WDC #190: NintendominionCommentary & ResultsWhew and here we are with some contest results. Excellent work everyone on this wacky prompt, I was pleasantly surprised by how many different game genres y'all were able to cover here, and it was also a pleasant trip down memory lane of reflecting back on various games that I haven't played in years but have fond connections to.
OPs are linked, shortlisted entries are bolded, and I put the video game or series each entry was inspired by in parentheses (hoping I got these all right). Enjoy!
Zonai Constructs by Will(ow|iam) (The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom)Fitting that we lead off with a TotK-inspired entry! I LOVE the Zonai Constructs, particularly the Stewards, and I like that the Ally here echoes their "helpful" quality, as well as their tendency to create new weapons with Fuse. The Duplicate effect seems well balanced at 2 Favors (and gain a copy vs. Innovation seem comparable for something like City state). Not a whole lot else to say; as with all Allies, especially ones that require multiple Favors, its power depends significantly on the Liaison.
Baba by NoMoreFun (Baba is You) While I haven't played Baba is You, I've heard great things, and the rule bending mechanics of the game are captured really well here. After you play the first one, the rest of your Babas are Labs, and there are loads of other wacky combos out there too (Margrave looks scary). Some Way of the Chameleon vibes, which I'm always down for. The Gold thing is a little hard to wrap my mind around and comes with a lot of rules questions, but it's a unique way to play up the rule bending idea. A fun one.
Digger by grep (Digger) By far the oldest game represented on this list, I gotta say the first thing that I thought was, aw man, a Digger card that doesn't Dig (i.e. reveal cards from your deck until...)! I still like this though. Oasis Baker looks scary at first, but cantrip discarders are hard to spam so $4 is probably about right. The convert 3 Coffers into a Gold to hand thing is interesting and it will probably be more often something that's spread out over a few turns vs. playing three Diggers and getting the Gold. I like that it's something else to do with card and creates a mini-game to work towards. Good one.
Enforcer by sumrex (XCOM) I think I've played XCOM once or twice a decade ago, though I do enjoy a good turn based tactics game like Into the Breach or Mario + Rabids. I designed a card years ago called Falconer similar to this (before Command was the thing) that was a $3 Action, opponent reveals an Action from hand, and then play that Action or cantrip. This is much stronger since you play the best card in an opponent's hand and it can't really whiff except on hands of just junk. I do think this compares a bit too favorably to BoM, and you could probably drop the Treasures option to make it more of a risk. Also, why the +Buy? Seems a bit tacked on and I don't think it's necessary.
Attuned by AJL828 (Heroes of Hammerwatch) Never played Heroes of Hammerwatch, but it's giving me Enter the Gungeon vibes which I'm definitely a fan of. The Attuned Trait let's you replay Attuned cards if you discard 2 differently named cards. The connection to the games mechanic is neat and a non-one-shot Throne effect seems appropriate for a Trait that still feels different enough from Reckless. Discarding two cards is a steep penalty that will be a tough sell on many cards, but that sort of comes with the territory on Traits anyway.
Titan by silverspawn (Heroes of Might and Magic II) The Heroes of Might and Magic series is fantastic and I was glad to see a few entries from it. Unfortunately, Titan is too expensive and too challenging to use to be playable in most kingdoms. The up front 2 Actions cost is a cute idea, but in practice I think this kills the card. If you're going for some sort of penalty for using a strong card, the cost alone is enough here, or doing something like Lich where the penalty cones after.
Vampire Lord by JW (Heroes of Might and Magic III) One of my favorite games from my younger years, Heroes III is a classic and easily my most played of the Heroes series. I like that Vampire Lord is a simpler Vampire that keeps the Night-Attack, gaining, and trashing without any need for Bat or Hexes. $6 is a tough price point to get multiples of, though it's certainly still a lot stronger than Raider. As DXV has shared, the replicating part of Vampires is a tough thing to capture on a balanced card, but I do like that this gets the stronger in numbers flavor.
