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1

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Help Me Name This: [Leader] and Cronies

« on: December 31, 2015, 01:46:53 am »

Ringleader? Mastermind? Maybe Capo if you're going with a Mafia theme.

This is to be balanced against Militia, really. It's got a bump in price and *generally* lower effect (though it evens up towards the end when Militia will leave Gold Gold Silver and this forces a complete redraw), but comes with a free village. Border Village and Port are reasonable evidence that "Free village" costs +1 as a rule of thumb.

So it seems fine as a starting point.

2

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Traveller line: nuns and heretics

« on: December 17, 2015, 04:34:01 am »

For Nun, why not just have it set aside victory cards until the end of the game, rather than trashing them? That solves the issue of variable VP victory cards, avoids using VP tokens outside of a set that focuses on them, and avoids potential infinite games using corner cases like Island/Graverobber.

3

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Leap Frog

« on: September 17, 2015, 03:36:22 am »

I'd advise putting a limit on the victory-based discard-from-hand, or it will be absolutely miserable in multiplayer. At that point, though, the card would be getting a bit wordy and it might be worth giving a set bonus rather than a "choose one" for the first part.

4

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: MetaSkipper's Hopefully Passble Cards

« on: September 09, 2015, 12:15:55 pm »

Hidden Transaction - $5
Action
+1 Buy
Reduce your second purchase by the number of remaining Buys + 1.
Finally, those extra buys can be put to use. It's rare one stacks buys intentionally, though. In theory, one could open with a Copper (or Curse, if you're into that) purchase and then buy on the cheap... if you're okay with clogging your deck a wee bit.

The intention of the card is crystal clear, but it's a tough effect to word properly within the rules in a way that for example a computer would understand. By the time a card is bought, it's already paid for. And temporarily reducing the cost after your first buy but before the third introduces weird effects with things like Messenger. Also, "Hidden Transaction" would be the longest card name in the game, requiring a smaller font on the title line. I'd go with something simpler and more emotive like

Bullion - $4
Action
You may treat any played Treasure card’s value as its cost as opposed to its stated card text. For each card, at the end of your turn, when you would discard that Treasure card, trash it instead.
Some curious anti-synergy with Copper. If you use this card to trash Coppers, you get no money. Stinks.

In practical terms and to avoid confusion with treasures like Coin of the Realm (which is set aside and lost-track-of before the trashing) and Counterfeit (where treasures values are fiddled with twice), as well as avoiding a reword to take into account treasures already played through Storyteller/Black Market, I'd go with ConMan's wording. I'm not sure whether it's stronger or weaker than Salvager (since Salvager can trash non-treasures, but only one, and comes with an extra buy). $4 isn't a bad place to start playtesting it, but I'd definitely keep an eye on it.

Debasement - $3
Action
Reduce the cost of all Treasure cards by $1, to a minimum of $0. Increase the cost of all other card types by $1. You may buy one Treasure card without a Buy cost.
I mean, if you wanna stack Debasements and then buy six Golds for free... you go right ahead. I suppose you could open with it, hope for a collision with four Coppers and then get two Silvers instead of one?

With this wording, Harem, Relic, Fool's Gold, and Coin of the Realm don't change in price, as their "treasure reduction" is offset by the extra cost of their other type. This doesn't seem intended, so maybe change the wording to



Also, I have no idea what kind of art would suit Debasement (maybe just copy Counterfeit's art?), so I just went with the spare Bribe image I had left over.

5

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Lieutenant, an Island variant - seeking advice on balance and better wording

« on: September 07, 2015, 12:21:56 pm »

A quick question: can I rearrange the deck on the mat? Nothing on the card tells me whether or not that's possible. Are the cards added to the deck with the duration effect added to the top, or to the bottom, or can I choose where?

6

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: some medieval themed-cards

« on: August 29, 2015, 09:35:09 am »

Some comments:

Castle needs a second dividing line between the what happens this turn and what happens next turn, as they happen at different times.

I've never really been convinced that there's all that much practical difference between P and 1P. But Dark Sorceress seems pretty balanced on the face of it.

$3 Lab seems powerful even when it doesn't always hit, especially since this quickly becomes an absolutely monster stackable super-lab when you have two or more victory cards (which it helps you draw). I'd pick the other half of the cantrip and make it give just +1 action by default, meaning 1 Estate turns it into a Village/Peddler rather than a Lab (though you'd need to add Trusty Steed's rider that the choices must be different, or you end up with the same situation). Or up the cost to $4 and start from there.

