How about this:
-Costs 4
Played as a reaction:
+1 card
+ 1 action
discard this card
Played as an action:
+1 card
+ 2 actions
When testing this, you will run into the same problems I mentioned earlier in this thread.
- You can play the reaction multiple times in the same turn, even infinite times
(you have your whole deck in hand. discard a hidden village, draw nothing. discard another village, draw the first village. repeat)
- If playing with real cards, what if at some point there is a disagreement over how many actions are left, or someone loses count? you'd need to introduce tokens or write the turn down to keep track.
Lost City
- $5 - treasure - reaction
($2)
After playing an action,
you may put this into play face-down
from your hand.
If you do: +1 action, +1 card
This is supposed to represent Machu Picchu, the fabled "Lost City of Incas".
You can either plunder Machu Picchu for its gold, or leave it hidden and reap the village bonus.
It is a silver+ so it has to cost at least $5, which seems like a good price point for it. A Lost City / Smithy Engine sounds like it could be fun.
Playing face down? Don't like that idea, as its unclear whether other players get to see that card, and thus would require a degree of honesty from less scrupulous players (something that Dominion has been noted to trying to avoid). Plus the rules would need a lot of clarifications baout what face down means. Is a face down treasure still a treasure in play? Etc.
I see that what you're trying to say though - either use it as money or as a free +1 card/+1action. I think it needs rephrasing though.
My intention was that the player reveals it, then puts it face down; and that a face down card counts as nothing except as a token to track turn history.
So when someone loses track of the turn, you can reconstruct it thus: " I played
this smity, drawing 3 cards, then I played
this lost city face down, drawing 1 card, leaving me with 7 cards and 1 action, then
this diadem, worth $3..."
I am a bit unsatisified with the face down part too. But anyting else like putting it there sideways seems more confusing. And discarding does not work. Perhaps "setting it aside" might work.
The face-down part does mesh well thematically with the hidden city aspect of Machu Picchu though.
The honesty part is easily taken care of though, by explicitely revealing it first.
That also fits better with the wording on other reactions:
Lost City- $5 - treasure - reaction
(gives $2)
After playing an action,
you may reveal this from your hand
and put it into play face-down.
If you do: +1 action, +1 cardHere is a version without the face down part. I am not really sure I like that better though.
Lost City- $5 - treasure - reaction
(gives $2)
After playing an action,
you may reveal this from your hand
and set it aside (this does not count as 'in play').
If you do: +1 action, +1 card.
At the end of your turn, discard it