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1

Variants and Fan Cards / NoMoreFun's Dark Ages 2nd Edition

« on: November 02, 2024, 10:11:17 pm »

(I'll eventually update the OP with art - but the generator isn't working well for me for some reason. Not all the ideas are originally mine and I will try to credit where I first saw the idea for everyone eventually).

I wanted to update Dark Ages using the same constraints as the official update packs - both the set and update pack need to be a multiple of 100. The set also has no new components that the original didn't have, though it does have mechanics the original didn't (however I've respected the lack of Duration cards from the original - just felt wrong to include them). I wanted the set to have even more variety, and to draw out some themes and synergies with the cards.

Without further ado

_________

Non Supply Cards - these are called up by multiple cards and landscapes in the set
Spoils and Madman are both still in the set and unchanged.

Ruins
Action - $0*
+1 Action
Return this to its pile
_____
When you trash this, play it
(This is not in the supply)

There are 20 in its pile. It's fika monster's "Snow" fan mechanic, but you also get a free action when you trash it (and the pile always replenishes). So when you see Ruins, think "snow", or think "-1 Card" (kind of)

__________________

The Cards:

$1 COST
Poor House (unchanged)

$2 COST
Unchanged: Squire

Burglar
Action/Reaction - $2
Gain a Spoils or a Silver, and you may gain a Ruins to put that card into your hand.
______
When another player plays an Attack, you may play this from your hand.

Slum
Action - $2
+1 Card
Discard any number of cards for +1 Action per card discarded. If you discarded a whole hand of 5 or more cards, gain a Madman

$3 COST
Unchanged: Forager, Hermit, Market Square

Stray Cat
Action/Reaction - $3
+2 Cards
You may gain up to 2 Ruins for +1 Action per Ruins gained
_____
When you trash a card from your hand, you may play this

Midden
Action - $3
+2 Buys
At the end of your turn, pay your remaining buys for +1 Card per buy you have
_____
When you trash this, gain a Spoils to your hand

Pyre
Action - $3
+2 Buys
+2 Actions
Trash this
_____
When you trash this, return it to its pile, +2 Cards, and you may trash a card from your hand.

Repair
Action/Reaction - $3
Trash a card from your hand. Gain onto your deck a card that shares a type with it costing up to $3 more than it.
____
When you gain a Silver, you may play this from your hand


$4 COST
Unchanged: Armory, Death Cart*, Feodum, Ironmonger, Procession*, Scavenger, Wandering Minstrel
(Death Cart now gains 2 of the new Ruins on gain and no longer has the "Looter" type) (Procession no longer works with Command cards)

Slightly Changed, but not in the update pack - Rats (now a normal sized pile)


Monk
Action - $4
+1 Action
+$1
+1 Buy
This turn, when you gain a card, you may trash a card from your hand

Pillagers
Action/Attack - $4
Gain a Spoils onto your deck.
Each player with 5 or more cards in hand discards a card, revealed. If it was an Action or Treasure, they gain a Ruins. Otherwise, they gain a Curse.

$5 COST
Unchanged: Band of Misfits, Bandit Camp, Catacombs*, Count, Counterfeit, Graverobber, Junk Dealer, Knights, Mystic, Rogue
(Catacombs reworded slightly to remove an awkward interaction with Elder)

Ruined Castle
Action - $5
+1 Card
You may play an Action from your hand twice. Afterwards, if it's still in play, gain a Ruins

Archaeologist (Mountain Path by Silverspawn)
Action - $5
Discard any number of cards from your hand to gain that many Ruins. Draw until you have 7 Cards in hand.

Rabid Dog
Action - $5
+2 Cards
Trash a card from your hand. If it isn't a Rabid Dog, and isn't cheaper than one, gain a Madman
____
When you trash this, you may play it.

Plague Doctor (Originally by Gubump)
Action - $5
Name a card. Reveal the top 3 cards of your hand and trash the matches. Put the others into your hand.
_____
When you trash this, gain a Madman

Hill Tribe
Action - $5
Gain a Spoils. You may play an Action or Treasure from your discard pile
______
When you gain or trash a card, you may reveal this from your hand to exchange it for a Spoils.

$6 CARDS
Unchanged: Altar, Hunting Grounds

EVENTS

Coda
Event - $0
Once per turn: If you have no Actions remaining, +1 Buy and each other player gains a Ruins
__________
In games using this, +1 Action at the start of your turn

Deplete
Event - $0
Once per turn: Gain a Ruins onto your deck for +2 Buys

Panhandle
Event - $0
Once per turn: +1 Buy, gain and play a Copper

Isolate
Event - $0
Once per game: +1 Buy, gain a Madman and spoils, both to your hand, at end of Turn. Skip a turn.

Blessing (originally by Asper)
Event - $0
Once per turn: +1 Buy, trash a card from your hand

Trap
Event - $2
Once per turn: Gain and set aside a Ruins. At the start of your next turn, put it in your hand, and you may trash a card from your hand.

Ceremony
Event - $2
Choose one: Gain an Action from the trash, or reveal an Action from your hand to trash your hand

Recover
Event - $2
Trash an Action from the supply, or gain a card costing from $3 to $6 from the trash onto your deck.

Sell
Event - $2
Once per turn: +2 Buys, trash a non-Estate card from your hand. +$1 per $1 it costs

Despoil
Event - $2
Gain a Spoils


Manifest
Event - $3
Gain a Gold onto your deck. Each other player gains a Spoils.

Enrich
Event - $3
Gain a Silver per differently named Action you have in play

Auction
Event - $3
Discard your hand. +$1 per card discarded. +2 Buys if you discarded any.

Day of the Dead
Event - $4
Take an extra turn after this one (but not a 3rd). Return all Actions you discard from play on that turn to their piles.

Spite
Event - $5
Gain a card costing up to $4 onto your deck. Each other player reveals the top card of their deck and gains a Ruins onto it if it costs $3 or more.

