OK, I made another set. Promise next thing I'll go back and look at Ozle's in detail!
I think since we have Prosperity AND seaside there should be a few kingdoms which are, like, super-overpowered, because damn those sets have some power between them. Preferably overpowered in a way that can't be done prosperity-only, so no huge city-goons stack. I'm not even including bridge... I bet someone else will want to do a kc-bridge set.
Kingdom: Village, Warehouse, Salvager, Coppersmith, Quarry, Wharf, Outpost, King's Court, Forge, Peddler
Use Plat/Col
What players can do:
With Prosperity and Seaside, there is the potential for truly overpowered play. Like this.
Beginners: I made sure that there was stuff to buy at $3-$5, so even if people don't get to $7 there's play to be had, you don't have to just buy silvers. Quarry makes it easy to get to high-powered stuff even if you don't have a good plan.
Intermediate: Go insane with KC-Wharf-Outpost! Salvage Peddlers! Do you Forge trash away? Or coppersmith for superpower?
Advanced: ...not so sure. Know what to ignore, really; maybe I should put in a trap card?
Intrigue: 1
Seaside: 4
Prosperity: 4
Base: 1
2-cost:
3-cost: 2
4-cost: 3
5-cost: 2
6-cost:
7-cost: 2
8*-cost: 1
...I think this one could still use some work. King's Court, Wharf, Outpost, Coppersmith, Quarry probably are the core, everything else is sort of... meh. Maybe stuff everything huge into it and put in Bridge too?
OK, Ozle's sets in detail.
I like how completely different the design principles are. These sets are very thematic, whereas I always started with trying to get cards from different expansions to work together and didn't have theme in mind. I think these are nice too.
Thieves!:
Thief, Money Lender, Cutpurse, Festival, Lighthouse, Loan, Village, Market, Masquerade, Expand
Make this a >2 player game for maximum effect, I think. Even 4p. That'll make thief worthwhile, and won't make more more advanced players go "well, BM+Masq it is" and skip everything else.
Maybe add stuff to make BM+Masq more interesting? Royal Seal, that doesn't get used much. Maybe venture would be more thematic. And maybe something to make an engine viable? Watchtower switched in for something? That would make there be a reasonable choice between BM+Masq and an engine which could actually make use of all the cool cards around here. Yeah, Watchtower and Venture both seem plausibly thematic here, and they would make the rest of the cards in the set fit together better? Maybe in exchange for Village and Market?
Gardens:
Garden, Bureaucrat, Talisman, Workers village, Warehouse, Adventurer, Cellar, Woodcutter, Hoard, City
Oh man, super-gardens enablers. Woodcutter, Bureaucrat, Worker's Village, Warehouse, Talisman, Hoard... lack of IW or Workshop to make it less straightforward.
Perhaps take out some of the base set gardens enablers? The three acts of base set already have woodcutter-gardens and bureaucrat-gardens games, I think, and somebody who sees them, remembers "hey, that worked before", does that again and beats the AI will come out thinking this set had nothing new and was the same as sets from the base game campaign. But I'm pretty sure I don't remember playing a Talisman-Hoard-Worker's Village-Gardens game.
Are there any other non-obvious Gardens enablers from Intrigue/Seaside/Prosperity that fit here? Contraband? Smugglers? Baron? Yes, I think I would suggest switching some of those in for Woodcutter and Bureaucrat.
Pirates: Pearl Diver, Merchant Ship, Pirate Ship, Lookout, Bazaar, Rabble, Treasure Map, Workshop, Remodel, Chancellor
So many ships! Hmm. Is there any +Buy which would be thematic? Maybe Salvager instead of Remodel?
Wharf: Wharf, Fishing Village, Cellar, Council Room, Bank, Market, Chapel, Ironworks, Monument, Thief
Looks good to me. Lots of stuff to do. My main worry about this one is that Wharf/FV work so well together and are both Seaside, so it may end up playing similar to a seaside-only game, especially to someone who isn't patient enough to get a bank for double or triple-province turns. Bank and Monument are definitely new though. Maybe give it plat/col to accentuate the differences?
Trade Route: Islands, Gardens, Trade Route, Hoard, Village, Lookout, Sea Hag, Ambassador, Throne Room, Bureaucrat, Colony & Platinum
Ooh, this one's nice. I keep thinking it wants Nobles in there too. Maybe instead of... something... Throne Room? Village? For even more hoardage and traderouteage. Dunno.
BTW, Ozle, you already have some Intrigue sprinkled in there - Masquerade, Ironworks are intrigue.
I do not think we need to worry about using all the cards. Leaving lots out is okay.