Largo833 Posted June 4, 2023 Share Posted June 4, 2023 Hi everyone- I wanted to see if enough forum members would be interested in a playthrough of my favorite board game of all time, Diplomacy. For those who aren't familiar, it's a game designed for seven players, each controlling a major European power of the early 20th century. It's conceptually similar to Risk in that you're moving units between territories on a map, but the biggest difference is that there's no rolling dice. Instead, units fight each other by getting support from other nearby units, and it's entirely legal (and often necessary!) to support and be supported by another player's units. That's where the name of the game comes in- the vast majority of the game is going to be spent talking to the other players and trying to work out deals to get their help fighting the others. However, at the end of each turn, all players' orders occur simultaneously and no agreements you've made with the other players are binding- you're completely free to break agreements with no warning, and so are your opponents. You're almost certainly not going to be able to survive and grow early in the game without winning over allies, but you're also not going to be able to win without betraying them at some point, so it all becomes a delicate balance of dealmaking and backstabbing while making sure you're not the one on the receiving end of a betrayal. A running joke among players of the game is that it's famous for ruining friendships! If that sounds like fun, you can take a look at the manual here, as well a pretty good how to play video. If there's enough players interested, I figure I'll host the game and serve as gamemaster without actively playing so people can come to me with any questions, and I can post the maps and turn results here on the forum so others can follow along. Backstabbr seems like the best site for that setup- you can just log in with your google account and I'll send out player invites once we know who's playing. The video linked above teaches how to play on this particular site, so that's especially convenient. Feel free to post below if you're interested in playing, and once we have seven players we can get started (if there's more than seven people interested, I'll probably roll at random to see who gets in, or possibly even host multiple games if there's enough interest). I love this game to death, and would love to introduce it to more people! 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vcczar Posted June 4, 2023 Share Posted June 4, 2023 I’ve always wanted to play this game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Largo833 Posted June 4, 2023 Author Share Posted June 4, 2023 38 minutes ago, vcczar said: I’ve always wanted to play this game. I'd be more than happy to include you if you'd like! I know you tend to be busy, but I figured I'd set turn length so that everyone has 2 days to communicate and input orders (half as long for retreats and builds, but those steps generally don't require a ton of time) if that seems manageable. Also, I see that @ShortKing, @Imperator Taco Cat, and @dkh64 reacted to my post, and I just wanted to check to see if that meant you were interested in playing, so if the three of you could post to clarify when you get a chance, I'd appreciate it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShortKing Posted June 4, 2023 Share Posted June 4, 2023 I am interested but completely unfamiliar with the game. If you get enough interest for a game that includes me, that's great, if you get enough interest that you need to limit who can join, I'm more than happy to observe 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkh64 Posted June 4, 2023 Share Posted June 4, 2023 Interested in playing, live the game, love backstabbr, haven’t played in a while 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vcczar Posted June 4, 2023 Share Posted June 4, 2023 28 minutes ago, Largo833 said: I'd be more than happy to include you if you'd like! I know you tend to be busy, but I figured I'd set turn length so that everyone has 2 days to communicate and input orders (half as long for retreats and builds, but those steps generally don't require a ton of time) if that seems manageable. Also, I see that @ShortKing, @Imperator Taco Cat, and @dkh64 reacted to my post, and I just wanted to check to see if that meant you were interested in playing, so if the three of you could post to clarify when you get a chance, I'd appreciate it! I may have to just observe for now. I have 100% interest, I just have 0 seconds to spare. I keep overextending myself by taking new things on. