Secret History/What I was attempting to doGENERAL OVERVIEW: I was very frustrated to hear about how there would be no new expansions after Guilds, and then about how the limiting factor in expansions was the number of cards. I saw so much wasted space: randomisers, blank cards, cards like Scout and Pearl Diver. The idea then came to me: could you design an expansion that made ultimate use of the design space? To demonstrate, I set out to design a set that fit a big box expansion into a small box. When Dark Ages was announced however, I realised that it would be a better challenge. The key was "single cards" - using what would otherwise be a wasted card (a randomizer) as a card in itself. Cells and Trinkets are direct parallels to Ruins and Shelters, aiming to take up less space while doing something similar (although they ended up not being that way).
Another feeling was that the game had gotten stale (largely due to outplaying it on isotropic), to the point where I wouldn't often be surprised by anything happening. I then played ascension and loved the turbulent nature of the game, especially the "events", and wanted a way to bring that to dominion. I also loved the "interactive" cards like City, and idealised every card being like that.
The set ended up getting an enormous "everyone gets hit the same" theme, which I've loved since the fan card "Garrison" in the design contest and since a thread explained the "mirror image" nature of "Followers". This also aligned excellently with events, and gave the set its name. In addition, one of my old obsessions (bottom decking) ended up making a rather large appearance. I try to make each concept pop up at least 3 times as well; these "Mini themes" hopefully make for a cohesive set.
Bargain: Copper/Silver/Gold and Estate/Duchy/Province, and now Bargain/Remodel/Expand. Of course, the top effect alone isn't a very good card, so it needs a way to get rid of itself, which the bottom, inspired by an identically named card by GeoLib, allows. A disappearing copper isn't a terrible thing for a card to be, and this allows some very interesting interactions with gainers, especially ones that demand specific cards. The supply returning and gaining to hand also means it can block cursers indefinitely, and the cards are unlikely to run out quickly (a real risk). It seems so elegant as a $1 card, but it was originally $2, the effect was "reveal and trash to gain a card costing $2 more" and there was no "top effect" - the poor reaction to pure reactions changed that.
Ambush: A very old idea. I want to get the idea of a surprise appearing from nowhere into dominion somehow; when the card isn't what you expected it to be, like the very game itself has been sabotaged. The "knight" effect is pronounced, and a variation on the "steal the card they would have gained." It's "gain to hand" so the effect of the successful ambush can be seen quickly; I was also considering "gain to the top of your deck" so that ambushing yourself was viable. It still is viable if you use a gainer. It probably plays similarly to embargo, but hopefully (especially in IRL games which can drag on in terms of time), people forget where the ambush went, and tricks with putting it not immediately below the top card will hopefully give the intended effect of surprise.
Fool: A heavily updated version of "Racket", a card which blocked a supply pile for everyone but you. This card was the first "single" I came up with. I made it a "good" card so it was in wide circulation. It's a more "friendly" embargo, but one that remains ever present. Perhaps a completely benign card that gets the player thinking about their opponent a little more; not bad for a Single.
Blacksmith: LastFootnote tried card copier (surveyor) that didn't work, but I thought the concept deserved a try. It was a weak effect because of needing to line up cards, so to make it a "smooth" card I gave it 2 other ironworks like effects to mirror Herbalist and Courtyard. I like how strong it seems while actually not being strong at all, and it's a nice general utility card to go alongside Steward and Squire. The name comes from the +3 cards effect, and the "iron".
Store: I love bottom decking, and tried to make a full set of bottom deckers once. The idea is a card to be the logical continuation the "Oasis" family, but one with advanced strategy. You can treat it like oasis, but the real power is in lining up cards on the bottom of your deck for real strategy.
Fete: Everything in Dominion is out in the open (except masquerade in multiplayer), to the point where if you're keeping track you can know the exact composition of your opponent's deck. I wanted to change that with this card. I also like the idea of Lucky Dip (explored nicely with Black Market), and the 2 concepts aligned. Bottom Decking
Conflict: A "hot potato" card; a natural thing to try and make when going for single card kingdoms. Originally a worse curse that you passed around, but that didn't cut it as a "kingdom". Instead, a "game" like masquerade happens with this card. I can imagine it being more fun in casual IRL games than any other setting.
Outskirts: It undermines the "compact" principle but the set really looked like it needed a normal "Village". INstead of modifying another card I made this. To make it interesting I set myself the challenge of making a card that cost $3 that was still a cantrip village. I decided to address the aspect of villages where you often end up not playing it at the right time. To make it not worse than village I made it self reacting, which also ties into the interactivity.
Prospector: A late relic of an often spammed "Everyone gains the same treasure" idea. It ended up being a card like Stash. I remember seeing a card that was simply "+1 Action, gain a silver on top of your deck" that I liked, and this card is similar enough. However people were commenting that it was weak, so I decided to make this card the "stash/royal seal" card. I might change it to bottom decking if it's too annoying, but that undermines the "now I draw the silver I just gained" factor.