LANDMARKS
Mine Void - When counting, 3VP if you were the last player to trash a card / In games using this, when you gain a Silver, you may trash a non-Victory card from your hand
Fallen Statue - When counting, 2VP for every differently named Action you have with a copy in the Trash/In games using this, when you gain a Victory card, you may trash a card from your hand
Loot Cavern - When counting, 1VP per Spoils you have / In games using this, when you gain a Silver, you may exchange it for a Spoils
Overgrown Road - When counting, 1VP per 3 Victory Cards you have
Misere - When counting, 5VP per curse if it's the most common card among your cards (or tied for it)
Historical Society - When counting, 1VP per Ruins you have / In games using this, when you gain a Curse or Province you may gain a Ruins
Sanitarium - When counting, 3VP per Madman you have / In games using this, when you gain a Province, you may exchange it for a Madman
Stumpland - When counting, -1VP per Duchy you have / In games using this, Duchies are also Actions with instructions "+$2,+1 Buy"

TRAITS

Crumbling - When you play a Crumbling card, first gain a Ruins for +1 card
Dark   - When you gain a Dark card, gain a Spoils and a Ruins
Tactical - At the start of your buy phase, you may discard your hand, revealed, with at least one Tactical card in it to gain a Madman
Introverted - Exchange the third Introverted card you discard from play on your turn for a Madman
Shapeshifting - Exchange the Shapeshifting cards you discard from play for a Spoils per $2 it costs
Uneven - On your turns, the first time you play an Uneven card from your hand, +1 Action. You must pay an Action to play a second
Decaying - When you discard a Decaying card from play, you may return it to its pile to gain a cheaper card onto your deck
Corrosive - When you play a Corrosive card, first trash a card from your hand
Resilient - When you discard or trash a Resilient card other than in clean up, if you have none set aside, set it aside and play it at the start of your turn
Undead - Directly after you play a Undead card, you may play an Action from the trash, or you may trash an Action from your hand
Sterling- Sterling Cards have the type "Silver" and references to the name "Silver" also apply to them
Entombed - At the start of your buy phase, you may exchange an Estate from your hand for a Ruins, and a Ruins for an Entombed card

___________
Removed cards and rationale:

Ruins (the old style): Not worth 50 cards in a set for something too functionally similar to Curse in my view. The new ruins are mostly self inflicted.
Urchin/Mercenary: Too luck based and not worth 2 slots
Rebuild: Overpowered and monolithic
Beggar: In my experience when it's not broken, it's not useful
Storeroom: Too slow to resolve and not very exciting
Sage: The digging mechanic seems to be on its way out (though I guess Hunting Party survived), and it's not really very interesting
Vagrant: Not really worth a whole card slot
Pillage: Keeps you from playing with cards you want to experience and one shots need to compete with events
Fortress: It breaks other cards. I think Trail is most of the fun this card had to offer.
Cultist: Even with new Ruins, don't really like how it gives a runaway advantage.
Marauder: Not strong enough with new Ruins and probably not interesting enough for a whole slot.
Shelters: Sorry to live up to my username, but I don't think it changes the game enough to be worth the trouble (except for some of the interactions with Ways and cards like Advance, which I'm not a huge fan of either). I've tried to keep the fun of Necropolis (early +1 Action) with some other parts of this set.

If I've done the sums correctly, the removed cards and 10 cards removed from the Rats pile is 198 cards, which is also the number of new cards and landscapes. The update pack will be 2 cards short of 200, so it could come with 2 promo landscapes.

Other note: I intentionally left Hermit/Market Square in. One way to fix it would be to add Joust like wording to Market Square's reaction so you can only do it once a turn, but I just think it's kind of neat that 2 cards that both do a lot of different things so perfectly interact with each other.

2

Weekly Design Contest / Weekly Design Contest #232: One card, many possibilities

« on: September 25, 2024, 11:47:00 pm »

Dominion already has an astonishing number of different kingdoms, but some cards compound that variety even further.

Your challenge is to design a card or landscape with setup rules that make it functionally a lot of different cards.

The clearest examples from the official cards are Druid, Riverboat and Way of the Mouse. Obelisk and Traits can potentially add a lot of variety too if it makes you rethink the card it applies to (E.g. Reckless). Same with Liaisons, and some Liaisons are more impacted by what the Ally is than others

No firm rules about what's in or out (E.g. not sure whether Ferryman or Band of Misfits "count", though they aren't what I had in mind). But I am looking for card (shaped things) that are different each game, so something like Pawn wouldn't count even though it's a bunch of cards at once. Online I should want to check and care about what the card (shaped thing) does in this game.

Looking for relatively simple ideas that create interesting cards. Balance can be hard with such variety (e.g. Riverboat can vary a lot) but it's worth trying.

Split piles etc. are fine.

Edit: For clarity, I really like Riverboat and Druid, and that's why I picked this prompt

3

Weekly Design Contest / Weekly Design Contest #225: When was THAT invented?

« on: July 22, 2024, 03:22:37 am »

Dominion has been themed around the pre Industrial world - vaguely the late middle ages and Renaissance, and things that would have existed before then. But I'm feeling inspired by games like Innovation, the Civilization series, and "tech trees" in general.

So this week, your challenge is to design an anachronism. Design something in the supply that isn't out of place with Dominion's broad theme, that also lets you gain something that is much more modern, or even futuristic. This means 2 or more cards (or card shaped things).

The rule is that the modern/futuristic card can't be "visible" in the supply or starting decks at the start of the game. It needs to be "invented" or "discovered" during the course of the game.

So the modern card can be lower in a split pile (Empires/Allies style), a non supply card (Like Mercenary or Madman), a traveller, or an Artifact, or starts outside the supply and decks (Necromancer's Zombies) or any other mechanic I've forgotten. I don't count heirlooms or cards costing $P (if they're at the top of their supply piles) as they're visible at start of game.

Try stick to the spirit of the challenge. You can make the cards very simple, but if you start with an event, it should involve you doing something to get the card (like Quest or Peril) rather than just a purchase (like Ride or Looting).

I'll try not to be strict about what was technically around or not around before the "Dominion Era" (the Renaissance and age of sail). I like learning about history but the idea is to go from a card that "belongs" to one that doesn't.

I'll be judging based on how fun the cards seem to play with. But as a theme challenge flavour matters too. As one idea, Cards from the future may be powerful or mess with mechanics more or just be "weird" in some other way. But they don't have to be.

4

Variants and Fan Cards / Fan Card Mechanics Week 79: We are our memories

« on: December 08, 2023, 04:56:26 pm »

Now suggesting a fan mechanic that is also a "variant" (in the Variants and Fan Cards forum). If something has the Memory type, it impacts the game after the game you're playing.

Rulebook:

• At the end of the game, after scoring, set aside cards with a Memory type onto your Memory mat. During your next game, these remain there for tracking and will have some sort of effect.
  
