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+--- Thread: [PBM SUBCULTURES] Diplomacy, En Garde, and ... Anything Else? (/showthread.php?tid=130540)
[PBM SUBCULTURES] Diplomacy, En Garde, and ... Anything Else? - Participant-Observer - 08-09-2017
[EDIT: That subject line should end with a question mark!]
Obviously, here at PlayByMail.net, we're all fans of the professional PB(e)M companies. They're efficient, their games are awesome--look, just take my money! (
)But the more that I poke around online, the more evidence that I find for the continuing presence (in very rude health) of unofficial networks of players of two of the grandfathers of postal games: Diplomacy and En Garde.
Here are a couple of useful links to links:
- Diplomacy Web's Links page.
- A list of active and inactive games on the Official Home of En Garde.
- Does anyone know of any other games that invite PBM and have active dedicated communities?
- Is anyone here playing either of these games by mail?
- Would it be worth reaching out to the various communities to stir up some interest in Suspense & Decision?
- MOST IMPORTANTLY: Is there anything fans of S&D and PlayByMail.Net can do to actually help these communities?
RE: [PBM SUBCULTURES] Diplomacy, En Garde, and ... Anything Else - Participant-Observer - 08-09-2017
And I realize that I should probably have consulted the PlayByMail.Net Hivemind, before I posted this.
I think my questions are still valid fof jumping off points for discussion, however. Lemme know what you think!
RE: [PBM SUBCULTURES] Diplomacy, En Garde, and ... Anything Else - ixnay - 08-09-2017
Diplomacy has been a big blind-spot for me. I should play it -- I have the game, and I've played it face-to-face a number of times. I love it, but it's hard to find people to play it with me. (Anyone want to crank up a public game here on the forum?)
I know of a few sites that enable boardgaming online. Some of them are fantastic. It's not quite PBM, but it's pretty close.
And for the wargamer community there's VASSAL -- a tool that lets you play any of a thousand published wargames remotely with other players, either live or by email. I have an article brewing about the parallels between board wargames and PBM.
RE: [PBM SUBCULTURES] Diplomacy, En Garde, and ... Anything Else - Participant-Observer - 08-09-2017
(08-09-2017, 04:08 PM)ixnay Wrote: Diplomacy has been a big blind-spot for me. I should play it -- I have the game, and I've played it face-to-face a number of times. I love it, but it's hard to find people to play it with me. (Anyone want to crank up a public game here on the forum?)
I know of a few sites that enable boardgaming online. Some of them are fantastic. It's not quite PBM, but it's pretty close.
And for the wargamer community there's VASSAL -- a tool that lets you play any of a thousand published wargames remotely with other players, either live or by email. I have an article brewing about the parallels between board wargames and PBM.
I didn't know about VASSAL. Thanks for the lead.
On one Dippy (sp?) site, I saw someone say that they wanted to conduct all Diplomacy through letter writing. I can imagine REALLY GETTING INTO character, writing letters as as the ambassador of one of the Great Powers. Ya know? Just go nuts: Handwritten letters with fake letterheads, period photographs, etc.
FWIW, esteemed PlayByMail fans, a certain famous online bookseller has copies of the most recent edition of Diplomacy for $20-ish.
RE: [PBM SUBCULTURES] Diplomacy, En Garde, and ... Anything Else - ixnay - 08-09-2017
There's gotta be at least half a dozen online implementations of Diplomacy that would support a game for free. We could then do our sabre-rattling here on this forum. I'll take a look around and report back.
RE: [PBM SUBCULTURES] Diplomacy, En Garde, and ... Anything Else - Participant-Observer - 08-13-2017
(08-09-2017, 05:25 PM)ixnay Wrote: There's gotta be at least half a dozen online implementations of Diplomacy that would support a game for free. We could then do our sabre-rattling here on this forum. I'll take a look around and report back.
Cool!