Chiming back in to state: This is my favorite fan expansion.
I love the one-shot theme. Lots of people don't like one-shots, but I think the conditional one-shot nature of the set gives a brand of tactical thinking that Dominion doesn't usually employ.
This is the only fan set that I have (as of yet) considered putting onto a table with my friends. (Unfortunately, most of them are more apt to playtest the cards they know I have made than other people's, so they haven't come up yet. I'm working on it.)
Thanks! I hope it goes well if you end up playtesting it.
I really liked the old Surveyor. +2 Cards is usually a pretty weak effect, so I don't usually feel so bad about trashing it to get something much better. I think that putting the card on top of your deck could be a cool idea since then the card you're duplicating doesn't have to miss the shuffle. I think giving it that ability and keeping it as a one-shot would still keep it reasonable at $2.
The issue I had with the old Surveyor is that nobody seemed to buy it, and it's hard to argue with those results. The new version at $4 is at least getting bought, although it's a little underwhelming. I'm coming around more and more to the idea of having it put the gained card on your deck, but I'll be trying a persistent version of that before a one-shot version. It's quite possible that I'll try a one-shot version of Surveyor again at some point, but it's not the way I'm leaning right now.
Mill Town is still my favorite card of the set. It is a wonderful melding of Village and Workshop. I could see it being particularly powerful in a game with a good engine.
Yes, I have seen Mill Town engines that pick up 3 or more Provinces on the last turn. It can definitely be used for a long-term strategy.
Clerk's action effect is pretty boring. I mean, $4 cards can't all be winners, but I would try to get its effect to be a little stronger than it currently is. How about "Look at the top 3 cards of your deck and put them back in any order. Choose one: +2 Cards; or +1 Card, +$1; or +$2"? Being able to hunt one card deeper would make its deck re-ordering a lot more interesting. I love the flavor of the reaction, as it makes it really strong against Cursers.
I'll admit that the action effect may not be the most interesting, but I doubt it needs a power boost. The deck-reordering effect is simply a side effect of putting the cards back; it's not meant to be part of the card's power. It's…difficult to describe why Clerk is as strong as it is. You wouldn't necessarily think that a card that's [+2 Cards; or +1 Card, +$1; or +$2] would be powerful. It seems like a weak Steward, but the ability to see what the cards are first really makes all the difference.
Compare it to a card that just gives +2 Cards. Say you play such a card and draw two Estates, and have $4 in your hand. Say you could put one of those Estates back onto your deck to bump your hand to $5. It allows for Courtyard-like tactics, but in a unique way. In fact, it's more Action-friendly than Courtyard because you can put back Actions you draw dead for $1 apiece.
Sort of like Jack of all Trades, Clerk is something you have to play to really get your head around its utility. Not that Clerk's action effect is as strong as Jack's; the reaction bit is definitely a big part of the card's utility.
Enforcer is my least favorite card of the set. I've played with Attacks like this before and I find the effect is actually pretty underwhelming, particularly since this card is a cantrip that hinders your hand more often than it helps it. The effect for yourself is cool. I like it. My issue is that the Attack effect is not strong enough for its effect for you. What if it could force players to discard a card from a selection from their hand and then draw a card but wouldn't force them to discard anything (in case they had a hand full of junk)?
Something like "Each other player reveals 3 cards from his hand. He discards one that you choose and then draws a card or keeps them (your choice)." This would allow it to synergize in mean ways with cards that decrease hand-size.
Furthermore, trashing it usually feels bad. Maybe its Attack could occur "When you play this or trash this" in line with Noble Brigand's method of two ways to get its effect.
The card's name is also pretty weak though it is a casuality of Dark Ages. Could it possibly be Sheriff or Marshal?
I guess I haven't had the same experience with the card as you have. The effect for you will hurt if your deck is cluttered with Victory cards and Curses, but it's a great asset it most engine decks, especially ones with powerful cantrips and no Copper trashing.
