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[NoMoreFun]

Now suggesting a fan mechanic that is also a "variant" (in the Variants and Fan Cards forum). If something has the Memory type, it impacts the game after the game you're playing.

Rulebook:

• At the end of the game, after scoring, set aside cards with a Memory type onto your Memory mat. During your next game, these remain there for tracking and will have some sort of effect.
  
• Once a Memory no longer can have any effect, if that card isn't in the Kingdom, return it to the box.
• If you are playing games with "Memory" cards in them, to win over-all, you must be the first player to win 2 games (e.g. "Best of 3" between 2 players).
• Do not include the same Memory card in the Kingdom in consecutive games.
• If each player playing has won precisely one game, then do not include any Memory cards in the final Kingdom (e.g. the 3rd game in a best of 3 between 2 players).
• In general, Memory Cards are like Victory cards and you get the Memory effect for having them in your deck. However you can put "If this was in play at the game's end" on Duration/Memory cards if you want them to be activated by playing a card.
• Memory/Reserve cards can be "Called" from Memory as if they were on the Tavern Mat (and the Tavern Mat does not need to be referenced at all) and can enter play. They are then returned to the box at the end of the last turn where they have an effect.
• Memory cards may impact your score at the end of the next game, but don't enter your deck for the purposes of Gardens etc. (this is so you can write rules around a card being "in your deck" at the end of the game, and simplify the setting aside process).

Other notes:
I thought the mechanic would be a good idea given that you can find yourself in a largely unwinnable position in Dominion. With "memories" you may be able to set up the next game in your favour as a consolation. But this can lead to games becoming slogs if not careful as players pursue next game advantage instead of leading the current game a conclusion state. As such I think cards with both a "this game" and "next game" effect will be better than cards that exclusively have a "next game" effect, but I'm not ruling out the latter.

This mechanic will lend itself to complexity, and I was thinking of setting a limit for how many Memory cards can be in the kingdom, but I'm not sure what a good limit would be. But try to think about the complexity of tracking as you design the card. As such I am imagining the mechanic applying exclusively to "cards" (not Landscapes). I'm open to Landscapes but you may need to explain the tracking in your submission.

Examples

Mock ups are done with a Primary Colour of 0,0.4,0 (thanks grrgrrgrr).

[Will(ow|iam)]

Attic
$4 Action - Memory
+1 Action
Put a non-victory card from your hand onto your memory mat.
--
At the start of each of your turns next game, put a card from your memory mat into your hand.

[grrgrrgrr]

Duchy Dance Academy (Victory/Memory, $8)
3%
-
At the start of next game, +1 Coffers

(I used the color code (0,0.4,0) for this)

[grrgrrgrr]

Attic
$4 Action - Memory
+1 Action
Put a non-victory card from your hand onto your memory mat.
--
At the start of each of your turns next game, put a card from your memory mat into your hand.

Very cool submission, but I think you should rewrite the bottom part to:

At the start of each of your turns next game, put a non-Memory card from your memory mat into your hand.

That way, you cannot put the Attics you installed at the end of the game into your hand, and I don't think we should be able to transfer Memory cards between games anyway.

[Will(ow|iam)]

Attic
$4 Action - Memory
+1 Action
Put a non-victory card from your hand onto your memory mat.
--
At the start of each of your turns next game, put a card from your memory mat into your hand.

Very cool submission, but I think you should rewrite the bottom part to:

At the start of each of your turns next game, put a non-Memory card from your memory mat into your hand.

That way, you cannot put the Attics you installed at the end of the game into your hand, and I don't think we should be able to transfer Memory cards between games anyway.

Good idea! Consider this my new submission:

Attic
$4 Action - Memory
+1 Action
Put a non-victory card from your hand onto your memory mat.
--
At the start of each of your turns next game, put a non-memory card from your memory mat into your hand.

[BryGuy]

.           

Ornate Fountain • $5 • Victory - Memory
2VP
-
At the start of the next game, trash this for +1%.

.           
A Duchy variant split between the two games, but does not junk your deck in the future.
.           

[emtzalex]

Ozymandias Statue • $6 • Victory - Memory Worth 1VP per Ozymandias Statue you have. In your next game, after each shuffle, gain a Ruins onto your deck.

For some reason, this mechanic reminds me of the poem "Ozymandias" by Percy Shelley:

I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

I wanted to capture both the glory and power of the Ozymandias that had those statues carved, as well as the ruinous fate that left that power only a memory. Thus I came up with Ozymandias Statue. In its first game, it is a pure Victory² / quadratic scoring Victory card (i.e. the value of n copies of OS is n²). In the next game, that awesome power becomes a crushing burden, burying a player in Ruins cards.

If only one player goes for these, they are almost certain to win that game, but almost guaranteed to lose the next game. On the other hand, if (in a 2 player game) the pile is split 5/3, the player with 3 has a massive VP disadvantage, but could end up with the same number of Ruins (since there is a fair chance they will hit a 2nd shuffle before the other player does). Thus, if you are behind on the OS rush, you may be better off giving up on this game, letting your opponent win this one and lose the next, then hoping to win Game 3.

FAQ

• The card doesn't have the Looter type because the Ruins pile aren't used during the game this is in the Supply.
• In the game where this is on player's Memory mats, a normal number of Ruins are used (10 per player beyond the first).
• The effect is cumulative, so a player with 4 Ozymandias Statues on their Memory mat will gain 4 Ruins onto their deck each time they shuffle (until the Ruins pile is empty).

[segura]

DXV nixed quadratic scoring for good reasons.

[emtzalex]

DXV nixed quadratic scoring for good reasons.

The reason (as I understand it) is that it's too powerful, so winning the quadratic scoring pile nearly always wins you the game. This mechanic might be the one way to (potentially) make it work, as winning the game that the card is in isn't the be all and end all (as it is in any other card design).

[NoMoreFun]

24 Hour Warning

[NoMoreFun]

Going to go with Duchy Dance Academy for the win. It's nicely self contained to the endgame of the game you're in and the opening of the new game and (as indicated by the name) is a card you might be buying anyway, but now with an interesting twist.

Attic is the runner up. I like the idea that at a certain point you start thinking about what you want to put in the attic for the next game. I didn't imagine that you'd have kingdom cards across games but I don't see it being particularly hard to track. My issue with it is it messes with the opening a bit too much as it's not that much of an impost to put several very good cards in the Attic towards the end of the game that can make an enormous difference for several turns, and if you put enough cards there you can also use it for exile/trashing early game. So maybe a bit too game warping - but I can't rule out that being game warping in a fun way.

On the other hand, while I like the theme of Ozymandias statue (it's what I had in mind - that there's a small lingering legacy from the previous game), I don't think this mechanic is the one to make quadratic VP work. If you lose the split 5/3 it's a 16VP gap, but even with 3 ruinses on top you still have a pretty bad starting hand in the next game that will be hard to overcome. I also am not a fan of mechanics that slow down the early game or slogs, which is what this card sets you up for.

[grrgrrgrr]

Yay! Next competition will be up soon! Also congrats to the runner-ups!