Diplomacy is a 7 player board game about alliances, deceit, treachery, etc. It takes place in the build up to WWI, when Europe was a web of constant short wars, swapping of allegiances, contradictory treaties, and such. Each player takes control of one of the seven Great Powers of Europe in the early 20th century (England, France, Germany, Austria, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire, usually referred to anachronistically as Turkey). There are no dice or RNGs, and everything is deterministic. Armies cannot be destroyed unless there is no possible retreat, and all turns are processed simultaniously.
The way it works is between each round negotiations can happen in open and in secret, and then everyone submits their actual moves in writing to the game arbiter, who works out what actually happened according to the rules. The Objective of the game is to control 18 of the 34 Supply Centers in Europe, each of which control of which grants you one more army on the board. Each year is divided into three phases, Spring Move / Retreat, Fall Move / Retreat, and the Winter Disarm / Rebuild. Only territory occupied at the end of Fall counts, so moving through a Supply Center in Spring does not swap hands.
Here's the actual rulebook, which explains some of the finer details a lot better than I can.
And here is the actual starting map We'd be using, provided by the jDip client. It's not the greatest looker, but it's exceedingly functional and clean looking compared to all the other desktop clients and online map images I could choose from. The way they've portrayed Denmark is a bit funky, but it functions the same way it does in more elegant looking maps.
The way it works is between each round negotiations can happen in open and in secret, and then everyone submits their actual moves in writing to the game arbiter, who works out what actually happened according to the rules. The Objective of the game is to control 18 of the 34 Supply Centers in Europe, each of which control of which grants you one more army on the board. Each year is divided into three phases, Spring Move / Retreat, Fall Move / Retreat, and the Winter Disarm / Rebuild. Only territory occupied at the end of Fall counts, so moving through a Supply Center in Spring does not swap hands.
Here's the actual rulebook, which explains some of the finer details a lot better than I can.
And here is the actual starting map We'd be using, provided by the jDip client. It's not the greatest looker, but it's exceedingly functional and clean looking compared to all the other desktop clients and online map images I could choose from. The way they've portrayed Denmark is a bit funky, but it functions the same way it does in more elegant looking maps.
To encourage new players to join, I'll point out that, mechanically, Diplomacy is an extraordinarily simple game. Below I'll outline the most barebones of the rules that give nearly all one needs to know.
1) Only 1 unit may occupy a province at any time
2) Armies can only move on Land. Fleets on Sea and Coasts.
3) All units can move 1 space per turn
4)A Fleet can Convoy a Unit past a body of water. This is expressed in long form as "Army in London is Convoyed by the Fleet in the English Channel into Belgium"
5) Units are all equal in strength. A unit attempting to move where another unit is will "bounce" off of it. Two units trying to move into the same spot will both bounce to their starting point
6) A unit can add strength by supporting a movement, as long as they are adjacent to where the actual action is happening. For instance "Army in Portugal Supports the Army in Marseille attacking Spain". The same is true for holds.
7) Any unit that needs to retreat must do so to open space. If no such space exists, it is instead destroyed. You may also voluntarily disband a retreating army, which is especially useful if you need to swap a army for a fleet, as you cannot normally do so.
A Supply Center only changes ownership in the Fall phase
9) The number of units you may have are equal to the number of Supply Centers you own.
10) In winter, you may build new armies up to your maximum in your (empty) home supply centers.
11) The first to own 18 Supply Centers wins, conversely, players may agree on a draw, and the GM can declare a stalemate if it becomes clear no progress can be made.
12) All orders are submitted to the GM in secret. They then are all resolved at once. Any unit that is not given an explicit order is assumed to have isntead held their ground, although you also may declare a unit to hold for organization's sake.
13) All is fair in love and war. You may lie, cajole, threaten, promise, hold steadfast, or anything in between. If it were possible on a technical level you could even steal other player's notes and messages, which makes more sense in a tabletop setting than online mind you. (As an amusing anecdote, the guy who invented the game actually had his orders stolen when he wasn't looking and thrown in a locked wastebin during a session, and thus had no orders for that turn. This was declared fair play.) That said, for the sake of everyone keep any anger contained to the game itself for obvious reasons.
That should cover the absolute bare minimum knowledge anyone would need to join. That said, we still need 3 more players.
1) Only 1 unit may occupy a province at any time
2) Armies can only move on Land. Fleets on Sea and Coasts.
