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76

Dominion General Discussion / How many times would the average person play Dominion?

« on: May 20, 2013, 09:22:57 am »

Assuming they're just an ordinary board game buying person, who never discovers isotropic or Goko, how many games of Dominion would they play in a year? How about in their lifetime?

In fact, how many playthroughs are board games in general meant to last?

Personally, I don't own a physical copy of Dominion, and my only friend that does lives back in my home town, so I probably play, at most, 10 games with physical cards a year. I'd easily play that many in a single isotropic session.

77

Variants and Fan Cards / Thought experiment: Overhaul

« on: May 16, 2013, 05:21:35 am »

Overhaul:
Action - $5
Trash a card from your hand. Gain a card that shares a type costing up to $3 more than it.

Is this card balanced, keeping in mind, for $5:

• Mine is the Treasure part of this, but the Treasure goes into your hand
• Graverobber is the Action part of this, but it has an additional effect, and the card you gain doesn't have to be an action (and usually isn't)
• Rebuild is the Victory part of this, but it's non-terminal, and the Victory card doesn't even have to be in your hand.

I'm thinking this card, even though it only seems slightly more restrictive than Expand, may be balanced at $4. It can't even trash Curses (unless the Curses run out), it's bad for early game Estates, and Copper->Silver is usually worse than Moneylender's effect (a flat +$3 is usually better than gaining a certain $3 card; if Moneylender had a +buy it would be strictly better).

78

Variants and Fan Cards / Single Card Kingdoms

« on: May 09, 2013, 11:25:07 am »

These cards are Kingdom Cards that take up a slot, but their supply piles entirely consist of 1 card.

If a card has the type "Kingdom", that signals that it can never be gained.

Baroness
Victory - $0*
Worth 1VP for every Estate in your deck
---
This card costs $1 for every Estate left in the Supply

Junk Collector
Kingdom - $0*
This card has any cost you choose. When you would gain this card, instead either trash a card from your hand for each $1 it costs, or gain a card from the trash with that cost.

Fool
Action - $2
+$2
Put this card on top of any supply pile
---
When you gain this, +1 buy
Setup: Put this on top of the Province supply pile. The "Fool" supply pile counts as empty when this card is in the trash.

Recruiter:
Kingdom - $4
When you would gain this, instead gain a card costing up to $5, and set it aside on your Servants mat.
---
During your turn, you may play cards from your Servants mat as if they were cards in your hand. Trash any cards you play this way.

Commune
Action/Duration - $4
+1 card
Now and every turn this card remains in play: +1 Action
---
When this card is in play, it is also in the Supply.
When you gain this, put it on top of your deck.

Enchanter
Kingdom - $5
When you would gain this, instead move the Hex token to any Action card's supply pile.
---
After play a card, if you have no actions remaining, each other player gains a curse for each hex token on that card's supply pile.
Setup: Place the hex token on the Enchanter pile

79

Variants and Fan Cards / Lodgings: A recurring militia junk card

« on: May 02, 2013, 12:08:14 am »

An updated version of the topic I originally posted under Innkeeper:

Lodging
Action - $0*
Discard any number of cards from your hand. +1 action for each card discarded this way
Return this to the Lodging Pile
(This card is not in the supply)

I'm not sure how many Lodgings will be in the pile (open to suggestions), but it probably won't need to be many. The intention with all cards that give them out is that you only have one at a time.

The cards that give out lodgings:

Innkeeper
Action/Attack - $4
+$1
+1 Card
Each other reveals the top card of his deck. If it isn't a Lodging, he gains a Lodging from the Lodging pile, putting it on top of his deck.

The card combines Sea Hag and Militia into one attack. It slows you down, but the Militia doesn't sting as badly early game. The vanilla effect is to make the card more distinct from Militia.

Town Planner
Action/Attack - $5
+2 cards
Each player (including you) may reveal a Lodging from his hand. If he doesn't, he gains a Lodging, putting it in his hand.
You may play a Lodging.

This is a way of balancing an often proposed fan card which is too strong for $4, too weak for $5, by giving it a weak, "Urchin" attack and a little bit more flexibility.

