I'd prefer two games of classic, but I know I'm on the wrong site for only wanting to play classic...

Sorry Valis but no can do.

YCHTT's fence sitting doesn't impact the vote. Currently Known World is ahead by 2.

KW901.

Quick question - if we get a country like Germany or France on the KW901 map, and we are playing History Repeating, can we still use Hitler/Napoleon or whatever despite them being around much later?

I don't see an issue. Remember, the game is for entertainment purposes only. Just keep to that principle.

Will we actually know who is playing which character?
And will we only have public press, or private chat as well?

I propose the following. Each player has 10 'coins'. They have to use these coins to bid for personalities. They can bid as many of these coins as they want on up to 10 personalities (e.g. they can put all 10 on one, they can spread their 10 coins out between 10 personalities, or any other combination - e.g. 3 on one, 4 on another, and 3 on a last).

I will first consider the allocation of personalities in order of their highest bids (e.g. if #01's highest bid is 3 coinds, #32 has someone bidding 10, and #30 has someone bidding 9, #32 would be allocated first, then #30, then #01) - this is important to know. In the event of an outright winner of the bid, they get that personality and are no longer considered in future bidding. If they do not win the bid, they will be kept in the future bidding process (but the coins they offered are lost). In the case of a draw, I shall use a random number generator to decide the winner.

If someone does not win any of the personalities that they bid for, we can either a) randomly allocate one, or b) I get to choose the one I think would be most amusing. I obviously prefer b).

If I were to set up the game (and officially act as a GM with pausing powers etc.), it would also allow me to choose which players are which countries. You should consider whether this is something that you want, or whether you want it to remain random.

I also had another thought that could mix it up a bit and potentially keep things interesting (while also making it more interesting for me). I could role a dice each phase, and if it is an even number, use a random # generator to decide a player whose identity will be changed to an unassumed identity (either to a random identity or one of my choice as would be most amusing given the situation). I know this is a bit whacky, but I think it will keep things interesting (esp. if I change someone to their polar opposite, e.g. from a gentle identity to someone aggressive). I think identities should remain secret (at least until people work it out), and people won't be notified that an identity ha changed.

Just an idea - it's up to you guys.

I like the other system the Ambassador is using best, as people are more likely to get personalities they are interested in, and therefor will have more fun working with. With the coins, it's too likely people will put all coins on one personality and there will be ties, forcing them to random personalities. And they are far more likely to be less interested in working with a random personality. With the other system ranking your top 5 Personalities, players will get one of their 5 most desired personalities to play.

You choosing countries is fine, Battalion, but I agree with others that the random or you pick in case we don't get one of our choices will just lead to people saying "screw it. I'm doing what I want." and Chaos will ensue. Now, if you combined the bidding with the pick 5 allowing them to put as many coins (up to the total amongst all the roles) and then guaranteed they would get one of the list but you pick which of the remaining should they have lost their bids all the way down, then that would at least assure the players they will get one of the ones they want.

Pretty close to 48 hours since my 'choose the variant' query. Happy to draw the line with KW901 and lock in that variant.

Still half a week until the game is semi ready to kick off. Keep up the discussion on the allocation of choices.

Btw with public press and not counting towards points I can't see any reason for anon. Is that cool?

Is this public press only? If so, I'm out.

Yes, it's public press only since the goal is not to win, but to have fun, entertain, and be entertained. Private press would only limit the number of people who could enjoy the banter and stifle conversational possibilities.

And I agree Ambassador, I don't see any reason for anon either.

I'm out, then. I like adopting personal and it can be done in full press but I also still play to a certain level of seriousness. If I just wanted a personality chat, I'd just play the endless Ankara Crescent game.

Personas. Stupid autocorrect. Doesn't know the 0lural of persona or persona for that matter.

Ok YCHTT is out.

Back to Imperial with 14 players then I guess!

I will play under one very specific condition and I'm pretty confident no one will complain. I want to play as the animal. I forget what number it is but I can't see anyone else wanting it and I have some real entertaining ideas if you all will let me live long enough to see them through.

Let him, I say. I don't care. I just want my Grammar Nazi!!!

YCHTT, I'd be surprised if anyone else went for it. Pretty safe bet I reckon.

So in which ace we're back to 15 and back to KW901.

Ok, variant update. Listen up.

