Carcassonne Central

Hunters & Gatherers again is plundered for ideas. This time, I think that the bonus tiles concept needs to be incorporated into the regular game and the means, such as the gold mine in H&G, is through Holy Relics. They are attached to cloisters taken from the base game and, whenever you complete one (even if you don't score for it yourself, or if no one scores for it) you get to place an extra tile from the special pile of Relic Tiles. I am working on a list right now of what the bonuses will be, but at least some of the tiles are completely new and others. I was initially planning to incorporate expansions together, to create better combinations of features, but that was mostly because there are few things that could be used for bonus tiles in the base game. Some ideas for tiles so far are:

2 and 3 shield tiles
4-way fields (with and without lakes on all the roads)
cloister-shrine combos (they don't compete with each other, only one can be chosen)
teleport, dragon & mountain tile (get the dragon somewhere and you still can place your follower!)
cathedral & cloister tile
circle road with inn in middle
princess with tower & faire (triple destruction!)

Finally, at least a few of the bonus tiles I wanted to be a spin-off from the Abbey & Mayor concept:
Abbey-Shrines (A tile with blue borders, instead of orange, that can be placed anywhere following Abbey rules, but possessing a shrine instead)

The tiles with relic icons will probably just be normal cloister and shrine tiles, not necessarily anything super unique, but they need to make accessible these uber-tiles.

I had wanted to do something similar after doing the graveyard tile.  I'm glad someone else is doing this ;)

It will take a little while for me to get up and working on this since I am moving back to the US right now (and won't have internet again until July 7th!!!! AHHH!) but I will keep conceptualizing tile designs and whatnot until I can actually work on them. If anyone knows where I can get an image of the Abbey tile, please link me up. Thanks!

I just had an idea for this. It would require some reorganization, mostly changing some terms around, but including something like the Ark from AotC would make a perfect Relic. Having a free-floating point-adding device on the board works pretty well for that game, and since this expansion is all about Holy Relics, adding a traveling relic seems perfect.

Name of the expansion is currently Temples & Relics

Thus, this is what I have so far:
The Holy Relic of Saint Celsus the Martyr (The Holy Relic for short) - A traveling relic (requires a play piece, will suggest something common) that may be moved, in lieu of other movements of wood, up to 5 spaces (no double-backs). For every follower that the Holy Relics pass through or end on, the player of that color receives 1 point.

Temple – The exact opposite of the Abbey tiles but with the exact same function, each player receives a Temple at the beginning of the game. They may play it instead of drawing a tile. It acts in the same manner as a Shrine/Cult Place, and can also begin rivalries with Abbeys and Cloisters. Exact same placement requirements of cloisters, abbeys and shrines apply in that no player may place more than 1 Abbey or Cloister adjacent to a Faerie Ring. Temples end all adjoining tiles.

Pilgrimage Sites and Souvenirs (Bonus Tiles) – Taking an idea from Hunters & Gatherers, the introduction of Pilgrimage Sites are places of veneration for medieval Christians who wish to see their local saints' relics. Many medieval churches had them and thus, this expansion will convert many cloisters into Pilgrimage Sites where players get to not only complete their turn, but get to draw a Souvenir (bonus tile). The player must claim the cloister to receive the Souvenir, thus not all the bonus tiles may be drawn. The bonus tiles are 12 tiles in a stack which are set apart from the normal tiles. Whenever a Pilgrimage Site is drawn, the player finishes his/her turn (assuming they place a follower on the cloister) and then draws a Souvenir. The tile is placed in exactly the same manner as the normal game, but includes features such as 2-3 pennants on a city, a Cathedral within a smaller (non-CCCC) castle, a road with two wells (maybe), etc. Still working on the bonus tiles, but they will not require too many new rules but should be above and beyond the quality of a usual tile. Balance-killers, if you will.

I think this expansion should be used with I&C but obviously I have to work out the remaining details first. I also am not sure if the Cloister tiles from the original game should be set aside for this expansion. Again, it's a work in progress, but I think it should be good. Not sure when I will have the time to work on this expansion a ton, but I hope to get it going fairly soon.

