Carcassonne Central

Here is an idea I had for an expansion with no tiles.  I probably gleaned some aspects of this idea from somewhere else, but I can't put my finger on a particular place where I may have gotten them.  This expansion includes one neutral meeple colored however you want to color it (I'm leaning toward the one-arm-up meeple from H&G I think) and six round discs, one in each color for players.  This disc may eventually have some sort of symbol on it. 

When a player draws a Cloister tile (shrine, cathedral, or abbey) that player may claim the missionary and place it on that feature with his/her own disc under it to show ownership.  When this feature is surrounded by any two tiles (in the eight spaces surrounding it) than any opponent's followers that lie in a cross pattern (like the tower) in a two-tile radius become converts to that player's color.  It does not matter if there are missing tiles between the feature and any opponents' followers.  Once the feature is surrounded by any four tiles, than the pattern shifts to a two-tile radius in an X pattern (like the black tower).  At six tiles the pattern shifts back to the cross pattern in a four-tile radius and when the feature is completely surrounded by eight tiles and the feature is completed (for the cloister, shrine, and abbey, see below for cathedral completion), the pattern shifts back to an X pattern with a four-tile radius.  Any opponents in the affected area are converted and then the feature is scored and the missionary removed. 

There can only be one Missionary on the board at one time, thus the one neutral meeple and colored discs.

The Missionary can only be placed on a newly drawn tile and remains on the board until the feature is completed at which time it is removed from the board and may be claimed by any player the next time a Missionary feature is drawn. 

There is no limit to how many times any one player may use the Missionary.

An opponent’s follower can only be converted if the player with the Missionary has the exact same follower in his supply and must be replaced by the same follower.  If not, than this follower is not converted.

A barn may be converted by a Missionary.

The Missionary is considered a follower and may be eaten by the dragon. 

The Missionary will be protected by the Fairy (or angel).  :a4

The Missionary and the Tower: If on his/her turn a player adds a piece to a tower (black tower included) and the Missionary then comes within that tower's range, than the Missionary (and the disc) may be taken prisoner by the tower.  The usual ransom must be paid, but the player only receives his/her disc back and the Missionary is out of play.  If on his/her turn, a player places a tile on his/her feature with his/her Missionary and a tower with an opponent's follower on top comes within range, than that tower is converted.  If the tower has no follower on top, it is not converted.
 
If another follower moved from the city of Carcassonne challenges the Missionary, the new follower may only share points and is not converted by, nor does it convert, any other followers.  If another player gains a majority on the feature, than the Missionary does not get the points for the Cloister, but his converts are not affected. 

A Missionary is immune to the seduction token in the Catapult expansion, but not to the knock-out token. 

If anyone has any other ideas or can suggest ways to interact with other fan-made expansions, feel free to post your ideas. 

Also, if anyone would like to do some art for the instructions for this expansion, that would be greatly appreciated!

More rules:

The Missionary may only utilize the current conversion phase of the feature at the time it is played.  For instance, if the Missionary feature is played in a hole that is already surrounded by eight tiles, it makes converts only in the "X" pattern and not in the cross pattern from the previous phase.  This is to reflect the amount of time the Missionary spends in that feature. 

Special rules for cathedrals: When the Missionary is used on a cathedral, the effective range of that Missionary commences in the usual way.  However, the Missionary is not moved until the feature is completed, so in this case it will remain on the cathedral until the city is completed.  If the city is not completed before the end of the game, the Missionary is not removed.  The Missionary does not score any points upon completion of the city; however, it is a follower and does count toward calculating the majority in a city.  The Missionary may also be placed on a cathedral that already has followers in the city attached to it.  Likewise, another player's follower may be added to a city that only contains the Missionary and no other followers.  A cathedral with a Missionary on it scores for the city in the usual way.  A Missionary on a cathedral may be placed In the Stocks and can make no more converts until released.  When the Missionary is released from the Stocks in the usual way, than it may return to the Cathedral it was removed from and resume making converts.  If any tiles were added to the area surrounding the cathedral that they Missionary was removed from, the Missionary may not recover any conversion phases it missed while in the stocks and only utilizes the current conversion phase.  A Missionary remaining in the Stocks when the city is closed may be removed from the city in the usual way and is removed from play.  The Missionary may also be sent from a cathedral to the Gallows.  If the Missionary is hanged in the gallows it is immediately removed from the board (and may be used by another player on a subsequent turn).  However, that player's disc remains on the Gallows and may not be removed until the city containing the Gallows is complete. 

The Missionary may not be used in the Jousting Tournament. 

The Missionary may not be placed in the city of Carcassonne.

The Missionary and the cart: If the player currently using the Missionary completes an adjacent road containing his/her cart, the cart can be moved to the feature containing the Missionary.  At this time, the player's disc is removed from play and the Missionary now sits on top of the cart.  Once the Missionary feature is completed, the Missionary may now stay on the board and ride the cart to it's new destination.  However, the Missionary riding a cart can not make any new converts until the cart comes to rest again on a Missionary feature (cloister, shrine, cathedral, or abbey) by it's normal movement rules.  If at any time the cart comes out of play by it's normal rules, than the Missionary comes off the board with it and may be reclaimed by any other player.  Also, if the cart is removed by the dragon, the princess, the prince, or a tower, than the Missionary is also removed. 

The pig and the builder: the pig and the builder may both be converted by the Missionary, however, if there are no followers of the same color on the feature containing the newly converted pig or builder, than they are removed from play immediately.  If there is a follower of the same color as the newly converted pig or builder on that feature, than either of them may remain.  Likewise, if a player's follower is converted, but not the pig or the builder used with that follower, than that pig or builder must immediately be removed unless that feature contains a follower of the same color that has not been converted. 

The Missionary may not be removed by the Fairy Queen.

The Missionary is not affected by the Leper, and is not distracted by the Jester, or the Minstrel. 

The Missionary may not be eaten by the "Big Bad Wolf" as it is safe inside it's feature. 

If a knight in a besieged city decides to escape through a feature (cloister, shrine, or abbey) containing the Missionary, than that knight is immediately converted and the player controlling the Missionary may decide to keep that follower in the same city if they wish.

I haven't read the whole 2 posts yet, but based on the general thrust of the expansion, I think this is:
1. way too complicated
2. a bit too powerful

The complication can be reduced by just saying that each time the missionary is placed, it converts in a fix pattern (pick one of 8 surrounding tiles, X pattern, + pattern).  Alternating just means that there is another thing to keep track of and it makes the game messy.  It's also an unnecessary complication.