Based on feedback received to date, here's where we're at:

1. YCHTT is back in and is really keen on being Barking Mad (number 19). Obviously you can also request this but this brings us to the 2nd point
2. Players are to PM Battalion (as Games Master) with their 5 extreme personality types in order of preference. He'll try to accommodate your order of preferences as best as he can. You can do this now and I encourage you to get in sooner rather than later on this.
3. As GM, Battalion with then using the KW901 map choose what country you will play. This is so there's a good match between character type and location.
4. Over this weekend/early next week Battalion will create the game. He will PM you a password. He will also advise which of your 5 preferences you've been successful and will play and what country you will play (the game will be set so players have to "choose" their country.) Please respect Battalion's call and don't pick which country you want, just choose the one Battalion gives you.
5. The game will be public press. It is designed to be entertaining and of no strategic value to your VDip points here. It will be worth 0 and will be unrated. Battalion will ensure these are the settings.
6. Phases will be 2 days.
7. Oli is looking at a coding change that would allow a GM to also post public press for that game.

What we haven't yet decided/no-one's commented on:
* whether you support Battalion's idea of him switching everyone's personalities approximately half way through.

That's it I think.

So please review this, comment (and let me know if I missed anything) and start advising Battalion in your 5 personality preferences in order.

PS. I think I said this earlier but just in case, please don't post your preferred characters to global (I think we'll make a special acception for YCHTT as he is "special"... I mean he wasn't going to play otherwise).

Half the fun is trying to work out who the other players' characters are.

Oh, and as discussed before, this is a non Anon game (as that makes little difference)

So, what is the final list of personalities to choose?

Great!
In answer to your question, Ambassador, I think Battalion should not be switching player's personalities. Players get a personality they like to start with, and giving them something else at random in the middle of the game, might result in players being grumpy about their new role and quit playing (actively).
[[Alternatively, we could give players random roles right from the start and then redistribute roles every 3 years or so, but that might be a better idea for next time.]]

DC - it was posted on the last page:

1. Everybody Wants to Rule the World - Wanna-rule-the-world dictator. Self explanatory, but please make it entertaining.
2. I See You - Believes non-existent players are about to attack him and others
3. Messiah - You think you're a major religious figure -Jesus/Buddha/Mohammad/your own cult etc
4. History Repeating - You think you're the megalomaniac historical figure of the country you represent - Hitler, Napoleon, insert name of relevant megalomaniac/prominent person who's run that country before. Discussion on should that person also fight like that person too? I mean it's all fine and dandy if someone's pretending to be Hitler, but if they then make an alliance with France, where's the "crazy" part you know? So Hitler would attempt form an A/I/G alliance (or attempt to) etc)
5. Entertain Me - You think you're a famous entertainer or character in a TV show/movie. You pick who it could be, past or present eg Elvis, Lady Gaga, member of the Village People(or the whole band), or a character in TV/film eg Dexter, Homer Simpson, Tyrion Lannister etc (ideally please don't select a character/real life person who is generally obscure or fringe)
6. Vendetta - Make up a reason to hate a particular country and weave it into a story. Try to get the rest of the board to help you gain your objective. Kinda goes with the fixated on a specific part of the map idea.
7. Paranoid - This person doesn't really trust anyone and will stab/protect from stabs that either don't exist, or wouldn't make sense to go through with because everyone's "out to get them".Note: previous players doing this role have on occasion been very quiet. Try to avoid this as they just seem very insular and traditionally get eliminated early with this tact.
8. Extremist group - Your crazy extremist group has grabbed control of the government. Think Westboro Baptist Church if you're a christian nation, or Al Qaeda if you're Turkey. Or it could be as silly as PETA or Greenpeace seizing a nation's leaders
9. Self-loather - The character actually hates his country/loves another country more eg he's English but wants to be French: he emulates another player, their culture etc and does everything he can to support that country. How does he deal with a stab? Who knows? That's the fun part of being crazy.
10. The F^ck Up - Grossly incompetent character who always f^cks up. Basically you'd put in your orders the way you planned, but would then have to deliberately go back and screw up one of the orders. eg

France (the f^ck up) wants to:

