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26

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Yuletide - A Fan Expansion Idea by Tejayes

« on: November 24, 2018, 12:11:33 am »

I've figured out how to use Tabletop Simulator to some extent, so I've had some luck at playtesting my cards. So far, I've only played by myself (controlling two players at once); once I get more savvy with TS, I might invite others to help with the playtesting.

27

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest Thread

« on: November 23, 2018, 11:59:05 pm »

If there is still time (and even if there isn't), here's my last-minute entry and possible addition to Yuletide:

Spoiled Brat
Action/Attack - $5
-
Each other player reveals the top 2 cards of their deck, trashes a revealed Action, and discards the rest. You may gain a card from the Trash. If you do, gain a Coal onto your deck.

Coal
Treasure - $0*
-
$1
When you play this, you may return it to the Coal pile if you have at least 3 Actions in play.
(This is not in the Supply.)

So, the Spoiled Brat demands a lot of attention from others, and can often get it. However, a certain person knows this kid has been naughty, and thus will leave an undesired lump in their stocking.

28

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Holunder's cards

« on: November 15, 2018, 04:41:58 pm »

Most non-Victory Action cards have piles of 10 or split-piles of 5 (Port and Rats being the lone exceptions). I know that Timber Raft is paired with Riverlands, which should be 4/6. However, is it completely necessary to make the non-Victory Timber Raft 4/6 as well, when this doesn't happen with any other non-Victory Action card?

Perhaps the split-pile quantity issue would be less confusing if Timber Raft was an Action-Victory card itself.

I believe that Dominion would scale much better if all Kingdom piles (or at least the crucial ones which drain most quickly like villages) would contain 8/12 cards in 2/3 player games. It makes engines more viable in multiplayer and it can lead in principle to even splits.
The same arguments, even splits and better scaling, apply here. I wouldn't want there to be a rush in 3P games just because there are relatively few Timber Rafts and I wouldn't want somebody to lose the game because he lost the Timer Raft split due to bad luck.

Just take Sauna as the most radical example. You can totally lose the game in 2P because you lost the split. Wouldn't this behave much better if it were a 4/4 or 6/6 pile?

That may be true, and I agree that uneven splits on Sauna do stink. I do have to wonder, though, why Donald X. decided to 8/12 the Victory cards but keep the rest at 10 in every game. There has to be a reason for this. I'll check through the Secret Histories for any clues.

Anyway, thanks for answering my questions, Holunder!

29

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: [Release] Dominion: Antiquities!

« on: November 15, 2018, 04:38:35 pm »

Looks awesome, Neirai! The art is especially wonderful, so kudos to Jan Boruta.

The cards look like a lot of fun to play with. I do have some quibbles with the wordings on some of the cards, especially Mausoleum. I won't bore you with these quibble, though, unless you ask.

As someone trying to develop their own fan expansion, may I ask how you playtested your cards? I'm looking for any advice that can help me efficiently playtest my own cards.

All in all, great job!

30

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Holunder's cards

« on: November 15, 2018, 03:57:42 pm »

With Riverlands, though, you are right that this could get shenanigan-y really fast. In your situation with 3 Timber Rafts and, let's say, 3 Silvers, it would take just $10 to wipe out the Riverlands in a 2-player game. You have $6 already, and with a decent engine, the other $4 shouldn't be too hard to get. This then becomes effectively a race to raid the Riverlands... Never mind, I love it! Alt-VP for Life!

Note that the price of each subsequent Riverlands increases by 1 as you then have one Buy less.

I already noted that by saying it would take $10 to buy 4 Riverlands, though I admit that my math was wrong here. 3 Timber Rafts and 3 Silvers means each Timber Raft grants 3 Buys for 9 Buys total. Add to the one you normally get (and I forgot to add), and that's 10 total Buys. I had it as 9 Buys total, so the costs per Riverlands would be 1+2+3+4=$10. Correcting my math, it's now 0+1+2+3=$6 for 4 Riverlands, which 3 Silvers provide.

Moreover, the whole idea of a split plot with 4 or 6 of the non-Victory card is just weird, and I usually like weird. Is it truly necessary for Timber Raft to have 4 or 6 cards in the Supply rather than 5?

There are two reasons. First, to enable even splits in 2P games. Second, to scale the Victory cards normally. It is half a pile so instead of 8/12 Victory cards it contains 4/6.

I'm not talking about Riverlands here. I understand the half-split for that. I'm talking about Timber Raft, the non-Victory half of this split pile. Most non-Victory Action cards have piles of 10 or split-piles of 5 (Port and Rats being the lone exceptions). I know that Timber Raft is paired with Riverlands, which should be 4/6. However, is it completely necessary to make the non-Victory Timber Raft 4/6 as well, when this doesn't happen with any other non-Victory Action card?

Perhaps the split-pile quantity issue would be less confusing if Timber Raft was an Action-Victory card itself.

31

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Holunder's cards

« on: November 15, 2018, 10:16:33 am »

I was a bit sad that overpay did not reappear in Renaissance, it is not a difficult mechanism and there is stuff you could do with it and the tokens.
Marketeer is simply another name for a Buy token (that you can spend at the start of your Buy phase for +1 Buy); overpaying for VP tokens obviously doesn't work (on a Victory card, this card by Theta and AdrianHealey does work).
The anti-Copper clause is there to prevent endgame shenanigans with total Coin transfer; I don't like the enusing overall wordiness though.
Printing Press could be good enough to cost $5 and could be too similar to Academy, Guildhall and Spices.

