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Author Topic: Atlas of Fan Card Mechanics: A Bibliographic Thread  (Read 10918 times)

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spineflu

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Re: Atlas of Fan Card Mechanics: A Bibliographic Thread
« Reply #25 on: October 08, 2020, 07:24:55 pm »
0

How do alternate card costs work with things likes Remodel?
sounds like a good thing to ask Aquila in the thread they're introduced in
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Aquila

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Re: Atlas of Fan Card Mechanics: A Bibliographic Thread
« Reply #26 on: October 09, 2020, 03:26:12 pm »
+2

How do alternate card costs work with things likes Remodel?
sounds like a good thing to ask Aquila in the thread they're introduced in
My bad, I didn't add the description to the first post on my thread. Copy this to the card cost section spineflu:
Quote
For abilities that care about costs: this is another different kind of cost to join Potion and Debt. You can't remodel a $ cost card into a [ ] or $[ ] cost or vice versa, or [ ] into Debt or Potion costs. Each differently described card cost is also incomparable, no matter how much $, Debt or Potion is with them and even though some might be distinctly easier to pay than others. So you can't remodel a [ ] into a differently described [ ], but you could remodel [ ] into $1[ ] or $2[ ] if the described cost on each card is identical.

Thanks for doing this btw, a useful resource!
(I half thought of adding to the guide I wrote. I may link to this thread there.)

Edit: rewrote the rules to read clearer and incorporate remodelling correctly.
« Last Edit: October 09, 2020, 04:28:35 pm by Aquila »
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Violet CLM

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Re: Atlas of Fan Card Mechanics: A Bibliographic Thread
« Reply #27 on: October 14, 2020, 04:50:21 pm »
+1

I had this thread some years back, before "Project" became a real kind of card-shaped thing. In retrospect...
Quote
When you buy a Project card, you have a choice: either you gain the card as usual, or you add one of your Project tokens to that card's supply pile.
...the game would probably be more fun if you did both, not either.

Adaptive cards is another good thread.
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spineflu

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Re: Fan Mechanics Guide - Morning & Dawn cards
« Reply #28 on: March 01, 2021, 11:33:28 am »
+2

I'm working on a new fan-made expansion, and I'm adding "Dawn" cards (a new card type, as far as I know - maybe somewhere hidden in this forum, someone has used it before, but I haven't seen it as I'm rather new).  It is meant to partly mirror the "Night" card mechanic.  Night cards are great, in that they are never drawn dead - night happens at the end of turn, and you can play as many as you want (they don't require +Actions).  Many night cards interact to what happened during your turn (see Monastery, Devil's Workshop, Crypt, Raider).  A number of others set up your next hand(s), as durations (see Guardian, Ghost Town, Cobbler, Den of Sin).  Their drawback is that they take up space in your hand, affecting what you are able to buy "this" turn (in that they could have been a silver or an Action card to be used this turn before your Buy Phase), usually at the cost of another minor benefit (gain cheaper card, sift, etc.) or by setting up your next hand.

Dawn cards introduce a new phase.  First, any "start of turn" effects happen, then you enter your Dawn Phase, where you play Dawn cards**, then you move to your Action Phase and continue as usual.  But Dawn cards are usually only useful if you have them in your initial (usually 5-card) hand - unless they are a multi-Type card (e.g. Dawn-Action, Dawn-Treasure, Dawn-Night - see Werewolf), or unless something allows you to return to your Dawn Phase.  Because they aren't usually useful if drawn during your turn, they can offer slightly more powerful effects at a cheaper cost, since there is a risk that they will be a dead card.  Rather than reacting to what happened during your turn like Night cards, Dawn cards could possibly set up or affect your current turn in some way.  They can affect how cards are played, give extra power to some things, increase your ability to buy things, or a number of other possible effects, probably for the current turn - I recognize many action cards do these types of things already, but limiting the play of them to the beginning of turn can allow more powerful effects.  You could also consider something like the Ways mechanic in general, or specifically the Way of the Chameleon, likely as a below-the-line effect.

** I have not yet decided which way I want to mirror the Night cards' ability to play all Night cards - I'm still deciding between mirroring exactly, and allowing unlimited Dawn cards to be played during the Dawn Phase, or mirroring the opposite, and allowing only 1 single Dawn card to be played per turn.  Obviously the choice between these two could affect the cost of the card, and whether people want to buy many copies of it or just one.  For this contest, with your submission, please state whether it is intended to be played with a rule of 1 Dawn card per turn, or unlimited Dawn cards per turn allowed.

Dawn cards inherently have the equivalent of +1 Action on them, since they let you play the card, then still let you start your Action Phase with 1 Action.  So any +1 Action on a Dawn card is effectively a village variant.

Here are a couple very simple ideas, though these have not been tested yet for balance and cost (your submissions do not need to be this simple):

(to be used with only 1 Dawn card per turn)

Quote
Testing Ground
Type: Dawn
Cost: $3
+2 Cards
+1 Action
It is a very cheap lab (in reality, a lost city, since it's effectively +2 Actions).  But you can't spam-buy them.  They work well with deck-inspector cards that can check the top cards in your deck and leave some there.  They don't work well with discard-sifters, or any type of draw cards, as you could draw this card dead.  But playing with 1-per-turn, you likely wouldn't open with 2 of these on a 4/3 split, since the chances of them colliding is much greater than usual (if you drawn neither on turn 3, you're guaranteed to get both on turn 4, since they will either draw together or one will draw the other... if you draw only 1 on turn 3, you have 2/7 chance of drawing the other dead).
Note that this card could probably be played with unlimited Dawn cards per turn if it cost $4 (a cheap lab - great if you start your hand with it, or draw another with itself, dead card if drawn otherwise).

Morning Cards

Nocturne gave us the Night, a new phase with cards to be played after the Buy phase. Now, I introduce its logical opposite, the Morning phase. This phase takes place before the Action phase, but after any Duration effects take place. This means that you must have the Morning card in your hand at the start of your turn (or through a Duration draw effect) if you wish to play it. That will make playing these cards more difficult, so I tried to make the effects rather powerful as a result.

Much like Night cards, Morning cards require no Actions or other resources to play. Their main effect is to make certain effects throughout the rest of your turn more powerful. For the most part, these empowering effects will activate when you play the Morning card itself.

EDIT: In order to make them less swingy and less dead-when-drawn-during-turn, Morning cards now have a universal effect in which when you discard a Morning card from your hand during your Cleanup phase, you may reveal it and put it on top of your deck. I won't add this to the card text because then the cards would be too wordy. As long as it's a Morning card, you can do this.