The Powerful part can be reduced if chance is added into the mix.  Roll a die and if you get 6, then it gets converted.  Draw a tile and if you draw a cloister, it gets converted.  Something like that.  Afterall, not all missionaries have a 100% chance of "success".

Just my suggestions...

Edit: Added to the Development (http://www.carcassonnecentral.com/forum/index.php?topic=478.0) thread.

Your suggestions are noted and appreciated.   ;D

However, in my defense, I think I can justify some of your insights.  I think it simply may appear to be too complicated.  I often think as I write and I can be a little wordy, so there are probably just more words than there needs to be.  Plus, I've also included several rules that deal directly with fan-made expansions.  They could probably be removed and included in the FAQ's.  As for the complexity of the rules, I don't think they are any more difficult to understand or to keep track of than the Tower and the Black Tower expansion. 

I might agree with you as to the Missionary being a little too powerful and your comment about not being 100% successful.  This is the reason I made it one neutral follower instead of giving one to each player.  It would definitely be too powerful if several were on the board at once.  I wasn't sure how to tame it a little and thought of the dice option, but I've notice a trend to avoid the use of dice with expansions and as far as I can tell, it's been successful to this point. 

That being said, I'm a rookie and welcome constructive criticism from a veteran like yourself.  When you get the opportunity, please take a moment and read through the rules and see if you still think it's too complex.  Perhaps we can work on a good method of scaling back it's potency. 

I'll probably invite Joff and some others to take a look as well if they haven't seen it yet.

Barn conversion:
After thinking it over, I've changed my mind about Barn conversion.  My thinking originally was that someone has to put the "stuff" in that barn and it simply has some invisible workers.  It would be the workers who are converted.  However, since the Barn is not used as a follower in any of the other expansions, and, since it actually doesn't lie on any one square, but on an intersection, I've decided that a barn may not be converted by the Missionary. 

No, it just doesn't seem complicated, it's too complicated for me.  I don't want to remember when does the pattern change to X or whatnot because with the other things to keep track of I'll probably miss it when it happens.

The black tower is easy to remember - the same piece always have the same effect, irrespective of where it's played.  The missionary meeple that you are proposing (i) may change players and (ii) changes the pattern of its effect.  That's a lot more complicated than the black tower.

I think the essence of "german" games is their simplicity.  It was interesting for me to read that Settlers of Catan originally had more concepts and was scaled back to the version we know.

A single neutral meeple can still be very powerful, irrespective of how many pieces there are in play.  If there was an angel piece that gives a follower strength +10, for example, that would still be powerful, because it would make the game really lopsided.  Being able to convert an opponents follower to your own, in Carcassonne, will often mean that you gain control of a feature, since the rules allow only 1 follower per feature (unless you connect it with tiles during play).  That alone make it way too valuable and powerful.

The only comparison we can make with an official expansion is the Catapult, where you can exchange one of your opponent's follower for your own, but a degree of skill is required.  The Missionary removes the element of skill and thus is already more powerful when compared with The Catapult (which as many, including myself, will say, isn't a great expansion).

Either way, it's your expansion.  I'm just making suggestions that you may choose to ignore.

OK, I understand your points and I think I agree with you for the most part.  How about if I made the following changes; any followers on any of the eight surrounding tiles at the time of feature's completion may be converted.  This gives those players with followers next to the feature time to get out of there before the feature is complete.  It also gives the player using the Missionary a “sneak attack” when placing the feature (cloister, etc.) in a hole (assuming there are other followers there), and it eliminates any shifting patterns to try and recall during the time the Missionary is in play. 

Don't forget that the Missionary is still limited by one of the rules I've stated earlier.  That is that the player using the Missionary must have the exact same follower in his supply in order to convert any opponents’ followers.  This would certainly have an affect on the player controlling the Missionary during the latter portion of the game as he/she will very likely have played several of his/her other followers. 

We could also say that the Missionary may be limited in the amount of converts it can make at any one time, perhaps 1 or 2 followers of his choice (assuming there are more available).  The likelihood that there will be more than that on the surrounding tiles is pretty low anyway. 

Conversion of followers surrounding a cathedral might have to be tweaked a little, but that can come later.  Do you think this is an improvement?

The improvements sound better, a limit of 1 would tone down the power level a lot, but it's still powerful.  Also, it'd be nice if the original player gets a say in whether he/she gets to resist the conversion attempt.  Flip the abbey tile in hand, for instance - back = no conversion, front = converted, which would make the abbey tile a lot more valuable than what it is now.  If that abbey tile has been played then they don't get to resist the conversion.  I would play with those rules!

I don't understand some things (I read the first part of the first post, mut many things are not clear...)


How is the neutral meeple called?


Place what?

That's what I want to hear!   ;D  I didn't like the idea of flipping the Abbey at first, but it's growing on me.  Is that the only rule you had issue with?

@bufferm44:
Perhaps I can clear it up for you a little.  I don't completely understand your question, but I'll do my best.  The Missionary is one neutral meeple that sits off to the side like the dragon or the fairy until it comes into play.  Instead of getting an extra meeple for each player's supply, each player will get a small disc that is the same color as their meeples (blue, yellow, red, green, etc).  In order for a player to claim the Missionary, they must play their disc on the tile and then place the Missionary meeple on top of it.  This claims the Missionary for that player and it becomes one of his/her followers until it's feature is completed and it is then removed from the board along with the player's disc.  The Missionary is then free to be claimed by any player the next time a cloister (shrine, abbey, or cathedral) is drawn.  Is this any clearer?

I would echo Novelty's comments that the expansion is too complicated in the first draft. There is a lot to remember. However, the toned down version is much better and I do like the idea of flipping the Abbey tile. Of course, that would make the expansion only playable with Abbey and Mayor... but that is not a problem, since I think that Abbey and Mayor is the best expansion available anyway!!!

I am not sure about the idea of allowing the Missionary to piggy-back the Wagon!

How's the rules document going along, C?

Really?  I like that one!  I think it's a rare enough possibility to make it fun.  Plus, it's not affecting anyone while it's going for a ride.  The idea is that the Missionary is traveling from one place to another when he finishes his work. 

I haven't had a chance to work on it much more yet.  I want to get a little more input before I start putting it into the template. 

My work schedule is complicated.  My wife and I work for a children's home.  We are on for two weeks and off for two weeks.  It's 24/7 while we're on shift, but it's the same when we're off, so it's kinda nice.  We're on now for another week and I have very limited access to the interent.  I'm really surprised I can actually access this site.  If I get a chance today, I'll try and amend the rules and repost them to see how they look. 