Yeah, I think this is pretty strong, especially considering the Coffers for the non-Copper Treasures. There are many instances where buying a Silver for 4 or even 5 is a good move without the Coffers bonus, and let's not forget $7 or even $8 Golds. In fact, I could see myself going for a Silver for $6 and taking those 3 Coffers over the Gold easily. As you said, this can compare to Spices, to the point where Spices is almost obsolete in Printing Press games apart from the +Buy. I like that you are bringing in Marketeers, though. More token uses!

I always liked the recent Actions that want Silvers (Sauna, Merchant) or Golds (Encampment, Legionary) in your deck so this is my stab at doing something along these lines:



Both cards are part of a split pile with either 4 of each in a two player game respectively 6 of each in multiplayer.
Timber Raft could be good enough to cost $3. The base price of Riverlands is just a first shot, hard to determine this without playtesting. Riverlands could be in principle too strong. If you manage e.g. to play 3 Timber Rafts and 3 Treasures the first one costs only 1, the second one 2 and so on. Twitching the base price only gets you so far which is why Riverlands is then up for elimination. Its idea is mainly to make Timber Raft better but perhaps this is already good enough on its own.

By itself, Timber Raft would probably be okay at $2. Apart from Goons, you rarely need all those Buys. Also, you need to reliable get those non-Coppers in your hand to make it work, so Timber Raft doesn't become all that good until midgame at least.

With Riverlands, though, you are right that this could get shenanigan-y really fast. In your situation with 3 Timber Rafts and, let's say, 3 Silvers, it would take just $10 to wipe out the Riverlands in a 2-player game. You have $6 already, and with a decent engine, the other $4 shouldn't be too hard to get. This then becomes effectively a race to raid the Riverlands... Never mind, I love it! Alt-VP for Life!

In any case, make sure to add a "but not less than $0" clause to Riverlands.

Moreover, the whole idea of a split plot with 4 or 6 of the non-Victory card is just weird, and I usually like weird. Is it truly necessary for Timber Raft to have 4 or 6 cards in the Supply rather than 5?

32

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Yuletide - A Fan Expansion Idea by Tejayes

« on: November 14, 2018, 03:02:27 pm »

I think it would work to force two of the calms to be at the top of the deck, so there will only be two more calms before the first reshuffle, instead of not using weather cards for two rounds, if that's what you were going for.

Sort of, but I also want there to be more Calms in the Weather deck during post-T2 play. Perhaps have 6 Calms and force 2 on top?

33

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Yuletide - A Fan Expansion Idea by Tejayes

« on: November 14, 2018, 10:07:45 am »

I'm considering a thinning-down of the Weather deck. Currently, it has 9 Calms and 2 each of the rest. I think it would be more efficient to basically halve this to 4 Calms and 1 each of the rest. Also, I'll take Aquila's advice and make the first 2 turns Calm by default; the Weather deck will not come into play until Player 1 starts their 3rd turn.

34

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest Thread

« on: November 14, 2018, 09:39:12 am »

Braggart
Types: Action, Attack
Cost: $4
Name an Action or Treasure card costing up to $3. Each other player gains a copy of it. Gain a card costing up to $3 more than the named card.

The power jump from $4 to $5 is so large that this style of Attack really needs to give other players the option of what they want to gain to be even close to appropriately balanced.  Also anything that can cause a lot of cards to be gained by players I think needs to prevent players from gaining copies of itself to prevent easy pile-running.

Hmm, good points, Fragasnap. How about this? (I'll make a mock-up later)

Braggart
Action/Attack - $4
-
Gain a card other than Braggart costing up to $4. Each other player gains a card costing at most $2 less than it.

Without good $2 cards in the Supply, this will almost always be a junker crossed with a Workshop. Certain boards will still make this an Attack you might want to get hit with sometimes. What do you think?

Copper Junking is not as bad. I think, this card is much worse than Bureaucrat.

How is it worse than Bureaucrat? Just curious as to how these compare.

35

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest Thread

« on: November 13, 2018, 11:53:07 pm »

Braggart
Types: Action, Attack
Cost: $4
Name an Action or Treasure card costing up to $3. Each other player gains a copy of it. Gain a card costing up to $3 more than the named card.

The power jump from $4 to $5 is so large that this style of Attack really needs to give other players the option of what they want to gain to be even close to appropriately balanced.  Also anything that can cause a lot of cards to be gained by players I think needs to prevent players from gaining copies of itself to prevent easy pile-running.

Hmm, good points, Fragasnap. How about this? (I'll make a mock-up later)

Braggart
Action/Attack - $4
-
Gain a card other than Braggart costing up to $4. Each other player gains a card costing at most $2 less than it.

Without good $2 cards in the Supply, this will almost always be a junker crossed with a Workshop. Certain boards will still make this an Attack you might want to get hit with sometimes. What do you think?

