@eHalcyon:Thanks for the response eHalcyon
For some of the comments you made, I might not block quote them here. I will say that I definitely read through and parsed all the comments, but I won't necessarily have a meaningful response to make for all of them (maybe I just agree!), so for the comments which I can't do justice for I will leave them off.
Panhandler -- Strange. It is a really weak card, but the permanent Moat potential really warps things. In almost all situations I would happily take a Panhandler instead of a Curse. Would I buy a Witch that only gave out Panhandlers (because that's what would happen)? I'm not sure.
Well I guess the question would be if it was worth it to take Panhandlers, as they would go immediately on top of your deck instead of your discard, which could mess up your plans in different ways. Also note that gaining a Panhandler only stop one attack each time, so someone playing multiple Attacks per turn could slow down your deck quite a bit, and you will start taking attacks eventually.
Telescope -- Why is the +1 Action after the main effect? The action sounds a little annoying to play. It is non-terminal; if you have a few of these you'll be looking at the same cards repeatedly. Reaction looks cool.
Telescope has an optional draw after you reorganize the top of your deck, so it doesn't leave you spinning your wheels unless you decide not to draw.
Vigilante -- Action seems not too bad, but would need testing. The reaction adds politics to the game, so I'm not a fan.
I don't mind there being a little politics, although if the concern is that Vigilante's Reaction effect is too strong as is, maybe having the player shuffle the Victory card into his deck would be milder than leaving it on top.
Toymaker -- The reaction could make games super slow, especially when you have multiples in play, and adding on an effect like that to every action card is just asking for balancing issues. Note that a single play of Toymaker reads "+2 Cards, +1 Action, discard a card." That is nearly as effective as a Lab. I would cost that alone at $4. With the effect on all Action cards, I think I'd start testing at $5.
Whoops :X The idea is that the sifting effect doesn't start for the initial Toymaker; the first Toymaker played will just be a vanilla cantrip, but subsequent Actions after that will sift. And after a rather abrupt understanding of how "while in play" clauses really work, I'm thinking what I'll do is just drop the +1 Card off of Toymaker. Adding extra sifting onto additional Actions played is pretty good anyway.
Erratic Engineer -- razorborne is right, this is far better than Feast at the same price. It doesn't trash itself and it has lingering cost reduction. You probably meant to say "Gain a card costing up to $3", which lets you get a $4 card on the first place, $5 on a second place, etc.
(PPE: I would argue that your interpretation is wrong -- even though the "while in play" text comes after, it is SEPARATE from the main action and thus does not come into effect sequentially.)
Okay, hmm yeah. If that's how the timing for "while in play" clauses work, then I'll definitely need to amend that down to $3 instead.
Demolition Team -- The trashing is strong, but it's tempered by big benefit to opponents. That looks good. I don't like the self-trashing. Your trasher doesn't need a way to get out of the way when it's done.
I don't mind the self-trashing so much; it has to take up a space in your starting hand first in order to be trashed. Maybe I'll make it mandatory to trash another card out of hand as well when trashing the Demolition Team.
Assistant -- I feel like playing Treasures outside of the Buy phase is something special that should stay with Black Market alone.
=\ Curious as to why that must be a Black Market specific effect, but okay.
Freight Train -- I don't see a reason for this to be a Reaction. Just make it part of the on-play effect.
I dunno, I think being able to drop your entire current hand and draw back up to a big hand at will is very strong. Library and Watchtower are often unable to reach full potential because of dead cards or Treasure cards taking up space, but Freight Train doesn't necessarily have those problems (if you draw it in the initial hand).
Rickety Contraption -- So strong. Even with the discard, probably too strong for even $6. Probably needs a Potion cost to work.
Ehhh... well I didn't mention this earlier, but at least for this set, I'm trying not to include more material than what is part of the basic setup. That means no mentions of mats, tokens, and extra cards if I can help it (such as Potion and Platinum). Probably a dumb challenge, but mainly this means I'm more willing to weaken cards before I have to introduce extra materials.
