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[Gazbag]

Mount cards

When you gain a Mount card, you can choose to either gain it as normal or mount it. Mounted cards are put into play instead of your discard pile and stay out in front of you, they give you some kind of effect. You can only have 1 mount at a time (that's one mount, not one of each different mount). When certain things happen you are forced to dismount your mount, when this happens it is discarded from play and becomes a regular card in your deck. You can only mount cards when you gain them, so once you've dismounted you'll have to gain a new one if you want to mount again. A few examples:

[D782802859]

Mount cards

This is overpriced, a card like this you want early, and a 6 price tag makes it hard to get before the third shuffle, which is when you really need it.

[X-tra]

Mount cards

When you gain a Mount card, you can choose to either gain it as normal or mount it. Mounted cards are put into play instead of your discard pile and stay out in front of you, they give you some kind of effect. You can only have 1 mount at a time (that's one mount, not one of each different mount). When certain things happen you are forced to dismount your mount, when this happens it is discarded from play and becomes a regular card in your deck. You can only mount cards when you gain them, so once you've dismounted you'll have to gain a new one if you want to mount again. A few examples:

I like this idea a lot. Do you believe that Mount cards should have an alternate colouring, just like Reserve cards are, to distinguish them further from normal Action cards in the Supply? Or to not accidentally discard them in your Clean-up phase if you didn't dismount that turn. It may just be that I'm childish, but I sure love me colours. 

[Gazbag]

Mount cards

This is overpriced, a card like this you want early, and a 6 price tag makes it hard to get before the third shuffle, which is when you really need it.

This one wasn't the most serious/though out one. But I'm pretty sure it'd be completely broken if it was any cheaper (imagine opening with it), it's a stronger effect than Cathedral and that's completely broken at its price point!

Mount cards

When you gain a Mount card, you can choose to either gain it as normal or mount it. Mounted cards are put into play instead of your discard pile and stay out in front of you, they give you some kind of effect. You can only have 1 mount at a time (that's one mount, not one of each different mount). When certain things happen you are forced to dismount your mount, when this happens it is discarded from play and becomes a regular card in your deck. You can only mount cards when you gain them, so once you've dismounted you'll have to gain a new one if you want to mount again. A few examples:

I like this idea a lot. Do you believe that Mount cards should have an alternate colouring, just like Reserve cards are, to distinguish them further from normal Action cards in the Supply? Or to not accidentally discard them in your Clean-up phase if you didn't dismount that turn. It may just be that I'm childish, but I sure love me colours. 

Yes I meant to say they should probably have their own colour, but I'm colourblind and not so great at that sort of thing so I just left them regular colour.

[X-tra]

Yes I meant to say they should probably have their own colour, but I'm colourblind and not so great at that sort of thing so I just left them regular colour.

No worries m8. At this point, I was just nitpicking. The concept itself is very novel and, to reiterate, I really like it!

[Fragasnap]

Threat cards:
At the end of your Clean-Up, you may reveal 1 Threat from your hand to "Threaten" other players during their turns.  When you are threatened, you trigger an effect per the instructions of the Threat card during your turn.  The Threat card remains revealed in the player's hand.  If the card is removed from your hand, its Threat effect no longer applies.

Cloister
Types: Action, Threat
Cost: $2
+2 Actions. You may trash a card from your hand. If you do, set this aside and at the start of Clean-Up put it on top of your deck.When the threatened player trashes a card costing at most $2 this turn, they put it into their discard pile.

Phylactery
Types: Treasure, Threat
Cost: $3
$1, +1 Buy. When you play this, you may put a card from your discard pile on top of your deck.When the threatened player gains a second card this turn, they gain a Copper and a Curse.

Dam
Types: Action, Threat
Cost: $4
+$3. Discard a card. If you do, you may put this on top of your deckWhen the threatened player plays a third Treasure this turn, they discard their hand.

Cloister is a splitter with a trashing ability that lets you keep it every turn.  Its threat disables trashing cheap cards.
Phylactery is a Copper with a Buy that lets you top-deck a thing.  You could top-deck a Threat with it if you wanted.  Its threat discourages players from gaining multiple cards in a turn.
Dam is a sifting terminal payload that can jump on top of your deck.  Its threat requires players to use big Treasures as only 3 can be played.

[X-tra]

I got very inspired and excited seeing all these cool ideas presented for this challenge.
So I generated a game with a couple of guys’ ideas and obtained this (click on the picture to enlarge it):



I wonder how a game like this would play. What I would even open with. So much awesome concepts together, I wouldn’t be too far off analysis paralysis on my turn.
With 5/2, maybe it'd open Torturer/Communion? With 4/3, maybe Ring/Pikemen... I dunno!