Welcome Wagon
Special - $5
When you would gain this, instead gain a cheaper card, and each other player reveals the bottom card of his deck. If it isn't a Lodging, he gains a Lodging from the Lodging pile. Each player puts any cards gained this way on the bottom of his deck.
(Note: There is only one Welcome Wagon in the supply, which can never be gained, but it is a Kingdom Card)

The solution to the "when gain Militia" problem, and also an interesting alternative buy option. It has to bridge the $4 to $5 gap to be a real decision. The effect for you is essentially "this card will appear on top of your next shuffle", but it will also delay the shuffle a tiny bit, so you might not always go for it (especially if the other player already has a Lodging on the bottom of his deck).

I intend to have several single card kingdom cards in whatever fan expansion this ends up in. The concept I'm going for is a "Dark Ages" sized set in a normal 300 card box, with single card kingdoms making up the numbers, ultimately representing efficiency; it will be Renaissance/Enlightenment themed. Any name suggestions are very welcome.

80

Variants and Fan Cards / Trinkets: Replacements for Starting Copper

« on: April 20, 2013, 11:51:01 am »

I made a topic a while back on this, but I thought I'd make a new topic for the final versions, with a new mechanic

There are 6 Trinkets, and only one copy of each. At the start of games using them, you randomly replace ONE copper with a Trinket.

All of them are "better" than Copper, and the initial advantage you get may play into the kind of strategy you ultimately pursue.

Without further ado, the cards:

Rare Coin
Treasure/Trinket - $4
Worth $1

Toy Bridge (credit to dondon151)
Treasure/Trinket - $0
Worth $0
---
While this is in play, cards cost $1 less, to a minimum cost of $0

Key to the City
Treasure/Trinket - $0
Worth $1
+$1 for each empty supply pile

Bell
Action/Trinket - $0
+2 Actions
+$1

Dagger
Treasure/Reaction/Trinket - $0
Worth $1
---
When another player plays an Attack, you may trash this. If you do, you are unaffected by that Attack.

Trinket Box
Treasure/Victory/Trinket - $0
Worth 1VP for every 2 treasures other than Copper, Silver and Gold in your deck (rounded down)
---
Worth $1

Note that there are many games in which a particular Trinket is useless. I doubt that there will be many boards in which only one is useful however, and none of them are going to win games on their own.

EDIT: Changed the rules on how many you get, and a few other minor changes.

81

Variants and Fan Cards / Innkeeper

« on: March 19, 2013, 06:26:21 am »

Innkeeper
Action/Attack - $4
+$2
Each other player reveals the top card of his deck. If it isn't a Lodging, he gains a Lodging from the Lodging pile, putting it on top of his deck

(The revealed card is put back first)

Lodging
Action - 0*
Discard any number of cards from your hand. +1 action for each card you discarded this way.
Return this to the Lodging pile
This card is not in the supply

A Hag now for a Militia later, but there's actions in it, so it can be a benefit sometimes. Don't wait too long though, as it mostly clogs your deck.

The reveal clause means that you can only ever gain one Lodging, but that Lodging will always slow down your cycling.

EDIT: Lodging was originally "discard 2, +2 actions". Innkeeper went through many variations on the top deck attack, first sitting on it's own, then being a copy of sea hag, before settling on the way it's worded.

82

Variants and Fan Cards / Scout Hall: A self comboing Peddler Concept

« on: March 08, 2013, 10:47:25 pm »

Scout Hall
Action/Victory - $4
+1 Action
+$1
Reveal cards from your deck until you reveal a Victory card.  Put it in your hand and discard the other revealed cards.
---
Worth 1 VP

A Peddler that is guaranteed to either chain or choke. With trashing it can be a very reliable way of generating a lot of $, but it will then start to choke on the green that you buy with it.

Interestingly, if you were to trash all other victory cards from your deck, you get no additional benefit from having more than one Scout Hall in your hand. This is unusual for a self comboing card.

