Re: Are Diplomacy type games doable?
I've played Diplomacy on Rpol (maybe Ocean Lake's game), and I've GMed one. It works very well and is actually a very good medium for the game. The big problem you have here is flaky players.
If you're playing face to face with family and friends, everyone plays in a sportsmanlike way (unless they're children, of course), but with strangers who can hide behind online anonymity, there can be some childish behaviour - the most obvious of which is picking up your toys and storming off home if you start to lose.
If you can find a group of mature and dedicated players who are willing to play through to their last piece, win or lose, to give the rest of the players a good game, you'll have a lot of fun. If you find yourself playing with a bunch of spoiled brats who leave you in the lurch if things don't go their way, then it's not going to work very well.
In short, it's much like any other Rpol game - get the right players together and you can have a lot of fun, pick up a bunch of quitters and your game will quickly fold.
If you're going to announce victory on Turn 1, what is the point of playing? Just announce that you've won in your RTJ and go play something else from the start. I just don't get how winning is more important than having a good, long, fun game...
The game I played in was a standard Europe-wide board, but the one I GMed was played on a board of the British Isles, so it can certainly be played at different scales. However, it is essentially a geographical game, centred on strategic movement. I'm not sure how it would work for political maneouvring rather than geographical. In a non-standard game you also need to get your map right. Some of the maps out there are intrinsically unfair, providing natural advantages for some regions.
Diplomacy can be very absorbing, almost addictive, as you ponder your moves and guess at your opponents moves for hours or days before making your post, so make sure you have plenty of time on your hands if you want to play.
This message was last edited by a moderator, as it was against the forum rules, at 04:07, Sun 01 Mar 2015.