I added pictures on some of the cards presented here, just to have a fully coloured set. Don’t think too much about it, it’s just yet another one of my small, stupid caprices. I had to add 2 cards of my own mechanic, because such is the recommended way to go about it if they are to be used (please do not think of me as an egocentric).
Oh, by the way, the trash “mat” is that grey circle in the middle. It’s a bin seen from above. I used the workshop downloaded Tabletop Simulator mod, so eh. That’s how it be.

(I appologise if these sort of dicussions are not allowed on this thread. Do say so and I'll quiet down if this is the case.)

[4est]

I'm slightly revising my entry with some updates to the Armor mechanic and example cards (also see updated OP).  Armor cards still work the same way as before--you can play them normally, or equip them to another card (by playing them sideways underneath the card your equipping).  Rather than just effectively being "you may play an Action for X bonus," the equipping abilities now in most cases actually modify or add additional effects to all copies of that card for the remainder of the turn. 

Below are the revised example cards, all except Cuirass received updates or replacements.

Greaves: still cantrip on play, but now acts as a one-turn Lost Arts on the card it equips
Gauntlets: terminal silver on play, with a draw-to-X effect equipping ability
Helm: still a Gold-gainer on play; equipping lets you trash copies of the treasure after you play it to gain cheaper cards (e.g. play your Golds for +$3 then trash them to gain $5s)
Halberd: Smithy with mild discard attack, equip another Attack to add a Copper junking effect
Cuirass: same as before, Market Square on play with Ferry equipping effect

[Saul Goodman]

Threat cards:
At the end of your Clean-Up, you may reveal 1 Threat from your hand to "Threaten" other players during their turns.  When you are threatened, you trigger an effect per the instructions of the Threat card during your turn.  The Threat card remains revealed in the player's hand.  If the card is removed from your hand, its Threat effect no longer applies.

Cloister
Types: Action, Threat
Cost: $2
+2 Actions. You may trash a card from your hand. If you do, set this aside and at the start of Clean-Up put it on top of your deck.When the threatened player trashes a card costing at most $2 this turn, they put it into their discard pile.

Phylactery
Types: Treasure, Threat
Cost: $3
$1, +1 Buy. When you play this, you may put a card from your discard pile on top of your deck.When the threatened player gains a second card this turn, they gain a Copper and a Curse.

Dam
Types: Action, Threat
Cost: $4
+$3. Discard a card. If you do, you may put this on top of your deckWhen the threatened player plays a third Treasure this turn, they discard their hand.

Cloister is a splitter with a trashing ability that lets you keep it every turn.  Its threat disables trashing cheap cards.
Phylactery is a Copper with a Buy that lets you top-deck a thing.  You could top-deck a Threat with it if you wanted.  Its threat discourages players from gaining multiple cards in a turn.
Dam is a sifting terminal payload that can jump on top of your deck.  Its threat requires players to use big Treasures as only 3 can be played.

Holy crap.  This is genius, too!

[hhelibebcnofnena]

Threat cards:
At the end of your Clean-Up, you may reveal 1 Threat from your hand to "Threaten" other players during their turns.  When you are threatened, you trigger an effect per the instructions of the Threat card during your turn.  The Threat card remains revealed in the player's hand.  If the card is removed from your hand, its Threat effect no longer applies.

Cloister
Types: Action, Threat
Cost: $2
+2 Actions. You may trash a card from your hand. If you do, set this aside and at the start of Clean-Up put it on top of your deck.When the threatened player trashes a card costing at most $2 this turn, they put it into their discard pile.

Phylactery
Types: Treasure, Threat
Cost: $3
$1, +1 Buy. When you play this, you may put a card from your discard pile on top of your deck.When the threatened player gains a second card this turn, they gain a Copper and a Curse.

Dam
Types: Action, Threat
Cost: $4
+$3. Discard a card. If you do, you may put this on top of your deckWhen the threatened player plays a third Treasure this turn, they discard their hand.

Cloister is a splitter with a trashing ability that lets you keep it every turn.  Its threat disables trashing cheap cards.
Phylactery is a Copper with a Buy that lets you top-deck a thing.  You could top-deck a Threat with it if you wanted.  Its threat discourages players from gaining multiple cards in a turn.
Dam is a sifting terminal payload that can jump on top of your deck.  Its threat requires players to use big Treasures as only 3 can be played.

Do threats threaten everyone? I assume they do.

[[TP] Inferno]

Mine is simpleish but is kinda similar to other ideas seen here.
Introducing Equipment cards. These are cards that have an on play effect and can cycle round your deck as usual. However, once you play them, you have the option to Carry them, putting them in front of you in a fashion similar to Duration cards. While carried, these cards have a small lingering effect, like Hireling or Champion, that happens at regular intervals. At any time during your turn, you can stop carrying them and put them in your discard pile to be shuffled back into your deck. Basically, they are like Durations that can be kept out for as long as you want until you want them back. Of course, you can keep them out permanently...