• Once a Memory no longer can have any effect, if that card isn't in the Kingdom, return it to the box.
• If you are playing games with "Memory" cards in them, to win over-all, you must be the first player to win 2 games (e.g. "Best of 3" between 2 players).
• Do not include the same Memory card in the Kingdom in consecutive games.
• If each player playing has won precisely one game, then do not include any Memory cards in the final Kingdom (e.g. the 3rd game in a best of 3 between 2 players).
• In general, Memory Cards are like Victory cards and you get the Memory effect for having them in your deck. However you can put "If this was in play at the game's end" on Duration/Memory cards if you want them to be activated by playing a card.
• Memory/Reserve cards can be "Called" from Memory as if they were on the Tavern Mat (and the Tavern Mat does not need to be referenced at all) and can enter play. They are then returned to the box at the end of the last turn where they have an effect.
• Memory cards may impact your score at the end of the next game, but don't enter your deck for the purposes of Gardens etc. (this is so you can write rules around a card being "in your deck" at the end of the game, and simplify the setting aside process).

Other notes:
I thought the mechanic would be a good idea given that you can find yourself in a largely unwinnable position in Dominion. With "memories" you may be able to set up the next game in your favour as a consolation. But this can lead to games becoming slogs if not careful as players pursue next game advantage instead of leading the current game a conclusion state. As such I think cards with both a "this game" and "next game" effect will be better than cards that exclusively have a "next game" effect, but I'm not ruling out the latter.

This mechanic will lend itself to complexity, and I was thinking of setting a limit for how many Memory cards can be in the kingdom, but I'm not sure what a good limit would be. But try to think about the complexity of tracking as you design the card. As such I am imagining the mechanic applying exclusively to "cards" (not Landscapes). I'm open to Landscapes but you may need to explain the tracking in your submission.

Examples

Mock ups are done with a Primary Colour of 0,0.4,0 (thanks grrgrrgrr).

5

Dominion General Discussion / Well designed cards

« on: January 27, 2023, 05:15:41 am »

Going to go for a bit of positivity. Post card (shaped things) that you really like.

Abundance: If you don't play it smart it's basically a workshop (early game gives you $3 after an Action, late game you arbitrarily buy Actions to activate it), but given its clear power it really encourages you to find strategies to make it count, such as by stacking. Sometimes they're no brainers (e.g. when Supplies is on the board) but generally it's more interesting especially considering you can trigger it before you really want to.

Witch's Hut: I initially thought the Attack was just thrown in as compensation for drawing the cards dead, because discarding 2 actions is such a high cost, right? Turns out there are lots of ways to consistently trigger the Attack in a well thought out strategy and it's fun to get there. Powerful with Big Money but the attack is too tantalising to resist so games with Witch's Hut usually end up interesting.

Cauldron: Similar to the above, I like the effort you need to put in to curse with this, either by lining up Cauldrons or gaining Actions at other times during your turn. It's really rewarding to pull off.

Grotto: Did Donald X learn nothing from the clunkiness of Research? This card is clearly worse than Cellar, right? Turns out, there's a really interesting design space in making cards miss the reshuffle. A really good "teacher card".

Stowaway: Lots of good ways to make use of its effect, even in games where it's the only Duration. i always like seeing it on the board, but it doesn't feel too powerful.

Replace: Especially compared to the card it... replaced (Saboteur is best forgotten). Just the perfect card for the likely first expansion people buy - it's Remodel, but has a few interesting tricks up it's sleeve. In playing with it, you end up realising more about what good old Remodel from the base set can do.

War Chest: My other favourite of the direct replacements. Amazing how such a simple tweak on the same mechanic can go from a card you regret buying to something very fun as you try to determine what card it is your opponent really wants. Really good non-attack interactivity.

Magnate: Other strengths of the replacements keep coming to mind. This card has all the fun of Counting House and Coppersmith in terms of seeming like it can be super powerful, but actually taking a bit of work to make work. But it feels far less luck based. A card where being situational feels very intentional and I want to see more like it. Also perfect for the theme of Prosperity.

6

Variants and Fan Cards / Fan Mechanics Week 55: Jewelry

« on: January 23, 2023, 06:57:26 pm »

For this contest, design a card with the Jewelry type (originally posted by Scolapasta in the Week 61 WDC)

My entry for this week is a new Treasure subtype: Jewelry:

Normally your buy phase consists of of two sub phases: First, play your treasure cards (spend coffer, pay off debt); second, buy card(s) (or event(s), or project(s))

Treasure-Jewelry cards are are cards you can play any time during your buy phase. Frequently, they will care about what or how many cards you have bought.

Examples:

In my view, "Jewelry" is the type that allows you to play things during your buy phase precisely after you've bought a card. So you could technically do a pure Jewelry (can't play until you've bought a card), or an Action-Jewelry. Of note is the phase is still called your Buy phase, even though there's two distinctive parts to it.

Scolapasta's examples were all Treasure-Jewelry and in my view those are the most interesting designs and are the least likely to avoid confusion. But I won't rule out other interesting designs. If the answer to "Could this have just been a Treasure" or "Could this have just been a night card" is yes, then it won't do too well in judging.

I have a template here

7

Variants and Fan Cards / Fan Card Mechanics Week 52: It only gets Charter

« on: December 23, 2022, 06:08:38 am »

Charters are Duration-Events. Or Projects with an expiration date.

When you buy a Charter, put your cube on it (similar to a Project) and follow its instructions. That might be this turn, but the cube is there to keep track of the fact that you bought it. This allows for "next turn", "until then" and one off "when you" mechanics. Unfortunately, this also means you can't buy it multiple times at once. When you have done all the things the Charter asks you to do, remove your cube, and you can buy it again.

Here's some modified official events (I used the Duration colour for these mock ups):




Expedition is now safe from Militia and friends. You can choose your Summon when you're ready to play it, rather than when you buy it.

But you can do more with Charters, for example (analogue of sorts for Treasury):


You gain the Silver right away, and as long as your cube is on the Exchequer, you get +$1 at the start of your turns. Once you gain a Victory card, take your cube back.

I'll judge based on how much I'd look forward to games with the Charter. The design should make use of the fact it's a Charter, but I'm fine with simple "next turn" designs where there might be some way to do it as an Event.