83

Variants and Fan Cards / Ruminate: A remodelling Feast variant

« on: March 03, 2013, 03:54:04 am »

Ruminate
Action - $4
Trash any card you have in play (counting this). Gain a card costing exactly $1 more than it.

You trade combos with Highway and Procession etc. with the ability to Remodel cards you've already played.

I was also thinking of making it a Treasure worth $0 so it can trash coppers, but then we're getting into strictly better territory. Perhaps then:

Medallion
Treasure - $5
Worth $1
Trash any card you have in play (counting this). Gain a card costing exactly $1 more than it.

Compare to counterfeit. For coppers, you lose the $1 and +buy and the advantage with other treasures, but you get action and treasure upgrading and self trashing (for a $6) as options.

84

Variants and Fan Cards / Oppressor: Anti-cycling attack

« on: March 01, 2013, 09:12:18 pm »

Oppressor
Action - $5
+$2
Each player may discard any number of cards. +1 buy for each card you discard this way.
Each other player looks through his discard pile and may reveal 2 cards costing $2 or less, placing them anywhere in his deck. If he doesn't, he gains a Curse.

I was trying to think of an attack that would just slow you down without affecting your current turn or forcing you to gain anything. However there's accountability issues so there's the curse, and swing issues so there's the optional discard (which could turn the attack into a ghost ship variant). The +buys are so the discard isn't arbitrary for you in games without Library/Watchtower/Jack/Tunnel.

85

Variants and Fan Cards / Villager: A recurring card

« on: March 01, 2013, 08:28:46 pm »

Villager
Action - $3
+2 cards
---
While this is in play, when you play another action, you may put this card on top of your deck.

86

Variants and Fan Cards / Another Bridge/Princess Variant

« on: February 24, 2013, 07:54:28 pm »

Troll Bridge
Action: $5
+1 buy
---
While this is in play, when you gain a card, +$2

It's a Princess, except you don't get the bonus for the first card you buy. Has a few other interactions. Is it still overpowered?

87

Puzzles and Challenges / Most VP in 3 Turns With Zaps

« on: February 22, 2013, 05:03:24 am »

With a fully zapped starting deck (Starting with 7 Silvers and up to 3 Duchies), what's the most VP you can get in 3 turns. Assume that you go first and your opponent opens Silver/Silver. Possession and Outpost turns count towards the turn limit.

BENCHMARK: 25 points
With
Turn 1: Open Nomad Camp
Turn 2: Play Nomad Camp, Buy Duchy/Duchy
Turn 3: Play Nomad Camp, Buy Duke/Duke

88

Variants and Fan Cards / Powder Keg: A oneshot trasher with a twist

« on: February 14, 2013, 07:42:09 pm »

Powder Keg
Action/Attack/Looter - $3
Trash this
Each other player discards down to 3 cards in hand and gains a Ruins, putting it in his hand
---
When you trash this, +2 cards, trash 2 cards from your hand.

If you use it with intent then it's a decent attack, but you might just set it off some other way instead. It can cause a chain reaction too.

89

Puzzles and Challenges / Exception to the Rule: Solitaire Sabotage

« on: February 14, 2013, 09:57:35 am »

You are playing a solitaire game. The following 4 cards are in the supply, all 10 available. It's your buy phase, and you have 1 buy.

Thief
Pirate Ship
Saboteur
Sea Hag

What situations would you be wise to buy one of those cards?

The following cards are not available:
Menagerie, Horn of Plenty, Harvest, Fairgrounds

Answer I can think of:
You have 9 Talismans in play, the Talisman pile and one other pile is empty, there are no cheaper kingdom cards. You buy Pirate ship, Sea Hag or Thief to end the Game.

90

Variants and Fan Cards / Philanthropist: Money for everyone, but where does it go?

« on: February 09, 2013, 08:28:52 pm »

Philanthropist
Action/Attack - $2
Choose one:
Each player gains a Copper, putting it on top of his deck; Each player gains a Silver; Each player gains a Gold in hand
Put any cards you gained this way in your hand

Is there a better way to word this?