Villager's Backpack
$4
Action
+1 Card
+2 Actions
You may Carry this.
-------
While carried: At the start of each of your turns, +1 Action.

Blacksmith's Hammer
$7
Action
+2 Cards
You may Carry this.
-------
While carried: At the start of each of your turns, +1 Card.

Woodcutter's Axe
$5
Action
+1 Buy
+$2
You may Carry this.
-------
While carried: At the start of each of your turns, +1 Buy, +$1

The King's Letter
$5
Treasure
$2
You may Carry this.
-------
While carried: When you gain a card, you may put it onto your deck.

Drunkard's Bottle
$4
Action
+1 Action
+$3
Carry this.
-------
While carried: You may not discard this until you buy a Copper in one of your turns.

Hopefully this makes sense.

This mechanic seems like it's being misused. None of the cards have any reason for you to not just permanently carry them, other than Villager's Backpack, and that's because it has a penalty. There should be at least some Equipment cards with a reason to carry and a reason to not carry. Also, is Equipment a card type? It isn't on the cards and probably should be.

Yeah, I didn't think too hard about this one. Back to the drawing board, I guess.

[LibraryAdventurer]

Threat cards:
At the end of your Clean-Up, you may reveal 1 Threat from your hand to "Threaten" other players during their turns.  When you are threatened, you trigger an effect per the instructions of the Threat card during your turn.  The Threat card remains revealed in the player's hand.  If the card is removed from your hand, its Threat effect no longer applies.

Cloister
Types: Action, Threat
Cost: $2
+2 Actions. You may trash a card from your hand. If you do, set this aside and at the start of Clean-Up put it on top of your deck.When the threatened player trashes a card costing at most $2 this turn, they put it into their discard pile.

Phylactery
Types: Treasure, Threat
Cost: $3
$1, +1 Buy. When you play this, you may put a card from your discard pile on top of your deck.When the threatened player gains a second card this turn, they gain a Copper and a Curse.

Dam
Types: Action, Threat
Cost: $4
+$3. Discard a card. If you do, you may put this on top of your deckWhen the threatened player plays a third Treasure this turn, they discard their hand.

Cloister is a splitter with a trashing ability that lets you keep it every turn.  Its threat disables trashing cheap cards.
Phylactery is a Copper with a Buy that lets you top-deck a thing.  You could top-deck a Threat with it if you wanted.  Its threat discourages players from gaining multiple cards in a turn.
Dam is a sifting terminal payload that can jump on top of your deck.  Its threat requires players to use big Treasures as only 3 can be played.

I don't like attacks that can't be blocked. Maybe say in the rules for this mechanic that revealing a threat counts as playing an attack?
Another thing: This is something that happens after the clean up phase. When we play IRL, we almost always start our turn when the previous person ends their buy phase (or night phase if applicable). The previous player finishes their clean-up phase while I take my turn. I assume a lot of people do this when playing IRL. In this case, the Threat mechanic would slow the game down a lot by making the other players wait while the current player shuffles and draws a new hand just so they can see if they have a Threat card in their hand. yuk.

[Fragasnap]

Threat cards:
At the end of your Clean-Up, you may reveal 1 Threat from your hand to "Threaten" other players during their turns.  When you are threatened, you trigger an effect per the instructions of the Threat card during your turn.  The Threat card remains revealed in the player's hand.  If the card is removed from your hand, its Threat effect no longer applies.

Do threats threaten everyone? I assume they do.

You decide at the end of your Clean-Up if you want to threaten each other player on their turn with 1 Threat card from your hand (even if you have multiple Threat cards in your hand).  All other players are "threatened," but only on their turn.  The only way a Threat stops between turns is if it leaves your hand via some other effect.

This is similar to Duration Attacks, but limited to one-per-player and it doesn't come with all the inherent shuffle-timing implications and design limitations of being a Duration card.

Cloister
Types: Action, Threat
Cost: $2
+2 Actions. You may trash a card from your hand. If you do, set this aside and at the start of Clean-Up put it on top of your deck.When the threatened player trashes a card costing at most $2 this turn, they put it into their discard pile.

Phylactery
Types: Treasure, Threat
Cost: $3
$1, +1 Buy. When you play this, you may put a card from your discard pile on top of your deck.When the threatened player gains a second card this turn, they gain a Copper and a Curse.

Dam
Types: Action, Threat
Cost: $4
+$3. Discard a card. If you do, you may put this on top of your deckWhen the threatened player plays a third Treasure this turn, they discard their hand.

