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whaleyland

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Campaigns
« on: August 31, 2012, 11:19:08 pm »
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I've been thinking a lot about Dominion as a campaign game, and think that it is entirely doable. But there are various ways to go about it and I'm trying to weigh the pros and cons of each. Here are my ideas:

Winner Swaps An Estate For A Duchy. Each game, they get to keep and add to their duchies. For 2-player games, the players play five games and determine their combined total scores afterwards. For games with more players, five may still work or the players can play until a player has three duchies (then still play one last game). This version seems the least invasive, but also gives the least real reward.

Winner Swaps A Copper For A Silver. This mode can definitely balance the game in favor of the previous game's victory, but I doubt it will be enough for that player to win the game if they are skilled. For this mode, I think five games total would still be best regardless of player count, with a total victory points for each player determined after the fifth game.

Winner Keeps A Kingdom Card. This mode gives the option for the winner of a game to keep one single Kingdom card from the previous game in their deck. They can retain this card over the course of the entire campaign. Think of it as a Black Market reward that keeps on giving. Same rules as Copper; five games, winner determined from total victory points after the fifth game.

Only Replace Empty Piles. This mode is something entirely original, I believe. Instead of replacing all ten Kingdom piles at the end of each game, only empty piles are replaced. That includes basic card stacks. Run out of Provinces? Too bad! Out of gold, the game may go into overtime. No curses, I don't think anyone will mind. In this mode, each game goes faster than the previous as partially depleted piles remain in play for the next game. Empty piles at the end of the game are replaced with new random piles, as are the starting cards. Player decks are removed from the game at the end of a game, though each player still starts with 3 Estates and 7 Coppers, leaving the Supply piles alone. The Trash remains untouched throughout the entire campaign. End-game conditions are the same. Winner is determined after the seventh game rather than the fifth. This mode may also work well in combination with the first idea, of the winner adding replacing an Estate with a Duchy. Perhaps the very first game of the campaign should use Shelters. Each game should have Platinum and Colony, since Provinces will be running low by the end.

Of these ideas, I like the last best, but it violates the rules of the game more. However, I think it provides for a better campaign experience. I'm going to try it tomorrow if I have time. Tell me what you think. The current campaign rules on BGG are not entirely to my liking.
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gman314

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Re: Campaigns
« Reply #1 on: September 01, 2012, 12:25:29 am »
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I also like the last one the best. Keep in mind, that if you're making a variant like this, you don't need to worry that much about keeping all the rules intact.

So, here are my thoughts:

1) This won't be a huge deal in games with straight trashing (eg Steward, Chapel) but will in games with tfbs. Imagine upgrading or remaking your Duchy to a Gold!

2) This will definitely change the game! The opening is all different, and everything from then on changes as a result.

3) I've thought about this one, and it seems to be the most screwy. I've mostly thought about it for all players rather than just one, and even then it changes things in a BIG way. With only one player getting that advantage, everything is even worse because they most likely kept a very key card and get an extra play of it. For instance, say someone keeps a Chapel. Then, they have a huge deck-thinning advantage. And is there even any trashing in the new set? Or maybe they keep a Mountebank. Then the other players get two pieces of junk in their deck before they reshuffle! That is quite the power! Some balance issues get solved if everyone gets to keep a card from their previous deck, but you now have an 11 card deck. So, the game could be decided on what the bottom card is. You obviously don't want your key card sitting there! So, maybe the kept card doesn't enter your deck until you reshuffle. Maybe that would solve it. I don't know.

4) I've also thought about a similar idea to just speed up the inter-game time. My idea would be to remove the three kingdom piles which had the most cards purchased and replace them to most likely get a new flavour of game. This would lead to a bit of a meta-game so that you don't get rid of the wrong piles between games. Your idea would keep a bit of the meta-game, but I still think it would be really great! I assume that you mean that you could start the game with something like only 6 Smithies in the pile. The only problem that I can see is that turn order can really matter.

Those are just my thoughts, and this is all theory. So, playtest your ideas and see if they work.
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werothegreat

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Re: Campaigns
« Reply #2 on: September 01, 2012, 12:30:49 am »
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3) Two words: Sea Hag.
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