36

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Yuletide - A Fan Expansion Idea by Tejayes

« on: November 12, 2018, 01:42:28 pm »

I've been wanting to comment on all these cards, but haven't found time yet. Here I go:
Astronomer seems possibly too good, though the fact that few turns will make this work make it rather swingy, definitely needs playtested.
The new Carolers seems okay, but I think it would be better if you had each other player pass you coppers before you choose to gain coppers or not.
Elven Forest doesn't look like something often worth getting, except with other Crafter cards in the kingdom. If it cost $4 that might be better, since then Workshops, etc. Also, maybe just make it +2 Crafters.
I don't really like Factory as it is. I think either ending your Action phase or Buy phase would make it better, but I don't know if there's a way to concievably word that. Or maybe, have it always give +1 Crafters, then you may go to your Crafters phase for +2 more Crafters.
Furrier does look pretty good compared to Lookout, definitely drop letting you discard the Weather cards, I don't know if you should drop the Weather part completely or not.
Holiday Village looks okay. Do you want it to be an almost negative effect when you reveal a Treasure? Often in an engine deck (this is a village after all) Silvers can be harmful, so if you wanted it to be better than you could change it to + $1 or $2 instead.
For Homestead, you should probably say Each player (including you) reveals...
Krampus does seem strong. Mechanically I think this would work better if a player either gained a curse or discarded a card, depending on if they revealed an Attack card, but that could get too wordy.
The newer Ornaments looks good.
Philanthropist and Potato Farmers look pretty good but seem rather political.
Sewing Circle is interestingly enough the second card in an ice-themed set to have to do with whether you have an even or odd number of the thing in play, the other being Sleigh from Gazbag's Ice Age.
I like the newer Snow Witch.
I don't know if Tapestrier is very good, it just seems too swingy since you could miss Magical and still hit Blizzard. The next card here, Yeti, I think is an example of a good, less swingy card that utilizes weather (as opposed to Astonomer), as the effects do not vary too wildly. Something like +1 Action changes a card a lot more than + $2, or changing it from +2 to +3 Cards, or being a Militia.
Two little comments on the Weather cards: I like how Windy is similar to the Wind's Gift, and in your flavor text for Calm you use the word 'often' twice.

Anything I didn't comment on I like. Overall a really good set.

Thanks for the feedback, Fly-Eagles-Fly. A few notes on your notes:

Astronomer: While it does become really good on Calm turns, remember that Calm only occurs on about 1/3 of turns. Getting a lot of Astronomers for this will result in a deck full of pricey Smithies most of the time. Also, Dark turns them into Moats, and Icy means you can only play one anyway (as it won't give you an Action), which means a stockpile of them will be even worse on these turns. I know it's the same for Smithy, but Smithy isn't generally stockpiled unless there are plenty of Villages and such.

Carolers: I had been switching back and forth between gaining the Coppers first or second. If I ever get to playtest this, I'll try both permutations.

Elven Forest: I've already been thinking about re-costing or re-effecting this. Reducing it to $4 and reducing the Craft bonus to +2 Crafters would still give it the "free Victory card" effect I've been wanting. Alternatively, I was thinking about keeping it at $5, but you would get +2 Crafters whenever you gain it, Crafting phase or not.

Factory: I like your idea of an optional skip to Crafting for the extra Crafters. The card is pretty wordy as it is, but I'll give it a try. I did originally have it just skip to the Buy phase rather than Crafting; I could go back to that, too.

Furrier: The more I thought about Furrier, the more I think it's a pretty swingy trasher. If you open Furrier/good-card and reveal good-card with Furrier, you certainly wouldn't trash it. Otherwise, you'd easily trash the three cards most of the time. With good/bad luck, one Furrier player could be stuck topdecking everytime while the other gets a nice svelte deck. This will need testing for sure.

Holiday Village: Yes, that was the intent to give a Silver rather than just give money. I sorta wanted this to be a Village that's not explicitly intended for engines. In fact, it might almost be an anti-Engine Village with the Attack Cursing, Silver flooding, and no effects with other Action cards.

Homestead: Good advice. I still want some feedback on whether the helping mechanism is too strong for the other player(s).

Krampus: The more I've been thinking about this one, the weaker it seems. For one, it doesn't stack; once the opponents have 4 or fewer cards in hand, it's done attacking. For two, if the opponent avoids Attacks entirely, it's basically a half-Militia all the time. For three, as you noted earlier, having too many Silvers can clog your engine, so this is a non-Engine-friendly card compared to Militia.

Ornaments: Thanks. I agree.

Philanthropist and Potato Farmers: What's wrong with politics? ...Wait, don't answer that.

Sewing Circle: I should check out the Ice Age cards more.

Snow Witch: Again, thanks!

Tapestrier: Originally, I had this as, "While this is in play, you may choose not to receive Weather effects." That way, you can still receive Warm and Magical, but avoid Blizzard, Very Cold, and the like. I was wondering if that made this too strong and too much of a necessity, though.

Windy: Thanks for noticing that!

Calm: I'll fix that.

Overall, thank you so much for the feedback!

37

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest Thread

« on: November 12, 2018, 09:45:08 am »

Thanks for the feedback. Yeah, it does seem a little strong now that I think about it. I'm offering two fixes - making it more expensive, or nerfing the you-gain effect. Let me know which one (if either) you think is better.

Braggart (variation 1)
Action/Attack - $5
-
Name an Action or Treasure card in the Supply costing up to $3. Each other player gains a copy of it. Gain a card costing up to $3 more than the named card.