It's basically either a deck slowing attack that somewhat hurts you, a terminal Silver with a bonus to everyone (like Duchess), or a cheap terminal Gold with a penalty (like Beggar).

91

Variants and Fan Cards / Silver Statue: A possible rules exploit for fan cards

« on: February 09, 2013, 08:07:20 pm »

Silver Statue
Action/Silver - $2
+$2
Trash any card you have in play (counting this)
---
When you trash this, +1 VP

Because the card has the type "Silver", whenever a card refers to Silver, you can gain/use this instead when it's in the supply. Therefore:
*You can choose to gain it with Bureaucrat, Trading Post, Explorer, Trusty Steed, Jack of All Trades, Trader, Squire, Feodum's trashing and Beggar's Reaction. Every single gain is a choice, so you can Trash a Province with a Trader to gain 7 Silvers and 1 Silver Statue.
*When another player buys an Embassy or plays a Governor for Gold, you can choose to gain this instead of the Treasure card
*They get trashed when a Noble Brigand reveals it
*These add to the value of Feodums

It can have some interesting consequences. Trading Post is a more viable deck thinner. Trader becomes a good card for Rushes. Feodum has an option for $2 turns, if slightly more precarious. Bureaucrat and Explorer are slightly more versatile, and Jack of All Trades earns some new trades; gaining VP and deck thinning.

The card itself is somewhere between Embargo and Death cart. It's an "estate" for early game use. It can be good for triggering Squire's, Fortress' and Rats' on trash effects, and it gives Ruined Village a saving grace as the easiest ruins trashed by this card. Be very careful using it with Throne Room/Procession/King's Court (you may have to trash more than you bargained for).

The original card posted was:
Silverman
Action/Silver - $3
+1 action
+$2

92

Variants and Fan Cards / Trinkets - Replacements for Starting Copper

« on: February 09, 2013, 03:23:04 pm »

Similar to Shelters, post ideas here for some replacements for starting copper.

Requirements:
They must produce +$1 somehow
They must not be able to trigger the first reshuffle by themselves
There can only be one copy (although you can design 2 that interact with each other if you want)
You must be able to play all of them in your first 2 turns (so probably no terminal actions, although having exactly one would be acceptable)
They must have the type "trinket", which is not reflected by any colour on the card, so you can have any type combination.

You don't need to post a full set of 7.

93

Game Reports / Pulling the rug out with Talisman

« on: February 08, 2013, 09:11:41 am »

Not optimally played by either player, but I do like how this game turned out, and it's one of the first times I've used Talisman to great effect: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201302/08/game-20130208-060942-862f4b35.html

94

Variants and Fan Cards / Ratios to consider for fan sets

« on: February 05, 2013, 09:20:58 pm »

When you're designing a set, do you have a checklist or quotas that you need to meet? For example, what's the number of cards with +buy that you need in a set? What are some types of cards that you need to make sure are included in every set?

These days for ~25 cards by default I want about 2.5-3 villages (counting thrones or expensive ones for less), 2-3 +buys, 2-4 remodels/vaults (trash or discard for benefit), 4 attacks (down from 5), 2-3 non-attack player interaction (up from 1), 1 victory card, 1 treasure, 6-7 cards with +1 card +1 action (up from 5, counting villages but not thrones), and a bunch of $5's.

There are also some things that are in every set, such as deck thinners, gainers, terminal drawers, terminal money etc.

There are 4 attack types, and most large sets contain at least one of each:
*A junk giver (usually a curser; Hinterlands has Ill-Gotten Gains instead)
*An attack on the hand (usually a Militia variant)
*A trashing attack (eg Thief; Prosperity has Bishop instead)
*A deck attack (eg. Spy variants; Dark Ages is the only expansion with no such card)
There are some combinations of the 2 (eg Ghost Ship is both a hand and deck attack, Swindler is both junk giver and a trashing attack)

There's a spreadsheet somewhere on how costs are distributed (WILL FIND LATER). Basically $5 has the most cards, and there are typically very few $2s and $6s, with an even number of $3s and $4s to round it off

I will add more later. Please post your own observations below.

