-tune them.

Trigger
Cards on your Trigger mat are considered as being in your hand. They can be trashed or discarded by the effects of other cards as if they were in your hand. During your Clean-up phase, they are discarded like other cards from your hand. However, you cannot move a card from your Trigger mat to your Trigger mat.

Enchanted estate (Victory-Trigger) $5
1VP
After you take a card in hand, you may put this on your Trigger mat. If you do, discard any number of cards, +1 Card per card discarded.

Conjurer (Reaction-Trigger) $5
After you take a card in hand, you may put this on your Trigger mat. If you do, +1 Card.
When you discard this other than during your Clean-up phase, +3 Cards.
When you trash this, +5 Cards.

Power stone (Trigger) $5
After you take a card in hand, you may put this on your Trigger mat or trash this from your hand. If you trashed it from your hand, +4 Cards. If you put it on your Trigger mat, +1 Card.

King (Trigger) $7
After you take a card in hand, you may put this on your Trigger mat. If you do, +1 VP token.

Rich land (Victory-Trigger) $4
2VP
After you take a card in hand, you may put this on your Trigger mat. If you do, +1 Card.

Good prince (Victory-Trigger) $3 V1
2VP
After you take a card in hand, you may put this on your Trigger mat. If you do, all players (including you) draw 1 card.

Good prince (Victory-Trigger) $5 V2
2VP
After you take a card in hand, you may put this on your Trigger mat. If you do, +2 Cards, each other player draws 1 card.

Psychic (Action-Duration-Trigger) $5
+1 Action
Do not draw any cards during your next Clean-up phase. At the beginning of your next turn, draw until you have 5 cards in hand, then +1 Card.
After you take a card in hand, you may put this on your Trigger mat. If you do, look at the top 3 cards of you deck. Discard them or put them back in any order.

Actions / number of cards
Usurper (Action) $2
(+$1)
Draw until you have as many cards in hand as the player who has the most cards in hand.

Ambush (Action-Attack) $2
+1 Action
+1 Card
Each other player discards down to 5 cards. +1 Card for each card discarded by the player who discarded the most cards this way. If no cards were discarded, each player draws a card.

Righter of wrongs (Action-Attack) $4
+1 Action
+$2
Each other player draws 1 card, then discards 3 cards if he has 6 cards or more in hand.

Guarded village (Action-Reaction) $4
+1 Card
+2 Actions
When another player plays an Attack card, you may trash this from your hand. If you do, you are unaffected by the attack and gain a Gold.

Artefacts
Although they are not Action cards, Artefacts may be played during your Action phase.
Emerald amulet (Artefact) $4
+2 VP tokens
This card may be played only if you have no Actions left.

Ruby amulet (Artefact) $3
+2 Cards
This card may be played only if you have no Actions left.

Sapphire amulet (Artefact) $3
+1 Card for each Action card you have in play.
+$3
This card may be played only if you have no Actions left.

Diamond amulet (Artefact) $3
Gain a card whose cost is equal to or lower than the number of cards you have in hand.
This card may be played only if you have no Actions left.

Amethyst amulet (Artefact) $2
Gain a Gold and a Curse.
This card may be played only if you have no Actions left.

Victory
Merchants' province (Victory) $8*
8 VP
During your Buy phase, this card costs $1 more ($2 more) for each Gold (Platinum) you have in play.
If this pile runs out, the game ends.

Cursed province (Action-Victory) $4
5 VP
Trash this card. Gain a Curse.

At the beginning of your Clean-up phase, if you have Cursed provinces in hand, discard them all but two. Place the remaining Cursed provinces on top of your deck.

Treasure
Grant (Treasure) $5
Worth $1 for each Action card you have in play.

Forged coins (Treasure) $2
$0
When this is your first buy in a turn, +1 Buy, +$4, gain a Copper.

Black gold (Treasure-Looter) $6 V1
$4
When you play this card, gain a Ruins.

Black gold (Treasure) $6 V2
$4
+1 Buy
When you play this card, gain a Curse.

Black gold (Treasure) $5 V3
$4
When you play this card, gain a Curse.

Black gold (Treasure) $6 V4
$4
When you play this card, all other players gain 1 VP token.

Bond (Treasure) $5
+$6
+1 Compulsory Buy*
All cards you buy this turn may not have a greater cost difference than $1 from one another.

*Compulsory Buy means that if you use your optional Buy during your Buy phase, you must Buy one more card for each Compulsory Buy and make sure to meet the bottom line condition. E.g. you have $12 and two Compulsory Buys. Either you buy nothing or you buy three cards. In the latter case, you may not buy a $5 card, since you would then be forced to buy $4 or $5 or $6 cards with it, which you can't (minimum 5+4+4=13).

Debt (Treasure) $4
+$2
Play another Treasure card. Trash it. Gain a Treasure card costing at least $3 less than the trashed card, placing it in your hand.

Transformations
(Urchin- and Hermit-style)

Tissue merchant (Action) $5
Discard 1 card.
+4 Cards
+1 Buy
When you discard this from play, if you have bought at least 1 Copper this turn, you may trash this. If you do, gain a Dealer from the Dealer pile.
-----
Dealer (Action) $0*
Trash a non-Victory card. Gain 2 cards whose cost is equal to or lower than that of the trashed card.

Barracks (Action – Attack) $3
+1 Card
+1 Action
Each other player with 5 or more cards in hand must discard or trash (he chooses) a Treasure card from his hand.
When this is in play, when you play an Attack (including this) and have 3 or more Attacks in play, you may trash that Attack. If you do, gain a Fortified duchy from the Fortified duchy pile.
-----
Fortified duchy (Victory) $0*
4 VP

Action
Poacher (Action-Reaction) $4
Discard a card.
+2 Cards
+1 Action

When another player plays an Attack card, you may set this aside. If you do, after the attack, discard this and you may gain a Silver (a Gold) for each card you have discarded or gained (trashed) because of the Attack.