Card Examples:



Quote
Mudlarks
Morning - $2
--
You may trash a card from your hand.
-
While this is in play, whenever you trash a card, +1 Card.

"Mudlark" is a slang term for garbage man, and as this was the best "old timey" artwork I could find for anything similar, I went with it. Anyway, the mudlarks take a little of your garbage, which they can use for their own benefit. If you have more garbage later, they'll swing by again.

Quote
Telescope
Morning - $3
--
Look at the top 4 cards of your deck. Put one back and discard the rest.
-
While this is in play, whenever you discard a card from your hand or your deck, you may put it on top of your deck.

(Oops, I should have said "Other than during Cleanup" for the in-play effect. Pretend it's there)
Your trusty Telescope can see what's coming in or going out and help you prepare for it accordingly. I worry it's too much like Cartographer for its price, but as it's only playable in the Morning and doesn't allow you to chain them as well as Carto (plus you're forced to keep at least one card), I kept it at $3.

Quote
Clock Tower
Morning - $4
--
+1 Action
-
While this is in play, whenever you have at least two Actions remaining after playing a card, draw up to five cards in hand.

(Oops again, this should say "before your Buy phase" so that it's not completely busted. Also, the draw-up-to-5 takes place after resolving the effects of the card.)
The bell in the Clock Tower rings early in the morning, waking up the eager townsfolk to get them to work. By itself, it's effectively a Village. The Kingdom will also need the right cards to keep your Actions high and hand-size low enough, but if that happens, the Clock Tower will become a vital engine component.

Quote
Fishmonger
Morning - $5
--
+1 Buy
+$1
-
While this is in play, whenever you play an Action card with +$ amounts in its text, +$1.

Similar to his kith the Herbalist, the gone-but-not-forgotten Woodcutter, etc., the Fishmonger gives his highness an extra Buy and some money through his wares. However, this fellow's fishy fare is known to energize the Kingdom's other money-makers. Peddler variants especially will use the fish to become stinking rich. *sniff sniff* Or maybe they're just stinking...

Quote
Mushroom Hunt
Morning - $6
--
Gain a Gold to your hand.
-
While this is in play, whenever you gain a Victory card, you may gain a Treasure costing less than it.

One experienced at the art of the Mushroom Hunt can easily find a delicacy worth its weight in Gold right away. Plus, the more land she is able to hunt on, the more tasty treasures she can accrue. Of course, she also knows when not to hunt, as to not pick up anything poisonous (like a Copper).





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.

Morning cards stay in play until a new Morning card is played (or they're trashed with something exotic like Bonfire).

The in-play Morning card affects all players, but still is "in play" only in one player's area - that player may have slightly better effects from it.

(N E W) At the start of a player's cleanup phase, they may reveal a Morning card from their hand, set it aside, and add it to their hand before drawing new cards (so if one is drawn during the Action phase, its playable on the next turn); that player will still have 5 cards in hand after drawing (or more, if they have other bonuses like The River's Gift). This can only be done with one Morning card, so if you draw two or more, you'll have to choose which you do this with.

The player who is referred to as "you"/"your" is the player who played the Morning card. When a Morning card says "Now and at the start of each player's turn", only player who played it gets the "Now" benefit, not each player. The person who played the Morning card still gets the benefits of the "Each player" portion - it's not "each other player".

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).

Each pile of Morning cards has a group type (similar to how Knights does) - this is just to help you keep them separate from each-others piles.

Design notes:
  • Morning cards should be affordable for the opening
  • Morning cards should never be an Attack or Attack-like.
  • Morning cards with drastic effects should probably be an optional/"you may" card
  • Morning cards should always follow the 4 distinct cards per pile schema
  • Morning cards should always affect everyone
  • The "Extra Custom" color for Morning cards on the shard of honor card generator is 1.35, 1.35, 0.95 / 0.5, 0, 0.05 / 0.7, 0.7, 0.35 / 1.55, 0.8, 0.5.

I've mocked up exactly one card because this is a long post as-is, but here's three Morning card piles - Sunrise, Cityfolk, and Weather

Quote
Quote
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

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

Quote
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

Quote
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


reflections on the mechanic:
You've got a pile of Dawn cards, 10 deep, and they're good. You want the entire pile in your hand. Hands are only 5 cards; if that Dawn card doesn't at the very least replace itself, you're in trouble.
If you can only play one of them AND they don't replace themselves (+1 Card when played from the hand), collision of 3+ Dawn cards is the equivalent of getting hit with a Militia (you're down two cards for that turn).
It needs to replace itself when played from the hand, and to justify them being a pile, they need to be non-terminal.

On top of this, if there's no "set aside-to-play-next-turn" mechanism, running into them midway through your Action phase means you've junked yourself, which either means the effect of them needs to be minimal (to not give lucky draws the game), or Big (to risk junking yourself). The former, why would you buy it? The latter, I don't know that that amount of variance is conducive to Dominion as a game - if you want a random winner, play the coin flip game. 

The only way this card type justifies its existence is as minigames - if it just gives vanilla bonuses unconditionally, why isn't it an action card? or treasure? or whatever. It should give a small task you need to complete to get a reward.
« Last Edit: March 02, 2021, 06:21:54 pm by spineflu »
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spineflu

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Re: Fan Card Mechanics Guide: Conditions
« Reply #29 on: March 01, 2021, 03:05:31 pm »
0


Conditions

Conditions are a brand new type of card-shaped object with a landscape orientation. Conditions are two-sided. I haven't completely settled on how to determine which side starts face up. For now, and for the purpose of the contest, the first side listed (i.e. Easy Living, Warm, Rainy) starts face up. Unlike Artifacts or States, Conditions are never taken or held by a specific player. Rather, they remain in the center of the table, are flipped to the same side for all players, and thus affect all players the same. I have created three, two-sided Conditions for my "Summertime" fan expansion.

Easy Living/Hard Times:

Warm/Cool:

Rainy/Dry:

Conditions can be flipped by the operation of cards or card-shaped objects. Some cards resolve differently depending on which side of a Condition is face up. For example:


Quote
Vanilla Orchard - $4
Action - Conditional
+1 Card
+1 Action
If it's Warm and Rainy: +1 Card
If it's Warm and Dry: +1 Action
If it's Cool and Rainy: +$1
If it's Cool and Dry: +1 Buy
Flip Warm/Cool or Rainy/Dry.