Edit: Added name of expansion and changed name of Faerie Rings to Temples, since Faerie Rings sounds silly.

It sounds like the temple function a lot like the Roman Temple from that recent expansion.  Being that it is "opposite" the abby and cloister.

Sort of, except it is like an Abbey in that it fills holes, not a Cathedral that doubles city points. I think I may revert it back to Faerie Ring, though, because that has a more pagan feel to it in medieval times (pegans wouldn't have had huge temples dotting Carcassonne's city scape) and because I think I can make the tile look better if it is in a field, not a city. I am trying to make this expansion seem like an official one, albeit one that could never get published since it is just using ideas from other expansions/spin-offs. I may have to get some help with making some tiles, though. I'm going to keep working with it for a while longer, but don't be surprised if I ask for help suddenly. I'm not content with any of the temple/faerie ring tiles I've tried to make so far. Other tiles should be easier since I can use previous graphics for those.

Any suggestions on what common household wood item could be used for the Holy Relic?

Have you seen Solazy's tiles from BGG?  If not, check them out.  HERE (http://www.carcassonnecentral.com/forum/index.php?topic=861.0) is the thread with the link.  He has a few that look like Stonehenge or something.  They are meant to be placed next to a cloister and their function is like an inn on a road or Cathdral.  It sounds aesthetically similar to the idea you present for your faerie ring.  Perhaps you can glean some ideas.

My experience is that the relics often seemed kind of silly.  Maybe a wooden spoon or bowl or something like that.

I think the relic's number of movements should be increased to 6, since this is a six-player game.

I'm not enthused about the temple idea, considering we already have cloisters, cathedrals, abbeys, and cult places.

I like the idea of pilgrimage sites and H&G-style bonus tiles.

It is amazing how many months can go by so quickly! So, I nearly forgot about my two projects, Temple & Relics and the Moated City of Carcassonne. I'm working on both, actually, and I think they will be done within a week's time. I started working with the Moat but decided to finish the other expansion first.

I've got everything done for this expansion, including the rules, temples, and pilgrimage sites. All I have left are the 12 souvenir (bonus) tiles. Brainstorming has produced the following configurations, however:

1. 2-pennant city
2. 2-pennant city
3. 2-pennant city
4. 2-pennant city
5. 3-pennant city
6. 3-pennant city
7. Cloister-Shrine combo-tile (only one can be chosen, ever)
8. Cloister-Shrine combo
9. Sacred Shrine (claims the field for the player who claims it by end of game, regardless of number of opponents' farmers; any barn also scores at end of game)
10. Garrison (place on an opponent's city and place a follower on it. You receive 5 points and the owner receives 5 points less when the city is scored)
11. Toll Road (place tile on claimed road and place follower on tile. The owner and toll road operator split the points for this road when it is completed)
12. Nunnery (place adjacent to a religious feature [cloister, abbey, shrine, temple]. If the feature is controlled by another player, remove their follower and place it in the nunnery. You may now place your own follower on the now-open feature. If the feature is not controlled, you may claim it. The Nunnery is worth no points but must be completed (like any other religious feature) before removing the follower.


The last four souvenir tiles resemble the intent of the original bonus tiles from Hunters & Gatherers, wherein some of the tiles were meant to undermine other players' primary features by either giving points to you or taking points away from them. Since there are no nice animals to kill or get bonuses from, these four ideas seemed like decent alternatives. The Sacred Shrine is, in fact, directly taken from Hunters & Gathers. I tried to pick unique names for the other three, but I think I failed with all except the nunnery. Regardless, these souvenir tiles are in no way intentionally related to any other expansions/variants using the same name.

Okay, so any suggestions about these before I make them? They are the last think left before the expansion goes public. Thanks!

Sorry for the double post. I just realized that I should probably balance the first 8 items more since they are very city-heavy. Here's an alternative for some, at least.

