Diplomacy

Diplomacy is a World War I themed board game best played with exactly seven players that engage in plotting, back room deals, and backstabbing to come out on top. The game starts in Spring of the year 1900 and play proceeds through Spring, then Fall, then Winter, then back to Spring of 1901, and so on. 

The following video is the shortest I could find on YouTube and covers the basics fairly well:

Or if you prefer reading, the Wikipedia article:

The rules may seem complex at first but are surprisingly simple and intuitive once past the initial learning curve and unlike other military themed board games a relatively small amount of the focus of the game is on actual strategy but instead most of the focus is on the previously mentioned deal making and backstabbing as it is possible for a single player to win but also possible for a number of players to be eliminated and the rest to negotiate an end to the game between them.

I think the backstabbing and deal making aspect of the game would make it fun to try out among an established community such as DART. If there is  enough interest in this I will go into more details.

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I've never played Diplomacy before. I'll consider joining this one. 

Okay in

I’m in for future games. Pretty busy now, but it does sound fun.

I'm pretty busy right now too, but maybe after Pie's game.

/in

Thanks for the interest. Please let me know if you become available.

Okay, so if we got this going here is how It would play out:

There are 7 players and each control one country. Before the game begins each player will be asked to give a list of the countries ranked from which they would most prefer to play as to which they would least want. The countries are:

Austria (Red)

England (Dark Blue)

France (Light Blue)

Germany (Black)

Italy (Green)

Russia (Purple)

Turkey (Yellow)

Each Spring and Fall phase will last either three days or until all surviving players have submitted finalized orders. Each Winter phase will last 24 hours or until all surviving players have submitted finalized orders. Players may change their orders at any time before the phase ends to adjust their strategy if something comes up in negotiations or you notice a better move set. This may be done even if they have finalized their orders. Any player may ask for a 24 hour extension for any reason and I will probably say yes but make no guarantees. I won't give more than one extension per phase except in extreme circumstances such as a player going on vacation.

Each phase will open with an imgur link showing the state of the board at the time of that phase followed by a list of all orders given by all players in the previous phase. For reference this is what the board looks like at the beginning of the game:

In this board the big circles are armies, the big triangles are fleets, and the small squares and circles are supply centers.

Rules for communication:

1) Talk to any player any time about anything.

2) Following through on promises made to other players is ALWAYS optional.

Rules on everything else:

I typed up a couple paragraphs of instructions then lost all of it. Sad. Just skim this guide a bit and you'll be fine, I'm sure. Some of it such as how long a phase lasts may conflict with things I say here. Where they conflict I am right and the guide is wrong but where they do not conflict the guide can be trusted. I promise it isn't as complicated as it looks.

If you have any questions at any point then ask and I will answer. Even if it is the chess student equivalent of asking how the knight moves for the 4th time in 30 minutes I promise to patiently answer any and all questions.

There are two ways for the game to end. If one player controls 18 or more supply centers at any point then the game ends and that player wins first place with all other players, no matter how well they are doing at the time, tied for last place. The other way for the game to end is in a negotiated peace.

There are two types of peace treaties that can be agreed to. These are draw treaties and ranked treaties.

If a draw treaty is reached then all surviving players, no matter how well they are doing at the time, tie for first place with all other players in a tie for last place.

If a ranked treaty is reached then all surviving players must agree who between them gets first place, second place, etc. All other players will tie for last place.

The process of reaching a treaty to end the game is as follows (note that unlike movement orders all negotiation votes are public):

1) Any surviving players proposes to start negotiations. At this point a vote to start negotiations begin.

2) ALL surviving players vote yes on starting negotiations. The vote to proceed MUST be unanimous among surviving players. At this point a vote for the type of treaty to adopt begins. IMPORTANT: Play on the board continues as normal during these negotiations.

3) All surviving players vote on what type of treaty to adopt - draw or ranked. If all surviving players vote for a draw treaty then the game ends with all surviving players tied for first place and all other players tied for last place. If all surviving players vote for a ranked treaty then negotiations for the rankings begin. If the vote is split in any way then peace negotiations end immediately and must start again from step one.

4) If all surviving players agree to negotiate for a ranked treaty then each proposes a ranking of who gets first place, second place, etc. and may vote to support any other player's proposal. If any proposal receives support from all surviving players that proposal is adopted and the game ends with all surviving players ranked as agreed and all other players tied for last place. If one year passes from the time this part of the negotiations begins and no proposal receives unanimous support then negotiations end immediately and must start again from step one.