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Author Topic: Atlas of Fan Card Mechanics: A Bibliographic Thread  (Read 10919 times)

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spineflu

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Atlas of Fan Card Mechanics: A Bibliographic Thread
« on: October 07, 2020, 10:29:37 am »
+10

I think it'd be good to have a comprehensive curated list of fan-made mechanics; I'm going to use this post as sort of a Table of Contents and attempt to map some sort of ontology/categorization onto them. The categorization isn't going to be exclusive - if something uses a mat and counters, it'll be in both lists, etc.

This thread should be considered a perpetual work in progress - if you have a new mechanic, or find one I missed, reply here or DM me and I'll get it included at my earliest convenience obviously like a wiki would be better for this but a dominion fan card wiki is beyond the scope of my wallet and/or attention span, so it's a thread

Involving Counters/Tracks
This is anything involving a place for coin tokens, or anything involving a separate track that something moves on



Involving Mats & Coin tokens
This is anything involving mats like the official ones for Exile, Coffers, Tavern Mat, etc.



Involving Other Card Components
New landscapes, new things with a side deck a la Boons or Hexes, or things that add a new supply pile like Looters or Young Witch, or things that add a new non-supply pile like Spoils etc.



Involving Other Non-card Components
This is anything involving other components (boards, dice, etc)



Mechanics that change over the course of the game
This is mechanics that explicitly change over the course of the game - official cards that would belong here are Pirate Ship, Miser, Travellers, etc - strategy related changes, like action density or comparative value of green (how it's low value early, while trying to get your engine running but high value later, when trying to keep up for the end of game) don't belong here



Mechanics that fundamentally alter rules of the game
Official mechanics that do this are Landmarks and Night cards



Mechanics that change how existing things interact
New non-frivoulous types, etc


New Phases
Phases beyond the AB(N)C



Alternative Money / Alternate Costs
A new, different currency to try to wrangle. Debt and Potions would both go here, as would how Peddler changes costs, Grand Market has restrictions, etc.



Not Otherwise Classified
A mechanic included here probably suggests a new category is needed
« Last Edit: March 02, 2021, 03:32:23 pm by spineflu »
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spineflu

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Re: Fan Mechanics Guide: Fame (type) + Feats (author: Asper)
« Reply #1 on: October 07, 2020, 10:36:26 am »
0

Rules:
  • Fame cards: A minor mechanic about cards that get better if the player fulfilled certain "Feats" tracked on a board (Also cog icon).

(...)



Feats
Cards with the "Fame" type get stronger the more "Feats" a player has achieved during the game.

Feats are tracked with a Feat Mat during the game.
 The Level 1 Feats are: (A) „Have $2 or more left at the end of your Buy phase“, (B) „Gain a Fame card“, and (C)„Gain a Gold“.
 Like in a tree, A & B branch into a Level 2 Feat: „Gain a Duchy“. B & C together branch into the Level 2 Feat „Have an empty deck and discard pile at the start of the buy Phase“.
These two together branch into the Level 3 Feat „Gain a Province“.

Feats can only be done in ascending order.
If you do what a Level 1 Feat says, cover it with a token.
For Level 2 and 3 Feats, you can only place your token if, at the time you do what it says, you already have a token at a lower level Feat that branches into it.

If you do what a Feat says before you can reach it, you must do it again later to place your token.
Examples
Headhunter
$2
Action – Fame
+1 Action; Look at the top X cards of your deck, with X being the number of Feats you accomplished. Put one in your hand and discard the rest.


Curiosity Shop
$4
Action – Fame
Discard up to 4 cards. Gain a card costing up to $X, where X is the sum of the number of cards you discarded and Feats you accomplished.


Impostor
$4
Action – Fame
+1 Buy; +1 Card per Feat you accomplished. Discard half as many cards as you drew.


Inquisitor
$5
Action – Attack – Fame
+3 Cards; Each player who accomplished fewer Feats than you gains a Curse.


Adventure-Seeker
$5
Action – Fame
+1 Buy, +$1 per Feat you accomplished.


Hall of Fame
$6
Victory – Fame
Worth 1 VP per Feat you accomplished.

(...)
« Last Edit: October 07, 2020, 10:41:02 am by spineflu »
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GendoIkari

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Re: Fan Mechanics Guide: A Bibliographic Thread
« Reply #2 on: October 07, 2020, 10:45:22 am »
+5

Alternative Money
A new, different currency to try to wrangle

Gunpowder!
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spineflu

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0

Rules:
  • Spellcasters: Cards that allow you to "cast" Spells that you previously bought. (Wand icon)

Spellcasters & Spells
When a card with the Spellcaster type is in the supply, 3 Spells are chosen at random and put next to the Supply.
Spells are effects similar to Events, which never go into your deck, but which you can buy in your buy phase.
Each player gets 5 Spell Tokens in their color.
When you buy a Spell, you put one of your tokens on the Spell you bought. That Spell is now "prepared".
The only way to actually perform what a Spell does is when a Spellcaster card tells you to „cast a Spell“. By casting a Spell, you do what it says, then remove your token from the Spell. Naturally, you can have up to five Spells prepared.

Spellcaster Examples:
Trickster
$2
Action – Spellcaster
+2 Actions; You may cast a Spell.


Magician
$3
Action – Spellcaster
+1 Buy; You may cast a Spell.
-
While this is in play, Spells cost $1 less, but not less than $0.


Shaman
$3
Action – Spellcaster
+2 Cards; You may cast a Spell. If you do: +1 Card.


Stone Circle
$3
Victory – Spellcaster
Worth 2 VP.
-
When you gain this, you may cast a Spell.


Summoner
$4
Action – Spellcaster
Discard any number of cards. You may prepare a Spell costing up to $1 per card discarded. You may cast a Spell.


Grimoire
$4
Treasure – Spellcaster
+$1, +1 Buy; When you play this, you may cast a Spell. You may discard a card, for +$1.


Sorcerer
$5
Action – Spellcaster
+3 Cards, +1 Buy; You may cast a Spell.


Wizard
$5
Action – Spellcaster
+1 Card, +1 Action, +$1; You may cast a Spell.

Spell Examples:
Esprit
$1
Spell
+3 Buys


Purity
$2
Spell
Trash any number of cards from your hand.


Wisdom
$2
Spell
+2 Cards


Dexterity
$3
Spell
Gain a card costing up to $5.


Harm
$3
Spell
Gain a Silver. Each other player gains a Curse.


Wealth
$4
Spell
+$3


Glory
$8
Spell
Gain a Province.
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spineflu

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Re: Fan Mechanics Guide: Edicts (authors: LastFootnote, Asper)
« Reply #4 on: October 07, 2020, 10:55:21 am »
0

Rules
So probably if these work out I will put them in Enterprise, but they seem like they should be in their own thread, at least at first.

I'm trying to make some cards that change the rules in Dominion in minor ways, much like twists in Nefarious. Like Events, they'd be landscape cards. But you don't buy them; they're just always active for everybody. Basically they're like the bottom half of Duchess or a lot of the cards in Fragasnap's Greed expansion. Ideally they're things that either wouldn't work as Events, or at least wouldn't work nearly as well if they were Events. It's possible that Donald will do stuff like this one day, but probably that day is pretty far off if it ever arrives at all.

