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[Aleimon Thimble]

Do you ever deviate from the official Dominion rules? Where and for what reason do you do that?

As for me:

- When there is a Looter, the Ruins deck always contains equal amounts of each Ruin. Just seems way more logical that way.
- In order to minimize confusion, I sometimes leave out the Curse pile if there are no cards referencing Curse and no other good reason to get them (Ambassador, Swindler, Goons+Watchtower, Fairgrounds), especially with newer players.
- I put Durations and other cards that stay in play (Prince) on the Tavern mat, to make it easier to track them.

[Donald X.]

- In order to minimize confusion, I sometimes leave out the Curse pile if there are no cards referencing Curse and no other good reason to get them (Ambassador, Swindler, Goons+Watchtower, Fairgrounds), especially with newer players.

That is not a deviation from the rules.

Edit: oic, you mean, you "leave out" the Curses meaning you don't have them out. I was thinking, "leave them out on the table."

[Mavy2k]

With Tournament you have to discard the province instead of just revealing it. We play mostly 4p games and the players that get to province first are already in a better spot and having to just reveal the province usually means that the last player to get a province has no chance to get back in the game.
I think this originated from a translation error on our version and we stuck to it, because all players liked this alot more.

[Harley_Beckett]

With Tournament you have to discard the province instead of just revealing it. We play mostly 4p games and the players that get to province first are already in a better spot and having to just reveal the province usually means that the last player to get a province has no chance to get back in the game.
I think this originated from a translation error on our version and we stuck to it, because all players liked this alot more.

Sounds to me like you're playing the rules as written.  You're supposed to discard the Province when you play Tournament, but you don't have to discard it if you are revealing it on another player's turn in order to 'block' them.

However there is nothing to stop you re-drawing the Province and using it again later the same turn.

Off-topic, I think a four-player Tournament game sounds like bad times for someone no matter what...

[Awaclus]

Off-topic, I think a four-player Tournament game sounds like bad times for someeveryone no matter what...

FTFY

[Mavy2k]

With Tournament you have to discard the province instead of just revealing it. We play mostly 4p games and the players that get to province first are already in a better spot and having to just reveal the province usually means that the last player to get a province has no chance to get back in the game.
I think this originated from a translation error on our version and we stuck to it, because all players liked this alot more.

Sounds to me like you're playing the rules as written.  You're supposed to discard the Province when you play Tournament, but you don't have to discard it if you are revealing it on another player's turn in order to 'block' them.

However there is nothing to stop you re-drawing the Province and using it again later the same turn.

Off-topic, I think a four-player Tournament game sounds like bad times for someone no matter what...

Sorry, I meant the part about revealing it to the other player that plays Tournament. We discard it instead.

[Accatitippi]

We changed a number of cards, some on the spot ("no attack for Scrying pool, ok?"), some pretty much always (Adventurer's +Action).
The only general change to the rules is that we play full random with Alchemy, but the 3+ Potion cost cards thing is just a recommendation anyway. (and Donald pretty much took it back)

[theJester]

With 3 or 4 player games, when we randomly shuffle randomizer deck to decide which cards we'll play our kingdom with, I usually draw again in case I drew Torturer (which turns 3+P game into a torture) and Spy (which new players tend to use a lot, making game go forever).

[AdrianHealey]

- We draw 5/6 kingdom cards random, and than look for the last 5/4 that have synergies or choose 10 random kingdom cards and than switch out if some look like they'll be obvious duds.
- We don't play with torturer if a pin is reasonable and likely. (So Moat, lighthouse or strong trashing needs to be in the kingdom, if torturer is there.)
- We also usually have 1-3 fan made cards. Sometimes even more.

[Drab Emordnilap]

We play partnership with four players.

Also, Torturer is a fair enough guy; he only pins you if you consent. He's not a super Militia; he's a Witch with an opt-out clause.

[J Reggie]

Usually I play by the rules as written. One time I was playing a 4p game, and two of the players really didn't know what they were doing and both opened with Ferry on Stonemason and proceeded to empty the Duplicate pile by turn 4 or something crazy like that. The other player and I were more serious about the game and thought the kingdom was interesting, so we made a house rule for that game that Duplicate wouldn't count for a 3-pile.

[Jeebus]

When playing with experienced players (or in tournaments), we always choose our two opening buys. The players don't have to stack their decks before starting, we just pick a card costing up to $5, and then pick another card on turn 2, for a total of $7. So after the first player buys a card, the second player is free to react however s/he wishes, etc. This somewhat alleviates first player advantage, and also makes for a less luck-prone, more strategic opening.

Before Hinterlands, Mint was the only special case: If you pick Mint as an opening buy, of course you fish out 5 Coppers and trash them. After Hinterlands, we have some more special cases, but it still works. Like, if someone opens Noble Brigand on turn 1 (rare), some opponents might have to choose their opening hand, then all opponents shuffle the remaining five cards.

[werothegreat]

When playing with experienced players (or in tournaments), we always choose our two opening buys. The players don't have to stack their decks before starting, we just pick a card costing up to $5, and then pick another card on turn 2, for a total of $7. So after the first player buys a card, the second player is free to react however s/he wishes, etc. This somewhat alleviates first player advantage, and also makes for a less luck-prone, more strategic opening.

