Dominion: Wilderness Most of my forays into card design have been focused on high skill cards aimed at experienced players. Then I was seeing the advantages of player interaction and randomness; they make a game constantly engaging. With my set Dynasties focused on analysis of the kingdom before the game starts, heavily strategy-oriented, I felt little urge to play games through. Once the story of the game was sussed, that was that.
So could I make a high skill set involving player interaction and a touch of randomness? I took some mechanics that seemed to fit this brief, gelled them together, and now they've almost turned into an expansion.
The result is Wilderness, an ultimately 400-card expansion with the central theme of
adaptation to changing events. There are useful Resources adding a light sprinkle of randomness, Acts giving you alternatives to spend your Actions on, 3 cards with a
cost, and the return of Heirlooms, the Tavern mat and VP tokens.
I have playtested the cards, but not actually with other people. I simulate two players myself, giving each one a different priority. Just going through this process gives me refreshment and stimulation when I need it, observing plenty of exciting possibilities for actual games. This gives me some confidence and satisfaction with the set.
The list of cards is just below the explanation of the new mechanics.
Composition- 28 kingdom cards
- 7 Heirlooms
- 28 Resources
- 20 Acts
- The Tavern mat
- VP tokens
NEW MECHANICS Resources Fruit - Action Resource, cost.
You may play an Action card costing more than this from your hand. Then, +2 Cards.
Fur - Action Resource, cost.
+1 Card
+2 Actions
Ore - Action Resource, cost.
+1 Action
+
Wood - Action Resource, cost.
+1 Card
+1 Action
+1 Buy
-
When you gain or trash this, +1 Buy and +.
Like Ruins, but useful. There are 7 copies of each, shuffled together and kept face down except for the top one. All 28 are used in every game, no matter how many players there are. They're added to the game in the same manner as Loot, whenever a card mentions Resources. They can be bought.
There's an additional unique global rule with this pile:
once per turn, at the start of your Buy phase, you may rotate the Resources.
So Resources bring all the important engine components into the game, and their randomness can also be interesting.
ActsThese are landscape cards just like Events, only they're triggered by spending an Action (Action, not Action card) during the Action phase rather than buying them.
Differences from Ways:
- An Action is spent, not an Action card. So they can be used in the opening turns.
- The overall power level is thus a bit weaker.
- They can potentially only be used once per turn.
- Design space advantages include independence on what's in your hand and effects broken on an Action card.
- You can use two of them in a game.
Some Acts can only be used once per turn. To track their use, you can move the Act into your play area, then put it back at end of turn.
Card costs3 of the cards in the set have a card back icon in their cost, and a below-line description of that cost.
Animal Fair has an optional cost of trash an Action card from hand. A cost of "
: trash an Action from your hand" is not optional; if you don't have an Action in hand, you can't afford that card.
Each different
cost is unique and incomparable to others; so if Provisioner, Fissure and Sponsor were all revealed for
Chariot Race, none of them would win. That said, a
cost is a definite extra cost, so Sponsor would beat
Laboratory; it also can't be gained by
Artisan, and
Stonemason can gain Laboratories from trashing it.
It may seem awkward to have a new mechanic be on just 3 cards. I feel that because
costs can change the game radically, since
is such a core mechanic, having just a few in an expansion is enough.
Heirlooms are also in the set. The rule I would impose for when 8 or more different Heirlooms are selected is to randomly choose 7 of them.
None of these Heirlooms intrinsically require their host Kingdom card. Players can feel free to add them into games however they wish; the host cards here can be seen as suggestions.
With Acts and Heirlooms together, there is a lot more going on in the opening turns!
CARD LIST
THE CARDS INDIVIDUALLYI explain each of them, give my positives (+) and negatives (-) on its design, then give its history. If you want more history, or potential inspiration, the outtakes are listed at the end.
Resources
Some cards use these to help build an engine, and some use the ever changing top card to make a varying effect that players can control.
+: They create replayable games. They do not make a good deck by themselves, but rather they support the kingdom cards.
-: The same issue as Donald had with Horses could arise, that a large number of gained Resources lengthens play too much.
History:
Flavour-wise, they were first called Trinkets, and they were Codex, Garment, Jewellery and Crate, respectively. Things you could find when razing a settlement. Too much of that in Dominion already, so I thought again, landed at Resources, and from there the whole desert theme developed.
They were added to the game with a type, Gatherer, like Ruins were. Then Plunder came out and set a precedent for an extra pile with no type in Loot; it has landscape cards that use Loot, and this set had Acts using Resources, so the type left to prevent rules confusion with 'Act - Gatherer' cards.
There was a fifth Resource:
Water Source - cost. +1 Card, +1 Action. If you have exactly 5 cards in hand, trash one of them.
The only reason I put it there was to be symmetrical to the Ruins pile. Resources are useful unlike the Ruins, so they don't need a deck controller to soften them. It wasn't useful throughout the game; going late, Water Source on the top of the pile was a useless or even harmful card, which felt awful. It didn't belong.
All the Resources cost
at first:
Fruit - +2 Cards. Discard any number of cards. Draw until you have 5 cards in hand. You may put a card from your hand onto your deck for +1 Action.
Fur (was called Refuge) - +1 Card, +2 Actions. Discard a card.
Ore - + . If you have a Resource or Gatherer in play, +1 Action.
Wood - +1 Card, +1 Action, +1 Buy.
This version of Fruit was always draw to 5 and had those extra add-ons over time. It was making the Resources too independent, too strong by themselves, which would be boring; the kingdom cards could contribute little. So I changed it to the current weak lab (at
) to reverse this. Ore was similarly making the Resources independent. So it became plain Action Silver; OK at
.
What prompted the change to
cost, and the buff to Fur and Wood, was the Fan Mechanic contest on Resources; that exposed the wide difference in power level between them.
The last change was thanks to Allies introducing the rotate keyword; rotating Resources could definitely happen, and I finally settled on the global rule. Some outtakes tried other ways.
Ancient Ruins - Action, cost.
Reveal your hand; the player to your left picks one of the cards. Trash it to choose two different things: +2 Cards; +2 Buys; +; +2.
The best card in your hand (probably) will be trashed for benefit, and you get to pick a nice reward.
+: A different spin on trashing to thin that is challenging but rewards well. You can get a big payoff early, but then see this become dud more quickly than other trashers, especially if Treasures are the principal payload.
