Several people have expressed an interest in getting into a PBEM or PBWeb game of Diplomacy, so I thought I'd get the ball rolling. I have just recently gotten into Diplomacy – in fact, I've only played one game. But since the games last a while and this one got pretty intense, I think I can help people get started.

Diplomacy is a really simple game. It is kind of like Risk, kind of like Chess, and kind of like nothing else. It is based on an old Avalon Hill board game, and it uses the same rules from the board game. If you're interested in playing Diplomacy you should definitely read the rules first. They are available here:

http://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/Diplomacy.PDF

There are a lot of great online Diplomacy resources, where there are tutorials and stuff - Particularly http://www.diplom.org

But before we get too far into specifics, let me give you my quick and dirty rundown of the game. It goes like this:

Seven people play seven different European nations. They are scattered across a map divided up into provinces with three letter abbreviations. Here is a map of the board at the beginning of the game, to give you an idea:

http://hace.dyndns.org/diplomacy/diplomap.html

The different dots on the map represent supply centers. The goal of the game is to capture 18 supply centers. Capture 18 and you win. The way to capture supply centers is to move your units into those provinces that contain supply centers. Your units consist of just two types: fleets and armies. In case it isn't obvious, fleets can move on water and coastal provinces, and armies can move only on land.

Here is the catch – and the really cool part about Diplomacy: every unit is of equal strength, there are no dice rolls or randomness of any kind, and only one unit can occupy any province at any given time. There is no way to succeed without making and breaking pacts with other players. For example, say I have an army in Rumania (Rum), and Elysium has an army in Budapest (Bud), and Flux has an army in Vienna (Vie). Maybe I want to attack Elysium in Bud and take that province. If I just send my army in there, nothing happens – we bounce off each other, because his 1 army vs. my 1 army are equal, therefore he stays where he is and I've just wasted my turn. However, if I can convince Flux to use his army in Vienna to support my move into Bud, then it is 2 against 1 and Elysium gets kicked out, and my jackbooted fascists get to march through the streets of"…oh, wait, where was I. Right. You might wonder why Flux would help me? Well that's where the Diplomacy part comes in. I can try to convince Flux (in private of course) that it is in his best interest for whatever reason. Or, I can offer to support his moves next turn, or whatever, there are thousands of ways to do it. Of course, he can always agree to help me and then stab me in the back – in fact backstabbing is a crucial part of the game. This is why Diplomacy is perfect for PBEM. The real meat of the game is in the negotiations that you have in private with the other players.

In fact, the game mechanics themselves are very simple: you only have fleets and armies. In any given turn, each unit only has one move. There are four different types of moves: Move (aka attack), Hold (aka defend), Support, or Convoy. Move and Hold are self-explanatory. Support is probably the most complex and most crucial part of the game, so I suggest you read the Hasbro rules for guidance. And Convoy I have yet to use – it is just a way to ship armies across water using your fleets.

The game is so simple, that the real learning curve isn't really in learning how to play the game (although playing it well is difficult), but in learning the logistics of playing online. So how do the online games work? Well there are two methods – Play By Email or Play By Email and Web. The game I played was PBEM, so I can't speak to the web interface much. Although I'd be open to trying it if people don't like the PBEM idea.

Basically, each game is played through a Judge. The Judge is a server program that processes the emails and sends them to the appropriate players. The Judge also processes your movement orders and publishes the results after each turn. There is also a Game Master (GM) who is usually a non-player. The GM just acts as a contact in case you have technical issues or other problems. He also gets after people when they start missing deadlines for issuing movement orders.

There are good tutorials on the syntax you use to play via the online Judges, so I won't go into it too much here, but here is an example. In the example above, where I kick Elysium's butt, my order would be sent to the judge in an email that looked something like this:

Signon rGWJ [password]

A Rum-Bud

Signoff

To break it down, this just says sign on(duh), as the nation Russia (r), to the game called GWJ, and here is my password.

Once I'm signed on, I want my Army (A) in Rumania (Rum) to move to Budapest (hence A Rum-Bud).

Then sign me off.

In the same example, Flux's order to support my army would look like this (let's pretend Flux is playing Germany):

Signon gGWJ [password]

A Vie S Rum-Bud
Signoff

So, he is just saying that his Army in Vienna will Support my Army into Budapest.

There are also online mapping tools that update with each move, so you can look at your game board anytime.

I know the syntax seems complex, but once you get the hang of playing via the Judges you really don't give it a second thought.

So"…is anyone interested in trying to get a Dip game going? I have already recruited a kind soul to act as GM. I wouldn't want to start for a couple weeks, but I figured that should give folks time to read the rules, check out some of the online resources, and decide if they are interested.

If you have specific questions, post them here, I'll try to answer them, but you can probably get a better idea by visiting the Diplomatic Pouch (http://www.diplom.org).