The Attack isn't that strong, but it's about on par with Spy. Your Attack effect is interesting, although I worry it'd cause a bit much AP as the other players have to choose which 3 cards to reveal every time. I'd rather have that attack on a terminal card.
I'd be willing to change its name, but I'm not sure I love Sheriff or Marshall. If possible, it'd be nice to have a name that still implied you had to pay the person to retain his services.
Exchange's one-shot double Remodel to hand is cool, but at the same time, it will likely be hard to use it as intended (gaining and playing Actions), particularly if it is the only source of +Action. Is there any way it could sometimes not trash itself when you play it? Maybe it could be used as a non-terminal Remodel or its one-shot option to double Remodel to hand.
Yes, I was considering something similar.
Exchange
Types: Action
Cost: $5
+1 Action. Trash a card from your hand and gain a card costing exactly $2 more than it. You may spend a trade token to put the gained card into your hand.
When you gain this, take 2 trade tokens.
I was going to wait until Guilds came out to see if its coin token mechanics were too similar to this. If not, I would develop several cards to use these trade tokens. However, I could simply make the card an optional one-shot as you suggest. I don't know if I'd keep the double-remodel part, though, even on the one-shot. It'd take a lot of extra text. I'll probably come up with a few versions to test.
Fund seems powerful. I am thankful that its +Buy makes trashing it an interesting decision (oh, and I love that you get to keep a Silver afterwards. Feodum could possibly love this). In fact, without that +Buy I would say it's a boring card that just accelerates into Gold, but since that +Buy is there it encourages building engines and other cool combos built out of cheap buys.
Thanks. Yeah, I'm really hoping Fund is OK as it is. I like its simplicity. I have some concerns about it, but that's true for all my cards to some extent.
Inventor is clever, though it isn't a one-shot. Being able to tuck it away to get it to collide with what I want (or even when I draw multiples together) is an awesome effect. My only complaint is that "Inventor" sounds like it should provide +Cards (production), some sort of Remodel effect (tinkering with things), and\or some sort of Workshop effect (building devices). Could I recommend the name Bursary instead?
I'll consider changing the name, although like some Dominion cards, my group is pretty used to calling it Inventor now. At one point it drew 3 cards and then you could trash it for a Remodel effect. The name Inventor made more sense then.
Tax Collector doesn't make me excited. Its new Attack effect is common among Fan-cards (though the exclusion of Coppers is smart).
Fair enough. They can't all be gems, I suppose. Did you prefer the old Tax Collector?
It may be a common attack effect, but I like the way I've implemented it. It works very smoothly and seems appropriate at $5 so far.
It also doesn't seem very flavorful since a lot of Tax Collectors were practically thieves in olden times.
I kept the name out of convenience because searching for art is difficult. I'd be happy to change it. I'll try to brainstorm better options.
Also, the way the parenthetical is positioned makes it sound like if the player reveals a hand of all Coppers I can have him put his entire hand on top of his deck.
Yeah, I was aware of that, but I can't think of a better way to phrase it. I think it's pretty clear and the hypothetical FAQ could easily clarify it. I suppose I could say that each player sets aside a card from his hand other than a Copper (or reveals a hand with all Copper), but that seems a little strange.
I like the idea of Profiteer more-- discarding Victory cards for coins-- but that effect becomes really strong towards the end of the game. It likely would not be purchased until one's later shuffles which would make the Conscripts more damaging to other players than helpful (unless it put the Conscripts into their hands to ensure that they get a chance at gaining Golds that they could use and cursing you).
Yes, these issues had also occurred to me, which is why I have yet to even playtest the card, let alone post it here. I'm no longer considering adding it to this 12-card version of the set, but I am trying to fix up a good version of it for when I expand the set to 25 cards.
Thanks for all your feedback! Sorry if I'm pushing back too much. I appreciate your ideas, especially those concerning Exchange. By the way, how do you feel about the current, persistent version of Surveyor?