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[Mahowrath]

Week 22, following on from The Alchemist's Week 21: Curse you! contest

Fan Card Mechanics Contest Week 22: Travellers cheques

I never got around to finishing the second half of my Dominion Oceans fan-expansion, but it was going to include a sort-of traveller line with paid upgrades. Work in Progress; current draft:

The idea with this particular line is to lure players in with Skiff's cheap payload, and escalate an arms race with increasingly dubiously expensive debt-costing upgrades.

For this contest, what I'm looking for, are lines of 2-5 "travellers" with a cost to moving along the line. The cost can be of any sort, beyond just having to exchange the original card.

They do not need to explicitly have the "traveller" or "boat" type or theme. Having an interesting theme is of course always appreciated.
You are free to create terms/keywords to save text on the paid upgrade clause.
As I'm a reluctant judge at the best of times, I would advise against long, varied lines of complex cards.

I'll give until 10:00am UTC Thursday 4th Nov for entries. Let me know if you have any questions (here, or discord)

[mxdata]

Week 22, following on from The Alchemist's Week 21: Curse you! contest

Fan Card Mechanics Contest Week 22: Travellers cheques

I never got around to finishing the second half of my Dominion Oceans fan-expansion, but it was going to include a sort-of traveller line with paid upgrades. Work in Progress; current draft:

The idea with this particular line is to lure players in with Skiff's cheap payload, and escalate an arms race with increasingly dubiously expensive debt-costing upgrades.

For this contest, what I'm looking for, are lines of 2-5 "travellers" with a cost to moving along the line. The cost can be of any sort, beyond just having to exchange the original card.

They do not need to explicitly have the "traveller" or "boat" type or theme. Having an interesting theme is of course always appreciated.
You are free to create terms/keywords to save text on the paid upgrade clause.
As I'm a reluctant judge at the best of times, I would advise against long, varied lines of complex cards.

I'll give until 10:00am UTC Thursday 4th Nov for entries. Let me know if you have any questions (here, or discord)

Is it intentional that you can't pay off the debt until your next turn since, unlike with Capital, there's no clause allowing you to pay off debt at Clean-Up?

[emtzalex]

For this contest, what I'm looking for, are lines of 2-5 "travellers" with a cost to moving along the line. The cost can be of any sort, beyond just having to exchange the original card.

They do not need to explicitly have the "traveller" or "boat" type or theme. Having an interesting theme is of course always appreciated.
You are free to create terms/keywords to save text on the paid upgrade clause.
As I'm a reluctant judge at the best of times, I would advise against long, varied lines of complex cards.

So, when I think of a 2 card design with the exchange mechanic, I immediately think Vampire / Bat. Would a cyclical design (e.g. one in which the cards go back and forth to different uses rather than upward to better versions) count?

If the answer to that is yes, then arguably, Vampire/Bat itself could qualify, as Bat has a "cost" (requiring you to trash at least one card) to go back to Vampire (the better card, albeit the one the player gets first). Would you consider that to qualify? Or would it not because the first exchange does not have an added cost (or because the first exchange is not optional)?

[mathdude]

For this contest, what I'm looking for, are lines of 2-5 "travellers" with a cost to moving along the line. The cost can be of any sort, beyond just having to exchange the original card.

They do not need to explicitly have the "traveller" or "boat" type or theme. Having an interesting theme is of course always appreciated.
You are free to create terms/keywords to save text on the paid upgrade clause.
As I'm a reluctant judge at the best of times, I would advise against long, varied lines of complex cards.

So, when I think of a 2 card design with the exchange mechanic, I immediately think Vampire / Bat. Would a cyclical design (e.g. one in which the cards go back and forth to different uses rather than upward to better versions) count?

If the answer to that is yes, then arguably, Vampire/Bat itself could qualify, as Bat has a "cost" (requiring you to trash at least one card) to go back to Vampire (the better card, albeit the one the player gets first). Would you consider that to qualify? Or would it not because the first exchange does not have an added cost (or because the first exchange is not optional)?

The Vampire/Bat is reversible, whereas the Boats (and Travelers in general) are not. A 2-card design could be more similar to Hermit/Madman or Urchin/Mercenary, I'd guess?

[Mahowrath]

So, when I think of a 2 card design with the exchange mechanic, I immediately think Vampire / Bat. Would a cyclical design (e.g. one in which the cards go back and forth to different uses rather than upward to better versions) count?

