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[JW]

The later Dominion sets ratchet up the complexity of the game substantially. A factor that I hadn’t considered is that the sheer variety of mechanics is difficult for infrequent Dominion players. I’ve got all of the sets besides Alchemy and even when selecting for simpler cards, if the Kingdom has too many different mechanics, inexperienced players tend to struggle. For example, Bandit Camp, Baker, and Monument are all simple cards, but keeping track of Spoils, coin tokens and VP tokens and thinking about the strategic implications is very challenging. In addition, there are so many mechanics that it even if someone gets a better feel for, say, coin tokens after a game with Baker, it may be a number of games before coin tokens come up again.

With that in mind, I’m looking to create a simplified group of cards to use when playing with less experienced players. These people aren’t completely new to the game, but they may only have played 5 times before, and do so rarely. There will be other frequent Dominion players in these games, so just using the base set would be too drastic a change. Most games will be 3-4 players.

My initial thought is to use Dominion 2nd Ed., Intrigue 2nd. Ed., Seaside, but exclude:
Torturer (Rabble’s attack is less oppresive and doesn’t lead to analysis paralysis), Pearl Diver (not interesting enough), Navigator (replaced by the more interesting/stronger Monument), Sea Hag (replaced by Soothsayer which helps you and hurts your opponents less), and Explorer (replaced by Hoard which is better and has synergy with Mill/Harem/Nobles/Island).

And additionally include: Bishop, Monument, Worker’s Village, City, Rabble, Hoard, Soothsayer, Amulet, Lost City, Hireling, Enchantress, Forum.

Reasoning behind these cards is: Bishop and Monument are the simplest VP token cards, and using them may lead to using landmarks in the future. I want to add at least two +Action cards because it’s a little rarer in Base/Intr/Sea than in more recent sets: Worker’s Village adds +Buy, City is a nice mirror-image to Poacher, and Lost City is friendly interaction. Amulet and Hireling are fun and simple duration cards. Enchantress and Forum are among the simpler Empires cards, and it shouldn’t be hard to explain how Enchantress interacts with Moat/Lighthouse if that comes up.

Thoughts? Have other people done something similar?

[Chris is me]

You'll be better off designing specific Kingdoms I think. Lots of cards are cool and fine alone but overwhelming in bunches, so I always like to at leastbias my randomizer and maybe even swap cards manually until I get the ones I want in.

[Dingan]

I avoid cards with big horizontal lines -- new players often don't remember to do the things that should happen at times other than when you explicitly play the card, unless I remind them.  Treasury specifically comes to mind.  I sadly often get to the point where I straight up tell the player "This is the last time I'm reminding you to topdeck the Treasury.. it's up to you from here on."

I never play with Shelters at first.

I avoid cards that have a lot of choices (Pawn) or big if .. else if .. else .. logic (Ironmonger).

I avoid trashers, because it's unlikely a first-time player realizes the true power of thinning.  I wait until they have a few games under their belt, to bring up the concept that you usually don't actually want Coppers.

As you mentioned, cards that require extra piles -- just require more set up time, more text to read, more things to remember, etc.

I don't own Alchemy IRL but would probably not play with it at first.

I would NEVER play with Villa at first.

Then again, there are probably some purists out there that say full random is the best way to learn...

[LastFootnote]

If you want to keep the number of mechanics in a single game under control (which I agree is important for new players), then the obvious thing to do is randomize from 2 sets. This is what I do for virtually every IRL game of Dominion I play.

[Beyond Awesome]

If you want to introduce VP tokens, Chariot Race and Groundskeeper are pretty straightforward. As a matter of fact, they are easier to understand than Bishop I think, since you aren't doing math when trashing cards.

I would also add some simple Events such as Delve, Alms, and Expedition. This way they can get a feel for Events

I would potentially take out Enchantress. It's very easy to forget about when playing with other people. I would wait before introducing Duration-Attacks. Dungeon seems fine to add. It's pretty straightforward.

I also play with new players a lot and Treasure Trove goes over really well with people new to the game.

Also, LastFootnote's suggestion is good as well.