Here is the first major edit for the Missionary.  I hope the color-coding makes it appear less complicated.

This expansion includes one neutral meeple colored however you want to color it (I'm leaning toward the one-arm-up meeple from H&G).  The Missionary is kept of the side of the board until it is allowed to come into play.  Also, each player receives one flat round disc in that player’s color.  This disc may eventually have some sort of symbol on it. 

When a player draws a Cloister tile (shrine, cathedral, or abbey) that player may claim the Missionary and place it on that feature with his/her own disc under it to show ownership.  The Missionary now becomes a follower for the player who puts it into play.  The Missionary can only be placed on a newly drawn tile and remains on the board until the feature is completed at which time it is removed from the board and may be claimed by any player the next time a Missionary feature is drawn. 

While in play, the Missionary acts just like a Monk until the feature it stands on is completed.  While standing on a cloister, shrine, or abbey (see rules for the cathedral below) the Missionary scores the usual number of points when the feature is completed.  In addition, the Missionary may also convert the followers of opponents that sit on the eight tiles surrounding the feature.  Converted followers are removed from the board and replaced by a follower of the same color as the Missionary.  An opponent’s follower can only be converted if the player with the Missionary has the exact same follower in his supply and must be replaced by the same follower.  If not, than this follower is not converted.  Followers are converted before the feature is scored.  Then, after scoring the Missionary is returned to the side of the board and player’s disc is returned to their supply.

The number of followers converted is dependent upon the feature the Missionary is sitting on.  While on the Cloister, the Missionary may only convert one opponent’s follower.  If there are multiple opponents’ followers on the eight tiles surrounding the feature, the player controlling the Missionary may choose any one of the opponents’ followers he wishes.  If the Missionary is sitting on a Shrine, the player may choose any two opponents’ followers adjacent to the Shrine.  If the Missionary is on the Abbey, the player may choose any three opponents’ followers adjacent to the Abbey (there is only one opportunity for a Missionary to sit on an abbey for any particular player since each player can own only one).  (This is based on the frequency that these features appear.)

There is no limit to how many times any one player may use the Missionary.  However, there can only be one Missionary on the board at one time, thus the one neutral meeple and colored discs.

Special rules for cathedrals: When the Missionary is used on a Cathedral, the effective range of that Missionary remains the eight tiles surrounding the cathedral.  The Missionary does not score any points upon completion of the city and does not make any conversions, nor is it removed until the city is complete.  However, it is considered a follower and does count toward calculating the majority in a city.  If the city is not completed before the end of the game, the Missionary is not removed and must remain there until the end of the game (unless it is removed by the dragon or another expansion feature).  The Missionary on the cathedral is not prohibited by, nor does it prohibit other players entering the city.  This means that the Missionary may be placed on a cathedral that already has followers in the city attached to it.  Likewise, another player's follower may be added to a city that only contains the Missionary and no other followers.  A cathedral with a Missionary on it scores for the city in the usual way.

The Missionary and other expansion features:

The Missionary is considered a follower and may be eaten by the dragon.  The Missionary is protected by the Fairy (or angel). 

The Missionary and the Tower: If on his/her turn a player adds a piece to a tower (black tower included) and the Missionary then comes within that tower's range, than the Missionary (and the disc) may be taken prisoner by the tower.  The usual ransom must be paid, but the player only receives his/her disc back and the Missionary is out of play.  If a player completes a feature with his/her Missionary and a tower with an opponent's follower on top stands within range upon completion (assuming the Missionary is not captured), than that tower is converted.  If the tower has no follower on top, it is not converted.
 
The Missionary may not be placed in the city of Carcassonne.  If another follower moved from the city of Carcassonne challenges the Missionary, the new follower may only share points and is not converted, nor does it convert any other followers.  If another player gains a majority on the feature, than the Missionary does not get the points for the feature, but his converts are not affected. 

A Missionary is immune to the seduction token in the Catapult expansion, but not to the knockout token.

The pig and the builder: the pig and the builder may both be converted by the Missionary, however, if there are no followers of the same color on the feature containing the newly converted pig or builder, than they are removed from play immediately.  If there is a follower of the same color as the newly converted pig or builder on that feature, than either of them may remain.  Likewise, if a player's follower is converted, but not the pig or the builder used with that follower, than that pig or builder must immediately be removed unless that feature contains a follower of the same color that has not been converted. 

A barn may not be converted by a Missionary.

The Missionary and the cart: If the player currently using the Missionary completes an adjacent road containing his/her cart, the cart can be moved to the feature containing the Missionary.  At this time, the player's disc is removed from play and the Missionary now sits on top of the cart.  Once the Missionary feature is completed, the Missionary may now stay on the board and ride the cart to its new destination.  However, the Missionary riding a cart can not make any new converts until the cart comes to rest again on a Missionary feature (cloister, shrine, cathedral, or abbey) by it's normal movement rules (this is the only time a Missionary may claim a feature on a previously placed tile).  If at any time the cart comes out of play by it's normal rules, than the Missionary comes off the board with it and may be reclaimed by any other player.  Also, if the cart is removed by the dragon, the princess, or a tower, than the Missionary is also removed. 

If a knight in a besieged city decides to escape through a feature (cloister, shrine, or abbey) containing the Missionary, than that knight is immediately converted and the player controlling the Missionary may decide to return that follower to the same city if they wish.

Interaction with Fan-made expansions:

The Missionary may be removed by the Prince, but may not be removed by the Fairy Queen.

The Missionary is not affected by the Leper, and is not influenced by the Jester, or the Minstrel. 

The Missionary may not be eaten by the "Big Bad Wolf" as it is safe inside its feature. 

A Missionary on a cathedral may be placed In the Stocks and can make no more converts until released.  When the Missionary is released from the Stocks in the usual way, than it may return to the Cathedral it was removed from and resume making converts.  A Missionary remaining in the Stocks when the city is closed may be removed from the city in the usual way and is removed from play while making no converts. 

The Missionary may also be sent from a cathedral to the Gallows.  If the Missionary is hanged in the gallows it is immediately removed from the board (and may be used by another player on a subsequent turn).  However, that player's disc remains on the Gallows and may not be removed until the city containing the Gallows is complete. 

The Missionary on a cathedral may not be used in the Jousting Tournament.

If a Missionary is placed on a besieged cloister, the number on converts allowed is double (2 instead of 1). 