If the answer to that is yes, then arguably, Vampire/Bat itself could qualify, as Bat has a "cost" (requiring you to trash at least one card) to go back to Vampire (the better card, albeit the one the player gets first). Would you consider that to qualify? Or would it not because the first exchange does not have an added cost (or because the first exchange is not optional)?

The Vampire/Bat is reversible, whereas the Boats (and Travelers in general) are not. A 2-card design could be more similar to Hermit/Madman or Urchin/Mercenary, I'd guess?

I'm happy to accept cyclic chains, and potentially conditions as a form of cost. Entries do not need to be travellers or boats.

Suffice to say this mechanic is much less rigidly defined than those of previous competitions, and there are official cards that border on using it - hope that's okay!

Is it intentional that you can't pay off the debt until your next turn since, unlike with Capital, there's no clause allowing you to pay off debt at Clean-Up?

Not intentional, and you're right that is a slightly feel-bad use of debt. I'll be interested to see if there's a way to incorporate the capital mechanic without losing too much brevity.

[spineflu]

does it have to be a cost, or can it just be "non standard exchange condition for travellers"? like, could it be a reaction or something?

[Aquila]

Labourer, Action Traveller, $2 cost.
Gain a card costing up to $3.
-
At Clean-up, you may trash a card costing more than this from your hand, to exchange this for an Entrepreneur.

Entrepreneur, Action Traveller, $3* cost.
+1 Card
+1 Action
Reveal the top 2 cards of your deck. Put one of the Actions into your hand. Discard the rest for + $1 each.
-
At Clean-up, you may trash a card costing more than this from your hand to exchange this for a Magnate.
(This is not in the Supply.)

Magnate, Action, $6* cost.
+1 Buy
+ $1 per Action you have in play.
(This is not in the Supply.)

[Xen3k]

Bait Shop - $2
Action - Enterprise
+1 Action
You may discard a card for +1 Card and +$1.
----
At Clean-up, you may reveal a Victory card from your hand and put it onto your deck to exchange this for a Pier.

Pier - $3
Action - Enterprise
+1 Actions
+1 Buy
You may discard a card for
+1 Card and +$2.
----
At Clean-up, you may reveal a Victory card from your hand and put it onto your deck to exchange this for a Dockyard Pub.
(This is not in the Supply.)

Dockyard Pub - $4
Action - Night - Enterprise
+1 Buy
+1 Card at the end of this turn.
You may trash a card from your hand or a card you have in play to gain a Silver onto your deck or to your hand.
-
At Clean-up, you may reveal a Victory card costing more than this from your hand and put it onto your deck to exchange this for a Fishery.
(This is not in the Supply.)

Fishery - $6
Action
+1 Card
+2 Actions
+1 Buy
You may discard 2 Cards for +2 Card.
You may discard a card for +$2.
(This is not in the Supply.)

Basically a Traveler line renamed as "Enterprise" as these are all businesses. They are all a variety of Peddler, with Dockside Pub being the least like a Peddler as  the card draw is delayed and it costs an Action to play during the Action phase. The gimmick for exchanging them out is that you must have a Victory card in hand and then put it on top of your deck. Dockside Pub has the added caveat that it requires the Victory card to cost more than it, so this will delay getting a Fishery too early in the game. I know this line may be unappealing due to requiring it to collide with a Victory card and I am not too sure about the power level on them. Feedback is appreciated.

[mxdata]

Lead - $2
Treasure - Investment
$1
You may trash a card you have in play costing $2 or more to exchange this for a Blackmailer.

Blackmailer - $3*
Treasure - Attack - Investment
Worth $1 + $1 per Investment in play. Each other player may discard a Treasure. If they do not, they take their -1 Card token. You may trash a card you have in play costing $3 or more to exchange this for an Embezzler.

Embezzler - $4*
Treasure - Investment
$3
You may set aside any non-Investment Treasure you have in play to play it at the start of your next turn. You may trash a Treasure you have in play to exchange this for a Feudal Lord.

Feudal Lord - $5*
Action - Duration - Investment
For the rest of the game, +1 Coffers when you gain a card.
(This stays in play)

The first two cards can technically trash themselves, however, if you choose to use them to trash themselves, then they are no longer available to exchange, so you would not get the next card in the series. The fact that the card must be in play prevents you from using these to trash Estates, and the minimum cost means that trashing Copper wouldn't work either, making it potentially an expensive investment when played early in the game

Blackmailer is always worth at least a Silver. When you exchange an Investment, it leaves play, so the only way to make Blackmailer worth more than $2 is to have an Investment in play that you're not exchanging. Blackmailer threatens your opponents with the -1 Card token, but they may discard a Treasure to avoid the token. Draw-to-X cards would be an obvious counter to Blackmailer - discarding a Copper would actually be beneficial, and if you don't have any Coppers to discard, draw-to-X already counters the token on its own. It would probably frequently play like Relic, though if you choose not to exchange them, you could potentially play multiple Blackmailers, with each Blackmailer being more valuable than the previous

Embezzler can be really strong depending on what Treasures are in the game. It would work extremely well with Capitalism. It would also play very well with the combo of Quarry and most Gainers, or Quarry + Captain or Overlord. But even in games without Capitalism or special Treasures, just being able to replay a Gold could be quite strong. Maybe making this too strong?

