Obey • Act
Once per turn: Gain a Gold. When drawing your next hand during Clean-up, draw two fewer cards than you otherwise would.
How are Acts set up for a game? Are they all available at once? (Are they recommended/limited to 1 or 2-3 like Ways or Events/Landmarks?) Are they in a pile where only the top one can be used (spent, gained, whatever)?They follow the same rules as Events, Landmarks and Projects. Shuffle them in and select any two for most games. You could choose 3+ Acts if you wanted to, but not recommended.
How are Acts set up for a game? Are they all available at once? (Are they recommended/limited to 1 or 2-3 like Ways or Events/Landmarks?) Are they in a pile where only the top one can be used (spent, gained, whatever)?They follow the same rules as Events, Landmarks and Projects. Shuffle them in and select any two for most games. You could choose 3+ Acts if you wanted to, but not recommended.
yeah I dont think this needs to be weaker(https://trello-attachments.s3.amazonaws.com/6019de42b869588d9701fbff/60b0210db408f52c684b185f/745fa1b5dadba8411bec878a14ed88ea/image.png)Not that Gold gaining is ever particularly crazy but a wording like "draw two cards less" would make this weaker with Outpost.QuoteObey • Act
Gain a Gold. When drawing your hand at end of clean-up, only draw 3 cards.
Yes.......
If you have 2 (or more) Acts in a game, can you play both Acts in the same turn?
I have two comments on the mechanic.1) Hmm... Because of elegance with moving the Act card for tracking purposes? That's all, I think. Why limit it indeed if we fans are ok with tracking the spent Actions? Of my examples, Hire, Ambush and even Descend could be multiple times couldn't they? Very well, I will change the rules accordingly!
1) Why limit it to once per turn? Can't you do it like events, where the default is as many times as you'd like unless specified (e.g. mission, borrow etc.). That would allow for more possibilities.
2) If you do have a once per turn action, it doesn't need to be nerfed or weaker than ways. Everyone can play it equally and it won't make the action cards obsolete since it can only be used once per turn. This is similar to Herilooms that make the game easier or harder for everyone.
Yes.......
If you have 2 (or more) Acts in a game, can you play both Acts in the same turn?I have two comments on the mechanic.1) Hmm... Because of elegance with moving the Act card for tracking purposes? That's all, I think. Why limit it indeed if we fans are ok with tracking the spent Actions? Of my examples, Hire, Ambush and even Descend could be multiple times couldn't they? Very well, I will change the rules accordingly!
1) Why limit it to once per turn? Can't you do it like events, where the default is as many times as you'd like unless specified (e.g. mission, borrow etc.). That would allow for more possibilities.
2) If you do have a once per turn action, it doesn't need to be nerfed or weaker than ways. Everyone can play it equally and it won't make the action cards obsolete since it can only be used once per turn. This is similar to Herilooms that make the game easier or harder for everyone.
2) game balance would still be a concern, especially in the opening. If there was a once per turn + $2 Act corresponding to Way of the Sheep, that would make things absurdly fast and limit the viable strategies.
Adding a limit to prevent it from working in the opening - like with your Bribe - works fine though.
Thanks for your input! From now on, Acts can be infinitely used. If you were designing a once per turn one, add 'once per turn:' to it.
Descend might well need once per turn on it, as might any +Action Acts you design. And yes, an Act is not an Action card.Yes.......
If you have 2 (or more) Acts in a game, can you play both Acts in the same turn?I have two comments on the mechanic.1) Hmm... Because of elegance with moving the Act card for tracking purposes? That's all, I think. Why limit it indeed if we fans are ok with tracking the spent Actions? Of my examples, Hire, Ambush and even Descend could be multiple times couldn't they? Very well, I will change the rules accordingly!
1) Why limit it to once per turn? Can't you do it like events, where the default is as many times as you'd like unless specified (e.g. mission, borrow etc.). That would allow for more possibilities.
2) If you do have a once per turn action, it doesn't need to be nerfed or weaker than ways. Everyone can play it equally and it won't make the action cards obsolete since it can only be used once per turn. This is similar to Herilooms that make the game easier or harder for everyone.
2) game balance would still be a concern, especially in the opening. If there was a once per turn + $2 Act corresponding to Way of the Sheep, that would make things absurdly fast and limit the viable strategies.
Adding a limit to prevent it from working in the opening - like with your Bribe - works fine though.
Thanks for your input! From now on, Acts can be infinitely used. If you were designing a once per turn one, add 'once per turn:' to it.
Doesn't this break Descend (and any other +1 Action Acts)?
(and for the sake of Champion, I assume playing an Act would not count as "play[ing] an Action"?
(https://i.imgur.com/7lDWOYdh.png) | Quote from: Export EXPORT |
I designed this before the rule was changed from once per turn. I will have to think about whether I want to make it once per turn. Since it is effectively +1 Action, I think I probably will.
