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[Donald X.]

What about a Knight promo?

This would have had to have happened when Dark Ages was just coming out.

[Donald X.]

What about a Rats type card promo?

Having more than 11 cards seems poor, because it's a promo, it's given away. Yes most people only get them by buying them or buying something else but still, that's supporting other entities not us, our benefit is of course the promotion. Even a Victory card promo is just slightly more of a promotional expense for no real gain over a non-victory card.

You can also say, why do we need to promote the game with promos, don't the people who would find out about a promo already know about the game? Promos are less valuable to us now than ever. They seem best for if a period goes by with no product, as with Prince.

[Kirian]

Is there any chance of a micro-expansion of some sort?  Like, say, a Traveller set, plus a half-dozen Events, plus one kingdom card, for about 50 cards?

It's bigger than a promo and definitely something people would spend cash on, and doesn't have the promo stigma.  Would the playtesting needed for it just put it out of the realm of feasibility?

[eHalcyon]

Or how about a promo that is like, 5 Events instead of 1 card?  It would be half the size with five times the variety.

But now we are getting away from asking Donald actual questions and just basically begging for promos.

[Donald X.]

Is there any chance of a micro-expansion of some sort?  Like, say, a Traveller set, plus a half-dozen Events, plus one kingdom card, for about 50 cards?

It's bigger than a promo and definitely something people would spend cash on, and doesn't have the promo stigma.  Would the playtesting needed for it just put it out of the realm of feasibility?

Hans im Gluck wanted something like this way back when, which is what led to Alchemy. My position at the time was, that certain kinds of things want to show up a certain % of the time, and the smaller the set the worse I do there. Maybe you only have the ones without villages, you know.

At this point I would go on to say, and I do, I go on to say, people like 300-card sets more than 150-card sets, so why exactly should we try a 50-card set?

[Donald X.]

Or how about a promo that is like, 5 Events instead of 1 card?  It would be half the size with five times the variety.

But now we are getting away from asking Donald actual questions and just basically begging for promos.

It's also 5 times the work. Why not 5 Events in an expansion, with other stuff too, now you're talking.

I don't like promos. I do them to be friendly to publishers. If a promo is good it should be in an expansion. If it isn't good enough for an expansion then it isn't great to have as a promo either. I don't mind a promo when there isn't going to be an expansion, as with the Gauntlet of Fools promos; it's a way to have a little more stuff. It wasn't so bad to have Prince when there hadn't been any product in a while. But really. I've been over this a bunch and it hasn't changed.

[Squidd]

Donald, can we have new cards, just all the time new cards

Donald, the new expansion is finally here but now those are cards we have, when can we have new cards

[Squidd]

Actual question:

When you were writing Bridge to reduce the cost of cards and Goons to care about the buying of cards, was there any thought that you might someday do a non-card thing, or was it just the most natural way to write them and now it's a neat side effect that Events are excluded?

[Donald X.]

When you were writing Bridge to reduce the cost of cards and Goons to care about the buying of cards, was there any thought that you might someday do a non-card thing, or was it just the most natural way to write them and now it's a neat side effect that Events are excluded?

I was not expecting to do Events until I was doing them.

[chipperMDW]

What might Adventures have looked like if it had been a Dominion spin-off instead of an expansion?

[Donald X.]

What might Adventures have looked like if it had been a Dominion spin-off instead of an expansion?

I would have to do the work on that project to know. I would have changed whatever things about Dominion that seemed interesting to change and seen what happened.

[werothegreat]

What is your next project, now that Adventures is released (if you can discuss it)?

[LastFootnote]

What is your next project, now that Adventures is released (if you can discuss it)?

http://boardgamegeek.com/article/16673923#16673923

[Kirian]

What is your next project, now that Adventures is released (if you can discuss it)?

http://boardgamegeek.com/article/16673923#16673923

You'd think that the expansion for Temporum would have come out before the base game.

[Donald X.]

What is your next project, now that Adventures is released (if you can discuss it)?

As noted the next thing I did was a Temporum expansion, which I combined with the previous Temporum expansion to make one large expansion.

