I already wrote about the variants I would prefer (depending on player number) here: https://phuks.co/s/Diplomacy/11297
I'd be willing to GM next. Whether as a dedicated GM, or as a GM-player, would depend on the final number of players who want a re-match, and what variant they'd prefer.
One change I would do is week-long turns. The 2-3 days per turn felt a bit rushed, especially with players who didn't respond right away and/or had to be caught in IRC to squeeze a reply out of them.
We already got enough players for Ancient Mediterranean + a dedicated GM. The minimum has already been cracked.
I was also planning to suggest this (avoid same country if we use Calhamer map again). Good way to make sure it gets mixed up some.
Diplomacy actually took me a fair bit of energy and time, although week-long turns would probably relieve a fair bit of pressure (along with not running it myself).
Like Boukert, throw me on the reserve. Let's also try and recruit some other players outside of this games' group. I'm confident at least a few people would be interested.
I'll definitively let this sit for a few more days, and also put up an ad on s/whatever. Dippy takes its time to play, so there is no need to rush.
OK, we are now at 6-7 players, and I don't think it will get any better.
That gives us room for the following variants:
I'd prefer to run one of the 7 players variants as-is, rather than to hack up a variant to accomodate 6.
Please vote for your preferred variant.
I'm setting myself up as tie breaker and also voting for 7 Islands so we can move on.
I will later use an online dice roller to decide who gets which country. It is the Metstubchen roller with the code "FD2-2017", directly linked here. I'm giving the link out a few hours before I roll so that you can see I am not switching to a different code if I don't like the result.
Order of players, each assigned to a result on the D7 (I will later use a successively smaller die and collapse as countries are assigned):
Countries will be given out in alphabetical order:
I also support not supporting PMYA's idea, which was originally a support of my idea supporting playing different nations.
Those responsible for the original supporting have been sacked.
Too bad, it would be nice if we had some more players available. C'est la vie.
The Zeus maps' top-down view is rough for me to come to grips with. Of the ones presented, my vote is therefore for 7 Islands even though I'm dubious about its balance. I assume the rules are otherwise the same, except with the SC count being raised to 41 from 34, that 21 SCs are now required for the win?
21 SCs to win and otherwise no rules changes is correct.
You are very welcome!
Depending on final player number and the variant picked, there may be no England, and I will distribute randomly anyway.
I'll play again. Will we actually have enough players this time though?
I would suggest barring players from having the same country this time, to make it more interesting.