Braggart (variation 2)
Action/Attack - $4
-
Name an Action or Treasure card in the Supply costing up to $3. Each other player gains a copy of it. Gain a card costing up to $2 more than the named card.

38

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest Thread

« on: November 12, 2018, 12:13:31 am »

For this contest, I wanted to come up with an Attack that you don't always want to block (Moat, Lighthouse, etc.). Yes, it might still hurt, but you'd rather not let your opponent gloat too much when they play this...

Braggart
Action/Attack - $4
-
Name an Action or Treasure card costing up to $3. Each other player gains a copy of it. Gain a card costing up to $3 more than the named card.

This will usually mean taking a Copper, but that limits the Braggart to a Silver or other $3-cost card. You block this in a 2-player game, and that gives the Braggart an easy $6-cost card, with you getting bupkis. Sometimes, it's better to let the Braggart brag than to try and counter him.

Any feedback is appreciated, as usual. Do you think I need to add "in the supply" to the first clause?

39

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Yuletide - A Fan Expansion Idea by Tejayes

« on: November 11, 2018, 08:17:13 pm »

Okay, I have one more attempt to make Carolers good.

Carolers
Action - $4
-
+1 Buy
Gain up to 2 Coppers to your hand. Each other player may pass up to 2 Coppers from their hand to your hand.
-
When you discard this from play, you may trash up to 3 Coppers in play.

Basically, it's the old version of Coppers, but now you can gain a few Coppers (then trash them later) to make this effectively a Woodcutter. Or you can just get a Buy and trash Coppers assuming your opponents hold on to their Coppers.

If this version seems pretty bad yet, I'll probably just ditch the idea and try something else.

--

Also, I have two possible updates to other cards as well:

Ornaments
Treasure - $4
-
$1
When you play this, +1 Crafter for every 3 Treasures you have in play (round down).

Snow Witch
Action/Attack - $5
-
+2 Cards
+$1
Each other player gains a Copper.

Let me know whether you prefer these versions or the originals. Thank you.

40

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Yuletide - A Fan Expansion Idea by Tejayes

« on: November 09, 2018, 11:18:57 am »

The new carolers seems nice for everyone near the beginning of the game, but terrible once most of the coppers have been trashed. It should probably still do something more than +1 buy if no one passes you anything.

Yeah, I thought about that. I still want a card that affects others' Coppers en masse, but perhaps Chimney Sweep is enough for allowing others to trash for your benefit. I'll keep mulling it over. Thanks for the feedback!

41

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Yuletide - A Fan Expansion Idea by Tejayes

« on: November 09, 2018, 01:12:29 am »

Added my descriptions of each card into the second post. Also, Carolers has been completely changed, so any discussion of Carolers before this post refers to the old version. Thank you.

42

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Yuletide - A Fan Expansion Idea by Tejayes

« on: November 08, 2018, 12:02:10 am »

Written Descriptions of Cards
Flavor text trying to explain why these effects for this name.

Astronomer
Action/Forecast - $5
-
+3 Cards
If the Weather is Calm, +1 Action.

He's just as useful as your average Smithy, but he truly shines when he can actually see the stars.
A simple card to start with, and one that uses the Forecast mechanic to become really powerful for about 1/3 of the turns on average. The rest of the time, it's an overpriced Smithy. Perhaps it is a bit too strong for those Calm turns, but I'd need to playtest it to be sure.

Carolers
Action - $4
-
+1 Buy
Gain up to 2 Coppers to your hand. Each other player may pass up to 2 Coppers from their hand to your hand.
-
When you discard this from play, trash up to 3 Coppers in play.

Here they come a-wassailing, now bring them a figgy pudding.
This is the third version of Carolers, and now the player can gain two Coppers without having to get them from others. Still something of a Beggars variant, but getting rid of those extra Coppers is pretty easy now.

Chimney Sweep
Action - $2
-
+1 Buy
+$1
Each other player may trash a card from their hand. If anyone does, +$2.

This poor peasant will clean out your dirty chimneys to earn some food for him and his dog.
As far as "trash others' cards for cash" goes, I like this much more than Carolers. If no one trashes, it's a non-traveling Peasant. If anyone does, it's a Sacred Grove without the Boon, but you still help your opponent(s).

Clockmaker
Action/Forecast - $4
-
+1 Buy
+$2
Reveal the top card of the Weather deck. If it is Calm, +$1. Otherwise, you may discard it.

He cuts his own wood for his clocks, which can let you know if it's too late to risk going out in bad weather.
This one also shares similarities with Chimney Sweep in that it's basically a Sacred Grove sometimes, and a Woodcutter otherwise. Still, it also gives you an opportunity to avoid bad Weather (or prevent your opponent from enjoying good Weather). I may work on the vanilla effects.

Coal Mine
Action - $4
-
You may trash a Treasure from your hand, to gain a Treasure costing up to $6 more than the trashed card. Each other player may trash a Treasure from their hand, to gain a Treasure costing up to $3 more.

Any heat source in the wintertime is worth its weight in Gold, but we need to make sure everyone has some.
Again with similar cards, this time somewhat comparable to Potato Farmers (though I think they're different enough). I wonder about the idea that opponents can trash a Silver for a Gold with less loss of opportunity as the player.