-: I can't see too much wrong with it. It's sad when it doesn't work out, but you can plan around that.
History:
Trash variable card for variable benefit was always the premise, you can make up what you lost.
cost. +1 Buy, +2. Trash the top card of your deck. Choose either +Cards or + equal to its cost in .
I was trying for casual randomness. Then I liked the randomness less, and reduced the
reward to 1; it wasn't nice to have players get ahead by taking gambles. When I tired of it, I changed a WDC entry I did with the premise of the player to the left choosing a card in hand, replacing top-deck trash with it.
cost. +1 Buy, +1. Reveal your hand. The player to your left picks one of the cards. Trash it to choose either +Cards or + equal to its cost in .
More control over the card trashed, but here was a good design lesson: the decision for the player to the left wasn't interesting. The better the card they had trashed, generally the better the payoff you got, so they had to weigh things up, using mental effort not related to their own strategy. So, the benefit had to be a constant. It became the current version.
With further playtesting, the cost was reduced from
to
because it was proving so fiddly to use. Then again from
to
.
Astronomer - Action Reserve, cost.
+1 Action
Put this on your Tavern mat.
-
When you shuffle, you may call this, to first pick one of the cards and put it into your hand.
This triggers on a shuffle, letting you pick any card to draw, so it's like a delayed cantrip. In exchange for the near immaculate reliability, it misses the shuffle.
+: It's simple and elegant. I have seen plenty of moments where the decision of what to pick is very meaningful and interesting.
-: Some could find it trivial, a
that can help any deck.
History:
It's an old card, like back from WDC #3, but it conceptually hasn't changed. The wording has improved over time though. When I decided to do this set, it was one of the first cards, helping to create the adaptation to immediate needs theme. I did briefly try a
variant when there weren't many
s in the set:
cost. +1 Card, [same effects]
There were times I felt the current version was a bit weak. This could trigger a reshuffle before going to the mat, and it was just less elegant.
Boundary Marker - Action Reserve, cost.
+1 Action
+1 Buy
+ , or if you have another Boundary Marker in play, +.
-
When you gain this, you may put it on your Tavern mat. while it's there, when you gain a Victory card costing or more, +1 per empty Supply pile.
These have two ways of playing them, either put them in your deck to get payload, or put them on your Tavern mat to provide a late game passive boost to gaining Victories.
+: The player interaction with when a pile empties (often itself) and how easily one can get points should be engaging. The choice of how many copies of each play mode to get is new and interesting (to me).
-: The Tavern mat mode can be similar to Duke but stronger.
History:
The initial premise was,
tokens were in the set, could I create powerful alt VP akin to Goons?
Action Reserve, cost. Gain a Silver. Put this on your Tavern mat. / While this is on your Tavern mat, when you gain a card, +1.
It didn't feel different enough to Triumph or Goons. So I changed it to 2
for Duchies. Then I saw how an extra on-play effect with optional gain to Tavern mat created two modes and added on-play Estate milling for VP to stick to the Victories theme. The Tavern mat mode opened up to Victories costing
-
, because Mirage Island is in the set.
Action Reserve, cost. Choose one: gain an Estate; or trash an Estate from your hand for +2. / When you gain this, you may put it on your Tavern mat. While it's there, when you gain a Victory costing from to , +2.
Then I liked the idea of adding empty Supply pile relevance to the set - for the player interaction theme - and changed the Tavern mat mode to 1VP per empty pile as it is now. This wanted to work on Provinces, so the cost range became
+.
The Tavern mat mode was the clear preference to the Estate milling; it was better than a cantrip, whilst the Estate milling was non-drawing terminal and not very collectible. When a WDC favoured cards about empty piles, I twigged non-terminal Bridge, put it on and entered it. It didn't do that well because balance was hard to assess, but the cost reduction clash with the Victory cost range was brought to attention and I decided to reduce
+ to
+.
Action Reserve, cost. +1 Action, +1 Buy. This turn, cards cost less. / When you gain this, you may put it on your Tavern mat. While it's there, when you gain a Victory card costing or more, +1 per empty Supply pile.
The two modes clash, and that inflexibility between how many of each copy is best could open up. It became the current version.
So, the premise changed somewhat from crazy alt VP to dual-mode card.
Copse - Action Reserve, cost.
+1 Action
Put this on your Tavern mat.
-
At the end of your Buy phase, you may call this, to choose one to gain: a card costing up to from a pile with 5 or fewer cards in it; or a card costing up to , and if it's a victory card, +1.
After your Buy phase, when you may have run some piles down, you can call this gainer that's particularly good mid to late game.
+: Sometimes you want a Workshop to sit out of the deck.
-: a new card without much testing. It could be too strong looking at
Duplicate.
History:
A newer card. There was only Provisioner as a gainer, and I could have done with more Reserve cards.
Put this on your Tavern mat; you may immediately call it. / At the start of your turn, you may call this. When you call this, choose one to gain: a card costing up to from a pile with 5 or fewer cards in it; or a card costing up to , and if it's or less, +1.
Late game comeback potential was the premise. The change to end of Buy phase call enabled more control over how empty piles were; you could get a pile down to 5 cards, then they're all gone by your next turn. The +
with all
-s was too much potential, so I made it work on
-
s, then just Victories since there's still a lot of Silvers and Resources. It got +1 Action because it likes stacking up a lot.
Craft - Action, cost.
+1 Action
Trash a card from your hand. If it was a Resource, +2VP. Otherwise, gain a Resource.
Change junk into Resources, or Resources into
.
+: Resource trash-for-benefit should be fun and possibly challenging since they're useful. Swapping junk for Resources is random fun but always useful.
-: +2
may be too generous.
History:
The premise never changed.
Action Gatherer, Cost. +1 Action. Trash a card from your hand. If it was...Fruit, gain an Action; Ore, gain a Treasure; Fur (Refuge), +4 Cards; Water Source, +4; Wood, +; none of these, gain a Resource.
If you were choosing to lose a Resource, what would you want instead? But between trashing Resources and simply playing them this was having you remember and weigh up 11 different possibilities! If I ever needed a card that causes analysis paralysis, I succeeded here. It became:
Action Gatherer, cost. Trash 2 cards from your hand. If both were Resources, + and +2. Otherwise, gain 2 Resources.
Unnecessarily clunky, so it became the current version at
. It went up to
when Resources went up to
.
Despoiled Village - Action, cost.