Sales counter (Action) $5
+1 Action
+1 Card
+$1
You may gain a card from the Private pile.

Setup – randomly designate a pile of cards all costing $3 or $4. It is the Private pile. Cards from this pile may not be bought.

Win-win (Action-Attack) $4
+$3
Each other player gains a card costing $4 you choose.

Rationing (Action-Duration) $3
+1 Action
Until the beginning of your next turn, players may not buy non-Victory cards costing more than $5.
----
While this is in play, during your turn, all cards cost $1 less, but not less than $0.

Decay (Action) $3
+1 Card
+1 Action
Trash a card from your hand. If you did not trash a Copper, gain a Copper.

When you buy this, put the top 2 cards of one pile of Kingdom cards or the top 2 cards of the Curse pile into the trash.

Artisans' village (Action) $3
+2 Actions
Reveal the top 2 cards of your deck. Discard any Treasure cards revealed. Take the remaining cards in your hand.

Patron (Action-Reaction) 4$
Gain a card costing up to $4.

When you play a card, you may discard this from your hand. If you do, add 1 to the number in one coin icon.

With this card, you can turn a Remodel into an Expand, double the effect of a Bridge/Highway, add +1 to a +coin, etc. Also combines well with itself.

Illusionist (Action) 5$
+1 Action
Trash a card from your hand. Gain a card costing up to 1$ more, placing it in your hand.

Illusionist (Action) $6 V2
Trash a card from your hand. Gain a card costing up to 2$ more, placing it in your hand.

Drawbridge (Action-Duration) $2
+1 Action
+1 Card
At the beginning of your next turn, you may discard a card, then draw until you have 5 cards in hand.

[eHalcyon]

Triggers and Artefacts both sound neat. 

General comments about the Trigger cards:

- Do they trigger when drawn in clean-up?

- I think they could be rewritten as Reactions.

- There is an accountability and tracking issue.  It can be easy to mix up which cards were just drawn and what cards were in your hand previously, even if you're not intentionally trying to cheat, especially when you're drawing a lot due to, say, King's Court.  If I reveal 2 Rich Lands in succession, you may not be able to tell whether they were two separate copies or the same one revealed twice.  This is the reason why you are allowed to reveal Reactions from your hand as often as you'd like.  You should write up some specific rules of how to handle this.

- Timing is going to be extremely tricky.  I play Smithy, drawing Rich Land, Good Prince and Enchanted Estate.  Do I resolve the triggers in any order I wish?  Since the cards were all drawn, do they count as in my hand (e.g. can I discard Good Prince to my Enchanted Estate)?  For the ones yet-to-be-resolved, do I put them in my hand or set them aside?  If they are in my hand, it really brings up that tracking issue.  Alternatively, you could say that you have to draw them one by one and trigger them in order, but that makes all draw cards much slower to resolve, and you can also get  confusing chains where I have to interrupt my Smithy in the middle of its draw and resolve potentially multiple other things before returning to Smithy.

Psychic: Why "Draw up to 5, then +1 Card"?  How is it different from "Draw up to 6"?  I suppose you could get reveal a Trigger on your fifth card, draw a sixth card from it, and still get +1 Card after?

Overall, I think the concept is interesting but the execution is riddled with issues that need to be thought through.  It might not be worth it.

Artefacts: I think the concept is pretty interesting at face value.  For these, you want enough terminals to use up all your actions.  Too few terminals and you won't get to play your Artefacts consistently.  Too many and the terminals are dead cards in hand instead.  It's a neat balance.  I don't know if all the specific Artefact cards you have are well designed, but this concept is lots better than the Triggers.  Simpler and more compelling.





Other cards:

Usurper -- Sounds fine for a $2 card.
Ambush -- Weird.  May work.
Righter of Wrongs -- This is often very similar to Militia, but being non-terminal makes it safer to spam.  I find that worrying.
Guarded Village -- Not really a fan.  As a village, it's safe to pick up a bunch of these.  At that point, you are pretty well guarded from attacks, and that's before considering the potential Gold gain.  I think these could often make attacks completely dead in the water, far more so than Moat or even Lighthouse.  I could be wrong about that though.  Maybe it could work.

Merchant's Province -- Would be slightly simpler if you just count how many Gold/Platinum are in play.  Sounds OK.
Cursed Province -- Sounds bad, but I am having a lot of trouble articulating why.  Uhh... the action feels unnecessary; if you chose to gain it, you shouldn't be playing it.  It would be very rare when you would receive this card without intentional getting it yourself.  The VP return is really good but the penalty is very inconsistent.  On some boards it is crippling, on others it barely matters at all.  I'm not sure it can be balanced as it is.

Forged Coins -- Not good because you can drain the pile 10-to-0 without any other support and make a +$20 net profit while still having a Buy left for anything.  It really messes up the end game in a not-fun way.

Black Gold -- This is a very common fan concept, but it is inherently problematic.  Check out the Fan Card Creation Guide, Part II, section (5) "Powerful cards that incur negative VPs or gain Curses".  The Guide as a whole is outdated but still generally useful.

Bond -- Neat idea, but I expect it to be too complex and confusing to play with.  Are you assuming that your default 1 Buy is compulsory as well?  Because it isn't... I would try it like this:

Bond
$6 - Treasure
Worth $5
+1 Buy
While this is in play, you must use all your Buys (unless there is nothing you can Buy).