Robber Knight needs to specify that it trashes an action card *from their hand*. I like how the attack portion is inherently self-limiting, as sooner or later they'll just be swapping Ruins for other Ruins, especially in multiplayer. I think as a general rule I'd generally prefer to pick up a Marauder, but there are definitely boards where Robber Knight would be better. As a side-note, Inn and Herald kind of do the shuffle-into-deck thing, though as an on-buy rather than on-ply effect, so it's still novel.

Wizard is just too swingy. A single play can win you the entire game in four-player. I can't think of any other single card where that would happen as often as it would with this. It also incentivises games that never end, as if you're behind on provinces you're better off stealing stuff rather than buying things, so no progress is made. I'd drop the price and stop it from taking victory cards. At that point it no longer really needs the reaction part to balance it, though I'm neutral on the idea of dropping it.

7

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Fan Card: Artist Guild

« on: August 28, 2015, 11:39:12 am »

Since a lot of the concern here is over how the card can be overpowered if a strong Patron card is selected, why not just make this a paired set of new Kingdom cards (Artist's Guild/Patron) that are always added to the Supply together? Then tailor the effect of the Patron card so that you might want a few but not loads. That way, accumulating them is an actual cost. Something like a Cellar effect with a boost for discarding Victory cards would be synergistic but not overpowering, perhaps. A set pair of cards with both in the Supply is a novel feature in itself, so they don't actually need to do anything else particularly innovative.

8

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Card Names in Search of a Card

« on: August 26, 2015, 01:01:09 pm »

Evergreen
3$ Treasure-Victory
+1$
Worth 3 VP
_______________________________________
You can't gain an Evergreen after each player has taken their first two turns.

I had an idea like this last year; it generated a lot of discussion about the right wording to prevent players from gaining it. I hadn't thought about making it a treasure worth $1 though. http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=11495.0.

Co0kieL0rd and i are currently working on a project that would enable things like this. Not sure whether a card that can only be bought during your opening is worth a full kingdom card slot, though.

Going off of Swamp rather than Evergreen, how about:



It would need some rulebook clarification over how it would work with Ambassador and Young Witch, though.

9

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Patron

« on: August 26, 2015, 06:31:08 am »

How would that affect the interaction with Feast, since it would no longer be in play when you're gaining the card?

10

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Card Names in Search of a Card

« on: August 26, 2015, 06:11:40 am »

Moderate-sized Kingdom

$5 Event:

Once per game: Count up the total VP across all cards you own. Gain that many VP tokens and trash all Victory cards you own.


Rulebook clarification: "Cards you own include those in your deck, hand, discard pile, on any of your mats, cards you have set aside through effects such as Haven, Gear, or Save, and those you currently have in play."

11

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Patron

« on: August 26, 2015, 04:24:18 am »

Neat.

• Comboes nicely with Vault to get you a Province (discard a Patron, +2 cards, discard the rest of your hand for $10). Tactician is capable of doing the same, so it's not broken in itself. Storeroom, Artificer or Secret Chamber would only net you $6 unless you've got some other draw around.
• Use Patrons to empty the Patron pile, then Graverobber them directly into Provinces. I suspect it might still be too slow, but I'd certainly give it a go for the novelty of it.
  
• Saboteur becomes even nastier, skipping anything less than $4 or only giving them something worth $3 less in exchange.
• What happens if I use it on Bridge Troll, since there isn't a "-$2 token" to give them?

12

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Dominion: Bestiary - Cards that reference themselves (beta: just a few ideas)

« on: August 25, 2015, 05:38:32 pm »

In the spirit of cards that reference themselves, even if it's not animal-themed:



Banquet
$5 Action
Trash this. Gain two cards each costing $5 or less that are not Banquets. Put them on top of your deck.

__________

The first iteration of this didn't have the self-reference (but did set gained cards aside until the clean-up phase to prevent instant pile-outs with Lost City), and was tested on a Kingdom with Treasury. After the opening moves, the game went something like this:

Play Banquet, gain Treasury+Banquet, buy something. Pass.
Play Treasury, Play Banquet, gain Treasury+Banquet, buy something. Pass.
Play Treasury, Play Treasury, Play Banquet, gain Treasury+Banquet, buy something. Pass.
Play Treasury, Play Treasury, Play Treasury, Play Banquet, gain Treasury+Banquet, buy something. Pass.
until both piles were quickly empty.

