Dominion/CustomCardIdeas

Details highly tweakable: the point is the "kicker" mechanic.

I like this one, it's like moat - +2 cards and (small benefit) - the small benefit also ties in really well with the 'huge mass of villages' strategy, though it does kinda suck for everything else.  Something where it's a good compensation for 'aww, I got nothing but green'.  Maybe +1 cash for buying instead?  --Vitenka

Favour cards cost 0 money but can only be obtained with Courtier. For your Buy step you may trash a Favour and an Estate or a Duchy and spend 3 money to upgrade to a Duchy or Province respectively.

Details should be tweaked to make it worth playing on average.

D6 must die.  --Vitenka  (Also, wow, this would need to be costed something like -2 and a free extra buy.)

See comment about tweaking. --PT

You may overpay if this is unavoidable. E.g. you may exchange opponent's Village (cost: 3) for two silver cards (overpaying by 1 due to necessity) but not for four copper cards (because you could pay exactly with three of them). This restriction is to prevent purchasing one copper card for five, which would be über-Chapel.

Oooh.  I like this.  Especially as it lets you buy provinces from the presumed leader without depleting the pile.  It would need a high cost due to the possibility of stealing victory that way, though.  --Vitenka

Where do your money cards go? Are they trashed, or given to the opponent? --CH

Given the name, I assume given to your opponent.  --Vitenka

Yes, they go to your opponent's discard pile. --PT

Gibber.  I don't see a way to price this fairly - it's likely to shut out anyone from ever buying another attack. --Vitenka

Missing the card you need for your combo? It won't be cheap...

I think the fun of finding working combo's is lessened with this, where people are more likely to find the 'best' combo and stick with it.  Also, an early game small deck strategy and then go fetch the witch when there are no defences?  --Vitenka

So don't play it if you're not playing Moat. And if your method of determining which kingdom cards to use already permits Chapel + Witch when there's no moat then you can't blame this card for extending it. Your first point is stronger, but I deliberately made it trash itself so that it would require a lot of investment to fetch in your entire combo. --PT

It is not clear how this interacts with treasure-something else cards (such as the Harem).  Or, rather, it is clear how it interacts with them, I'm just not convinced the interaction is a good one --Angoel

Mmm, it's a great way to gain a Venture, giving up a Silver or 2 Copper. I think it's clear it can't gain a Potion and can't gain anything if you trash a Potion. Less clear what it does with Bank. --AC

Oh, because it works on price not value I was expecting you could trade between Potions and other treasures. If there was ever a treasure that had a potion in its price that would be a different matter. Hmm! --Clive

Huh, does it? I interpreted the "worth" and the example as saying it referred to the treasures' face value (Copper=1, Gold=3) not their price (Copper=0, Gold=6). --AC

I do like this a lot. --AC

Reminds me of, of all things, Everybody Gets One from Fluxx. I like it a lot though. --AC

Interesting! I wasn't thinking of Fluxx when I came up with this, but was thinking of the X=X+1 Rule for Prince. (-8 --Clive

I put it in the place where the sun shineth not --CH

I think it'd be simple enough to just say "put it into your hand", wouldn't it? Like Fortress? That'd accomplish 98% of what you want, I think. --AC

True, true. Or perhaps, interpreted more broadly, you get to put your estates on top of someone else's deck? --Clive

Very evil to get from a Black Market. --AC

Point. Maybe it should be impossible to obtain black-market monarchy! --Clive

Similar to Counterfeit. Counterfeit's approach is probably nicer - it doubles almost all the effects, not just the treasure value, for things like Bank or Venture or Loan. --AC

Yes, but conversely it trashes the doubled-up treasure in the process. Admittedly, this one's less wildly different from existing cards than some of the ideas I'm having... --Clive

Reminiscent of Haven. Would probably need to have a cantrip like Haven in order to make it at all worth playing. Unless the idea is it's awful unless you sync it up with Deposits. --AC

Any number of treasures, though. But I've had another go called Savings, below. --Clive