And finally, Feudal Lord gives you lots of Coffers, especially with extra Buys and/or Gainers

As with Traveller lines, there are 5 copies of each, except Lead which has the normal 10

[spineflu]

Connive • $2 • Supplier - Traveller
+1 Card
+$1
Put a card from your hand on top of your deck.
-
$2: +1 Buy, Exchange this for a Concoct

Concoct • $3 • Supplier - Traveller
+$2
This turn, when you buy cards, they are gained to the top of your deck.
-
$3: +1 Buy, Exchange this for an Arrange.
(This is not in the Supply)

Arrange • $5 • Supplier - Traveller
+$2
+1 Buy
Look at the top 3 cards of your deck. Discard 2 of them, then put the last back.
-
$5: Exchange this for a Plot
(This is not in the Supply)

Plot • $7 • Supplier - Duration
At the start of your turn, +1 Buy.
During Clean up, put one of your Action cards onto your deck when you discard it from play.

(This stays in play, and is not in the Supply)
-
$7: Once per game, +4%

FAQ
The once per game Plot buy can only happen once, regardless of how many plots you get into play.
Concoct's buy-topdecking is compulsory. That is, it's not just "Better Tracker". Same with Plot's scheme option - per Plot you have in play, you must topdeck an action from play (or whiff because not enough actions.)
Pile sizes are 10 for Connive, 5 for each of the others.
Only four long because to "fully" proc it, there's that extra purchase at the end.

Purpose
So I've got a trello board of travellers floating around. Most aren't very good, and most aren't very unified in purpose. One of the concepts I had though, was take an existing card archetype and build an increasingly good version of it - this does that with Scheme (although some of the mechanics are more taken from sifters or tracker). Rather than type out the "At the end of your turn, you may pay $X to exchange this for etc etc etc", I went back to week 12's fan mechanic contest - Suppliers. They already had syntax for "this is a card attached event", so, work with that. Does make these non-terminal, but I can live with that, or at least design around it.

Supplier rules refresher
(this is mostly copy/pasted from emtzalex's thread about them)
How they work:

• Suppliers are played during your Buy phase. Unlike Treasures, they may be played at any point during your Buy phase, even after you buy something.
• Every Supplier card has at least one purchase option available. A purchase option is indicate by a price (in coins, debt, etc.), followed by a colon, followed by the effect the purchase generates.
• Buying a purchase from a Supplier you have played works exactly the same as buying a card, Event, or Project. The player spends the price and 1 Buy and then resolves the effect on the card's text.
• Once a player plays a Supplier, they may buy the purchase(s) as many times as that player has the Buys and resources to afford to do (subject to text on the card limiting such buying, and things like the Stop Moving rule - these all are no longer where they are expected to be on the 2nd+ buy, so they are functionally once per turn).
• In other words, playing a Supplier card is like adding a new Event (or multiple Events, if it has more than one purchase option) to the game, but one that is only available to the player who played the card, and only that turn.
• Buying the purchases isn't part of resolving the card (as, for example, paying your coins to Storyteller to draw cards is). But you can put restrictions on when/how the player can make the purchase, similar to Events that say "once per turn" or "once per game".
• Suppliers may have some additional effect when they are played, which can including giving vanilla bonuses.

[emtzalex]

My Submission:

Apostate -- $2
Action - Traveller
+2 Cards
+1 Action
Discard 2 cards.
When you discard this from play, you may gain a Pox to exchange this for an Infidel.

Infidel -- $4*
Action - Traveller
+1 Action, discard any number of cards, then draw until you have 5 cards in hand.
When you discard this from play, you may gain a Pox to exchange this for a Heretic.
(This is not in the Supply.)

Heretic -- $6*
Action - Traveller
+1 Card
Discard any number of cards, then draw that many. Choose a different thing per card you discarded: +1 Action; +$1.
When you discard this from play, you may gain 2 Poxes to exchange this for an Blasphemer.
(This is not in the Supply.)