In terms of naming, I had in mind promises, or contracts, or "charter a boat". But I'm not going to judge based on names.

8

Weekly Design Contest / Weekly Design Contest #165: More Favorites, More Fun

« on: October 04, 2022, 03:11:55 am »

Weekly Design Contest #165: More Favorites, More Fun

For this contest, think about your favorite cards. The ones you picked on Dominion Online. What do you like about them? What makes games with them fun? Why do you like seeing them pop up in a kingdom when you're playing full random?

Your challenge this week is to create another card that replicates what you like about that card, as if to simulate the card being twice as likely to pop up. Maybe it's the mechanic. Maybe it's the niche it fills in kingdoms. Maybe it's just the way the card feels to play. It's not for me to say why you should or shouldn't like a card, so there are no formal rules for entering this competition. But it will help me with judging if you identify the card (shaped thing) you like and why. I also don't think saying a broad category of card ("Villages", "Trashing", "Terminal Draw") is what I had in mind.

This is basically an open round. I will be assessing on whether I think games with the card would be fun to play, but also on how creatively they fit what you find fun about a given card.  If Village is your favourite card and you submit Village but with +3 Actions instead of +2 Actions, I'm happy for you, but try and be a bit creative if you want to win. Again, your explanation of why you like a card you like is very welcome.

If they seem like they're brand new cards, but would also be talked about as "Original card/Your card" in threads here, you're on to a winner.

9

Puzzles and Challenges / The highest Plateau

« on: June 09, 2022, 11:13:48 pm »

Challenge 1: Find the highest possible score from Plateau Shepherds.

Challenge 2: Receive over 100 points from Plateau Shepherds in the fewest turns

Challenge 3: Receive over 200 points from Plateau Shepherds in the fewest turns

Rules:
* No Black Market
* You can assume perfect shuffle luck for hypotheticals (or try this challenge for yourself)
* No removed 1E cards (No Ambassador)

10

Weekly Design Contest / Weekly Design Contest #144: A one time thing

« on: February 24, 2022, 07:53:07 pm »

Design a card (shaped thing) with an effect that can only be used once per game

I'm looking for more effects like Seize the Day. Where you think about the whole game and when to deploy the "once per game" effect. These kinds of decisions are in every dominion game (e.g. when to start greening), but a good "once per game" effect will provide even more opportunities.

I'll be judging on the basis of cards where the "once per game" looms large in the player's mind and isn't a trivial or obvious decision. It doesn't have to be game warping - it could be minor and only matter for players who choose a strategy involving the card. But I want players to think about when to pull the trigger.

Most Projects aren't what I really have in mind as they're largely positive and don't feel all that different from buying a card.  However I'm not going to make hard and fast "rules" about it as for example something like Inheritance has "once per game" in its text but it functions more like a Project.

The only rule is something technically that means the effect once per game, per player at most. So all Projects would "qualify". Something like Mountain Pass that's once per game across all players is also acceptable. Supply piles of one card are acceptable, but try keep it within the spirit of the contest - it shouldn't be bought many times in most games due to a "return to the supply" effect.

Once per game was an option for last week but it wasn't explored that often. Additionally, this week it need not relate to buying/gaining.  A Village, no buy restrictions, with a once per game additional effect would be a great entrant.

Edit: Oneshot Heirlooms do qualify, as long as they can't be gained back most of the time (e.g. if the card the Heirloom is paired with can gain from the trash). If you want to submit an heirloom you must also pair it with a card (shaped thing), which may or may not also have a "once per game" effect.

11

Puzzles and Challenges / Design the most disappointing Kingdom

« on: February 09, 2022, 09:12:17 pm »

Inspired by this post by mxdata in "Best Uninteresting moments in dominion"

Tomb and Sewers both appeared in the same game - one with no trashers of any kind

Some cards depend on other cards being in the kingdom to have any interesting function. There are also cards that are strictly better than other cards when they're both in the same kingdom because of this.

So the challenge is to create a kingdom with as much redundancy and dead cards as possible, and any other ways you can think of for a kingdom to be disappointing (e.g. the best strategy on the board is probably a simple Big Money strategy).

12

Rules Questions / Why do Treasurer and Torturer work the way they do?

« on: October 04, 2021, 07:40:33 pm »

1) Let's say you have the Key, play Treasurer and choose not to trash or gain. Do you "Take the key" from yourself, or try to "Take the key" and fail, or run out of options (having rejected the first 2 and being unable to execute the third)

2) Another player plays a first edition Torturer and the Curse pile is empty. What's the way it actually works mechanically? Is it:

A) "I play Torturer." "Of the two options, I choose "gain a Curse", and I can't".

Or

B) "I play Torturer. Either discard two cards..." "I choose not to", "...or gain a Curse", "I can't".

Is "(they may choose an option they can't do)" in the 2nd edition a clarification or a rule specific to the card?

13

Variants and Fan Cards / Fan Mechanics Week 19: Join the Queue

« on: August 31, 2021, 01:41:27 am »

Queue
At the start of your turn, put one card from here into your hand

At the start of your turn, put a card from the Queue mat into your hand. It doesn't matter how the card got there, or how many cards are on the mat, or (contrary to the card's name) what order they arrived in - you put exactly one card from it into your hand at the start of each of your turns.

Cards on the Queue mat are face up (the same as Exile).

All the rules around "Exile", the noun and the verb, apply to Queue. To "Queue" a card means to put it on your Queue mat. You can refer to a card on your queue mat as "In your Queue".

Some modified official cards that might give you a sense of the mechanic:



So like the official Crypt, it puts treasures in your hand that you played this turn on later turns, one at a time. Unlike the official Crypt, it doesn't need to be a duration card, and all of the cards it
puts away are in the same Crypt. I think this is quite a bit stronger than the official card.


If you buy multiple official Reaps (not an easy feat), you get all the Golds at once next turn. With this version, you only get one per turn. Which is better? Hard to say - but what I want to illustrate here is that you can use the Queue mat to simplify some "start of your next turn" effects. Ideas that aren't particularly likely that there will be a long Queue won't be penalised. If the mechanic allows you to do an idea where "start of your next turn" wording would be too cumbersome, good.



You get to play these cards a lot more often than the official versions, but you could easily end up creating a very long queue. Be careful or you might end up having too many cards in your Queue to play all the ones you want to play before the game is over - although you get to leave your dead cards at the end of the Queue.

