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This is a long overdue 'thank you, glad you like it, welcome to the forums!' Quite a touching first post, and I'm pleased someone likes Thane as much as I do. Hope you're enjoying the weekly contest!
Now to the other main feature I plan for this set:
TasksIn the weekly contest, I made these be a basic Supply pile. They all cost $2 and no buy, and you'd choose one from the deck you could fulfill, and you were only allowed one Task at once. This deck was a random draft of 5 Tasks each game, 2 copies of each.
It wasn't quite right - they could become a way to just convert $2 into a different resource in an engine when fulfilled every turn. And with the possibility of instant fulfill on some Tasks, there wasn't anything to work towards - you'd just take these when convenient; so the design space for good ones was small.
So with changes, they've turned out similar to Asper's Feats and even more like Udzu's Adventures. You have my word there was no inspiration drawn from either of these. Still, this might prove boring reading.
The new Tasks, quests at the start of the game you analyse how you can completeThey're landscape cards that you keep in a deck by themselves, shuffle, then
draw 3 out (seems a sensible number to comprehend) at random for the game. This group will count as 1 of the 2 landscapes recommended for games. Each player also gets 3 tokens of some kind (let's call them Accomplish tokens) in their colour. Each Task has an Objective and a Reward. During the game, in a similar manner to using a Reaction effect, a player may interrupt game flow and declare they have completed the Objective on one of the Tasks, prove it to the other players if necessary, then put one of their Accomplish tokens on the Task card and get the Reward straight away. A Task can only be accomplished once. A player does not have to immediately declare a Task is accomplished the first time they can do so; there are cases for waiting until a later time, and accountability issues are avoided.
So, how these affect the game: whilst the Kin cards call for analysis at the start to determine the best combos, the Tasks can have a bearing on the route players take their decks through during the game, to have them think ahead.
Like a quest board you might find in an RPG. I would absolutely call them Quests if not for the Event.
The first drafts I have so far:
Appease - Task
Objective: have 2 Duchies in your hand, revealed.
Reward: +4VP
Bring 2 Duchies together in peace. This may affect when you would normally get Duchies, as effectively bringing them up to 5VP each can be worth it. This one appears to be sound; you can always do it, and it makes Duchies more relevant.
Build - Task
Objective: gain 3 cards on your turn.
Reward: +4VP
This one isn't always doable, and that might be something to rectify. Either that or 3 Tasks become 2, or you replace it, or you don't actually do full random games with these. Trouble is the design space is narrow if every Task needs to always be doable, and this one can be done in many different ways so is very replayable.
Demolish - Task
Objective: trash 3 cards on your turn.
Reward: +3VP
Exactly the same story as Build.
Explore - Task
Objective: have 8 differently named cards in play.
Reward: +5VP
The Horn of Plenty experience. This needs more work to do anything, though, which may not be doable. Investigate, at the bottom, might be enough on the variety theme.
Gather - Task
Objective: produce $15 or more.
Reward: +1 Buy, +3VP
It's always possible, quite fun to achieve, but if double Province is possible it's probably best to go down that route anyway.
Impress - Task
Objective: complete 2 other Tasks on the same turn.
Reward: +4VP
Extra points if you can complete the 2 other Tasks together. A simple extra twist that's welcome...if it's actually doable.
Investigate - Task
Objective: have a hand of 5 or more cards with no copies in it, revealed.
Reward: +3VP
Get a big enough hand of all different cards. Always possible, and it seems better than Explore in every way.
I fully expect the Rewards to be imbalanced, and overall for this to currently be another case of poor execution. Some possible adjustments I thought of was to attach the sometimes doable ones to relevant cards like with Heirlooms, to make them doable; but then that makes them a bit less replayable. Possibly I could make a Task that needs a specific kingdom pile, and that Task be shuffled in or added to the draft of 3 when that pile is selected.
The OP has been updated with them. Other changes have sneaked in as well:
Engraver has had its buy taken off, just as segura said.
Rider just gets $1 per card discarded, not per Rider in play as well. It could get crazy money if the pile wasn't contested, too much pressure.
Rivals is rather different:
Rivals - Action Attack Kin, $3* cost.
+2 Cards
Each other player may reveal a Kin other than Rivals from their hand. Those who don't trash the top card of their deck and gain a card with the same cost as it that you choose.
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In games using this, Kins cost $1 more.
The former version could hit despite the best attempts by the opponents. This Attack is a bit less wild and helps assure you get them to have bad Kins. The price increase adds to this as well as boost tfb tricks (this costs $4); but how easy is it to keep remembering it?
If this is sound, I can try to make this set free from Durations.