I don't like attacks that can't be blocked. Maybe say in the rules for this mechanic that revealing a threat counts as playing an attack?

This is a kind of silly standard in the first place considering there are 4 cards that block Attacks directly (and the things that do so indirectly interact with Threat cards the same way).  98% of Kingdoms are Kingdoms in which you can't block Attacks.  I'll address the point anyway.  Threats are things you can avoid regardless by not leaning on trashing (Cloister), not gaining many cards at once (Phylactery), and not playing many Treasures (Dam).  This is the design principle of Threat cards: Don't do this thing, or else (compared to cards like Swamp Hag, in which "don't buy any cards" is not often a reasonable solution, Events and Projects notwithstanding).

Another thing: This is something that happens after the clean up phase. When we play IRL, we almost always start our turn when the previous person ends their buy phase (or night phase if applicable). The previous player finishes their clean-up phase while I take my turn. I assume a lot of people do this when playing IRL. In this case, the Threat mechanic would slow the game down a lot by making the other players wait while the current player shuffles and draws a new hand just so they can see if they have a Threat card in their hand. yuk.

Yes, which is why the Threat cards here care about things that don't occur at the start of your turn. Dam and Phylactery largely apply in the Buy phase, while Cloister cares about trashing cheap cards─a thing you typically do at the end of your Action phase.  You could design a Threat card that slows the game down in this way (in much the same way that a Reaction could be designed in this fashion), but these specific cards do not.

Morning Cards
Morning cards are kingdom cards. They can be thought of as temporary projects or artifacts that affect everyone simultaneously.
Morning cards are a Kingdom card; they're playable in your Morning Phase, which happens after the start of your turn but before your Action Phase.
You may play as many Morning cards as you like.
There can only be one Morning card in play at a time.
When a new Morning card is played, any in-play Morning cards are discarded and stop doing things. Morning cards are assumed to have "While this is in play:" at the top of their text.

In order to play a Morning card, I have to draw it at the start of my turn, because if I draw it mid-turn then I can't play it because I'm no longer in my morning phase.  That's pretty bad, especially considering that I would never buy more than one Morning card because there can only be 1 in play (across all players, if I'm understanding correctly).

Each pile of Morning cards has four distinct cards in it; in a 2 player game, use two of each (8 total to the pile); otherwise use three of each (12 total to the pile, like Victory cards). The piles are mixed/shuffled, and all but the top card are kept face-down (like Knights).
...

Dawn Chorus • $3 • Morning - Sunrise
Now and at the start of each players turn, they get +1 Card
Now and at the start of your turn, +1 Action

Dew • $3 • Morning - Sunrise
Now and at the start of each players turn, +$1
Now and at the start of your turn, +1 Buy

Rooster • $3 • Morning - Sunrise
Now and at the start of each players turn, they may discard a card for +1 Card.
Now and at the start of your turn, if the card you discard for this costs $5 or more, +$1

Sunrise • $3 • Morning - Sunrise
Now and at the start of each players turn, +1 Action
Now and at the start of your turn, +1 Buy

Why are you putting four different cards in each Morning pile? There being 2 of each seems like it just adds a major luck-based element.  If Sunrise/Dew is the only way to get +Buys, I have a 4/7 chance that we flip Dawn Chorus/Rooster and then I don't get to have +Buys or else have to eat multiple unplayable Morning cards (because only 1 can be played!) trying to find that source of +Buy.

So how do you compare your number of against other players’? First, this comparison happens IMMEDIATELY when you play a Strength card. Do whatever the card says and then, when you reach the “If most ” part, you do the comparison. Each Strength card in play from any player (most of the time, that’ll only be you) have their added to their total. Then, each player, starting from you and going clockwise, may or may not reveal additional Strength cards from their hand. This number is not limited, players may reveal any number of Strength cards from their hand. If a player does not wish to reveal Strength cards from their hand (for instance, knowing that they cannot beat the active player’s total), then they do not have to do it. All additionally revealed Strength cards have their added to their player's total. The moment another player beats your total, then you fail the “If most ” clause of your card and must perform the “Otherwise” part, if there is any. Your total must be compared again each time you play a Strength card, even in the same turn.

These Strength cards face a similar problem LibraryAdventurer was complaining about above that the design can easily result in cards that force players to wait until other players have finished their Clean-Up to be able to start your turn.  You can get around that by designing only payload cards, but you've already submit 4 cantrips (or pseudo-cantrips) in Pikemen, Strategic Village, Palisade, and Plunderer.

Suddenly, playing cards is fiddlier. There is a thought-process invoked in how you’re going to use that Strength, how much you can have of it, how to best optimise it in your hand, etc. This is especially true for cards of varying strength.