Cards like Vanilla Orchard that require a Condition to work should have the type "Conditional" so players can know to use the proper Condition in the game, and to look to it to resolve the card. At segura's brilliant suggestion, I changed the wording from "If Rainy is face up..." to "If it's Rainy..." While this creates slightly awkward wording for "Easy Living" and "Hard Times," I think it's worth it for the simplicity, and the "Conditional" type indicates what is meant.

If you want to see more, you can look at my whole Summertime expansion, which makes fairly extensive use of the mechanic.
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spineflu

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Re: Fan Mechanic "Mutineers" (author: VioletCLM)
« Reply #30 on: March 02, 2021, 09:49:17 am »
0

Rules:
Mutineers may be spent during your Action phase at any time when you might spend an action instead, i.e. when no cards are currently resolving. Spending a Mutineer discards a card from your hand. At the end of the game, each unspent Mutineer is worth -1VP.

Examples:

(a b c)
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spineflu

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Re: Fan Mechanic "Worshippers" (author: scolapasta)
« Reply #31 on: March 02, 2021, 09:52:35 am »
+1

Worshippers are a new type of token that you can "spend" during your Clean up phase:

The latest version of the rules (and mat) I had posted is this:



Quote
At the start of your Clean-up phase, you may remove tokens from this to trash a card from your hand or one you have in play for each token removed.

and a simple Chapel variant:



Quote
Apse Chapel - Action - $2
+2 Worshippers.

Pre Contest Discussion:
• I'm still overall happy with this design - the main thing I was unsure of when I first posted was whether allowing to trash cards from either hand or in play was too strong. For Apse Chapel, I hopefully balanced it out enough by only taking 2 tokens per play. (this design was originally for a contest entitled "Make me skip chapel!".)

• you can see some more of the cards I came up for it, in various states of completion, in the scolapasta's cards thread

• I am planning on cleaning up (pun intended) the rules / mat wording a little to:

Quote
At the start of your Clean-up phase, you may remove tokens from this. For each removed token, trash a card that you would discard this turn.

It borrows some wording from Improve, helps tracking (now, you can't trash Duration cards that would stay in play) and removes some words by making the trashing mandatory (since that shouldn't really affect gameplay). Does this work better?
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spineflu

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Re: Fan Mechanic "Trade Tokens" (author: LostFootnote)
« Reply #32 on: March 02, 2021, 10:07:04 am »
0

The set also introduces Trade tokens, which you usually get when you gain a card and can use to boost that card when you play it.

The number of stars after each card name indicates how much testing the card has gotten. More black stars = more testing. Generally if a card has a bunch of stars, I'm happy with it or I would have scrapped it by now. Cards with more white stars need much more testing before I can make a judgment.



Quote
Jubilee: Action, $2  ★★★★☆
+2 Actions
+$2
You may pay a Trade token. If you don't, set this aside, and return it to the Supply at the start of Clean-up.

When you gain this, take a Trade token.


Quote
Convoy: Action, $3  ★★☆☆☆
+3 Cards
Discard a card. You may pay a Trade token, to play this again.

When you gain this, take a Trade token.


Quote
Tinker: Action, $3  ★★★☆☆
+$1
Trash 2 cards from your hand. You may pay a Trade token, to gain a card costing up to their total cost.

When you gain this, take a Trade token.


Quote
Stockpile: Treasure, $4  ★★★☆☆
Worth $1
When you play this, you may pay a Trade token, to gain a copy of a card you have in play. Otherwise, take a Trade token.


Quote
Terrace: Action, $4  ★★★★☆
+1 Card
+2 Actions
You may pay a Trade token, to discard your hand and draw 5 Cards.

When you gain this, take a Trade token.


Quote
Vendor: Action, $5  ★★☆☆☆
+1 Card
+1 Action
+$1
Look through your discard pile. You may pay a token, to put a card from it into your hand.

When you gain this, take a Trade token.



Quote
Barter: Action, $5  ★★★☆☆
+1 Action
Trash a card from your hand. Gain a card costing up to $2 more than it. You may pay a Trade token to put the gained card into your hand.

When you buy this, take a Trade token per Silver you have in play.
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spineflu

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Re: Fan Mechanic - "Project Cards" (author: VioletCLM)
« Reply #33 on: March 02, 2021, 10:24:56 am »
0


Rules
This mechanic probably has some preexisting name on these forums somewhere, but I searched for "level" (the most intuitively associated word) and all I found was a bunch of talk about rankings on online Dominion games and a topic about borrowing City's interest in the number of spent supply piles. (Since then, Poacher has also arrived on the scene.) In any case, I was thinking about Adventures earlier and its use of +1 Card, +1 Action, etc. tokens to make supply piles better, but only for individual players. Those tokens are all pretty generic because they have to be, but what if you could tailor the tokens to specific supply piles? So I whipped up a few quick illustrations of that idea.

Project cards are works in progress. The archetypal Project card starts out weak but can be made strong by repeatedly investing in it. When you buy a Project card, you have a choice: either you gain the card as usual, or you add one of your Project tokens to that card's supply pile. (This still counts as buying a card for the purposes of e.g. Merchant Guild or Contraband.) The number of Project tokens each player has on a given supply pile is referred to as that player's level of that pile; each supply pile therefore starts out at level 0. There is no hard limit on how many Project tokens a player can have, in total or on any given supply pile, though specific cards may stop accruing benefits after specific levels.
Examples

Redecorate is a Remodel that starts out almost useless (although the "you may" wording means it can at least kill coppers) but can be built up to an Expand or beyond.
Entourage spends a while burdening you with junk (its on-buy effect is triggered when you put a Project token on it) before letting you gain it two at a time, or better.
Boom Town gradually becomes a village or better, but also helps you with anything you may be specializing in.
Initiate is cheap but mostly useless until level 4, when it becomes a bargain Market with potential to grow even further. May be worth gaining before leveling.
Arsonist allows you to mess with whatever cards your opponents have been leveling.
Sellsword is less effective than Militia but gains drawing abilities if other players compete with you for it.
College is a drawer that wants you to buy expensive cards before you start playing it.
Caravansary needs at least one token on it before you start, but then carries money indefinitely into the future until you finally want it.
Sunken City, like Encampment, disappears after you use it, but the moment you place a token somewhere you've got any number of sunken cities back in your deck again.
Ore is as straightforward a project card as it gets, a criminally overexpensive Copper that can be made better than Gold.
Smeltery turns coins into coin tokens, but only if you invest in it first.
Tithe gives you a lot of money in short order, but slows down the moment you get too greedy with it.
Memorial is a pricier Gold that turns into a cheaper Province.
Ramparts is a self-contained bidding war.

edit: fixed Ramparts link
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spineflu

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Re: Fan Mechanic: "Adaptive Cards" (authors Gazbag, VioletCLM, Asper)
« Reply #34 on: March 02, 2021, 10:31:52 am »
0

Rules
This is an idea for a new type of card I came up with when I was thinking about how Intrigue's themes can expanded upon. Adaptive cards!
Adaptive cards are cards that give you two options- but you have to choose the option you want at the start of the game and that is locked in for the duration of the game. Here's an example:
[...]I'm not sure the two choices need to have their own individual names... if nothing else, keeping the names consistent across Adaptive cards (α/β?) would make it easier to design the double-sided tokens.