As much as possible I'm sticking to optional bonuses for these cards, so that you're not cheating if you forget them. It's easy to forget stuff like "Silver costs $1 less this game" for the purposes of Remodel, etc. I'm not totally ruling things like that out, but for now I'm shying away from them.

Apologies that none of these have been tested yet. I'm posting them here partly to get a general reaction (you like/dislike the idea) and also so others can point out if some of these have game-ruining combinations with existing cards (e.g. Fortress). Of course I'm also happy to discuss individual Edicts.
  • Edicts: Sideways cards that introduce straight-up rules changes. These predate Projects, by the way.

Examples
Edicts
Edicts are straight-up rules changes. They can never be bought or added to anyone's deck, and are basically a broader variant of Landmarks.

Expansion
Edict
At the start of your turn, you may take your -$1 Token, to get +1 Action.


Appeasement
Edict
When another player plays an Attack card, you may discard an Estate from your hand, to be unaffected by it.


Diplomacy
Edict
At the start of your turn, you may discard 2 cards, for +1 Card.


Exile
Edict
When you gain a Curse, set it aside and gain a Copper.


Gigantism
Edict
Setup: Use 3 additional Kingdom card piles.


Trade Agreement
Edict
When you shuffle your deck during the game, you may gain a Silver and shuffle it in.


Imperialism
Edict
Setup: If it isn't already there, add the Platinum pile to the Supply.


Inflation
Edict
Cards can never cost less than $3.


Monarchy
Edict
Once per turn, when you play an Action card, you may set it aside here to play it again. Trash it at the start of your cleanup phase.


Reformation
Edict
Setup: Add a Province to the Supply per player.


Simplicity
Edict
Setup: Each player gets +5 Villagers


Tyranny
Edict
When you gain a Treasure card, take your -$1 Token.


Supervision
Edict
Setup: Before drawing starting cards, all players may look through their deck and put its cards in any order.


Banishment
Edict
When you buy a Victory card, trash a cheaper Victory card from the Supply.


Urbanisation
Edict
Setup: Each player replaces one of their starting Estates (or a Shelter of their choice) with a Copper.

Charity: Edict
At the start of your Buy phase, you may reveal a hand with no Treasures. If you did, gain a Gold, putting it into your hand.

Commerce: Edict
When you shuffle during your Clean-up phase, you may add a Silver from the Supply to your deck (shuffling it in).

Coordination: Edict
At the start of each of your turns: +1 Action

Industry: Edict
Once per turn, when you play an Action card, you may draw 3 cards instead of following its instructions.

Prudence: Edict
At the start of Clean-up, you may put any number of cards from your hand on top of your deck.

Tyranny: Edict
Once per turn, after you resolve a non-Duration Action card, if it's still in play, you may play it again. If you did, trash it.
« Last Edit: March 02, 2021, 09:44:02 am by spineflu »
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spineflu

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Re: Fan Mechanics Guide: Seasons (authors: Asper, Co0kieL0rd)
« Reply #5 on: October 07, 2020, 11:07:12 am »
0

    Rules
  • Seasons (created by Co0kieL0rd and me): Cards that change over the course of the game. (Hourglass icon)

Seasons
Season cards were created as a project together with the user C0okyL0rd.
They change as the game progresses.
When one or more Season cards are in the Supply, use the Season mat. The Season Mat has 20 spaces on it that go in a circle, and shows the 4 Seasons.
A token is used to track the current time of year, starting the game on space 1, the first of Spring. After each full round (that is, after the last player in turn order took their turn) the token is moved forward one space.
After each 5 turns a new Season begins. Summer starts with turn 6, Fall with turn 11, and Winter with 16. After turn 20 it is Spring again, and so on.
Season cards check the current Season and do different things depending on it.

Examples
Sojourner
2
Action – Season
+2 Actions; Trash this. In Spring: +$2; In Summer: Trash up to 2 cards from your hand.; In Fall: +2 Cards; In Winter: Gain two Estates.


Bailiff
3
Action – Season
In Spring and Summer: Trash up to 3 cards from your hand. In Fall and Winter: Gain a Copper and a card costing up to $5.


Snow Witch
3
Action – Attack – Season
+2 Cards; You may put a card from your hand onto your deck. In Fall and Winter: Each other player gains a Curse to their hand.


Student
3
Action – Season
+1 Action; You may put the following token on the Student pile (when you play a Student, you first get the respective boni): In Spring: +1 Action token; In Summer: +1 Card token; In Fall: +1 Buy token; In Winter: +$1 token


Barbarian
4
Action – Attack – Season
+2$; Each other player with 5 or more cards in hand chooses one they must...; In Spring and Winter: ...put onto their deck; In Summer and Fall: ...discard.


Timberland
4
Victory – Season
Worth 2 VP
-
When you gain this: In Spring: +3 VP; In Summer: +2 VP; In Fall: +1 VP


Sanitarium
4
Action – Season
+2 Actions; Draw cards until you have 5 in hand.
When you gain this in Spring, you may trash a card from your hand.


Lumberman
4
Action – Season
+1 Buy; Reveal cards from the top of your deck until you reveal 2 Treasure cards. Put them in your hand and discard the rest.
-
When Fall begins, put all cards remaining in the Lumberman pile into the trash.


Peltmonger
4
Action – Season
Gain a Silver to your hand. In Winter: You may gain another Silver to your hand.


Ball Room
5
Action – Season
In Spring and Summer: Gain an Action card costing less than this and play it. In Fall and Winter: You may play an Action card from your hand twice.


Fjord Village
5
Action – Season
+1 Card, +2 Actions, +1 Buy
-
When you discard this from play in Fall and Winter, put it onto your deck.


Cottage
5*
Action – Season
+2 Cards, +1 Action
-
This card costs $1 less in Fall and $2 less in Winter, but not less than $0.


Plantation
5
Action – Season
+3 Cards; In Summer and Winter: +1 Card
-
When you gain this, you may move the Season tracking token back by one space.


Restore
5
Action – Season
+1 Action; Trash a card from your hand. Gain a card costing up to...; In Spring and Fall: $2; In Summer: $3; In Winter: $1; ...more than the trashed card.
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spineflu

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Re: Fan Mechanics Guide: Team Cards (author: Asper)
« Reply #6 on: October 07, 2020, 11:12:10 am »
0

Rules:
  • Team Dominion: Cards created for a Dominion variant that has players team up against each other. (Shaking hands icon)


Team cards
These cards are intended for team play. The assumed rules of Team Dominion are that each player plays a deck of their own as usual, just that, at the end, the scores of team members are added up and divided by the number of team members. Unequally sized teams are fine. Team cards allow team members to help each other.
Examples:
Steeple
2
Action – Team
Draw cards until you have 6 in hand. Each of your team partners may trash a card from their hand.


Conman
3
Action – Team
Either you or one of your team partners gains a Copper, your choice. Either you or one of your team partners gains a non-Victory card costing up to $6, your choice.


Fisherman
3
Action – Reaction – Team
+1 Card, +1 Action; One of your team partners may discard a card for you to get +$1.
-
At the start of one of a team partner's buy phase, you may discard this, for them to get +$1.


Merchant Quarter
4
Action – Team
+1 Card, +2 Actions; Choose one of your team partners to gain a Silver.


Stilt Village
4
Action – Duration – Team
+1 Card, +2 Actions; At the start of your next turn: +1 Action; At the start of their next turn, each of your team partners gets +1 Action.


Study
4
Action – Team
+1 Card, +1 Action; Choose one of your team partners to draw a card.


