Have you read much of Arthur Conan Doyle's works? He seems to use a lot of the more interesting vocabulary in Dominion such as Counting House and Ill Gotten Gains. If not, what do you enjoy reading?
I read some of the stories and maybe one of the novels in my youth; I don't really remember them.
Counting House is from a nursery rhyme, Sing a Song of Sixpence. When your first language is English, you get some English culture. Ill-Gotten Gains is an idiom; it's old-timey so maybe it's also specifically English. Anyway the game is set in Europe in the middle ages, so it specifically has some old stuff. And it's fun to give a card a name like Margrave.
I haven't read much non-online stuff in the last few years; I enjoy reading wikipedia. Pre-Dominion I read more sci-fi/fantasy than uh not those things. I will recommend some stuff.
Short stories:
- In the Penal Colony by Franz Kafka
- The Death of Dr. Island by Gene Wolfe
- Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut by J.D. Salinger
- Repent, Harlequin, Said the Ticktockman by Harlan Ellison
- The Secret Miracle by Jorge Luis Borges
- The Wind-up Bird And Tuesday's Women by Haruki Murakami
Novels:
- Little, Big by John Crowley
- Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe (starts with Shadow of the Torturer)
- Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami
- The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers
- Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
- Permutation City by Greg Egan
Nonfiction:
- Guns, Germs & Steel by Jared Diamond
- Labyrinths of Reason by William Poundstone
- Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter
- Trouser Press Record Guide 4th edition by Ira Robbins
Humor:
- Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams
- Without Feathers by Woody Allen
- Deeper Thoughts by Jack Handey
The Anubis Gates is my go-to recommendation; it's just a crowd-pleaser, the Raiders of the Lost Ark of sci-fi/fantasy.