I also wonder whether making every player decide their choice for every card at the start of the game might cause too much startup time. Another option would be to have each player only decide their choice for any given card the first time they gain/play it. That also at least somewhat alleviates the last-player-advantage potential that could come with some cards.
I also think that it would be more simple if the card effect was decided on when you gain it. In fact, what if you could alter the effect every time you gain one, changing the card mid-game? Here's an idea:

Quote
Cloister, 4$, Action
+1 Action
If your Cloister token is face up, trash up to two cards from your hand. Otherwise, +1 Card, +1 Action
---
When you gain this, either put your Cloister token face up or down (it starts face up).

My only issue with this is that something like this will usually behave a bit similar to a Seasons card (link), because people will change it depending on game phase. On the other hand, it doesn't need a Season mat and has player-relative timing. That's really cool.

My reason to argue for the ability to change the card mid-game is mostly based on the assumption that it'll be hard to make effects that are so similar in power that different players will pick different abilities. And if they don't pick different abilities, it loses a big part of what makes it interesting. Of course you can't enforce different picks, either, as that'd be unfair. Maybe it's not as bad and people will pick different options often enough... You could help this by making the effects interact with each other, of course, e.g. by making one a trasher and one a Curser and similar things:

Quote
Rebel, 5$, Action - Attack - Looter
+3 Cards
If your Rebel token is face up: Each other player gains a Ruins.
Otherwise: Trash up to 3 cards from your hand.
---
At the start of the game, put your Rebel Token on any side.

Examples
Harbour Town
$6 Action-Adaptive
+1 Card
+2 Actions
If you chose...
Import: You may gain a card costing up to $4.
Export: Discard any number of cards. +$1 per card discarded.

So after sorting out other setup rules and drawing opening hands starting with 1st player each player chooses either import or export and Harbour Town has that effect for that player. This could be tracked with double sided tokens showing which option each player chooses if necessary.
A couple of other ideas:

Aristocrat
$3 Action-Adaptive
Reveal the top 3 cards of your deck. If you chose...
Greed: Put all revealed Treasures into your hand.
Generosity: Put all revealed Actions into your hand.
Put the rest back in any order.

Automaton
$4 Action-Adaptive-Attack
+$2
If you chose...
Might: Each other player reveals their hand and gains a Curse if they have no duplicates.
Magic: Each other player reveals the top card of their deck and gains a Curse if it costs from $3-£6.
This could also be the perfect use case for that split card design I made
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Re: Fan Mechanic "Resources + Gatherer (type)" (author: Aquila)
« Reply #35 on: March 02, 2021, 03:25:30 pm »
0

Resources and Gatherers
So Resources, that's a rather generic term. They look like this:

Quote
Fruit - Action Resource, $2 cost.
You may play an Action card that costs more than this from your hand. Then, +2 Cards.
Quote
Ore - Action Resource, $2 cost.
+1 Action
+  $2
Quote
Refuge - Action Resource, $2 cost.
+1 Card
+2 Actions

Discard a card.
Quote
Water Source - Action Resource, $2 cost.
+1 Card
+1 Action

If you have exactly 5 cards in hand, trash one of them.
Quote
Wood - Action Resource, $2 cost.
+1 Card
+1 Action
+1 Buy
These are a take on the 'good Ruins' idea. Like Ruins:
  • There are 10 copies of each, shuffled at the start of each game and only the top one is visible.
  • There is a type that adds them to the game and has the extra setup rules attached to it; namely, the Gatherer type. Yes maybe confusing with Gathering type, but thematically correct.
  • There is one each for Cards, Actions, Buys and $, and one that trashes as opposed to Survivors sifting.
Unlike Ruins:
  • All 50 are used in every game.
  • When you want to buy a Resource, you look at the top 2 Resources and choose one of them. If it's the second one down, put the top one at the bottom of the pile. Since you're putting effort in to use a Buy, you get this bonus then. When you're instructed to gain one, you just take whatever's on top.
So here's one way randomness is involved in the set.
The Resources have also shaped the way the rest of the set is designed.
  • There is only one $2 cost kingdom pile.
  • There is at least one other when-buy effect (that is necessary over when-gain).





THE CARDS INDIVIDUALLY
I explain each of them, then give my positives (+) and negatives (-) on its design, then give its history.


Quote
Resources
As you seek to expand your kingdom into barren desert regions, you must depend on whatever resources the environment bestows you. Whilst players may not have to depend on them as much as in real life, every vanilla engine component is available in every game with a Gatherer, but they come in a random order, and sometimes the crucial one will be hotly contested and sought after!
+: They create random and replayable games. They do not make a good deck by themselves, but rather support the kingdom cards.
-: Ore is risky costing $2, although it is the only stop card. Opening Water Source could be too big an advantage for whoever happens to get them. The same issue as Donald had with Horses could arise, that a large number of gained Resources makes lengthens play too much.
History: Fruit had draw to 5 cards on it for quite a while, with varying forms; may discard a card first, discard any number, put a card back on the deck for +1 Action, +1 Card before everything, then 2 Cards. Then I saw how it was making the Resources too independent and changed it to the current weak lab.
Ore was initially +1 Action + $1, if you had a Gatherer in play + $1; a bit boring. Then + $2, if a Gatherer or another Resource in play +1 Action; independence again and awkward. So now plain Action Silver.
Water Source started off checking for a 4-card hand; I said independence was an issue, didn't I?
Refuge and Wood basically haven't ever changed.
I also tried $3 cost variants briefly, but that was too useful and centralising.
Flavour wise, they were first called Trinkets, and they were Codex, Jewellery, Garment, Tool and Crate, respectively. Like things you could find when razing a settlement. Too much of that in Dominion already, so I thought again, landed at Resources, and from there the whole desert theme developed.