These rules look pretty good to me - adds a new element to the game through conversions, but is not too powerful. If anything at first glance, it may have gone a little the other way - is it now too weak? To use you need to get your cloister/shrine/abbey to sit right beside an opponents meeple, and then hope you complete your feature before they are gone. Its certainly one way of dealing with farmers. Would have to try it out to see, but perhaps making conversions out 2 rows instead of 1 would add some power without it going too far?

Thanks for your positive comments.  You're right, I've weakened it quite a bit, perhaps too much.  I thought about that, but to counter it, I've not included the element of chance (the suggestion of flipping a tile to see if the follower is converted).  I'd be tempted to give it a two tile radius, but I think it might draw the "too powerful" criticism again.  I guess I'll wait and see if there are more comments.

I think it'll be one that we'll just have to play a few times and see how it comes out - it might be just fine as is, and its an easy "house" rule to change anyway for those who want it more or less powerful. I think that's what I like about the latest version - simple, in the spirit of the original game, easy to adjust if you want to, and no need for new custom tiles (which is brilliant).

I agree, it will take a few play tests to really tell the tale.  I wouldn't call it brilliant, but I appreciate the compliment.   ;D  There is a whole section of expansions that are just meeples and no tiles (as well as some with new tiles and no meeples) and that was my plan, to figure out something that didn't require new tiles.  This was for two reasons; 1) I can't do the graphics like some of these other guys can.  2) Not everyone can make new tiles, but getting ahold of extra meeples might not be that hard. 

Here's my proposal, with your ideas, but streamlined and simplified:

Missionary - can be a new meeple, can be a token, can be anything you want it to be.  You don't even need the 6 coloured tokens.

A missionary is gained when:
1. someone completes a cloister (including the abbey)
2. someone completes a shrine
3. someone completes a city with a cathedral

When a player with the missionary draws a cloister/shrine/cathedral and places it, he/she may choose to instead of moving the wood, replace one of the "neighbouring" meeple with another one from their supply and give up control of the missionary (so that it "becomes free" and returns to the side).  That way chance is restricted to tile-drawing (as usual for carcassonne), and there's strategy involved (i.e. when to play the abbey to steal the missionary, etc.)

Feel free to use it if you want to, but I won't be offended if you don't.

Hmmm... at first glance, I'm not sure this makes it simpler.  I think I like my version better, but I'll chew on it for a while.  Maybe you'll change my mind.  Perhaps some others will give some input on which way they prefer as well. 

Sorry I haven't put this (or any) up in completed form yet.  After tomorrow I'll have a lot more time to work on them.   {z1

No worries, take your time to get it to a level that we at CarcassonneCentral aspire to :)

Rule change: With the possible increased number of shrines included in all official and fan-made expansions, I've decided that both the Cloisters and Shrines will only permit one convert.  I realized that I failed to define the number of converts for the Missionary in the Cathedral as well, so this will now be 2.

I'm working on the rules document today.  I think I'm going to hang on to the colored discs.  I like the more concrete visual of who is controlling the Missionary at that moment.  Plus, there are a few applications where it could be very helpful.  I'm thinking specifically of use with Joff's medieval expansions. 

I was really hoping to get some more input by other regular posters as well.

Do you know where I might be able to find meeple images to use.  Is there someone who has made them for this site?  There are some very nice images used on several expansions. 

There's a whole set of images by Oskar Linqvist (sp?) on BGG.  That's what we have been using.  He's OK with us using his image, but we normally name him as being the source of them in the acknowledgements anyways.  Joff can probably provide you with more details.

Great news.  Thanks.

I'm having a terrible time finding those images.  Not sure if I'm doing something wrong, but I can't find them anywhere.  My wife and I are packing for a trip today so I probably won't be able to get this finished for several days.  I'm not giving up!  Sorry it's taking so long.

I typed in oskar linqvist carcassonne into google and this was the first page:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/filepage/27469

Thanks. I'd been trying to search BGG and was having no luck.

It occured to me that I should address the issue of cloister/shrine challenges where the Missionary is involved.  Here are my initial thoughts...

In the event that a challenge begins between a cloister and a shrine and the Missionary is occupying one of the features in the challenge, the following rules apply:

If the feature with the Missionary wins the challenge, then the rival feature's follower is removed from the board, the winner scores for their feature in the usual way and a convert may be made.  The Missionary may now be retained by the winner of the challenge and moved to the feature that failed the challenge.  It remains there until that feature is complete and then may also make a convert and score for that feature as if no challenge had taken place. 

If the player not controlling the Missionary wins the challenge, than the player's disc (controlling the Missionary) is removed immediately, the feature is scored for the winner of the challenge in the usual way and the player who won the challenge may keep the Missionary on the incomplete feature and place their own disc under it taking over control.  Upon completion of that feature, the player may now make a convert and score the feature as if no challenge had taken place. 

Your thoughts anyone?

I hope to be able to get this done this week.  I've been very busy.  I would definitely welcome any help putting together images for scoring examples. 

Sorry for multiple posts...

I have finally gotten this finished (without illustrations).  It's four pages, a bit long, but that's because I've tried to think of everything so as to avoid the need for questions. 

How do I post it for people to view and comment on?  I assume it must be hosted on another site, is that correct?  Not sure how I could do that, but if you want Novelty, I could email it to you. 

As for illustrations, I might be able to put them together, but it would take me a while to figure it out and I'd have to come up with a H&G and a disc image (at least ideally).  Does anyone know if Lindqvist has those somewhere?  I'm really not good at that stuff so I'd love it if I had some assistance.  I'd even share the royalties with you!   ;)

Heh, I'd like to see how I could be emailed ;)  And I'm a he, not an it ;)

For want of a nail, a shoe was lost
For want of a shoe, a horse was lost
For want of a horse, a victory was lost
For want of a victory, the war was lost
And... for want of a comma, a friend was neutered, digitized, and sent into cyber space.

Sorry about that.   ;)

Heh, no worries.  But you can do what most people here do, use either your personal website or mediafire.com and then post a link to it so that anyone who wants to proofread may do so easily.

I think the cathedral needs to be more powerful, either with regards to number of followers it can convert or range of influence. From a real-world historical standpoint, a cathedral would have significant influence over the entire city within which it is contained. However, this may be deemed too powerful. Perhaps something in between would be acceptable?

