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[icesphere]

I really like the idea of fan made expansions, however the problem is that it is usually a lot of work to add an expansion to your existing cards. So I thought it would be cool to create an expansion that is easy to add. All the cards in this expansion are not part of the supply, and are never shuffled with any other cards, which means you can create these cards using something you have around the house (for example 3x5 cards). I got the idea for this expansion after playing the Leaders expansion for 7 Wonders.

You can also try out this expansion online at http://kingdom.servegame.org

You can also play from your mobile phone from the same website (I would recommend using a wireless connection if you don't have unlimited data, or if you have a slow data connection).

Rules: Leader cards are not part of the supply, and are never considered to be in play. Anytime after the beginning of your 3rd turn, you may active a leader by buying them during the buy phase. When you activate the leader turn the leader card face-up. Each leader can only be activated once.

Setup: Randomly choose 7 of the Leader cards and give each player one of each. Each player then secretly chooses 3 of them and puts them face down on the table. The remaining leaders are set aside and are not used.

Leaders: cost in ()
Xenophon(0) - When this leader is activated, +2 Coins, +1 Buy.
Aristotle(4) - 1VP; At the start of your next two turns (following the turn this leader was activated) +1 Card.
Plato(0) - When this leader is activated, you may trash up to 2 cards from your hand.
Midas(5) - Worth 1 VP for every 4 Treasure cards (rounded down).
Hypatia(6) - Worth 1 VP for every 2 Victory cards (rounded down).
Pericles(6) - Worth 1 VP for every 2 Action cards (rounded down).
Bilkis(5) - 1 VP; When this leader is activated, gain any card from the supply costing 6 or less and put it on top of your deck.
Maecenas(4) - 1 VP; Activate any remaining leaders for 3 less coins than their normal cost.
Varro(5) - Worth 2 VP for each leader played after this one.
Justinian(6) - Worth 1 VP for every set of Treasure/Victory/Action.
Sappho(4) - 2 VP
Zenobia(5) - 3 VP
Nefertiti(6) - 4 VP
Cleopatra(7) - 5 VP
Tomyris(5) - 1 VP; When this leader is activated, all other players gain a curse.
Solomon(6) - Worth 100 VP divided by the number of cards you have at the end of the game (rounded down) (max 10 VP).
Hatshepsut(4) - Worth 6 VP if you have no Gold cards at the end of the game.
Leonidas(4) - 1 VP; At the start of your next two turns (following the turn this leader was activated) +1 Buy. During the buy phase of these turns, action cards cost two coins less, but not less than 0 coins.
Imhotep(4) - 1 VP; At the start of your next two turns (following the turn this leader was activated) +1 Buy. During the buy phase of these turns, treasure cards cost two coins less, but not less than 0 coins.
Archimedes(4) - 1 VP; At the start of your next two turns (following the turn this leader was activated) +1 Buy. During the buy phase of these turns, victory cards cost two coins less, but not less than 0 coins.

[roriconfan]

What I like about Dominion is that a card can be used several times by being discarded and redrawn. These one-time bonuses kinda go against the main idea of the game.

[rinkworks]

I disagree with that.  Having one-time bonuses doesn't take away from any existing Dominion mechanic:  it merely adds another set of decisions to the strategy space.  I think it would be kind of interesting if you had to choose between buying a reusable bonus or a one-time bonus.  Obviously you're more likely to prefer the one-time bonus toward the end of the game -- late enough, and EVERYTHING you buy is a one-shot, or even a no-shot, because the game will end before you can do much with it.

Of course, pure Victory cards are always one-time benefits.

Neat idea.

[roriconfan]

Then why not simply go for normal cards? These cards feel disjoined from the rest of the game, especially since others can't interact with them directly.

[WanderingWinder]

I'm shocked if Plato isn't entirely broken. It's free and basically better than chapel.

[rinkworks]

I'm shocked if Plato isn't entirely broken. It's free and basically better than chapel.