+1 Card
+2 Actions
-
In games using this, when you gain a card other than Despoiled Village, you may reveal a copy of it from your hand to gain a Despoiled Village.
Anything you gain can come with a free Village provided you have a copy in hand.
+: Simple with a few neat uses and tricks. Cheaper cards are not so good for the deck, while more expensive ones are, so there is an elegant balance.
-: Maybe a bit uninteresting, or it could empty too fast.
History: I wanted a Village that doesn't like Resources, to contrast Hostile Village.
cost. +1 Card, +2 Actions. / If this is the first Despoiled Village you've gained this turn, each other player reveals their hand. Gain a copy of a revealed card costing up to .
Interactive, and Resources reduced the chance of hitting something nice. But the mirror play impetus wasn't too fun. So it became
[top same] / When you buy this, you may reveal a card from your hand costing up to to gain a copy of that card.
I later let it gain
s to try making it more exciting, but it was still bland; it liked you drawing terminal collisions and playing clumsily. So I changed it to:
[top same] / In games using this, when you gain a card, you may discard a copy of it to gain a Despoiled Village.
Switching the gain parts around to gain the DV extra instead, so discarding cheap copies becomes more of an option. The current version opens up more viability.
Fissure - Action, cost.
+5 Cards
+1 Buy
Change all further +Cards you get into + for the rest of the turn.
-
: return a Duchy from your hand to the Supply.
Heirloom: Climbing Rope
Climbing Rope - Action Treasure Heirloom, cost.
+2 Cards
+1 Action
Put a card from your hand onto your deck.
Fissure is a draw version of
Snowy Village, converting all further +Card draw into
for the rest of the turn. It's bought in two stages, first get a Duchy, a blank
essentially, then swap it for this. Climbing Rope can help you dance around this change in various ways, like putting a collided terminal back or turning into +
.
+: Fissure has interesting interactions with cards in this set. The conversion is elegant - one wants to draw into payload - and timing it right during the turn can take good skill.
-: it's maybe a bit too dependent on shuffle order being right, even with Climbing Rope to help. CR takes starting deck economy away a little. The cost is new and may not be well balanced.
History:
Fissure was a WDC entry:
Action, cost. +4 Cards. Change all further +Cards you get into + for the rest of the turn.
This was quite swingy depending on shuffle order. I then had a Reserve variant here in note form that called at start of turn for big draw that changed the rest to +
, but that could kill the fun of the turn. Repository took its place. Then while thinking about another terminal draw card I came back to the original version, thought how an Heirloom could help the swinginess problem, and made Rope:
Action, cost. +3 Cards, +1 Buy. [same convert effect].
Rope: Treasure Heirloom, cost. [same effect]
Rope becoming an Action Treasure made sense soon after, and Plunder made it a Climbing Rope. I preferred the bigger draw on Fissure, as that was a large defining part of the premise. That would have to cost a fair bit more than
, and the answer came when I decided to add
costs. Before the current version, I tried putting the Duchy on the Tavern mat; then I compared that to
Distant Lands to see that was too strong.
Footman - Action, cost.
+1 Card
+1 Action
+
You may trash this to gain a card to your hand costing up to .
Heirloom: Sedan Chair
Sedan Chair - Treasure Heirloom, cost.
This turn, you may put this and/or a Resource onto your deck when you discard them from play.
Peddler that can be downgraded for immediate power, be it a Resource or something else. Sedan Chair puts Resources in the game, and can Scheme one and/or itself.
+: Footman seems like a simple but effective premise that Resources always make relevant. Sometimes the top Resource provides the perfect immediate need. Sedan Chair offers mild adaptability or engine consistency, negating the repetitive feel of the card
Scheme with a single copy in the deck.
-: it could be just too strong for
, no dedicated testing of this.
History:
Not a lot for Footman; it was first gaining
s to hand when Resources were
. Sedan Chair had 2 other versions before this one:
Treasure Heirloom, cost. Choose one: move a Resource from its pile onto a kingdom pile with no other Resources on top; or rotate any Supply pile.
Rotating opened up this interactive possibility. With Resources being decently useful, it may not have been overly harsh. But I felt that it was when a player's one copy of Sedan Chair wasn't in hand at the crucial moment.
Treasure Duration Heirloom, cost. Choose one: +; or at the start of your next turn, play a Resource in the Supply, leaving it there.
A bit strong for starting with, but it inspired Mineral Deposit.
The current version just clicked.
Hollow - Action, cost.
Choose one: trash all but 3 cards from your hand; or draw until you have 6 cards in hand.
Heirloom: Torch
Torch - Action Treasure Heirloom, cost.
+
If its your Action phase, +2 Actions.
Trash down from a big hand, like with
Count but saving 3 cards. Or, draw up from a small one. Torch is Heirloom
Necropolis; I know, you already thought of that card yourself.
+: working both modes well can be tricky, developing the adaptation theme.
-: the potential to be strong trashing like
Chapel that also pivots into a draw card can be very centralising, though it takes some Kingdom support. The Heirloom might be giving it an unnecessary buff.
History:
I desired a draw to X card; it would have neat interactions with the set. I quickly came to:
Action Duration, cost. Either now or at the start of your next turn, choose one: draw until you have 6 cards in hand; or discard any number of cards for + each.
The self synergy was strong, particularly when Throned, so the discard for
each became gain a card costing up to
per card discarded. This didn't address the issue of analysis paralysis with 4 different play options; an issue to me at least.
I changed it to the current version partly inspired by the lack of a multiple-trash card in the set. I thought of the Heirloom separately, to work nicely with Acts, then put it with this for the draw to X synergy.
Hostile Village - Action, cost.
+3 Cards
+2 Actions
Trash a card you have in play that would be discarded during Clean-up this turn.
Heirloom: Trail Mix
Trail Mix Treasure Duration Heirloom, cost.
Either now or at the start of your next turn, +.
Hostile Village is a super powerful card, but at a hefty cost of trashing something in play; this will always mean itself if nothing else can go. Trail Mix is a now-or-next-turn Copper.
+: Hostile Village is elegant and can create skilful play. Trail Mix can make the opening
split more flexible.
-: Hostile Village was always going to be a fan card with the tracking issue of cards removed from play while having done something for the turn.
History:
I made Hostile Village for a WDC and felt compelled by it; the current version without an Heirloom. I added it to the early stages of this set and liked what I was seeing, driving me further. I later added the outtake Creed, having thought of it separately, then moved the Heirloom from the outtake Sheikh here where it made more sense.