14

Rules Questions / Post errata Band of Misfits + Cargo Ship

« on: February 18, 2020, 06:27:07 am »

If you play a Cargo Ship from the supply with Band of Misfits, do you set aside the card on top of the Cargo Ship Supply pile, given that Cargo Ship says "you may set it aside (on this)".

If it's there
1) Can that card set aside on top of Cargo Ship be bought
2) Can Cargo Ships be bought while a card sits on top of the pile
3) If the Cargo Ship can be bought and is bought, do you still put the card into your hand (given that the card the card is no longer set aside (on this))

15

Variants and Fan Cards / Docks: The "coffers"/"villagers" of +Card

« on: October 05, 2018, 10:14:17 pm »

I came up with the idea for my Alchemy "2nd edition" idea (which had a lot of events costing $P) as "rack", but I thought it would be worth revisiting with the advent of Coffers and Villagers.

Docks - "At the start of your turn, put all cards on this mat in your hand"

Terminology:
+1 Dock - Take the top card of your deck and put it face down on your Docks mat
Dock a specific card - Put that card face down on your Docks mat

So for example

"Caravan"
Action - $4
+1 Card
+1 Action
+1 Dock

Would have a similar effect - a cantrip that makes your next hand bigger. By not being a duration it won't miss reshuffles (and can be Princed), but with the new mechanic there's the risk of not having any cards to Dock.

Whereas

"Haven"
Action - $2
+1 Card
+1 Action
Dock a card from your hand

Is pretty much the same (except stronger for not missing reshuffles).

"Summon" (buffed)
Event - $5
+1 Villager
Gain and Dock a card costing up to $4

"Den of Sin"
Treasure - $5
When you gain or play this, +2 Docks

Simlarly:
* Expedition and Save are easier to track and not vulnerable to Militias
* Faithful Hound could dock itself. Horse Traders could dock itself and +1 Dock
* The River's gift could simply be +1 dock.
* Gear would be similar to Haven. It may be buffed enough to justify a cost increase to $4 (which IMO it should have been anyway)
* Similar to Den of Sin, Ghost Town (replacing the Action with a Villager). Cobbler would really miss being able to see your next hand, and by the time you've added a Navigator effect it's probably easier to leave it as a Duration.
* Tactician would really miss the next turn +buy, but Wharf wouldn't
* Not ideal for all situations. Enchantress, Haunted Woods and Dungeon need to be durations for other effects so no point turning their next turn +Cards into Docks.

Things the new mechanic could enable:
* "Expedition" type events would be far easier to do and keep track of
* Drawing extra cards next turn could be tied to things like when gain/trash/overpay
* It would be far easier to tie next turn +cards/"haven" effects to conditions (eg trash/discard for benefit)

16

Simulation / Non transitive challenges - 2nd Edition

« on: September 15, 2018, 09:37:21 pm »

I posted 2 challenges in 2014 to try and find non transitive strategies. With Landmarks it may be easier, and the winning strategies the first time around involved Masquerade pins, so I'm posting them again.

Challenge 1: Find 3 strategies (A, B, C), all of which beat Big Money, that have a Rock/Paper/Scissors relationship (i.e. A beats B, B beats C, C beats A).

There will be 3 win loss ratios between the strategies. The winner will be the triad with the highest win loss ratio in the triads closest matchup (so a triad with 99/1, 99/1, 51/49 is not as good as a triad with 70/30, 70/30, 65/35)

Challenge 2: Find 3 strategies, A, B and C such that in a 3 player game, when it comes to the percentage of wins

Strategy A>Strategy B>Big Money
AND
Strategy B>Strategy C>Strategy A
(Or B>A>C, or C>B>A)
Strategy C also must beat 2 Big Money bots in 3 player (so it's a real strategy that can win games).

The winner is the strategy that demonstrates the most decisive shift in the balance; the highest possible score is 200 (which would be a 100:0 changing to a 0:100).

Common Rules

• 2nd edition cards only: No 1st edition only cards from Base and Intrigue, and cards that function differently (like Masquerade) function as they do in the 2nd edition
• Every Card/Event/Landmark referenced in all 3 strategies must fit into a single kingdom (10 cards and maximum 2 Events/Landmarks with exceptions like Young Witch)

17

Variants and Fan Cards / Dominion: Metallurgy (Fan expansion based on basic treasures)

« on: January 31, 2017, 06:28:14 am »

A small expansion based on cards that interact with the basic treasures, including cards that can take their place.

There are cards in this set with the types "Copper", "Silver" and "Gold". If a card specifically refers to one (eg Gain a Silver on Bureaucrat or Reveal a Gold on Encampment) then you choose whether that refers to card with that name, or a card with that type.

Copper:


Silver:


Gold


Multiple:


Rules Clarifications:
- You still start the game with 7 Coppers (ie Treasure that produces $1)
- You can play Bronze Idol with Florist. Playing it has no effect.
- If an attack like Noble Brigand or Mountebank makes you gain a Copper, the player being attacked chooses which Copper to gain.
- If a pile of Copper/Silver/Gold type cards is empty, and you're instructed to gain a Copper/Silver/Gold, you can't choose the empty pile to gain nothing.
- If the first time you play a Silver typed card is after playing a Merchant, you get +$1. If you played one before you play Merchants, then you don't.
- Noble Brigand can steal Silver and Gold typed cards. Now Noble Brigand can both trash cards and give out copper at the same time.
- You lose VP for having Silver and Gold typed cards in games with Bandit Fort, gain VP for having sets of 3 in games with Palace etc.
- In games with Aqueduct, you put 8VP on the Silver and Gold typed cards, but there's no way to take them except...
- In games with both Defiled Shrine and Aqueduct, you put 10VP on the Silver and Gold typed Action cards that moves to the Curse pile when you gain them.

18

Rules Questions / Defiled Shrine, Aqueduct and Crown

« on: January 31, 2017, 06:16:58 am »

If you gain a Crown in a game with both Defiled Shrine and Aqueduct, to which Landmark does the VP on its pile go?

19

Puzzles and Challenges / How many kingdoms?

« on: January 17, 2017, 12:56:20 am »

What's the up to date "how many different games" statistic?