Con Artist
Action/Attack - $5
-
Each other player reveals the top three cards of their deck, discards a card of your choice, then puts the rest back in any order. +1 Crafter for each Action card the player to your left revealed.

He can hoodwink one out of three targets with ease, and the more people he meets, the craftier he becomes.
One of my "submission" cards from the contest, but I wasn't too happy with +1 Crafter per differently-named card. This way, it may also help nerf opponents' engines. Without playtesting, I can't be sure exactly how strong Crafters can be, even with the caveat that you must use all Crafters when Crafting.

Curiosity Shop
Action - $5
-
Choose one: +2 Crafters; or empty your Crafters mat to gain a card from the trash costing up to $3 per Crafter.
-
Setup: Put one copy per player of ten randomly-chosen Kingdom cards not in the Supply into the Trash.

This place takes others' junk and turns them into needful things.
I need to work on the wording for this one. Also, I wonder if it should be $2 per Crafter vs. $3. That said, I wanted to try a Black Market variant of sorts.

Elven Forest
Victory - $5
-
2VP
-
When you gain this, if it's your Crafting phase, +3 Crafters. Otherwise, +1 Crafter.

A mystical land chock full of creative folk.
The idea here is that Crafting an Elven Forest is effectively free; you get enough Crafters back to gain another Elven Forest next turn. Of course, without other sources of Crafters in play, you'd have to gain three of these before you can get them for free. Is that too restrictive to make this interesting?

Factory
Action - $6
-
+3 Crafters
Go immediately to your Crafting phase.
-
While this is in play, when you Craft a card, you may gain a second card costing up to $1 per Crafter returned.

Working so hard to provide enough for my family, I forgot to buy what we need! Better whip up something from the scraps before I head home.
I changed this from the contest thread, where it simply prevented playing any more Actions. Is the +3 Crafters and the second-card gain strong enough to offset the loss of a Buy phase?
Edit: Added "While this is in play" to the bottom effect.

Falconer
Action - $3
-
Look at the top four cards of your deck. Put two into your hand, then discard the rest.

Falconers can train their birds to hunt only the most useful targets.
Originally, I had it as "Put one Copper and another card into your hand..." but decided that was far too weak. All in all, though, I wanted a few simple off-theme cards in this set.
Edit: Changed "Reveal" to "Look at".

Furrier
Action/Forecast - $3
-
Look at the top three cards of your deck. You may trash them all, discard them all, or put them back in any order.
Look at the top two cards of the Weather deck. You may discard them both, or put them back in any order.

Got pests? Send me their fur, and I'll make you a fashionable piece to keep you warm.
Wording may need tweaked here. Essentially, this is a terminal Lookout where you choose one effect for all cards, which could be strong early game. I wonder if this is already pretty good compared to Lookout such that the Weather effect makes it too strong for a $3. Perhaps discarding the Weather cards is too much?

Holiday Village
Action - $4
-
+2 Actions
Reveal the top card of your deck, then put it into your hand. If it's an...
Attack card, gain a Curse.
Treasure card, gain a Silver.
Victory card, +1 Crafter.
$0-cost card, you may trash it.

A peaceful, festive town where they'll make whatever you need and even soothe your soul. Why would anyone want to hurt them?!
My first Crafter card idea, believe it or not. Originally had Victory cards give you +2 Crafters, but decided that was too strong.

Homestead
Action - $2
-
+2 Actions
Each player reveals the top card of their deck. Each other player puts their revealed card into their hand if it's not a copy of your revealed card.
+1 Card

It may not be much, but it's my place. No one can take that away from me.
From a Village+ to a Village-. I really need to reword this, and I'm also thinking of opponents putting the card into their hand if it is a copy of yours. Fun fact: I used to live in Homestead, Iowa.

Ice Sculpture
Treasure/Forecast - $5
-
$3
-
You may not gain or play this if the Weather is Warm or Dark.

A stunning work of art one day, a worthless puddle the next.
A cheap Gold that becomes a dead card about 1/6 of the time. Otherwise, nothing wrong with a simple card every so often. How does this compare to other cheap Golds like Contraband or Cache, though?

Krampus
Action/Attack - $4
-
Gain a Silver to your hand. Each other player with at least 5 cards in hand reveals their hand, discards a card, then gains a Curse if any Attack cards remain in their hand.

Are you a naughty child? If so, watch out for the Krampus!
Compared to Bureaucrat, do you think this is too strong for $4?

Ornaments
Treasure - $4
-
$1
When you play this, +1 Crafter for every 3 Treasures you have in play (including this).

You can never have too many decorations. The gaudier, the better!
Originally a $3 card that gave Crafters for every 4 Treasures, and was more or less useless. The numbers got switched, and now is a much better card.

Philanthropist
Action/Reaction - $3
-
+$1 for every 2 cards in your hand (round down).
-
At the start of another player's Buy phase, you may reveal and discard this, for +$2 to the other player, and the first time that player buys a card this turn, you gain a cheaper card to your hand.

He makes money by having thing, and by giving it away, he gets even more.
This was the last card I came up with, and I simply wanted a Reaction that matched the "help others" theme. I want to work on this one.

Potato Farmers
Action - $3
-
Each other player may reveal a Victory card from their hand. Choose one: Gain a Silver; or gain a Gold, and each player who revealed a Victory card gains a Gold.

