Fan Designed Cosmic Expansion Set Discussion

Peter Olotka: @Bill Martinson Filch gets your discarded card. Cards removed from the game are goners. Its like ships lost to the VOID. Give a shot at a rewrite.

Peter Olotka: Vulch gets discarded artifacts so it would be a beneficiary of LOKI's discarded

Bill Eberle: Bill, please note that we're going to do the JOKER as a separate project now. We've renamed the alien we've all been discussing as LOKI (Jack's suggestion, I think - Ed: actually it was Zach's suggestion) and we'll keep working on this idea until we all feel it is done and worthy. (1 thumb up)

Jefferson Krogh: @Bill Martinson: Generally speaking, what do you think about the idea of Joker discarding his wild and replacing it with an encounter card from the discard pile, rather than naming an encounter card?

Jefferson Krogh: Oops! Missed the transition from JOKER to LOKI. (I don't think Jack thought up that name, actually. Have to check the archived discussion.)

Jack Reda: I'm guessing this is now the current “LOKI” thread (not my name suggestion, but a pretty good one). Here's how I would handle the power:

Bill Eberle: Yes, this is now the LOKI thread.
We'll do JOKER later (Peter has some ideas about what we can do re: actual Joker cards in the deck)

Jack Reda: LOKI

You have the power to meddle (or whatever). As a main player, when choosing encounter cards, you may use this power to discard an artifact or flare from hand. You then take the cosmic discard pile and choose any encounter card to play face down for the encounter, returning the discard pile afterwards. During Resolution, the encounter card you played is removed from the game instead of going to the discard pile. If you are Cosmic Zapped, your Artifact or Flare returns to your hand and you must play an encounter card from your hand. (one thumb up)

Jack Reda: I think in this case, it now clears up that the artifact/flare is never considered an encounter card, or mistaken as some other thing. It is discarded to be used. Other alien powers like Oracle or Gambler are not nullified. Vulch does get the discarded artifact. Filch does not get the eliminated encounter card. At least, that's how I envision it. (one thumb up)

Bill Eberle: Thanks, Jack. This is a useful rewrite.

Bill Martinson: It's always good to align new aliens with the game's core mechanics, to avoid problems. For example, a power that does not physically need a real encounter card will re-open all those debates ... “do I REALLY need an encounter card to start my second encounter if I'm the Loki?” With that in mind, give this FFG-ized suggestion a try...

You have the power of Trickery. As a main player, after encounter cards are selected but before they are revealed, you [*may use*] this power and discard an artifact or flare from your hand to replace your encounter card. Look through the discard pile and secretly choose any one encounter card to play facedown as the replacement. Other players may not look through the discard pile until after cards are revealed. If there are no encounter cards in the discard pile, you must keep your original encounter card; otherwise, return it to your hand. At the end of the encounter, remove the the replacement card from the game instead of discarding it.
(Main Player Only) (Optional) (Reveal)

By forcing the player to play a card normally at first, all the game's core mechanics are preserved and the need to define what happens when Loki is zapped all goes away!

This version also provides *limited* protection against Oracle, but of course you have to lose a flare or artifact to use it. I like that.