Greetings forum,
A while ago Roadrunner and I started working on an expansion together, we were stuck a bit, until Theta joined us and then everything went pretty quickly. So today I have the honor to present to you the beta version of a new fan expansion called 'civilization'. Most of the cards have seen sufficient playtesting to warant 'probably ok' label, but some could use some more. (Unfortunately, I don't have all the expansions yet in real life, so extensive playtesting is and will be kind of difficult.)
We welcome any and all feedback that you might have, things you think we might have missed, etc. The next post will (eventually) gather all the cards that are currently part of the set and, if any, take outs that we will redesign based on feedback on things we missed.
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What is the theme of civilization? Well, as an economist, I view civilization as an increase in the division of labor, specialization and usage of comparative advantage. It's better if everybody has it's own role, that he/she/they are very good at and leave other things for other people. So the predominant theme of civilization fan expansion is:
- Cards with diminishing power the more you have of them. (Think chapel, not minion. Think Militia, not goons. Think moneylender, not herald. Think Soothsayer, not advisor.) Most cards in the set will be very good at what they do, but the more you play versions of them in the same turn (or even: the more versions you have in your deck), the weaker they will be. Buy a few, and move on. (This is, btw, slightly different than Cornucopia, where variety in general is rewarded. This is less so, although, I must admit, working on this expansion has created some nice respect for the design quality of cornucopia.)
- The second theme, also pretty important (but less present as the previous one) is 'interaction'. There are the obvious 'attack'-interactions, but there are also a bunch of 'non-attack' interactions during the game. Like in any good civilization, you often have to deal with people you don't like, with annoying customers, rude bartenders, boring colleagues or just straight up jerks on the street. Civilization represents this by ways to help or annoy your opponent without actually attacking them in any specific sense.
At the moment, we have 28 cards and 3 events, which is a lot. But well, designing them was and is fun. And playtesting was too. Every card presented will come with a small description, to the extend that we can, on it's history, and some typical 'let's discuss card x' questions. We welcome any and all comments. Feel free to congratulate the art work, because Theta has done a great job on it, as far as I am concerned.
We also have used several mechanics from other expansions, such as overpay, ruins, and debt. We know some people dislike it when fanexpansions do that. We have decided to not limit ourselves. Please, there is no need to repeat that old discussion, so we kindly ask to refrain from commenting on that particular design choice.
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A small teaser on some of the cards/mechanics we use:
- There is a seasons card. (Thanks Asper & Cookielord!)
- There is card that you can overpay with debt.
- The 'flash' mechanic is used, twice! (Thanks Cookielord!)
- A card with a supply pile of 20.
- A permanent duration
- A quasi-moatable attack event
- A bunch of other things, some that are more straighforward and normal, and others that really (we think) have pushed the limits of design.
No cards are final although some cards are more final than others. Feel free to post your comments in a nice and constructive way. We have worked long on this with lots of (difficult) communication (communicating between Europe-USA is difficult enough, but we have very different live styles and are awake and productive on very different times).
We hope you like them and that at least some of them are interesting enough to want to play with.
Lastly, keep the thread civilized (haha). Some minors are watching this thread, so mind your language.