It's tough work, but if the crops are fruitful, we'll have goods for everyone who provided land.
Gaining Golds and Silvers while potentially helping your opponents? In that respect, Potato Farmers already share that idea (somewhat) with Coal Mine. I may get rid of one or the other.

Sewing Circle
Action - $4
-
+1 Card
+1 Action
If you have an odd number of Sewing Circles in play, +1 Crafter. Otherwise, +1 Crafter to each other player.

They can keep at it for the longest time. After all, they take turns giving and getting.
I needed a cantrip in my set, so here it is. Playing just one is akin to a Baker, perhaps even better. However, more Sewing Circles means more Crafters for your opponents, so I think that evens it out.

Sleigh Ride
Action - $5
-
+3 Cards
+$2
Choose one: Discard 3 cards; or each other player draws two cards.

It's more fun with others; by yourself, you just end up back where you started.
I just want to see more cards that draw and give economy simultaneously. I wonder if the draw-two choice is too much, though.

Snow Witch
Action/Attack - $5
-
+2 Cards
+$1
Each other player gains a Copper.

Once you get to know her, she's actually nice and very generous. Still, her gifts are not always welcome.
I wanted a nice simple Attack. Originally, it gave Curses to your opponents' hands, but that was too strong in non-Trashing games. This version still gunks up opposing decks, but not nearly as badly in order to compensate for the economy. Some cards can also make use of Snow Witch's attack, like Counting House or Pooka.

Tailor
Action - $4
-
Gain a card costing up to $4. If it costs less than $4, +1 Crafter.

Ever the frugal creator, any leftovers will become material for the next outfit.
The wording still bothers me, but this came over from the Weekly Contest thread unscathed so far.

Tapestrier
Action/Duration/Forecast - $2
-
+$1
Now and at the start of your next turn: +1 Buy
-
While this is in play, you do not receive Weather effects.

Tapestries served as insulation in the Middle Ages. There, that's the flavor text.
Perhaps I could make it so that Weather has no effect whatsoever, so no +1 Action for your Astronomer on Calm turns. In any case, this means that both negative and positive effects miss you. You can play Actions in a Blizzard, but you get nothing on Magical turns. Does that seem balanced enough?
Edit: Reworded in-play effect from "Weather does not affect you" to "you do not receive Weather effects."

Yeti
Action/Attack/Forecast - $5
-
+2 Cards
+1 Buy
If the Weather is...
Calm, +1 Card.
Warm or Magical, +$2.
anything else, each other player discards down to 3 cards in hand.

Is it a storm-bringing monster? A misunderstood mountain man? Or even a generous spirit?
Nothing much else to say here. Feedback, please!

Yule Log
Treasure - $5
-
$1
When you play this, you may trash two cards from your hand or in play. Otherwise, trash this.
-
When you discard this from play, you may put in onto your deck.

Keep the fire fed, and it'll burn for a long time. Once you're done with it, let it burn up.
How good is this as a 5/2 opening gain? Too good?

===

Calm
Weather
-
(no effect)

Often in the harsh winter, an uneventful day is often a blessing.
There are nine Calm cards in the Weather deck, as opposed to two of each other Weather. I hope that seems like a good balance.

Blizzard
Weather
-
At the start of your turn, choose one: You may not play Action cards this turn; or you may not buy or Craft cards this turn.

This storm is terrible! I can still work or gather goods, but not both in this horrid weather.
Clearly, this is meant to be the wickedest Weather effect of them all, as it effectively negates a whole phase or two. Is that too much, though?

Dark
Weather
-
When you would draw at least two cards with an Action this turn, draw one less card.

I can't see a thing. I better not work so hard, otherwise I could make a mistake.
An engine blocker for sure, but cantrips and other cards are still okay. Does not effect "put cards into hand" effects like Falconer or Envoy, so those cards aren't afraid of the dark.

Icy
Weather
-
When you play an Action card that does not provide Actions, go to your Buy phase immediately after resolving its effects.

Oof! That slip really hurt. I better take it easy...
Like Dark, this hurts engines by effectively making Villages worthless. One terminal is it (Throne Room, King's Court, Golem, etc. still work as usual, but still end the Action phase afterward). I should change it to "When you play an Action card this turn" or something like that.

Magical
Weather
-
At the start of your turn, gain a card costing up to $6.

They know that Santa's on his way. He's bringing lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh.
It's a holiday-themed set. I had to include at least one obvious allusion to this jolly old elf. Could benefit Player 1 a bit too much in the endgame, though.

Snowy
Weather
-
You may only buy one card during your Buy phase this turn.

And since we've no place to go, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
As Icy makes Villages worthless, Snowy makes +Buy worthless. Crafting and gaining cards in other manners is still fine, though. In Kingdoms without +Buy, it's mostly just Calm apart from some Forecast effects.

Very Cold
Weather
-
Silvers and Golds produce $1 less this turn.

Brr! It's so cold, even my assets are frozen!
Enough with the engine stoppers; now we have a BM stopper (don't say that out loud, please). At least economy actions, Kingdom Treasures, Coppers, and Platina (for some reason) are unaffected.

Warm
Weather
-
At the start of your turn, choose one: +1 Cards; or +1 Actions; or +$1.