My understanding, though, is that you can only use it once.  So it's free (disregarding opportunity cost), but you only get to use it on the one turn where you buy it.  I thought the fact that it cost $0 showed some insight:  ideally you'd want to use it on a hand full of Coppers and Estates -- but to actually trash the Coppers, you have to keep them in your hand instead of playing them, which in turn means that to get any benefit out of Plato at all, you're not going to have much if any coin to spend on it.

The opportunity cost alone might still not be enough, but my best guess is that it's not that unbalanced if at all.  However, if the right move in any given game is to buy Plato's effect on turn 3 or 4, it would probably be more interesting if it cost $1 or $2, to force it to only be usable in a hand with at least one (potentially good) card you can't also trash.

[WanderingWinder]

I'm assuming you can play it on turn 1 or 2, whichever has more estates in it. Worst case, you've got a turn 3 deck of silver, 5 coppers, and an estate. Most boards will give you something better, and if you get 5/2... well, in any case, I think it's almost game over against an opponent who didn't use Plato.

[Deadlock39]

You can not use Plato on turn 1 or 2.

Rules: Leader cards are not part of the supply, and are never considered to be in play. Anytime after the beginning of your 3rd turn, you may active a leader by buying them during the buy phase. When you activate the leader turn the leader card face-up. Each leader can only be activated once.

Still could be frequently too strong for the first player if they draw Estates/Coppers on turn 3.

[WanderingWinder]

Mmm, somehow missed that non-intuitive rule in the deluge. I still expect it's super-powerful on 3,4, or 5, the first time you draw 2 estates.

[icesphere]

I would say that it's not anymore powerful than drawing chapel with those cards, the difference is that you are guaranteed to be able to use it on turn 3, or as soon as you get a hand that has cards worth trashing. It didn't seem too powerful in play testing since you can only play it once and since everyone has the opportunity to choose that leader.

[WanderingWinder]

I would say that it's not anymore powerful than drawing chapel with those cards, the difference is that you are guaranteed to be able to use it on turn 3, or as soon as you get a hand that has cards worth trashing. It didn't seem too powerful in play testing since you can only play it once and since everyone has the opportunity to choose that leader.

For the first point, you are guaranteed to draw plato with bad cards, since you're guaranteed to draw bad cards and you can have it whenever you want. Not so with chapel. And so while I don't think it's *much* stronger than chapel, I do think it's a clear difference, and chapel is the most powerful card-for-its-cost they'll ever print.
And 'everyone has the chance to get it' is not a legitimate defense. Print a card that's "Cost 2, worth 12 VP, produces $8" victory treasure, and it's equally available to everyone, but it's clearly broken. Not saying Plato is nearly that broken of course, just saying it's not a good argument.

[icesphere]

Good point, maybe if it cost 1 coin, or if it had a restriction of requiring it to be played after the beginning of your 5th turn... I'll try some more variations and see what seems to work best.

[Epoch]

Good point, maybe if it cost 1 coin, or if it had a restriction of requiring it to be played after the beginning of your 5th turn... I'll try some more variations and see what seems to work best.

Nah, no point in increasing the cost (unless you increase it to $3+, in which case I suspect it's a pretty bad Leader).  Dig it: it only allows you to trash 4 cards.  So if you draw a hand of 5 bad cards, well, at most 3 of them are Estates, you have to keep one of them, you don't have anything else to do with the 1 Copper you keep.

If it costs $2, it's MILDLY more inconvenient, but since you almost certainly opened with at least one card that gives you $2, you just use this Leader when you draw your $2 producing card and 4 starting cards.

I suspect that WW is right that Plato is pretty powerful right now: it's a lot like drawing 5x Copper->Mint on turn 3 or 4.  Which is awfully powerful.  Maybe the right thing to do is just only allow it to trash 3 cards.

[icesphere]

I was looking at having it cost 1 or 2 yesterday and came to about the same conclusion. I think only allowing you to trash two or three is probably a better solution.

[icesphere]

I think trashing 3 cards is still overpowered for the same reasons, so I changed it to only let you trash 2 cards.