Sponsor
5
Action – Team
+$3; You may reveal a non-Victory card from your hand and pass it to one of your team partners.


Salesman
5
Action – Team
+1 Card, +1 Action, +$1; You may put this into of a team partners' discard pile.
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spineflu

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Re: Fan Mechanics Guide: Perks + Favor (type) (author: Something_Smart)
« Reply #7 on: October 07, 2020, 11:17:29 am »
0

Rules
The idea is called the Perk deck. Cards that use the Perk deck have the Favor type.

Perks are pretty much a cross between Boons and Artifacts. Like Artifacts, there is one copy of each, and once taken by a player they are held by that player and provide a permanent effect until another player takes them away. When a player is instructed to take a Perk, they may choose to either draw a random one from the deck, or steal one from any other player.

Examples





And the Favor cards:


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spineflu

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Re: Fan Mechanics Guide: Trap cards (author: Neirai the Forgiven)
« Reply #8 on: October 07, 2020, 12:38:47 pm »
0

Original Post
Quote
Dominion Antiquities also introduces Trap cards, which are a type of card that is shuffled into the other kingdom card piles when setting up the game (using the above rules,) and are automatically gained by the player who flips them face up from a face-down pile.

Quote
Boulder Trap: The Boulder Trap is a Trap card and follows the rules of a Trap card (see Additional Rules for Dominion Antiquities, above.) A Boulder Trap is worth -1 Victory Point at the end of the game, like a Curse. When you discard Boulder Trap, you may have the player to your left gain it; it goes from your hand into their discard pile. You cannot simply choose to discard it; something has to let you or make you discard it. This ability functions whether you discard Boulder Trap on your own turn (such as due to Archaeologist) or on someone else’s (such as due to Inspector.) It functions if Boulder Trap is discarded from your hand (such as due to Inscription) or from your deck (such as due to Gamepiece.) This ability does not function if Boulder Trap is put into your discard pile without being discarded, such as when you buy a card, when you gain a card directly (such as with Collector,) when your deck is put into your discard pile, such as with Stronghold, or with Possession from Dominion: Alchemy, when trashed cards are returned to you at the end of turn. The key thing to look for is a card actually telling you to “discard” cards. It does, however, function during Clean-up, when you normally discard all of your played and unplayed cards. Also, when you gain Boulder Trap, if you gained it from the Supply (by flipping it face up from a Supply pile) you gain a Silver. The Silver comes from the supply and goes onto the top of your deck. You do not gain the Silver if you gain Boulder Trap from the trash, or another player causes you to gain it from their hand.
« Last Edit: March 02, 2021, 09:39:43 am by spineflu »
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spineflu

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Re: Fan Mechanics Guide: Trinkets (author: spineflu)
« Reply #9 on: October 07, 2020, 12:50:15 pm »
0

Trinket:

Quote
Trinket • $1* • Treasure
You may pay $1 to return this to its pile.
-
While this is in play, cards cost $1 less.
(This is not in the Supply
This didn't change from contest 78; the image is the first toy lego made (like, actually; it's a photo, not art). There's 30 copies, and it's not in the supply (kind of like Spoils or Horses). You put it on the table when a card mentions it.

Example cards that use Trinkets:

Quote
Benefactor • @3$5+ • Action
+2 Buys
+$2
-
When you buy this, you may overpay. For each $1 you overpay, each other player gains a Trinket to the top of their deck.
Super-woodcutter that can wreck another player's turn if you go in hard on the overpay, especially in kingdoms that are debt/potion-y.  This card hasn't been tested.




Quote
Stevedore • $5 • Action - Duration
You may gain a Trinket. Until your next turn, the first time each other player gets +Buys, they get +Cards instead.
At the start of your next turn, +1 Buy and cards cost $1 less that turn.




Quote
Grifter • $5 • Action - Attack
+$2
Each other player may discard a Trinket. If they don't, they gain a Trinket and a Copper
Mountebank variant. This has been tested. It's strong.
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Re: Fan Mechanics Guide: Harlequin + Harlequin Track (author: spineflu)
« Reply #10 on: October 07, 2020, 12:57:24 pm »
0



and then for shits and giggles made a second track for it.


It's essentially a branching traveller, but everyones traveller simultaneously. Some of the options are intentionally less good than others, so that if one person goes hard on Harlequins, other players can steer it away from being Too Good.

You'll probably need to click (and probably zoom/pan/open in new window?) to be able to read those. The starting space of the track is in the center - they're laid out to print on a 22"x22" board (which'd quadfold to fit in the dominion box). It'd ship with one Harlequin meeple to move around.

I uh didn't bother typing out the space options in bbcode because dear god plz no and does anyone even read this? lazy. There's some novel attack ideas in there that haven't really been done yet but otherwise should be pretty vanilla.
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Re: Fan Mechanics Guide: Dreams (author: Rush_Clasic)
« Reply #11 on: October 07, 2020, 01:07:00 pm »
+1

Rules
Dreams

Dreams are a new landscape card. You can include one to use much like you would a Project, Way, Event, etc. They all have abilities that trigger at the end of each player's Night phase (or at the start of the Clean-Up phase), rewarding that player for accomplishing some goal during their turn. They happen automatically if a player accomplished the criteria for them.

Examples
Dream of Flying
Dream
At the end of your Night phase, if you have 3 or more cards in hand: Set aside a card from your hand. At the start of your next turn, put it into your hand.

Dream of Being Lost
Dream
At the end of your Night phase, if you have any unused actions: You may put an Action card from your discard pile on top of your deck.

Dream of Wealth
Dream
At the end of your Night phase, if you have any unused buys: +1 Coffers.

Dream of Death's Ferryman
Dream
At the end of your Night phase, if you have 2 or more Silvers in play: You may gain a Silver.

Secret History
I was mulling around with the idea of cards that want you to achieve some mini-goal within the game. I like how the different landscape cards make you care about deck construction in different ways. I went for the simplest idea: just reward players for doing something specific. They wanted to work as close to the end of turn as possible, but not necessarily mess with clean-up. Thankfully, we have this neat Night phase that's been around for a few years. That's where the idea originated for theming these cards as Dreams: what you do during the day impacts how you dream at night. They aren't the most innovative ideas, but I like the overall feel of them. I'd say they're closest to Landmarks, just without the VP focus. (Another reason I avoided making VP related Dreams.) I went for well-established recurring dreams and tried to make something sensible out of each. If people like them, I might try making the whole deck.
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Re: Fan Mechanics Guide: Card-cost cards (author: Aquila)
« Reply #12 on: October 07, 2020, 01:32:16 pm »
0

Rules
Card costs
Instead of or as well as a coin symbol, some of these cards have a card back where the cost is. It means that instead of or as well as $, your cards are involved in the cost. They could in theory be from anywhere so long as you own them, but in this set each cost comes from hand since it's more of an actual expense. Below the line, there will be a description of the cost.
You might think of Animal Fair having the option of an Action in hand as a cost. It's an option, card costs are not.

For abilities that care about costs: this is another different kind of cost to join Potion and Debt. You can't remodel a $ cost card into a [ ] or $[ ] cost or vice versa, or [ ] into Debt or Potion costs. Each differently described card cost is also incomparable, no matter how much $, Debt or Potion is with them and even though some might be distinctly easier to pay than others. So you can't remodel a [ ] into a differently described [ ], but you could remodel [ ] into $1[ ] or $2[ ] if the described cost on each card is identical.