Blasphemer -- $8*
Action - Curse
+4 Cards
+1 Action
Trash up to 2 cards from your hand.
Worth -1VP per Curse you have (including this).
(This is not in the Supply.)

And here is Pox, the (additional) non-Supply card that supports these:

Pox -- $0* Curse -2VP Setup: Use five copies of Pox per player. (This is not in the Supply.)

This is my line of non-believers: Apostate, Infidel, Heretic, and Blasphemer. Each is non-terminal (Heretic conditionally, although it is a low bar), and the first three are each a twist on a sifting mechanic. Apostate is simply a weaker version of Warehouse, sifting 2 cards and reducing your hand size by 1 each time you use it. Infidel is hand size neutral when played from a 5 card hand (and can be used as a cantrip if you do not want to discard anything), and can actually mitigate the effects of a handsize attacks. However, it pairs poorly with cards that increase your hand size.

Heretic is the card I am least satisfied with, and will probably change. The initial idea was for a cantrip cellar, that not only restored you to your previous hand size, but also let you discard that drawn card. However, in many cases it isn't that much better than Infidel (and in a lot of cases--e.g. after handsize attacks, it is worse). I toyed with different ways to improve it (including making it +2 Cards, +1 Action), but have not come up with something really satisfactory.

The final card in the line is Blasphemer, a stupid powerful triple lab followed by optional trashing. To mitigate its strength somewhat I made it a Curse, worth at least -1 VP, and potentially a lot more (it effectively makes each Curse you have worth an additional -1VP). Blasphemer can be a powerful tool to trash the Poxes you gained to get to it (as well as any other Curses you might have received), but if you don't manage to do so before the game ends, your score can take a massive hit.

The added cost of advancing these is that players must gain Poxes, a double Curse I created for use with this line. The main reason I wanted a separate curse card was for the number available. Unlike with official Curses (which are pegged to the number of cards that are given out by 10 "each other player" attacks, so isn't consistently divisible by the number of players), these are not given out through Attacks, only taken by players. Thus, the number should be a multiple of the number of players. In my design, there are 5 Poxes per player.

It takes 4 Poxes to advance from Apostate to Blasphemer, so if each player is pursuing it there are only enough Poxes for them to do it once. A player could try to cut off another, but it would not be easy to do. Also, since both of my Curse cards are not in the Supply, they shouldn't have most of the issues with custom Curses (and a player who has gotten their Blasphemer cannot cut off their opponent by buying a Pox). In multiplayer games there might be more of a chance of this (or more of a chance of one player not trying to get a Blasphemer, especially on a board with other trashing), and a player might get 2 Blasphemers. If they do, that is worth -4 VP, a not unsubstantial penalty (and, again, that is only if the player manages to trash all of the Poxes gained, and any other Curses; otherwise the negative impact is much higher). Thus, I don't think it is totally centralizing.

[Timinou]

Can you discard a Pox to block a Mountebank attack or trash a Pox from your hand if your opponent plays Old Witch?

[emtzalex]

Can you discard a Pox to block a Mountebank attack or trash a Pox from your hand if your opponent plays Old Witch?

Yes.

[Timinou]

Can you discard a Pox to block a Mountebank attack or trash a Pox from your hand if your opponent plays Old Witch?

Yes.

I'll just have to remember to turn off the autoplay option for Old Witch when I have Blasphemers in my deck.   

[Mahowrath]

24 Hour Warning!!!

[Timinou]

Does the below-the-line text work, or should it say "At the start of Clean-up" instead of "When you discard this from play"?

[Mahowrath]

Okay, calling it there! The entries I have are:

Aquila: Labourer Traveller Line
Xen3k: Bait Shop Enterprise Line
mxdata: Lead Treasure - Investment Line
Spineflu: Connive Supplier - Traveller Line
emtzalex: Apostate Traveller Line
Timinou: Squirrels Critter Line

If you want to make a new entry or change, send me a PM. I'll aim to return Judgement in the next day or so.