Payoff - Act
Once per turn, take up to 6 Debt. Choose a different thing per 2 Debt taken: +1 Card; +2 Actions; gain a Silver; gain a Horse; trash a card from your hand.
EDIT: New version:Exchange
Act
Once per turn: Set aside a card you have in play. At the start of Clean-up, exchange that card for a card costing up to the same cost.
ExchangeAllows you to, once per turn, exchange an in-play card for one costing not more than itself. The card is set aside and exchanged at the end of your turn so that you can't draw the new card on the same turn. So, this would work really well with cards like Moneylender that become less useful later in the game. You can't gain anything more expensive, so it's weaker than Butterfly in that regard, but on the other hand, it's stronger than Butterfly in that you can get one last play out of a card, and you're not restricted to exactly $1 higher, and you can wait until the end of your Action phase to choose which card to exchange, as long as you still have at least one Action left
Act
Once per turn: At the start of Clean-up, exchange a card that you would discard from play this turn for a card costing up to the same cost.
(Keep this until Clean-up)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51210217619_03399dfd2b_b.jpg)QuotePayoff - Act
Once per turn, take up to 6 Debt. Choose a different thing per 2 Debt taken: +1 Card; +2 Actions; gain a Silver; gain a Horse; trash a card from your hand.
I wanted to try a once a turn multi-choice Act that uses Debt to balance the benefits. Intended to mainly act as a way to gamble to save a turn or go into debt to invest in the future. Not sure if the cost is too steep. or not. Had it at a different choice for each 1 Debt taken, but didn't think it had a big enough of an impact on a turn. Feedback is appreciated.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51210217619_03399dfd2b_b.jpg)QuotePayoff - Act
Once per turn, take up to 6 Debt. Choose a different thing per 2 Debt taken: +1 Card; +2 Actions; gain a Silver; gain a Horse; trash a card from your hand.
I wanted to try a once a turn multi-choice Act that uses Debt to balance the benefits. Intended to mainly act as a way to gamble to save a turn or go into debt to invest in the future. Not sure if the cost is too steep. or not. Had it at a different choice for each 1 Debt taken, but didn't think it had a big enough of an impact on a turn. Feedback is appreciated.
An interesting idea. I think it's probably fairly balanced here. 1 debt would be far too cheap, and 3 debt would be too much, I think. Interesting that there's five choices, but you can only take, at most, 3 of them. Why cap it at 6 debt? Most of the time, you probably wouldn't want to get much more than 4 or 6 debt, but why not leave the option?
Arcane Conscription - Act
Spend any number of your remaining actions and buys, for +1 Card per action or buy spent
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51210217619_03399dfd2b_b.jpg)QuotePayoff - Act
Once per turn, take up to 6 Debt. Choose a different thing per 2 Debt taken: +1 Card; +2 Actions; gain a Silver; gain a Horse; trash a card from your hand.
I wanted to try a once a turn multi-choice Act that uses Debt to balance the benefits. Intended to mainly act as a way to gamble to save a turn or go into debt to invest in the future. Not sure if the cost is too steep. or not. Had it at a different choice for each 1 Debt taken, but didn't think it had a big enough of an impact on a turn. Feedback is appreciated.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51210217619_03399dfd2b_b.jpg)QuotePayoff - Act
Once per turn, take up to 6 Debt. Choose a different thing per 2 Debt taken: +1 Card; +2 Actions; gain a Silver; gain a Horse; trash a card from your hand.
I wanted to try a once a turn multi-choice Act that uses Debt to balance the benefits. Intended to mainly act as a way to gamble to save a turn or go into debt to invest in the future. Not sure if the cost is too steep. or not. Had it at a different choice for each 1 Debt taken, but didn't think it had a big enough of an impact on a turn. Feedback is appreciated.
Lol! We literally used the exact same image! (and cropped it similarly)
Shouldn't Hire have a "or reveal that they can't" on it for accountability purposes?Yes, fixed. Thanks. I've now changed the first post and the example cards to incorporate the multiple-use possibility.
Vacation
Act
Turn your Journey token over (it starts face up).
Then if it is face up, at the end of your Clean-up phase draw 2 extra cards and take [2 Debt].
Late entry
fika monsters motto: when in doubt, put Throne Room on it!
(https://i.imgur.com/f7KthzY.png)
Late entry
fika monsters motto: when in doubt, put Throne Room on it!
(https://i.imgur.com/f7KthzY.png)
This is great for the opening. You get to thin and you're guaranteed to be able to hit $5 before the first shuffle. I would think that playing this on Coppers early in the game would be the optimal thing to do, rather than on your Actions (unless it's something like Doctor).
Looks fun, but it's probably quite game-warping.
