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[sylas]

I've already introduced the mechanic of this card type for Chamberlain but I've got a few new ones now. Thought I'd put them all in under one topic for easier access. I'll admit the Sellsword idea is a bit ambitious.


*Auction cards: In games using this, each player is given an Auction mat. When you buy an Auction card, put it on to your Auction mat. Use tokens to note the amount of money you spent on it. This is the card's current worth. Each time a player can buy a card, he can spend any amount of money. If he spends more than the card's current worth, that player may buy the card from its current owner immediately. Buying Auction cards do not count as emptying a Supply pile.
(There is only one of each Auction card.)



Chamberlain
Auction - Victory

While you own this, at the start of your turn, +$2.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is worth Victory Points equal to the number of players.



Handmaiden
Auction

While you own this, if you do not have a hand of 6 cards at the start of your turn, draw or discard until you have a hand of 6 cards.



Sellsword (This card comes with a Sellsword token.)
Auction

When you buy this, place the Sellsword token on a Kingdom card pile.
While you own this: if you buy a card from a pile with the Sellsword, you gain 2VP tokens; if another player buys a card from a pile with the Sellsword, he gains a Curse.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When a card is bought this way, you place the Sellsword on a different Kingdom card pile immediately.


(editted: 'Buy' instead of gain for Sellsword)

[LastFootnote]

Just posting to say I still like the idea of this mechanic. I think the reason you're not getting any feedback is that the cards are so exotic that people have no idea how they'll play. If at all possible, you may want to playtest these and provide a brief session report.

[sylas]

that's fair enough.

[sylas]

Just posting to say I still like the idea of this mechanic. I think the reason you're not getting any feedback is that the cards are so exotic that people have no idea how they'll play. If at all possible, you may want to playtest these and provide a brief session report.

okay. i've playtested these and oddly enough, they all work. only the Sellsword was slightly annoying to one player but other than that it went smoothly. not sure how i should post a session report without typing out a whole essay though. is it stuff like strategies or did you mean roughly how each round went?

[ahyangyi]

I think you're not getting answers because this mechanism looks very neat. Few can come up with questions unless they see how they actually play out.

If you then have playtested a bit and found they're good, they're probably really good.

[Polatrite]

I think the mechanic is interesting. The only annoying thing I see is that the cards tend to favor turn advantage heavily and that they get exponentially more expensive as the $ value increases by 1 (which is actually somewhat exponential in Dominion...).

What if you could remove tokens from the AH mat on a card you own, getting half that amount in +$ right now? You could "cheapen" the card for a temporary gain on this turn, but make it more available to your opponents simultaneously.

[sylas]

this is very true. and oddly enough, i was in the middle of typing this post when yours popped up they've now been toned down a bit. i'm not a fan of the removing tokens idea though. i was trying to go for cards that players wanted to fight over but it got to a point where that was all they were doing. and i didn't want a card where if you had it, you'd win most of the time. despite this, out of 6 games, only the Chamberlain helped win a single game, albeit by over 10 points. it's tricky to grade these cards for balance since the cost is down to each player's judgment (is the card worth more than it is currently, and if you get it, can you use it to the best effect?) at first, the cards will all seem too powerful. but the effect only lasts while you have it. a large amount spent on a non-permanent card becomes a debatable benefit.
they are simple to use in a game though, since you only need one of each. below are the ones i currently have, possibly making up to a maximum selection of 6. (comments included)


CHAMBERLAIN, Auction-Victory (v2)
While you own this, at the start of your turn, +$1.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Worth Victory Points equal to the number of players.

(the original +$2 effect was too good to pass throughout the game. whoever had it, had a massive advantage, so we were all fighting to get it. even more so during endgame when it became 4 points plus the money we needed for Provinces. the new version doesn't look all that, but if you manage to get, you'll not want to part with it.)


HANDMAIDEN, Auction (v2)
While you own this, at the start of your turn, choose one: +1 Card; or trash a card from your hand.

(the original draw until you have 6 cards made Attack cards that make you discard, largely redundant or even help your hand. the new effect should be more versatile without being too beneficial.)


SELLSWORD, Auction (v2)
When you buy Sellsword, place its token on a Kingdom card pile.
While you own this: if you buy a card from a pile with Sellsword, gain 1 Victory Token; if another player buys a card from a pile with Sellsword, he draws only 3 cards for his next hand.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When a card is bought from a pile with Sellsword, you place its token on a different Kingdom card pile immediately.

(altered the Curse gain to draw only 3 cards, which makes for a more blocking effect. other players could still get around this by 'gaining' but not 'buying' from that card pile. the VT gain is also toned down but can still get really powerful if you are able to build an engine that let's you buy more than one card on your turn, and there are cheap Kingdom cards available. however, too many of these can hurt your later hands.)


