This is actually one of a wider class of convoy paradoxes. See _Appalling
Greed_ #10, Berch's Ghastly Mess and
Finessed Cut. A new American set of rules
states that a "convoyed attack on a fleet that is supporting an action in a
body of water does not cut that support". In the above example the net result
is that no units move.
Another kind of paradox stems from what has been described as
non-simultaneity introduced into what is an otherwise simultaneous game.
See Andy Schwartz's excellent article about paradoxes, especially those in three
variants, Diplomacy
Paradoxes for a more in-depth discussion. See also
Eldred Piombino Quasi-Paradox.
The good old days, when the Hobby was smaller
and more personal, when newcomers were greeted with a blizzard of helpful
letters from old hands, zines were regular,
NMRs rare, press plentiful and
witty, when the really major zines were gotten by nearly everybody, etc, etc.
Posted to RGD 4th February 1995 by O.J. Burnett-Hall.
1) Games are scored on the following lines:
Solo victory: 6 points
2-way draw: 3 points each
3-way draw: 2 points each
Any larger draws are unrated, as are eliminations and survivals.
The thinking behind this reflects my view that diplomacy games should
never end in a draw larger than a three way as there will always be
scope for further reduction, and so people should not be rewarded for
finishing when there is further potential.
2) Variant games: Draws larger than a three way are still not rated but
scoring positions have the points awarded increased in line with the number
of powers at the start according to this formula:
points * square root of ([powers in variant]/[powers in standard game])
So for a three way draw in a chaos variant each person would get
2*sqrt(34/7) points. The formula is square-rooted to avoid making chaos
games dominate the ratings too much.
A few GMs permit a player to resign and name his
own substitute, called a permanent substitute. This is quite controversial, as
there is the suspicion that someone is being deliberately handed an undeserved
victory.
Cal White has suggested that the following should be added: John Leeder
(publisher of _Runestone_, founder of the Runestone
Poll and designer of MANY variants), Derek Nelson (won the first ever
postal Dip game --- a Canadian, Cal adds) David Truman (published
_G*A*S*S*E*D_, first ever computer printed zine) "the ubiquitous" Ronald Kelly
("Mr Standby" played in HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of games back in the 70s, John
Beshara (founder of TDA) and "the infamous" Gordon
Anderson (hosted several DipCons in Chicago (Citex) remembered mostly for
disappearing with the prize money in, um, 1974).
PERSONALITIES (3) [BL:Feb07]
Bruce Linsey has suggested that others be added, if only we can find the
time to write them up: Jim Burgess, Simon Billenness, Doug Beyerlein, Gary
Coughlan, Melinda Holley, Fred Davis, John Leeder, Randolph Smyth, Larry Peery,
John Michalski, John Caruso and Steve Hutton.
"In the last year or so he has revived the premier Diplomacy publication,
_TRAHISON!_, and helped make it one of the premier Diplomacy publications of
the world..."
"Xavier's also been one of the primary movers and doers behind the
establishment of a new French gaming organization which has sponsored a
wide variety of Diplomacy and other gaming events, including one of the
largest national Diplomacy championships yet held, and a host of local
and regional events throughout France. From no organizations at all to one
of the most successful gaming groups in the hobby in a year. Not bad."
"...In addition Xavier led a French Diplomacy contingent to last year's
MANORCON. Even the Brits in attendance gave him high marks for his skills
as a Diplomact, both on and off the gameboard... But a triumph was not
enough. Xavier took another invading army to Vienna for this year's
Austrian Diplomacy Championship, and again covered himself with blood, mud, and
whipped cream... And noe, even in the New Year, the French are preparing
an invasion of Australia for WDC. If any foreigner wins the title there, it
will be Xavier."
"...This man is an eminence noir. He dresses in black, always sits in the
darkest corner of the room, and surrounds himself with a cloud of black
cigarette smoke. The only thing you see through the dimness are his smiling
white teeth and his bloodshot eyes... In a hobby filled with characters he
stands out. He should. He's our Diplomat of the Year." Larry Peery, _World
Diplomacy_ 4 (Winter 1992).