If all the Strength cards I have in play count towards my Strength total, how will playing my Strength cards change my thought process at all?  I still play cards to maximize my hand-size and then am further rewarded for doing this with overbearing Strength cards that my 8-card hand and 3 cards in play will bully out anyone from possibly competing with their 5 random cards.  Is Strength meant to be a resource that is spent, or is Strength a flat value accrued by the Strength cards I have in play and in my hand?  I mean, you write in Strategic Village's blurb:

The other side of the medal is... the more Strategic Villages you play on the same turn, the weaker in terms of they all become.

which patently disagrees with this

Each Strength card in play from any player (most of the time, that’ll only be you) have their added to their total...

Greaves: still cantrip on play, but now acts as a one-turn Lost Arts on the card it equips
Gauntlets: terminal silver on play, with a draw-to-X effect equipping ability
Helm: still a Gold-gainer on play; equipping lets you trash copies of the treasure after you play it to gain cheaper cards (e.g. play your Golds for +$3 then trash them to gain $5s)
Halberd: Smithy with mild discard attack, equip another Attack to add a Copper junking effect
Cuirass: same as before, Market Square on play with Ferry equipping effect

Do you "play" the copy of the card after the Armor is equipped, thereby triggering the Armor's effect? Will Greaves make all my Smithies non-terminal immediately, or do I need to equip a Greaves to a Smithy and then play a second Smithy to get +1 Action?  Either way, Greaves is a slightly worse Lost Arts, but you can stack multiple on your most common card to get multiple +Actions per play.  I'd cost it at $4 at least if not go back to the drawing board.
The "Armor" concepts is thematically weird now, because it is upgrading all copies of a card even though all my Smithies are sharing the same leggings.

Yeah, I didn't think too hard about this one. Back to the drawing board, I guess.

The Carry concept is totally workable, but your cards need to have more niche Carry effects or generally reason to not carry them every turn.

[spineflu]

Morning Cards
Morning cards are kingdom cards. They can be thought of as temporary projects or artifacts that affect everyone simultaneously.
Morning cards are a Kingdom card; they're playable in your Morning Phase, which happens after the start of your turn but before your Action Phase.
You may play as many Morning cards as you like.
There can only be one Morning card in play at a time.
When a new Morning card is played, any in-play Morning cards are discarded and stop doing things. Morning cards are assumed to have "While this is in play:" at the top of their text.

In order to play a Morning card, I have to draw it at the start of my turn, because if I draw it mid-turn then I can't play it because I'm no longer in my morning phase.  That's pretty bad, especially considering that I would never buy more than one Morning card because there can only be 1 in play (across all players, if I'm understanding correctly).

the drawing part and across-all-players-one-in-play is correct and the former of those is probably something I should look at changing - maybe a "at the start of clean up, you may set aside a morning card from your hand and add it to your hand after drawing a new hand" type idea - as far as "why would i ever buy more than one" - you still get the benefits from playing one regardless of whether it ends up staying in play or not.

Each pile of Morning cards has four distinct cards in it; in a 2 player game, use two of each (8 total to the pile); otherwise use three of each (12 total to the pile, like Victory cards). The piles are mixed/shuffled, and all but the top card are kept face-down (like Knights).
...

Dawn Chorus • $3 • Morning - Sunrise
Now and at the start of each players turn, they get +1 Card
Now and at the start of your turn, +1 Action

Dew • $3 • Morning - Sunrise
Now and at the start of each players turn, +$1
Now and at the start of your turn, +1 Buy

Rooster • $3 • Morning - Sunrise
Now and at the start of each players turn, they may discard a card for +1 Card.
Now and at the start of your turn, if the card you discard for this costs $5 or more, +$1

Sunrise • $3 • Morning - Sunrise
Now and at the start of each players turn, +1 Action
Now and at the start of your turn, +1 Buy

Why are you putting four different cards in each Morning pile? There being 2 of each seems like it just adds a major luck-based element.  If Sunrise/Dew is the only way to get +Buys, I have a 4/7 chance that we flip Dawn Chorus/Rooster and then I don't get to have +Buys or else have to eat multiple unplayable Morning cards (because only 1 can be played!) trying to find that source of +Buy.

I like the variety. I think it makes for a more interesting game. I think having two per pile could make it so the other players feel like their mini-benefit from the morning card is fine, that the morning-card-player isn't getting a great bonus, and it's just left in play the whole game, which is not interesting - by providing a plethora of "my bonus/your bonus" options, players will be more incentivized to contest them. They can be trashed and remodeled and what have you same as any other card so the notion of "eating unplayable morning cards" is nonsense.


edit: I've added a way to save a Morning card if one is drawn dead during your action phase.