[enfynet]

If you do make another expansion after Adventures, do you think it's most likely it would be small (150 cards), normal-sized (300 cards), or large (400-500 cards)?

I would like to think 300; it would depend on what was going on, if I had too much great stuff for the theme or what. It's very unlikely it would be 150 because people like that size less, so much so that it may be that Cornucopia is forever welded to Guilds now.

What does this say about the fate of Alchemy? Or does the "Big Box" set solve that issue?

Also, why did the expansion names become plural starting with Hinterlands? Was that just coincidental based on the chosen names?

[Donald X.]

What does this say about the fate of Alchemy? Or does the "Big Box" set solve that issue?

Also, why did the expansion names become plural starting with Hinterlands? Was that just coincidental based on the chosen names?

So far Alchemy continues to exist as a separate product; I don't expect it will ever be confined to the Big Box. If it's not selling as well it just won't be printed as often.

I did not intentionally go for plural names. Jay prefers single-word names but accepted Dark Ages.

[Witherweaver]

What expansions/products sell the best?

[Donald X.]

What expansions/products sell the best?

Prior to Adventures I think it's just a straight line down from the start, more copies of Intrigue sold than Seaside and so on, not counting small sets. I can't give you figures but you can look at BGG ownership rates for example. It only makes sense that it would work like that; at some point someone thinks, I have 4 expansions, maybe I need to buy some other games too.

[werothegreat]

What expansions/products sell the best?

Prior to Adventures I think it's just a straight line down from the start, more copies of Intrigue sold than Seaside and so on, not counting small sets. I can't give you figures but you can look at BGG ownership rates for example. It only makes sense that it would work like that; at some point someone thinks, I have 4 expansions, maybe I need to buy some other games too.

Do the later expansions at least sell well enough for it to be worth making more?

[werothegreat]

Why were the Base set through Prosperity for ages 8+, then Cornucopia through Guilds 13+, and now Adventures 14+?

[Witherweaver]

Why were the Base set through Prosperity for ages 8+, then Cornucopia through Guilds 13+, and now Adventures 14+?

Mature content.  Did you see that hip-to-waist ratio on Hero?!

[Donald X.]

Do the later expansions at least sell well enough for it to be worth making more?

They sell better than say a random reasonably successful but not smash hit gamer's game. So yes, if by "worth" you mean "a sensible business decision."

[Donald X.]

Why were the Base set through Prosperity for ages 8+, then Cornucopia through Guilds 13+, and now Adventures 14+?

The first change was laws, the second the printer.

There was like some lead paint in toys from China scare a few years back, or something like that. It prompted laws that say "you have to do this testing if you want an age on the box lower than 13." Paying for the testing is extremely prohibitive if you aren't going to sell a zillion copies. So games not aimed at kids don't get the testing and thus the age jumped to 13. This is a USA thing; German games probably still say 8+ or whatever, I don't really know there.

Hasbro, who is a printer, was not sufficiently satisfied with that, and refuses to put an age lower than 14+ on their boxes without the testing. And the cards are now printed by Hasbro.

[werothegreat]

Why were the Base set through Prosperity for ages 8+, then Cornucopia through Guilds 13+, and now Adventures 14+?

The first change was laws, the second the printer.

There was like some lead paint in toys from China scare a few years back, or something like that. It prompted laws that say "you have to do this testing if you want an age on the box lower than 13." Paying for the testing is extremely prohibitive if you aren't going to sell a zillion copies. So games not aimed at kids don't get the testing and thus the age jumped to 13. This is a USA thing; German games probably still say 8+ or whatever, I don't really know there.

Hasbro, who is a printer, was not sufficiently satisfied with that, and refuses to put an age lower than 14+ on their boxes without the testing. And the cards are now printed by Hasbro.

So... even though Hasbro is the one printing it... and so they'd be the ones who'd know if lead paint was used in making the game...  wow, that just sounds incredibly, frustratingly stupid.

I mean, it's just the age recommendation, so not exactly a big deal, but still.