Scribe: After coming up with events, I wanted a card that could make you use them to your advantage, so I decided to have this card, which puts you in charge of events. It seemed fairly innocuous, so terminal silver. People seem to think this card is bad for some reason.
Tower - An old idea; an "alt VP" card except instead of being a defined category, it's whatever the players define, and there's a competition to define it. Very political, but that can be fun for some players.
Barge - I saw the "when you gain, you may trash" effect on a Dark Ages outtake. I thought it was interesting, but would be even more interesting when it wasn't your turn and during your action phase, so I put it on a duration. I also liked the idea of a card that always misses the reshuffle; I think it's a good thing when a card implies a strategy fact (eg the existence of Cache was surprising when I first saw it as a beginner). The top bit was hard to pick, and not the same as what won me a set design contest, but I liked how it interacted with the "other people's turn" effect. The card really does a number on Cursers.
Beauty - Wish fulfillment. I wanted a draw to X village, but "+2 Actions, draw to 5" was well known and had a name here, so I made it a cellar/village. Also toying with the concept of an attack village, and "discard your junk" seemed unique, weak but not nothing, and didn't recur - a perfect candidate. The two effects lined up perfectly. It was originally part of a "when you reveal" card, but those effects weren't exciting anyone.
Contrarian - When thinking "bottom decking", I wanted a ghost ship style card, but I had to be clever about the differences. I first tried a "margrave" style attack to emphasise the difference between top decking, bottom decking and discarding, but that didn't get good feedback in competitions. I liked the effect of "Garrison" though, and decided to do a similar "mirror image" for that card, and it looked good. Later I realised "anywhere decking" is more interesting. The card is a better courtyard, but the "attack" is often a good thing for the other player. The event is a penalty (since happening during your buy phase is not a good time); this gets it out of the "too good for $4, not good enough for $5" gap.
Fleet - For the "self comboing cards" competition, I wanted a card that didn't get far too much better with multiple plays like Bridge, so I tried the idea of a duration. Initially it was put into now/next turn/turn after card, but it seemed too weak. However simply having "+2 Cards, next turn +1 Action" looked boring, and also less like it belonged in a fancy fan set and more just a seaside outtake. I wanted a way to trigger events, and the "if another Fleet is in play" seemed perfect for the set, but because there'd be too many events, I made it +$1 instead - hopefully it isn't too strong. The "while in play" effect on the other hand is a way to encourage gaining many copies, while not falling into any "strictly better" traps. I also like how it blocks Curses.
Labyrinth Instead of picking from a list of options, why not have the list in front of you and pick the order. That was the concept, and applying that to the outtake "dungeon" seemed to work best.
Oppressor - I wanted 3 cards that used "cell", and one that was more blatantly an attack. I decided to run with the "slows you down" theme, doing what Sea Hag couldn't do with the self moating (so you can't put a stack of cells on top.) Topdecking a Cell seemed to answer the "next turn militia" concept. Fitting something around it was the hardest part. I opted with the "bottom deck bureaucrat" idea from elsewhere, and +2 cards to contrast your speeding up with their slowing down.
Plantation - A card that always draws other copies of itself? Interesting, but overpowered. However if it either drew that or junk? Now that works. Making it a victory card that only drew other victory cards was the perfect way to do that. It had to be non terminal so it really did lead into itself, and $4 to make it easy to obtain many copies (and for Ironworks). A hard decision was deciding whether to make it a Village, Peddler or Laboratory. I went with Lab because it seemed the least esoteric of the 3 even though it wouldn't be easy to make work. The 1VP would be something worse than 1VP if it wasn't hard to make something that's both interesting and simple in that space (but not 0VP - seems pointless).
Repair Get it, because the 2 cards form a pair? Came from a pure thought experiment about Mine, Rebuild and Graverobber, realising that the "Expand" effect wasn't very good if you kept to the same type. I love "cheap" effects that seem strong. It was originally "up to 5 more". It doesn't make much of a difference to the card but I'd rather keep it in line. The topdecking makes the "Rebuild" effect worse - necessary after it was revealed how strong Rebuild was. It can't trash curses so it can block them; also the reaction effect opens up cards that specify other cards, and can "combo" with another Repair to make a Remodel (not a great use IMO, but there you go).
Revolutionary - Something I came up with after Advisor was revealed. I started to like it when I realised that this had all the aspects that made draw to X cards fun Amplified - now you REALLY want to reduce your hand size before you play it. The "everyone topdecks" was a nice way to bring it in line with the theme while making it a little stronger.
Enchanter - The other sets (until guilds; why didn't they make Soothsayer hand out Coin Tokens? It would have been so simple and interesting...) had a thematic card for their Cursers. I decided to go the same way by making a single card curser with non attack interactivity. "Turn another card" into a curser seemed like a good idea, but I wanted to keep it to terminals, hence the wording.
Patrol - An attempt at a when gain militia. That alone isn't, so I combined it with a Nomad Camp. Bottom decking because Cells need to self moat, but turning any $4 card into Nomad Camp messes with the opening far too much.