[X-tra]

So how do you compare your number of against other players’? First, this comparison happens IMMEDIATELY when you play a Strength card. Do whatever the card says and then, when you reach the “If most ” part, you do the comparison. Each Strength card in play from any player (most of the time, that’ll only be you) have their added to their total. Then, each player, starting from you and going clockwise, may or may not reveal additional Strength cards from their hand. This number is not limited, players may reveal any number of Strength cards from their hand. If a player does not wish to reveal Strength cards from their hand (for instance, knowing that they cannot beat the active player’s total), then they do not have to do it. All additionally revealed Strength cards have their added to their player's total. The moment another player beats your total, then you fail the “If most ” clause of your card and must perform the “Otherwise” part, if there is any. Your total must be compared again each time you play a Strength card, even in the same turn.

These Strength cards face a similar problem LibraryAdventurer was complaining about above that the design can easily result in cards that force players to wait until other players have finished their Clean-Up to be able to start your turn.  You can get around that by designing only payload cards, but you've already submit 4 cantrips (or pseudo-cantrips) in Pikemen, Strategic Village, Palisade, and Plunderer.

That is true. At first, I was in agreement with LibraryAdventurer, but then, I withdrew said agreement. Cards like Militia, Saboteur, Mountebank, Bureaucrat... or pretty much almost all Attack cards require players before you to be done with their Clean-up. And this is just it: Cards with direct interaction with other players, such as these aforementioned Attack cards, require your opponents to have their next hand ready. Therefore, adding a new mechanic that directly involves player-to-player interaction will be doomed to be worthy of that criticism. But I don’t see any other way to avoid that drawback. People sometimes accuse Dominion of being a multiplayer solitaire (I disagree with that statement, but yeah). Well, if you want to reduce that factor, then you’ll have another mob of people telling you that you’re sabotaging the idea of taking your turn without having to worry about the downtime induced by waiting for other players to discard their play area, (sometimes) to shuffle their deck and then to draw their cards.

So, is it worth taking the risk of creating a new game mechanic to up that player interaction at the cost of slightly increasing downtime between turns? I say yes. Let’s get crazy here. We’re asked to come up with a new mechanic for this week’s contest and I think that it’s worth exploring ideas involving games with increased player interactions. That was the essence behind my entry. And I believe it was for yours too! This is why I like what you’ve presented here.

Suddenly, playing cards is fiddlier. There is a thought-process invoked in how you’re going to use that Strength, how much you can have of it, how to best optimise it in your hand, etc. This is especially true for cards of varying strength.

If all the Strength cards I have in play count towards my Strength total, how will playing my Strength cards change my thought process at all?  I still play cards to maximize my hand-size and then am further rewarded for doing this with overbearing Strength cards that my 8-card hand and 3 cards in play will bully out anyone from possibly competing with their 5 random cards.  Is Strength meant to be a resource that is spent, or is Strength a flat value accrued by the Strength cards I have in play and in my hand?  I mean, you write in Strategic Village's blurb:

The other side of the medal is... the more Strategic Villages you play on the same turn, the weaker in terms of they all become.

which patently disagrees with this

Each Strength card in play from any player (most of the time, that’ll only be you) have their added to their total...

Strength is a flat value. It is not “spend”. It is however re-evaluated when you play another Strength card. And by that time, your Strength total might’ve changed. I will remove that part about how Strategic Villages get weaker the more you play them (they are removed from your hand and so you have less cards in hand. They are worth 1 Strength per 2 cards in your hand, so playing more of them reduces your hand size, decreasing their Strength value. However, I failed to consider that they make you draw a card, so it circumvents this drawback).

[4est]

Greaves: still cantrip on play, but now acts as a one-turn Lost Arts on the card it equips
Gauntlets: terminal silver on play, with a draw-to-X effect equipping ability
Helm: still a Gold-gainer on play; equipping lets you trash copies of the treasure after you play it to gain cheaper cards (e.g. play your Golds for +$3 then trash them to gain $5s)
Halberd: Smithy with mild discard attack, equip another Attack to add a Copper junking effect
Cuirass: same as before, Market Square on play with Ferry equipping effect

Do you "play" the copy of the card after the Armor is equipped, thereby triggering the Armor's effect? Will Greaves make all my Smithies non-terminal immediately, or do I need to equip a Greaves to a Smithy and then play a second Smithy to get +1 Action?  Either way, Greaves is a slightly worse Lost Arts, but you can stack multiple on your most common card to get multiple +Actions per play.  I'd cost it at $4 at least if not go back to the drawing board.
The "Armor" concepts is thematically weird now, because it is upgrading all copies of a card even though all my Smithies are sharing the same leggings.