Rules question - if you play this on a Horse, you play it twice and the Horse gets returned to its pile; but do you then still Exile it? Procession doesn't trash Horses, so I'm assuming the same would happen here, but I wasn't sure.
Rules question - if you play this on a Horse, you play it twice and the Horse gets returned to its pile; but do you then still Exile it? Procession doesn't trash Horses, so I'm assuming the same would happen here, but I wasn't sure.
Late entry
fika monsters motto: when in doubt, put Throne Room on it!
(https://i.imgur.com/f7KthzY.png)
This is great for the opening. You get to thin and you're guaranteed to be able to hit $5 before the first shuffle. I would think that playing this on Coppers early in the game would be the optimal thing to do, rather than on your Actions (unless it's something like Doctor).
Looks fun, but it's probably quite game-warping.
Rules question - if you play this on a Horse, you play it twice and the Horse gets returned to its pile; but do you then still Exile it? Procession doesn't trash Horses, so I'm assuming the same would happen here, but I wasn't sure.
My idea is that its like chapel: Its really strong and drastically changes the games it is in.Late entry
fika monsters motto: when in doubt, put Throne Room on it!
(https://i.imgur.com/f7KthzY.png)
This is great for the opening. You get to thin and you're guaranteed to be able to hit $5 before the first shuffle. I would think that playing this on Coppers early in the game would be the optimal thing to do, rather than on your Actions (unless it's something like Doctor).
Looks fun, but it's probably quite game-warping.
Rules question - if you play this on a Horse, you play it twice and the Horse gets returned to its pile; but do you then still Exile it? Procession doesn't trash Horses, so I'm assuming the same would happen here, but I wasn't sure.
My idea is that its like chapel: Its really strong and drastically changes the games it is in.Late entry
fika monsters motto: when in doubt, put Throne Room on it!
(https://i.imgur.com/f7KthzY.png)
This is great for the opening. You get to thin and you're guaranteed to be able to hit $5 before the first shuffle. I would think that playing this on Coppers early in the game would be the optimal thing to do, rather than on your Actions (unless it's something like Doctor).
Looks fun, but it's probably quite game-warping.
Rules question - if you play this on a Horse, you play it twice and the Horse gets returned to its pile; but do you then still Exile it? Procession doesn't trash Horses, so I'm assuming the same would happen here, but I wasn't sure.
(https://imgur.com/eDUl77n.png)
Since the benefit of Acts over Action cards seems to be their reliability, being available to purchase at any time, I thought of what ideas I had for cards that would normally just be too swingy if they were normal Actions. Here is one of those. The availability of Refine means you can use it exactly when it would be most beneficial to you, without having to worry about having a card in hand. Considering limiting it to "If you have played no cards this turn", but it made the text far more crowded than it already is. If it's too monolithic then consider the limitation there (I'm free to modify the Acts rules, right?).
(https://imgur.com/eDUl77n.png)
Since the benefit of Acts over Action cards seems to be their reliability, being available to purchase at any time, I thought of what ideas I had for cards that would normally just be too swingy if they were normal Actions. Here is one of those. The availability of Refine means you can use it exactly when it would be most beneficial to you, without having to worry about having a card in hand. Considering limiting it to "If you have played no cards this turn", but it made the text far more crowded than it already is. If it's too monolithic then consider the limitation there (I'm free to modify the Acts rules, right?).
This is also looks like a fun concept but I think it will gain Coffers too easily without the limitation you proposed. Like Game of Thrones, this could be good in the opening if you want to gain Coffers and Horses.