Examples


Quote
Campsite - Action, [ ] cost.
+1 Card
+2 Actions

-
[ ]: To buy this, reveal and discard 2 Victories.
Well here we have it, both Villages come first alphabetically. This one sets itself apart by being a card cost; have 2 Victories in hand, which you need to discard, to afford it. Campers need green space.
+: When you get a dud hand filled with green, you don't mind picking up an extra Village. It's useful, but doesn't improve deck power by itself so it's not easy mode.
-: it may be too easy to get.


Quote
Colliery - Action, $6[ ] cost.
+1 Buy
Take Exhausted. If you do, + $1 per Action you have in play.
-
[ ]: To buy this, trash 2 copies of a card costing $3 or more from your hand.
Coal mines fuelled the factories, with an infamous amount of manpower. Here's the first card using Exhausted; it's effectively a double Action, one card that uses two Actions on play. If you play it and already have Exhausted (that'd be by Thrones or by playing it at the Buy phase), you just get a Buy. Played 'properly' it can give impressive payload, but can be hard to play well in multiples.
There's a dual cost too. You need both $6 and two cards costing $3+ to Treasure Map to afford this.
+: powerful payload strategy that can possibly exist and be balanced with a big card cost and Exhausted.
-: the cost may be a bit extreme as is.


Quote
Steam Engine - Action, [ ] cost.
+1 Action
Do this up to 3 times: take Exhausted. If you do, you may play an Action from your hand twice.
-
[ ]: To buy this, trash a Gold from your hand.
The first steam engines could be attached to several different machines. That's what you can do here, Throne up to 3 of your Action cards for an extra Action each time. It's just like going Throne Room - play, Throne Room - play, Throne Room - play, only you need the one Throne card not 3. This powerful effect is expensive though, and you get it in two stages: first get a Gold, then cash it in for a shiny new steam engine.
+: it's an elegant and thematic effect.
-: could easily be too strong, or swingy; you really don't want to draw this dead!


Quote
Wastelands - Victory, [ ] cost.
4VP
-
[ ]: To buy this, trash 3 Actions and/or Treasures from your hand.
When this pile empties, it counts as 2 toward game end.
The more wasteland you own, the implication is the more productive your factories are. It rewards having few useful cards in your deck at game end, and has an on-gain that helps achieve this.
+: it makes a new way to win the game that takes strategy and skill. Opening it is bad most of the time, but can be done sometimes.
-: the VP could scale with the number of non-Victories in the deck (which it used to), so it's more defined as alt VP.




Quote
Spinning Jenny - Action Treasure, $5 cost.
+3 Cards
+1 Buy

If it's your Buy phase, then for the rest of the turn, cards with no [ ] cost in the Supply have one that reads, "to buy this, discard 2 cards".
An invention that improved spinning threads to weave into fabrics, and this spins cards through your deck quickly. It can be terminal Action +3 Cards +1 Buy, which already exists and is useful, or it can be a Treasure for non-terminal Buy phase draw. If you do the latter, you'll have to discard cards to buy stuff so you can't use it all.
+: It gets you thinking resourcefully about your cards, and it's an Action Treasure which is also nice in the set.
-: Discarding 2 cards might be too harsh, but at 1 it's a bit too good in big money decks.

« Last Edit: October 10, 2020, 09:32:48 am by spineflu »
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Re: Fan Mechanics Guide: –1 Action (author: Aquila)
« Reply #13 on: October 07, 2020, 01:44:35 pm »
0

Rules
-1 Action: Exhausted

Quote
Exhausted - State
When you next have unused Actions (Actions, not Action cards) during your Action Phase, immediately return this and -1 Action.
Villagers make getting +1 Action much easier. So here's the opposite, -1 Action; just like the -$1 token but for Actions. After you take Exhausted, whenever you next have 1 or more Actions left during your Action phase, you immediately lose one and return this, whether you're in the middle of resolving an Action or not. If you end your Action phase still having Exhausted, it will stay over to next turn, and be returned right at the start to take away your starting Action. You could spend a Villager at any time during your Action phase to return this at any time; this can be quite important to pay off Exhausted at turn start to enable the Action phase. And you're only allowed one Exhausted at a time, for simplicity and balance reasons.
Examples:

Quote
Colliery - Action, $6[ ] cost.
+1 Buy
Take Exhausted. If you do, + $1 per Action you have in play.
-
[ ]: To buy this, trash 2 copies of a card costing $3 or more from your hand.
Coal mines fuelled the factories, with an infamous amount of manpower. Here's the first card using Exhausted; it's effectively a double Action, one card that uses two Actions on play. If you play it and already have Exhausted (that'd be by Thrones or by playing it at the Buy phase), you just get a Buy. Played 'properly' it can give impressive payload, but can be hard to play well in multiples.
There's a dual cost too. You need both $6 and two cards costing $3+ to Treasure Map to afford this.
+: powerful payload strategy that can possibly exist and be balanced with a big card cost and Exhausted.
-: the cost may be a bit extreme as is.




Quote
Glassworks - Action, $2 cost.
+ $2
You may take Exhausted. If you do, +1 Coffers.
-
When you gain this, you may spend any amount of your $. +1 Villager per $1 you spent.
Glassworks range widely in size, from small domestic businesses to industrial scale. Bigger establishments come with more workforce. Overpay for Villagers on a cheap card, quite simple, only you can Workshop-gain it during your turn and it'll work too. The on-play effect can let you turn an extra Action into a Coffers. So it can in effect let you convert your Villagers info Coffers and vice versa.
+: Simple and effective, hopefully.
-: + $2 +Coffers could be too much for a $2 to give, especially if opened with.



Quote
Revolters - Action Attack, $4 cost.
+ $2
Each other player may take Exhausted or lose a Villager. Those who do neither gain a Curse.
-
When you gain this, each player (including you) gets +1 Villager.
They've been worked too hard in awful conditions, and they want your opponents' workers to agree with them. An Attack that tries to take an Action away from the opponents. Forcibly doing this would be imbalanced, so they can instead have a crow for their troubles.
+: it adds a new decision for players to think about.
-: it's a shame that this is basically a curser, that trashing and the Curses emptying make the -1 Action part trivial.



Quote
Steam Engine - Action, [ ] cost.
+1 Action
Do this up to 3 times: take Exhausted. If you do, you may play an Action from your hand twice.
-
[ ]: To buy this, trash a Gold from your hand.
The first steam engines could be attached to several different machines. That's what you can do here, Throne up to 3 of your Action cards for an extra Action each time. It's just like going Throne Room - play, Throne Room - play, Throne Room - play, only you need the one Throne card not 3. This powerful effect is expensive though, and you get it in two stages: first get a Gold, then cash it in for a shiny new steam engine.
+: it's an elegant and thematic effect.
-: could easily be too strong, or swingy; you really don't want to draw this dead!