Yes, you do play the copy of the card after the Armor is equipped, so both your equipped Smithy and all other Smithies would get +1 Action in your example.  One of the main downsides of Armor cards (compared with e.g. Adventures token events) is lining them up with their respective targets: Greaves doesn't help you quite as much if you don't draw it with your Smithy early.  As for the theme, well, can't really help you there

[Snowyowl]

Roundabout cards

When you use these cards, pay close attention to the order that you dealt out the Supply piles. They don't exist in a shapeless vacuum any more: they can look at the piles adjacent to them, or even further away! They all have the type "Roundabout", but that's just so you don't forget to pay attention to the words "to the left" and "to the right". There's no rules meaning to it. And they all share a common theme.

Pearl • $4 • Treasure - Roundabout
+$2
Cards from the three piles to the left of this cost $1 less this turn.

Circlet • $2 • Treasure - Roundabout
Choose one: +$2 , or gain a copy of the card to the left of this.
-
When you buy this, you may discard a card of the pile to the left of this. If you don't, trash this.

Smuggling Ring • $5 • Victory - Roundabout
Worth 1VP per 2 cards of the pile to the left of this in your deck.

Round Table • $6 • Action - Command - Roundabout
Play the next non-Command Action to the left of this costing up to $3, leaving it in the Supply.
Play the next non-Command Action to the right of this costing up to $3, leaving it in the Supply.

Calliope • $3 • Action - Roundabout
Trash a card from your hand. Gain the next card to its left that costs $0 to $2 more than it.

Waterwheel • $3 • Project - Roundabout
After you play an Action card, if the pile to its left is an Action, you may play a card of that pile from your hand.

Notional FAQ:
During Setup, deal out the piles from left to right. Every Kingdom card has one card to its left and one to its right, because the order is a circle; even if you've arranged your cards in a line, consider the rightmost card to be one step left of the leftmost card. (That's why they're Roundabout cards, and not Straightforward cards.)
Only Kingdom cards have an ordering; Base cards, non-Supply cards, Events, Projects, tokens, and any other things that have wandered onto the gaming table do not have anything to their left or right.
"The pile to the left of this" means that Supply pile, even if it's empty. "A card of a pile" means a card that started the game in that pile.
"The next non-Command Action to the left of this" means keep looking to the left until you find a card on top of its Supply pile that qualifies. This may refer to a different card over the course of the game, as the contents of piles change. It may loop around and refer to the pile itself, if no other card qualifies, and failing that it'll refer to nothing at all.

Design Notes:
These cards aren't really balanced. But they show off what's possible with this mechanic.
Sorry about the grammar in "a card of that pile". "From" is more correct, but unfortunately "play a card from a pile" already means something in Dominion.
The design space of Dominion is constrained by the fact that any particular card can only rely on having itself and the Base Cards available. Duke can count the number of Duchies you have - but you can't make a card like it that counts Villages, because what happens in a game without Villages? Roundabouts provide a loophole: put Smuggling Ring to the right of Village, and you're done!
The card in Dominion that almost uses this mechanic is Young Witch. Although she couldn't quite be errata'd to a Roundabout card as I've written them here, since her behaviour around split piles and empty piles is different.

Smuggling Ring's name definitely 100% fits the "circle" theme. Rings are circles.

[Saul Goodman]

I am completely mystified by how you guys are coming up with ideas.  I was/am completely stumped on this challenge. I

[somekindoftony]

I had a think about my "Blockade" card added previously. It's problematic if someone uses it to deny another player one of their buys in the first turns. I thought about making it cost debt so that didn't happen but that complicates things and feels thematically wrong.
Now I've upped the cost and tweaked the effect. That should make it play quite differently. In case nobody noticed by the way you can blockade curses so that you don't receive them from a witch.
Do people think it could be super irritating to have games prolonged by this? Ie By having provinces blocked. Or is it simply another tactical element to work around. I hope the latter.



If this link works it should show the earlier and current versions next to each other. https://imgur.com/a/WxR3aqU (Current costs 5 not 3)

[spineflu]

I had a think about my "Blockade" card added previously. It's problematic if someone uses it to deny another player one of their buys in the first turns. I thought about making it cost debt so that didn't happen but that complicates things and feels thematically wrong.
Now I've upped the cost and tweaked the effect. That should make it play quite differently. In case nobody noticed by the way you can blockade curses so that you don't receive them from a witch.
Do people think it could be super irritating to have games prolonged by this? Ie By having provinces blocked. Or is it simply another tactical element to work around. I hope the latter.



If this link works it should show the earlier and current versions next to each other. https://imgur.com/a/WxR3aqU (Current costs 5 not 3)

You could just have it affect Kingdom cards and keep it at $3; that way you can't blockade Silvers, Curses, etc. Or have it only affect non-Treasure piles. That'd keep Silvers in play but allow curse-blockades.

