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Author Topic: Fan Mechanic: Jail  (Read 692 times)

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Supernova888

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Fan Mechanic: Jail
« on: July 19, 2022, 01:56:52 pm »
+5

The Secret History for Menagerie having Exile be called "Jail" inspired me to create a Wild West expansion. The main mechanic of the expansion is the Jail mat, which looks like this:


I'm aware this concept is a bit interaction-heavy for what the classic flavor of Dominion is, but I've been looking to create a particularly interactive expansion. I've tested the concept with my partner preliminarily and the Jail mat adds an interesting extra layer of strategy, as a pseudo-trasher pseudo-gainer. Below are the 8 cards I'm looking to use the Jail mat in this expansion. I'm looking to see if anyone sees something glaringly wrong with these before I playtest them, as someone might catch something weird about the Jail mat before I do. Any and all feedback is very much appreciated!!




Here are some descriptions of what I'm going for on each card:
Deputy: A simple "trasher" that can become an engine piece later in the game.
Detective: A workshop variant that, when Jail is allowed to fill up, can start gaining you two cards each time you use it.
Framer: A Jail attack. (The discard pile bit is so that the attacked player doesn't get an immediate benefit from any Jailing the card makes them do.)
Outlaw: A restrictive Band of Misfits that starts gaining you a few cards later in the game.
Prison Yard: If my logic is correct, Jail allows for a non-bonkers Village-Remodel variant.
Renegade: An unpredictable card that cares about Jail whose strength comes in gaining you a second card on later turns.
Sheriff: A smithy-like card that eventually may allow you to "upgrade" a card in your hand. Combos with itself to incentivize that.
Traitor: Pearl-Diver/Spy inspired. The discarding a card means this doesn't become a Lab once three cards are in Jail.

Thanks for taking the time to read!
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GendoIkari

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Re: Fan Mechanic: Jail
« Reply #1 on: July 19, 2022, 03:48:55 pm »
+1

The wording on the Jail mat is a bit confusing, since it refers to "the first played card", but I assume it means "the first jailed card"? Outlaw should probably say costing less than this instead of up to , to deal with cost reduction properly. Renegade shouldn't have a dividing line; other "this turn" cards don't.

As a whole I'm not sure how the concept would play out. In general the strongest use would probably be to get rid of junk, but then after 4 junk cards are already there, people can't use it to get rid of junk anymore. Puting good cards in jail seems dubious; you'd rather have them in your deck and you risk giving your opponents a free good card.
« Last Edit: July 19, 2022, 03:50:07 pm by GendoIkari »
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Dubdubdubdub

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Re: Fan Mechanic: Jail
« Reply #2 on: July 20, 2022, 03:49:15 am »
+1

Puting good cards in jail seems dubious; you'd rather have them in your deck and you risk giving your opponents a free good card.

I think this is the most important issue. But it can probably be adressed by designing cards specifically to get higher value cards in Jail. Just spitballing to get a sense of the idea: "Jail a non-Victory card from the supply. +$1 per $2 it costs, rounded down." That one can easily be a terminal gold and if you're the only player going for them, it has like a slow Camel Train effect.

I think Jail is a cool concept!
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emtzalex

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Re: Fan Mechanic: Jail
« Reply #3 on: July 20, 2022, 11:18:37 am »
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The wording on the Jail mat is a bit confusing, since it refers to "the first played card", but I assume it means "the first jailed card"?

I would also add that the term "active player" doesn't seem to have any defined meaning in official Dominion rules/cards. Is it the player whose turn it is, or the player whose card pushed a card into Jail. (This can matter with Reactions that play the card and Way of the Mouse.)

Outlaw should probably say costing less than this instead of up to , to deal with cost reduction properly.

Either this or something else that keeps you from endlessly chaining Outlaws. Otherwise, if Outlaw is discounted at all, a player can endlessly play a string of them, then end by playing another card from Jail. With the tokens from Adventures, this would be totally busted.



Renegade seems almost unbuyable. Absent another Jail card, it's completely dead the first time it's played, and most likely a Ruins on the second play. A player has virtually no incentive to open with it, especially if their opponent is willing to make it playable for you (so no player ends up doing that).

Also, with a small number of exceptions, Victory cards costing $6 or less are rarely bought until very late in the game, meaning this will almost never give +Cards (although a disappearing Gold or village-Silver aren't bad). Finally (and this is something of an issue for a lot of these), once the mat if full it will start pushing out copies of cards you bought 4 plays ago (if you're the only one playing Renegade). While you may have wanted those at the time, they are likely much less desirable by now.
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Thanks to Shard of Honor for his Extended Version of the Dominion Card Image Generator, which I use to mock up my fan cards, and to Violet CLM, who made the original.
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