Diplomacy zine -- Losing From: Eric_S_Klien@cup.portal.com Date: Wed, 30 Aug 1989 22:44:33 +0000 Issue #93 of ELECTRONIC PROTOCOL: Chapter One contains: D-DAY, NAVARONE, BLITZKRIEG, OPERATION OVERLORD, GETTYSBURG, and HMS HOOD And is published by Daybell@aludra.usc.edu/Donald Daybell Chapter Two contains: DRAGONSLAYER, DOUGHBOY, BISMARK, COLD WAR, JACAL, and TRENCHFOOT And is published by Tedward@cs.cornell.edu/Ted Fischer ------------- Chapter Three ------------- Fall '01 of the game TANNENBURG (BNC number 1989HZ) (GM is Ebrosius@lucy.wellesley.edu/Eric Brosius) Due next Sunday Spring '01 of the gunboat game VERDUN (MNC number 1989AZrb32) (GM is Sccs6069@iruccibm.bitnet/Michael O'Regan) Due Thursday GM comments: If anyone would like to GM the remaining turns of a twenty player Diplomacy game, let me know. The game is now down to 7 players and you would start GMing September 27th. I definitely could use some more scribes, let me know how many pages you would like to type in and I'll send them to you. I could also use additional archivers for this zine. An archiver keeps copies of all issues published. An archiver may decide to specialize in certain chapters. (Just let me know which ones.) I am now ready to place our first display ad in a magazine. (PAPER MAYHEM). If anyone would like to donate money for this ad, send dough to Eric Klien, 1 Sinai Circle B10, Chelmsford, MA 01824. The more people we can tell about our games the better! (Note that this and my other zine are non profit -- all money donated will only go towards ads not towards the expensive of running the zines.) Someone mentioned that it may be possible to run the same classified ad in all University papers at once, does anyone know anything about this? Taken from Excelsior #25: TOP TEN SILLY CONCEPTS FOR DIPLOMACY VARIANTS 1. Musical chairs Diplomacy. Like Anarchy 34, but one center is rendered worthless by player vote each Spring season. Last survivor after Fall 1934 wins. 2. McIntinker Diplomacy (Invented by Don Tinker and Bruce McIntyre at Dipcon'85 in Seattle.) All six English provinces are supply centres, and England starts with six armies. 3. Handicap Diplomacy. A Round-robin, 7-board game, regular or Gunboat, in which each player plays each country once but also GMs the game in which he plays a certain country agreed upon at the start (usually Italy or Austria), giving him the advantage in that game of seeing the other player's orders before writing his own. 4. NestEgg Diplomacy. All 22 home centres are randomly assigned to foreign powers before Spring '01, making it necessary for the units to hold if they wish to regain the home centre. 5. Virus Diplomacy. Each player secretly designates one unit as his virus. Centres captured by a virus become secretly contaminated. The unfortunate unit that next occupies the centre is immediately annhilated, and the centre is from that point on impassable. Winner is the first person to control half of the uncontaminated centres. 6. Seeing Double Diplomacy. Each country is controlled by two players. Their twelve opponents vote each season on whose orders will be used. Tied vote=NMR. 7. Acceleration Diplomacy. To gradually speed up the action, each season a province is selected at random to merge with a randomly selected neighbouring province of the same type, the border being effectively removed from then on. If neither province seleted is vacant, another selection is made. Multiple centre provinces may be formed, but only one unit per province, no matter how big. 8. Welfare Diplomacy. Any country reduced to exactly one centre after a Fall move, as long as no other has exactly one centre, may claim one-half (round down) of the centres and units of any other country. 9. Blitz Diplomacy. To encourage early attacks, neutral centres are valued at 2/3 of a centre, and foreign centres at 1 2/3. Centre totals are rounded off to determine units allowed on the board. 18 units on the board wins. 10. NMR Diplomacy. Each player must NMR at least once every five game years, but an NMR doesn't count if another player NMRs in the same season. Taken from Tyromania #5: LOSING By Francois Cuerrier It goes without saying that the rational player will always make every attempt to maximize his order of finish in any game. If, for some reason, the win has become impossible, then he/she will attempt to go for a draw. There are variations on the same theme of course, as some players will prefer to negotiate from a "winner take all" perspective, arguing that the alliance will in fact be a race for centers, with the runner-up agreeing to take second place if he cannot win himself. In this case, the partners feel that the alliance was successful, even if one alone was able to take the credit. Often in a game, the situation will look so desperate that it will be all too tempting to give up. And, saddeningly enough, some players do - forgetting in the process that a flicker of hope remains for as long as some units remain on the board. Some players, through sheer perseverance, have managed to take one- or two-center positions to a win. More have managed to secure a share of the draw, because in that situation, the position that you occupy is more important than any number of centers. Don't give up until you've lost your last center, whatever the odds of the moment may seem. Eventually, some players will be eliminated - it's the nature of the game. Unfortunately, some first-time players take such a blow to heart and walk away from the hobby. This kind of decision is sometimes premature, if not even immature. Consider: (1) Someone has to win and it can only be one player of seven. Even the best among us lose more than occasionally. The game would hardly be worth pursing if it always ended in a 7-way draw. (2) Odds are that you will eventually be successful as you join additional games. The average player will win one of every seven games (excluding drawn games), but he may not hit his lucky streak on the first or even second attempt. (3) As a rule, stabs should not be taken personally. It's only a game - one that REQUIRES stabs for a player to be remotely successful. If your opponent hadn't stabbed you, odds are that in due course, you would not have returned the favor. (4) Each game is a learning experience, and you will have gotten to know some of your opponents. You will know their strengths and weaknesses the next time you are in a game together. Note that opponents in one game may be your allies in the next. Not if you've dropped from the first one though. In this hobby few people like to ally with people who have a reputation for unreliablity. The main question should be: did you have fun? This is a postal hobby and it's not everyone's cup of tea. Even Diplomacy enthusiasts might find that negotiating by mail is too difficult, or requires writing skills that they simply do not possess. If you managed to ENJOY the experience, even without the joy of winning, then this hobby is probably for you. I am enjoying moderating this zine, keep that mail coming! Eric Klien Up