It's worth as much as Platinum but comes at a steep discount.  It makes all your Buys compulsory, which makes it easier to count up.  Dropping the cost difference requirement simplifies the card and gives you the option to soak up the extra Buys with Copper and Curse when you'd rather not split your money pool more evenly.

Debt -- Maybe too similar to Counterfeit.  The wording is a bit confusing, but I assume you mean for it to force the same kind of downgrade as Saboteur.  Compared to Counterfeit, you lack +Buy, make $1 less in total, and you get back a downgraded treasure rather than trashing outright, which can be bad (Silver->Copper) or acceptable (Gold->Silver) or pretty good (Platinum->Gold).  That's assuming you play the treasure in hand normally, which you might not.  Maybe it is different enough after all, though I am not convinced.

It's worth noting that Debt (at least the first one) is almost strictly better than Silver, so it should probably cost $5... except that invites the Counterfeit comparison even more.

Tissue Merchant -- Seems like really strong draw, but the initial discard may be enough to temper it.  The transformation is pretty easy to achieve.  No idea how Dealer would play out and what it means for the set, but it's worth testing.  I have no idea what a Tissue Merchant is or what they have to do with Dealers.

Barracks -- The attack is really strong, especially on a spammable cantrip.  If there is no source of non-treasure coin, Barracks will turn the game into a stalemate where nobody can buy anything ever again because they have to keep trashing and discarding their treasures.  It doesn't really work.

Poacher -- The Action part is Lab followed by discard.  This was actually tested by Donald and found to be too strong for $4.  The reaction on Poacher is really odd.  I don't know what to make of it.  I would suggest having the card set aside instead of discarded, just to help with the timing of it all.

Sales Counter -- OK.  Could work.  Do you mean for the pile to be added, like with Young Witch?

Win-Win -- What if there are no cards costing $4?  Either way, $3 is probably too cheap for a terminal Gold.  Sometimes you may be forced to give others good cards, but more often you can overload them with bad ones.

Rationing -- I think it could be OK because the attack actually doesn't hurt that much most of the time.  Even so, putting it on a village is a bad idea, IMO.

Decay -- Cantrip trashing without penalty is actually too strong for $3.  I think the on-buy is cool though.

Coin Maker -- The timing on this is all wrong.  You could probably reword it as a "while this is in play" effect.  "While this is in play, when you play another Action card, +$1."  I don't really like it though.  It'll get tough to track when you have multiples in play, and it's also very swingy.  Depending on whether you draw it early or late in your turn, it could end up producing you tons of cash or none at all.

Drawbridge -- This card basically does nothing when there aren't any discard attacks (or Outpost) on the board.

Illusionist -- Check out the new card Transmogrify, which does this using the new Reserve mechanic.




Overall: Some good ideas that need polish and testing.  Best thing here is definitely the Artefact concept.  You really have something there!  I hope you don't find my other comments discouraging, though most of them are critical.  Thanks for sharing!

[LastFootnote]

I'll just copy/paste my feedback from when you posted this on BGG last year.

Trigger cards have a few issues (other than sleight-of-hand accountability; is that really the card you just drew?).

When you draw cards in Dominion, technically you are drawing them one at a time. Even when you play a Smithy, it's "draw a card; draw a card; draw a card". Normally you can just grab 3 cards off the top of your deck and it's fine, but Trigger cards slow this process waaaaaaaay down. "draw a card, check to see if it's a trigger card, resolve it if it is, possibly drawing more cards; draw another card, wait how many cards have I drawn again?"

And as pinkymadigan pointed out, mostly this stuff could just be done by making the cards Actions with "+1 Action". The other minor side effects of having them be a Trigger instead aren't worth how much they slow down the game. It could be worth making a single card like this for novelty's sake, but it could just be a Reaction; it doesn't need a whole new type.

Then you said that you think card draw happens all at once instead of one at a time. It doesn't. You draw one card at a time.

[beri]

General comments about the Trigger cards:

- Do they trigger when drawn in clean-up?

- I think they could be rewritten as Reactions.

Yes they trigger during clean-up, they trigger anytime they are taken in hand.
Sure, but I think their reaction is specific enough to get another colour, so whenever you draw them, you are reminded that their trigger effect applies.

- There is an accountability and tracking issue... You should write up some specific rules of how to handle this.

Sure, I just wanted this post to stay clear of extra rules. If there was a rulebook with this expansion, it would say the easiest way to handle this and assure other players you are not cheating is to set aside any Trigger card (considering it is still actually in your hand, which is important for Enchanted estate for example) until you have applied all trigger effects and then, announce that you are done with trigger effects and take them all back in hand.

- Timing is going to be extremely tricky. I play Smithy, drawing Rich Land, Good Prince and Enchanted Estate. Do I resolve the triggers in any order I wish? Since the cards were all drawn, do they count as in my hand (e.g. can I discard Good Prince to my Enchanted Estate)?  For the ones yet-to-be-resolved, do I put them in my hand or set them aside? If they are in my hand, it really brings up that tracking issue.

The setting aside described above might help.
Yes, you resolve in any order you wish, as with on-trash effects (you trash all the desired cards, then apply on-trash effects in any order – this is how it's handled on Goko).
Yes, you may apply Good prince, then discard it (and Enchanted estate) to Enchanted estate.

Psychic: Why "Draw up to 5, then +1 Card"?  How is it different from "Draw up to 6"?  I suppose you could get reveal a Trigger on your fifth card, draw a sixth card from it, and still get +1 Card after?