Quote
Textile Mill - Action, $5 cost.
+3 Cards
You may take Exhausted. If you do, +2 Cards.
A big place needing lots of people, quickly spinning cards through the deck. Yes, I decided to make both textile industry things draw. This gives you a choice on how much you draw. If you want more, you'll use an extra Action for it. There are times you want less.
+: one of the simplest things to do with Exhausted, and it's effective. It could take on an Artifact too, as an alternative Exhausted option.
-: could either be weak overall or too good with big money.
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Re: Fan Mechanics Guide: Prospects (author: Aquila)
« Reply #14 on: October 07, 2020, 01:48:23 pm »
0

Rules
Prospects
Just like Projects, they're effects you buy once and then put a cube on. But unlike Projects, they are one-offs that happen straight away rather than effects that last for the rest of the game. So the cubes are used to track that you have bought the Prospect and can't get it again.
In other words, they're all like Seize the Day, but the rules require the cube to track buying them.
Examples

Quote
Commission - Prospect, $2 cost.
+1 Buy
Return to your Action phase. Replay the last Action you played this turn that's still in play twice. (Put your cube on it, then on this when it leaves play.)
A single KC when you need it most.
+: it's simple, yet using it isn't always easy.
-: wordy.


Quote
Conscription - Prospect, $1 cost.
+1 Buy
Choose one: discard your hand, +1 Villager per card discarded; or +$1 per Villager you have.
Resource conversion to time optimally. Change your Villagers into economy once, so hoarding them can be a strategy. Or if there are no Villagers cards, you can change your hand into Villagers.
+: more new strategies is good.
-: some people may want to try using this twice?


Quote
Consumerism - Prospect, $0+ cost.
+5 Buys
You may overpay for this by $2 so non-Victory cards cost $2 less for the turn, or by $4 for all cards.
A big load of free buys with an optional Princess effect to pay for. Use for essential early purchases or build to a massive $ mega turn.
+: lets big spikes of $ by design or by accident always work out.
-: it will take a lot for the Victory cost reduction to be meaningful. $3 overpay may be more realistic.


Quote
Demonstration - Prospect, $0 cost.
+1 Buy
Each player (including you) discards their hand and draws the same number of cards. Return to your Action phase.
There are times a change of hand would be just right for you, and there are times when you know the opponents have a good turn. Choose how and when to use this best.
+: a one-time attack suits competitive players whilst not degenerating the game too heavily.
-: there are times when everyone has a good or bad hand, and this isn't advantageous then. Choosing who discards would help avoid this but also be too political.


Quote
Dividends - Prospect, $0 cost.
+1 Buy
If you have the same number of Actions and Treasures in play, +1 Coffers and +1 Villager per 1 of each type.
Count the number of times each type appears across the cards in play (Crown will be one for both), then if they're the same you get a Coffers and Villager for every Action (consequently every Treasure too) you have in play. Free tokens you might work to getting or take whenever it's convenient.
+: There are lots of ways this set and Renaissance can get the same number of each type in play, making hopefully compelling replayability.
-: could alternatively feel mundane, if one never works for lots of them.


Quote
Imports - Prospect, $4 cost.
Gain a card from the trash.
-
Setup: add an extra kingdom pile to the trash.
You can either gain a single copy of a unique card for $4, or if there's other trashing (really, tfb) you can regain a trashed Province for $4.
+: unrestricted gain from the trash is safe on a Prospect, and the added pile can be interesting.
-: it might be mundane too often.


Quote
Manufacture - Prospect, $2 cost.
+1 Buy
Choose one to gain: a card costing up to $4; a copy of a card you have in play; or a Duchy.
A cheap acquisition, because you make it yourself. It has a distinct early game option in gaining a $4 for $2, a late game boost in VP, and a middle game boost in gaining a copy of a good card you have in play.
+: it's an elegant way to get 3 different uses on the same card.
-: the late option in a Duchy might be comparatively weak.


Quote
Migration - Prospect, $1 cost.
+1 Buy
Trash an Action from your hand to put your deck and discard pile into your hand. Return to your Action phase.
Put your whole deck into hand at once, at the cost of an Action card. Time it when you have the right Action to lose and there's enough stuff in the deck.
+: A new means of card movement opens up new strategies.
-: maybe too cheap or swingy, if the Action to trash comes too late.


Quote
Prediction - Prospect, $2 cost.
+1 Buy
Put any number of cards you have in play that would be discarded this turn onto your deck.
Replay stuff next turn. When do you really need to do this?
+: an effective one-off.
-: it should work? Maybe it's a bit uninteresting.


Quote
Progress - Prospect, $2 cost.
+1 Buy
Take half the tokens on this (round up) as Coffers, the rest as Villagers.
-
When a card costing $4 or more is gained, add a token to this.
A passive accumulation of tokens that players have to time taking. When do you need them, can you take them away from opponents when they really need them, can you try waiting for more?
+: lots of strategy to consider.
-: can be hard to remember adding a token each time.


Quote
Stocks - Prospect, $1+ cost.
You may overpay for this. +1 Coffers per $1 overpaid.
Save some of your money from a turn for later.
+: overpay for Coffers can be achieved on a one-off.
-: timing may be trivial, that you always do it on a $3/4 or 4/3 start to get $5s.


Quote
Takeover - Prospect, [ ] cost.
Gain a Victory card.
-
[ ]: To buy this, reveal and discard 2 Actions.
One of your Provinces/Colonies this game is quite cheap. When will you get it?
+: simple.
-: possibly just a boring speedup to the game? Or it rewards bad play?


Conclusions
And that's the end. I hope you've enjoyed looking through these as much as I enjoyed making them. Maybe you've seen a mistake or flaw somewhere, in which case don't be afraid to tell. No design can be called perfect or final without criticism, and part of the thrill of the design process is identifying and making gradual improvements.
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Re: Fan Mechanics Guide: Wonders (authors: Tables, grep, X-tra, et al)
« Reply #15 on: October 07, 2020, 02:06:19 pm »
0

Wonders are a new kind of Horizontal card that can be built. They tend to be very expensive (think 15+ coins), but unlike regular cards you do not have to pay in one go. Instead everyone has their own supply towards building the wonder, and you can use a buy to put any amount of money towards the wonder. Once someone has spent equal to the wonder cost, they build it and gain its benefits for the remainder of the game. Everyone else who had partially built it gets compensation, probably Coin Tokens equal to half of what they had spent.

As for Wonder effects... I didn't dream up any. I expect they would be worth some reasonable number of VPs, as well as some permanent ongoing benefit that's likely stronger than a typical project. So for example, maybe something like a double Bridge effect (cards cost $2 less on your turn, but not less than $0). Or something like "at the start of each turn, +1 card, you may discard any number of cards, then draw that many." Basically, strong effects that might be worth investing into and racing to complete, strong enough that you have a chance to catch up once you complete them but also not so strong that you can just instant-win by completing them.

Mimicking the Civilization wonders behavior, there might be a Builder mat per player. This version does not consume Buys on building, not sure if it should.
Quote
At the Buy stage, you may pay any number of $ to put that amount of Coffers on your Builder mat. When you have the number of Coffers on the Builder mat greater or equal to the cost of a Wonder, you may discard all the Coffers from there and take the Wonder.
When some other player takes a Wonder, you may discard all the Coffers from your Builder mat to gain a card costing in $ up to the number of Coffers discarded.

You guys have presented interesting ideas! I’d like to have a crack at this as well, mish-mashing just about everything here. Plus, drawing some heavy inspiration from Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization and even tossing a little bit of Sid Meier’s Civilization in there.

What if Wonders were buildable by all players as some kind of long-time project on a Landscape card in the Supply? Some have suggested that already. The Wonder would have multiple stages to be built and everyone could contribute, using a Buy during their Buy phase. If so, they’d put a wooden cube on the next build step of the Wonder. And oh, of course, no more than 2 Wonders per game, as usual !