[JW]

You'll be better off designing specific Kingdoms I think. Lots of cards are cool and fine alone but overwhelming in bunches, so I always like to at leastbias my randomizer and maybe even swap cards manually until I get the ones I want in.

I don’t like feeling that I’ve designed the kingdom by re-randomizing many cards or manually replacing many cards. In extreme cases (e.g., 4 +Actions, or 5 trashers), I'll suggest that I switch out some of them for variety, and people almost always agree. The only time I pick most of the Kingdom manually is when teaching someone who has never played before.

I avoid trashers, because it's unlikely a first-time player realizes the true power of thinning.  I wait until they have a few games under their belt, to bring up the concept that you usually don't actually want Coppers.

I make sure to include at least one trasher in everyone’s first game so that they can see the utility of trashing cards. However, I avoid Chapel for first-time players for this reason.

If you want to keep the number of mechanics in a single game under control (which I agree is important for new players), then the obvious thing to do is randomize from 2 sets. This is what I do for virtually every IRL game of Dominion I play.

This seems great as a way to keep the number of mechanics under control for a single game, but if you switch between all of the sets you’ll have different mechanics compared to previous games. Also, Dark Ages/Adventures/Empires are more complex than the others and randomizing over them (without a lot of exclusions) could get too complicated too fast. But choosing two of Base/Intr/Sea/Prosp to randomize between would be fine.

Are there publicly available randomizers that choose between two of a list of sets (without you having to pick the sets each time)?

If you want to introduce VP tokens, Chariot Race and Groundskeeper are pretty straightforward. As a matter of fact, they are easier to understand than Bishop I think, since you aren't doing math when trashing cards.

I would also add some simple Events such as Delve, Alms, and Expedition. This way they can get a feel for Events

Dungeon seems fine to add. It's pretty straightforward.

I also play with new players a lot and Treasure Trove goes over really well with people new to the game.

I haven’t played Groundskeeper enough to know, but I’d worry that Groundskeeper strategies will often be dominant, and inexperienced players won’t be able to see that or execute those strategies (a lesser version of the issue with Goons).

Expedition and Delve are great simple events. With Alms I feel like everyone would constantly want to take back playing their treasures.

I can play Dungeon online but can’t play Forum; otherwise that’s a clear swap. I considered Treasure Trove over Hoard. I like that Hoard is weaker than Treasure Trove in simple money strategies. They can’t all be the best BM gold-gainer.

[sudgy]

For a simple game, I try to never use cards that involve anything extra beyond the card itself.  So no tokens, non-supply piles, mats, or anything else.  I also try to use cards that don't have a lot of words and are simple.  For a first game I also try to get a good representative sample of these cards.

[theJester]

Personally I'd include all the cards when teaching newbies, including trashers, VP token and coin token cards, cards with special mats etc. New players won't, of course, immediately understand the best way to play them, but they'll see how complex an interesting the game can be and will be drawn to it. In general, what can be intended as "I'm slowly teaching you layer by layer of Dominion omitting more complex cards at start" can unintentionally be viewed as "I'm not allowed to play with all the cool stuff" from the part of the newbie.

The only cards I'd exclude would be the ones which in one way or another reduce fun factor when playing: cars such as Spy (which prolongs the decision-making and game, making it less fun for everyone), Scyring Pool (ditto Spy), Torturer (being subjected to Torturer chains from experienced player is a sure way for newbie to learn to hate the game), KC-Masq-Goons combo (similar to Torturer). Similarly, I'd include cards that promote interaction between players, even if they may not be the best ones. One such example is Contraband - far from a strong card, but very fun to play with.

Overall, I think fun and enjoyment are the key here. If you show newbies how enjoyable DOminion can be, they'll eagerly play it. Hence, they'll start improving and discovering new and better strategies, all by themselves; and all while having fun playing.

