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[dondon151]

Right now, Gardens doesn't look like it fits very well into your kingdom. Ideally you'd want to have some Gardens enablers that makes pursuing Gardens a worthwhile strategy (but not clearly dominant), otherwise it's just a Duchy that you'd take for $4.

[eHalcyon]

They both really need a Village of some sort, or else strategies will still be some variant of BM.

[rinkworks]

I really think the answer to this question is basically always "Use the 'First Game' kingdom as described in the rules for the base set."  Yes, there are other equally great first kingdoms, but that one in particular is known and proven.  I've never gone wrong with teaching new players that one:  the cards are simple and fun, teach the core mechanics without branching into weird edge cases, and allow for a few different strategic avenues.

The only change I've ever made to that was swapping Militia out when I was teaching someone I didn't think would appreciate an attack that heavy.  Militia isn't as brutal as Witch or complex as Bureaucrat, but it stings.  Deck inspection attacks (e.g., Spy, Rabble, and Fortune Teller) would be decent substitutes for an attack-averse player.

+1 to favoring fun cards over strong cards, and teaching the mechanics of the game over strategy.  Cards like Tribute, Counting House, and Adventurer are tons of fun to play out; it doesn't matter that their strategic uses are narrow.  I still wouldn't use those in a first game, because I'd use the First Game as the first game, but they'd be great additions to games 2-4, say.

[eHalcyon]

They both really need a Village of some sort, or else strategies will still be some variant of BM.

Earlier in the thread we decided against villages because of (a) the Village Idiot problem, (b) it makes turns take too long, and (c) the experienced player(s) can balance the right proportion of villages and come out with a whopping lead... all things that can discourage a newcomer.

I really think the answer to this question is basically always "Use the 'First Game' kingdom as described in the rules for the base set."

Nothing wrong with that.  But in my experience we play a rookie's first kingdom multiple times until he gets the hang of it.  And for me, as an experienced player, I find "First Game" very boring.  This whole thread is an exercise in finding something fun for all of us.

The post you link doesn't draw that conclusion at all.  Did you mean a different post?  The problem in your example is not so much the village but the mega-turn engine enabled by presence of great card draw, +buy and King's Court.  Even leaving out KC should be enough to mitigate the problem.  Maybe leave out +buy as well.

There is another side to the village idiot problem which I think is far more common among  newbies -- the tendency to overbuy terminals.  Having a village on board helps lower the chance that they don't draw a terrible hand like Envoy-Envoy-Jester-Militia-Bank.  The experienced player should be able to play a much better game no matter what is on the board by seeing what the most powerful cards are and knowing how many to buy and when.  Omitting village doesn't change that.

Instead of playing the same game multiple times, consider swapping out ~4 of the cards for new ones each game.  The newbie won't be overwhelmed if only a few new things are introduced each time, and the new cards should be more exciting than playing the same kingdom over and over again.

[rinkworks]

Adding my support for swapping out a few cards at a time, rather than replaying the same kingdom.  The number of cards you swap out can vary based on how adept the new player is at picking the game up.  I've taught people who have no problem swapping out every single card, and others who want to retain some familiarity for game 2.

But I do think you have to change things up for the second game for one very simple reason:  it isn't until you play your second significantly-distinct kingdom that you really GET Dominion.  I still remember playing my second game, where most or all of the cards were different (though still from the Base set), and I was absolutely FLOORED at how completely and totally different the experience was.  That second game felt and played NOTHING like that first game, and although I enjoyed that first game very much, it was the second that got me addicted.  The idea that each and every game could have its own feel, its own strategy, its own set of things to discover really hit home then.

[Rabid]

Nothing wrong with that.  But in my experience we play a rookie's first kingdom multiple times until he gets the hang of it.  And for me, as an experienced player, I find "First Game" very boring.  This whole thread is an exercise in finding something fun for all of us.

I find the "first game" set quite interesting for repeated plays.
What do you find boring about it?
What is the best strategy?

