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[SirPeebles]

Now, I've never played Magic, but I know that some cards have italicized flavor text at the bottom.  Did you ever consider doing the same in Dominion?

[Davio]

Now, I've never played Magic, but I know that some cards have italicized flavor text at the bottom.  Did you ever consider doing the same in Dominion?

Fun community challenge! Wonder what Chancellor's ft looks like.

[theory]

"I'm better than Silver.  No, really, I am."

[SirPeebles]

"I'm better than Silver.  No, really, I am."

In the voice of Droopy Dog, or Jon Stewart's Lieberman impression.

[ipofanes]

There's flavour text in the German Intrigue rulebook.

[Donald X.]

Now, I've never played Magic, but I know that some cards have italicized flavor text at the bottom.  Did you ever consider doing the same in Dominion?

I did not. I haven't ever done a game with flavor text. I've had games where I named abilities for flavor.

[aaron0013]

When is theory going to put up the Q+A Part 2?  Not that it is completely necessary, but if there is a part1, there should be a part2...

[greatexpectations]

When is theory going to put up the Q+A Part 2?  Not that it is completely necessary, but if there is a part1, there should be a part2...

it's in the queue right behind his post of the greatest isotropic moments of 2011.

[theory]

What are you referring to?  There's Part I, II, and III published on the blog.

[aaron0013]

Oh right. I forgot the first set was in 3 parts .  I meant to ask when the next set would be posted, or if you are planning on it.

[LastFootnote]

Donald, do you ever regret making simple cards because it meant it was harder to make similar, but more complex ones? For instance, you decided not to publish a card that had "+1 Card, +1 Action, +$1", which made it easier to justify Oasis, Treasury, Market, Tournament, Peddler, etc. Do you regret making, say, Smithy?

[Donald X.]

Donald, do you ever regret making simple cards because it meant it was harder to make similar, but more complex ones? For instance, you decided not to publish a card that had "+1 Card, +1 Action, +$1", which made it easier to justify Oasis, Treasury, Market, Tournament, Peddler, etc. Do you regret making, say, Smithy?

I don't have any such regrets for the various vanilla cards. Some people complain about Hunting Party or Stables vs. Lab, but I am happy to have done all three. I would probably replace Woodcutter if I were making the main set today, but not because of the space it takes up, it neatly leaves space for better versions at $4. Smithy means +3 Cards with a bonus and no penalty has to cost $5, but $5 is a fine price to pay for those cards.

The "vanilla cards problem" is a real issue, but Dominion in the end just doesn't have very many vanilla cards.

[philosophyguy]

This forum has gone through a lot of discoveries about what issues matter in the game. For instance, it took us a while to figure out that cycling faster was a good thing in the early game. Other issues on this list could be things like: average coin value, the value of sifting, greening and game longevity, etc.

When you were developing the game, what issues were the most surprising discoveries for you? Are there any discoveries you've made into strategic topics that the forums haven't figured out yet?

[ehunt]

If you could pick 25 cards to make the base set today, what 25 would they be?

[ftl]

Are there any discoveries you've made into strategic topics that the forums haven't figured out yet?

I believe that Donald has previously said that he doesn't answer strategy questions for us, so I wouldn't expect an answer to this one!

[Donald X.]

This forum has gone through a lot of discoveries about what issues matter in the game. For instance, it took us a while to figure out that cycling faster was a good thing in the early game. Other issues on this list could be things like: average coin value, the value of sifting, greening and game longevity, etc.

When you were developing the game, what issues were the most surprising discoveries for you? Are there any discoveries you've made into strategic topics that the forums haven't figured out yet?

I went through learning the deal with Chapel like anyone else. I'm not sure "surprising discoveries" is how I'd describe anything else. On day one I thought +2 Actions and +1 Buy would be much better than they are, but it's not like it was a "surprising discovery" that they weren't, it was just how things turned out to actually work. Ho hum, I made Village and Market stronger. Similarly on day one I thought I would make all three base victory cards worth going for, but that didn't work out because you want the game to be long enough to have fun.

