I play quite a lot of multi-player Dominion. I happen to feel it works really nicely for three players and is one of my favourite games at that player count.
However, there are just a handful of cards where seating order matters in multiplayer games: Masquerade, Tribute, Possession, Contraband, Advisor, Chariot Race, Gladiator, Envoy.
A long time ago, I played a really messed up five-player game in which player A Possessed player B and forced them to play King's-Court Possession "for a laugh". Needless to say, when player B then possessed player C three times over, they won easily. We all just shrugged and wrote it off.
For Contaband, Advisor and Envoy, although left-hand opponent has the final say, the other players can offer opinions on how they should choose. (Does everyone allow that, out of interest?) The left-hand-opponent effect is very minor.
I've been in the occasional game where one person got noticeably nicer stuff passed to them than the others via Masquerade. I've been in games where Tribute was much more powerful for the player to the left of someone with a diverse deck of multi-typed cards. An issue, but not a big deal.
But then I had a Chariot Race game last week where the seating order annihilated me.
Three players. Me, another strong player to my left, a weaker player to my right. I focused on Chariot Race, mindful that I could ramp up really quickly, then have an amazing turn each time I found something costing $2 or less on top of opponent's deck. Left-hand opponent pursued a Tournament strategy but also, seeing what I was up to, thinned even more aggressively than usual, avoided buying the nice $2-coster and didn't nab Followers which I believe is normally their favourite Prize. Other opponent went for a Dismantle strategy, flooding their deck with Copper faster than they could mop it up.
I got eight Chariot Races. Left-hand opponent picked up a couple, largely to deprive me of them. Guess which of us won more races. )-8 (Yes, my Chariot Race did hit a Prize. Once. Too little, too late.)
If we'd been seated the other order around the table, I'd have had plenty of epic Province+8VP turns.
Has anyone else ever encountered similarly extreme problems with cards in this category?