Key to the Past - Action Reaction, cost.
+1 Action
+
If any Supply pile is empty, +1 Card.
-
When another player trashes a card, you may exchange this from your hand for a card costing up to .
Its power is unlocked either by an empty pile or by reacting to an opponent's trashing. Exchange means this could refill its own pile.
+: it's a good comeback card that involves adaptation and player interaction.
-: the more relevant early trashing is, the more relevant the reaction is early, to potentially exaggerate an already scripted situation.
History:
this was in my first set project Revolution for a long time. I moved it here since the nature of the trashing here suited it more. Countering trashing was the initial premise, then the top part was formed around the Reaction. It first just checked if its own pile was empty.
Mineral Deposit - Treasure Duration, cost.
+1 Buy
At the start of your next turn, play a Resource in the Supply, leaving it there and ignoring +1 Action.
A +Buy now for a constant purpose, then a variable bonus next turn that opponents can control. Fur will still give +1 Action, and nothing different happens with Fruit. This card declares that there shall never be a Command Resource.
+: high skill players may like leaving the least helpful Resource on top for opponents, while low skill players may like to wait and see what bonus they get.
-: the randomness may sting sometimes, if a player buys a Resource to expose a strong one. It's probably rather similar to
Rope; I don't have it.
History:
Very new. The first Sedan Chair inspired this. It could become a Kingdom pile and cover the premise of the outtake Survivalist cleanly, to command a Resource for a random effect.
Mirage Island - Victory Reaction, cost.
2
-
When another player gains a Victory card, you may put this and any number of Victory cards from your hand on your Tavern mat for +1 each.
Victory that can move Victories out of the deck when it reacts, scoring at the same time.
+: There is the potential to make dynamic turnarounds.
-: preparing a hand with lots of Victories in is very risky and may not be viable very often, so that the points potential on average is rather low.
History:
it was a WDC entry (winner) at
cost, only using the Island mat instead. I did try just setting itself aside for 2
, i.e a Distant Lands variant; it seemed to be more viable for points within the context of this set, but less different. So I retained the current version, and then testing and design theory suggested going down to
cost was OK; opening with two isn't the strongest move that often, and being more accessible helps the reaction work more.
Pennant - Action, cost.
If you have 2 or more Resources on your Tavern mat, play 2 of them in either order, leaving them there. Otherwise, put 2 Resources from your hand on your Tavern mat (or reveal you can't).
Fuse two Resources together by lining them up with this to create a customised
-cost powerful engine piece.
+: A Treasure Map mini-game that favours engines feels satisfying to pull off. Especially when it combines the desired 2 Resources.
-: There is still some Treasure Map swinginess. Sometimes any 2 Resources will have to do if the game goes too late.
History:
I held the premise of T Map for engines right back in Revolution. There were Components that combined into special non-Supply piles. I dropped them because each of those piles wanted to be their own kingdom pile. After toying with the premise of putting Resources on the Tavern mat for a customisable card, Pennant clicked, this current version.
Provisioner - Action, cost.
Gain a card costing up to onto your deck, then gain a Resource onto your deck.
-
: discard a Silver.
You get two cards on your deck, a card up to
paired with a Resource. Being a bit over
-strength, a Silver must make up some of the cost.
+: It can call for adaptation to the top Resource.
-: The Silver cost may not be the best.
History:
It started as simply the top part at
, quite an early addition into the set, but then it seemed to be deciding a few games if one player opened with it. So I tried:
Action Reserve Gatherer, cost. [same on-play effect] Put this on your Tavern mat. / During your turn, whenever you have any unused Actions, you may discard this from your Tavern mat for -1 Action.
Sometimes you wanted it to stay on the mat, other times you wanted to get it back, which may have made an interesting decision with Acts. But you could play it multiple times during the same turn, and it wasn't strong enough to have to skip turns out of the deck; so a cheap
cost to delay it from the opening was the answer.
Repository - Action Reserve, cost.
Put this on your Tavern mat.
-
At the start of your turn, you may call this, to discard any number of Treasures, revealed, for +2 Cards each.
Heirloom: Locket
Locket - Treasure Heirloom, cost.
+, or if you have another Locket in play, +.
-
When you trash this or discard it from play, if you haven't played a copy of it during the turn, put it in the player to your left's discard pile.
Repository is Reserve start-of-turn draw that varies with the number of Treasures in hand, discarding them out of the way. Locket is an Heirloom that passes around players; passing it on thins the deck, but keeping hold of them can make good payload.
+: Discarding Treasures can mean a worse hand after the draw, so Repository isn't trivial to use. Locket adds some quaint player interaction.
-: Possibly Repository is
strong. Lockets can cluster together in a player's deck unfavourably by pure shuffle randomness.
History:
I was looking for another terminal draw for the set, and something that liked Treasures because of the Heirlooms.
cost. Put this on your Tavern mat. / When any player plays an Action card, you may call this, [same effect].
There could be adaptation to a new situation in an instant. It's a nightmare to program online, I guess, and also in solo tests I just ended up doing them at the start of the turn and that worked fine. It looked a bit weak for
. I tried one extra twist...
cost. Put this on your Tavern mat; you may immediately call it. / At the start of your turn, you may call this. When you call this, [same].
...before
Magnate was released, scaring me into the current version.
The outtake Permit was here first. Then Locket was made from the outtake Rook and put here.
Seize - Action Attack Duration, cost.
At the start of your next turn, +. Until then, as long as there is a Curse in the Supply, each other player trashes the first card they discard from play on their turn to gain a Curse.
Attack downgrading a card into a Curse. Players only trash if there is a Curse in the Supply, and gain a Curse even if the card visits the trash but is moved.
+: the decision of what to trash can be interesting. The potential harshness is neutralised by being a Duration hitting once only.
-: not much testing yet. Being hard countered by two Scheme variants in the same set might be a bit silly.
History:
It started from the outtake Ravage. I first went to:
Action Duration Attack, cost. Set aside a card from your hand. At the start of your next turn, trash it and gain a card costing up to more than it. Until then, each other player exchanges the first card they discard from play on their turn that costs or more with a Resource.
I liked the Duration Expand concept, and may keep it by itself sometime. The Attack again rarely hurts, even though it will more likely hit. Or it forces decks into not-very-fun good stuff strategies.