Thanks very much Scott for your input.  Now that you mention it, I think you're right.  There are a potential for six abbey's in the game (and I suppose possibly even more if you play with a large number of people like meepleeater suggested), but there are only two cathedrals maybe three at most with expansions.  Perhaps I should switch them and give the abbey two converts and the cathedral three and/or make the cathedrals range be a two tile radius, or just any tile in the city.  However, that makes those two tiles very powerful.  This doesn't sound too much like a bad thing though when you consider the following:

• There are only two cathedrals.
• If the Missionary is in play when the cathedral is placed, it won't matter.  That seems pretty likely.
• If people wait for the cathedral, then there will be fewer converts made on the whole.
• This rule could greatly increase the strategy and anticipation for use of the Missionary.

One fact remains though, if the Missionary is played early, no one will want to put any followers into play next to it.  The best use of it would be to hope it is available and sneak it into a hole where there is a large population of followers near by.  Either way I doubt you'd see a significant impact. 

I'm hoping to get a play test in when I go on vacation in two weeks.  I'll let you know how it works out.  I'll also post the template when I get a chance.  Any thought's on this rule change idea?

On a separate note, I've been considering this rule.  I wrote the Missionary before I got the Tower expansion, so after reading the Tower rules a little more carefully, I wonder if this rule is even necessary:


Can anyone think of an advantage  to or motivation for converting a follower on top of a tower?  I'm not sure I can. 

I don't see any use for it either.

What's the point of converting a tower?  No one owns a tower anyways...

Yeah, I get that now.  I didn't have the tower before I wrote it so I was confused.  Then on my second effort, I thought that I had rationalized the tower follower conversion, but you are correct, there is no point.  I'll remove that from the rules.

Novelty, what do you think about the proposed change for the cathedrals?

I would keep the cathedral the same as a cloister since, well, there are no placement restrictions on them (as opposed to the abbey, which does have placement restrictions).  That will be one less rule to remember. 

Also, do remember that cathedrals function very differently from abbeys/cloisters/cults in that it doubles the points of the city.  Perhaps there could be a variant (mentioned in the footnotes?) that something is done with the missionary when the city is completed (e.g. prevent anyone from parachuting in knights from the City of Carcassonne) that won't reward the leader too much and a drawback of some sort (e.g. the missionary is removed if the city is sieged) to strike a good balance.

Hmm... I'll have to chew on this for a while.  I kinda like removing the Missionary from a city under siege, but I think it's a little contradictory since I added to the rules document that a besieged cloister should get double converts.  I did so because hystorically, religious persecution seems to promote Christian conversion rather than discourage it.  The thought of cities under siege didn't occur to me.  I need to think about it a little. 

I don't think I will keep the cathedral the same as a cloister.  Scott makes a good point about a large cathedral in a city and there are only two in the game.  There are more than a dozen cloisters.  If all the conditions are right, the cathedral could be very powerful for the missionary, but I think we're talking about a maybe 10% chance for all those conditions to actually be right.

I think I might have a chance to get it up today. 

The Missionary is finally ready for your comments HERE (http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=68cb07b2e2b7f2171bee9a6e9edd9c76e04e75f6e8ebb871).  Enjoy!

"The Missionary is kept of the side of the board"
I think you're missing a letter in there somewhere.

In different places in the document, you use both the British and American spellings of the word colo(u)r. I think most of us have tended towards the British spelling in keeping with the European flavo(u)r of the game, but regardless of which you prefer it's best to be consistent.

"newly drawn" should be hyphenated because it is describing the word "tile".

"If not, than this follower is not converted."
The word "than" is not correct here; it should be "then". (also in the paragraph after this occurrence)

"the conversion range of that Missionary any tile within the city containing the cathedral."
I think you're missing a few words here.

"If the player controlling the Missionary looses the challenge"
You have an extra 'o' in "looses"; should be "loses".

"than that player's disc is removed immediately"
Once again, incorrect use of "than" vs. "then". (many more occurrences later in the document)

"The Dragon can move side to side "
The phrase "side-to-side" should be hyphenated.

"Once removed by the Dragon, the Missionary returns so the side of the board "
The word "so" should be "to".

"Cathers/Siege"
Incorrect spelling of "Cathars".

"Scoring for the besieged city is not effected "
Incorrect use of "effected" vs. "affected".

"by it's normal movement rules"
There should not be an apostrophe here.

Throughout the document, I would be very happy if you would fully justify the paragraphs instead of left-aligning. Jaggedy edges don't look very professional.

I'm feeling a little concerned about converting up to three followers in the city with cathedral. There is not much point for other players to play in this city because the player possessing the missionary will most likely gain majority after conversion (unless the opponent wastes eight meeples on it). I do like it having more influence though, so perhaps a slight change: maximum of one follower in the city from each player can be converted (no limit to number of followers). If only two players are competing for the city, the missionary can convert one of each.

Example

Before conversion:
Red - missionary
Blue - four followers
Yellow - two followers

After conversion:
Red - missionary and two followers
Blue - three followers
Yellow - one follower

Red and blue share equal points when feature is scored.

It's funny you mention that.  I thought I had fixed all of them.  I started out with the British version of "colour/color" for that very reason, but then changed back to the American version simply because I figured I wouldn't know if I was missing some other British "version" words and not know it.  I thought it best to go with what I know and be constistant.  I agree with the European flavour idea, so everyone feel free to make any other suggestions for British spellings I've missed.  The funny thing is that for some reason my spell checker for the text of the document was set to British and American for the footnotes. 


This also baffled me.  I did leave them fully justified, but when I cut and pasted some of the text from the word documents and posts I've made, it messed it all up and left some huge gaps between words that I couldn't seem to fix.  It's a formatting issue that I'm ignorant of.  Can somebody help?


Intriguing!  Your example made if very clear and you're right, it's too much of a power boost and I think this fixes it quite well.  Thanks also for spotting all those typos.  It looks like the majority of them are text/rule corrections I was feverishly typing today in the minimal amount of time I had to do so.  As for the homonyms, I always seem to have trouble with them as Novelty pointed out elsewhere.  What would I do without you guys?!   :sa

OK, just the comments page 1 because I don't have much time now.  Apologies if Scott has mentioned the same things already.

Header - The title is missing

If you are using British English, then it should be -ise instead of -ize.

Extra pieces: The official carcassonne rules do not define what is (1) neutral and (2) meeple.  If you are going to use either or both of those terms, you'll have to define what they are.  Note that meeple isn't a word in standard English (neither American or British).

Apparently "disc" is used for musical disks - i.e. CDs, phonograph, etc.  A circular flat piece is a disk.  I didn't know that until I checked it out a while ago.

Play a tile - wait, there are tiles in this expansion???  I don't see any in the Extra pieces section.  I'm confused.