Rules:
* Normal Kingdom rules (10 cards+other set up rules)
* 0-2 Events and Landmarks
* Different Obelisks matter (IMO it's game warping enough what the Obelisk is)
* Platiunum and Colony matter and have the setup rules from Prosperity
* Shelters matter (with rules from Dark Ages)
* Don't include cards removed from Base and Intrigue
* Sizes of victory card piles don't matter (including castles)
* The order of Knights doesn't matter (not sure 100% how to rule in this one)
* The contents of the Ruins pile don't matter (inconsistent with # of players + somewhat irrelevant)
* The contents of the Black Market pile don't matter (would include except rules aren't consistent and it would dramatically increase the number)

20

Rules Questions / Trader and failed gains

« on: January 14, 2017, 04:29:41 pm »

If you play a Rats, and the Rats pile is empty, can you reveal a Trader to gain a Silver instead of trying to gain a rats and failing?

21

Variants and Fan Cards / Uneven Landmarks

« on: January 11, 2017, 12:28:12 pm »

All the Landmarks are designed to be relatively equal (ie each player has equal access). What if they didn't, to encourage different strategies.

Gallery
When counting, +2VP for each card with your Gallery token, -1VP for each card with someone else's Gallery token
---
Setup: Each player, in reverse turn order, places their Gallery on a supply pile of their choice (each pile may only have one Gallery token on it)

Black and White tokens: The last player takes a coloured token, and the player to their left is given the opposite coloured token. Repeat until everyone has a token


Caves
When counting
Black: +1VP for each card you have less than 25
White: +1VP for every 2 cards you have over the first 25

Fork
When counting
Black: +1VP for each card costing 5
White: +1VP for each card costing 3 or 4

Prison
Black: +1VP when you buy a Copper
White: +3VP when you buy a Curse

Slums
When counting
Black: +10VP if there are fewer than 3 empty piles
White: +10VP if there are 3 or more empty piles

Cliffs
Place a VP token on this card every turn. If there are 8 VP tokens on this card, remove all VP from this card, and replace the coloured token with its opposite colour.
When counting: +VP equal to the number on the card if your token 
Setup: Place a White Counter on this card

Valley
White: +1VP when you gain a Duchy
Black: +1VP when you gain an Estate

22

Variants and Fan Cards / 3rd Editions opinions and workspace

« on: January 03, 2017, 12:51:20 pm »

The 2nd editions of Base and Intrigue did a good job of improving those sets to keep up with the rest of the cards and make them better sets. However the other sets weren't changed even though many of them have issues.

IMO

Seaside

12 blanks in the box (could be a card)

Possible replacements:
Pearl Diver: Weak and doesn't interact with enough other cards. Usually a "why not" card. Idea better served by Secret Passage
Lookout: Being forced to trash one of your good cards is pretty bad. Called "the dud of the set" by Donald X.
Navigator: Weak and time consuming. Idea better served by Guide.
Sea Hag: Mean and does nothing for you (like Saboteur).
Explorer: Weak and not very exciting. Gain a Silver to hand is a nice vanilla effect that could be put on a better card.
Embargo: Unintentional attack (people might just buy it for the $2), could be replaced with an Event.
Treasure Map: Somewhat strange and not necessarily worth its own pile (has many fans though)
Pirate Ship: Weak and weird use of tokens. Trashes opponents Coppers which was one of the problems with Thief. Fun for beginners though.

Things to do with extra space:
Events?
More Durations
More uses of tokens and mats (or have a token free box). Mats could work well with Events.

Unexplored ideas:
Treasure-Duration
Duration with a chancellor effect (ie it always misses the reshuffle)
Bottom of the deck (in less trivial ways than Pearl Diver)

Alchemy

Cards to fix (not necessarily replace)
Transmute: Opportunity cost is way too high for its strength
Familiar: $3P cost adds way too much luck to games
Scrying Pool: Incredibly time consuming due to an attack it doesn't need
Philosopher's Stone: Far too difficult to get in the games it would be most useful
Possession: Really shouldn't be able to be Throned and can be quite annoying, but it's very unique and can affect games in interesting ways even when it doesn't get bought.
Herbalist: I think it's fine but a lot of other people think it's a dud

I think most of those could be fixed with Adventures style Tokens that could also be used in events (eg a "when gain, +2 buys" token for Transmute, or a "-$1 Cost" for familiar)

Donald X has said he's done with small expansions; perhaps this could be expanded to a big box (while Cornucopia+Guilds could be formalised) with the update pack being its own small box expansion.

Events costing $P is a unique design space that essentially where a $4 Treasure or non terminal could be represented by 1 card.

Prosperity

The set seriously underuses VP tokens and could have Landmarks and Events (expensive ones!) to put them to use. It could also fill the single blank card. They could also interact with Trade Route mat to put it to better use (and that card really shouldn't be Terminal, but I suppose that's what it is now).

Replaceable Cards
Loan: Called the "dud" by Donald X.
Talisman: Somewhat weak. Similar idea done better with Charm.
Royal Seal: Not interesting enough to justify a 10 card Slot especially now that Events and Landmarks exist
Goons: An attack that really isn't necessary (ie people buy the card not for the attack) on an already extremely powerful card that compares far too favourably to other cards. Definitely a candidate for splitting the effects in new cards (eg a new card could be a $6 attack, and another new card could have the below the line effect)

Quarry: Could be replaced by an event costing $P in the revised Alchemy (as well as the aforemetioned cards, possibly) but a good card
Counting House: This card seems to get better with every new set that's released and it's good in the strangest places. Only up here because it's often considered a dud

Hinterlands

Events would suit the "when gain" theme very well

8 Blank Cards which could all be Events.

Possible replacements
Duchess - a "why not" card at best, easily replaceable with a Delve style event involving Duchies
Cache - weak and easily replaceable with an event
Ill Gotten Gains - breaks the 3 pile rule and leads to degenerate games. Easily replaceable with an event.
Develop - Very, very situational and not even a key player in games where it's supposed to be good. Could be an event given how situational it is?
Farmland  - a nice card but somewhat situational especially with the "exactly $2 more". Could be replaced with an event gaining a Duchy although that would remove the Farmland->Province functionarlity.
Oracle - An interesting card (not many unique cheap terminal drawers), but flawed in the same way as Spy with a weak but annoying attack.

Cornucopia/Guilds

These sets are already being sold together and could be merged into a big box.

Guilds has 7 Blanks and events would go very well with the Overpay mechanic. Pilgrimage shows that "differently named" works well with Events too.

