Diplomacy Zine -- EP #181 Chapter Six From: Eric_S_Klien@cup.portal.com Date: Tue, 03 Jul 1990 23:40:09 +0000 Issue #181 of ELECTRONIC PROTOCOL: ************************************************************************ Then he looked at me shrewdly from under his shaggy brows and said in a low, forceful tone, "I found the road to wealth when I decided that A PART OF ALL I EARNED WAS MINE TO KEEP. And so will you." "Is that all?" I asked. "That was sufficient to change the heart of a sheep herder into the heart of a money lender", he replied. "But all I earn is mine to keep, is it not?" I demanded. ************************************************************************ Chapter One contains: BLITZKRIEG, GETTYSBURG, RED STORM RISING, and a new unnamed game. And is published by daybell@aludra.usc.edu/Donald Daybell Chapter Two contains: DRAGONSLAYER, JACAL, MANHATTAN, VERSAILLES, DRESDEN, and a new unnamed game. And is published by tedward@cs.cornell.edu/Ted Fischer Chapter Three contains: MULHOUSE, DAWN PATROL, SNIKKEL-2, BERLIN, SNIKKEL-1, EL ALAMEIN, SQUALANE, UNGAWE, CAPTAIN CAVEMAN And is published by cwekx@htikub5.bitnet/Constantijn Wekx Chapter Four contains: FIRE WHEN READY, BIG WILLIE, NICKEL, and OZARK And is published by dm8sstaf@miamiu.bitnet/Douglas M. MacFarlane Chapter Five contains: ARCHANGEL, BORDEL, ERIS, MASADA, and YALTA And is published by uunet!bnrgate!bmers1!dgibbs/David Gibbs ----------- Chapter Six ----------- No games this issue. Quote is from p. 25 of The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason. Publisher comments: I was short of articles this time, I could use some more scribes. An additional guest publisher or two would also make my life easier as chapter six is threatening to explode with new game openings. I also need some warp players and warp GMs. The following was scribed by AS365156@Orion.YorkU.CA, code named Video Dienstag: From Pocket Armenian #2: Applications of Modern Technological Warfare to Face-To-Face Diplomacy by Adam Kasanof The average Diplomacy player shows up at a game with only his preference list and his wits, oblivious to the battery of useful devices science has provided him with and to the veritable arsenal at his command. I hope to delve briefly into this storehouse of resources, much to the profit of everyone involved. The first item on the list is chemical warfare, since it's the simplest. In Diplomacy, as in any game of skill (or chance, if you intend to cheat), the basic rules for the use of intoxicants apply, i.e., don't drink yourself, and encourage everyone else to do so as much as possible. (A good idea which you can appropriate from The Sting is to bring a bottle of watered liquor along with you and drink from it profusely, indicating to everyone else that now is the time to take advantage of you, since you're drunk.) If you should find yourself playing host to a Diplomacy game in your own home, you might reflect on "augmenting" whatever beverages you serve with vodka, or some other alcohol without a distinctive flavor. Above all, DON'T DRINK YOURSELF. One of the simplest yet most versatile playing aids you can bring to a game of Diplomacy is a cigarette, or better still, a cigar. Anyone who has ever played chess knows the uses of a cigar in breaking an opponent's concentration while sitting at the board figuring moves, and the greasy smoke produced by a cigar can also act as a screen while pieces are "manipulated" in manners other than those strictly provided for in the rules. A cigar can also be used as an agent of misdirection when you are playing Diplomacy in someone else's house (i.e., place your cigar a thirty-second of an inch away from a Picasso oil hanging on the wall nearby). Another useful tactic is dripping a lighted cigar into someone else's glass of liquor and watching the blaze. One more tactic of note is passing out cigars or cigarettes to members of various alliances opposing you and then passing out cigarette loads. If you are Italy and Turkey loads Austria's cigarette, the advantages become obvious. An ashtray is a good thing to have on a Diplomacy table, since a connived sneeze or a twitch of a finger can provide the needed diversion for some devious tactic that you have in mind. Incense is not without its uses either. If you are playing in your own home, say that you always keep a few sticks burning for "atmosphere", or to cover the smell of burning flesh from the nightly rituals of your Satanic cultist neighbors, or to mask the occasional odor of boiling Clorox which comes from the chemistry set of some kid down the hall. If you are at someone else's house, comment on the way the place smells like "a vomitorium after a weeklong sanitation strike", or something similar, and produce from your pocket the incense which you "always carry" just for such contingencies. It's advisable either to use incense like "Camel Dung" which has a nauseating tendency, or some other scent which makes your eyes water. Better yet you can make your own incense with both of the desirable qualities above, if you're willing to invest the effort to improve your Diplomacy game. A final off-beat note is the use of insect warfare by some enterprising individuals. The idea is this: you simply appear at the game liberally coated with 6-12 or some other insect repellant (carrying a sufficient backup supply to sell at a handsome mark-up over cost), along with a jar of mosquitoes, gnats, tse-tse flies, or whatever is on sale at your local trick and novelty emporium, which you release (discreetly of course). And, that's all there is to it. I am enjoying publishing this zine. Keep that mail coming! Eric Klien Up