Intrigue

Intrigue
Type	Standalone Expansion
Cards	500 (25 Kingdom Cards)
Additional material	Basic Victory and Treasure cards
Theme(s)	Cards with choices, alternate Victory cards
Release Date	July 2009
Official Rulebook	PDF

Dominion: Intrigue, is the first expansion to Base Dominion released by Donald X. Vaccarino in 2009 by publisher Rio Grand Games. The box contains 25 Kingdom Cards and Basic Supply Cards to support up to 4 players, or up to 6 players when combined with Base Dominion.

Card List

Basic Supply Cards

$0 Copper, Curse
$2 Estate
$3 Silver
$5 Duchy
$6 Gold
$8 Province

Kingdom Cards

$2 Courtyard, Pawn, Secret Chamber
$3 Great Hall, Masquerade, Shanty Town, Steward, Swindler, Wishing Well
$4 Baron, Bridge, Conspirator, Coppersmith, Ironworks, Mining Village, Scout
$5 Duke, Minion, Saboteur, Torturer, Trading Post, Tribute, Upgrade
$6 Harem, Nobles

Flavor Text

Something's afoot. The steward smiles at you like he has a secret, or like he thinks you have a secret, or like you think he thinks you have a secret. There are secret plots brewing, you're sure of it. At the very least, there are yours. A passing servant murmurs, "The eggs are on the plate." You frantically search your codebook for the translation before realizing he means that breakfast is ready. Excellent. Everything is going according to plan.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, from the Intrigue rulebook

Secret History

Intrigue has existed in many forms over the years. It came into being as 12 cards in 2006, immediately became 15 cards, got expanded to 20 cards not too long afterwards, stayed at 20 for a long time, although cards paraded through it, got tried at 16 briefly, went back to 20, then made the leap to 25. Originally the set had three sub-themes; one of them (one-shots) gradually left, and another (decision-making cards) got expanded. The other theme (victory cards that do something) stayed as is but got cards to supplement it. Flavor-wise it always had Intrigue as a tentative theme, but it got much more Intrigue-like during development.

From the start, Intrigue was groomed to be the first expansion. To me that meant making it the most true to the main set. If the first expansion was especially exotic, then when only the main set and that expansion were out, half the game would consist of this exotic stuff. If the second expansion is the first exotic one, then it's down to a third of your cards (if you have the first expansion too) (of course it's even less if not all of the second expansion is exotic). That seems more reasonable. The mechanics in the first expansion are things that to me are just a basic part of the game; later expansions may not have as many victory cards that do things or cards that say "choose one," but they'll have those things when they're wanted. The main set didn't have those things in part to keep it simple for new players and in part because you can only fit so much in 25 cards.