Yes. But "+1 Card" is mainly to cover the case where you have more than one Psychic in play.

Artefacts: I think the concept is pretty interesting at face value.  For these, you want enough terminals to use up all your actions.  Too few terminals and you won't get to play your Artefacts consistently.  Too many and the terminals are dead cards in hand instead.

Exactly, I mainly playtested the +2VP artefact and had to decrease its cost because having so many terminals cost a lot. This is why Artefacts are pretty cheap. I think they are killers with the likes of Smithy.

Righter of Wrongs -- This is often very similar to Militia, but being non-terminal makes it safer to spam.  I find that worrying.

If you spam it, you will eventually cancel its Attack effects, since opponents get to choose what they discard (at best, Victory cards), then replenish their hands with potentially better cards. So yes, the first ROW is strong, so you want many, but if you get many they get weaker and might even help opponents.

Guarded Village -- Not really a fan. As a village, it's safe to pick up a bunch of these. At that point, you are pretty well guarded from attacks, and that's before considering the potential Gold gain. I think these could often make attacks completely dead in the water, far more so than Moat or even Lighthouse. I could be wrong about that though.  Maybe it could work.

This still needs some playtesting, it might go up to $5. The difference with Moat or Lighthouse is it counters only one Attack per round.

Merchant's Province -- Would be slightly simpler if you just count how many Gold/Platinum are in play. Sounds OK.

Sure, but I fear Counterfeit would be too good then, because you use Gold and Platinum for no extra cost on Merchant's province and get Merchant's provinces easily.

Cursed Province -- Sounds bad, but I am having a lot of trouble articulating why.  Uhh... the action feels unnecessary; if you chose to gain it, you shouldn't be playing it.  It would be very rare when you would receive this card without intentional getting it yourself.  The VP return is really good but the penalty is very inconsistent.  On some boards it is crippling, on others it barely matters at all.  I'm not sure it can be balanced as it is.

Still to be playtested. The action part is there to save you from the cases where your CP really weigh on your efficiency, like, you have bought them too early and find yourself stuck and unable to discard them during your turn. So you can trash them and get back to normal life.

Forged Coins -- Not good because you can drain the pile 10-to-0 without any other support and make a +$20 net profit while still having a Buy left for anything. It really messes up the end game in a not-fun way.

Was playtested and rushing on Forged coins too early was no good because it stuffs your deck with $0 and Coppers. We did it the first game, then realised we should be more careful. With Watch tower or Trader, it's going to be strong, but the odds of such games are low and if you see that, players can still decide to change setup before it's too late.

Black Gold -- This is a very common fan concept, but it is inherently problematic.  Check out the Fan Card Creation Guide, Part II, section (5) "Powerful cards that incur negative VPs or gain Curses".  The Guide as a whole is outdated but still generally useful.

I read this guide some time ago but missed that part, thanks. Anyway, my favourite version of Black gold is the Looter one. Will keep playtesting. Curse tokens are a nice idea too, I'll think about it.

Bond -- Neat idea, but I expect it to be too complex and confusing to play with.  Are you assuming that your default 1 Buy is compulsory as well?  Because it isn't...

No, your default 1 Buy is not compulsory. Bond's buy is compulsory only if you use your default Buy.
The version you suggest "While this is in play, you must use all your Buys (unless there is nothing you can Buy)" drops the cost difference part, which I think is the interesting thing. During playtesting, we found Bond fun because it gives you a lot of money ($6 for a cost of $5), but you have to split your total money in two or three. Agony. It is a nice game starter but starts being a weigh soon enough. We didn't find it too complicated to handle.

Debt -- Maybe too similar to Counterfeit.  The wording is a bit confusing, but I assume you mean for it to force the same kind of downgrade as Saboteur.  Compared to Counterfeit, you lack +Buy, make $1 less in total, and you get back a downgraded treasure rather than trashing outright, which can be bad (Silver->Copper) or acceptable (Gold->Silver) or pretty good (Platinum->Gold).  That's assuming you play the treasure in hand normally, which you might not.  Maybe it is different enough after all, though I am not convinced.

I agree it's close to Counterfeit and I'm bothered with it. The difference I can see is that you can still save something from trashing a Platinum or a Gold – you respectively get a Gold or a Silver. Will see if any nice ideas come out of this discussion, otherwise I would be ok to just drop Debt.

Tissue Merchant -- Seems like really strong draw, but the initial discard may be enough to temper it.  The transformation is pretty easy to achieve.  No idea how Dealer would play out and what it means for the set, but it's worth testing.

Easy transformation, true. I considered making it "if you have bought a Copper", which would be more restrictive.

Barracks -- The attack is really strong, especially on a spammable cantrip.  If there is no source of non-treasure coin, Barracks will turn the game into a stalemate where nobody can buy anything ever again because they have to keep trashing and discarding their treasures.  It doesn't really work.

You may have missed the part where it only affects players with 5 or more cards in hand. Also, Barracks bought too early might help opponents trash their Coppers.

Poacher -- The Action part is Lab followed by discard. This was actually tested by Donald and found to be too strong for $4.

Could be tried with the discard part coming first.

The reaction on Poacher is really odd.  I don't know what to make of it. I would suggest having the card set aside instead of discarded, just to help with the timing of it all.

I don't think it's harder to track than TR or KC or Procession chains. Maybe setting it aside before the attack takes effect and discarding it after that would work. I'm just fearing text wouldn't fit on the card there 

Sales Counter -- OK.  Could work.  Do you mean for the pile to be added, like with Young Witch?

No, it would be one of the piles in play. If no Kingdom cards cost 3-4, then the Private pile would be Silver.