Quote
Display Case - Treasure Gatherer, $5 cost.
+1 Buy
+ $1 per differently named Resource you have in play.
As your armies ventured through the foreign lands, they sent back artifacts and memorabilia so your citizens could see them at museums and private collections. This tries to make a mini game of collecting all the different Resources. Build a deck that plays them all, and this pays handsomely.
+: It can be fun to play.
-: very likely too strong at present with how easy it is to power up.
History: it started as a terminal Action at $3, which was too awkward. Then I tried non-terminal at $4, still awkward, so went to Treasure, then testing showed it should be more expensive so up to $5.


Quote
Expedition Camp - Action Duration Gatherer, $4 cost.
If this is the first Expedition Camp you've played this turn and the previous turn wasn't yours, take another turn after this one, and you draw 5 fewer cards for your next hand.
At the start of that turn, you may trash this to gain 3 Resources to your hand.
Send a team of explorers out on a Mission, who may return with secured Resources. It's an outpost variant that ordinarily gives you a bonus turn with no hand at all, but you can trash it for a random hand of Resources. Whilst only the first one played grants the bonus turn, other Camps played with it can be trashed for an additional 3 Resources.
+: It has multiple functions and it can be exciting.
-: maybe annoying in its randomness, or a little too strong for $4.
History: this is where Resources had their start. I had the idea of an Outpost variant with random hand a while ago, using a deck of special cards, I kept it in reserve until I thought of other things for that deck to do, then remembered it when deciding to do this set. It basically hasn't changed, I just fiddled with its wording.

 
Quote
Provisioner - Action Reserve Gatherer, $5 cost.
Gain a card costing up to $5 onto your deck, then gain a Resource onto your deck. Put this on your Tavern mat.
-
During your turn, whenever you have any unused Actions, you may discard this from your Tavern mat for -1 Action.
The provisioner can access local supplies and things much greater, just don't ask how. You get two cards on your deck, a card up to $5 paired with a Resource. For balance, you need two Actions to use it repeatedly, otherwise it stays on your Tavern mat. Maybe you're finished with using it anyway.
+: It calls for adaptability to the top Resource, and the Tavern mat setback adds some neat functionality to the set.
-: it can nearly get away without the the Tavern mat bit, so this might be a little on the weak side.
History: it started as just the top part, but then it seemed to be deciding a few games of one player opened with it, so now I'm trying it out like this.


Quote
Ravage - Action Attack Gatherer, $5 cost.
+ $3
Each other player discards a non-Victory card costing $3 or more from their hand (or reveals they can't) if there are any Resources in the Supply. Those who do gain a Resource to their hand.
You tear through rival territory, rendering it a deserted waste until it recovers. In the short term, a good card in your opponents' hands is downgraded to a Resource, whilst in the long term, their deck may be slightly weakened by Resource 'junk' or strengthened. What they choose to discard may be influenced by the Resource they'll get. They go round the table in play order doing this, and if the Resources empty out part way round, the next players don't have to discard.
+: it's a different way to utilise Resources. The Attack can be interesting and even fun to play against.
-: there's the potential to devastate a good hand, and the potential to save a bad one; overall, this might be too swingy and not work.
History: the attack hasn't changed, but the vanilla bonus was +3 Cards for a time, which felt a little on the strong side.


Quote
Forage - Act Gatherer
Gain a Resource.
Roam the desert in search of necessities. When the right Resource is on top, you can prioritise an Action on gaining it. Resources are also made available on the opening turns.
+: Simple and effective.
-: maybe too much of an acceleration to the game? I doubt it.
History: it just clicked when thinking of Acts one day, nothing else to say.
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Re: Fan Mechanic "Acts" (author: Aquila)
« Reply #36 on: March 02, 2021, 03:31:26 pm »
0

Acts
These are landscape cards triggered by spending an Action (Action, not Action card). When you do this, move the Act card into your play area as if it were a portrait Action card; only it is not a card in play, just a tracking indicator. When they would be discarded from play, return them to the middle of the table where they were before, so other players may use it on their turn.

Differences from Ways:
  • An Action is spent, not an Action card. So they can be used in the opening turns.
  • The overall power level is thus a bit weaker.
  • They can only be used once per turn.
  • Design space advantages include independence on what's in your hand and effects broken on an Action card.
  • You can use two of them in a game.







Quote
Accommodate - Act
+1 Action
Choose one: put an Action card from your hand on your Tavern mat; or play an Action card from your Tavern mat.
This opens up your Tavern mat to offering hospitality to all your Actions. Once per turn, you can choose to put an Action you have out of the way, or play an Action you earlier saved at a good time.
+: It opens up more functionality to Actions, enabling more different strategies and combos. And as an Act, it's safe from Adventures token abuse.
-: the way it saves terminal collisions could make it boring.
History: I tried it as a Way, but weird broken stuff could happen. Then a cantrip Action, but that was unreliable.


Quote
Assess - Act
+1 Action
Look at the top card of your deck; discard it or put it back.
Look at the road ahead and evaluate the situation. How many times have you wished you knew what the top card of your deck was? This gives you an answer. But again, only once per turn, so time carefully.
+: it's a simple but desirable effect to have.
-: maybe it's just a mundane simplification of the game, and maybe it shouldn't give you the option to discard.
History: this is pretty much the first thing I thought of when deciding to do Acts. At first it just looked, no discarding option, but then I thought I could make it more relevant more often adding it.


Quote
Declare - Act Duration
Name a type. Until the end of your next turn, when any player gains a card with that type, they get +1VP.
Players get to declare what type of card is the preference to gain for a round of turns. This is an Act Duration, so it follows the movement rules of a played Action Duration card. You spend an Action, move it to the top row of your play area where Durations go, then starting next turn you move it down, then at that turn's Clean-up you move it back to the middle of the table. So the advantage of you spending an Action on this global effect is getting 2 turns of it, and you're aiming to get ahead on VP by making the right declarations.
+: It's an interactive way to get ahead on points, so it should be engaging play.
-: Players have to remember the declared type. It may also cause mirror play. Naming Resource might be too influential and game-shaping sometimes.
History: it stems from Donald's Secret History! There was an Event outtake from Adventures that rewarded Golds for gaining cards with the named type. I felt how it could be compelling, and saw how it could work on an Act by involving the user's immediate turn.


