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« on: November 03, 2011, 09:26:08 pm »
So there are several cards in Dominion where the relationship between the name of the card and what it does in the game (or its relationship to other cards) is obscure at best: What does a throne room have to do with doing something twice? Are all the nomads employed as woodcutters? And so on. And on the other hand, there are plenty of cards where the relationship between the name of the card and its effect are pretty transparent: of course you can buy things at a Market; of course a Thief steals your money; of course a Moat protects you from attack; and so on. This post is not about those cards.
What follows are some of my favorite cards in terms of the relationship between name and effect. They're all a bit more subtle than Market and Thief, but really elegant when you stop for a minute to think about it.
Apprentice. What happens in The Sorcerer's Apprentice? When the broom gets out of control, Mickey Mouse chops it into many pieces—and then each piece comes back to life as a full-sized broom. In other words, the apprentice trashes one broom, and gets back many more brooms for his trouble. The same thing happens with Dominion cards.
Caravan. It's harder to see the thematicity of this one on Isotropic. But playing with real cards, when you lay out a whole chain of one after another on one turn, it's easy to visualize your long train of camels and wagons traveling across the desert and back, returning with valuable goods just in time for your next turn.
City. Every city starts out as a village, of course. But over time, it might grow to be the major economic engine of the kingdom.
Conspirator. Obviously someone acting alone is no conspirator. It's only a conspiracy when you have three or more people, all engaging in actions toward the same goal.
Herbalist. What do you call someone whose occupation is to go out into the forest and harvest wild plants and bring them back to sell? Well, if the plants are trees, they're a woodcutter; but if the plants are smaller (and less profitable), they're an herbalist.
Highway. The modern highway will get you where you're going a lot faster than that rickety old bridge! On the other hand, it's a freeway and doesn't bring in any money from tolls.
Noble Brigand. Okay, it's a little obvious; but the implementation of "steal from the rich and give to the poor" as a Dominion card is just so slick.
Torturer. Torture isn't just about inflicting harm—it's about breaking the victim's spirit. One way to do this is to make the victim feel responsible for their own ill-treatment, like by offering them a sadistic choice about how they're going to be punished. (When the job gets too much for him, and he can't handle it anymore, the torturer retires and becomes a blacksmith.)
What are other people's favorite examples of card thematicity?
