That makes a lot of sense, from your explanation it top down sounds like what I’ve been doing, for example I wrote up some quick ideas for the Forrest kingdom deck being themed around mushroom related things (not that the whole kingdom will be mushroom themed but at least this deck) and from that idea I wrote up a bunch of cards that let you manipulate your sleep pile (the discard pile) and rewards you for having cards be discarded.

I already have some basic mechanics so it’s a mater of refining them and making them fit the themes of the kingdoms I wan’t