Diplomacy Dreams

[themaninthejinnahcap]

Good evening one and all,

My name is Jesse. Some of you may know of me from a different thread where Scott/JustPassionThrough floated the idea of running a Diplomacy game with members from the forum. I volunteered to run the game and it was suggested I make an account here just for everyone's convenience. Quick shout-out on that note to Virginia for helping us out when I had some issues with the registration!

The plan I have in mind is to get the full seven (7) members who wish to play, and we are currently missing two (2) players. We already have JustPassionThrough, GeorgiaModerate, The Mikado, YPestis25, and IBNU.  I was thinking of creating a ProtonMail account for each power and DMing the User/Pass to each forum member when I have randomly assigned them to the powers. In each inbox the members will have the list of the other powers' email addresses and mine, the Game Master email address. Members will conduct their communications anonymously and can even send me anonymous Public Press messages to be posted in this thread. I came up with this idea assuming people might want that but if the members involved would rather play with their names attached to their power and just message one another on the site, that's perfectly fine with me.

I will set the map in picture format and post an updated one for every phase, taking orders as needed between them. I was thinking a 24 hour time limit to make negotiations and moves would be best but this is just my preference. All the pictures and announcements will be posted by myself in this thread. I am EST, we can arrange to have every turn adjudicated at perhaps 8-10PM? That will require some input from the players as to what works for everyone. Turns may on occasion be adjudicated early by unanimous consent of the players or delayed for weekends, personal emergencies, what have you.

Please let me know if you would like to be in the game, if you have any questions or suggestions, etc. This will be my first time running a Diplomacy game so I'm open to feedback and I hope to make it a thrilling experience for all!

[themaninthejinnahcap]

So I'm not in then?

I've got you written down in the substitute list and if people are interested in a second game after this one, you'll have a guaranteed slot.

[themaninthejinnahcap]

Here's the deal, Jessica Biel:

I can not post links due to the age of my account, so Scott will post the links I provided for the rules and the map. I will go about posting the additional 16-17 times or so in other threads so I'll be able to post the updated map by the time it's required.

The adjudication will be done around 10:00 PM Eastern Standard Time every day unless otherwise hastened or delayed by consent of myself and the players. I say "around" because obviously some turns may take me five minutes to adjust the pieces and some turns may take me much longer. So expect to receive results between 10:00-11:00 PM EST unless notified otherwise. Orders can be submitted to me throughout the day.

I will post the board's starting position tomorrow night so everyone has tonight and all day to give the rules a brief run through. The first turn that begins tomorrow will also be 48 hours long instead of 24 as it is the first turn, as you all have no doubt read in this thread already, that is indeed standard.

Questions about the game rules or house rules related to this game specifically are encouraged, I am very lenient with minor misspellings with the orders and such. When in doubt, write the whole thing out. There's no need to abbreviate if you think it will affect clarity.

That just leaves us with the big announcement for tonight, the powers! I chose them randomly and they are:

Scott/JustPassionThrough: AUSTRIA

GeorgiaModerate: TURKEY

The Mikado: RUSSIA

YPestis25: GERMANY

IBNU: ENGLAND

TimTurner: FRANCE

Kuumo: ITALY

Let me know if there's any confusion or something I haven't covered, questions, etc. Beyond that, I'm excited to watch this game play out!

[themaninthejinnahcap]

">Austria"


I'm so sorry, Scott. It was literally the first draw I made, too. Does everyone know your Austrian history?  

[themaninthejinnahcap]

">Austria"


I'm so sorry, Scott. It was literally the first draw I made, too. Does everyone know your Austrian history?  

I mentioned it in the other thread. Whether I overperform my expectations or not at least I can expect a cordial game like that one, bad is it went for me as a first-time player.

Austria is a tough pick for a first game, there was no shame in that performance. Bulgaria remembers, though.

[themaninthejinnahcap]

>First-time player
>Italy
I’ll try my best to put Mussolini to shame.

If you can conquer even one African territory without making a laughingstock of yourself you're already doing great!

[themaninthejinnahcap]

>First-time player
>Italy
I’ll try my best to put Mussolini to shame.

If you can conquer even one African territory without making a laughingstock of yourself you're already doing great!

You might even get a solo.

Pax Romana, baby.

[themaninthejinnahcap]

Is there anything I need to know before the game begins?