Before Hinterlands, Mint was the only special case: If you pick Mint as an opening buy, of course you fish out 5 Coppers and trash them. After Hinterlands, we have some more special cases, but it still works. Like, if someone opens Noble Brigand on turn 1 (rare), some opponents might have to choose their opening hand, then all opponents shuffle the remaining five cards.

Well, now there's also Lost City, Baker, Borrow, Alms, Save, Scouting Party, Travelling Fair, Nomad Camp...

[AdrianHealey]

The way we did it in my tournament was that people are allowed to stack their 10 first cards anyway they want.

[Chris is me]

I have starting decks set aside for four players - so technically we are playing with a smaller Copper pile than we should be when we play a two player game. I rationalize this by telling myself I'll fish out the Coppers from starter decks if we ever pile it out. We have yet to do that.

I often roll a D12 instead of shuffling the starter deck. 2 or 5 means your first hand is a $2 or a $5 - otherwise even numbers mean you open $4 and odd means you open $3. This is an accurate simulation of a truly random shuffle.

I'll swipe out problematic cards or reshuffle Kingdoms entirely if they look like they won't lead to a game the particular players involved would enjoy.

If you play Rabble, you have to announce the card as "RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE" South Park style or else the attack portion doesn't count.

Can't think of too many others.

[GendoIkari]

I used to play "take any 2 cards you want adding up to $7" instead of doing a normal shuffle and draw for the first 2 turns. Of course, this rule basically becomes impossible when you add in things like Nomad Camp, Lost City, Baker, etc.

[ThetaSigma12]

If we play with multiple cards requiring a mat (Except Native Village), then we just use one mat for it all. We don't bother getting out the mats at all for VP tokens.

[GendoIkari]

If we play with multiple cards requiring a mat (Except Native Village), then we just use one mat for it all. We don't bother getting out the mats at all for VP tokens.

I'm not sure if that counts as a house rule. The physical location of things "on a mat" doesn't affect rules.

[ThetaSigma12]

If we play with multiple cards requiring a mat (Except Native Village), then we just use one mat for it all. We don't bother getting out the mats at all for VP tokens.

I'm not sure if that counts as a house rule. The physical location of things "on a mat" doesn't affect rules.

True, but Islanding a card to the tavern mat is doing something different from what the card says, so it's counts as a house rule in my book at least.

[LastFootnote]

If we play with multiple cards requiring a mat (Except Native Village), then we just use one mat for it all. We don't bother getting out the mats at all for VP tokens.

I'm not sure if that counts as a house rule. The physical location of things "on a mat" doesn't affect rules.

True, but Islanding a card to the tavern mat is doing something different from what the card says, so it's counts as a house rule in my book at least.

Wait, so Islanded Distant Lands give you 4 VP at the end of the game?

[ThetaSigma12]

If we play with multiple cards requiring a mat (Except Native Village), then we just use one mat for it all. We don't bother getting out the mats at all for VP tokens.

I'm not sure if that counts as a house rule. The physical location of things "on a mat" doesn't affect rules.

True, but Islanding a card to the tavern mat is doing something different from what the card says, so it's counts as a house rule in my book at least.

Wait, so Islanded Distant Lands give you 4 VP at the end of the game?

Technically yes, but on the off chance both of those show up together I'll make sure to grab the Island Mats.

[clb]

I didn't realize that anyone used the mats for anything, ever. We used the Tavern mats once in our first game, since they were new, but other than that, I don't recall using a mat in any of the games - their primary purpose is to keep the incomplete row of cards in my box from falling down.

[Jeebus]

I didn't realize that anyone used the mats for anything, ever. We used the Tavern mats once in our first game, since they were new, but other than that, I don't recall using a mat in any of the games - their primary purpose is to keep the incomplete row of cards in my box from falling down.

With limited table space, I can't imagine playing with Island without the mat. Even with the mat people were mixing up their discard pile and Islanded cards.

[Jeebus]

When playing with experienced players (or in tournaments), we always choose our two opening buys. The players don't have to stack their decks before starting, we just pick a card costing up to $5, and then pick another card on turn 2, for a total of $7. So after the first player buys a card, the second player is free to react however s/he wishes, etc. This somewhat alleviates first player advantage, and also makes for a less luck-prone, more strategic opening.

Before Hinterlands, Mint was the only special case: If you pick Mint as an opening buy, of course you fish out 5 Coppers and trash them. After Hinterlands, we have some more special cases, but it still works. Like, if someone opens Noble Brigand on turn 1 (rare), some opponents might have to choose their opening hand, then all opponents shuffle the remaining five cards.

Well, now there's also Lost City, Baker, Borrow, Alms, Save, Scouting Party, Travelling Fair, Nomad Camp...

Nomad Camp was in Hinterlands, so it was one of the cards we managed. I used to play like this up to and including Dark Ages without a problem. Haven't played serious games IRL with Adventures. It generally makes Nomad Camp weaker, because if you want a $5, you buy a $5 instead of opening Nomad Camp. Baker is no problem, it just gives you more options, now you can buy a $6, and the total is $8.

The others I haven't tried, but Alms is easy. The others are like Nomad Camp and Noble Brigand: people have to pick out cards and shuffle them. It does get more complicated, but not impossible. I still prefer this method to stacking when it comes to these card abilities.

[Kirian]

I always put $500 on the Province pile.  You take it when you roll a 7.