The change to the current version came via thinking of the outtake Impostor.
Sponsor - Action, cost.
+ per you've produced this turn other than with Treasures or Sponsors.
-
: trash a Resource from your hand.
It replicates the
produced during the turn, ignoring Treasures and copies of itself. The cost adds Resources, and they guarantee that it can do something in every game. Each Resource supports it somehow, but the kingdom will still do the heavy lifting.
+: a payload strategy that feels fun to build, making large on Action-heavy engines. The cost can be interesting to pay.
-: perhaps too wild; when it's good, it's really good, and when it's bad, really bad.
Fortune by comparison can consistently pay well in most Kingdoms.
History:
the initial premise was creating a mini-game of collecting all the different Resources.
Curator - Action Gatherer, cost; +1 Buy, + per differently named Resource you have in play.
It wasn't reliable enough, so I tried adding +1 Action. Still not there, so then a Treasure; the outtake Display Case.
The Action Fortune premise enabled by Ore started with a WDC entry:
Subsidy - Action Gatherer, cost. +1 Buy. Double your . / When you gain this, gain a Resource.
It similarly likes collecting all the Resources. But it was crazy strong. Doubling all
was quickly changed to ignore itself. Then the +Buy left; Wood is also in the game. Then the when-gain was too generous:
Sponsor - Action Gatherer, cost. + per you've produced with Actions other than Sponsor this turn. / When you gain this, you may trash a Resource from your hand.
This still had scary moments. Adding
costs to the set addressed the low cost and the clumsy inclusion of Resources at the same time. The wording change of the on-play let
from landscapes be included and Action - Treasures not included.
Street Market - Action, cost.
+1 Buy
+
This turn, when you gain a card, you may put it at the bottom of your deck, and when you discard one of your cards from play, you may put it at the bottom of your deck.
Woodcutter with Scheme to bottom of deck and optional putting gains at bottom of deck.
+: This bottom-decking itself is not always the right thing to do. With that and needing to know the deck and the current shuffle state, it's fairly high skill.
-: Could be too much utility for engines drawing themselves every turn, although that takes effort and makes fun more fun.
History:
This current version was in my notes for a fair while at
, then I added it to the set part way through realising how it fit with the shuffle control sub-theme. I had a go with it at
giving +
once, just in case the set needed another cheap card; it felt less interesting. And then
cost seemed balanced.
Tinker - Action Reserve, cost.
Put this on your Tavern mat.
-
When you gain a card, you may call this, to trash that card and a card from your hand, then gain a card costing exactly the total cost of the two trashed cards.
It's a Reserve that triggers on a gain, Forging that gain with one other card in your hand. This gain could trigger another Tinker.
+: A simple and stackable effect, elegant and powerful.
-: Province milling with them can be a killjoy. Perhaps it's
strong.
History:
it's quite old. It came from the Tinker card I had in Dynasties, which also Forged 2 cards together but was a Night and looked in the discard pile for the first trash. It could hit things you bought, but it wasn't as reliable as this Reserve version.
Turban - Treasure Duration, cost.
At the start of your next turn, reveal cards from your deck until you reveal an Action. Discard the rest, then play the Action.
Treasure that digs for and plays an Action at the start of next turn.
+: simple, and fits into set themes. Building a Turban-focused deck is quite different and fairly interesting.
-: maybe a tad strong. Similar to
Ghost; I don't have it and never will.
History:
it was another WDC entry that compelled me, and it became one of the set's first cards. It was worth
- I thought it would be a nice builder card - but that proved too strong.
Vandal - Action Attack, cost.
+
Each other player discards a non-Victory card or loses 1, their choice. (They may pick an option they can't do, revealing their hand if the former.)
-
Setup: each player gets 8.
A Torturer variant where the choice is discard a useful card (or Curse) or lose a
. A hand full of green or having all
tokens taken prevents the attack.
+: the attack should often be interesting to play against. Taking
tokens is a new attack concept.
-: stacking is meaner, unlike
Torturer, although harder.
History:
This came when trying to make something better from the outtakes Redoubt and Rook:
Action Attack, cost. +. You may discard a Rook for +. Each other player discards a non-Victory card costing or more or loses 2, their choice. / Setup: each player gets 20.
If two Rooks came together in one deck, in one hand, the
loss was more likely. Still, Rook wanted to be Locket and take the bonus
onto itself. The rest was preserved and toned down in the current version.
The starting
went down to 8 when I came up with Negotiate.
Warband - Action Attack, cost.
+3 Cards
Each other player with 5 or more cards in hand sets aside the top card of their deck face up, sets aside a card in their hand that shares a type (or reveals they can't), then puts the set aside cards onto their deck in any order.
This launches a random attack on opponents depending on the top card of their deck, like
Clerk but with less control.
+: Its randomness can be mitigated by the effect on next turn. A top-decked Action means 2 Actions in the next hand/draw, often good; and a Victory top-deck means a slightly better immediate turn.
-: it can sometimes be nasty enough to determine games with a single play.
History:
It always was a random Attack. It started by applying different effects depending on the type of the card they revealed:
cost. +3 Cards. Each other player reveals the top card of their deck. If it's an... Action, they may discard an Action from their hand, and if they don't they trash it; Treasure, they discard down to 3 cards in hand; neither, they gain a Curse.
If the top card reflected what was common in the deck, what would hurt? I thought of the current version before this got to testing; I favoured the elegance.
I have been weighing up whether this or Vandal should have +3 Cards. I decided on this as multiple plays on the same turn hurt less.
Warden - Action Duration Reaction, cost.
+1 Action
Now and at the start of your next turn: +2 Cards, then put a card from your hand onto your deck.
-
When another player plays an Attack card, you may first play this from your hand.
This turn it sorts out the top of the deck, and next turn it also increases hand size by one. It can soften the blow of a variety of Attacks.
+: the way it defends against several different Attacks feels very fun, improving the hand and top of deck. It's a decent Caravan+ when there are no Attacks.
-: the immediate turn play can feel quite dull. The most fun Attack interactions are not in this set, rather the early official ones.
History:
It started without the Reaction. Then it was the current version at
without the +Action. The first turn effect was feeling awkward, rather like terminal +1 Card, so it became how it is now.
Yurt - Action, cost.
+2 Actions
+
-
When you gain this, set it aside. If you do, you may set aside a card you would discard from play this turn. At Clean-up, put the set aside cards into your hand after drawing.