Aww, every Reaction has been different so far, so it'd be nice for this's Reaction effect to be different to Moat. I think I'd omit the trash effect and discard and trash triggers: Jack Of All Trades from Hinterlands already plays in the "do a bit of everything" space. An alternate possibility goes "Now and at the beginning of your next turn: +1 Card +1 Action +1 Buy +1 Coin +1 VP." --AC

It's not quite Moat, because you have to discard it. (And given how powerful its other effects are, that might be a tough call.) Yes, I'd not encountered Jack of all Trades, never having played Hinterlands. I quite like your version. --Clive

• Place at least one treasure on this card
  
• Put all treasures from this card in your hand and discard it
  

Oh, beautifully simple. A little confusing what it does with actions that trash themselves (Feast) or move themselves to other places (Island, Treasury, Embargo). But nonetheless a very pleasingly simple and useful variation on Throne Room. --AC

Probably needs to say "Whenever another player plays an Attack card, you may reveal this, play any number of treasures, and pay the cost of the Attack card". Fun approach to defence. --AC

Hahaha :) --AC

Quite harsh if no usable +Buys are around. I think this could lead to unfun game states... in fact, yeah, with enough density of this it becomes a way to stop the game ever ending, which Donald has been quite keen to avoid. (He was slightly cautious of allowing Monument to exist because it gains VPs without directly moving towards ending the game, but the cash is meant to tempt people to spend it and thus keep the game moving.) --AC

We did indeed. Why the "if possible"? Copper is inexhaustible and nothing can make it cost money to buy. (-8 I'm not so sure about the name, which feels a little modern to me. What about Midsummer Fair or similar? --Clive

Much better name: taken. Copper isn't quite inexhaustible: the supply is meant to be very large, but finite. --AC

I like the idea of giving Quests, but it's a pity this is so specific to Knights. I wonder if it could read "For each Attack" instead. --AC

Very harsh to receive on the last turn of the game, or before you have a chance to draw it. Interestingly it's probably worth Ambassadoring this if you have the opportunity, even if you had the alternative of fulfilling it. --AC

Coin clipping

Action - Crime

Reveal three treasures from your hand. Gain a copy of the least valuable and put it in your hand.

Police

Action - Reaction

When someone commits a crime, you may reveal this card. If you do, the crime is trashed and the player gains a Fine.

Fine

Duration

When you gain this card, put it in play.

Spend 3 coin (cumulatively) to return it to the Fines pile.

You may not take actions or buy while this card is in play.

(For example, spend a silver on the Fine in one turn. The following turn, spend a gold. Dispose of the Fine. Continue your turn as normal with two coin from the gold left to spend.)

This one could be a bit too nasty, I think. If you have no money in your deck it's impossible to get back into the game --Edwin

Mm, good point: it does punish Woodcutter vs Silver a bit much. Perhaps "You may not gain cards while this card is in play"? --AC

Even then you can be stuck if you have no money-generating cards in your deck (not something you'd want to do, but I've seen someone do this through overenthusiastic chapelling). Maybe allow revealing a money-free hand to pay part or all of the fine, then it could go back to forbidding actions. --Edwin

I think if you do that in a set that can give you Fines, some would say you deserve what you get. The game will at least be over fairly quickly. --AC

Vigilante

Action - Reaction

When someone commits a crime, you may discard this card. If you do, the crime is trashed. Then the player shows you their hand and you take one card.

Accomplice

Action - Reaction - Crime

When someone commits a crime, you may discard this card. Gain a copy of anything they gain from the crime.

Protection Racket

Action - Duration - Attack - Crime

Choose a player. They gain a Fine. You gain Spoils.

Until your next turn, if that player is attacked, you are affected instead.

(That's as well as being affected directly, if the attack affects everyone.)

Some existing cards, particularly Thief, could do with being Crimes. This feels like fertile territory for many new cards.