Let M be the number of supply centers on the board, N the number needed
for victory.
A solo winner in a game receives N victory points. If a winning power is
played by more than one player, all victory points go to the last player. After
all, he is the only one to become emperor of the world. There are no victory
points in drawn games, as there is no victory.
In addition, a solo winner gets to hand out M-N grace points, while each
participant in a P-way draw gets to hand out M/P grace points. Grace points may
be given to any surviving power except oneself, although one does not have to
give out any grace points at all if one so wishes.
Again, only the last player of a power gets to give out grace points, as
these points represent the amount of favor a power has in a ruling court.
However, they may given to any player of a surviving power, not just the last
one.
In the case of a draw, grace points are given out secretly by each
drawing power, so that there is no fear of retribution if one power in
a draw chooses to stab another by not giving them grace points.
This system makes a solo win qualitatively better than a draw, which
is better than survival, which is better than elimination. However it
also allows the contributions contributions of kingmaker, spoiler,
loyal ally, repected enemy and so on to be recognized.
Any player who fails to hand out their grace points or announce that
they are giving none will be considered to have disappeared without
trace and receive no points of any kind for the game.
Richard Sharp's name for the French Opening F(Bre)-MID,
A(Mar)-Spa, A(Par)-Pic which preserves France's options in Bel without
antagonizing any of his neighbours by entering ENG or Bur, and provides some
flexibility in defending Bre, either by tempting the English fleet with support
into Bel, defending Bre with A(Pic), or doing a self-standoff in Bre. It makes
sense to define the moves F(Bre)-MAO and A(Par)-Pic as the Picardy Opening.
Then we have appropriately named variations depending upon the order of A(Mar):
A(Mar)-Bur (The Burgundy Variation, also called the Belgian Gambit),
A(Mar)-Gas (The Gascony Variation, also called the Gaspic Opening),
A(Mar) H (the Marseilles Variation),
A(Mar)-Pie (The Piedmonet Opening) and A(Mar)-Spa (the Picardy Opening).
See French Openings (KW).
Downfall is the most ready source of examples
of different types of pieces. Depending upon which version you play there is an
object (the ring), individuals (Faramir, Gandalf, Saurman and Sauron) and groups
(the Fellowship, the Nazgul and the Rangers).
Richard Sharp's name for the French Opening A(Mar)-Pie,
F(Bre)-MID, A(Par)-Gas. A standoff in Pie may be arranged. This can be of great
value to France, as it permits him to take Spa without having to guess the
intentions of any Italian A(Pie). The standoff also provides Italy with good
camouflage if he intends to make a grab for Tri in F01. Otherwise, entry into
Pie by France is more likely to be a back door attack on Germany than an attack
on Italy. See French Openings (KW).
Named after Les Pimley, who published _Black Spot_, _Shelob's Lair_ and an
orphanzine, _The Ultimate Chaotic Act_, in
Britain in the early and mid 70's and died in May 1976 of a brain hemorrhage.
It recognizes major contributions to the British hobby. At one stage ran in
conjunction with the Gladys Awards.
Usually called The Pimley Award. Voting currently conducted with the
Zine Poll. The North American version of this
award is called the Don Miller Award. A list
of winners...
1978 Richard Sharp (for NGC work)
1979 Bob Brown (for IDA work)
1980 Mick Bullock (retiring Statesman)
1981 John Marsden (for OGRE work)
1982 Paul Simpkins (Diplomacy Box Flyers and MidCon)
1983 Simon Billenness (for Twenty Years On)
1984 Nick Kinzett (for OGRE work)
1985 Alan Parr (designer of United and other sports games)
1986 Richard Walkerdine (for Stats works and the Archives)
1987 Brian Williams (MidCon treasurer)
1988 The ManorCon Committee (for World Dip Con I)
1989 Danny Collman (for _Springboard_)
1990 Richard Egan (for _Vienna_, novice work and Gridiron).
1991 Richard Sharp and Steve Doubleday (for rescuing the Diplomacy stats
and getting them as up to date as they've been in ten years).
1992 The ManorCon Committee (for no real reason)
1993 Steve Agar for Novice Recruitment.
See Hobby Awards (KW).