On gain, it puts itself and another card in play that would be discarded into your next turn's hand. Strong immediate boost, but weak afterwards.
+: lots of set synergy, furthering the adaptation theme.
-: the when-gain might be confusing.
History:
At one point there was just Hostile Village, Despoiled Village and Turban as ways to play multiple Actions reliably. Not good for a set with Acts. The current version was recently added to my bank of ideas, maybe for Dynasties, then added here because of how it fit set themes.
ActsAbandon - Act
Once per turn, choose one: trash a card from your hand to put 1 here; or take all the from here.
Trashing in the opening is very strong, but how big will the VP pile be allowed to get?
+: Significant player interaction.
-: it could speed the game up too much.
History:
Once I tried Resources instead of
; too many piled up could hurt, so no one took them. The name was Maroon.
Accommodate - Act
You may play a non-Reserve Action card from your Tavern mat. Once per turn: you may put an Action from your hand on your Tavern mat for +1 Action.
Once each turn, it can move an Action no longer needed out of the way or save one to play at a better time. It can play any number of saved Actions each turn, as if they were in hand.
+: It opens up more functionality to Actions, enabling more different strategies and combos.
-: The way it saves terminal collisions could make it boring.
History:
The premise was saving Actions to play at better times. I deleted the notes I had on previous versions of this, since this Act version is by far the best execution. I remember it was first a Way, before I started this set, something like:
Way of the Cat - You may put this on your Tavern mat. You may play an Action from your Tavern mat.
Weird broken stuff could happen, like stacking up Adventures tokens easily. I then tried a cantrip Action, in this set:
Action, cost. +1 Card, +1 Action. Choose one: put an Action from your hand on your Tavern mat; or play an Action from your Tavern mat.
The landscape form was reliable, there when the right Action to save was in hand or when the right time comes to play a saved one. I arrived at the Act version:
Act. +1 Action. Choose one: put an Action from your hand on your Tavern mat; or play an Action from your Tavern mat.
This could just save everything and take deck control skill away. My first fix was taking the +Action off, but that was rarely useful. Finally it needed the non-Reserve clause added on for the likes of
Wine Merchant.
Accrue - Act
Choose one: put a token on your Tavern mat; or remove 2 tokens from your Tavern mat to play an Action from your hand twice, ignoring the +Actions.
Spend 3 Actions over time to Throne an Action card, ignoring all the +Actions so they can't just be Accrued straight back. Any kind of token will do, even the VP ones this set would provide, since no token goes on the Tavern mat otherwise. For tracking, the 2 spent tokens can be put on the Throned card.
+: A new spin on how Actions interact with Action cards, potentially enabling resourceful thinking.
-: when +Actions are very easy to get, this may not feel very strategic.
History:
Tokens on the Tavern mat was the starting premise:
Choose one: add a token to your Tavern mat; or remove all tokens from your Tavern mat for + each.
Distinguished from Sinister Plot, and trying to involve +
on an Act sensibly (I already had Descend for a +Card one). Too strong, so it changed to take 1 token off at once, so two uses got +
.
It wasn't interesting because it was just free extras when spare Actions were around. +
is direct payload that doesn't require the deck to be strong; why, even Village Idiots could win. The current version works with the deck.
The outtake Recall was the first attempt at a Throning Act.
Ambush - Act
Move this onto any Supply pile. (It stays there.) Cards from the pile cost more (before reductions).
Spend an Action to move it onto any Supply pile, and it stays there to show that all cards from that pile cost
more, for everyone, all the time. If you don't like where it is, it'll cost you an Action to move it on.
+: interactive and strategic, including self benefits if one doesn't want to be aggressive with it.
-: looking at
Livery, it's possible that the official game will eventually get a card that prevents cost increase of the Supply from ever happening.
History:
I had an Ambush in Dynasties, a kingdom card that moved a State around non-Victory Supply piles that meant cards gained from the pile were trashed. It could be very rude, especially in the opening. This is a much gentler version.
Ascend - Act
The next time you gain a Duchy or Province this turn, +1.
Convert Actions into
, but not without building a decent deck.
+: a new method of winning the game that an Act cleanly accomplishes.
-: perhaps only occasionally interesting.
History:
I think I had straight-up +1
hovering as a silly idea for a long time. I only recently twigged attaching it to Provinces to make the deck need to be good, and Duchies could work too for more usage. Estates are too cheap and easy.
Backtrack - Act
Once per turn: +1 Action. If your deck and discard pile both have cards in them, swap them over (shuffling your discard pile).
The deck becomes the discard pile, and the discard pile is shuffled into a new deck. Which is the better one to draw from next?
+: a new means of card movement that I have felt interesting moments from.
-: it may never get to be interesting in some games.
History:
I think it started with this?
Way of the Fox - +1 Buy. You may put your deck into your discard pile.
A landscape with the Chancellor effect. It's weak enough for an Act, and timing it could be controlled a bit better. I think I had shuffle discard pile into deck as a hovering idea, not in my notes, because of the shuffle synergies in the set. Just how I came to swapping deck and discard over I don't recall.
+1 Action was a later addition since it very often wants to set up a draw played after it. Then it became once per turn for simplicity; with constant availability there's constant tracking of deck and discard throughout the turn, which can make analysis paralysis.
Conclude - Act
Discard your hand. If you discarded any cards, +.
Conclude your Action phase (usually) by discarding your hand for some degree of profit.
+: There are various fun ways to incorporate this into an engine strategy, as well as odd occasions outside of engines.
-: it may be narrower than anticipated, not viable very often.
History:
I just thought of it about the time I made Fissure. Deciding on +
to distinguish from Alms and make
/
opening splits less wild is the only point of interest. Late on I changed it from once per turn to checking for any discarded cards, just to squeeze in interactions with things that can get another hand from nothing.
Create - Act
Once per turn: play any number of Treasures from your hand. You may buy a card, gaining it to your hand.
Buy a card immediately to potentially use immediately. A Treasure or Night is fine, but an Action needs you to have 2 Actions left, one for using this first. At the very least this is +1 Buy, just fancier.
+: It has several uses, with some exciting moments.
-: perhaps silly with big money or with buying Coppers in the opening.
History:
Right back to the early days of my first set Revolution, there was an Action, Innovator, which was all about buying a card to hand. I tried it in many forms before getting tired of it. I flicked through my old ideas for inspiration and found it again. Some of its problems could be addressed as an Act; it can wait until the time is right, it can be made weak enough, and there's only one copy available per turn for balance.