Package - Cache could have been a single card. Here's my attempt at something similar in the Cache/Masterpiece space. It's not strictly better than Cache because in games with both this and Cache, you can make Cache one of the cards you gain with it. I'd later use that to make my Village (Outskirts). Wording attempts to avoid making province gaining to easy (especially with the "Chain" trinket).
Pioneer - A "coin token" that's actually an Action! I came up with this before Guilds' mechanic was announced, but what does that matter.
Rival Markets - An "engine piece" that you'll want to keep buying back, but it's going to cost you. Was changed to a single late in the picture. The cost variation is to make it work with Workshop style cards.
Cargo - Built around "trash a card in play". It had to work with Copper, so it's a treasure, but it also has to be worthwhile with other cards, so it's a remodel. I tried very hard to make it a $4 card but "worth $0" looked wrong, and it compares too well to upgrade. Hopefully not too similar to counterfeit.
Conqueror - Originally Gain a Gold, but the effect of the Hermit/Scavenger would be more pronounced with gaining 2 cards (you could gain a good one and junk the other). It just sort of fell into place.
Dock - Originally a "next turn apprentice", the bottom effect was just a way to spice the card up. That card ended up seeming quite ridiculous, but I still needed a card with +Buy, and I wanted those +buys to be meaningful, so the effect stayed. It's similar to Wharf, but less powerful and more strategic (the idea is to line up cards). Also a unique vanilla effect (because I couldn't decide whether to go with +$1 or +$2)
Escape Artist - A way to reconcile "+2 Cards, discard for actions". The reason Cell is the way it is. The extremely mild attack hopefully gets it out of the too good for 4, not good enough for 5 bubble. Also it's a mirror. It was originally a Lab for you but it looked strictly better, and Lab already has an issue of cards looking strictly better than it (Hunting Party).
Pariah - For the Cornucopia design contest; what's a card that would actually convince you to pursue a different strategy to your opponent. The idea is that you don't want to gain a card that anyone else wants, because the curse mirroring actually isn't very strong. I made the curse a non discarding Sea Hag to make it a bit more pronounced (and also a chance to have that effect on a card), but that may have killed the subtlety of the card. Soothsayer wrecked my perceptions of how good "Gain a Gold" was. This is a 2nd "curser" to fit the set theme; Dark ages has Cultist AND Marauder so I'm happy with that, and the Cell givers aren't really Junkers as much as strange Militia variants.
Town CrierEvents needed a card that triggered them. I went with a very simple one
WhittlerAn attempt at a reverse procession. Probably extremely niche. Originally you would whittle one card down to nothing, but that was hard to balance. Then it was infinitely playable, but Fortress ruined everything
. Three times would be enough, even though you'd rarely use it all 3. I suspect it will largely be used to milk Actions for money by turning them into silver.
Baroness - I needed one last single. A card that messes with estates (much like Duke with Duchies) would do the trick. It's not going to be a game changer and may very well be cut if I can figure out a better Single.
Archer - Would Saboteur be a good attack without trashing? Maybe. It made a nice "mirror" thing with a Sage effect, and I needed a terminal drawer that was better than Smithy. Everything came together. It costs $6 because opening with it would be far too annoying, and the draw also seems quite powerful (either 3 cards and one of them is good, or 4 cards).
CELL: How would "discard for actions" be as a card. Junk, it turned out. It seemed like the perfect candidate for recurring junk, and since it mirrored the "militia" effect (if you want to play actions, you have to lose cards), everything started to come together nicely.
TRINKETS
- I wanted something unique to each player that could shape strategy - mirror matches seemed like they happened too often on isotropic. Each Trinket would hopefully "suggest" a strategy, while not affecting the opening at all. Reverse turn order seemed like a good way to pick, because random could have big disparities in some kingdoms, and FTA is a big issue. There were originally 7 for the 7 coppers, but I ran out of good ideas and there'd only ever be 6 players - I suppose if you want to play the rainbow you can have the 6 and a copper for variety. Chain was originally "Toy Bridge" and dondon151's idea.
EVENTS - Tried to think of as many simple effects as possible. I wanted some helpful and some harmful. The "navigator" effect is because a spy effect seemed too innocuous, but having seen how annoying navigator is on Goko it may change again.
Outtakes: 2 different cards that gave everyone the same treasure, just in different places. A lot of tension over whether they were attacks or not, and ultimately just didn't seem worth it even though I thought they were clever. A few cards tried "when reveal" effects, but they were hard to get right. I loved the idea of pure reactions, but they weren't popular. Bargain is a surviving relic of a pure reaction. A triple duration (now, next turn, the turn after) was tried but hard to get the power right.
The main outtake, mechanically, was "unique" randomisers. For example, buying the last Contrarian would reveal a card that flipped the turn order, or at the end of a pile would be a victory card that counted cards from that pile, or a pile would have a built in "Ambush". Ultimately I decided that you should be able to get the cards out of the box without going through the randomiser pile to finish the set. Single cards on the other hand were fine as they would be treated differently to other "randomisers".