Quote
Delegate - Act
Set aside any number of Actions with the same name from your hand, then play them in any order.
Organise a group of Actions to work together on an assignment. Wait for a good number of copies to be in hand, then play them all at once, to effectively get a varying number of +Actions.
+: the effect really benefits from being on an Act for reliability.
-: it's just free Actions, so likely simplistic and boring.
History: I saw the effect tried on an Action card more than once, then realised it could work on an Act and there we are. One of the first ones.


Quote
Descend - Act
+2 Cards
Each other player gets +1VP.
A physical descent down a mountain, or a moral descent in order to get ahead? Once per turn you can choose to play a free Smithy at the cost of a VP.
+: simple but effective, a bit like a +Cards variant of Desperation.
-: giving a VP might be too little a penalty, and actually gaining a Curse like Desperation might be more balanced. Or the opening becomes too wild and +1 Card (maybe with +Action) would tone things down there.
History: One of the first Acts. When I twigged how weak they would have to be, I saw that self-inflicted penalties could open the design space up and then this was obvious.


Quote
Dig - Act
Gain a non-Victory card from the trash. If it costs $2 or less, + $1.
People bury their treasure in the desert. You can dig around to claim it as yours. If there's something good in the trash, you can use an Action to take it in a pinch.
+: An often weak ability that is sometimes amazing, it's the kind of thing Acts like.
-: it's sometimes doing nothing, but at least as a landscape it's easy to replace.
History: it started as Way of the Vulture, exactly the same but a Way. I preferred it as an Act because it's once per turn so the infinite VP and other tfb loops are more restricted.


Quote
Forage - Act Gatherer
Gain a Resource.
Roam the desert in search of necessities. When the right Resource is on top, you can prioritise an Action on gaining it. Resources are also made available on the opening turns.
+: Simple and effective.
-: maybe too much of an acceleration to the game? I doubt it.
History: it just clicked when thinking of Acts one day, nothing else to say.


Quote
Hire - Act Attack
Discard a Treasure. If you do, each other player with 5 or more cards in hand discards a card.
With a bit of spare cash, get a local mercenary to do some dirty work on your opponents. This is an Attack, so using it is 'playing an Attack card' for all concerned Reactions and Durations, even if it isn't a card in play.
+: it adds an interactive spin to the game.
-: Player 1 starts $5/$2, and gets Hire on turn 2, against player 2 with $2/$5... It's rare, but potentially game-deciding.
History: All of the Acts are very new, and this one came after Declare being an Act Duration; what other types could I give to Acts to make the whole rule simpler to understand?


Quote
Offer - Act
Choose a card in the Supply costing up to $4. The player to your left may gain it. If they do, +2VP.
If you can read the player to your left well, offer them something they want without compromising the whole game to them. Make your 2VP count.
+: It captures the moment where reading and tracking your opponents is a key part of winning the game.
-: are experienced players ever going to find this a challenge? Would enabling offers to all players be fine, or would that create politics? A consolation bonus upon declined offers would help too.
History: as I was playing with Resources, it felt like a nice idea to make offering a Resource to opponents be a thing. Sometimes one shows up that you don't need but they do.

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naitchman

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Re: Atlas of Fan Card Mechanics: A Bibliographic Thread
« Reply #37 on: May 24, 2021, 11:04:14 pm »
+1

I just wanted to note that I had done a mechanic contest in the weekly design contest about a year ago, and there were some pretty cool submissions (some of them are already in the atlas). Here's the link

Here's a short list of the mechanics submitted
2 sided events by grep
Morning Cards by Spineflu
2 sided events by Majiponi
Single Cards by NoMoreFun
Armor by 4est
Reload by mandioca15
Workers by D782802859
Rules by grrgrrgrr (similar to edicts)
Jewelry by scolapasta
Strength by X-tra
Equipment by [TP] Inferno
Card Costs by Aquila
Mount Cards by Gazbag
Threat Cards by Fragasnap
Roundabout Cards by Snowyowl
Enchantments by Something_Smart
Leaders by Kudasai
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Re: Atlas of Fan Card Mechanics: A Bibliographic Thread
« Reply #38 on: May 29, 2021, 01:44:11 pm »
+1

Does Subdeck/Aquatic make it onto the atlas? Happy to transcribe examples from http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=20770.0
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emtzalex

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Re: Atlas of Fan Card Mechanics: A Bibliographic Thread
« Reply #39 on: September 13, 2021, 11:20:27 pm »
+2

I know this thread was not meant to be comprehensive, but given that we have an ongoing Fan Card Mechanics Contest, I wanted to collect more of these mechanics, even if only for my own use. So I have been trawling through the past several pages of Variants and Fan Cards posts, looking for any fan mechanics. I can't say 100% I didn't miss any, but I think I have got most (if not all) of them, going back to about the beginning of 2020.

Here is my list of fan mechanics not currently in the Atlas (and which have not been featured in a Fan Card Mechanics contest):

Luxury cards and the Wealth type (from DunnoItAll's Dominion: Middle Ages) -- Luxury cards are an additional Supply pile that gets added when a Kingdom pile has the Wealth type; they stay in play and give a vanilla bonus at the start of each turn.

Gems and Gemstones (by DunnoItAll) -- Gemstones are player-specific landscapes that function as a kind of modified Coffers mat, the tokens on which can be returned for a different amount of $ depending on some external condition. Gems are the tokens.

Setting aside a Kingdom pile as a non-Supply card (from Something_Smart's Roots expansion) -- the cards are gained by an Action or Event, which also modifies how it gets played (see Judge, Pioneer, Construct, Witchcraft).

Double-face cards (by Carline) -- these cards are set aside at the beginning of the game, and are played using either a card (Guildmaster) or Way (Way of the Beast)

Harms (from Something_Smart's Rivalries) -- piles of Junk cards that do harm to a player during Clean-up (in games using them, players must reveal their hand during Clean-up)

Currency (from Jupaoqq's Dominion: Dynasty) -- Coins that can only be used to buy a specific type of card (i.e. ActionCurrency, TreasureCurrency, and VictoryCurrency)

Monsters (by Marpharos) -- a harmful landscape in the middle of a split pile that are "defeated" using Raiders, a resources handed out by the top card in the pile (which has the new "Adventurer" type); when the Monster is killed, a Reward is given to the players based upon their participation in defeating the monster

Heritage cards (in DunnoItAll's Dominion: Subterfuge) -- DunnoItAll doesn't really explain how these work; given that each Heritage card accompaies a Kingdom card with the Heritage listed like an Heirloom, I presume it works like an Heirloom, but replaces an Estate instead of a Copper (though I would appreciate DunnoItAll correcting me if I am wrong).