It's not freezing outside? Wow, I can actually do things now!
The other truly positive Weather effect. Again, could give more to Player 1 in the endgame.

Windy
Weather
-
At the start of your turn, discard 2 cards, then +2 Cards.

Wow, the wind is harsh! It even blew my hat away! I better get my spare.
While this can be harsh at times, there are situations where this could be beneficial. Perhaps I should switch the name with Snowy, as snow does have a romantic property to it at times.

43

Variants and Fan Cards / Yuletide - A Fan Expansion Idea by Tejayes

« on: November 08, 2018, 12:00:28 am »

"It's the most wonderful time of the year," sang the owner of a little mercantile with a lot of debt. For the kingdom's children, it is a time of wonder, a time of giving, and a time of cheer. For their parents, it is a time of work, a time of spending, and a time of breaking one's hip on an icy patch. Still, it's all worth the time, money, and risk of influenza to finally bring family and friends together in peace. Even if it's just for one cold winter's night. Even if it all goes away next morning over a fight for the last bite of pudding.

It's November now, which means the holiday season had just begun... approximately two months ago right after Labor Day. Still, what better way to get ready for the holidays than with a vaguely-non-denominational-holiday-themed fan expansion of the greatest card game on ShuffleIT.

Naturally, there is a winter/holiday flavor theme to this set of mine. As for mechanics, I have three core mechanics at the heart of my idea:

• Crafting: This is the idea I "submitted" for the Create-a-Token contest in the Weekly Design Contest thread (yes, it was my contest, so I couldn't actually submit, but still...). It has been tweaked since then.
  Crafting is now a new phase between the Buy and Cleanup phases. If you have at least one Crafter token (i.e. a regular coin token on your Crafters mat) you may spend them all at once to gain a single card costing up to $2 per token. If you have 4 Crafters, that's effectively a free Province. If you have 8 Crafters... that's effectively a free Province. For the most part, cards will only give one Crafter at a time, and may be significantly gimped if they can give more than one.
• Helping Your Opponents: Peace on Earth, goodwill towards men, and all that jazz. Much like Council Room or Bishop, these cards give you something really good for the cost, but offset this by giving your opponents a little love as well.
• Winter Weather: I know that there have been attempts at Weather cards by other users (Aquila especially), but this is my take on it. My set will have a total of 25 weather cards (9 each of Calm, 2 each of the 8 others). The Weather effect changes each round, just before the first player starts their turn (the first turn is always Calm). When all 25 Weather cards are discarded, the discard pile is shuffled and starts anew. Weather only appears in games with at least one Forecast card in the Kingdom (or available through Black Market/Curiosity Shop (see below)). These Forecast cards can make use of certain conditions, protect you from the Weather, or even control the Weather to an extent.

I will be updating and replacing cards over time (maybe adding, but I already have 25), and I need as much commentary on these as possible. I don't have much opportunity to playtest my cards, and I'm not asking anyone to do so unless you really want to. Still, any feedback is monumentally appreciated.

Kingdom Cards: (click to embiggen)







Weather Cards: (click to embiggen)

44

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest Thread

« on: October 30, 2018, 06:08:29 pm »

For my board game crossover, I have chosen the most fun, most well-balanced, most strategic, most friendship-building title in history...

MONOPOLY

*whack* *bam* *punch* *slam* *spit*

Ouch... I deserved that.

But anyway, yes, I chose the game that regular people call the most quintessential board game in existence, while we more avid gamers may declare it a waste of cardboard and paper money. But it did inspire this card...

Jail
Action/Duration - $2
---
+$3
At the start of your next turn, trash a Silver or discard two copies of a card from your hand. If you can't, end your turn.
-
During your Cleanup phase, if you don't have three copies of any card in play, discard this.

This comes from the Monopoly mechanic where rolling three doubles (playing three of the same card) in a row lands you in jail. When in jail, you can pay money to get out (trashing the Treasure) or roll a double (discarding two cards with the same name), or just wait three turns (losing your Action phase). If you can stay out of Jail, though, you're in the money!

I did make some more Monopoly-inspired cards, but I felt Jail was enough torture for you all.

Edit: Changed Jail to an Action-Duration because I started to hate the original version.

45

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest Thread

« on: October 29, 2018, 05:24:20 pm »

Perhaps I could change Factory's effect to "Immediately end your Action phase." And if Factory is too strong, what about Con Artist? Maybe you should be forced to remove all Crafters when you decide to use them?

Still, I like these conversations. I should start a thread for my own creations so I can get more feedback.

46

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest Thread

« on: October 28, 2018, 09:44:56 pm »

I think it's time to announce my winner! First of all, I want to thank everyone who participated in this weekly contest of mine. Despite the difficulty of the challenge, many of you rose to it and presented some creative tokens and cards. While some entries didn't quite match the guidelines I set, I thoroughly enjoyed pondering every entry.

Before I make the announcement, I would like to contribute my own take on my challenge. While I couldn't enter my own contest for obvious reasons, I did want to show at least one of the ideas I came up with. And since it's not an official entry, I'm breaking my own rules and presenting four cards that use my token (sorry I don't have an official-looking mat like Kudasai and Fly-Eagles-Fly):

Crafters
Token
-
Once per Buy phase on your turns: You may remove tokens from this to gain a card costing up to $2 per token removed.

