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Forum Games and Roleplaying / Diplomacy and You: Autumn 1915
« on: May 30, 2013, 10:48:09 pm »
Diplomacy is a classic game, an early wargame famed for the devious plots players make against each other.
If there's anything unclear, let me know.
Spoiler: How to Diplomatize (click to show/hide)
A summary of the rules
Each year, starting with 1915 (supposedly 1901, but the map is more like later in Europe's history), with several phases per year.
Spring Movement: Units move, or do non-movement things.
Spring Retreat/Disbandment Phase: Failed attacks resolve with retreating or dying.
Autumn: Like Spring.
Winter Build/Disband: You either build or disband fleets or armies until the number of your units equals the number of your supply centers.
Units can move one territory per movement phase--for instance, from the Gulf of Bothnia to the Baltic Sea, from Venice to Trieste, or from London's coast to the North Sea. The exception to this rules is convoys--if you have a line of ships reaching from one land territory to another, and all ships work on convoying, you can move an army directly between them. Only one unit can be in any one territory.
Obviously enough, attacking is pretty important. However, defenders have a pretty big advantage in Diplomacy. If one unit defends and one unit attacks, the attacker is simply "bounced"--it will retreat in the Retreat/Disband phase. In order to win, you need to support your attack with other units, or have allies do the same. Of course, you need to agree on who's attacking and who's supporting--if two units attempt to enter the same territory with equal or no support, both are bounced.
Aside from helping a convoy, supporting, or of course moving, a unit in the Movement phase can simply hold, defending its territory.
The first to reach 18 supply centers wins...because once you have half the map, you can crush the other half easily.
If any rules have been forgotten, added, muddled, or screwed up, inform me thusly and I will correct the error.
Each year, starting with 1915 (supposedly 1901, but the map is more like later in Europe's history), with several phases per year.
Spring Movement: Units move, or do non-movement things.
Spring Retreat/Disbandment Phase: Failed attacks resolve with retreating or dying.
Autumn: Like Spring.
Winter Build/Disband: You either build or disband fleets or armies until the number of your units equals the number of your supply centers.
Units can move one territory per movement phase--for instance, from the Gulf of Bothnia to the Baltic Sea, from Venice to Trieste, or from London's coast to the North Sea. The exception to this rules is convoys--if you have a line of ships reaching from one land territory to another, and all ships work on convoying, you can move an army directly between them. Only one unit can be in any one territory.
Obviously enough, attacking is pretty important. However, defenders have a pretty big advantage in Diplomacy. If one unit defends and one unit attacks, the attacker is simply "bounced"--it will retreat in the Retreat/Disband phase. In order to win, you need to support your attack with other units, or have allies do the same. Of course, you need to agree on who's attacking and who's supporting--if two units attempt to enter the same territory with equal or no support, both are bounced.
Aside from helping a convoy, supporting, or of course moving, a unit in the Movement phase can simply hold, defending its territory.
The first to reach 18 supply centers wins...because once you have half the map, you can crush the other half easily.
If any rules have been forgotten, added, muddled, or screwed up, inform me thusly and I will correct the error.
Spoiler: Actions (click to show/hide)
Actions will be PM'd, as should any secret plotting you do. Please include the phrase "Diplomacy Turn" in the PM. In addition, for posterity, I'd like to request that secret plans between players be CC'd to me. You have my promise of confidentiality--I will not spread intelligence around to other players or post it in the thread. (I can't promise this from other players, however.)
Actions should be in a simple but descriptive format, like "Venice Army to Trieste" or "Sevastopol Fleet to Black Sea." You can be more elegant if you want, but unless it's nice and clear you will want to make it clear at some point so I don't accidentally misinterpret your actions!
Actions should be in a simple but descriptive format, like "Venice Army to Trieste" or "Sevastopol Fleet to Black Sea." You can be more elegant if you want, but unless it's nice and clear you will want to make it clear at some point so I don't accidentally misinterpret your actions!
Spoiler: Procedures (click to show/hide)
Each turn will be presented with a bit of flair. Half the fun of this kind of forum game is the stories being written, and I intend to fully utilize this. However, at the end of this story stuff is a simple list of what happened in the turn (aside from secret plots--those are confidential).
After each Movement phase, players have 2 days or so to respond with turns; after that, I let my intuition and/or you guys decide if they all just hold or if we send the issue to the Delinquent Players Thread. Once everyone has an action, the turn is created; once the turn is done and posted, the next begins. Retreat/Disbandment turns and Build/Disband turns work the same, except with 1 and 1.5 days time limit, respectively. If you know you will not be playing for a while for whatever reason, let us know and we will figure something out.
After each Movement phase, players have 2 days or so to respond with turns; after that, I let my intuition and/or you guys decide if they all just hold or if we send the issue to the Delinquent Players Thread. Once everyone has an action, the turn is created; once the turn is done and posted, the next begins. Retreat/Disbandment turns and Build/Disband turns work the same, except with 1 and 1.5 days time limit, respectively. If you know you will not be playing for a while for whatever reason, let us know and we will figure something out.
Spoiler: Application (click to show/hide)
Nation: Which of the seven Powers you want to play. There is Russia, Turkey, Italy, France, England, Germany, and Austria. This will affect your strategy. If multiple players claim the same nation, the one to play the nation will be randomly selected.
Leader: The name and title of your leader. This will not--it's just for the storytelling aspect.
Promise: Where you promise not to let anything that happens in the game spoil your relationship with other forum-goers. It's more important in in-person games, but worth doing here given its negligible cost.
You can also explain other bits about your leader and why your country is different from the real-life version, but that is very much optional.
Leader: The name and title of your leader. This will not--it's just for the storytelling aspect.
Promise: Where you promise not to let anything that happens in the game spoil your relationship with other forum-goers. It's more important in in-person games, but worth doing here given its negligible cost.
You can also explain other bits about your leader and why your country is different from the real-life version, but that is very much optional.
Code: [Select]
Nation:
Leader:
I, (insert username here), promise not to allow anything that transpires within this forum game to affect anything that transpires without said game.
[font=(Your favorite font)](insert username here)
Spoiler: Map, Spring 1915 (click to show/hide)
If there's anything unclear, let me know.