Win-Win -- What if there are no cards costing $4?  Either way, $3 is probably too cheap for a terminal Gold.  Sometimes you may be forced to give others good cards, but more often you can overload them with bad ones.

Yeah, I considered making this cost $4. Might be a better price, I think I found WW a bit strong on playtesting.

Rationing -- I think it could be OK because the attack actually doesn't hurt that much most of the time.  Even so, putting it on a village is a bad idea, IMO.

Why?

Decay -- Cantrip trashing without penalty is actually too strong for $3.  I think the on-buy is cool though.

Thought it was cool to have a strong effect to encourage players to buy it and trigger its on-buy effect. The idea behind this on-buy effect was to make it a game changer since it boosts 3-pile endings and stuffs the trash (cool with Graverobber or Rogue) and I find that game change very cool. To be confirmed.

Coin Maker -- The timing on this is all wrong.  You could probably reword it as a "while this is in play" effect.  "While this is in play, when you play another Action card, +$1."  I don't really like it though.  It'll get tough to track when you have multiples in play, and it's also very swingy.  Depending on whether you draw it early or late in your turn, it could end up producing you tons of cash or none at all.

Yeah, not my favourite one either, but playtest will tell its fate.

Drawbridge -- This card basically does nothing when there aren't any discard attacks (or Outpost) on the board.

Yeah, wish I could give it a better action. To be reworked.

Illusionist -- Check out the new card Transmogrify, which does this using the new Reserve mechanic.

Yes, I've seen that and my first impression was "does this nice effect really need so much sophistication?". Anyway, with Illusionist, there would be two in-hand Remodels, which is not too many among the many existing cards.

Thanks a lot for your feedback, I'm glad you like a fair share of these cards and hope you can enjoy them when I'm done with them

you said that you think card draw happens all at once instead of one at a time. It doesn't. You draw one card at a time.

Can you find a source stating that you draw cards one by one? My French rule doesn't say anything about it. And the way multiple trashing is dealt with (trash all, then apply on-trash effects and reactions) makes me think multiple drawing works the same way.

[Asper]

I'm sorry that i can't say anything more useful for now, but have you considered letting Black Gold give all other players a VP token on play? It avoids introducing new material, needs no limited ressource and scales with use.

[eHalcyon]

Merchant's Province -- Counterfeit will be good for it, sure, but you'll also be sacrificing Gold and Platinum.  It's a good combo, but it doesn't sound broken to me.

Cursed Province -- The action part seems clunky.  If the player buys them and gets bogged down by them, that's their own fault.  They can learn from their mistake the next time.

Forged Coins -- The problem is not an early rush; it's just that it changes the end game condition from "end on 3 piles" to "end on 2 piles".  If a second pile is emptied, it is trivial to empty Forged Coins as well if you are ahead on points.  You can often do it even when behind because that +$20 give you an easy watch to overtake on that last turn.

Bond -- Maybe I am finding it more confusing because the compulsory buy part isn't what I expect.  When you say it is compulsory, the natural reading is that you have to use it.  Your base buy is not compulsory though.  So I play 1 Bond, I have 1 Compulsory Buy and 1 regular Buy.  That should mean that I must buy one thing, but not necessarily 2 things because not both my buys are compulsory.  If I play 2 Bonds, I have 2 Compulsory Buys and 1 regular Buy, so I must buy 2 things and may buy a third.  Clearly this is not your intention, but I think it's the natural interpretation when you use the word "compulsory".

Barracks -- Oops, you're right.  I did miss that.

Poacher -- Thinking more about it, the reaction seems too similar to Trader, except the timing doesn't quite fit with the way Dominion cards work.  Maybe you could tie it strictly to discarding (distinct from Trader).  Maybe something like:

When another player plays an Attack card, you may set this aside from your hand along with any cards you would discard.  If you do, then at the start of your next turn, discard the other set aside cards and gain a Silver for each.  Discard this.

Uhh, that's a mouthful though.  And now that I think about that, it's probably too similar to Beggar's reaction.  Beggar just gains 2 Silvers, but that's how much you usually end up discarding with attacks.  Your set has a theme of having larger hands and thus larger discards to attacks, but still.

Rationing -- When you make something a cantrip, it is generally safe to spam.  It gets to the point where you can expect one to be played every turn, all the moreso here, with a Village.  So you have to be careful about doing it with attacks (also reactions, for similar reasons).  Rationing thus has the possibility to become very oppressive.  It might be OK here because the attack is usually mild, but I would be very wary.  Some exceptions where it can matter a lot include when you really need Gold/Platinum, and maybe if one player gets lucky and manages to sneak in a King's Court before Rationing is always in effect.



Re: drawing cards one at a time, well, the obvious example is how drawing cards works when you hit the end of your draw pile.  You pause, shuffle your deck, and continue drawing.  Physically, you do draw one at a time.  I don't know if this is explicitly outlined anywhere hough.

[beri]

I'm sorry that i can't say anything more useful for now, but have you considered letting Black Gold give all other players a VP token on play? It avoids introducing new material, needs no limited ressource and scales with use.

Although I like the Ruins version, this might be an idea for people who do not have Dark ages.

Merchant's Province -- Counterfeit will be good for it, sure, but you'll also be sacrificing Gold and Platinum.  It's a good combo, but it doesn't sound broken to me.

Playtesting will tell. Apart from Counterfeit, Storyteller might make a difference. Any other cards you can think of which might interfere?
Since Counterfeit is a good card per se, I wouldn't mind making it slightly weaker with Merchants' Province.

Cursed Province -- The action part seems clunky.  If the player buys them and gets bogged down by them, that's their own fault.  They can learn from their mistake the next time.