Holiday Village
Action - $4
-
+2 Actions
Reveal the top card of your deck, then put it into your hand. If it's an...
Attack card, gain a Curse.
Treasure card, gain a Silver.
Victory card, +1 Crafter.
$0-cost card, you may trash it.

Tailor
Action - $4
-
Gain a card costing up to $4. If it costs less than $4, +1 Crafter.

Con Artist
Action/Attack - $5
-
Each other player reveals the top three cards of their deck, discards one of your choice, then puts the rest back in any order. +1 Crafter for each differently-named card revealed by the player to your left.

Factory
Action - $6
-
+3 Crafters
You may not play any more Actions this turn.
-
While this is in play, when you gain a card using Crafters, you may gain a second card costing up to $1 per Crafter used.

Any feedback on my ideas is always welcome.

---

And now, the moment you have all been waiting for! After considering each set of tokens and cards for the creativity of the token and how well the cards fit with it, I have selected a Top 5 (because narrowing it down to 2 was just too hard, and there were so many that I wanted to compliment). From fifth to first, we have:

5th Place: Gubump's Grant and Endurance
-
My favorite of the entries with a single card. Quite a neat idea to have a token be able to turn a regular Action into a Duration. A powerful token indeed, softened by Grant's one-shot  nature. I would like to see more cards that grant Endurance.

4th Place: hypercube's Science set
-
Science is perhaps the most creative token idea of the contest. It effectively turns a potentially dead card into a Laboratory. The cards that gain Science tokens fit the Science theme rather nicely and would potentially make good Science targets themselves.

3rd Place: Fly-Eagles-Fly's Plots set
-
Complex perhaps, but I like it like that. The tokens can be strong but the mechanic incorporating the card's cost helps keep this from getting too nutty. The cards themselves have some neat effects and complement the Plot tokens nicely.

And now, the top two. This was really difficult; I kept going back and forth between these two as the winner and runner-up. Ultimately, my decision is...

2nd Place: Kudasai's Stores set
-
A token-esque version of Pirate Ship, but so much better and more intuitive in my opinion. Plus, the cards that went with it had very creative uses of the Stores mat itself.

THE WINNER OF THE CREATE-A-TOKEN CONTEST IS... VIOLET CLM's MUTINEERS SET!
-
I fell in love with this the moment I saw it. First, of all of the token ideas I came up with on my own, not a single one of them had a negative effect. As soon as I saw what Mutineers do, I just had to yell, "Why didn't I think of that?!" The nautical-themed cards themselves fit with the Mutineers theme quite well, too. I especially love Diving Bell as a combination of Attack and Mutineers abettor. Still, I do have some confusion over how to spend the Mutineers. At first, I read it as you have to use an Action to do so. Also, make sure it's clear that you must discard a card when you want to rid yourself of a Mutineer. Other than that, though, I had to give this the win due to the cohesiveness of the entire set.

I look forward to seeing what you have in store for the next challenge, Violet CLM. And once again, thanks to everyone for your entries and your comments. I had a lot of fun with this, and I hope you all did, too. See you for Challenge #6!

47

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest Thread

« on: October 28, 2018, 03:10:13 pm »

I'll name my winner and runners-up in a few hours. If there are any last minute ideas to float by, go ahead and submit soon.

48

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest Thread

« on: October 23, 2018, 11:26:53 pm »

There's so many new mechanics being invented! I may use some of these in my own cards, crediting and linking to here of course.

Exactly what I was hoping for! I'm so excited with all of the entries so far. I can't wait to see what else you all come up with!

49

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest Thread

« on: October 22, 2018, 02:07:22 pm »

My best bet are Trade Tokens, as introduced in LastFootnote's Enterprise expansion. I'd probably call them something different (because of "Trade" being commonly associated with gaining Silvers), but their catch is that they don't do something specific, but each card tells you what to do with them. In the case of Enterprise, he used that to create lots of one-shot type effects.

My try at such a card back in the day was Sheriff, but I can't think of another clever Trade Token type card right now. Maybe later.

Since we are only designing a single card for our token, any concept we have is basically a Trade token. Any card in this contest may be phrased as gaining Trade tokens with the additional text on the card "in games using this, Trade tokens do XY".

My goal with this theme was that you would create a token that can be gained by multiple cards, even though you are only designing a single card. It's as if your entry was Coffers and you presented Candlestick Maker as your card. It fits the theme of the challenge while also opening up the possibility for more cards to use this token mechanic.

If it helps, I'll allow for entrants to create up to three cards that gain your created token. That way, if multiple people want to use a Card-drawing token, for example, they can each enter a completely different set of cards that gain these tokens. I'll add this to the original challenge post.

50

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest Thread

« on: October 22, 2018, 09:44:05 am »

Is it okay to use a modification of someone else's mechanic? Like can I use a variation on Gazbag's Freeze/Ice token mechanic?

As long as it's not an exact copy of the mechanic, go for it. If the token effect is pretty expected (like a +Buy token or a +Card token) and someone has already used it, I'll accept a submission with the same token type as long as the name is different.

Remember, this is about the token/card combo. If everyone submitted a card that gains Card-drawing tokens, I'd be fine with that as long as the cards are different and the names of the tokens are different.