AUCTION HOUSE, Auction
When you buy Auction House, place its token on a Supply pile.
While you own this, cards from a pile with Auction House cost $1 less to you (but not less than $0), and $1 more to other players.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When a card is gained from a pile with Auction House, you place its token on a different Supply pile immediately.

(much like Sellsword but the effect applies to ALL cards, not just Kingdom cards, and repositions the token on 'gain'. not playtested yet.)


CITY GUARD, Auction-Reaction
While you own this, if you do not have 4 cards at the start of your turn, draw or discard until you have a hand of 4 cards. At any time on your turn, choose one: +1 Card; or +1 Action.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When another player plays an Attack card, you may discard a card. If you do, you are unaffected by that Attack.

(not sure if this needs to be listed as Reaction since it does not need to be revealed or played or trashed. not playtested yet.)

[zahlman]

Sorry to say it, but I think there's a fundamental flaw with this mechanic: if the card isn't very powerful, then there's no real reason to pay attention to it; if it's powerful enough to make the auction "interesting", then suddenly it becomes an overwhelming advantage to open 5/2, i.e. the opening becomes far too luck-based. I can't take the card away from you until I hit $6, and I might not have a better opening than Silver/Silver for attempting to do so.

Also, how do you decide how many Auction cards to put out, and which?

CHAMBERLAIN, Auction-Victory (v2)
While you own this, at the start of your turn, +$1.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Worth Victory Points equal to the number of players.

(the original +$2 effect was too good to pass throughout the game. whoever had it, had a massive advantage, so we were all fighting to get it. even more so during endgame when it became 4 points plus the money we needed for Provinces. the new version doesn't look all that, but if you manage to get, you'll not want to part with it.)

The original version of this was obviously incredibly strong; in a 2-player game, it'd already be like a Harem that you get to play every turn.

HANDMAIDEN, Auction (v2)
While you own this, at the start of your turn, choose one: +1 Card; or trash a card from your hand.

(the original draw until you have 6 cards made Attack cards that make you discard, largely redundant or even help your hand. the new effect should be more versatile without being too beneficial.)

The original version was ludicrous (consider the interaction with Outpost, for example). With this change, it's basically better than Alchemist (since you don't need to find a Potion to topdeck it, nor buy the Potion, nor let the Potion be a dead card) even without the trashing option.

SELLSWORD, Auction (v2)
When you buy Sellsword, place its token on a Kingdom card pile.
While you own this: if you buy a card from a pile with Sellsword, gain 1 Victory Token; if another player buys a card from a pile with Sellsword, he draws only 3 cards for his next hand.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When a card is bought from a pile with Sellsword, you place its token on a different Kingdom card pile immediately.

(altered the Curse gain to draw only 3 cards, which makes for a more blocking effect. other players could still get around this by 'gaining' but not 'buying' from that card pile. the VT gain is also toned down but can still get really powerful if you are able to build an engine that let's you buy more than one card on your turn, and there are cheap Kingdom cards available. however, too many of these can hurt your later hands.)

You probably want that to say "he draws only 3 cards during his cleanup phase". I don't really know how to rate this; it seems like you ought to be able to switch it between two cheap piles frequently and rack up bonus points on megaturns... but then you were probably going to win anyway.

AUCTION HOUSE, Auction
When you buy Auction House, place its token on a Supply pile.
While you own this, cards from a pile with Auction House cost $1 less to you (but not less than $0), and $1 more to other players.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When a card is gained from a pile with Auction House, you place its token on a different Supply pile immediately.

(much like Sellsword but the effect applies to ALL cards, not just Kingdom cards, and repositions the token on 'gain'. not playtested yet.)

I think this cost-altering mechanic is more interesting, honestly.

CITY GUARD, Auction-Reaction
While you own this, if you do not have 4 cards at the start of your turn, draw or discard until you have a hand of 4 cards. At any time on your turn, choose one: +1 Card; or +1 Action.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When another player plays an Attack card, you may discard a card. If you do, you are unaffected by that Attack.

(not sure if this needs to be listed as Reaction since it does not need to be revealed or played or trashed. not playtested yet.)

You really need that to say "at any time during your turn, once per turn," or something to that effect. Also it should presumably say "if you do not have exactly 4 cards at the start of your turn". Halving the damage from a Torturer is interesting (actually it is not that good against chains in general), anyway.

[sylas]

getting a 5/2 opening is helpful, but i disagree that buying Auction cards first give an overwhelming advantage. all you are doing is helpful your next hand, but it does nothing to build your deck. i had the same thought when i playtested them, and later found it hard to keep up with other players with more money. there's also no guarantee you'll keep it for the whole game. with a $5 spend, there's often much better cards available that you can keep or use to affect other player's hands. like i mentioned before, even with the original versions of the cards, i only won a game once out of 6. but there was no time when we ever thought the cards were weak.

i generally use only one Auction card per game, chosen at random, as i do with the other cards.