Wow, yes indeed. There's a lot of potential there. I particularly like the idea of making a whole expansion's worth of custom cards that are at least vaguely tied together thematically. Let's have more of these. --AC

Thematically is fine, but mechanically is problematic.  Alchemy is my least favourite expansion for a reason.  Evil potions... --Angoel

Eeeeeeeeeeenteresting. :) Although it doesn't allow you to get two £3 cards. --qqzm

OK. "gain a card costing up to $3 and a card costing up to $4".  --Clive

Interesting.  What happens when I use the throne room on this card.  Based on the way the throne room interacts with similar self-trashing cards, I should get two $3 and two $4 cards. --Angoel

Presumably the "If you do" is there to prevent that.  --Edwin

Quite so. That precise form of words also carefully prevents a Possessed player getting the benefit. --Clive

Not to mention play a Watchtower / Library having dropped all your Treasures. I think this should have +1 Action, though. --AC

Summer Village

Season

+2 Cards

Autumn Village

Season

+2$

Winter Village

Season

+2 Actions

Spring Village

Season

+2 Buy

Seems pretty good. But I guess it'll normally just be an uber-Necropolis. Nifty. --AC

Terrifying with a partly-resolved Masquerade. --AC

Hmm. I have a firm instinct about what "sequence points" I intend. But I'm aware it's hard to codify. I thought it worth putting the card idea here anyway, though, because I rather like it. Basically, I think once people have started passing cards in a Masquerade, everyone should pass. But it should be possible to kill a "now and at the start of your next turn" between "now" and "the start of your next turn". --Clive

Oh, indeed. Fine with Conspirator or Peddler, and I'm sure there are more. --AC

I think Ambassador is a more multiplayer-friendly approach to this idea. --AC

Maybe. But this works better with ruins/shelters and similar. --Clive

That is somewhat absurdly cheap. Given that (in Masq-less Ambassador-less games) nobody has any reason to buy Gold over their first one of these. Perhaps $6 or $7? Also, the only other card with a different back explicitly says "when you shuffle you may put this wherever you like in your deck". What's your plan for dealing with the shuffling issue? --AC

It might be interesting to playtest it. My thinking was that it doesn't matter that it's cheap because it's cheap for everyone (maybe that's even an argument for costing it at $4 so it doesn't skew in favour of those with a 5/2 split). And I want it to be cheap so foolhardy people are tempted to buy more than one. (-8 My intention was that people have to shuffle it into their deck normally, but can then tell where it ended up. On reflection, there would be a significant temptation if one had two of them to keep shuffling until they were safely far apart. Perhaps they always go at the bottom of the deck, thereby making life even worse for those who have two? --Clive

There'd probably also be a sinificant temptation for someone with one of them to shuffle it to the top. So makin it go to the bottom sounds like the best plan. And yeah, making it cost $5 would basically read "If you got the 5-2 split you win" --Edwin

That made me think-up the similar-but-different Play this as if it were an Action card in the Supply costing less than it chosen at random. This is that card until it leaves play. --qqzm

At random? Compare with Band of Misfits: costs 5 and lets you choose. So a card that was random would have to be cheaper. But then it would be able to do fewer things. Possibly it should be a cheap card that has the effect of any card in the supply? But how to randomise? And would it matter that this introduced a huge element of luck? --Clive

Oh no, it would do something else as well. There could possibly even be several of them, each costed differently. +1 cash and a random cheaper action, +1 card etc, etc. --qqzm

OK, yeah. Random Misfits + something for a middling cost could work. I'm still worried about how one chooses the random action efficiently, though. In FreeDom, fine, but at the table? --Clive

With the randomiser cards. Or, heck, just the top card of each possible pile. --CH

Mmm. Trouble is, the range of cards on offer to the randomisation will be variable: different random-card-cheaper-than-this cards could have different prices, and playing price-altering actions could modify prices further? --Clive

This one and the previous one may have problems with Actions that go somewhere other than in play, like Feast or Treasury. --AC

As written, intentionally, the cards do end up in discard, even if trashed. I think that's the right choice, but they could easily be written to swing the other way. The only problem comes if both trashing and not-trashing cause show-stopping problems in different circumstances. Fingers crossed at least one of them doesn't. (-8 --Clive.

