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Over in the Modern Powers side of things, I was attempting to organize a group of 7 to play a game to diplomacy, with me running the show as a neutral GM.

While we have 5 entrants so far, thanks to @pmya, @jidlaph, @boukert, @fluf, and @redviiper, we need two more for a complete game. Experience or knowledge of the game doesn't matter - two of our players are relatively new themselves, and I, as the neutral GM, will be available to answer any questions during the game. It will be played over a few weeks, but it's not much of a time sink, so even on a time budget you should be able to participate; even better if you can get on our IRC channel from time to time to chat in real-time with other players. You can find it here - https://kiwiirc.com/client/irc.goat.chat:+6697#modernpowers

Hope to see you guys there!
Over in the [Modern Powers side of things](https://phuks.co/s/ModernPowers/2288), I was attempting to organize a group of 7 to play a game to diplomacy, with me running the show as a neutral GM. While we have 5 entrants so far, thanks to @pmya, @jidlaph, @boukert, @fluf, and @redviiper, we need two more for a complete game. Experience or knowledge of the game doesn't matter - two of our players are relatively new themselves, and I, as the neutral GM, will be available to answer any questions during the game. It will be played over a few weeks, but it's not much of a time sink, so even on a time budget you should be able to participate; even better if you can get on our IRC channel from time to time to chat in real-time with other players. You can find it here - https://kiwiirc.com/client/irc.goat.chat:+6697#modernpowers Hope to see you guys there!

15 comments

[–] Skyrock 2 points (+2|-0)

I wouldn't really mind if you switched from GM to 7th player either, as long as you can separate your roles as player and as arbiter / rule oracle.

I just thought I'd mention that option, as it is the official solution for a lacking player. (I have never tried it in actual play, as the few times I have played Dippy have been with a full house.)
[–] TheRedArmy [OP] 2 points (+2|-0)

I wouldn't really mind if you switched from GM to 7th player either, as long as you can separate your roles as player and as arbiter / rule oracle.

I'm completely confident in my ability to do that. The issue comes more from two things - 1: the issue of sending orders in, where, if I was a GM, everyone could just PM me their orders at any time and then, when we reach the order deadline, I use the most recent set of orders I have from everyone. But If I'm also playing, I could inadvertently see someone's orders early, which would be a big no-no.

I've thought of a few solutions - one of which is to just put spoiler tags in your orders, then I can avoid looking at them until the right time, but someone could typo, causing the tag to have the wrong syntax, or someone could forget, so that seems kind of not great. Another is to have you guys e-mail me, which could be OK, but I don't know how willing people are to send e-mails. The other is that once the negotiation phase ends, to just have everyone send in orders after that, which would increase the amount of time getting the orders and adjudicating them, so the game would take a little longer because of that (I estimate about a day per non-Winter turn, so maybe 2 weeks?). That could be handled with a short orders phase after the negotiation phase (this is what they do in f2f Diplomacy), and I would simply do my orders before looking at anyone else's. That might be the best method of the three.

I just thought I'd mention that option, as it is the official solution for a lacking player. (I have never tried it in actual play, as the few times I have played Dippy have been with a full house.)

No, it was good to bring it up. It is the official option in the rulebook and it's something we should consider. I've also only played with full houses before, and honestly, only online, as it's not really the kind of game my friends like.
[–] TheRedArmy [OP] 1 points (+1|-0)

For some reason, I can't edit the post. I wanted to add this - > Oops, forgot to post the second issue. That would be players who were wondering about an official ruling on something getting help during the game. Obviously, for certain things, you don't want to tip your hand, so it would be hard to ask if I were also in the game. That can be mostly solved through having some adjudication software yourself - the one I'll be using for us is small and easy enough to work, and I was going to recommend it to everyone to have for their own use during our pre-game. So that's less of an issue, although it exists, and can be mitigated if people are willing to put in a bit of effort.
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