Of course it's their fault. But I wouldn't want them to hate their game just because of this card sucking all the fun. The action part at least lets them find a way out, while punishing them for being too greedy.

Forged Coins -- The problem is not an early rush; it's just that it changes the end game condition from "end on 3 piles" to "end on 2 piles".  If a second pile is emptied, it is trivial to empty Forged Coins as well if you are ahead on points.  You can often do it even when behind because that +$20 give you an easy watch to overtake on that last turn.

Ok I see. Will try to trigger what you're describing during playtest to see if the issue is real. If so, I might dig up a V2 that forbids you to buy any further Treasure cards this turn.

Bond -- Maybe I am finding it more confusing because the compulsory buy part isn't what I expect.  When you say it is compulsory, the natural reading is that you have to use it.  Your base buy is not compulsory though.  So I play 1 Bond, I have 1 Compulsory Buy and 1 regular Buy.  That should mean that I must buy one thing, but not necessarily 2 things because not both my buys are compulsory.  If I play 2 Bonds, I have 2 Compulsory Buys and 1 regular Buy, so I must buy 2 things and may buy a third.  Clearly this is not your intention, but I think it's the natural interpretation when you use the word "compulsory".

No, this certainly is not my intention. I understand your point and had thought about this. However, I think a line in the rules could be enough, stating "if you use at least one Buy, you must use all your Compulsory buys (applying Bond's restriction)".

Rationing -- When you make something a cantrip, it is generally safe to spam.  It gets to the point where you can expect one to be played every turn, all the moreso here, with a Village.  So you have to be careful about doing it with attacks (also reactions, for similar reasons).  Rationing thus has the possibility to become very oppressive.  It might be OK here because the attack is usually mild, but I would be very wary.  Some exceptions where it can matter a lot include when you really need Gold/Platinum, and maybe if one player gets lucky and manages to sneak in a King's Court before Rationing is always in effect.

True about making it a cantrip and about being lucky enough to buy big cards or trigger your big engines when there is no Rationing around. Might make things random. Maybe less so if Rationing is no longer a cantrip.
However, I like the idea of rationing players. A previous version of this was "opponents may not get more than 1 extra Action", which went well with the fact that Rationing is a Village.
Another few options:
- making the present version cost $5, which sounds expensive
- ration hand size
- make Rationing impact you as well (therefore costing $3)

If you have any ideas, I'll be glad to give them a thought.

Re: drawing cards one at a time, well, the obvious example is how drawing cards works when you hit the end of your draw pile.  You pause, shuffle your deck, and continue drawing.  Physically, you do draw one at a time.  I don't know if this is explicitly outlined anywhere hough.

I don't think so. If needed, I'll add a line in the rules of this expansion, stating that you apply Triggers only after you've drawn all the cards you were instructed to with a single draw ability.

[beri]

OP edited with changes on:
- amulets (all costs down by $1)
- Forged coins (when this is your first buy...)
- Win-win (cost increased to $4)
- Rationing (cost, effect and now also applies to the player playing it)
- Drawbridge (discard option added)

New cards:

King (Trigger) $7
When you take this card in hand, you may reveal it. If you do, +1 VP token.

Artisans' village (Action) $3
+2 Actions
Reveal the top 2 cards of your deck. Discard any Treasure cards. Take the remaining cards in your hand.

Patron (Action-Reaction) 4$
Gain a card costing up to $4.

When you play a card, you may discard this from your hand. If you do, add 1 to the number in one coin icon.

With this card, you can turn a Remodel into an Expand, double the effect of a Bridge/Highway, add +1 to a +coin, etc. Also combines well with itself.

And a few late thoughts:

Coin Maker -- It'll get tough to track when you have multiples in play, and it's also very swingy.

Not sure it is close to Ironmonger and the likes in terms of tracking toughness.

Decay -- Cantrip trashing without penalty is actually too strong for $3.  I think the on-buy is cool though.

In comparison with Forager (+1 Action +1 Buy, compulsory trashing, +coin), it doesn't sound too strong.

Forager has +1 Buy and +? coins / Decay has +1 Card. Sounds equal.

[Asper]

We had some discussion about the strength of cantrip trashing in this other fan card thread. I playtested a cantrip trasher with a bonus (you could topdeck or discard the card instead of trashing it) at $2, $3 and $4, and found that each was too strong. A cantrip trasher might be okay at $4 (compare Junk Dealer), but at the same time a bit boring. Like $4 Peddler would be.

[beri]

Ok I see.

A few ideas:
1) Same as current with -$1. It's called decay, right? "Discard one card" instead would be a bit tough.
2) +1 Action. Choose one: trash a card from your hand OR discard up to 2 cards from your hand. +$1 for each card discarded this way.
3) Same as current with conditional trash "if you have 4 or more cards in hand". First time I would see such a restriction on something else than an attack.
4) In one version or another, "if you trash a Decay, put the top 2 cards... in the trash".
5) Introduce Decay tokens like Embargo tokens. When a card from a pile with a token on it is gained, the decaying effect is triggered.

In theory, #1 (with #4?) is my favourite.

I'm a bit sad I have to make this card weaker, because I love how its on-buy changes a game. And it needs to be cheap.

[Asper]

Re: drawing cards one at a time, well, the obvious example is how drawing cards works when you hit the end of your draw pile.  You pause, shuffle your deck, and continue drawing.  Physically, you do draw one at a time.  I don't know if this is explicitly outlined anywhere hough.

I don't think so. If needed, I'll add a line in the rules of this expansion, stating that you apply Triggers only after you've drawn all the cards you were instructed to with a single draw ability.