ISTR discussion on the Dark Ages dev notes about how all the return-from-trash cards were too swingy if they allowed getting Platinum or Provinces, hence the common "costing 3-6" text. I don't know if this would have the same problem. --AC

Mmm. I'm aware of that risk. But they don't get trashed very often. And this is both random and dilutes the trash with two extra cards before you draw. That could make it less swingy. Certainly, I suspect it would tempt people into unprofitable gambles more often than it gave good results. Could still be too swingy, though, yeah. /-8 --Clive

Yick. Combine with Spies to move all the Provinces into your deck. --AC

True. But not actually much more evil than Saboteur or similar. And your opponent can Masque the provinces right back! It might be a card that tends to dominate in strategic terms, granted... --Clive

• Judiciary - +1VP
  
• Bankers - +$1
  
• Goldsmiths - Each gold you play is worth +1$
  
• Merchants - +1 Buy
  
• Weavers - +1 Card
  
• Smiths - +1 Action
  
• Clergy - You may trash a card
  
• Armourers - While this is in play, when another player plays an Attack card, it doesn't affect you.
  
• Prognosticators - Look at the top 2 cards of your deck. Discard them or put them back in any order.
  
• Assassins - A chosen player discards a card (Attack)
  
• Coven - A chosen player gains a curse (Attack)
  
• Grocer - Place a card from your hand face-down under this. At the end of the game, +1VP per copy of it you have.
  
• Mercer - You may discard an action. If you do, choose an action from your hand and play it twice.
  

I think I like this design at least as much as Embargo. --AC

I really like this one. --AC

• Trash this card
  
• Trash the Action
  

• Discard a treasure
  
• Trash a card
  
• Play the Action
  

• Illusory actions and treasures work properly
  
• If you don't use it, you lose it
  
• Illusions of durations hang around until their effects are over
  
• There's absolutely no way to get victory points at game end from an illusory victory card
  
• If you Masquerade an illusion, the recipient gets to use it in their turn
  
• If you trash an illusory Fortress, you do get to put it back in your hand
  
• You can Haven or Island the illusion (but putting it on an Island is futile)
  
• You can't create an infinite cascade of illusory illusionists and trash them all for benefit (-8
  

Delightful. I have an irrepressible desire to use it as Mercenary or Madman, just because. Works interestingly as Scheme or Treasury as well. --AC

This is of course at least as good as any card in the game, and therefore needs to be priced appropriately. In particular, if the cost is just coins it needs to cost more than Platinum, because it's strictly better than Platinum (apart from a corner case or two, as it can be a Platinum whenever you want it to). Therefore, Potion in the cost is probably sensible. It's also strictly better than Possession (because it can be a Possession whenever you want it to), so it probably needs to cost either $6+P or include 2 Potions. --AC

I'm not sure it would work as Possession -- unlike Outpost it's not a duration, so vanishes at the end of your turn. That would arguably stop the Possession effect; maybe it should. I considered adding "trash an action from your hand, if you do" as a condition, which would make this card less super. But I quite like it being utterly super. (-8 --Clive

I'm pretty sure Possession would work. The effect "setting up" the extra turn is part of the Action's effect. (Just like Procession on a Duration does get you the benefit on your next turn too, even though the Duration itself disappeared on your turn.) Other terrifying things to do with this: Bishop illusionary Colonies. --AC

But by that reasoning, why is Outpost a duration? Possibly the most lucrative thing I can think of to do is Salvage an illustory Colony. (-8 --Clive

Is this an attack just to give you Curses if your opponents have Moats? --CH

Or Lighthouses, etc. yes. And it does make sense: you're attacking them with an illusion and you're cursed if they disbelieve it. --Clive

I have a feeling this could provide $3 and still be worth gaining. People would buy a $5 Gold that came with a Curse, and this is fairly similar to that. --AC