What is a cathedral tile?  If I run out to my local cathedral in the middle of a game and paint some graffiti (i.e. draws) on one of the tiled roofing, can I claim the missionary? ;D  It might be better phrased as "a tile that depicts the cloister, shrine or cathedral"

Question about claiming the missionary - if it is already in play, can it still be claimed?  Or can it only be claimed when it is not in play?  The rules doesn't state this clearly.

"place it on that feature with the disc of his/her own color under it " - Don't you think it would be a bit unwieldly to place the disk under the tile???

I like the idea of a missionary feature.  What exactly is it?

What exactly does the missionary-as-monk do at the shrine place?  Can someone still place a heretic on the shrine place?

Footnote 2 and the first sentence of preparation says the same thing.  I don't think Footnote 2 is required.

Who is the "My" in the Footnote 1?  Is the rules document being personified?  Or would it be better to use "It is suggested that..." instead?

What exactly does footnote 5 refer to?

There's a bit of a blank space between the Deploying and the Scoring sections.

It is?

I'll fix it.  This is what I was referring to regarding ignorance of British English in my reply to Scott.

Yeah, I wondered about that, I just didn't check...

I'm not sure what's confusing about this.  You have to play a tile to play any follower. 

Only when it is not currently in play.  I'll fix that.

A Missionary feature is a feature that the Missionary may claim (cloister, shrine, abbey, or cathedral).  I thought it would be obvious, but I should probably define this too.

My mistake, it should read monk/heretic.

I obviously need to do a major edit.  I'll do it soon.  Thanks for your observations. 

The top of every page still says "Carcassonne – Title Here"

The rules are usually only for the additional parts of the expansion.  There is no tile in this expansion, hence you don't have to explain about playing them.  That's why all my rules follow the standard CAR method of 1. Play a tile 2. Deploy a follower, 3. Score a completed feature then followed by End of Game.  That's why some of the rules have 1. and 3. but no 2.

I intended to keep the 1. 2. 3. format, but it seemed like I had too many catagories.  If you feel like fixing the format, I would appreciate it since I was having so much trouble with it.  It's currently a word document.  If you don't, that's OK too.  I'll fix the typos. 

Which is why you should get rid of the Play a tile section especially since there's no tiles in this expansion.

HERE (http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=68cb07b2e2b7f2171bee9a6e9edd9c76e04e75f6e8ebb871) is version .5, thanks! 

Scott, I fixed the format, but see what happened?  Do you know how I can fix that?

I'm trying to decide what color to paint my Missionary figure.  I don't want to use any of the standard or extra Meeple People colors because I want to represent the true neutrality of the figure itself.  I've thought of stripes, dots, tie-dye, or some random solid color that's not one of the 12 available.  Any suggestions?

At the end of the last line of the offending paragraphs, hit enter and then press delete once or twice until the number of blank lines between paragraphs is back to one.

I'll try to make that fix in the next couple of days.  Are there any more edits?  Any rules that anyone finds particularly objectionable?  I'm pretty strongly opinionated, but for all of you... I'm willing to be flexible!  Like an iron bar... a really soft iron bar... more like a bar that wishes it were iron... perhaps a lead bar.  I'm such a joker!  :w

Suggested corrections - bold = additions, strikethroughs = deletions.  OK, I'm only going to do page 1 again...

Deploying the Missionary

When a player draws a tile with a cloister, shrine, or cathedral tile , or chooses to play their abbey tile (sometimes described as a Missionary feature), that player may, instead of playing a follower to the tile (or any other actions carried out in lieu of playing a follower) claim the Missionary, if it is available and not already in play, and place it on that feature the cloister or shrine or cathedral or abbey with the disk of his/her own colour under it to show ownership.  The Missionary now becomes a follower for the player who puts it into play.  The Missionary can only be placed on a newly-drawn tile  and remains on the board until the feature cloister or shrine or abbey or cathedral city it is on is completed at which time it is removed from the board and may be claimed by any player the next time a Missionary feature is drawn.  Also, it may not be claimed by another player if it is currently in use by another player.

Note: Footnote 1 has color instead of colour.

Note: Footnote required somewhere in the above that a missionary in a cathedral is/is not(?) considered to be a knight in that city.  I would suggest not.

Scoring and special actions

While in play, tThe Missionary acts just like a Monk if it is on a cloister or abbey, (or a Heretic if it is on a shrine) until the abbey, cloister or shrine feature it isstands on is completed.  While standing as a monk (or heretic) on a cloister, shrine, or abbey (see rules for the cathedral below) tThe Missionary scores the usual number of points for the completed cloister, abbey or shrine when the feature is completed.  In addition, the Missionary may also choose to convert any or all of the followers belonging to other players of opponents that sit are on the eight tiles surrounding the abbey, cloister or shrine.  Converted followers are removed from the board and replaced by a follower of the same colour as the player controlling the Missionary.  An opponent’s follower can only be converted if the player with the Missionary has the exact same type of follower in his supply and must be replaced by the same type of follower (mayor for mayor, pig for pig wagon for wagon, etc.).  If not, then this follower is not converted.  Followers are converted before the feature is scored.  Then, after scoring the Missionary is returned to the side of the board and the player’s disk is returned to their supply.

Note: The pig and the builder (and the barn) are not followers.  I know the builder and the pig can also be converted, but that is spelt out clearer in the section below.

If upon completion of a feature containing the Missionary, there are no followers of any opponent on the eight tiles surrounding the abbey, cloister or shrine within range to be converted, then the player controlling the Missionary makes no converts, but instead gets scores five (5) extra points.

Note: Footnote 2 has 2 spaces between the words one and per

Edit: Added clause that a player can only claim the missionary if it is not already in play.

I've been trying all day to upload the latest edit, but mediafire is not working...  >:(

Mediafire got their problem fixed and I finally got it up.  HERE (http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=68cb07b2e2b7f2171bee9a6e9edd9c76e04e75f6e8ebb871) is Missionary.6
I really need help with illustrations if someone is willing.

A quick glance shows me the header looks a bit funny as the page number is now on the next line as the title, but that may just be on my machine.

Also, if you are using "moving the wood", you'll have to define it, since that term does not appear in any of the official rules.

I don't doubt something is funny there.  I had a terrible time keeping the format intact.  Not sure what I did wrong, but I was having a hard time fixing it.  Everything kept moving on me.  I think I need help making it right.

I used that because I thought I saw it in someone else's expansion.  I agree with you and changed that to something more appropriate.


Game night tonight at the FLGS.  Hoping for the first play test!

So much for the play test, nobody showed up.  :-\  The beach is coming!  Back to work...