I would like to join in on the understanding that you draw one card a time. Several card speak of drawing "until" you have a certain number of cards in hand, and this wouldn't be a meaningful wording if it wasn't a sequential process. Reshuffles also support this. Let's assume you play Smithy with 2 cards in your deck. Do you set them aside and put them in your hand together with the third? This seems really counterintuitive, and even contradicts the rules (which go similar to "draw as much as you can, then shuffle and draw the rest"). You can, of course, count three cards from your deck and put them in your hand all at the same time, but i would consider that "a thing you can do most of the time simply because it doesn't matter often". Not a rule.

I'm also sorry to be so negative about this, but i don't think Trigger cards are that meaningful. You start your turn with five cards in hand. Granted, not every board enables a huge engine, but often enough those five cards will be minor compared to the cards you go through in a turn. So, a Trigger is basically a good card that becomes worse in a small number of cases.

Sorry for being so over-critical 

[eHalcyon]

And a few late thoughts:

Coin Maker -- It'll get tough to track when you have multiples in play, and it's also very swingy.

Not sure it is close to Ironmonger and the likes in terms of tracking toughness.

It's tougher.  With Ironmonger, you immediately get whatever bonus it gives.  If you keep a running tally, it's very manageable.  Coin Maker sets up a persistent condition that requires a lot more effort to track.  If it counted every action that came before, that would be easier.  I'm not saying that it's impossible (you could arrange your cards very carefully so you can count afterwards if need be, though there would still be difficulties with cards that leave play), but it's something to be aware of.

[beri]

I have made a few changes based on the previous comments. I have also hidden (in white) the cards I was less happy with.

I hope you like the cards better like this.

I have changed the way Triggers are resolved, so that it doesn’t conflict with how cards are drawn. This way also adds flexibility, as you may use Trigger not necessarily after drawing the Trigger card.

Trigger
Cards on your Trigger mat are considered as being in your hand. They can be trashed or discarded by the effects of other cards as if they were in your hand. During your Clean-up phase, they are discarded like other cards from your hand. However, you cannot move a card from your Trigger mat to your Trigger mat.

Therefore I have rephrased the cards:

Enchanted estate (Victory-Trigger) $5
1VP
After you take a card in hand, you may put this on your Trigger mat. If you do, discard any number of cards from your hand, +1 Card per card discarded.

Changes on cards – in bold or crossed out:

Ambush (Action-Attack) $2
+1 Action
+1 Card
Each other player discards down to 5 cards. +1 Card for each card discarded by the player who discarded the most cards this way. If no cards were discarded, each other player draws a card.

Guarded village (Action-Reaction) $5
+1 Card
+2 Actions
When another player plays an Attack card, you may trash this from your hand. If you do, you are unaffected by the attack and gain a Gold.

Sapphire amulet (Artefact) $3
+$3
This card may be played only if you have no Actions left.

Grant (Treasure) $5
Worth $1 for each Action card you have in play.

This is the former Coin maker, made less fiddly.

Black gold (Treasure) $6 V4
$4
When you play this card, all other players gain 1 VP token.

Per a suggestion made here.

Poacher (Action-Reaction) $4
Discard a card.
+2 Cards
+1 Action

When another player plays an Attack card, you may set this aside. If you do, after the attack, discard this and you may gain a Silver (a Gold) for each card you have discarded or gained (trashed) because of the Attack.

Rephrased with “set aside” and moved “Discard a card” to the beginning.

Decay (Action) $3
+1 Card
+1 Action
(−$1)
Trash a card.

When you buy this, put the top 2 cards of one pile of Kingdom cards or the top 2 cards of the Curse pile into the trash.

Added the “−$1” option. To be discussed.


I’m still happy to get more feedback on all these cards. Hope you find them inspiring.

[GeneralRamos]

-$1 is potentially feasible, but requires clarification. Can you have $ less than 0, and if so what does it mean if you get to the buy phase or even end a turn without any money. Nothing? When is it reckoned? When you play it, or after you play treasures (naturally seems the formed). You could adopt the Adventures -$1 token, but then the penalty wouldn't stack.
All this is to say it requires explicit FAQ and consideration of these in testing.

[beri]

I’m not sure what is more unclear in −$1 than in +$1.
Like other effects, −$1 applies when you play it. It means it cancels the first $1 you will gain after playing this card.
If you play this as first card, you have −$1 until you gain money. At the end of your turn, if you have negative money, you get back to $0.

I don’t understand your questions about this.

Slight changes have been made to Barracks, Ambush and Dealer following some playtesting today.

Artisans’ village worked pretty well and so did Tissue Merchant. However the latter may be a bit too good.

[Asper]

I’m not sure what is more unclear in −$1 than in +$1.
Like other effects, −$1 applies when you play it. It means it cancels the first $1 you will gain after playing this card.
If you play this as first card, you have −$1 until you gain money. At the end of your turn, if you have negative money, you get back to $0.

I don’t understand your questions about this.

Slight changes have been made to Barracks, Ambush and Dealer following some playtesting today.

Artisans’ village worked pretty well and so did Tissue Merchant. However the latter may be a bit too good.

Poor House implies your account can never drop below $0. You can lose more than $4, but if you play Peddler, then Poorhouse for +$4 and -$6, and then another Peddler, you end up at +$1, not $0. Your account goes $0, $1, $0, $1. It never goes below $0. sure, you could claim that's just how Poor House works, and not a rule of Dominion in general, but i think it says a lot that the game avoids going below $0 on any occasion. I think the -$1 token from Adventures is another good sign. You don't just get -$1 at the start of your turn by Bridge Troll. Instead it just cancels out a +$1 later.