On the plus side, the cursing isn't a separate card, but on the downside you can't trash the curse and keep the treasure. The trashing is also intended to be pretty inconvenient: for starters, if you buy it with a 5/2 split you probably can't spend it; later in the game, your actions are valuable. --Clive

The trashing certainly will be inconvenient, but I note that you receive the cash for a treasure even if that treasure subsequently gets trashed. (Eg with 2 buys, play 10 Coppers, buy a Mint trashing all of them: you still have $5 left to spend.) So this will work as something like a Spoils, for $4 but giving a curse. --AC

Agreed. If you wanted you could spend $5 for a one-time $4 and a Curse. To put it mildly, I don't believe that option is unbalancingly good... --Clive

I assume "trash a card" means "from your hand", rather than from top of deck or from other players' hands or suchlike. In which case... It's spectacularly powerful to play once. In particular, it will trash as much of your deck as you like (by repeating +1 Card). But once your deck is trimmed it's just half a Pawn or a third of a Monument. Unless I'm missing something? --AC

I'm thinking that people who have a Grand Vizier (or several...) would deliberately retain a stock of Copper to feed it. And the Grand Vizier would self-synergise by giving them the +Buy. --Clive

But to get the +Buy to replace a trashed card, you have to trash a card (or do nothing else useful with the Vizier). --CH

Yeah, this is sounding like Rats. "Haha, it looks like I'm filling my deck with Copper, but that's just so that I can feed them to my Grand Vizier to buy exactly the same amount of Copper again!" It's missing the "??? ... Profit!" step. You don't even get to get double value from the Copper on Grand Vizier turns, because if you take $1 you've trashed a Copper from hand, depriving yourself of $1... --AC

Possibly it does suck. Might be interesting to try. Then again, thinking about it in a fresh and shiny new week, probably it should be discard rather than trash. --Clive

• Ducky
  
• Fief
  
• Which?
  
• Porn
  
• Boron
  
• Bizarre
  
• Pedaller
  
• Cash
  
• Alter
  
• Seller
  
• Mote
  
• Harm
  
• Alone
  
• Query
  
• Rubble
  
• Fault
  
• Horde
  
• Gollum
  
• Mark It
  
• Mayan
  

Hee. Play two of them and a Bridge, and then you get infinite Silver (well, up to your available Buys). Also nice after a Chapel, or... wait, this counts trashing other players' cards too. Strong with a Thief or a Pirate Ship, then. --AC

Nono - I wasn't intending it to be quite that powerful! Thief et al say things like "they trash one of them that your choose", and I chose my wording carefully with that in mind. :-p

I think this is better than a Bridge overall, and probably forms some killer combinations (with Mine/Forge?/Talisman?/etc.). But it doesn't give you the +1$ or +1Buy and doesn't cheapen cards for stuff like Workshop. Maybe it costs $6? --Clive

Return to the supply - from your hand? "At any time" suggests it could apply from other places too? --AC

It should be from your hand, yes. But I certainly intend that you be able to do it in other players' turns, and at any point in your own turn. --Clive.

Without using up an action, right? Interesting comparison to Haven in that case. Can't save you unneeded cash for next turn, but functions a bit like a Fishing Village in that it lets you get an extra action next turn. --AC

Indeed, without using up an action. So echoes of both Fishing Village and Haven, as well as Planner, which I devised further up this page. --Clive.

You may trash a card

+1 Buy

+1 Card

+1 Action

+$1

(+Reaction) When another player plays an Attack card, you may discard this from your hand. If you do, you are unaffected by that Attack.

(+Attack) Each other player with at least 4 cards in hand discards a card.

(+Reaction) If you discard this without playing it, you may put it on top of your deck.

(+Victory) Worth 1VP

(+Duration) At the start of your next turn, all boons on this type apply again.

• when you buy a card, gain a copy of it.
  
• when you gain a card, trash it.
  

Niice. A bit like Loan, but probably needs to be priced like Venture; won't dig for your Platinum but can trash anything or leave the vital new Action back on top where you want it. --AC