I generally avoid giving strategic advice because well it's lose-lose. Either I'm wrong and dumb, or I'm right and spoiling the Journey of Discovery. I wrote that essay about fighting attacks because it seemed like some of the casual players that Dominion was selling to could use that essay; I don't regret that. I've mentioned that a few obv. weak cards are weak, here in the company of you guys; recently someone on BGG quoted me saying here that Pirate Ship sucked, and I felt like, yeah, don't ever say things like that, we aren't actually at someone's house here after all. No-one needs to hear me saying bad things about Pirate Ship, it's not helping anyone, it's not increasing net human happiness. Have fun hilariously quoting this but really.

People have had years to catch up to my lead, so I wouldn't worry too much about my precious strategy secrets. I could probably show you some tricks with Dark Ages; probably not so many with Intrigue.

[Donald X.]

If you could pick 25 cards to make the base set today, what 25 would they be?

I would like to be friendly and give people lots of exciting question answers. But this question is asking me to spend hours figuring out something that has no value other than answering this question. It is too much, it is beyond the scope. I have gone over what cards I might take out; I would take those out. I would replace them with you know good cards. Not too complex. Ideally I would get to make new cards, especially, simpler versions of existing cards that I might otherwise want.

[LastFootnote]

You've said in the past that you don't like promos because if they're good enough to exist, you're depriving an expansion of a good card. Now that there are no more expansions forthcoming, does that change the equation? Specifically, there has been talk of a "Treasure Chest" expansion, but an objection is that such a product would only be really desirable for players who have all of the expansions. Why not create cards for such an expansion and just distribute them separately? You could make two new Seaside cards and sell/distribute them together as the Seaside mini-expansion, etc.

[Donald X.]

You've said in the past that you don't like promos because if they're good enough to exist, you're depriving an expansion of a good card. Now that there are no more expansions forthcoming, does that change the equation? Specifically, there has been talk of a "Treasure Chest" expansion, but an objection is that such a product would only be really desirable for players who have all of the expansions. Why not create cards for such an expansion and just distribute them separately? You could make two new Seaside cards and sell/distribute them together as the Seaside mini-expansion, etc.

Well the main problem with Treasure Chest would be, that some other thing would be better. Even for the people who like Treasure Chest. Let's say Treasure Chest happens instead of Cornucopia. Is that better or worse? Well you don't get to look at Treasure Chest to make that call so it's unfair, but it gives a clearer picture than "what if we got Treasure Chest instead of nothing at all."

It's true that requiring you to have bought all the expansions would be a downside, but that's not really the case except for the tokens and Potions, and I could avoid using tokens, the Prosperity cards could just be a treasure and something that costs $7. And I could pass up doing a new Prize, or I could make another card that uses Prizes. So, the best case scenario is, there's one card that you can't use if you didn't buy Alchemy or Base Cards, and the rest of it works fine for anyone. The rulebook covers duration cards etc.

You can also argue that probably any 9th expansion is only for people who bought 8 expansions (or maybe 6-7 leaving out 1-2 that sounded bad to them), no matter what the contents.

The big advantage of Treasure Chest is that it would be easier to make than a new small set. That is how it is a topic at all.

Promos aren't sold, they are promotional, so, not to be greedy but realistic, we would not just make 13 promos to give away if they could be an expansion instead. I don't know how small you can get and still have a product; I bet it's not great going smaller than 13.

Your basic premise that a lack of expansions means promos aren't missing out on expansions is fine though.

[LastFootnote]

Those are many good points. The only one I would argue is that most people would prefer a new thing to Treasure Chest. Personally, I'd rather have the new thing, but judging by a sampling of fan cards, there's a lot of people very interested in new Potion-cost cards, new cards costing $7, new Action/Victory cards, and—more than anything else—new Duration cards. Pretty much every Dominion player I know in real life loves Duration cards and wishes there were more of them. (Personally, I don't understand the huge appeal. They're just cards that do something on your next turn and therefore have the Duration type.)