Money Bags (by herw)--cards with an a bonus on-play effect that requires putting basic Treasure cards from your hand under them as a form of payment

Adventurer Cards (from Udzu's Dominion: Swords & Sorcery) -- "a sort of cross between Heirlooms and Reserve cards," each of these is included when a certain card is in the Kingdom; they start on a player's Adventurer's mat, and stay there until thery are called by meeting some condition. They are then discarded, and become part of a player's deck. They are modified by Equipment landscapes.

Missions (from Udzu's Dominion: Swords & Sorcery) -- Objectives that, when completed, give the player a bonus

Janus cards (by emtzalex) -- two-sided cards (they have one face, but one is right-side up and the other is upside down), which, when played, give one effect to the player playing it, and the other effect to each other player.

Equipment cards (by gambit05) -- Like Heirlooms, these are added to the game based on the presence of certain Kingdom cards; they start out of the game on "stand by" mode, and enter the game when "Equipped" by a player meeting certain criteria. A subset of these have a "Cabinet" type, which go onto your Cabinet mat and enhace the play of other cards while there (see Kingsman). This is an update of an earlier post, which also had Morale cards.

Henchmen + Underlings + Jobs (by spineflu) -- Henchmen are tokens that go on a Henchmen mat, and which are given by cards with the "Underling" type. In games with an Underling card, a Job (or maybe more than one) is added to the game. During a player's Action phase, they may pay 1 Action and 1 Henchman token to play the Job.

Carts (by gambit05) -- Cart is a non-Suppy Action card that gives +2 Actions, +$2, +1 Card per empty pile.

Territories (by scott_pilgrim) -- landscapes that give Project-like bonuses, but which can only be held by one player at a time; in order to take it away, another player must pay more than the current holder paid the previous time

Allies (by MrHiTech) -- "Allies are a sideways card type. They go in your sideways deck, and start in the supply. When you buy an Ally, it goes in front of you, like an Artifact, and you benefit from it while it’s in front of you. Another player can buy an Ally from in front of you, and then they put it in front of them. There is only one copy of each Ally."

Buy type (from X-tra's Odyssey) -- Cards with the Buy type can't be "obtained in any way outside of your Buy phase."
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Thanks to Shard of Honor for his Extended Version of the Dominion Card Image Generator, which I use to mock up my fan cards, and to Violet CLM, who made the original.

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Re: Atlas of Fan Card Mechanics: A Bibliographic Thread
« Reply #40 on: September 14, 2021, 09:02:52 am »
+3

Yikes. My entries here are from a time where I wasn't very skilled at making fan stuff for Dominion. These gameplay mechanics of mine were largely untested. They do not play good and have a very uuuuh unpolished feel, if you will. But, I have learned from them since then. The Strength mechanic, for instance, while it doesn't play nice at all, I have been able to repurpose with another idea I have yet to post on these forums. Because that's kind of the difference between then and now: I test stuff thoroughly now to filter out bad ideas.  8)

Still, I appreciate the compilation you guys are making here. It's good to have it all documented in one place, if only to secure ideas to not be lost over time.
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spineflu

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Re: Atlas of Fan Card Mechanics: A Bibliographic Thread
« Reply #41 on: September 14, 2021, 09:24:37 am »
+2

Still, I appreciate the compilation you guys are making here. It's good to have it all documented in one place, if only to secure ideas to not be lost over time.

honeslty it'd be done better as a wiki - forum threads aren't condusive to this type of organization. I wish I had more time in the day / energy in my waking life to tidy this up a bit, add in more things.
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Re: Atlas of Fan Card Mechanics: A Bibliographic Thread
« Reply #42 on: September 14, 2021, 09:37:49 am »
+1

honeslty it'd be done better as a wiki - forum threads aren't condusive to this type of organization. I wish I had more time in the day / energy in my waking life to tidy this up a bit, add in more things.

Might not be a bad idea at all. The Wiki is actually currently in the process of being entirely revamped after all (I even participated in writing new strategical blurbs for outdated pages). Most of the discussion is happening on Discord. While the prime focus for the time being is to re-do card by card pages (they really needed a major cleanup), I'll still drop a couple of words to the good folks there about this idea. It's Dominion related after all. I think this atlas has a right to be documented on the official Wiki.
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spineflu

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Re: Atlas of Fan Card Mechanics: A Bibliographic Thread
« Reply #43 on: September 14, 2021, 09:45:03 am »
0

honeslty it'd be done better as a wiki - forum threads aren't condusive to this type of organization. I wish I had more time in the day / energy in my waking life to tidy this up a bit, add in more things.

Might not be a bad idea at all. The Wiki is actually currently in the process of being entirely revamped after all (I even participated in writing new strategical blurbs for outdated pages). Most of the discussion is happening on Discord. While the prime focus for the time being is to re-do card by card pages (they really needed a major cleanup), I'll still drop a couple of words to the good folks there about this idea. It's Dominion related after all. I think this atlas has a right to be documented on the official Wiki.

When I last talked to wero about it, he wanted me to keep it all to one page, which is why the fan card creation guide is the longest page on the wiki.
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DunnoItAll

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Re: Atlas of Fan Card Mechanics: A Bibliographic Thread
« Reply #44 on: September 14, 2021, 05:45:11 pm »
+2

Yikes. My entries here are from a time where I wasn't very skilled at making fan stuff for Dominion. These gameplay mechanics of mine were largely untested. They do not play good and have a very uuuuh unpolished feel, if you will. But, I have learned from them since then. The Strength mechanic, for instance, while it doesn't play nice at all, I have been able to repurpose with another idea I have yet to post on these forums. Because that's kind of the difference between then and now: I test stuff thoroughly now to filter out bad ideas.  8)

Still, I appreciate the compilation you guys are making here. It's good to have it all documented in one place, if only to secure ideas to not be lost over time.

Yeah same here.  Honestly, Luxury cards need to be stricken from this list and everyone's memory.  Gems/Gemstones could possibly be made to work (I think I finally had something almost workable near the end), and Heritage cards are indeed just Heirlooms for Estates.