Just the game rules that Scott kindly posted earlier, and the 10PM rough schedule I provided.

[themaninthejinnahcap]

Jesse's too modest (and unable) to post it himself, so I'll do it for him:


This, ladies and gentlemen, is what we call the Italian Renaissance.

Very nice! I’ve always thought Italy was the most difficult power to solo with.

I don’t have any maps to post, but I’ll relate the strangest thing I’ve seen in a Diplomacy game: a Russian northern fleet taking Tunis in 1904. How, you ask?

Russia built the fleet on STP north coast after 1901. In S02 it took Norway, but in Fall was dislodged and retreated to the Norwegian Sea.

In S03 it moved to the North Atlantic and in the Fall to the Mid Atlantic.

In S04 it moved to the Western Mediterranean and in the Fall…Tunis.

Every one of its moves after 1902 could have been bounced, but none was. Alas, that was Russia’s high point of the game, as it soon fell on hard times and was eliminated.

The little known Russian colony of Tunis, truly.

I had a lot of fun as England convoying an Army from Wales to Naples, and the next turn from Spain to Rome. I was part of a two-way draw on that one.

[themaninthejinnahcap]

Just to be clear (because someone asked me about this, not to steal Jesse's thunder), the game play mechanism we're using is as follows, right?

- Players will send press to other players via PM, but may also feel free to make public statements here in the thread.

- Players should send their orders to Jesse (themaninthejinnahcap) by PM before each turn's deadline.  If they change their mind before the turn is adjudicated, they can send a subsequent PM to supersede their earlier orders, right?

- Jesse will adjudicate the turn, post the results and maps here, and announce the next turn's deadline. 

Have I missed anything?

Them's the rules. Players can also send me a message they wish posted anonymously in the thread, for Public Press.

I will try to be online an hour or more before each order deadline in case there are last minute order changes or questions. If ever I should be offline and there is some sort of emergency of that sort, Scott is usually able to contact me in person and you can ask him to ask me to get online if possible.

Re: the thunder, I need all the feedback and cooperation anyone is willing to offer to fine-tune this experience. As I said before I have never managed a Diplomacy game before, just played it a fair few times. I'm sure there will be some hiccups along the way that will be smoothed out and future games will be even smoother.

In a few hours the first turn, Spring 1901, begins. I will post the map with the pieces on it and the 48 hours commences for negotiation, planning, and ordering. I hope you are all ready for a daring display of gentlemanly imperialism!

[themaninthejinnahcap]

Just making sure we're on the same page: orders are due 48 hours from when you post the map, right?

That's correct, I understand there was some confusion about that. I expect you guys might have already begun talking to each other and that's fine. The way I see Diplomacy is, the game begins as soon as everyone knows the powers.

If everyone ends up getting all the negotiating out of the way before those 48 hours are up, everyone can PM me that they're ready to go. If everyone is ready, I'll adjudicate early.

[themaninthejinnahcap]

Just to be clear (because someone asked me about this, not to steal Jesse's thunder), the game play mechanism we're using is as follows, right?

- Players will send press to other players via PM, but may also feel free to make public statements here in the thread.

- Players should send their orders to Jesse (themaninthejinnahcap) by PM before each turn's deadline.  If they change their mind before the turn is adjudicated, they can send a subsequent PM to supersede their earlier orders, right?

- Jesse will adjudicate the turn, post the results and maps here, and announce the next turn's deadline. 

Have I missed anything?

Them's the rules. Players can also send me a message they wish posted anonymously in the thread, for Public Press.

I will try to be online an hour or more before each order deadline in case there are last minute order changes or questions. If ever I should be offline and there is some sort of emergency of that sort, Scott is usually able to contact me in person and you can ask him to ask me to get online if possible.

Re: the thunder, I need all the feedback and cooperation anyone is willing to offer to fine-tune this experience. As I said before I have never managed a Diplomacy game before, just played it a fair few times. I'm sure there will be some hiccups along the way that will be smoothed out and future games will be even smoother.

In a few hours the first turn, Spring 1901, begins. I will post the map with the pieces on it and the 48 hours commences for negotiation, planning, and ordering. I hope you are all ready for a daring display of gentlemanly imperialism!

Just out of curiosity, are you planning to use a software tool to perform the adjudications (because it can be a pain to do manually once the position gets complex)?  In our last game here, muon2 used some free tool, I think it was called jDip.