Conceptually, I'm would think something like Rickety Contraption can find a happy place somewhere. Maybe drop from +4 Cards down to +3 Cards? Seems like a rather terrible $6 card if it only nets 2 cards the first time it is played (and 1 less per play after that).
Mad Mechanic -- I would word it, "Choose three (choices may be the same)." I think the flexibility here might be too strong for just $6 (maybe needs a Potion cost). It can already be a Lab or a terminal Gold. The other possibilities make it really powerful.
Ack. Hmm... well honestly I don't know if Mad Mechanic is really helping the rest of the theme for this set, maybe it should be dropped. I could increase the cost up to $7, but I imagine that won't help.
Future Machine -- A this-turn Tactician... that alone I think is too powerful for $7. Like the last two, it probably needs a Potion cost. You could set up a "double Tactician" kind of deck so easily with just Future Machine and a single Scheme. The reaction can get really confusing, ESPECIALLY if multiple people reveal Future Machine at the same time.
In the current version, Future Machine trashes itself, regardless of whether you play it as an Action or set it aside as a Reaction, so you can't play it forever. I'll admit the version I initially posted didn't have trashing included, but I reverted back to the original version after mulling it over some more. Sorry that wasn't made clear
Good point on multiple players setting aside Future Machine though. I guess the order for extra turns involving multiple players would depend on who revealed first, just as revealing Reactions is normally done in turn order as well, and normal turn order would be restored after that. Assuming a 4P game with players sitting at a round table in compass directions, if the south player played a Militia and the west and east players each set aside a Future Machine, the west player would take his extra turn first, then the east player. Once the extra turns are done, turn order would return to how it normally was after the south player, so the west player would take his turn after the south player.
Saltpeter -- Variable worth and variable price is really weird. It also conflicts a bit. It costs less if you have a way to lower your hand size, and it is also worth more in that case. Conversely, it is more expensive if you don't have a way to lower hand size, in which case it is also worthless for coin. The changing cost text needs to be phrased more clearly.
Well, Saltpeter is a card that very largely favors having a small hand size in both ways, which is what this set is about (in fact I'm worried about Saltpeter and Construction Yard being possibly too similar in use). Increasing the cost by a lot isn't all bad though, if you can take advantage of the price. Regarding cost phrasing, it used to have a base price with each card in hand increasing the price, so some of that's a bit vestigial. What about phrasing like this:
"During your turn, this costs $1 per card in your hand."
I had added the bit about drawing, playing and discarding a card to be more blunt about when the cost of Saltpeter is updated, but hopefully the above phrasing is concise enough and clear (or that the explanation in the FAQ will be helpful).
Territorial Border -- Victory cards aren't worth money, except for Harem which is worth $2. I think you mean "costing." So this is an anti-Province, and even better in Colony games. The card is weird because if your opponents don't buy Province/Colony, it is worthless. But if they do, this can end up worth so much. Hard to judge.
Haha, I'll need to fix that typo
I purposely put it at $5 so that it would have to compete against Duchy as well, which doesn't get scored by Territorial Border, so it'll come down to a bit of tug of war between Provinces/Colonies, Duchies and Territorial Borders.
@Archetype:Many of these cards are very cool and original. But I have to say that Mad Mechanic either needs a Potion cost, or needs to be thrown out. It is similar to a card I submitted in the Potion challenge, but mine was much weaker (lacking the +1$ option) and costs 4P.
My favorite card out of the set has to be Civil Disorder or Territorial Borders.
Neat cards!
Thanks for the response
At this rate maybe I'll be tossing Mad Mechanic out, which would be somewhat okay since it didn't really fit the theme anyway. I'm glad you're interested in Civil Disorder and Territorial Borders though!
@razorborne:Well, there seems to be consensus here on how the "while in play" clauses work. I'll keep that in mind an update cards accordingly. Thanks for bringing it up!