Descend - Act
Once per turn: +1 Action. Discard the top card of your deck. You may put it into your hand; if you do, each other player gets +1VP.
One optional Lab each turn at the cost of a
, getting to look at the card first in case it's bad. Or just move the top card of the deck on.
+: simple but effective, a bit like a +Cards variant of Desperation.
-: it can be swingy, especially since
is involved.
History:
One of the first Acts. When I twigged how weak they would have to be, I saw that self-inflicted penalties could open the design space up and then this was obvious. It was a Smithy (terminal +2 Cards), which could make the openings too wild. Then it became plain +1 Card +1 Action; horrible when that card was bad, hence the current version.
Devise - Act
+1 Action
Put a card from your hand onto your deck.
Scheme your next turn by saving cards for then, or use an immediate top-deck inspect effect.
+: Simple ability to add to the game that will always be sometimes useful sometimes not, according to shuffle randomness.
-: maybe it's boring, not suiting engine play.
History:
It just came like this and the first tests saw interesting use.
Disguise - Act
Once per turn: discard an Action to play a Resource in the Supply, leaving it there.
A bit like a once per turn Way, change an Action into a different variable effect.
+: the variability creates adaptive play.
-: tracking might be an issue, even with moving Disguise into the play area.
History:
Play a Resource as a Way was a hovering idea. Because on average it would be stronger than the official Ways, it would need a nerf. Once per turn lets it be justified as an Act over a Way.
Embark - Act
Once per turn: if the previous turn wasn't yours, skip Clean-up to take another turn after this one.
A lot of rules to clear up here, and I hope they're all correct! Cards played on the first turn stay in play, like with
Journey; the hand is not discarded, and no extra ones are drawn; Actions, Buys and
are lost at the end of the first turn, after the skipped Clean-up; if other extra turns are played on the same turn, Embark is triggered by choosing to skip the Clean-up of any of those turns. It has several uses.
+: it opens up unique strategies.
-: it may be confusing at first. The interaction with Hostile Village and Yurt isn't great; the intention is that with a HV played after Embark, something is still trashed even though it wouldn't be discarded this turn, likewise with Yurt setting something aside. They probably need to avoid their current wording because of Journey anyway.
History:
The first Expedition Camp outtake was the bonus turn giver of the set. There were a decent number of Durations, and I anticipated several more as the set grew. As the ideas for good bonus turns dwindled, a weak Act became a hovering idea: just draw 1 card at Clean-up; work if only
-s were gained; if no cards were gained; use cards gained this turn as the hand; choose one card in the discard pile for the hand.
The closest idea was set aside hand, it becomes the bonus turn's hand. It was very limited. The current version came together piece by piece, and was only recently wrapped up in 'skip Clean-up', helped I think by Lich's skip.
Envision - Act
After your Buy phase this turn, play up to 3 Action cards from your hand.
Like +3 Actions, but they only work between the Buy and Night phases.
+: another new spin on Action cards.
-: could be too niche to be interesting?
History:
I first had an Act that played all copies of an Action from hand, which then became differently named ones. The feedback was rightly 'it's just free Actions', too easy. So drawing inspiration from another fan card, alion8me's Lunar Ritual, I arrived at this less easy Village/splitter.
Forage - Act
Gain a Resource.
When the right Resource is on top, you can prioritise an Action on gaining it.
+: Simple and effective.
-: sometimes one gets boring freebies.
History: it just clicked early on. More interesting than gain a Silver.
Muster - Act
If you have more cards in play than in your hand, gain a Silver to your hand.
An option for economy to build especially for. One use makes getting the next one to work harder.
+: I find it fun and satisfying to make work.
-: perhaps a tad strong for an Act on average.
History:
An Act checking cards in play and one checking hand were premises in my notes for a while. Since they're not part of the deck and limited to using during the Action phase, there was potential for them. A fair bit later this fusion came together, with Silver being the reward since the set had no Silver gainers.
Negotiate - Act
Exchange an Estate, Duchy or Province in your hand with a different one of these cards, getting or losing tokens to make up the difference in worth. (You can't exchange if you can't lose enough tokens.)
By controlling where they store their
, players can control how near the game is to ending.
+: it can create really high skill games, or make slightly easier strategies with other sources of
tokens.
-: just saying 'exchange a base Victory card with a different one' would include Colonies, but maybe someone has a fan-made base Victory pile worth variable
. I've seen some on this forum.
History:
I think I had a time control card as a hovering premise, partly inspired by other ideas exchanging Victories around? Then using tokens clicked? It worked as an Act since its power is limited by no straight-up gain of payload.
Sort - Act
+1 Action
Discard 2 cards for +1 Card.
Repeatable sift decreasing hand size.
+: Simple and effective.
-: if repeatedly using it and drawing back up to size is the best strategy, it can be time-consuming.
History:
It just came together quite late. Why hadn't I done it yet? Card moving seems like one of the best design spaces Acts have.
The Set Overall It's gradually coming together. Some of the older cards I'm feeling quite confident in, newer ones probably need balancing out.
+: I'm feeling definite, interesting interactions, and potential for skillful play! There's a good amount of potential variety in viable strategies, though some feel distinctly more dominant at present. Balance amongst different card functions (draw, village, payload, etc) feels right.
-: tracking is a prominent issue running through several cards here, so this set won't be for everybody. Swinginess and heavy alteration of the opening can impact games too much, taking more audience away. The first games can be very confusing.
History: as I mentioned at the start, I had focused my attention on mostly skill and serious play with my first 2 fan expansions, then decided to explore a focus on randomness and player interaction.
I tried
Weather here, but concluded that there wasn't much potential to adapt to them, and often players would plan their next turn and they feel good, but then the weather makes unpleasant changes to that.
Acts had their start in
Wanderers. They also used an Action to be activated, but there was a pile of them and the top one went to the bottom after it was finished with. They weren't once per turn, so they could take some of the relevance of the kingdom away.
Acts were all once per turn and their card was always moved into play; but with the Fan Mechanic contest on Acts, naitchman had the bright idea of multiple use Acts and now they are as you see them.
OUTTAKESSome of these aren't necessarily bad cards. I've been quite focused on set composition here, and some just didn't fit. You might find some missed potential here.
Copse - Action Duration, $3 cost.