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Largo833 Posted June 4, 2023 Author Share Posted June 4, 2023 11 minutes ago, vcczar said: I may have to just observe for now. I have 100% interest, I just have 0 seconds to spare. I keep overextending myself by taking new things on. That's fair- if your schedule does clear up at some point in the future, just let me know and I'll gladly set up another game. And to ShortKing (and anyone else who might be interested but has little or no experience with the game), no worries on being unfamiliar- I'll be able to help answer any questions you might have throughout the game, and nothing would make me happier than to bring some brand new players into the fold and have them try it out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imperator Taco Cat Posted June 4, 2023 Share Posted June 4, 2023 I'm in the same boat as Vcczar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cal Posted June 5, 2023 Share Posted June 5, 2023 I’ve never played, but would like to. Count me in! I’d love to see @MrPotatoTed jump in too for an old frenemy to scheme with and against 😜 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPotatoTed Posted June 5, 2023 Share Posted June 5, 2023 58 minutes ago, Cal said: I’ve never played, but would like to. Count me in! I’d love to see @MrPotatoTed jump in too for an old frenemy to scheme with and against 😜 I wish I could! Grad school, career, running my game, sole custody of my daughter, and now starting to get back out there into the dating scene too. These are busy days! Haha. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Largo833 Posted June 5, 2023 Author Share Posted June 5, 2023 5 hours ago, Imperator Taco Cat said: I'm in the same boat as Vcczar. 54 minutes ago, MrPotatoTed said: I wish I could! Grad school, career, running my game, sole custody of my daughter, and now starting to get back out there into the dating scene too. These are busy days! Haha. Sorry we'll miss out on having you two in a game! Looks like we're at 3/7 right now, so we'd still need four more. I will note to everyone that if time commitment is a concern, I can also set turn lengths to three days or one week, and I believe we'll have the option to end the turns early if everyone notes on the site that they're satisfied with their orders, so the game still won't drag on if everyone's ready to continue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willthescout7 Posted June 5, 2023 Share Posted June 5, 2023 I love Diplomacy. Unfortunately, I have military obligations for the next 3 weeks and find myself unable to fully participate. If the game is open in 3 weeks then I shall definitely participate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Umbrella Posted June 8, 2023 Share Posted June 8, 2023 I used to play this game a bit in my younger days, but I haven't played in probably over 10 years. I've always compared it to a cross between Survivor and 7 player chess. If you still need a person, I could join. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Largo833 Posted June 10, 2023 Author Share Posted June 10, 2023 On 6/8/2023 at 5:46 PM, Umbrella said: I used to play this game a bit in my younger days, but I haven't played in probably over 10 years. I've always compared it to a cross between Survivor and 7 player chess. If you still need a person, I could join. Great to hear! That puts us at 5/7, so if there's two more forum-goers interested in trying the game out, we can get started once Will's available (which I'm totally fine with waiting for)! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willthescout7 Posted June 26, 2023 Share Posted June 26, 2023 I’m back so if this is still a thing I’m in 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Largo833 Posted June 27, 2023 Author Share Posted June 27, 2023 22 hours ago, Willthescout7 said: I’m back so if this is still a thing I’m in Glad to hear it, though it looks like we're currently stuck with only 5 players. I'd still love to run a game though, so if anyone more familiar with the other forum-goers than me knows anyone in particular that they think would be interested, feel free to reach out to them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willthescout7 Posted June 27, 2023 Share Posted June 27, 2023 1 minute ago, Largo833 said: Glad to hear it, though it looks like we're currently stuck with only 5 players. I'd still love to run a game though, so if anyone more familiar with the other forum-goers than me knows anyone in particular that they think would be interested, feel free to reach out to them! I’m in a Diplomacy centric discord server, I can probably track down 2 more 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Largo833 Posted June 28, 2023 Author Share Posted June 28, 2023 23 hours ago, Willthescout7 said: I’m in a Diplomacy centric discord server, I can probably track down 2 more That'd be great! If we were able to fill those last 2 slots I'd be ready to start the game and would likely start another thread to post the maps and moves so players and viewers can follow along and comment if they wished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willthescout7 Posted July 10, 2023 Share Posted July 10, 2023 I have 2 more people from my discord server who are in. So if everyone is still on board we can look at starting 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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