Spineflu (https://trello-attachments.s3.amazonaws.com/6019de42b869588d9701fbff/60b0210db408f52c684b185f/0f7646320866d58f1bd9fa3a47ff7c6c/image.png) | Payload is easy to add to decks this game, but at the cost of a smaller hand each time. It can be a kind of newbie trap, each 3-card hand turn leading to thinking, 'the best thing I can do with this turn is gain another Gold'. +: It can't simply be used each turn in a big money strategy as the odds of $8 hands are significantly reduced. -: opening with one or two alongside other buys (at least on turn 1's 5 card hand) could be potentially too big a speedup. Overview: Another way to open Golds would be a cool thing to add to a game, if it can possibly be balanced. I feel about middle ground here with the pros and cons. |
Timinou (https://i.imgur.com/4dfA6uH.png) | A useful engine ability, moving Treasures along to be drawn later. +: Great use of the Act mechanic, it's there for when the hand is right but the need for +Actions makes it not trivial to use. -: The way it will be played depends a lot on the presence of a Village in the game. Some players may feel including a Village with it is compulsory. True for most Acts, so this is minor and a sign that I can't really find any major bad point. Overview: Safe and simple, a pleasant ability to have around. |
emtzalex (https://i.imgur.com/7lDWOYdh.png) | Players can get one free copy of an Action to their Exile each turn, or a Treasure at the cost of a spent Action. +: It can build, but not too fast. Also empty piles without getting unwanted gains or gainers in the deck; but because it's once per turn, not too quickly. With the Treasure playing in Action phase as well, that's 3 nifty functions. -: Nothing serious, only that you don't actually export your cards away like the name may suggest. Overview: I like this, its adding quite a lot to the game without being overpowering. |
Xen3k (https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51210217619_f1d685f3b6_b.jpg) | Like an Event in that you effectively pay $, but an Action is spent instead of a Buy, and use of Debt enables variable investment amount cleanly. +: Lots of options varies the opening possibilities, potentially getting players thinking deeply right from the start. -: The trash option feels pretty powerful; on a $4 opening turn going with trash and the Silver or Horse gain thins whilst helping economy at the same time. The $3 turn could correctly be trash as well. Overview: There's potential in the premise, but the options could be changed a little. Possibly just remove the trashing. |
mxdata (https://i.imgur.com/nNpuw5A.png) | I probably wouldn't have the move to play area rule be general to all Acts anymore, since it doesn't quite work cleanly with multiple use ones. On here though moving it makes sense to remind the user of the Clean-up effect. +: Some nice uses, like pivoting into different strategies or getting the balance of Villages just right. -: It feels a tad weak. It could possibly have +1 Action. Overview: It can be used fine, just maybe its glory moments are few and far between in all random games. |
Mahowrath (https://i.imgur.com/cSmaze8.png) | A way to incorporate extra draw into the deck. +: Needing 2 Actions to get any draw is probably balanced, so Villages and Villagers aren't doing too much and so there's no effect on the opening. -: It depends heavily on the kingdom, and often it can do nothing. Not a big issue on a landscape card though. Overview: niche but occasionally powerful, sometimes tricky to use and sometimes easy. It's quite good. |
grrgrrgrr (https://i.imgur.com/ias0ELY.png) | +1 Villager Act was an idea I thought of pretty quickly, exactly like naitchman's outtake Immigrant. I guess it makes things rather easy, so having the discard cost adds interest. +: If Copper junk needs to stay in the deck, Villagers are more desirable than Villages, so the cost is sensible. It gives an extra option to the opening. -: Perhaps a bit weak? Again nothing that negative here, an Act shouldn't be too strong. Overview: a useful little ability that gets more interesting when there are fewer Villages. |
naitchman (https://i.imgur.com/HjVuekD.png) | An ability that can potentially get one out of a bad spot. +: Weak but not useless. -: How often will a hand of 1 be useful? 2 Cards from a hand of 3+ feels more viable while being weaker than Way of the Mole. Overview: a nice premise, just feels a bit too weak to be worth the punt. |
bootymancer (https://i.imgur.com/2pS9p77.png) | Expedition and 2 Debt after 2 Actions are used on this. Or a Journey token flip for other cards using the token. +: The Journey token works well, with the interaction with other Journey token cards being safe. -: Does it need the debt? It does help mitigate the power in a big money deck but it feels too much with the Actions needed as well. Overview: some good ideas here, but not all together. Either the Journey token or some of the Debt could go. |
mathdude (https://i.imgur.com/eok3o4y.png) | Actions on demand, but at the cost of free cards for the opponents. Another Act that could be moved into play for the end of turn reminder. +: Simple and effective. -: It could be swingy sometimes; if both players play the same deck, one could get more draw purely by the chance of terminal collisions. Overview: the premise is great, and sometimes the decision to use it is interesting. I sense a little room for improvement, but it's by no means bad. |
The Alchemist (https://imgur.com/eDUl77n.png) | Either play your turn as normal, or at the start of the Action phase ditch your whole hand for a batch of resources. +: It's good that gained Horses will weaken using this. -: With the format of Acts being used at the start of the Action phase only, whilst they can be made more powerful, they need to be extra careful around big money strategies and the opening. Here, something close to overpay for Coffers can take place, leading to very fast games where the only things you need to buy are Provinces and maybe a Silver or two. Overview: A tempo setting card like Rebuild. I fear it's rather too fast and easy compared to it. |
fika monster (https://i.imgur.com/OSLZm6X.png) | Once per turn Throne and Exile. +: Once per turn limits this from breaking the game like Donald's Throne-then-trash Way outtake did. -: Strong, in that unlike Throne Room it's always lining up to its target and the target can be regained. Overview: exciting to be sure, but likely makes things too fast. |
Winner: Export by emtzalex
All the cards in the shortlist could be played with, I think, but Export adds the most interest overall whilst not appearing imbalanced. So congrats emtzalex!
Hey Aquila: do Acts count as a card played? Asking for a conspirator.
Hey Aquila: do Acts count as a card played? Asking for a conspirator.As Gendo said, Acts are not Actions, so they do nothing for Conspirator.