+1 Card
+1 Action
You may set aside a card from your hand face down. At the start of your next turn, if it's an...
Action card, play it:
non-Action Victory card, discard it for +1 Card;
neither, trash it.
Fine and balanced, it's just a bit boring. In this set especially, where there are a number of Treasureless strategies, meaning it hardly ever hurts to pick one up.
Expedition Camp - Action Duration Gatherer, $4 cost.
If this is the first Expedition Camp you've gained this turn and the previous turn wasn't yours, take another turn after this one, and you draw 5 fewer cards for your next hand.
At the start of that turn, you may trash this to gain 3 Resources to your hand.
I liked the different functions this had. The randomness of the strength of the extra turn killed the interest, and I took the Resource gaining out and changed it into Embark.
Expedition Camp - Action Reserve Gatherer, $4 cost.
Gain to your hand a Silver and 2 Resources. Put this on your Tavern mat.
-
After you finish playing an Action, you may trash this from your Tavern mat. If you do, each player with at least 3 cards in hand passes 2 to the next such player to their left, at once.
Double Masquerade is mean and often not nice to face. The top part is quite nice, sort of retained in Footman, and so is the two-shot concept.
Key to the Past - Treasure, $4 cost.
Cards in the trash cost $2 less this turn. You may buy a card from the trash.
-
Setup: trash a Gold from the Supply per player, and put an extra Kingdom pile costing $5 in the trash.
There's a fair number of tfb cards in the set, and this could add an extra pile and involve Gold, which nothing else did. This behaves a bit like Potion I guess, a stop card that only grants access to select cards, only it's worse. Even at $2 cost, I didn't like it.
Ravage - Action Attack Gatherer, $5 cost.
+ $3
Each other player discards a non-Victory card costing $3 or more from their hand (or reveals they can't) if there are any Resources in the Supply. Those who do gain a Resource to their hand.
Worsening a card in their hand into a Resource would often be a benefit, not an Attack. The Attack became Seize, the change card into Resource aspect became Disguise.
Redoubt - Action Attack, $3 cost.
+ $2
Each other player may discard a Curse. Those who don't gain a Curse.
Heirloom: Rook
Rook - Treasure Curse Heirloom, $3 cost.
$1
-1VP
-
When you trash this or discard it from play, put it into the player to your left's discard pile.
Rook always wanted to be Locket, a more meaningful bonus for keeping hold of them than unreliably blocking an Attack. Changing Redoubt as a Curser less than $5 is a work in progress...
Sheikh - Action Duration Command, $4 cost.
At the start of your next turn, play a non-Duration, non-Command Action from the Supply costing up to $5, leaving it there.
I like this, but this doesn't like a set with Reserves in it. It could move to Dynasties. Trail Mix was here simply because there was the text space.
Impostor - Action Attack, $5 cost.
Gain a Gold. Each other player gains a Curse onto their Tavern mat.
-
In games using this, when a player shuffles, they put a Curse from their Tavern mat into the shuffle. If they do, they discard an Action from the shuffle (or reveal they can't).
The set was missing a curser. For all its innovativeness, it didn't feel that different from other cursers. The Action discard bit was there to try making it more different, but the same Action could be discarded each time, a bit boring. It could try to take a random Action out of the shuffle, but wording that without tiny text...
Display Case - Treasure Gatherer, $5 cost.
+1 Buy
+$1 per differently named Resource you have in play.
It wasn't too hard or too interesting to power this up. Sponsor achieves similar gameplay in a more exciting way.
Survivalist - Action Reserve Gatherer, $4 cost.
Choose one: +1 Action; or move the top Resource of the pile to the bottom. Put this on your Tavern mat.
-
When you have 0 Actions left during your Action phase, call any number of Survivalists. For each one you call, play a Resource from the Supply, leaving it there.
This didn't quite achieve the best use of commanding the top Resource. It was good as a Reserve that stacked and waited until the right Resource was there, but the Village function detracted from that; sometimes whatever was top had to do, and the fun of the randomness was lost. Mineral Deposit replaced it; the consistency that cushions the randomness with MD is always getting some bonus next turn, often a +Card.
Vagabond - Action Attack Duration, $4 cost.
At the start of your next turn, +2 Cards. Until then, when another player trashes a card, they gain a card costing at most $2 less than it.
-
When you gain this, you may set it aside. If you do, play it.
Heirloom: Begging Bowl
Begging Bowl - Treasure Heirloom, $2 cost.
$1
You may let each other player trash a card from their hand for + $1.
I first thought an Attack countering trashing directly was something needed but missing from the game. Playing with it I saw why it doesn't exist; trashing is fun. Begging Bowl may well have added trashing to the game, but it was such a radical speedup with more players.
Creed - Treasure Reaction Heirloom, $2 cost.
$1
-
When you trash a card, you may trash this from your hand for +1VP per card you've trashed this turn.
This Heirloom was on Hostile Village so it always had trashing available. Trash it early to trim the deck, or keep it for more potential VP; it didn't work out that way, it was almost always going to be trashed asap, and that made it swingy as players sometimes got a free extra card removed from their deck and others didn't.
Permit - Treasure Heirloom, $3 cost.
You may trash this. If you do, gain a Treasure to your hand costing up to $1 per card in your hand -2.
This wanted a draw card to be bought to become a better Treasure, yet compromised $ needed to buy that draw. Not really worth doing. It was paired with Repository.
Adjourn - Act
+1 Action
For the rest of the turn, set aside any cards you draw from +Cards face down. Put them into your hand at end of turn.
This wants to be a Way for flexibility.
Declare - Act Duration
Name a type. Until the end of your next turn, when any player gains a card with that type, they get +1VP.
A possibility for Acts with other types. This wasn't worth all the inelegant rules confusion, with sometimes creating unfun ways to get ahead.
Hire - Act Attack
Each other player with 5 or more cards in hand discards a non-Treasure card (or reveals they can't).
Pure Attacks aren't popular. This could be made into a kingdom card with a self-bonus, though.
Improvise - Act
Once per turn: trash a card costing $3 or more from your hand. Gain a cheaper card; if you gained an Action or Treasure, you may set it aside, and if you do, play it.
Option overload, analysis paralysis.
Recall - Act
Once per turn: put a card you have in play that would be discarded this turn into your hand.
A bit like Throne a card for 2 Actions, but it becomes a free +1 Card with Village. Accrue is the fix.
Thank you for reading. I hope it was interesting in some way!