95

Variants and Fan Cards / Things you would change other than for balance

« on: February 04, 2013, 10:45:07 pm »

This is not a topic about balance or setting things right, but rather things that would have been cool for cards.

I'll start:

Inn
Action $5
+2 Cards
Discard any number of cads. For each card you discarded this way, +1 Action
---
When you gain this, look through your discard pile (including this), reveal any number of Action cards from it, and shuffle them into your deck.

That effect was too strong for $4, so with the on gain it's a balanced $5 card. Also it's nice thematically; the more you "spend" at the Inn, the longer you get to stay, and the more action(s) you get .

Fortress
Action - $4
+1 Card
+2 Action
---
When you  gain or trash this, put it in your hand.

I'd just want it to be a noticeably different card from vanilla village in ALL games, even if that difference only amounts to it being gained in a roundabout way.

Also there's lots of interesting when gain and (especially) when trash effects that will never see the light of day, and plenty of simple cards that could benefit from them. Simplicity is nice, but I did think I'd see more when gain and when trash effects in their respective expansions. Maybe they'll surface some day, but pairing them with a top half that's simple enough to accommodate them will be difficult, and cards like Bazaar, Worker's Village and Oasis stand out to me in this regard.

96

Variants and Fan Cards / Event Deck

« on: January 29, 2013, 07:37:49 pm »

Donald X said that intrigue originally had an Event Deck, which had some things that affected all players. I think it's a good idea.


THE EVENTS:

There's a deck of cards. If a card asks you to "resolve an event", then you reveal the top card of the event deck and resolve the text on it. After you've resolved it, put it on the bottom of the event deck.



Bring Out Your Dead!:
Each player may trash a card

Meeting!:
Each player draws a card

Silver Rush!:
Each player gains a Silver

Excavation!:
Each player may discard any number of cards from his hand. +1 card for each card he discarded this way.

Exhibit!:
Each player may look through his discard pile, and put a card from it on top of his deck.

Forecast!:
Each player looks at the top 5 cards of his deck, and either discards them all or puts them back.



Alms!:
Each player gains a copper, putting it in his hand.

Riots!:
Each player reveals the top 3 cards of his deck, discards the actions and treasures and puts the other cards back in any order

Inquisition!:
Each player may discard 2 cards from his hand. If he doesn't, he gains a Curse, putting it in his hand

Inspection!:
Each player puts a Victory or Curse card on top of his deck (or reveals a hand with no such cards).


The following cards can trigger events:

Town Crier:
Action - $5
+$3
Resolve an event

Scribe:
Action - $4
+2 Cards
Put an Event face down on your Scribe mat
---
In games using this, at the start of your turn, you may reveal and resolve an Event from your Scribe mat. You may look at the events on your mat at any time.

Master of Ceremonies:
Action/Duration - $6
Put your deck into your discard pile
Now and at the start of your next turn: Each player gains a Gold. Put yours in your hand.
---
While this is in play, when a player gains a Province, resolve an Event.


EDIT: Got rid of the coloured backs and rouser, got rid of the Witch and Knight events and added the Navigator and Scavenger events, and Scribe/MoC.

97

Variants and Fan Cards / Grifter: A workshop/vault attack

« on: January 29, 2013, 07:46:56 am »

Grifter
Action/Attack/Looter - $5
+3 cards
Each player (including you) discards any number of cards, and gains an Action card with a cost no more than the number of cards discarded this way.
---
When you gain this, gain a Ruins if you do not have any Treasure in play

A strange combination of Workshop, Vault and Torturer. You could create a massive draw engine easily but without discarding you'll probably gain some unwanted cards along the way. Meanwhile it's an "attack" that can guarantee you a $5 turn in slogs, but you will have to forgo your turn. If your opponent chains it you're going to end up with Ruins when you fail to discard any cards. The when trash is so it can reference Ruins and be a looter.