The effect above would be less extreme with non-Treasury 5-cost cantrips as they'd be discarded after the first use, but getting a second Banquet as one of the options is generally still a no-brainer.

It's still theoretically possible if you put a Ferry token on Banquets when Band of Misfits is around, but at that point it's just a legitimate multi-part combo of the type that Dominion already has plenty of examples, and there's generally better things to do with a Band of Misfits/Ferry than this anyway.

13

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Post your online only card Ideas

« on: August 23, 2015, 11:24:38 am »

Small note for Dancer: "Any number" includes 0, so there's no need for a "You may".

Of these, Rubber Band is definitely the most "online only". Working out what it's worth if there are Alt-VP cards around would be a pain in the ass. Dancer and Fruit Market work perfectly well if you're putting out a fan-expansion using those mechanics. Archer is only slightly more time-consuming than Spy/Fortune Teller, if you wanted to make it.

14

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Custom Event Card - New Year

« on: August 23, 2015, 11:16:49 am »

I made my own GIMP .xcf template, which is why the transparent overlapping background bits on the sides are a little crude.

Google Drive link

15

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Custom Event Card - New Year

« on: August 23, 2015, 01:39:04 am »

This doesn't work as you hope it does. The Buy phase is split into two halves - first you play your Treasures, then you buy things. By the time you get around to buying this Event, it's too late to play any of the treasures you drew, and very little else you could draw would be relevant (corner cases like Trader aside). How about a reveal+play? It's wordier, but it at least works within the rules.

Maybe I'm just stupid, but the first time I read the card, I assumed that both the flipping and the draw were dependent on trashing, so if you didn't trash, nothing at all happened. Later re-reading makes me think that you wanted the draw to happen regardless of whether the player trashed anything. If that's the case, it would probably need rewording for clarity, or just have a separate rules section explaining how it works to prevent idiots like me getting confused.


If both flipping and draw are supposed to be dependent on trash, then there's no real need for the "may":

16

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Dominion: Bestiary - Cards that reference themselves (beta: just a few ideas)

« on: August 18, 2015, 10:39:38 pm »

Without commenting on whether it would be broken or fine since it's something that needs playtesting, some odd interactions:

• There's an (I assume) unintended side-effect of the new Parrot in that it lets you tuck your junk onto your Tavern Mat. Greening will no longer harm your deck at all. So in addition to its action-copying it's a repeatable Island, too, for the same cost.
• This doubles the size of a Laboratory or Minion or Hunting Party pile while making half of them cheaper.
• When a card leaves play, it loses track of what it was doing. What this means is that if I Parrot an existing Reserve card, the Parrot is lost permanently on the mat and can't be called back for effect.
  
• Put a Band of Misfits on the Tavern mat; Parrot plays as Band of Misfits plays as Parrot plays as Band of Misfits, etc. I think. I'm not sure whether you can stack "play as" effects like that. But if that's not the case, there's no need for the "other than a Parrot" clause on the card either.

17

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Quick sanity check:

« on: August 17, 2015, 08:55:33 am »

I'm not sure I understand the point of the card...

Enabling Trash for Benefit, much like Rats. The +Cards and slight cost reduction on expensive actions is there so that it does something on boards where that isn't a thing (it also comboes extremely well with Prince, but that's neither here nor there). No, it's not going to be worth buying every time, but that's intentional. Not every card has to be a Rebuild.

Edit: Anyway, I'm not really here to sell the card to anyone else - I just wanted to check if I was missing anything in the existing rules that would cover this case before deciding how to use it/improve it.

18

Variants and Fan Cards / Quick sanity check:

« on: August 17, 2015, 07:25:43 am »

How do you believe the following card would interact with cost-reducing cards, Ferry tokens, and Peddler?



Obelisk:
$4 Action
+2 Cards. While this is in play, Action cards without P in their cost cost $4.

