Random Diplomacy Stuff

This page contains a more or less random collection of things related to the game of Diplomacy.

What is Diplomacy

A warped and twisted war game. It is considered to be the ultimate board game by some (warped and twisted) people. The object of the game is to take over Europe. But it is not Yet Another War Game. The combat rules are simple, abstract, and involve no dice, cards, or any random element. Instead of moving one player at a time, all players write down their moves in secret, and then all moves are revealed and take effect at once. Negotiation, the formation of alliances, and the betrayal of these alliances are what make the game interesting, rather than war simulation and historical reenactment.

The 4th edition rulebook is available online from Avalon-Hill (now a division of Hasbro) here. The Diplomatic Pouch has many good resources.

Variants

There are all sorts of variants on the game of Diplomacy. Many of them simply alter the basic map, with minor rule changes, or no rule changes at all. (The standard map is Europe at the turn of the 20th century.) Here are my contributions:

Roll yer Own Diplo - A variant in which every player draws their own part of the map. I intend to start trying this out.
Stack 'em Diplo - Another variant on the game of Diplomacy in which multiple units can occupy a space. This one I don't have any plans to do anything with yet.