Hi. First post (so I hope it's cool if I used it to start a topic)! I've played under the same name on Isotropic on-and-off for a while now, but only occasionally pop in to these forums (and just now registered). One thing that I enjoy about this and many other games is finding new ways to combine subsets of cards. That's what lead me to this little project for my real-life Dominion collection.
Well, that and a desire to come up with a fun but smaller set of Dominion cards to teach friends from (I own everything Dominion, which is too much when you're trying to transport other games as well). I've tried before to pack everything needed to show off as much of the game as possible into one box, but then one day this idea hit me. What about bringing the cards that best represent their respective sets?
So what follows is what I've come up with so far, but I'd appreciate the input of this dedicated Dominion community on where I went wrong (or right!). In order of release, I'll post a brief how and why about the cards I chose. (Note that I deliberately left a few Kindgom-warping cards off the lists, like Minion and King's Court, but if you can make a strong argument for their inclusion, please persuade me!)
DOMINION
As the first set, I felt it was appropriate to both keep things simple and focus on the basics: +Card, +Action, +$, +Buy.
Village
Woodcutter
Smithy
Festival
Laboratory
Market
All use those basic +'s exclusively. That wasn't a particularly exciting selection, and there are other card types, so I added Attacks and a Reaction that have basic things for half their functionality.
Moat
Militia
Spy
Witch
That gave me a nice, round, 10-card start.
INTRIGUE
To me, Intrigue is about choice. My list attempts to maximize a player's options.
Pawn - Four choices, mix-n-matching two.
Secret Chamber - The choice to use it as a Reaction, the choice to rearrange cards when reacting, and the choice to turn other cards into money.
Masquerade - Choice to pass, choice to trash.
Steward - Three choices.
Baron - Choice to discard or gain (and also because he's the Most Interesting Card in the Game (tm)).
Torturer - Gives other players a choice!
Nobles - Two choices.
SEASIDE
Here the theme is next turn. I started with the broader idea "save it for later," but that included almost every card in the set!
Haven
Lighthouse
Fishing Village
Caravan
Merchant Ship
Outpost
Tactician
Wharf
The Durations are pretty self-explanatory, I think.
Ghost Ship - Involves other players' next turns!
Treasury - The only other non-Duration that deals exclusively with your next turn (unlike Treasure Map, for example, which could give your Gold to you this turn with more Actions/Draw or Watchtower; such cards would've been included under the aforementioned broadened theme).
ALCHEMY
This is one set I need a lot of help with. There isn't a clear "Potion cards let you do X" rule. One thing I came up with was cards that are "strictly" better than similar cards that don't cost P. Scrying Pool (Spy), Alchemist (Laboratory), and Familiar (Witch) were included. But that isn't very satisfying.
PROSPERITY
The set of too many themes. Like Seaside, I had to narrow the card choices down here. But I'm not sure I like what I've got.
Bishop
Monument
Goons
All give you more VP than you could normally get.
Bank
Expand
Forge
Peddler
All cost more than kingdom cards usually do. Other options I toyed around with were Money (Talisman, Hoard, etc.) and cards that grew in strength as the game progressed (Trade Route, City).
CORNUCOPIA
Variety! Easy enough, and one of my favorite themes.
Menagerie - Wants to show off different animals/cards.
Tournament - Adds 5 cards to any Kingdom.
Young Witch - Adds an extra Kingdom card (as well as a Cursing Attack, which won't necessarily be seen too often).
Harvest - Wants to reap different foods/cards.
Horn of Plenty - More delicious/powerful when filled with different foods/cards.
Hunting Party - Finds different trophies/cards.
Fairgrounds - Celebrates different cards.
HINTERLANDS
Immediate effect when purchasing/gaining was another pretty simple theme to follow.
Duchess - Free with purchase of Duchy. Limit one coupon per customer. Not valid with other offers.
Fool's Gold - Passes as real if others have buying power, too.
Develop - (Near) instant gratification.
Noble Brigand - So noble he'll shoot you with your pants down.
Nomad Camp - Always on the move...if that move is to the top of your deck.
Trader - Why collect Copper to purchase Silver when you could get Silver at the same price?
Cache - In case you really did want to collect Copper.
Embassy - In case you'd prefer everyone else having Silver.
Haggler - Why sell me your Silver when I can take a Silver and a Copper off your hands for the same price?
Ill-Gotten Gains - Very ill-gotten, since you're not even the one who gets stuck with the Curse!
Inn - Everyone's favorite meeting-place.
Mandarin - You'll like him, or your money back (well, your money back anyway)!
Border Village - Free Village with purchase of $5 card.
Farmland - I'm out of witticisms, but you get the idea.
PROMO
I haven't included any promo cards, because they don't have a unifying theme. There are a few standouts, though, that do things no other card in the game does. Black Market (wealth of new Kingdom cards); Stash (everyone knows where you're hiding it); Governor (weirdly asymmetrical).
And that's that! Please feel free to tell me what I should've included, but didn't, and what I shouldn't include, but did!