[NoMoreFun]

Kings Court+Militia/Ghost Ship+Masquerade

[Morgrim7]

Kings Court+Militia/Ghost Ship+Masquerade

Ambassador, Mountebank, Possession, KC, Young Witch, Black Market hahaha

[dondon151]

Another good question would be, what's a good first game set if you don't have the base set?

[Morgrim7]

Another good question would be, what's a good first game set if you don't have the base set?

Uhh, Intrigue.

The other day I was introducing a friend to Dominion and had to quickly throw together a kingdom. I found myself just grabbing different base cards and this is what I came up with:
Bureaucrat, Chancellor, Festival, Lab, Market, Militia, Moat, Remodel, Smithy, Woodcutter. Probably no the best, but it worked. He is in love with it now.

[Powerman]

They both really need a Village of some sort, or else strategies will still be some variant of BM.

Earlier in the thread we decided against villages because of (a) the Village Idiot problem, (b) it makes turns take too long, and (c) the experienced player(s) can balance the right proportion of villages and come out with a whopping lead... all things that can discourage a newcomer.

I think plain village is a bad idea for the first game, but either Festival (it costs $5 + it gives no draw) or Bazaar could work.

[dondon151]

Uhh, Intrigue.

No, I mean, what is a good first game 10-card kingdom given that you don't have the base set?

[RisingJaguar]

You know, the more I think about it, the more think that this discussion is just focusing on entirely the wrong things, and I've made the same mistakes too in it.

I'll make a bold statement which shouldn't be bold at all - it's completely useless for the first kingdom to try to be a "teaching" kingdom which would teach good dominion. You should NOT worry in the slightest as to whether the "lessons" someone learns form their first game apply to future games. It doesn't matter whether the people playing the kingdom get the impression that [X Card] is unbeatably good or that Silver is useless or whatever. There will be time later to learn good strategy - but only if they enjoy the game and think it's worth giving it a second play! If they keep playing dominion, they'll figure out whether their first impressions about strategy were right or wrong or whatever. But if they don't, it doesn't matter whether they got it right or not.

Likewise, I think that focusing on whether cards are good or not is wrong. There should be a bunch of things for a new player to do, but there's no particular need for them to be balanced - a new player won't really figure out what's good or not in their first game or two anyway, nor is there any need for them to.

I think the focus should be on a few things:
1) Variety. There should be a lot of different things to do that showcase the variety of Dominion - the cards should cover lots of different aspects. Cards at different costs, of different effects and so on.
2) Fast play. There should not be cards that make your opponent wait for a long time to resolve, there'll be enough waiting as new players figure out the game.
 3) Simplicity. You should select cards where what they do is obvious from reading the cards, and you should never have to refer the newbie back to the FAQ (or to "trust me, it works like this") to figure clever card interactions. Remember, even if individual cards are simple, there are 16(!) cards for a new player to figure out (and yes, that counts copper/silver/gold/estate/duchy/province, those are new cards too in your first game!)
4) Fun! Put in cards which are cool but still match the previous criteria. I think it's important to focus on whether the CARD is fun rather than whether the strategies it enables are fun because, again, first game, newbie won't necessarily put together the right strategy but will sure play around with a bunch of different cards.

This a thousand times.  I would add to the reasoning of the 4 components to include:
1. Have distinctly different cards, no village + worker's village, so players can get used to different... classes of cards.
2. Use Isotropic if that's at all possible.  So many things run smoother on Iso.
3. Allows you to teach tougher things by relating back to the simple card. 
4. I wouldn't worry too much about this criteria.  Honestly, all cards sound fascinating at the start.  Let them decide what is good or not (then break the news to them later).

I just want to say what appealed to me about dominion were the endless possibilities and that I learn through trial and error.  Maybe this does not quite work for someone that does not have as much free time as an university student, but it is just so much fun to learn the game and its strategy by yourself.  I don't know about you all, but it is SO much more rewarding learning that buying terminals non-stop is a bad idea, then someone teaching you.