I think the Mayor could pretty easily offset the Missionary in this case, but I did mean to make this change and forgot.  I've updated it.

HERE (http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=68cb07b2e2b7f2171bee9a6e9edd9c76e04e75f6e8ebb871) is the latest revision.  There are a few changes.  I don't think I added anything, but I did take out a few things.  The big question of the day is...
Do you think the Missionary should be allowed to use the Magic Portal?  I had forgotten about it.  Please let me know if there are any other game features I've not considered.

I haven't visited the site for a while and you -email prompted me to get it and have a look.

Nice work Mr C.  After putting an expansion up earlier this year I know the pain and suffering you go through to get every thing just right.
Novelty does a great job proof reading and putting forward ideas.

I only have a few small things:

You refer to the 'Board' in the rules, as Carcassonne doesn't actually have a board (will it sort of does when you eventually lay the tiles down) would it be better to change the word Board  to 'the play area' i.e the Missionary sits off to the side of 'the play area' until claimed rtc


Page 1    Missionary (it now becomes a follower for that player) and place it on the cloister, - missing an 's' on place

Page 2 para 4   If there are two other players, than only two converts may be made.     Change 'than' to 'then'

Page 2 para 6 
If the feature with the Missionary wins the challenge, then the rival feature's follower is removed from the board, the winner scores for their feature in the usual way, and a convert may be made.  The Missionary may now be retained by the winner of the challenge and moved to the feature that failed the challenge.  It remains there until that feature is complete and then may also make a convert and score for that feature as if no challenge had previously taken place.


This paragraph is a little confusing as it seems to use the terms features, players interchangeably.  I would prefer it to read a little easier.
E.g If the player with the Missionary wins the challenge then the rival's follower is removed from the play area.  The winning player scores for their feature and a convert can be made. The Missionary is retained by the winning player and is moved to the feature that was previously owned by the losing player. It remains there until that feature is completed; conversions and scoring are then made for that feature as if no challenge had previously taken place.

Page 3/4  Traders & Builders Para:  This seems to be way too wordy and confusing had to read it a number of times and still couldn't seem to get a clear understanding of it.


Unofficial expansions:  Fighters & Scholars - Can a missionary gain extra levels and thus fight off the dragon and effects of the tower etc.?  (had to get that one in as I wrote the Fighters & Scholars expansion)

Again well done
regards
edmil

Thanks very much.  This took a lot more effort than I anticipated.  I appreciate your encouragement.

Yeah, that thought crossed my mind early, but I never thought much about changing it.  I think I will do so.

Excellent!  I have rewritten that several times trying to help it make more sense.  You've done so quite well.  I hope you don't mind if I use it.

I've tried fixing that too and can't seem to do so in a clear, concise way.  I think it will need illustrations to make it understandable, but I'm no good at doing them and have been begging for someone to help with them.

That thought had not crossed my mind.  My first thought is that the Missionary is powerful enough without gaining levels, so probably no, but I'll have to read carefully through your document and see what I think.  I'd be happy to hear your suggestions too since you are most familiar with your own rules.  Thanks again!

The rules are great, and I can't think of any changes, but I did pick up on a spelling mistake;

If the Missionary resides in a city that becomes infested by the Pestilence tile, then upon completion of that city

Thanks, I'm always doing that.  It's a brain cramp I guess!

Re: Fighters and Scholars - should the missionary be able to increase its level.

In fighters and scholars any meeple considered to be a follower can increase its level. This allows players to increase their majority in/on a feature. The increase in level also allowed the follower to fight off the dragon and attacks by the tower.(it doesn't make them immune just gives them another chance)  If you want the missionary to be able to fend of attacks then yes it would level up - there is a cost to leveling up so maybe it would be a good thing.

My thoughts for the Pig and the Builder would be that the follower connected to the pig or the builder is converted as well.  This would mean that the player with the Missionary must have both the builder/pig and a follower available to make the conversion. The reason I would go down this line is because the pig/builder are completely linked to the follower.
This would still be in keeping with the intent of the missionary i.e. to gain control of a feature that was the other players.
It would certainly make it easier.

Just a quick note: I am away with work for the next seven days so I won't be checking back in here until I return. So don't think I'm ignoring any reply to the above.

Re pigs and builders and the traders and builders bit, Version 0.7 of the rules currently says:

Traders and Builders: Both the pig and the builder may be converted, but only if there are no followers available.  If there is a follower of the same colour as the newly-converted pig or builder (and in this case, the Missionary) on the same feature (city, road, or farm), then either of them may remain.  However, if there are no followers of the same colour (as the Missionary) on the feature containing the newly converted pig or builder, then they must be removed from play immediately as they fail to meet the criteria to remain on the board.   Likewise, if a player's follower is converted, but not the pig or the builder used in connection with that follower, then that pig or builder must immediately be removed unless that feature contains another follower of the same colour that has not been converted.


I agree this still seems a little messy, though I do understand what it is getting at I think.


This makes some sense, but this could make the missionary more powerful then intended. I am thinking maybe it should apply only if the linked follower is the one converted. I think it probably doesn't make sense to convert a pig or a builder (who isn't a real follower after all - no free will, just simply builds - maybe they had robots back then :))

How about:
Traders and Builders: If a follower is converted, and this follower is the only follower connected to a pig or a builder of the same colour, than that pig or builder may also be converted if the player with the missionary can supply the required piece, else they are removed from play. If the pig or builder remain connected to a follower of their colour after the first follower has been converted, they may remain. Pigs can not be directly converted.

If you wanted to convert builders, I would offer two thoughts - either
1. a builder can be converted and replaced by a follower (not another builder)
2. a builder under the conversion influence of a missionary can simply be removed

I know at the very least I need to reconsider the wording of the pig & builder paragraph.  It's hard to get it right without illustrations.  I'm not sure how to change the rules without a major change.  My original intent was for the missionary to convert any piece, but then I had to consider the fact that the pig and builder are not considered followers.  (This extends to sheep in the Shepherds expansion I'm working on next.)  I'll have to think about it. 

From the beginning of my work on this, the major constructive criticism was that it was too complicated and/or too powerful.  I've worked hard to keep it from being too powerful and I think converting any two figures (except in the rare instance of an abbey or chathedral) boarders on being too powerful.  I'm also kind of afraid of allowing the Missionary to level up because that might make it too powerful as well.

Keeping it from being too complicated is... well too complicated.  I don't know how to make it simpler at this point.  I think it's OK that it's a little complicated.  Since it's relatively easy to add to the game (it's essentially only one extra figure), and I think it will be fun, hopefully people won't mind taking the time to learn it. 