3) All units can move 1 space per turn
4)A Fleet can Convoy a Unit past a body of water. This is expressed in long form as "Army in London is Convoyed by the Fleet in the English Channel into Belgium"
5) Units are all equal in strength. A unit attempting to move where another unit is will "bounce" off of it. Two units trying to move into the same spot will both bounce to their starting point
6) A unit can add strength by supporting a movement, as long as they are adjacent to where the actual action is happening. For instance "Army in Portugal Supports the Army in Marseille attacking Spain". The same is true for holds.
7) Any unit that needs to retreat must do so to open space. If no such space exists, it is instead destroyed. You may also voluntarily disband a retreating army, which is especially useful if you need to swap a army for a fleet, as you cannot normally do so.
A Supply Center only changes ownership in the Fall phase9) The number of units you may have are equal to the number of Supply Centers you own.
10) In winter, you may build new armies up to your maximum in your (empty) home supply centers.
11) The first to own 18 Supply Centers wins, conversely, players may agree on a draw, and the GM can declare a stalemate if it becomes clear no progress can be made.
12) All orders are submitted to the GM in secret. They then are all resolved at once. Any unit that is not given an explicit order is assumed to have isntead held their ground, although you also may declare a unit to hold for organization's sake.
13) All is fair in love and war. You may lie, cajole, threaten, promise, hold steadfast, or anything in between. If it were possible on a technical level you could even steal other player's notes and messages, which makes more sense in a tabletop setting than online mind you. (As an amusing anecdote, the guy who invented the game actually had his orders stolen when he wasn't looking and thrown in a locked wastebin during a session, and thus had no orders for that turn. This was declared fair play.) That said, for the sake of everyone keep any anger contained to the game itself for obvious reasons.
That should cover the absolute bare minimum knowledge anyone would need to join. That said, we still need 3 more players.
First, I know I explained it earlier, but please, please, Read the rulebook. Its's only like 20 pages, and like the last third only matters for tabletop players who don't have a judge software to punch this into.
Second: There are two types of communication, known as "Press" in Diplomacy. Private and Public. Private Press is to be done through the PM system on the site. Public Press is of course to happen in this thread.
Third: Remember, thread viewers are not nessecarily neutral. If you are friends with them and you gossip about the game, don't complain if they think it's funny to tell the other players all your plans! That's perfectly allowed!
Fourth: Again, while I wont go ultra rules lawyer on the orders format, make sure they are clear and understandable. I will not be reversing turns due to misinterpretations, so when in doubt, use the format in the book.
Fifth: While I know I can't stop you from doing this, it would be best for everyone, including viewers, if you didn't look up any outside resources on things like meta strategies. I't's always interesting to see what completely new players come up with.
Sixth: You are NOT to forward communications through the Pm system's add to conversation or quote features. If a conversation is moving to add people it must be started from scratch, and any messages that are leaked must be done so in plain text. The same goes for screenshots, as these are so easily doctored it just slows gamepace down to no actual strategic gain if the idea of screenshots = real are introduced
Lastly turn limits. Each turn will probably be around 4 days, more or less after we get a feel for how long it takes. The first turn of diplomacy traditional has twice the limit, so a week from now will be the turn deadline. However, if every player who is still alive has submitted orders, the turn ends early.
Second: There are two types of communication, known as "Press" in Diplomacy. Private and Public. Private Press is to be done through the PM system on the site. Public Press is of course to happen in this thread.
Third: Remember, thread viewers are not nessecarily neutral. If you are friends with them and you gossip about the game, don't complain if they think it's funny to tell the other players all your plans! That's perfectly allowed!
Fourth: Again, while I wont go ultra rules lawyer on the orders format, make sure they are clear and understandable. I will not be reversing turns due to misinterpretations, so when in doubt, use the format in the book.
Fifth: While I know I can't stop you from doing this, it would be best for everyone, including viewers, if you didn't look up any outside resources on things like meta strategies. I't's always interesting to see what completely new players come up with.
Sixth: You are NOT to forward communications through the Pm system's add to conversation or quote features. If a conversation is moving to add people it must be started from scratch, and any messages that are leaked must be done so in plain text. The same goes for screenshots, as these are so easily doctored it just slows gamepace down to no actual strategic gain if the idea of screenshots = real are introduced
Lastly turn limits. Each turn will probably be around 4 days, more or less after we get a feel for how long it takes. The first turn of diplomacy traditional has twice the limit, so a week from now will be the turn deadline. However, if every player who is still alive has submitted orders, the turn ends early.
So, the last time we did this it was a lot of fun, it just ended prematurely becuase of people becoming unreachable. So, would anyone be up for this again? We'd need 7 players plus a moderator (me), who are able to log in at least once a day to send messages to each other. Also unlike last time, nations will be entirely random, because it's funnier that way to hear someone scream that they got Austria or Italy and are gonna die.
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