19

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Dominion: Bestiary - Cards that reference themselves (beta: just a few ideas)

« on: August 16, 2015, 08:09:39 am »

The rules for individual phases lay out that you can play Actions in the Action phase and Treasures in the buy phase, but there's nothing in the rules *preventing* unusual types from being played out of their regular phases if a particular card tells you to. Otherwise Storyteller, Black Market and Caravan Guard wouldn't work as printed. It's just that there are no "play any card" cards around, so the issue of playing Curses or pure Victory cards hasn't come up.

20

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Dominion: Bestiary - Cards that reference themselves (beta: just a few ideas)

« on: August 16, 2015, 07:58:34 am »

Some neat ideas! Do you think you'd want a non-regular number of beasts in a pile?

I'd specify the types that Tiger can play, unless it's intended that you can use it to "play" Curses and Victory cards (which might be relevant if there's something like Bonfire around).

Throne Rooming a King Parrot which Parrots the Throne Room is going to be weird, though I don't see why it wouldn't work.

21

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Plague (Fan Expansion for Dominion)

« on: August 16, 2015, 02:19:54 am »

Is there a link to a downloadable PDF for printing? I'd love to try these out!!  Thank you!

I don't think so, but glancing over the list there are quite a few that I like the idea of. "Rats" in particular with its shuffling into another pile is great! Since I had some free time, here are some mock-ups of the cards to print yourself. It's surprisingly difficult to find disease-themed art that isn't so morbid it would seem out of place among the other Dominion cards. I've done a bit of shuffling around of names, since some have been used since these were posted, and Mortuary sounds more medieval than Morgue.

I also took it upon myself to remove the Action portion of Sewers, since it seems more interesting without it (though it's still going to be ridiculously strong on a board with Beggar), and switched the functionality of Morgue/Mortuary to use the + tokens from Adventures, which is a cleaner execution of the same idea. I can re-up them with the original wordings if you prefer.

22

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Fan Card: Artist Guild

« on: August 15, 2015, 02:05:19 pm »

For a lark.

23

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Failures and Mediocrities

« on: August 13, 2015, 08:11:24 pm »

Yup. Some ideas really should not see the light of day. Which is why it's here!

I swear that not all of my ideas are as bad as it might seem looking at this thread. It's just that I throw *a lot* of concepts at the wall, and some are particularly stupid.

24

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Failures and Mediocrities

« on: August 13, 2015, 07:29:48 pm »

My usual playgroup trust each other enough to keep track of gains and discards that pre-shuffling isn't a major problem, and it dramatically speeds up four player games. Your mileage may vary, of course.



Wasteland
$3 Action
+$2. While this is in play, you may buy any number of cards from the Trash.
In games using this, when the first Province is gained, each player sets aside 10 cards that they own, trashes the rest, and discards the set-aside cards.

Rulebook clarification: cards you own include those you have in play, in hand, in your deck, in your discard pile, on any mats, and cards that you have set aside by other means such as Haven, Gear, or Save. Tokens are not cards, and remain where they are.

________________

So this is another one like Gambling Den, where, while there are a few issues with it, it's hated enough by my playgroup as-is that I'm unlikely to get a chance to playtest them out, so it ranks as a "failure or mediocrity".

Some issues that I'd thought of, but wanted to test for effect before changing anything were:

• Goons becomes a lot more powerful, and Goons + Wasteland + in-hand Watchtower = infinite points if there's a Copper in the trash. Likewise, Wasteland + Copper in trash + in-hand Trader = instantly empty Silver pile. This one's a big enough issue that you'd definitely have to limit the number of Trash-buys rather than leave the card as-is.
• VP and Coin token cards would be very popular early grabs on a Wasteland board as you can maintain your gains across the Province-divide.
• I'm not sure if junking attacks would be more or less popular - they'd slow the opposition down enough that they'd be hampered in getting the best 10 cards they can for the reset, but all that junk disappears afterwards.
• Colony games would also become quite weird, tactically-speaking, but that's not necessarily a negative.
• Going for a Gardens strategy using Wasteland to pick up everyone's trash.
• If you can set up a Golden Deck before the reset, you basically win the game. One solution might be to add Coppers to thin decks to bring them back up to 10 starting cards.

25

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Cards that use the bane card

« on: August 13, 2015, 05:34:07 am »

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll work on playtesting it. I'll also playtest Theatre.

Oh, for a lark, here's a mock-up of three versions of Witch Trial: