[PBM SUBCULTURES] Diplomacy, En Garde, and ... Anything Else?

[Participant-Observer]

[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.
  

As I always like to include discussion points in my opening posts:

• 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?
  

Thoughts? Objections? Anyone?

[Participant-Observer]

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!

[ixnay]

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.

[Participant-Observer]

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.

[ixnay]

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.

[Participant-Observer]

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!