OK! Enough fighting on the boards. Let's do it the way real warriors do it: in Europe at the turn of the last century. In other words, let's get a Diplomacy game going.

What's Diplomacy, you ask? Why, one of the simplest and yet most vicious board games ever created. Try http://www.diplom.org for more info. Countries vie for control of WWI era Europe, but no country has enough power to do well without the cooperation of others. But only one can win. . .

How will we do this?

I'll GM the game, using a visual Diplomacy assistant called Realpolitik (available at http://sourceforge.net/projects/realpolitik ). You email me your orders, and email everybody else your lies, threats and pleadings. Every turn, I'll update the files on a central web page-- my own, or, if Mark is willing, we can use Q23.

We'll aim for two turns a week. Be warned: for some players, the game will last for months. For others, of course, it might last only a couple weeks. . . It takes just a few minutes to enter your orders and send them to me. Negotiations and deciding on what orders to give can take as long as you want.

Email me if you want in. Post your questions and taunts here, and I'll respond.

If we get more than 7 people, I'll happily GM a couple games.

KP

I'll play.

I'm up for it. We can use Quarter to Three for a web page. What do you want on it?

I haven't played Diplomacy in decades. Should I use the recent Hasbro Interactive game to get my feet wet?

I'll play... I've never played, but I'll play

I dunno Mark -- we have the PC version by Hasbro, and...ugh. It's very user non-friendly. It has serious potential, and maybe we just haven't spent enough time with it...It's cheap enough to be worth going out on a limb for, but so far I have not been impressed.

I'd probably be up for a game. Count me in.

I'll play too.

Murph-- Don't be dissuaded by the hideous Hasbro version. It's awful, awful, awful. Even discounting the interface issues, the AI makes it unplayable. The one time I played, in Fall 1901 England stood himself out of Norway with two fleets. And kept doing it turn after turn after turn.

Grab Realpolitik from the link I provided above. It's just an adjudication helper (there's no AI), but that and reading some articles at the Diplomatic Pouch will put you right in the mood.

KP

Glad to know that I'm not the only who didn't like it!! It's pretty unplayable, I think. Negotiation is nearly impossible, because you can never catch anyone in the room you want to, and I agree -- the AI is irritating. Now, if you had all human players over a LAN or something, it might not be so bad.

It's funny; after you learn to play Diplomacy, you start playing all games as if they are Diplomacy. Er, not that my user handle has any relevance whatsoever.

- Alan

We now have seven players, who I will be contacting through email.

If more people want to join in, feel free! I'll start a second game if need be; otherwise, I will possibly need alternates if one of these fine gentlemen gets a bit queasy.