I suppose the argument for more promos also carries over to an argument for online-only cards. Even if printing a card/expansion in real life is judged not to be economically viable, "printing" it online might fall on the right side of the cost/benefit equation. You'd have to pay for art, obviously, but still. If it turns out to be a big enough hit online, it could then be printed.

[Donald X.]

Those are many good points. The only one I would argue is that most people would prefer a new thing to Treasure Chest. Personally, I'd rather have the new thing, but judging by a sampling of fan cards, there's a lot of people very interested in new Potion-cost cards, new cards costing $7, new Action/Victory cards, and—more than anything else—new Duration cards. Pretty much every Dominion player I know in real life loves Duration cards and wishes there were more of them. (Personally, I don't understand the huge appeal. They're just cards that do something on your next turn and therefore have the Duration type.)

If what people really want is duration cards though then an expansion to Seaside would make the most sense.

And well it's not out of the question. But when I had to do an extra small expansion, I thought of that, and mentioned it to Jay. And he didn't rule it out, but said, wouldn't a new thing be better? And I made Guilds instead. And well again, I can't compare this hypothetical expansion, but I like Guilds. It's more interesting than I imagine more duration cards would be.

I suppose the argument for more promos also carries over to an argument for online-only cards. Even if printing a card/expansion in real life is judged not to be economically viable, "printing" it online might fall on the right side of the cost/benefit equation. You'd have to pay for art, obviously, but still. If it turns out to be a big enough hit online, it could then be printed.

I can't make an online-only thing unless it's impossible to do irl - too many people would scream.

[Breyfunk]

Donald, I just wanted to say thank you for all of your work with Dominion.  Our group has gotten quite a lot of enjoyment out of the game, and I anxiously await Guilds!

On the topic of a "Treasure Chest" style set, I would like to see one set that combines the mechanics of all of the previous sets, so Duration cards with Potion in the cost (actually lots of cards with potion in the cost :p), things of that nature.  Whatever happens in the future for Dominion, you know that we fans will love it, thank you again for the job well done!

[enfynet]

With all this talk about promos and treasure chest and specific card types...

What about mini-sets of say, 4 new cards? (i.e 4 new Durations, 4 new Treasures, 4 new Attacks) These could all be very similar cards and could satisfy the expansion-hungry audience. I think the only one I'd avoid is a set of only alt-Victory cards. I think people would spend $8-$10 on such packs. Heck, maybe include redemption codes for people to use one of those new cards on Goko or something.


Oh, and you've mentioned you'd prefer to do Dominion 2. Do you have a game design you're working on to fill that space?

[werothegreat]

A Potion-cost Duration-Action-Victory that hands out Victory tokens and Ruins, adds an extra Kingdom pile, and has an on-gain effect.

[Donald X.]

What about mini-sets of say, 4 new cards? (i.e 4 new Durations, 4 new Treasures, 4 new Attacks) These could all be very similar cards and could satisfy the expansion-hungry audience. I think the only one I'd avoid is a set of only alt-Victory cards. I think people would spend $8-$10 on such packs. Heck, maybe include redemption codes for people to use one of those new cards on Goko or something.

I don't see the beauty of small sets like that. Like, a store has shelves with the Dominion expansions. They want this product in the same place so that the right people see it. It's not a good size for that space though. And then, like, the plastic insert has got to be too expensive for a small product like that, but surely it would bother the publisher to have provided that plastic insert for all other products but not these (yes many people might not care but they aren't the publisher).

But whatever, here is the thing to focus on. There were good reasons to stop making Dominion expansions. They apply to smaller expansions and Treasure Chests too. I have talked about this before and here is a link: http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=73.0

Oh, and you've mentioned you'd prefer to do Dominion 2. Do you have a game design you're working on to fill that space?

Kingdom Builder started out as a Dominion spin-off, as proof that I have worked on one. I would like to make a Dominion spin-off but it seems bad to talk about beyond that. I'd prefer people to assume there will never be one and then be pleasantly surprised if there is.