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What are common contracts in Catan?
The group I regularly play Settlers with has used a house rule about ports (I can trade resources for you at my port on your turn) for a long time. We got into the habit without realizing it was a house rule, and by the time we learned of it, playing without this freedom felt constraining.
Open ports make ports substantially more valuable. Fees for trading fluctuated for a while but then settled on a standard "2 trades conducted for 1 extra resource" rate of pay. Depending on the player, they might only accept certain resource types as the fee for trade, permit trades at multiple ports they own for the same fee, or even allow for a single port trade with post-payment made on certain conditions (one card for one trade was the opener... conditions might also be "the next wheat you get," etc.) We even evolved a system of using extra pieces (ships, for example, when not playing seafarers) to serve as tokens so that port users could save their second trade for later.
I have always been interested in other ways to "extend" Settlers through rule modifications that don't seem to disrupt gameplay. Specifically, I've wondered about launching side "businesses" in Catan that might offer incentives to multiple parties (hosting gambling with resource cards on my turn? offering to hold another player's cards as a "bank" and absorbing some risk of the 7 roll in exchange for a fee?). There is some economical calibration involved, but what I'm really seeking is more ideas to experiment with that are consistent with the game's premise yet extend and complicate the interactions and negotiations between players.
Do you have any "house rules" to share that add interest or variation to your Settlers games?
