Random Area VII: The Random Awakens

Quoted from Diplom.org/welcome
What is Diplomacy?



The game of Diplomacy was invented by Allan Calhamer over a period of years, taking its final form in the mid- to late 1950's. Mr. Calhamer marketed the game privately for a time, and then through various game companies. Hasbro, Inc. now holds the rights to the game.

While Hasbro forbids the publication of the rules of Diplomacy (an understandable protection of their copyright), players of the game are of course free to instruct you as to the play of the game using their own words. The rules are simple enough that it is very possible to learn the game this way, and indeed, even perusing the articles here in The Diplomatic Pouch can serve to educate the new player. I will not attempt here to tell you how the game is played, instead offering only a brief description of the game. I encourage you to purchase the Rules to Diplomacy from Hasbro, if not a complete gameset. Diplomacy is available in all respected game stores.



The standard game of Diplomacy is set in the Europe of the early 20th century, and is played by seven players, each taking the part of one of the Great European Powers of that age. Players order two types of units (armies and fleets) into combat against each other in a war for control of Europe. This control is symbolized by ownership of "supply centers" (or SC's), of which there are 34 on the Diplomacy board. Control of a majority of supply centers will bring a player victory.



Diplomacy has been called "the chameleon game" because it is uniquely "variantizable" -- that is, from the basic ruleset any number of new "variant games" have been and can be invented.



Diplomacy has been played person-to-person over a gameboard since its invention, and a number of tournaments (including annually-scheduled national and world championships) are held regularly for the so-called face-to-face player. Long ago, Diplomacy was adapted for through-the-mail play by John Boardman, and many postal games have been played ever since, with the moves made in each game published issue by issue in a great number of postal magazines ("'zines") which are produced by hobbyists worldwide. With the development of electronic mail, Ken Lowe wrote an automated Diplomacy move adjudicator, which also routes diplomatic mail messages to the various players and enforces deadlines for the reception of orders. This system is used by a growing multitude of play-by-e-mail hobbyists.



The beauty of the game of Diplomacy lies not in the tactics of the movement of the pieces on the board, but in the fact that these movements are simultaneous, meaning that the orders of all players are executed at the same time on each turn. Whose moves succeed and whose fail are easily determined by the simple rules of the game which permit and govern the combination of multiple units to strengthen (or weaken) any single move or other action.



Crowning all this, however, is the fact that any player of the game is lost without allies. To play the game without receiving assistance from the pieces owned by other players and without lending assistance to other players' pieces is to set yourself up for failure. Indeed, the most important part of the game is the wide-open, free-for-all, promise-the-moon negotiations which occur before each move; negotiations which establish alliances, elaborate war plans, and backstabs.



Backstabs? Yes, because regardless of what a player promises to do before the turn, what he actually does is wholly determined by the secret orders he submits for his pieces.



Combining with other players to defeat a common foe, secretly arranging peace with the enemy, and suddenly turning on your ally, who has trusted you and worked with you since the first move, is all part of the game. All's fair in love and war, so the saying goes, and in Diplomacy, one is often simply a mask for the other.



The final outcome of a game of Diplomacy is always the responsibility -- for better or worse -- of each player. Diplomacy offers a totally chanceless (there are no dice to roll, no tables to consult, no random events to deal with) competition of wits and wiles.

I appreciate it, thank you for respecting the game called Diplomacy.

has anybody watched the documentary "WW2 From Space"

I did, from Netflix. It was cool, but I didn't remember much. I need to view it again someday.

Yes I remember watching it ages ago. 

welcome to the club!

well there's a phase in everything I guess (I'm trying hard to dispense some wisdom here, but it ain't working )