Celeste Mountain and Winged Strawberry by faust (Celeste)I've played through Celeste at least once every year since it came out; easily my favorite 2D platformer by a wide margin. The use of a Landmark to capture the strawberries mechanic is brilliant and I love that you've made the Winged Strawberries fickle and fly away if you use your "dash" (one-shot +$4) like in the game. Opening with a Strawberry to spike $5+ isn't a bad play on a lot of boards, and then you get the late game dance of trying to get at least three before piles run (sort of like collecting Coppers at the end of a Fountain game). If there's any complaint, it's that the hoops to jump through to gain Strawberries will be really challenging on boards without virtual coin. Otherwise though, I'm a big fan.
Dragonborn by LibraryAdventurer (The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim) Who doesn't love Skyrim, a modern classic that set the tone for open world RPGs for a generation until BotW came along. The leveling up your guy idea is cool here and captures the core conceit of Skyrim well, though the baseline Moat effect for $5 feels weak. You might be able to get away with Smithy here, maybe? I'd play around with the upgrade effect too: coin is fine but a little uninspiring, City, Paddock, and Animal Fair's upgrades all feel far more meaningful. The Command effect is neat, though expensive to use on a lot of boards.
Tiberium Crystal and Tiberium Spore by xyz123 (Command & Conquer) Oh man, I haven't thought about Tiberium and the C&C games for decades, but what an underrated RTS series. The powerful but toxic theme of Tiberium is captured well here. Crystals are like a mix of Treasure Trove and a mini-Spell Scroll, but you better have a plan for dealing with those Spores. I like this one a lot.
Franklin Badge by X-tra (Mother) Another classic series, and another terrific Dominion-ization of a video game mechanic. You get the feel of "reflecting" an Attack back at your opponent (though protect and reflect are reversed), plus a little every turn bonus until it successfully shields you. We haven't seen a next time Duration like this in Dominion yet, though DXV has talked about them. I guess with tracking, you leave it in the this turn Duration row until you get attacked? Multiples will all protect the same Attack, so you don't get multiple "layers" of protection which I actually prefer. My only issue with this one is it could feel a bit swingy in terms of who plays theirs first. Also, thematically, it seems like this could be a Treasure, the badge even looks like a coin.
Pelt Trader by Shael (Inscryption)I've heard good things about Inscription but still need to get around to playing it. As for the Event, I've always thought mass Remodels to be an interesting effect you don't see often in Dominion. Obviously, it's scary and needs some restrictions, but there's always the natural restriction of trashing cards from your hand. While I think the idea is worth exploring, the price point here needs some tweaking especially when compared to Enhance, which this is nearly strictly better than.
Donkey Breeder and Donkey by segura (Settlers 2)I've not played Settlers 2, though I have fond memories of other RTS games like the Age of Empires and Empire Earth games. Donkey Breeder is a Bridge variant that reduces card costs and has a Livery effect of making your gains come with Donkeys. It's definitely on the strong side with both cost reduction, +Buy, and free Donkeys for just $4, and could probably stand to lose one of those, either the +Buy or cost reduction (or cost $5). Forum is a good card that rarely hurts your deck, so getting a bunch of one-shot versions of them is fun and gives you some of the feel you get in Horse games. You'd rather have the Horse of course, which makes it odd that these cost more, but not a big deal. On the whole though, Donkeys seem like a great fit for a pile of one-shots.
Literature Club and Just Monika by Violet CLM (Doki Doki Literature Club)I'm not familiar with Doki Doki Literature Club, but I do love that it's inspired this unique Artifact. There will be some games when having all your Actions named Monika won't matter that much, and then you also get some with the fun combos like the ones mentioned. A rules question this raises centers around "copies" for example with Gladiator, if I reveal a Monika (that's actually a Village) is my opponent's Village a copy of it or not? Rules issues aside, it's a quirky idea that's definitely worth exploring. My bigger issue is with Literature Club. In the opening, this can be a non-terminal +$3 or even +$4 thanks to Coppers which feels a little too good and also isn't really what the card is trying to do anyway. Restricting to just naming Actions feels a bit lame, so it's maybe okay, but I do feel like it needs something to make it not as automatic in the early game. An interesting one nonetheless.
