New game proposal

[slappy]

Folks:

As a couple of games that were ongoing at the start of summer have now wrapped up, I'd like to offer to GM a standard game with broadcast-only press. This means that all communication must take place out in the open, in the game forum. All players are on the honour system to completely abstain from any private communication via email, PM, telephone, classified ad or any other medium.

I think Sheep tried to do this with Civdip XIV, but nobody (including me) was terribly receptive to the notion. Since then, however, I've gained a new perspective on this style of Diplomacy, as I'm currently playing England in a broadcast only game over at Redscape. It is high entertainment, my friends. Formidable diplomatic and strategic challenges, opportunities to develop new rhetorical and psychological approaches to the game, not-always-predictable public shifts and conflicts, and even some outright meltdowns.

Before you decide whether you're interested, check out the game forum Alcibiades' Return. I particularly recommend the threads "Turkish Intentions" and "Italy: Spring 1902" for samples of the sorts of intrigue and high drama that can develop in just the first couple of years. I'm already learning interesting patterns about this sort of game, and I think many players here will find this an interesting challenge. (For those of you still involved in one or more games at the moment, it's worth adding that, due to its public nature, you'll often find the volume of correspondence required for broadcast-only press somewhat lighter, since words must be chosen even more carefully than in a normal game, and silence is more often a strategic choice.)

Think it over. I, for one, would be very interested to see KoC, Keirador and the rest of you CFCers develop your game personas and plots in a purely public match. If there aren't seven souls brave enough for the broadcast-only flavour, I'd also be willing to GM a regular match.

EDIT: I note that either some quirk of CFC or Redscape or another mysterious tendril of the bloblike MS beast has my link somehow directing people to Microsoft site instead of the Alcibiades game forum on Redscape. To view that forum, simply go to http://www.redscape.com/forum/ and scroll down to the Alcibiades' Return section

Game forum: http://com5.runboard.com/bradiofreeeurope.fmainchat

Anyone can view, but it will be players-only posting, once things get underway.

Confirmed Players:

Taliesin
Dreadnought
Stapel
Keirador
Gnarfflinger
Toasty
kittenOFchaos

reserve spots open

 

[Taliesin]

Sounds good. It should be a good opportunity to hone the old connivin' skills. Consider me in for the broadcast-only game, or a regular game if that is what other people want.

 

[Dreadnought]

I like the idea. Sign me up!

 

[Keirador]

. . .OK, I guess I'll do it, but only because I was mentioned by name. Hard to gracefully pass when you're specifically called out. My expectations are low, though, I don't think this will suit my particular style of diplomacy.

It almost seems that a game like this should have it's own sub-forum, judging from Alcibiades' Return.

 

[Stapel]

Seems interesting!

Count me in!

 

[slappy]

Taliesin, Dreadnought, Stapel you're definitely signed up.

Keirador: I feel bad about pressuring you like that. I admit, I intended to catch your interest since you're the big winner around here of late, and KoC would obviously be a lot of fun to watch in a game like this, given his own stature at CFC, as well as the literary flair he's shown in various public posts as GM in the past. However, I don't want anyone to feel like they cannot gracefully decline to play. The game will be interesting no matter who fills the seven spots, but I think it will be important that only the seven players be permitted to post in the thread (forum?) since commentary is such a crucial strategic tool in this variant.

Which brings me to Keirador's suggestion of a separate game thread. That had occurred to me, and it would be best if only the GM and players had posting privileges (open to all for their reading pleasure, naturally)...but is this something that can be done here? Should I ask the forum moderator (Matrix?) whether we can have a subforum created?

Anyway, I'm encouraged by the interest shown. I think this could be a lot of fun. I encourage those of you who are confirmed to take another look at Alcibiades' Return before we start, because lessons can definitely be learned from a casual review of the earliest communications in that game.

I'm going to edit my first post to make a list of confirmed players. Keirador, I won't add you unless you're certain you want in. Feel free to PM me either way.

EDIT: Also, players should feel free to PM me with a veto of ONE power you'd rather not play.

 

[Dreadnought]

Slappy, I just want to say thanks in advanced for hopefully becoming a GM and starting a game.

 

[Dreadnought]

So, whenever we wish to bring up a topic for negotiation, we should start another thread? So defintley ask for a sub forum! Or we could just post in one thread, but that kinda ruins it..

 

[slappy]

Yeah, I've already PMed Matrix and asked about a subforum. If he says that we can't do that, there could be some less-convenient workaround. I'm calling the game "Radio Free Europe", because of the broadcast-only rule, so we could just put RFE at the front of every thread subject if we absolutely had to. Not as good as a subforum, and annoying to people not playing or following the game, but it would at least work.

By the way, thanks for the thanks. You're welcome. I've been wanting to GM a game here for over a year, and this seemed like a great variant to bring to CFC. In case anyone is wondering what sort of GM I intend to be, I'm big on posting .dpy files and screenshots with every update. I'm certain to be around except for a week at xmas, so no delays on my account. I will aggresively encourage preliminary/provisional orders, and do whatever else I can to avoid NMR bogdowns.

 

[Dreadnought]

I like the name.

But putting RFE and the thread may take up valuable space. Update us with the news about the subforum ASAP

 

[slappy]

Update:

Matrix said that a subforum here at CFC would not be possible, but he did suggest I start a basic forum elsewhere, devoted entirely to that game. This is rather easy to do, but I would like suggestions from all of you if you know of a good, straightforward, relatively spam-free forum site that I could use to set up an account.

What I have in mind is a single thread here, just as we have for other CivDip games. However, at the top of the thread and in each GM update, along with .dpy files and screenshots, there will be a link to the game forum, for anyone who wants to follow the action. Players would, of course, bookmark the site anyway.

 

[Dreadnought]

I signed up!

My name is Dreadnought_CFF (civ Fanatics Forums)

Just need to be accepted...

 

[slappy]

You're accepted!

Try out posting on the forum, and tell me if you think it will do.

It seems pretty spam-free. No popups that I noticed (although I have them disabled anyway in firefox).

 

[Dreadnought]

The forum's nice! Is it free?

 

[slappy]

It's free but it's also fairly no-frills. If anyone knows of one that offers more of the CFC-type functions, we could set up there instead.

 

[Dreadnought]

We could all be moderators!

 

[slappy]

We could, but remember that the point is just to play the game as regular users.

I'm currently looking at a much nicer free forum.

Try this forum out. It's much more user friendly. Much closer to the boards here at CFC in terms of user features.

 

[Dreadnought]

Argh. Have to wait for them to send me a email for activation!

 

[slappy]

I don't think your request went through properly. I just tried it with a dummy account and my request went through right away, so it's working now. Try again.

 

[Keirador]

I stand by my entry. I was just trying to delay the inevitable discovery that my "big wins as of late" are due to luck, rather than skill, but I suppose you'll all find that out sooner or later- it's being found out in Clash of the Titans right now.

Signed up for the forum as "Keirador", but apparently you have to allow me to post before I am able.