Replaceable Cards

Cornucopia:
Harvest - Now that Courtier and Legionary exist, it looks very weak for a $5.
Hunting Party - Annoying IRL and extremely strong, outclassing another $5 (the only other blatant outclassing was Noble Brigand/Thief, and Thief was removed). Hunting Party+X leaves a lot of the kingdom behind. May be better as a $4 Village
Horn of Plenty - A great card, but an event may be more elegant than a Treasure costing $0

Guilds:
Masterpiece: Easily replaceable with an event

Sets that probably don't need to be updated


Dark Ages
Rebuild should be replaced as a super strong card that often makes the rest of the kingdom redundant, but not much else seems like it needs changing so far.

Adventures
Gear-BM may be too monolithic (like Rebuild) but not as sure and it's an interesting card. Caravan Guard's "play when attacked" could be far better served by something that isn't Delayed Peddler/Peddler. There's no good reason for the 6 blanks; if more promo events are made they could be pack ins.

Empires
No complaints

Base Set
I'm surprised Bureaucrat survived - really wordy for the base set and not strong enough to justify it.
Merchant seems really weak and uninteresting, especially next to Poacher, but not willing to call it dud yet.
I don't like how there's still blanks but not sure what to do (Events probably don't belong in the base set)

Intrigue
I really, really don't like Wishing Well (it's entirely about guessing, and Mystic seems to be a fixed version of it) but that's not a very common opinion. It's not quite as bad now that Secret Passage exists.
Patrol should probably have been the other way around (Scout, then +3 Cards) but it's fine.
Same deal as the Base Set with respect to blank cards

23

Variants and Fan Cards / Dominion: New Alchemy (beta)

« on: December 14, 2016, 03:11:30 pm »

The expansion will either come with a new, big box version of alchemy, or be a small expansion of 150 cards that you can buy after Alchemy.

New Mechanics:

Rack: Cards on your rack go into your hand at the start of your turn. There are many ways to get cards on your rack in this expansion. "Rack a card" means "put the top of your deck" (ie like drawing except instead of putting it in your hand, put it on your Rack), but a card may also ask you to rack a specific card (eg "Gain a Silver and rack it").

Dual cost: Cards and events in this expansion may have 2 costs. If either of the costs has P, include potion in the Kingdom.
Both costs are "present". If either of the costs satisfy a condition you must count the card, so if you are required to gain a card with one of the costs (eg upgrade), you must gain it.
If a task cares about the cost of a card (eg gaining a card based on the cost of the card you trashed with Remodel), the player doing the task in question chooses which of the two costs to work with.
You may buy the card by paying either of the listed costs
However you may choose either cost for the card you just bought when referring to any cards that care about the cost of a card you just bought (eg Talisman, Haggler)

New tokens with replacement randomisers:

Like Adventures, New Alchemy has tokens that can be put on cards. Events may refer to these tokens. Additionally, some cards from the old Alchemy expansion have new randomisers that refer to the placement of these cards.

They are
Transmute: "Place every player's 2 Buys token on this card (when you gain a copy of this card, +2 Buys)"
Scrying Pool: "Place every player's block token on this card (when another player plays this attack card, it doesn't affect you)"
Familiar: "Place every player's -$1 cost token on this card" (costs $1 less but not less than 0)
Philosopher's Stone: "Place every player's Rack token on this card" (when you gain this card, rack it)

Warlock
Action/Attack - $3P/$4
+$2
+$P
Each other player puts a potion from their hand on their deck (or reveals a hand with no Potion)
---
When you gain this, each other player gains a Potion.

Plenipotentiary
Action/Attack - $4P/$6
+4 Cards
You may return a Potion to the supply from your hand. If you do, each other player gains a Potion and a Curse.

Diviner
Action - $P/$3
+2 Actions
+$1
Reveal the top card of your deck. If it has $P in its cost, put it in your hand. Otherwise, rack it.

Demystify
Action - $2P/$5
Trash a card from your hand. If it has P in its cost, +1 Action. Gain a card costing up to $2P more than the trashed card.

Element Collection
Victory - $P/$4
Worth 1VP for every X Potions you have in your deck, rounded down (where X is the number of cards in the kingdom with Potion in its cost)

Brewery
Action - $P/$4
+1 Card
+2 Actions
You may discard a Potion; if you do, +1 Card, +2 Actions
---
When you gain this, +1 Buy

Summoner
Action - $5
Rack this
---
While this is on your rack, when you gain a card, rack it

(4 cards to add)

Events

Course
Event - $P
Trash a card you have in play. Gain an Action card costing up to $1 more than it.

Reflection
Event - $P
+1 Buy
Rack a card you have in play

Conjure
Event - $P
+1 Buy
Gain a card costing up to $4

Bronze Worker
Event - $P
+1 Buy
Rack a card for each Copper you have in play

Tactic
Event - $P
+1 Card
Rack your hand

Melody
Event - $P
+1 Buy
Reveal the top 3 cards of your deck. Rack the Actions, put back the Treasures in any order, and discard the rest.

Display
Event - $1P
+1 Buy
Rack a card from your hand. +$1 for each card on your Rack.

Fortify
Event - $P/$2
Once per turn: +1 Buy. You may take back your Block token from a card. If you did, +$4. Otherwise, place your Block token on any supply pile (attacks with the Block token don't affect you when played by others)

Distribute
Event - $P
+2 Buys
Once per turn: Place your -$1 Cost token on any card (this card costs $1 less, but not less than $0)

Rift
Event - $P/$2
+1 Buy
Place your Rack token on an Action supply pile (when you gain a card from that pile, rack it)

Circus
Event - $P/$3
+1 Buy
Place the +2 Buys token on a card costing at least what you paid for this event (when you gain a copy of that card, +2 Buys)

Gale
Event - $P
+1 Buy
Rack 2 cards. Each other player discards their Rack or the same number of cards from their hand.

Mirror
Event - $1P
+1 Buy
Trash a card you have in play. If you did, play a Treasure you have in play again.

Trainee
Event - $1P
+1 Buy
Trash a card from your hand. Rack a card per $ it costs. +$2 if it had P in its cost.

Sneak
Event - $P/$2
Trash a Potion you have in play. If you did, +2 Actions, +2 Buys, Gain a Silver and return to your Action phase.


Event - $P/$5
+1 Buy
Gain a Gold, a Potion and a Copper

Grand Design
Event - $8P
Trash a Potion from play. If you did, at the end of your turn, rack your deck and discard pile.