Sorry I haven't made the latest revisions yet.  I've been on vacation!  ;D  I have had a chance for a few play-tests of the Missionary though.  I haven't seen any significant issues it three attempts.  I guess I'm too good a teacher since I lost them all!  ::)  You can see a picture HERE (http://www.carcassonnecentral.com/forum/index.php?topic=748.msg11598#msg11598).

Hi Chris - Understand what you are saying. I think you can stick with the rules as is, just maybe it is a clean up of the words. How about:

Rules: Traders and Builders: Both the pig and the builder may be converted, but only if there are no followers available. 
Suggestion: Traders and Builders: For each available conversion, if there are no followers available to be converted by the missionary, either a pig or builder may be converted.

Rules: If there is a follower of the same colour as a newly-converted pig or builder (and in this case, the Missionary) on the same feature (city, road, or farm), then either of them may remain.  However, if there are no followers of the same colour (as the Missionary) on the feature containing the newly converted pig or builder, then they must be removed from play immediately as they fail to meet the criteria to remain on the board.

Suggestion: A converted pig or builder may only remain in play if there is a follower of the same colour (i.e. the colour of the missionary) on the same feature (city, road or farm). If there are no followers of their converted colour on the same feature, they must be removed from play immediately as they fail to meet the criteria to remain on the board.

Rules: Likewise, if a player's follower is converted, but not the pig or the builder used in connection with that follower, then that pig or builder must immediately be removed unless that feature contains another follower of the same colour that has not been converted.

Last sentence seems fine to me. Whole thing looks like:

Traders and Builders: For each available conversion, if there are no followers available to be converted by the missionary, either a pig or builder may be converted. A converted pig or builder may only remain in play if there is a follower of the same colour (i.e. the colour of the missionary) on the same feature (city, road or farm). If there are no followers of their converted colour on the same feature, they must be removed from play immediately as they fail to meet the criteria to remain on the board. Likewise, if a player's follower is converted, but not the pig or the builder used in connection with that follower, then that pig or builder must immediately be removed unless that feature contains another follower of the same colour that has not been converted.

What do you think?

That looks pretty good.  I might make just a few changes. 

Sorry I haven't had a chance to fix it yet.  We've been so busy.  I need a vacation after my vacation!  :D  I guess that's a good problem. 

I did get in a couple of really good play tests.  I made one really good Missionary ambush in a hole with the abbey.  It worked really well for me.  I missed another similar opportunity.  The last game I played was a mega-carc game with every expansion and also a few fan-made (no tile) expansions.  It was fun, but interestingly, we played the whole game without a conversion.  The Missionary was frequently the target of towers and cloisters that were difficult to complete.  It was enjoyable anyway.  I hope to have it finished sometime this week.

HERE (http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=68cb07b2e2b7f2171bee9a6e9edd9c76e04e75f6e8ebb871) is the latest (and hopefully final) version of the Missionary.  I made the decision to do away with the conversion of the pig and builder.  I figured it was just easier.  It made more sense to me to only convert followers.  I think ultimately, it would make the most sense if the pig and the builder were followers, but that's a fight for another day.  I've also decided not to allow the Missionary to level up as in Fighters and Scholars.  However, this was just to make it easier for myself and get it finished without coming up with more rules for that.  If you guys want to come up with something for it or play it as a house rule, it won't hurt my feelings a bit.  Hope you enjoy the Missionary!

Looks good to me Chris - thanks heaps for your work on this one. I agree, removing the conversion of the pigs and builders makes it simpler - the rules for working with the official expansions all look very straight forward.

Hope you recover from your holidays soon.....

Thanks for your encouragement! 

Novelty has requested that I add some illustrations before calling the Missionary complete.  Someone has graciously offered to give it a shot (as I am incompetent with computer graphics) and I have given them a small list of necessary illustrations.  Please feel free to post your suggestions for any particular illustrations you think are needed to make the rules more clear.  Thanks!

How are these:

(http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss294/meepleater/missionary-figure.jpg)
Missionary figure with blue disk (purple was the only colour I could make the missionary, I hope it's all right)

(http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss294/meepleater/missionary-2.jpg)
I used green meeples instead of black...

(http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss294/meepleater/Missionary-1.jpg)

(http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss294/meepleater/missionary-3.jpg)

(http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss294/meepleater/missionary-4.jpg)
I used green instead of black, and grey instead of green...

I hope these are all right...

These are perfect!  At first glance, the yellow is hard to see, but that's OK.  These will do very nicely!  Thanks so much.  ;D

You're welcome...if you need any more, just ask!

Yay meepleater.   Merit point for you!  Now all those images have to be incorporated into the rules with the text :)

Sorry, I should have thought of that.  I don't think about merit points very often.  Thanks Novelty.  Hopefully, I'll be able to include them in the rules in the next few days.

You do realise you can still give him a merit point!  Just because I have given him one doesn't mean you can't give him another one ;D  Merit points is one of the ways you thank someone here I guess :)

Good point... merit point for you meepleater!

Thanks! Look forward to seeing the final version...

HERE (http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=68cb07b2e2b7f2171bee9a6e9edd9c76e04e75f6e8ebb871) it is with meepleater's illustrations. 

I've polished it up and added it to public downloads.  Please let me know if the changes are good!  Merit point given.  Great job on the first expansion!

Thank you!  It was harder and much more time consumming than I thought it would be, but I really enjoyed it. 

For everyone else.  Version 1.1 is up now.

OK folks.  It's time to streamline the Missionary to make it more official-expansion-friendly.  Here are my thoughts, I'll probably have to remove the cart riding feature.  That got a thumbs down from Joff and I really respect his opinion (not that I don't respect the opinions of others).  I'll obivously also have to take out the sections about playing the expansion with other fan-made expansions.  I think it's important to keep the cloister/shrine challange rules.  I'd also like to keep the rules for use with the Cathedral, but my impression is that's what would receive the most criticism.  I'm not looking to rewrite it, but trim it.  

Perhaps we could keep some of the original mechanics that are taken out as varient options, but they would probably be better hosted on the site rather than in the rules.  

For all expansions we submit, regardless of changes, I think it might be cool to include some kind of note in the rules document pointing people back to our site to see the original expansion rules and their evolution as well as all the other stuff we have to offer.

I made one conversion early in the game and was able to thwart my wife's only attempt.  There could have been more opportunities, but we were focused on trying to connect sheep and finish my big city (111 points!  :D).