Spells/Spellcasters could be added to this list (though some credit should be given to LittleFish and LibraryAdventurer for the concept):

from here: https://dominion-fantasy.weebly.com/

"Spellcasters
 There are 10 cards in this expansion that enable the Spells pile to be included.  Spell cards are not in the Supply. Spells can be played as Action cards or as Spell cards. Their effect is the same, but if it is played as a Spell, it costs 1 "mana" to play (instead of costing an Action). Mana is tracked by mana tokens; one mana token can be gained any time you have $2 or more remaining at the end of your turn. You cannot gain more than 1 mana per turn in this way."
« Last Edit: September 14, 2021, 05:48:42 pm by DunnoItAll »
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Re: Atlas of Fan Card Mechanics: A Bibliographic Thread
« Reply #45 on: September 15, 2021, 07:56:56 am »
+1

Yikes. My entries here are from a time where I wasn't very skilled at making fan stuff for Dominion. These gameplay mechanics of mine were largely untested. They do not play good and have a very uuuuh unpolished feel, if you will. But, I have learned from them since then. The Strength mechanic, for instance, while it doesn't play nice at all, I have been able to repurpose with another idea I have yet to post on these forums. Because that's kind of the difference between then and now: I test stuff thoroughly now to filter out bad ideas.  8)

Still, I appreciate the compilation you guys are making here. It's good to have it all documented in one place, if only to secure ideas to not be lost over time.

Yeah same here.  Honestly, Luxury cards need to be stricken from this list and everyone's memory.  Gems/Gemstones could possibly be made to work (I think I finally had something almost workable near the end), and Heritage cards are indeed just Heirlooms for Estates.

Spells/Spellcasters could be added to this list (though some credit should be given to LittleFish and LibraryAdventurer for the concept):

honestly i think stuff that didnt work that is sufficiently outside the norm should be on the list (especially if you want to write up a little secret history style blurb on what's busted with it)- it lets others know what does/doesn't work, and why, and maybe they can tweak it into functionality like we've seen with some of the stuff in the fan mechanic contests.
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emtzalex

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Re: Atlas of Fan Card Mechanics: A Bibliographic Thread
« Reply #46 on: May 17, 2022, 04:32:53 pm »
+1

So I had an idea the other day for a new type of card: Activation. I even wrote a quick blurb:

These cards say “Activation” on the bottom line, i.e. "Action – Activation.” In addition to any effects these cards have when played or while in play, an Activation card has another effect that you can use by spending an Action. During your Action phase, instead of spending an Action to play an Action card from your hand, you may spend an Action to get the activation effect of an Activation card you already have in play.

Activation cards in play that have not yet been activated are not discarded during your Clean-up phase. They stay in play until activated and are discarded from play during the Clean-up phase of that turn.

Activation cards can only be activated once per time they are played. Once activated, they cannot be activated again until they have been removed from play and played again. Even if another card plays a single Activation card more than once, the activation effect can only be used once before the Activation card leaves play. Hence, if an Activation card is played twice by Throne Room, the Throne Room will be discarded from play normally during the Clean-up phase of that turn, whether or not the card it played has been activated.

In order to keep track of which Activation cards have been activated and which ones haven’t, when you play an Activation card from your hand, turn it 90° to the right. When you activate an Activation card, turn it right-side up. During your Clean-up phase, remember to only discard cards from play which are right-side up.

Here are some examples of Activation cards:

Patron
Types: Action – Activation
Cost: $2
While this is in play, when another player plays an Attack card, +1 Card then discard a card.

When you activate this, +$4.


Hidden Passage
Types: Action – Activation
Cost: $3
+2 Actions.

When you activate this, discard any number of cards. +$1 per card discarded.


Balcony
Types: Action – Activation
Cost: $5
+1 Card. +1 Action.

When you activate this, you may play an Action card from your hand twice.


Boomtown
Types: Action – Activation
Cost: $5
+2 Cards. +2 Actions. +1 Buy.

When you activate this, discard a card.

In other news, I've been trying to come up with a good Activation Attack. The challenge is that, ideally, the attack effect should be blockable with Moat, etc. So I'd rather not do a card where the attack itself is on the Activation portion. Here's an idea that uses an ancillary Activation card (because I'm a big proponent of Attack cards using ancillary cards).

Quote
Cannoneer
Types: Action – Attack
Cost: $4
+1 Action. Activate all your deactivated Cannons. For each one, each other player trashes the top card of his deck and gains a cheaper card that shares a type with it. If he didn't, he gains a Curse.

When you gain this, gain a Cannon.

Cannon
Types: Action – Activation
Cost: $0*
+2 Cards.

When you activate this, +1 Card. (This is not in the Supply.)

Maybe a bit wordy. Still, seems promising as a mechanic.

New iteration of Cannoneer:

Quote
Catapult
Types: Action – Activation
Cost: $4
When you play or activate this: +2 Cards.

When you gain this, you may gain an Engineer from the Engineer pile.

Engineer
Types: Action – Attack
Cost: $0*
Activate all your dormant Catapults. For each one, each other player trashes the top card of his deck and gains a cheaper card that shares a type with it. If he didn't, he gains a Curse. (This is not in the Supply.)

In other news, here are some ideas I had for other Activation cards. I haven't yet given these as much thought as the ones in the OP, so feedback would be great.

Quote
Sawmill
Types: Action – Activation
Cost: $3
+1 Buy. +$2.
------------------------------------------------------------
When you activate this, +1 Action per Sawmill you have in play.

Quote
Citadel
Types: Action – Activation
Cost: $6
When you activate this, look through your discard pile. Set aside up to 3 Action cards from it and play them in any order.


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Thanks to Shard of Honor for his Extended Version of the Dominion Card Image Generator, which I use to mock up my fan cards, and to Violet CLM, who made the original.

BryGuy

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Re: Atlas of Fan Card Mechanics: A Bibliographic Thread
« Reply #47 on: May 04, 2023, 12:02:17 pm »
0

Cursed card type. These cards provide negative Victory Points. Cards that would be considered a Cursed type include:
* Dominion's Curse
* mxdata's Idle Hands
* emtzalex's Evil Eye
* Carline's Swamp
* Carline's Spell
* The Alchemist's Smog
For practicality, some of these examples would be printed once and used to represent the entire Curse pile, while others may just be their own pile.


Pass card type. These cards stay in play like Durations. After a players turn, they are passed to the right, which is not considered gaining. They may have an effect to incentivize passing. They may provide different benefits from Owner and Other Players. A colored token (from Adventures) can be placed upon them to track ownership. Like durations any effect occurs before the turn. When passed to Owner the card is discarded. Pass is a mechanic that can temper a powerful card by removing it from the owner's use for Other Player quantity of turns.
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