There would need to be some compensation for contributing. Wonders would grant you a little something for building a step. Once completed, the Wonder will give an additional bonus to whoever built the most steps for that Wonder. It could even be multiple players in case of a tie. Therefore, those who invested the most in that Wonder reap the bigger benefits, as opposed to having the last contributor run away with the whole deal by building that last step out of shuffle luck.

Finally, building a Wonder seems like a no-brainer. And even a little too easy. What if there was an additional Supply pile akin to Potions in games using Wonders? I thought of builders and they would cost . You cannot build a Wonder step unless you have a Builder in play. So building a Wonder step would require a Builder, a Buy and the step’s cost. Kind of like, again, buying a Potion Kingdom card. This would require further investments for those who want to partake in the construction of a Wonder. And would require better deck control because of those stop Builder cards.

To illustrate this crazy idea, here are some mock-ups of Wonders:







And a Builder could look like this:



Wonders could have a backside with “4+ players” written on it. There could be more build steps on these so that they’d scale better in crazy 6-player games for instance.




Quote
Sanctum • Wonder • Most steps at end of game: 4VP • $3 per step, 4 steps (2-3 player); $3 per step, 6 steps (4-6 player)

Build a step: Discard a Build card and pay the cost of a step.

On Completion, most steps built: Put your deck and discard pile into your hand and trash any number of cards from your hand, then discard your hand;

All others, +2 Coffers / step

What's a build card? Glad you asked:

Build cards are an additional supply pile costing between $3 and $5. It works like Young Witch where it adds a pile to the Supply, rather than like Obelisk, which chooses a pile from the Supply.

Wonder concept was originally made by Tables here and was left pretty open ended. I branched off of X-tra's concept of it with a couple modifications: 1 - steps all cost the same. This makes it so you don't have to care which side you start on for filling in cubes and simplifies what the cost of a step is; 2 - getting rid of the potion-esque builder cards in favor of an additional pile that you just have to discard a card from. I kept the concept that building a step does not cost a Buy (unless the wonder would specify it costs a buy).

The most steps rewards are given to everyone who has the most steps done (so ties, they both get the event-y bonus and the VP).
The VP is given at the end of the game regardless of whether the wonder is completed - if six players all added one step, it's a wash, everyone gets 4VP.

Let me know what's unclear with this, i think i covered everything. IRL printing, i'd do the wonder card front+back printing, so on one side it's 4 spaces, the other, 6 (you can tell which side is which down by the art byline). As far as marking who built what, I'd suggest supplying (6) 8mm cubes in each color, each player gets a color. For reference, that's Terraforming Mars sized cubes, not Dominion's Project sized cubes (which are 10mm)

Update: change the "most steps" text to be clearer, it's roughly the same as Donate (except it happens during the turn due to space constraints); did not update the images because time constraints
« Last Edit: March 17, 2021, 03:02:04 pm by spineflu »
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Re: Fan Mechanics Guide: Tools (author: Supernova888)
« Reply #16 on: October 07, 2020, 02:15:16 pm »
0

Rules
So I'm working on a fan expansion to Dominion, and I've had this idea floating around in my head for a while: What if a card was automatically played from your hand whenever it was in it? Enter "Tools," a separate type of card I'm testing out. The official rules for Tools as they stand now are as follows (and major thanks to crlundy for helping me find a good wording for this!):

Tools have different backs to regular cards. At the start of your turn, or directly after playing a card, you must play any Tools from your hand. This does not cost an Action; if you have multiple tools in your hand, you may play them in any order. Tools (except for Cursed Antique and Broken Sword) are regular Kingdom cards that exist in the Supply like any other card. Tools are their own type of card.
Examples
What follows are all my ideas for Tools, with brief comments on each below. I haven't playtested any of them yet, but would love to get feedback on them to see if there are any glaring issues before I start doing so. Thanks for reading!!





Armor: Tries to be its own Jack-of-All-Trades and help against certain attacks. It trashes from discard so it can also trash any tools you don't want (since they're almost never in your hand long enough to be interacted with).
Axe: A forced remodel that doesn't cost an Action, nor does it lower your handsize further with the trash.
Bag of Holding: A Workshop that doesn't disrupt your flow.
Bow and Arrow: I wanted to make another card that interacts with the discard; I ended up with (I think) a stronger Harbinger.
Compass: My poster-child for the risk/reward idea behind Tools. Don't know if the cycling is powerful enough to make it cost more, but the fact that it's mandatory feels like it could ruin your day enough to be lower.
Moccasins: I wanted more card-draw cards, but card draw that takes up no resources seems powerful. So here's a true-blue Smithy, you're just always forced to play it. I'd like to believe the cases where you get to use it for free balance out the ones where it kills your Action potential, but I'm SO willing to be convinced that it needs to be spruced up. Maybe +4 Cards?
Rations: A village that can never be drawn dead.
Spellbook: A band of misfits that makes playing cheaper cards even more appealing by making them actionless.
Sword: +2 Cards by itself seemed too boring at $6. Being forced to discard I think is more strategic, and this makes use of Fugitive's text on a true-blue Kingdom card.
Telescope: Combining the flavor of Navigator and Lookout. Might be too strong.
Wagon: A way to get that elusive +Buy, and in some circumstances an extra card when you would have drawn an Action dead.
Battalion & Broken Sword: The +3 Cards is there to prevent a slog. Broken Sword feels a little oppressive, but it can never be worse than a Militia; I don't know if its persistence would slow everything down too much.
Charlatan & Cursed Antique: A curser that keeps on giving. Note that the trashing a card from play means you can trash a Cursed Antique, so there's no board where you're stuck with them forever.

Again, any feedback is greatly appreciated, and as a reminder, none of these are playtested, just ideas until I get a sense they're worthy enough to bring to the game table. Thanks again for humoring me and reading all of this!!
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Re: Fan Mechanics Guide: Smog (author: The Alchemist)
« Reply #17 on: October 07, 2020, 02:48:35 pm »
0

Rules

Smog:
Wow all this industrial activity is really clogging up the place. The more you use the high powered cards, the more you pollute your deck. This self-trashing junk is just slightly less harsh as a curse, if you can clear it away in time. Without another trashing card you'll always have one left over. Pile structured as 10*number of players, so 20 in a two-player game. I like what it adds thematically to the expansion to be replacing Curses, a medieval fear, with something more modern but just as deadly. 

Examples

Factory:
The next advancement on Laboratory, this "power card of epic proportions that probably shouldn't exist at any cost" isn't balanced at $8 on its own, so I made it gain a junk card, the more you use it the more you get, (see below). The junk card could use some work to make it balanced. My goal is for it to be about as effective city quarter.

Steel Foundry:
A Smithy or Blacksmith on steroids, this terminal draw is a great way to use up actions. Two more cards than Blacksmith, without the copper drawback and with +$1, but discards an action or treasure from your hand and gains smog as downside.


Metropolis:
And lastly the piθce de rιsistance: metropolis. From lowly hamlet, to village, to city, then metropolis. +2 cards like a leveled up city, and +3 actions like bustling village, but with some VP to justify purchasing it late. A metropolitan area is practically a duchy anyway. The vanilla bonuses are worth around $6-7, and VP nets to 3 with Smog, so up to $10.