If I find a stand-off to be a little too complicated or something of the sort, I will use the Order Solver on PlayDiplomacy, but until that happens I intend to use my physical board to map out each turn.

[themaninthejinnahcap]

Could a map be posted of starting standings regarding fleets and armies, who is playing as who, and precisely which territories we start with? It's a bit hard to follow...

Yes, the map with the starting positions will be posted shortly. Per GeorgiaModerate's request, we can start earlier. I just have to grab some suitable icons for the Armies/Fleets and I will post the map.

Hang in there, lads. The show is about to start.

[themaninthejinnahcap]

Thank you for posting the picture, Scott. I am still a few posts shy of the minimum required to post pictures and links!

My apologies for the delay, folks. There was a map I was painstakingly working on but through technical and personal failings it fell apart. I have installed jDip (thanks for the recommendation earlier, GeorgiaModerate!) and fired this up really quick. I hope this looks good enough for all. Ironically enough, I love resolving orders but the forsaken digital artwork has been my downfall once again.

Please note, those who are new or have not played in awhile, that provinces such as St. Petersburg and Spain have North and South Coasts. The rules covered this but I thought it merited a reminder; I trust that they have been read, don't hesitate to ask questions to me personally or in the thread.

The adjudication of Spring 1901 shall be conducted starting 9:00 PM EST on Saturday, February 24th, 2024.

Good luck and happy diploming, folks!

[themaninthejinnahcap]

I think I played a game with that Milan variant once.  It did make Italy somewhat stronger.

My favorite variant of all time is probably Aberration: http://www.dipwiki.com/index.php?title=Aberration

We can definitely look into Milan, Aberration, etc for future games if people are into it!

[themaninthejinnahcap]

Adjudication tonight at 9:00 PM EST, folks!

I hope you're all making GREAT DEALS and planning steals today. A few orders have been submitted but the rest of you still have the day and evening to make your bets and toss the dice.   

[themaninthejinnahcap]

We are missing one power's orders. Is everyone here?

[themaninthejinnahcap]

We're going to need to set a policy sooner or later about non-responses, which is something I anticipate. If you miss two phases, you're probably not that interested in the game and your power would be better played by someone else.

This shouldn't be a stressful game, but game moderation is an art in and of itself.

Well, it' not quite 9 yet. I am guilty of last minute orders myself sometimes. But we will figure it out if that happens.

[themaninthejinnahcap]

We are missing one power's orders. Is everyone here?

Have you tried sending them a PM?

Yeah, I just did. I was out on an errand until a good 10 minutes ago.

[themaninthejinnahcap]

If we get to a point where GM plans to go to bed and we have no response from our absent friend, my thinking is we should extend the order deadline and get a substitute.

I'm open to other ideas, also. Let's hang out for a bit.

[themaninthejinnahcap]

Maybe name and shame the holdout?

It's TimTurner.

[themaninthejinnahcap]

Maybe name and shame the holdout?

It's TimTurner.

This may be a case of him being a new player and not being sure what to do. 

Certainly possible, but I don't know why he wouldn't message me or in this thread to ask if he needed help. I hope he replies to my PM.

[themaninthejinnahcap]

Just received his orders, I will be right back with the image!

[themaninthejinnahcap]

SPRING 1901 RESULTS

TURKEY
A Smy-Arm / RESOLVED
A Con-Bul / RESOLVED
F Ank-Bla / BOUNCED

RUSSIA
A War-Sil / RESOLVED
A Mos-Ukr / RESOLVED
F StP(south)-Bot / RESOLVED
F Sev-Bla / BOUNCED

AUSTRIA
A Vie-Gal / RESOLVED
A Bud-Rum / RESOLVED
F Tri-Alb / RESOLVED

ITALY
A Ven-Pie / RESOLVED
A Rom-Ven / RESOLVED
F Nap-Ion / RESOLVED

GERMANY
A Mun-Ruh / RESOLVED
A Ber-Kie / RESOLVED
F Kie-Den / RESOLVED

FRANCE
A Par-Gas / RESOLVED
A Mar-Bur / RESOLVED
F Bre-Mao / RESOLVED

ENGLAND
A Lvp-Edi / RESOLVED
F Lon-Nth / RESOLVED
F Edi-Nwg / RESOLVED

[themaninthejinnahcap]

3/7 orders submitted, a little over five hours remaining. Hope everyone is having a great day!