Birsan Teaches Diplomacy
Edi Birsan prepared these four instructional videos on Diplomacy. Watch them and learn the basics of play in about 10 minutes.
Continue ReadingStarting Out – Diplomacy in 1901
OK, so 1901 (or, in some variants, the first year of action) is only the first year of the game. Make a mistake here and there is still time to correct it. Games are seldom completely won or lost in 1901. Fair enough, as far as it goes, but 1901 is your springboard into the […]
Continue ReadingQuestions Answered
Should I play a Mentor Game? Plenty of people learn Diplomacy just by playing. You don’t NEED a mentor game to learn. In the mentor game, you will have an experienced player to ask questions of and get advice. I think that can help shorten the learning curve. In my games, I also have a […]
Continue ReadingParting Thoughts: Why we Love the Game
I hope you all are enjoying the mentor game. Unless someone has a topic they would like me to address, I am finished with my broadcast messages. I thought I would leave you with a few excerpts from an essay by Manus Hand, the creator of the Diplomatic Pouch web site, “The Greatness of Diplomacy.” […]
Continue ReadingLecture #22: After the Action
So… when the game is over… is that it? In a face-to-face game, calling the game is hardly the end. That marks the time to head out to the pub for a pitcher and kibitz over what just happened. Frankly, that is my favorite part of playing in-person! Do we lose that when we play […]
Continue ReadingLecture #21: The End-game: Solo or Stalemate
In Chess and games like it, the end-game is when there are few pieces left on the board. In Diplomacy, pieces aren’t removed so that is not an applicable definition. I call the end-game the period of the game when one power is near 18 SCs or one interest group (either a single power or […]
Continue ReadingLecture #20: Life Online: Your Next Game 4 of 4
Looking to join another game? Consider checking the game status box: “Active” and taking over for a surrendered power. This is a nice thing to do for your fellow gamers. If just a third of our players picked up 1 surrendered position for every game they started, surrenders wouldn’t be an issue. We all just […]
Continue ReadingLecture #19: Life Online: Cheaters 3 of 4
Let’s not mince words: cheaters are idiots. What exactly is the point? And what could possibly be more boring than pushing pieces around in a game that you have fixed to win? Cheaters at PlayDip get caught. There are A LOT of volunteer resources and IT tools that go into making sure of that. Cheating […]
Continue ReadingLecture #18: Life Online: Technical Difficulties 2 of 4
PlayDip is the largest Diplomacy site in the world with (IMHO) the best interface and by far the best forum, but we have limited resources. This is a hobby site. Nearly all of the effort to run the site is from volunteers. Things can go wrong. Here is what you need to know to deal […]
Continue ReadingLecture #17: Life Online: In Case you Missed It 1 of 4
These next few lectures are about PlayDip a bit more than Diplomacy. Today I will start by pointing out a few features of the game interface. 1) PlayDip has a house rule that there cannot be draws in the first four years of a game. However, recently the site has begun a trial allowing draws […]
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