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Musical Chairs Diplomacy Testing Game
Europe falls over the brink into the abyss of war and the armies of the Great Powers march on each other. But what if all is not as it seems? What if the Great Powers do not control their own destinies but are mere pawn of hidden powers with their own agendas? In this new variant this is exactly the case. While this variant is played on the standard map and units act exactly as they do in Vanilla Dip, instead of seven Great Powers we have seven International Conspiracies who manipulate the Great Power as they struggle against each other for the mastery of Europe.
Rules:
Each play chooses an International Conspiracy name of their own choice (Illuminati, Templars, Elders of Zion, International Communist Conspiracy, Black Helicopters, Masons, Girl Scouts or whatever). The game then begins with each International Conspiracy is assigned one of the seven countries and the 1901 Spring and Fall turns proceed exactly as in Vanilla Dip.
But after Fall 1901 retreats are posted, the Victory Score of each International Conspiracy is increased/decreased by their net gain/loss of SCs since the beginning of the year. And then each International Conspiracy is reassigned to manipulate another one of the great powers with a chance to remain controlling the same country as they did last year (a 1/number of countries still in play chance of course). The players play their second country for the 1901 Winter, 1902 Spring and 1902 Fall turns. After the end of the 1902 Fall turn their Victory Score goes up or down exactly as it did in 1901 and they are reassigned countries exactly as before.
If a Great Power is eliminated then a player is also eliminated. However the player that last controlled the late Great Power is not necessarily the player that gets eliminated, rather it is the International Conspiracy with the lowest Victory Score that gets the chop (or a randomly-determined International Conspiracy if there is a tie for the lowest score).
Play continues until one Great Power reaches 18 SCs (however it is the player with the highest Victory Score that wins if this takes places, not necessarily the International Conspiracy that controls the Great Power when it reaches 18 SCs), there is a unanimous DIAS vote, there is a unanimous concession vote or the Fall 1914 turn is completed (in which case the player(s) with the highest Victory Score(s) win the game).
This is a test game for the most basic form of Musical Chairs diplomacy and should prove to be interesting and bloody, other versions of Musical Chairs Diplomacy were considered but I decided to try this version first and see how it works. Other possible similar variants:
1. Pre-arraigned country rotation.
2. Players knowing which country they will control next turn.
3. Having the last International Conspiracy to control an eliminated country be the one to get eliminated.
4. Having there be a 50% chance (or thereabouts) of an International Conspiracy controlling the same country as it did the year before.
5. Having one more International Conspiracy than Great Power at all times (with one player not controlling any country during any given turn) in order to better simulate the actual Musical Chairs game.
One player from the Diplomacy Variant Workshop listserve has already stated that he will play, as of now the first six players from the DVWorkshop listserve or the Apolyton Diplomacy community who sign on will be accepted (with looking for more players off the cat23 ngame listserve if necessary). Please submit the name of your International Conspiracy when you sign up. Play will start Monday the 26th or when we have seven players, whichever is latest. Results will be posted to cat23 and Apolyton.
Movement order phases will be four days, while retreat and build phases will be two days. Grace period will be two days. Exceeding the grace period once will result in your units not moving (or waiving builds, or retreating your unit OTB or disbanding the most remote unit). Exceeding the grace period twice in the course of the game will result in permanent expulsion from the game (if you need an extension ask for it before the due date). If a player gets kicked out or leaves, a new player will be recruited to begin play as a new International Conspiracy, this new International Conspiracy will begin with a 0 Victory Score rather than inheriting the Victory Score of the old International Conspiracy.
Europe falls over the brink into the abyss of war and the armies of the Great Powers march on each other. But what if all is not as it seems? What if the Great Powers do not control their own destinies but are mere pawn of hidden powers with their own agendas? In this new variant this is exactly the case. While this variant is played on the standard map and units act exactly as they do in Vanilla Dip, instead of seven Great Powers we have seven International Conspiracies who manipulate the Great Power as they struggle against each other for the mastery of Europe.
Rules:
Each play chooses an International Conspiracy name of their own choice (Illuminati, Templars, Elders of Zion, International Communist Conspiracy, Black Helicopters, Masons, Girl Scouts or whatever). The game then begins with each International Conspiracy is assigned one of the seven countries and the 1901 Spring and Fall turns proceed exactly as in Vanilla Dip.
But after Fall 1901 retreats are posted, the Victory Score of each International Conspiracy is increased/decreased by their net gain/loss of SCs since the beginning of the year. And then each International Conspiracy is reassigned to manipulate another one of the great powers with a chance to remain controlling the same country as they did last year (a 1/number of countries still in play chance of course). The players play their second country for the 1901 Winter, 1902 Spring and 1902 Fall turns. After the end of the 1902 Fall turn their Victory Score goes up or down exactly as it did in 1901 and they are reassigned countries exactly as before.
If a Great Power is eliminated then a player is also eliminated. However the player that last controlled the late Great Power is not necessarily the player that gets eliminated, rather it is the International Conspiracy with the lowest Victory Score that gets the chop (or a randomly-determined International Conspiracy if there is a tie for the lowest score).
Play continues until one Great Power reaches 18 SCs (however it is the player with the highest Victory Score that wins if this takes places, not necessarily the International Conspiracy that controls the Great Power when it reaches 18 SCs), there is a unanimous DIAS vote, there is a unanimous concession vote or the Fall 1914 turn is completed (in which case the player(s) with the highest Victory Score(s) win the game).
This is a test game for the most basic form of Musical Chairs diplomacy and should prove to be interesting and bloody, other versions of Musical Chairs Diplomacy were considered but I decided to try this version first and see how it works. Other possible similar variants:
1. Pre-arraigned country rotation.
2. Players knowing which country they will control next turn.
3. Having the last International Conspiracy to control an eliminated country be the one to get eliminated.
4. Having there be a 50% chance (or thereabouts) of an International Conspiracy controlling the same country as it did the year before.
5. Having one more International Conspiracy than Great Power at all times (with one player not controlling any country during any given turn) in order to better simulate the actual Musical Chairs game.
One player from the Diplomacy Variant Workshop listserve has already stated that he will play, as of now the first six players from the DVWorkshop listserve or the Apolyton Diplomacy community who sign on will be accepted (with looking for more players off the cat23 ngame listserve if necessary). Please submit the name of your International Conspiracy when you sign up. Play will start Monday the 26th or when we have seven players, whichever is latest. Results will be posted to cat23 and Apolyton.
Movement order phases will be four days, while retreat and build phases will be two days. Grace period will be two days. Exceeding the grace period once will result in your units not moving (or waiving builds, or retreating your unit OTB or disbanding the most remote unit). Exceeding the grace period twice in the course of the game will result in permanent expulsion from the game (if you need an extension ask for it before the due date). If a player gets kicked out or leaves, a new player will be recruited to begin play as a new International Conspiracy, this new International Conspiracy will begin with a 0 Victory Score rather than inheriting the Victory Score of the old International Conspiracy.
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