[Mahowrath]

Judgement:

Aquila: Labourer Traveller Line
Neat traveller line; labourer is a gainer, that trashes such a gained card to become Entrepreneur; a strong non-terminal drawer/sifter for money. Finally Magnate is an unabashedly powerful payload card. This works, and seems like it would frequently be a strong choice for payload.
Xen3k: Bait Shop Enterprise Line
I like the flavour here, an enterprising fishery growing with the application of real estate. Bait shop is close to being $2 oasis, and Pier's the silver equivalent, if you're happy topdecking an estate/oge to get it. Dockyard Pub is the trashing equivalent, with gain-and-play silver or night flexibility. If you can topdeck a Duchy or similar, fishery is a sifting, +buy, discard for benefit village. This is a nice application of the idea, without the end result being game-breaking.
mxdata: Lead Treasure - Investment Line
The trash from play upgrade mechanic here is pretty novel. Lead is a copper for $2, but upgrades to blackmailer, a relic variant. Embezzler is a nice gold / treasure pseudotrasher, but upgrades pretty easily to feudal lord, a big source of coffers if gained early enough. The upgrade mechanic here rewards early collisions, and lead especially punishes non-collisions; which could be unfortunate when rushing feudal lord looks like it could often be the winning strategy.
Spineflu: Connive Supplier - Traveller Line
Cool to see suppliers. Connive is a nifty, albeit weak opener for smoothing/courtyarding actions; which upgrades into concoct, an interesting royal seal variant. Beyond this though, arrange and plot look to be pretty situational for the price; the +buy can be valuable if hard to acquire elsewhere, and the scheming valuable if trashing is difficult, or the draw is otherwise unreliable.
emtzalex: Apostate Traveller Line
This line has a great premise: it's a sifter line, that junks you as you progress along it, concluding with a trashing triple lab. At 5 per player, the limited availability of poxes looks pretty relevant here; infidel is the perfect enabler for this line, and there are only enough poxes for each player to advance to one blasphemer and one additional infidel. The first player to blasphemer will likely be able to leave less than 2 poxes in the pile, so might need to adjust the number of poxes to reduce FPA on boards where this is the main trasher.
Timinou: Squirrels Critter Line
This is a fun line. Squirrels are great opening draw, that can be non-terminal in a critter deck by instead sifting treasures. Trash Coppers to advance some Boars, to end squirrel chains non-terminally and add some payload. This allows us to reach stag, a smithy-variant requiring outside village/gold assistance to get rolling and gaining, but pushing through to lions gives a critter deck serious draw and payload. I like the synergies in this line, that rushing it isn't at all a given, and that stag's deficiencies prevent monolithic critters from being overpowered.

3rd Place: emtzalex's Apostate Traveller Line
2nd Place: Xen3k's Bait Shop Enterprise Line

Winner: Congrats to Timinou's Squirrels Critter Line

Honorable mentions to every other entry; they each did a great job of innovating traveller lines with additional costs, and it was clear that a lot of thought and effort went into every one.
It was tricky picking a winner, but in the end Timinou's line felt like it would lead to the most interesting games. Congrats Timinou!

[NoMoreFun]

This topic inspired me, so even though it's too late I'll post my idea.

Boom Town
Action/Traveller - $5
+2 Cards
+3 Actions
______
At the start of clean up, if you have Actions remaining, exchange this for a Tidy Town

Tidy Town
Action/Traveller - $4*
+2 Cards
+2 Actions
Discard a card. If it was an Action, exchange this for a Boom Town
______
At the start of clean up, if you have Actions remaining, exchange this for a Blighted Town

Blighted Town
Action/Traveller - $3*
+2 Actions
Discard your hand. If you discarded 5 or more cards, exchange this for a Tidy Town. Either way, +4 cards
________
At the start of clean up, if you have Actions remaining, exchange this for a One Horse Town

One Horse Town
Action/Traveller - $2*
+2 Actions
Gain a Horse. This turn, if you play a Horse, exchange this for a Blighted Town.
________
At the start of clean up, if you have Actions remaining, exchange this for a Forsaken Town

Forsaken Town
Action/Traveller - $1*
+2 Actions
________
At the start of clean up, if you have Actions remaining, exchange this for a Curse


A booming city!

When the boom is over, at least it can retain its dignity, and maybe the boom can start again.

Otherwise with neglect, a criminal element moves into the town. Perhaps a reminder of how the town used to be (big hands) will return it to some former glory.

If not, what you're left with is a one horse town. But maybe it could function still.

Otherwise, the town is forgotten. Perhaps you could gather there, but if you can't make it work, then you're as good as Cursed.

[Timinou]

Winner: Congrats to Timinou's Squirrels Critter Line

Honorable mentions to every other entry; they each did a great job of innovating traveller lines with additional costs, and it was clear that a lot of thought and effort went into every one.
It was tricky picking a winner, but in the end Timinou's line felt like it would lead to the most interesting games. Congrats Timinou!

Cool!  Thanks for the judging and I’m glad you liked my line.

I’ll try to have the next contest up within the next couple of days.