EDIT: Clarified the sentence about chaining.
EDIT 2: Changed the card to a $5 card, disincentivised self gaining. The original card was: Grifter

Action/Attack/Looter - $6
+4 cards
Each player (including you) discards any number of cards, and gains an Action card with a cost no more than the number of cards discarded this way.
---
When you trash this, gain a ruins in hand

98

Variants and Fan Cards / Laurel Wreath: A trashing treasure for slog decks?

« on: January 24, 2013, 07:47:57 am »

Laurel Wreath
Treasure-Reaction
$4
Discard up to 4 cards. +$1 for each card you discard this way.
---
When you discard a card from your hand other than during clean up, you may reveal this from your hand. If you do, either trash that card, or put it on top of your deck.

Note that the card has to be in your hand for you to reveal it, and when you discard more than one card at once they are discarded simultaneously. This means that you can't trash your hand when you play a Minion.

I think similar ideas have been thrown around, but I think the two contradictory ideas work together to limit the swinginess of either effect. The top half is good in bad decks, but the bottom half helps improve your deck if you have an enabling card (many of which exist). It can combo with sifters to really trash a lot of cards, but then you'll end up with 2 mostly dead cards (this and the sifter). The discard has to be from hand or else things like Golem can be used to trash or rearrange your whole deck.

EDIT: Changed it so it isn't uber powerful to get many copies in big drawing engines. It also self synergises now, which is cool.

99

Variants and Fan Cards / Partition: Cheaper cards all around

« on: January 17, 2013, 10:32:29 pm »

Partition
Action-Reaction $2
Trash a card from your hand. Gain 3 cheaper cards with different names.
---
When you would gain a card, you may reveal this from your hand. If you do, instead, gain a cheaper card, putting it on top of your deck.

Note: You can reveal this when you gain a card costing $0 to gain nothing instead. Also you can trash a gold to gain 3 different Knights.

A reaction that can stop junkers and that breaks the rules of some cards like Haggler and treasure gainers. The top decking is to make the reaction potentially useful in all setups. The top part can be powerful in some setups (eg Trash an Ill Gotten Gains to gain 3 powerful $4 cards), but will usually be strategically complex.

EDIT: Added in "differently named".

100

Variants and Fan Cards / Variant: Play on to 500

« on: January 12, 2013, 10:05:47 pm »

Instead of starting with a fresh deck at the beginning of the next game, you keep the same deck you built in the last game, but use a new set of 10 kingdom cards to build it with.

But there's a twist! At the beginning of each game you flip a coin for each base card (Copper, Silver, Gold, Estate, Duchy, Province, plus Platinum, Colony and Potion if they're needed). If heads, use the original base cards including the Dominion Base Set (BS) in the supply. If tails, use the full art Base Cards from the Dominion: Base Cards set (BC). Whichever base cards are in the supply are the only ones valid for this game (ie they work as they're supposed to).

The other ones are all dead cards of the same type and cost with a "hovel" effect. They do nothing, but if you gain a card with the same name as it, you can trash any number of copies of it from your hand (So if you buy a BS estate from the supply, and your hand has 3 BC estates in them, you can trash all 3.) Kingdom cards from the previous game are usable even if they aren't in the supply. Furthermore, if you gain a kingdom card with the same cost as one in your hand, you can trash it.

However many victory points you have at the end of the game is your score. Furthermore you get 10 points for every player that you beat in a game (So in a 4 player game, the winner gets 30 bonus points, runner up 20 etc.). The first player to 500 points wins.

Some more rules:

*When a card refers to a base card, it must be the one in the supply for that game. Barons can't discard BS estates for money if BC estates are in the supply.
*All tokens, chips and mats are cleared at the end of a game. Set aside cards and in play durations are discarded.
*If both the BS and BC supply piles are empty for a given card at the end of a game, each player returns all cards of that name to the supply.
*The Province and Colony supply piles always switch from game to game, and the ones in the supply must be replenished to full size at the start of the game.
*All trashed cards are returned to their respective supply piles at the end of each game.
*If a kingdom supply pile is chosen and the pile has 5 or more cards left in it (ie not in players decks), it is used as is. If it has fewer than that, it is vetoed for another card.