Example for a situation where you get something weird from having -$1: If i play Decay twice and then play Storyteller, what happens?
Also i don't think it's clear why your account should go up to $0 at the start of your buy phase.

[beri]

Ok I see, thanks for explaining. How about "The first card you buy this turn costs $1 more". Would it work?

Also i don't think it's clear why your account should go up to $0 at the start of your buy phase.

No, your account goes to $0 at the end of your turn. Anyway if the above works, this is off topic.

[Asper]

Ok I see, thanks for explaining. How about "The first card you buy this turn costs $1 more". Would it work?

Also i don't think it's clear why your account should go up to $0 at the start of your buy phase.

No, your account goes to $0 at the end of your turn.

Oh, okay. Misread that. Yeah, that makes sense.

The problem here would be that the wording triggers on buying a card, where you paid for it already. Also, there are some problems with cost increasers, for example that they run into unclear and possibly varying interactions with cost reducers. I suggest something like "While this is in play, you may not buy cards without overpaying $1 per Decay you have in play."

[beri]

The problem here would be that the wording triggers on buying a card, where you paid for it already. Also, there are some problems with cost increasers, for example that they run into unclear and possibly varying interactions with cost reducers. I suggest something like "While this is in play, you may not buy cards without overpaying $1 per Decay you have in play."

I can see two issues with this wording: it would apply to the square, i.e. if you have three of them, you must over pay $9 and stating "overpaying" would mean any overpay abilities would apply —> you must overpay 2, ok, I’ll buy Herald and overpay 2 and put 2 cards from my discard onto my deck.

How about "During your turn, until you have bought a card, all cards cost $1 more"?

[Asper]

The problem here would be that the wording triggers on buying a card, where you paid for it already. Also, there are some problems with cost increasers, for example that they run into unclear and possibly varying interactions with cost reducers. I suggest something like "While this is in play, you may not buy cards without overpaying $1 per Decay you have in play."

I can see two issues with this wording: it would apply to the square, i.e. if you have three of them, you must over pay $9 and stating "overpaying" would mean any overpay abilities would apply —> you must overpay 2, ok, I’ll buy Herald and overpay 2 and put 2 cards from my discard onto my deck.

How about "During your turn, until you have bought a card, all cards cost $1 more"?

I'm assuming that "overpay" counts from the cost of the card. When i overpay $3, i satisfy three Decays. I don't think overpay stacks. If you don't like that, however, you could instead have it say "While this is in play, you must pay $1 more to buy cards." or "You must pay $1 more to buy cards this turn.".

As stated before, increasing the price runs into unclear interactions with cost reducers. If i play Bridge and then this, Copper should cost $1, right? It gets reduced, but not below $0, then gets increased by $1 from zero, so $1. Or, would it cost $0? Bridge reduces costs as an on-play effect, so, i guess, it reduces cards the moment it's played. Okay, so, $1. Problem is that most cost reducers change the price of cards "while in play", implying that the effect is applied continuously. So, if i play Highway, then Decay, the price of Copper should still be $0, because Highway is in play still after you played Decay. So, Highway behaves differently than Bridge.
The main problem here isn't that both cards behave differently (you also get that with Throne Room and stuff), but that it's really hard to see through how things should work. Maybe you don't even agree to my reasoning? Maybe you think effects should always be applied in order, or always applied the moment it matters and counted against each other? I do think my ruling is the most sensible, but you see we run into a bit of trouble, rules-wise. I don't think it's impossible to do a cost increaser, but Donald has avoided it for a long time, and given us quite a few ways to avoid them, ourselves.

Some more ideas:

• Subtract at the start of your buy phase, going only down to $0 -> Only kills action money
• Take your -$1 token -> Only works once
• Have players "pay more" or "overpay" to buy cards -> Probably best
• Make the player discard a Treasure card-> Not quite the same

[beri]

"While this is in play, you must pay $1 more to buy cards."

This would do, but I’m quite sure someone could argue that it does not.

I’ve thought about:

Decay (Action) $3
+1 Card
+1 Action
Trash a card.

Play a Treasure card from your hand. If you have $0, gain a Curse. Otherwise, −$1.

etc.

[beri]

Oh well, taking the −$1 token may be the best option.
Simpler and won’t conflict often with other −$1 token gainers and even when it does, it will only ever cause Decay to fail giving you the token, not the other way around. And it’s cool because it makes Decay slightly more attractive, which I want it to be (to activate the on-buy effect).

[beri]

A few posts ago, some were arguing that cards are drawn one at a time.

However, if I understand it correctly, with Watchtower, the −1 card token would make you draw until you have only 5 cards in hand. Which would mean:
1) you figure out how many cards you need to draw;
2) you draw that many cards and add them to your hand.

Before I go any further, am I correct that the −1 card token does make you draw only up to 5 with Watchtower?

[Jack Rudd]

Before I go any further, am I correct that the −1 card token does make you draw only up to 5 with Watchtower?

No.

[Asper]

A few posts ago, some were arguing that cards are drawn one at a time.

However, if I understand it correctly, with Watchtower, the −1 card token would make you draw until you have only 5 cards in hand. Which would mean:
1) you figure out how many cards you need to draw;
2) you draw that many cards and add them to your hand.

Before I go any further, am I correct that the −1 card token does make you draw only up to 5 with Watchtower?

I think the word "until" already implies a loop that's repeated until you reach a breaking condition. Even IF you usually drew cards all at once (which i think every draw pile containing less than the number of cards you are told to draw disproves), Watchtower would be iterative.