To avoid forgeries, a player may give the GM, or be
assigned, a code which only he and the GM know. Unfortunately, while forgeries
are very rare, NMRs produced by the inadvertent
failure to use the code likely are not.
A few fanatical players in the 'hardcore' of the NGC,
most of whom 'settled down', lost too much money, or realized that the stakes
were too high for them. The writer remains alone, which is why this is included.
The story of postal diplomacy starts with the third issue of
_Knowable_ in March 1963. Postal diplomacy was also invented by
Eric Just in 1967, _The Diplomat_ 1 appeared November 29th 1967,
Jeff Key, _The Voice_ 1 appeared April 1st 1968, and
alledgedly by Conrad von Metzke in 1962 although
this is probable just another von Metzke hoax.
Founded by Rod Walker, this was a group of
(mostly) ratings masters, trying to agree on a uniform set of rating criteria,
and determining the rateability status of disrupted games. Recently revived by
Konrad Baumeister in his service zine _Vanilla
Fudge_.
A phenomenon of the postal game (though not entirely unknown in
face-to-face play, courtesy of blackboards and the
like), press consists of "open letter" statements, usually no more than a line
or two from one player to another, which are included in the game report. Press
may be used to influence or discuss the game, tell jokes or stories, start
arguments ("Press Wars") and generally entertain if the game itself gets boring.
Contributions may also come from the GM and outsiders.
The limits and style of press permitted may depend on the Games Master, who
has to type it up, but there are traditionally four types of press. The first,
"White Press", is the sort to be seen on almost any game report. The
second, "Grey Press" involves one player issuing fake press supposedly
originating from someone else (for example, Turkey issues this item:
"Germany-England: Attack Russia next turn as planned"). However in games using
Grey press there will be a reserved dateline for each country which no-on else
may use. Often the suffix "(Govt)", short for "Government", is reserved so that
press labeled "France(Govt)-England" *must* have been written by France.
"Black Press" involves impersonation of the GM, including fake deadlines,
and (usually) fake changes of address for other players. There are no reserved
datelines in Black Press games! Finally, there is the "Press Saga", which
may have little or nothing to do with the game or its players, which may consist
of very, very long submissions, and usually tells a story (of sorts) in episodes
with each game report. Whether or not the GM publishes the entire saga unedited
will invariably depend on his house rules...and how
much time he/she has.
A press game is one where the players are selected for their press writing
skills. Restrictions on the amount of room available for press in a zine and on
the time that the GM has to retype it do not apply to email games! See
Black Press, Grey
Press and Joke Orders.
A zine designed for propaganda, generally with
regard to hobby politics or personal feuding. It may
take the form of an "open letter". Example: _Vincit Veritas_.
The ratio of a player's SCs to the number of
additional centres he needs to win. Thus, a 15 centre player's prospects would
be 15/3=5.0 In a tournament scoring system suggested by
Allan Calhamer, the points for each player would
be allocated according to what proportion of the total prospects were his (see
_DW_ 2).
See conditional orders. The main semantic
difference (although the two words are occasionally used synonymously) is that
conditional orders depend on something which will take place (although you don't
know in what way) while provisional orders are for something which might happen,
but probably won't. Thus you may be asked to submit 'provisional' orders for F01
with your S01 orders, in case you NMR.
Orders submitted for Player A by Player B, done with A's consent, normally
revokable. Like the related Joint Orders,
their propriety and legality varies greatly. Players may seek to avoid
responsibility for a given unit's orders by claiming (even falsely) that the
orders were proxied. This latter case can be a more informal proxy, technically
submitted by Player A, but by treaty done as A requests. There are two main
types: (a) you wish to go on holiday and hand control temporarily over to
another player (who is not in the game) or you have to 'go away' for eighteen
months or whatever. (b) you wish to hand over control to another player in the
game. For another approach, see Temporary
Substitute Orders. See Escher.
An announced fold that is to take place in the
future, or a drastic change in form, which doesn't quite come about. Examples
are: _Brutus Bulletin_, _Fol Si Fie_ and _St George and the Dragon_.