Power Plant:
Burn a card as fuel in the power plant to give you more cards to keep your engine going, turning it into smog. If you accidentally draw a card dead, you can save it for next turn. Must trash first so slightly weaker than a Masquerade in that regard, and also weakened by needing to gain a smog.


Locomotion:
Progress comes at a cost to everyone, involved or not. Move your deck along with this card, but watch as you get junk in everyone's face, including yours! This card is a self-curser with an option to remove them later. Notice it only gains Smog but can trash either Curse card.
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Re: Fan Mechanics Guide: Tasks (auth: Aquila)
« Reply #18 on: October 07, 2020, 02:56:17 pm »
0

Rules
Tasks, quests you can try to complete during the game
Add a quest board to the game, in which the kingdom's locals post up requests for players to complete for a reward. They're landscape cards that you keep in a deck by themselves, shuffle, then draw 3 out at random for the game. This group will count as 1 of the 2 landscapes recommended for games.  Each player also gets 3 tokens of some kind (let's call them Accomplish tokens) in their colour. Each Task has an Objective and a Reward. During the game, in a similar manner to using a Reaction effect, a player may interrupt game flow and declare they have completed the Objective on one of the Tasks, prove it to the other players if necessary, then put one of their Accomplish tokens on the Task card and get the Reward straight away. A Task can only be accomplished once. A player does not have to immediately declare a Task is accomplished the first time they can do so; there are cases for waiting until a later time, and accountability issues are avoided.
So, how these affect the game: whilst the Kin cards call for analysis at the start to determine the best combos, the Tasks can have a bearing on the route players take their decks through during the game, to have them think ahead.

[...]

Conclusions
The Tasks are very much a work in progress. They're not very well designed for all random games (not necessarily a bad thing) and the rewards are likely not balanced. 3 seems like a sensible number to comprehend each game, but nothing says you can't do more or less.

Examples


Quote
Appease - Task
Objective: have 2 Duchies in your hand, revealed.
Reward: +4VP
Bring 2 Duchies together in peace. This may affect when you would normally get Duchies, as effectively bringing them up to 5VP each can be worth it.
+: A good way to make Duchies more relevant more often, and help deviate gameplay away from typical Province rush.
-: hard to find specific bad points with this one...


Quote
Build - Task
Objective: gain 4 cards on your turn.
Reward: +3VP; at the start of each of your turns, +1 Card.
Project effects can work as rewards, the Accomplish token serving the same purpose as the Project cube. Can you gain a big load of cards at once this game?
+: There are several different possible ways to complete this, to be a different experience each game.
-: it depends entirely on +buys or gainers being in the kingdom.


Quote
Demolish - Task
Objective: trash 4 cards on your turn.
Reward: +4VP, gain a Gold.
Can you trash a big load of cards at once this game?
+: There are several different possible ways to complete this, to be a different experience each game.
-: it depends entirely on a trasher being in the kingdom.


Quote
Explore - Task
Objective: have 8 differently named cards in play.
Reward: +5VP
The Horn of Plenty experience without the kingdom Treasure being there. How will the kingdom let you do it?
+: Some games will call for a variety strategy, a nice thing to let randomness decide.
-: sometimes impossible. Maybe not that fun. Investigate below might be enough of variety.


Quote
Gather - Task
Objective: produce $15 or more.
Reward: +1 Buy, +3VP
How easily can you get a big spike of money this game?
+: Always possible yet can take very different paths to get to.
-: if a double Province route is possible you'll probably go down it anyway.


Quote
Impress - Task
Objective: complete 2 other Tasks on the same turn.
Reward: +5VP, gain a Chief.
Extra points if you can complete the 2 other Tasks drawn together. You may want to wait declaring accomplishment for one so you can do this.
+: A simple extra twist to add.
-: how often will it be doable?


Quote
Investigate - Task
Objective: have a hand of 5 or more cards with no copies in it, revealed.
Reward: +3VP
Get a big enough hand of all different cards.
+: Always possible.
-: can be quite hard to remember.
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spineflu

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Re: Fan Mechanics Guide: Kin (author: Aquila)
« Reply #19 on: October 07, 2020, 03:14:45 pm »
+1

The Kin type, making part of the kingdom a Tribe
The core mechanic, giving the set its name. Some of the cards are Kin type. You choose one or two of these for a game; when you do, 2 random other non-Victory kingdom piles also get the Kin type, and the sideways Kin Markers go under them like the Bane card to show this, to effectively turn part of the kingdom into a Tribe. All in a unique turquoise so everything's easy to see. The original Kins will interact with them in some way, to make synergies that will be good or bad depending on what the rest of the Tribe is.
Not much change to gameplay, but extra dimensions to think about and more things to analyse. What kind of strategy does the Tribe make? How effective will it be? Are normally strong cards actually strong in this game?

Conclusions
Nothing stops you from playing with 3 or more of the original Kin cards, just too many can lead to analysis paralysis and too much going on. Having 2 opens up a fun interaction between them, just enough, or one can be influential on its own. I've tried to cover a wide variety of different relationships with them; one thing that's somewhat missing is one that completely supports other Kins. I'm working on it. At the least I hope I've got across the feel for compelling diversity and replayability I get with the Kin mechanic. But I have struggled with sound execution of it; maybe some of the ideas here still use it poorly. You be judge.
Examples:
Original Kins

Quote
Banner - Victory Kin, $5 cost.
Worth 1VP per 3 Kins in your deck (round down)
It makes an alt VP strategy that will be different each game. The more collectable the other Kins are, the better it is.
+: one of the first simple ideas that clicked, it feels safe yet compelling.
-: hard to conclude balance.


Quote
Festival Grounds - Action Kin, $2 cost.
+2 Actions
+1 Buy

-
In games using this, when you gain a 3rd differently named Kin on your turn, you may gain a Chief.
Quote
Chief - Action Kin, $0* cost.
Draw until you have 6. cards in hand.
Gain an Estate to your hand for +2VP.
For every 3 cards you have in hand (round down), + $1.
(This is not in the Supply.)
If you can get three different Kins in the same turn, you win the respect of the Chief, a free payload card that plays a little differently in different decks. How hard will he be to get, what kind of deck would be made, and is it all worth it?
+: all the analysis involved here is great.
-: perhaps Chief is too strong, and the $ effect should probably go first so it's more a case of $ or draw.


Quote
Legend - Treasure Kin, $4 cost.
+1 Buy
When you play this, choose one: gain a Kin; or trash a Kin you have in hand or in play, for + $1 per $1 it costs.
-
In games using this, when you gain a Kin, each other player gets +1VP.
Every Kin you get leaves a permanent mark against your score, yet whilst you might look for Kin free strategies this can make them still options. Getting Kins no matter how expensive can be a breeze if you so desire, or you can Salvage them non-terminally. Failing all else this can self trash for a spike of $4.
+: This supports dabbling a little into the Kins, which the bottom part implies.
-: no real testing yet, could be imbalanced.


Quote
Mead Hall - Action Command Kin, $5 cost.
Trash this. If you do, set aside two Kins from the Supply that aren't Victories, Durations or Commands. Play them in either order, leaving them set aside. Return them to the Supply at Clean-up.
Fuse two Kins into one powerful one-shot card, including Treasures or Nights. Double up one of them, or form some amazing combo.
+: it has the feeling of being great fun sometimes.
-: some combos could be broken? And of course in some games this can do nothing.