Etrian Odyssey by fika monster (Etrian Odyssey)I've not played any of the Etrian Odyssey games, though I'm glad to see the dungeon crawler genre represented here. The recursive cards in Dominion are neat and there's definitely design space there, including play again. As a trasher, you get some of Student's press your luck flavor high works well for the theme. I wouldn't recommend pricing a cantrip trasher at $3 due to the opening, but pricing at $4 should be fine. The Loot gain condition is really tough to pull off without extra +Buy, which makes me wonder if it should have a different spend condition or if replaying should be easier, not sure.
Runner line by RovingBear (The Last of Us)Dominion already has Zombies, so why not the Infected from The Last of Us? Traveller line, okay, let's see. Runner is a terminal Fugitive that can chain into another copy of itself or draw another card. Stalker is a Smithy with an Upgrade effect, though without the exactly $1 more, it can't thin Coppers. Clicker is our Village to play all these terminals with a Remodel or a trash a card into a Runner effect. And Bloater grants a permanent Transmogrify and makes all Travellers draw an extra card. The extra bit on Bloater has rules issues (the every turn effect remains but with no way to track it and when do you get to do it? Just after you play it? At the start of any of your turns? Whenever you want? I would just drop that piece honestly, it's simpler without. Apart from the Bloat on Bloater, I actually like this line, it's cool that it's themed around Remodeling and chaining together more of them which fits the flavor of the Cordyceps fungus and its slow but consuming effect really nicely.
Coalition by LTaco (Crusader Kings)The grand strategy games like Crusader Kings always felt too complex for me when compared to some of my preferred RTS standbys back in the day, but I had huge respect for folks who invested the time and thought in these kinds of games. Unfortunately, I'm not bought in on Coalition, at least not in it's current state. Yes, in the presence of plentiful +Buy or other Buy phase gains, this Groundskeeper-Triumph mashup can generate some hefty VP hauls. However, without those, this is not worth buying at $12 and in Kingdoms with no extra gains, it does nothing. Compare to Dominate at $14 which always nets 15 VP. My recommended fix? Make it a Project. You can try the current stacking effect, or perhaps just straight Groundskeeper at a lower price point. This would better fit the Coalition flavor as an alternative route to Victory that you build up to, but doesn't need to all happen on the same turn.
Final Smash Ball by Augie279 (Super Smash Brothers)Finally, we have the Final Smash Ball in Dominion. I like the mechanic of everyone getting a "Final Smash" that they can strategize about when to use. However, as others have noted, I worry this particular effect is too automatic to really create much difference around when to use it. I don't love that it uses the Curse pile as the Curses will run in some games before people can buy this. But I think the idea of a once per game bonus that players have to decide when is best to use is definitely one worth exploring.
Worm Rider by BryGuy (Dune)I guess there's a new Dune video game, I haven't played it, though I have enjoyed other 4X style games in the past like the Civilization series. A Duchy gainer that can discard Duchies to gain Spices, and combine a Duchy and a Spices into a Province. Using another Kingdom pile is a bit odd (what if Spices is already in the Kingdom?) but that aside, I think this is usually going to be too slow on most boards. Spending $6 and a terminal Action to gain a Duchy, and then lining up that Duchy and spending another terminal Action to discard for a Spices, and THEN lining up both of those and spending a third terminal Action just to get a Province is never going to be faster or more efficient than just buying and gaining the Province.
Honorable Mentions (in no particular order): Baba by NoMoreFun, Digger by grep, Vampire Lord by JW, Franklin Badge by X-tra, Donkey Breeder and Donkey by segura, Runner line by RovingBear
Runner Up: Tiberium Crystal and Tiberium Spore by xyz123
WINNER: Celeste Mountain and Winged Strawberry by faustCongrats to faust and thanks everyone for participating! Now if you don't mind me, Prince Sidon and I gotta get back to the Water Temple.
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Topic: Weekly Design Contest #190: Nintendominion (Read 3384 times)