Cocktail
Event - $PP
+2 Buys
+$P
+$3
Gain a card costing up to $6

(6 Events to add)

Clarfications:

Dual Cost Cards:
You can gain a card with a dual cost with Smugglers even if the player to your left paid more than $6 for it (similar to Bridge, Highway)
If a dual cost card is trashed with Swindler, the player who played the Swindler decides which of the two costs they wish to use for the card's effect (as the card specifies "you choose") but a copy of the card they just trashed is always available as one of the options to replace the trashed card (as long as it's in the supply).
Saboteur and Sage will stop revealing cards if it reveals a dual cost card with a cost higher than $3. With Saboteur the player can gain a card costing up to $2 less than either cost.
If the card is revealed with Knights or Rogue and one of the costs is between $3 and $6, it is one of the cards the player is able to trash (falling under the "both costs are present" rule), and they must trash it if the other revealed card does not have a cost between $3 and $6. Similarly Rogue gains it if it's in the trash and you can't choose to attack instead if it's the only card costing between $3 and $6 in the trash.
Giant and Warrior are asking the player being attacked what the cost of the revealed card is (as it's in the "each other player" portion of the card), so they get to choose what happens.
The player who played Chariot Race chooses the cost of all the revealed cards

Fortify: You can place the Block token on any card, but it only cancels effects for Attacks played by others. You will still get the effects of cards like Council Room and Masquerade, and you can still play attacks.
Brewery/Circus: +buy has no effect if it isn't your turn.

24

Variants and Fan Cards / Dual cost cards

« on: August 28, 2016, 06:58:39 am »

I am in the process of making an expansion that's a sequel to Alchemy .

One of the mechanics is dual cost cards (cards with 2 different costs). Most of them will have one normal cost and one potion cost, and the main goal is so you aren't forced to buy potion to use those cards.

Does the following set of rules work?:

• Both costs are "present". If either of the costs satisfy a condition you must count the card, so if you are required to gain a card with one of the costs (eg upgrade), you must gain it.
• If a task cares about the cost of a card (eg gaining a card based on the cost of the card you trashed with Remodel), the player doing the task in question chooses which of the two costs to work with.
• You may buy the card by paying either of the listed costs
• However you may choose either cost for the card you just bought when referring to any cards that care about the cost of a card you just bought (eg Talisman, Haggler)
• If either of the costs has $P, include Potion in the kingdom.

Specific Interactions (in decreasing order of sureness):

• You can gain a card with a dual cost with Smugglers even if the player to your left paid more than $6 for it (similar to Bridge, Highway)
• If a dual cost card is trashed with Swindler, the player who played the Swindler decides which of the two costs they wish to use for the card's effect (as the card specifies "you choose") but a copy of the card they just trashed is always available as one of the options to replace the trashed card (as long as it's in the supply).
• Saboteur and Sage will stop revealing cards if it reveals a dual cost card with a cost higher than $3. With Saboteur the player can gain a card costing up to $2 less than either cost.
• If the card is revealed with Knights or Rogue and one of the costs is between $3 and $6, it is one of the cards the player is able to trash (falling under the "both costs are present" rule), and they must trash it if the other revealed card does not have a cost between $3 and $6. Similarly Rogue gains it if it's in the trash and you can't choose to attack instead if it's the only card costing between $3 and $6 in the trash.
• Giant and Warrior are asking the player being attacked what the cost of the revealed card is (as it's in the "each other player" portion of the card), so they get to choose what happens
• The player who played Chariot Race chooses the cost of all the revealed cards

Is this all right? Are there any other cards where it's not clear what to do?

2 examples of cards that play with the mechanic:

Arbitrage
Action - $1/$4
+1 Action
Return a card to the supply from your hand. Gain a card costing up to $1 more than it.

Stock
Action - $2/$5
+1 Action
+$2
---
When you buy this, gain a card costing less than the cost you paid to buy this card.
Clarification: You can use the when buy effect of a $5 Stock to gain a $2 Stock

25

Variants and Fan Cards / When you reveal

« on: August 13, 2016, 05:10:56 am »

When a card instructs you to reveal cards, once you have revealed all the cards the card asks you to reveal with that instruction, you activate a "when you reveal" effect.

The cards a "when you reveal" effect would interact with.

Bureaucrat (failed attack and Victory cards), Spy, Thief, Adventurer
Shanty Town, Wishing Well, Scout, Saboteur, Tribute
Ambassador, Cutpurse (failed attack),Pirate Ship
Apothecary, Scrying Pool, Golem
Loan, Mint (treasures only), Rabble, Venture
Fortune Teller, Menagerie, Farming Village, Harvest, Hunting Party
Crossroads, Oracle, Noble Brigand, Inn (Actions only)
Poor House, Vagrant, Sage, Ironmonger, Wandering Minstrel, Knights, Mystic, Pillage, Rebuild, Rogue
Doctor, Advisor, Herald, Taxman (failed attack), Journeyman
Magpie, Giant
City Quarter, Royal Blacksmith, Patrician, Chariot Race, Gladiator, Grand Castle
Black Market (reveals a card you don't own), Envoy


Some ideas

Encomium
Action - $4
Reveal 2 cards from your hand and discard them. For each card revealed, if it's a(n)
Action: +2 Actions
Treasure: +$2
Victory: +2 Cards
---
When you reveal this, gain an Estate

Spyglass
Treasure - $5
Worth $0
When you play this, reveal the top 3 cards of your deck. Put the Treasures in your hand, return the Actions to your deck in any order, then discard the rest,
---
When you reveal this, you may look through your discard pile and put a card from it on your deck.


Repurpose
Action - $5
Trash an Action or Treasure card from your hand. Gain and play an Action card costing up to $3 more than the trashed card
---
When you reveal this, gain a Silver to your hand if you did not also reveal a Silver

Curiosity Shoppe
Action - $4
Reveal your hand. Gain 2 differently named cards costing up to $4 each that aren't copies of cards you revealed.
---
When you reveal this, you may trash a revealed card or a card from your hand

Examine
Reaction - $2
When any player plays an Action costing at least $5 or an Attack, you may reveal this from your hand.
---
When you reveal this, return it to the Supply. If you did, +3 cards

(Clarification: Cards you draw with this when you reveal your hand are not revealed as part of your hand)