1. Cattle (adds 3 total points to a field)
2. Sheep (adds 6 total points to a field)
3. Rest House (adds 2 total points to a road)
4. Hotel (adds 2 total points to a road)
5. 2-pennant city
6. 3-pennant city
7. Cloister-Shrine combo-tile (only one can be chosen, ever)
8. Cloister-Shrine combo

I like the rework of the first 8 tiles better.  I think it is more balanced.  Check out the Ranch tile from the Solazy expansion.  It might be something you'd like and if you're interested, I think he'd probably let you use it. 

I'm looking forward to being able to exclaim, "Get thee to the Nunnery!"  ;D

Okay, so I haven't worked on this since I posted last and have decided to show everyone the tiles I have so far:

Faerie Rings (http://www.whaleyland.com/downloads/faeriering.jpg) (Yes, I renamed them back again)
Pilgrimage Sites (http://www.whaleyland.com/downloads/pilgrimagesites.jpg) (Note: The pilgrimage sites are not currently printable. They are about four times too large.)

The image on the pilgrimage site logos is a generic French relic I found on wikipedia. Not that inventive, but it has been verified to contain the remains of some saint. Which saint I cannot remember. I think I did a decent job blending and stylizing the logo, though.

The Faerie Rings can actually be used on their own. They replace or accompany the Abbey tiles and serve the exact same function except that these contain Shrines rather than Cloisters. The borders are green, not forests, so this tile does not require a Forests expansion to use. As per usual rules, a Faerie Ring can fill a orthogonal hole on the board and may be claimed by a heretic. The tile may score on its own or rival a cloister/abbey but the tile may not be placed if more than one cloister/abbey are adjacent to it or any already rivaling cloisters/abbeys.

The final thing I have to complete is the Souvenir Tiles (bonus tiles). These are not going very well. I've created a cloister/shrine combo tile but my attempt at a Cow Farm has utterly failed. It looks more like a pig sty than anything. The other tiles I haven't worked on a ton, but for a few I'm going to need to make/borrow images from other expansions but I am trying not to use images that already have a function in those expansions. 11 tiles to go! But they are the hardest. If anyone is willing to volunteer to make me some images, please feel free. The list of proposed tiles is below. All I request is that if you make a new image, don't bind it to a tile unless necessary so I can tweak it and add effects before it goes on the tile. Thanks!

I like these tiles.  They look pretty good.

Awesome artwork.

*bump*

Whaley, I hope you still have all the wonderful graphics, etc that you have shown here.  I'd love to see this get finished.  I really like seeing spin off mechanics incorporated into the main game.  Not to bog you down, I know you are still working on the invasion, but if you still have an interest in this one, I for one would like to try it.

I'm not too good at graphics which was one thing you'd been asking on for help way back when.  I can transplant existant images but not really create new images which sounds like what you were hoping for.

Thanks for the bump. I forgot that I had finished the reliquary tiles as well as the faerie rings. I don't believe I have worked on this any more since the last post. The main problem I was having was making the souvenir tiles. I had thought recently about simply using tiles that have already been created for other expansions — simple tiles that add very simple mechanics. As an alternative, I was thinking of making a draw pile of souvenir tiles composed completely of expansion features. Something like this:

• 1 Cathedral
• 2 Inns
• 1 Pig Farm
• 2 Magic Portals
• 1 Princess
• 2 Tower Foundations
• 2 Abbeys
• 2 Double-pennant cities
• 1 Siege
• 1 Bazaar
• 3 Crop Circles (one of each type)

That would be 18 bonus tiles, which would mean every game would have some variety. It would also bring the expansion's tile count up to 36 (18 Souvenir Tiles, 6 Faerie Circles, 12 Reliquaries). Sure it isn't as creative as my previous idea, but it would be much easier to format and the rules would already be known (well, at least by people who play all/most of the expansions). What do you think? I still want to finish Invaders first, but if I could finish both of these expansions, that would be wonderful.

I think that could be quite a fun idea.  A little like Blackmarket in Dominion where it brings in something just you get to use.  I think that could be quite cool actually.  These tiles could perhaps have a unique back all their own.

While having onetime special tiles for this seems cool (like the you have majority of this farm no matter what tile) going with this approach would certainly make it easier to integrate.

Up!

I think that the idea of bonus tiles is rather good one. Maybe we should try to develop colloborative expansion like this?