At $5, its still buyable in the opening and a first-player $5 hand can still screw over everyone else. It also seems way overpriced at $5, but maybe that's just me.

As far as blocking gains, you'll probably want errata about a blockaded supply pile should be treated as though the supply pile was empty - this keeps adventures tokens, inheritance, rats, etc working normally.

[scolapasta]

At $5, its still buyable in the opening and a first-player $5 hand can still screw over everyone else. It also seems way overpriced at $5, but maybe that's just me.

Does it though? You start 5/2 and blockade a pile. Other player can will still buy something for 3 and 4, while you only get a 2.

The other alternative is if you start 2/5 and bought chapel, then blockaded it. But other players will still get a turn - while they might have to use their 4 for chapel instead of 3, they'd still be at an advantage after the first 2 turns.

Note: it may still be overpriced at 5, I just don't see it as a first two turns buy.

[somekindoftony]

At $5, its still buyable in the opening and a first-player $5 hand can still screw over everyone else. It also seems way overpriced at $5, but maybe that's just me.

Does it though? You start 5/2 and blockade a pile. Other player can will still buy something for 3 and 4, while you only get a 2.

The other alternative is if you start 2/5 and bought chapel, then blockaded it. But other players will still get a turn - while they might have to use their 4 for chapel instead of 3, they'd still be at an advantage after the first 2 turns.

Note: it may still be overpriced at 5, I just don't see it as a first two turns buy.

I'm going to agree with scolapasta here in that the cost makes it a poor first turn buy. You might stop someone else making a buy but because thats at best a 5 dollar buy you hurt yourself as much or more by buying blockade.

As far as blocking gains, you'll probably want errata about a blockaded supply pile should be treated as though the supply pile was empty - this keeps adventures tokens, inheritance, rats, etc working normally.

I don't want to do this because I don't want to have the game end from a pile being blockaded. I guess I want the pile to be as if empty for gaining and buying but not for ending the game.
Is that a reasonable implication or does it need more detail on the card?

I do want it to block gains though and affect cards like curses because I think that justifies the price. It would be well worth paying 5 in a number of scenarios to switch a blockade from one card to the next.

I also just thought of a different problem. Cards like swindler. And anything that returns things to the supply. In my head they returned their cards to beneath the face down top card. That isn't intuitive at all. 
Man, aiming for a simple new mechanic is hard.

[somekindoftony]

You could just have it affect Kingdom cards and keep it at $3; that way you can't blockade Silvers, Curses, etc. Or have it only affect non-Treasure piles. That'd keep Silvers in play but allow curse-blockades.

It does feel thematic that it doesn't stop treasures by the way. Its always possible to smuggle coin past a blockade. That might be a useful tweak.

[spineflu]

At $5, its still buyable in the opening and a first-player $5 hand can still screw over everyone else. It also seems way overpriced at $5, but maybe that's just me.

Does it though? You start 5/2 and blockade a pile. Other player can will still buy something for 3 and 4, while you only get a 2.

The other alternative is if you start 2/5 and bought chapel, then blockaded it. But other players will still get a turn - while they might have to use their 4 for chapel instead of 3, they'd still be at an advantage after the first 2 turns.

Note: it may still be overpriced at 5, I just don't see it as a first two turns buy.

I'm going to agree with scolapasta here in that the cost makes it a poor first turn buy. You might stop someone else making a buy but because thats at best a 5 dollar buy you hurt yourself as much or more by buying blockade.

As far as blocking gains, you'll probably want errata about a blockaded supply pile should be treated as though the supply pile was empty - this keeps adventures tokens, inheritance, rats, etc working normally.

I don't want to do this because I don't want to have the game end from a pile being blockaded. I guess I want the pile to be as if empty for gaining and buying but not for ending the game.
Is that a reasonable implication or does it need more detail on the card?

I do want it to block gains though and affect cards like curses because I think that justifies the price. It would be well worth paying 5 in a number of scenarios to switch a blockade from one card to the next.

I also just thought of a different problem. Cards like swindler. And anything that returns things to the supply. In my head they returned their cards to beneath the face down top card. That isn't intuitive at all. 
Man, aiming for a simple new mechanic is hard.

I think that's a reasonable implication - have it be empty for all purposes except game end. Makes City better, for sure.
As far as returning things to the supply, have an errata/FAQ for the card that returned-to-the-supply stuff goes to the bottom of the pile?

Or, change Blockade so it flips the whole supply pile - cards being returned go face-up on top of the pile, and are available to be bought, and that pile is no longer blockaded until someone buys the available cards.

Not seeing what the Swindler interaction is.

[somekindoftony]

Not seeing what the Swindler interaction is.

Obviously by Swindler I meant Ambassador. All the cool kids are using Swindler to mean Ambassador now.