[jsh357]

Personally I'd include all the cards when teaching newbies, including trashers, VP token and coin token cards, cards with special mats etc. New players won't, of course, immediately understand the best way to play them, but they'll see how complex an interesting the game can be and will be drawn to it. In general, what can be intended as "I'm slowly teaching you layer by layer of Dominion omitting more complex cards at start" can unintentionally be viewed as "I'm not allowed to play with all the cool stuff" from the part of the newbie.

The only cards I'd exclude would be the ones which in one way or another reduce fun factor when playing: cars such as Spy (which prolongs the decision-making and game, making it less fun for everyone), Scyring Pool (ditto Spy), Torturer (being subjected to Torturer chains from experienced player is a sure way for newbie to learn to hate the game), KC-Masq-Goons combo (similar to Torturer). Similarly, I'd include cards that promote interaction between players, even if they may not be the best ones. One such example is Contraband - far from a strong card, but very fun to play with.

Overall, I think fun and enjoyment are the key here. If you show newbies how enjoyable DOminion can be, they'll eagerly play it. Hence, they'll start improving and discovering new and better strategies, all by themselves; and all while having fun playing.

This is a very important point. The truth is that everyone is different. I would not have gotten into Dominion myself had I not seen how complex the game was in my first exposure to it. Then again, some players like simpler cards, but may get disappointed when they realize the game is actually a lot more complicated than they thought. That's why I think it's not a bad idea to just be up front about how some cards are more complicated than others. Having a few around in someone's first games is not a problem. They don't have to buy a card they don't understand.

[mameluke]

I also make sure, esp in 3+ player games, that there is at least one +buy. There's nothing worse than giving a new-ish player the impression that the game will take forever, and depending on their skill level and attacks on the board, you may have to pick up all 8 provinces yourself

[JW]

I also make sure, esp in 3+ player games, that there is at least one +buy. There's nothing worse than giving a new-ish player the impression that the game will take forever, and depending on their skill level and attacks on the board, you may have to pick up all 8 provinces yourself

Attacks are more important than +Buy in this regard. A board with Sea Hag, no trashing, and Market probably won't play out quickly, for example, unless it ends on 3-piles. That's one reason why in my simplified Base/Intr/Sea+ set above, I replace Sea Hag with Soothsayer. 

I would not have gotten into Dominion myself had I not seen how complex the game was in my first exposure to it. Then again, some players like simpler cards, but may get disappointed when they realize the game is actually a lot more complicated than they thought. That's why I think it's not a bad idea to just be up front about how some cards are more complicated than others. Having a few around in someone's first games is not a problem. They don't have to buy a card they don't understand.

It's fine if someone does not understand why trashing is useful and doesn't buy trashers. The problem is when they buy Baker and spend a long time keeping track of coin tokens and trying to decide when to use them. Or it's hard for them to keep track of Ironmonger's bonus, or they don't remember what that strange red hexagon for debt is and ask about it every other turn, etc..

[ThetaSigma12]

I use fan cards a lot.

[arcee]

Are there publicly available randomizers that choose between two of a list of sets (without you having to pick the sets each time)?

Android's "Dominion Shuffle" might be able to do this, you can definitely say "4+ (or exactly 5) cards if any" from each set which would be close.

[Chris is me]

Are there publicly available randomizers that choose between two of a list of sets (without you having to pick the sets each time)?

Android's "Dominion Shuffle" might be able to do this, you can definitely say "4+ (or exactly 5) cards if any" from each set which would be close.

I've always dreamed of making a "perfect randomizer" where you could create any number of rules for almost any condition you wanted, by examining properties of cards and allowing you to choose based on them.

Imagine a randomizer that allowed you to pick, from a pool weighted 80% toward Adventures and 20% toward all attacks, where at least 3 of the cards are at least +1 card, but no more than 7 cards cost more than 4. Would be so cool! But lots of work.

[Polk5440]

In general, what can be intended as "I'm slowly teaching you layer by layer of Dominion omitting more complex cards at start" can unintentionally be viewed as "I'm not allowed to play with all the cool stuff" from the part of the newbie.

I played hundreds (thousands?) of games of Dominion before Dark Ages, Adventures, Guilds, Empires,.... came out. Never once did I feel deprived of playing with the cool stuff.