Quote
Pillar - Action Kin, $4 cost.
Trash a card from your hand. +1VP for one type it has, and +2VP for each extra type.
-
In games using this, one empty Kin pile does not count toward the 3 for game end.
A more curious one. Trash the right targets to get the most points from this. Kin counts as a type, so will give more points. To prolong the game a bit and make this more viable, you can safely empty one Kin pile; this can have its own effects on the game even if Pillar is ignored.
+: the two effects relate but not too closely; heavily implying pile emptying isn't good.
-: is the top balanced, or should it give just 1VP per type? Is it too weird, being an Action doing nothing but VP and making slow play?


Quote
Piper - Action Reaction Kin, $5 cost.
+2 Cards
You may play an Action Kin from your hand.
-
Directly after resolving an Action Kin, you may play this from your hand.
Make an engine by playing chains of Kins.
+: simple yet compelling.
-: maybe too strong in some cases. There's no real negative side to it unlike the other Kins, so it's less about analysis, so it feels kinda misfit.


Quote
Reassign - Night Kin, $4 cost.
You may trash a Kin you have in play, to gain a Kin costing up to $3 more than it.
You may move your Ally token onto a non-Victory, non-Kin Supply pile of your choice. (During your turns, cards from that pile are also Kins.)
The Ally token lets you choose a pile that counts as Kin type just for you, which sometimes will be very desirable with a second Kin card. Reassign itself lets you quite freely exchange kins around, so you can make good upgrade paths; but note that the trash happens before the token can be moved, so there's a limit to the flexibility.
+: this hopefully opens up a new compelling area of remodeling, and the Ally token a new strategic concept.
-: The upgrade could be too strong even if narrow. Nights are in the set almost entirely because of this; is there a better effect than the upgrade that could be used?


Quote
Rivals - Action Attack Kin, $3* cost.
+2 Cards
Each other player may reveal a Kin other than Rivals from their hand. Those who don't take Taunted, or if they already have it turn it over to Twice Taunted.
-
In games using this, Kins cost $1 more.
Quote
Taunted - State
When you next play an Action that has +Card, +Action, +Buy or +$ amounts in its instructions, choose one to reduce by 1, resolve it, then return this.
Twice Taunted - the same, but instead of returning it flip it over to Taunted.
Their presence makes the Tribe more expensive so generally worse (this basically costs $4, a sensible price unlike the others), and the worse they are the better this is. Its Attack will more likely land, weakening the next Action vanilla they get; two stacks, using a two-sided State for each player. Taunted reduces a number in the next Action's instructions, so Hireling would be made useless, and because you choose a number then resolve, Pawn is a counter to it.
+: it achieves the intended purpose of making Kins that are bad in a kingdom relevant.
-: How easy is it to remember the Kins cost $1 more? Is Taunted foolproof?


Quote
Travelling Merchant - Action Kin, $4 cost.
+1 Card
+1 Action
+ $1

This turn, cards cost $1 more if you have a Kin other than Travelling Merchant in play.
-
When you gain this, if you have any Kins in play, trash it.
You have a choice: either use these Peddlers, or use the other Kins. These only cost $4, but you can't gain them at all if you have one in play.
+: A simple but interesting matter to analyse in the game.
-: the bottom part could make this pretty bad, yet if it wasn't there it would probably be too good.

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spineflu

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Re: Fan Mechanics Guide: Frozen/Freeze (keyword) & Ice Tokens (author: Gazbag)
« Reply #20 on: October 07, 2020, 03:31:14 pm »
0

Rules
Ice Tokens
A number of cards in the set involve setting aside cards and putting a number of Ice tokens on them, referred to as "freezing" them. At the start of your turn you remove 1 Ice token from each card you own that is frozen with Ice tokens on it and when the last token is removed you put the card into your discard pile.
Also, what happens to frozen cards when the game ends? Do you gain them or lose them?

Set aside cards are still considered part of your deck, so you keep them.
[/quote]
Examples
Snow Hag

This was one of the first and most obvious concepts - a cheap Witch but the Curses are delayed. This means that the junk will take longer to enter the opponents deck, but if the game ends before all the tokens are removed then your opponent won't have a chance to trash the curse, which could be interesting.
Edit: Changed from 3 to 6 tokens.

Yeti

This one needs to fixed up, but the concept is there.

Frost Spirit

Originally a cantrip, now changed to +2 cards. The cantrip version was far too efficient as an early game thinner and a late game Province setter asider. Hopefully making it terminal makes it harder to keep on top of icing things, we'll have to see. Masquerade is a crazy card, so I wouldn't be surprised if this follows suit. Province setting aside probably needs to be fixed, but it kind of needs to be able to set aside Estates so might be an ugly fix, unfortunately.

Crystal Ball

A Contrabandy thing, it delays your good cards and topdecks the Victories, ouch! Needs a new name now...

Nomad

A simple +Buy card with Ice tokens, referencing Nomad Camp.

Frigid Village

Replacement foe Mountain Village and pretty much the same concept. I know that Lost City for $2 seems crazy good, but Encampment does it and these take a year to enter your deck.

Glacier

I'm still keen on a Victory that starts off frozen, but no more Coffers so I have these variations. Any thoughts?

Igloo:

 I'm not sure about this one, it's seemed okay in playtest games but it still feels off for some reason. What do people think?



more to come later but i gotta tap out for the day.
« Last Edit: October 07, 2020, 05:35:43 pm by spineflu »
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LibraryAdventurer

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Re: Atlas of Fan Card Mechanics: A Bibliographic Thread
« Reply #21 on: October 07, 2020, 11:51:16 pm »
+2

I think it'd be good to have a comprehensive list of fan-made mechanics; I'm going to use this post as sort of a Table of Contents and attempt to map some sort of ontology/categorization onto them. The categorization isn't going to be exclusive - if something uses a mat and counters, it'll be in both lists, etc.

This thread should be considered a perpetual work in progress - if you have a new mechanic, or find one I missed, reply here or DM me and I'll get it included at my earliest convenience
This is a good idea, but I doubt you'd want to try to make it really comprehensive. (Would you even want to include Gunpowder?)
You can add LastFootnote's Trade tokens: http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=2114.0
For the record, LastFootnote was also the first to do Edicts, but Asper made several of his own and I think Asper's post about them got more attention (or maybe people have forgotten LF's edicts because Asper's post was more recent).

Feel free to add the Preserve type and special ruins from my expansion (link in my sig), although I doubt other people will want to use them.
EDIT: Also, don't forget VioletCLM's Mutineers.
« Last Edit: October 08, 2020, 07:39:52 am by LibraryAdventurer »
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D782802859

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Re: Atlas of Fan Card Mechanics: A Bibliographic Thread
« Reply #22 on: October 08, 2020, 07:02:28 am »
0

A completely unabridged list would likely become unwieldly and that's if you don't include mechanics that are functionally identical or extremely similar.
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spineflu

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Re: Atlas of Fan Card Mechanics: A Bibliographic Thread
« Reply #23 on: October 08, 2020, 09:01:50 am »
0

A completely unabridged list would likely become unwieldly and that's if you don't include mechanics that are functionally identical or extremely similar.
yeah i'm going to kinda combine similar mechanics
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GendoIkari

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Re: Atlas of Fan Card Mechanics: A Bibliographic Thread
« Reply #24 on: October 08, 2020, 07:20:38 pm »
0

How do alternate card costs work with things likes Remodel?
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