A Marseilles -> Spain
A Paris -> Burgandy
F Brest -> MAO

Has to (randomly?) screw up an order so F Brest->Picardy instead of moving to EC. Basically you have to choose the stupidest move possible (maybe there's a stupider move than that as you could easily pick up Belgium that way, perhaps he just holds?) Again, based on previous gameplay, players who tend to be quiet who have drawn/selected this, tend to do badly. Recommend exaggerated over-acting about WTF just happened/obviously the whole of VDip is broken etc.
11. The Bully - someone who feels he's bigger/ stronger then he really is, boasts and make more aggressive only moves. Again, play this one delicately, as no one really likes a bully… unless you’re a totally over the top bully!
12. The Pacifist - doesn't start any wars, but fights whoever hits him first (I think this could work, but its not really crazy as such)
13. Random - A person who just randomly supports others with no indications of alliances or trade offs, that will at least keep the game moving
14. Picasso - a person who would rather spend moves coloring territories their color rather than capturing SC's, obsesses over "neutral" non-SC territories, such as North Africa, Syria, Finland, Bohemia, Clyde
15. Pirate Pete - Swears all the time, builds only fleets when he can during the builds phase (no armies!) Doesn’t move to any inland SCs or territories: must stay on the coast. Tends to raid coastal SC’s and sees no issues moving on,
16. General Mayhem - Will build armies no matter what (sorry England), speaks in clipped military like tones and behaves like he’s in the army
17. Nuke Inventor - Will always try to convince his allies that he will develop nukes in the near future. He constantly keeps explaining what his scientists are doing and the physics of a nuclear weapon.
18. The Horse Trader - basically bandied together & strikes deals to swap territories with players
19. Barking mad - you take on the persona of an animal. Either you speak human language but you take everything from your chosen animal perspective or you only speak in your species' native tongue eg you bark, woof & pee everywhere the whole game. Could be interesting in diplomatic conversations
20. The Mirror - at the start of the game you behave totally rationally like normal Dip player, then the following year grab a dice or do some kind of random allocation of the other players eg https://www.random.org/integers and then act like & take on the same traits as what you BEST CAN DETERMINE that randomly selected player is. Another year rolls by, then see who you'll randomly be next turn. This way you have to do your best to imitate the style/personality you think that player has.
21. Irrational lover/hater - randomly select a player in the first year & go to war with them with full bravado (even if you're England & you just drew turkey) then the next year randomly go to war with another player while sucking up to the guy you just attacked the previous turn, making peace with rainbows and unicorns. Serious craziness if you get the same player back to back with messages swapping between love & hate
22. The Revolutionary - speaks in nothing but propaganda and rants about "liberating" the oppressed masses
23. Captain Convoy - tries organizing the most complex multi-national convoys the world has ever seen, delivering countries' armies to the furthest possible destination just because they can!
24. The Straight Faced Liar - nothing he ever says is true (to be honest sounds like a few players around here!)
25. The Gentleman – This is the kind of character that will chivalrously challenge you to a duel. Won’t attack players without officially declaring war a full turn beforehand. After all, anything else is not what a gentleman should do. Tally-ho!
26. The Emissary – I’ve seen someone actually take on this role without knowing it in a previous EP game. Basically you’re the conduit between your ruler (eg the Sultan) and other rulers. You need to represent your leader appropriately, and exhault them, but maybe sometimes you lament how they’re not taking your advice etc. You can do a fair amount with this character.
27. The Grammar Nazi - Always corrects people's grammar, and only attacks rule breakers.
28. Mr. Inappropriate - Has trouble keeping a straight line of thought without falling off tangent into something that is inappropriate or whacky and far removed from whatever was originally being discussed. I.e., this does not have to be vulgar, crude, or sexual (and if it is, shouldn't be so offensive as to really piss people off or make them feel like throwing up).
29. Another Drink Bartender! - is only interested in conquering lands that are renown for fine wines/fantastic beers/choose your favourite spirit. A certain amount of research is needed for this role and also not over extending it. A player could tangibly conquer pretty much any territory saying it was expanding its brewing empire (bit piss poor in my view as there's breweries everywhere now) or play it fair and square and go for places (depending on the map) like Munich, holland, Belgium, Milwaukee etc. Likewise a wine connoisseur would be targeting large amounts or France, Northern Spain, napa valley in California, barossa in Australia, Marlborough in New Zealand etc, while a piss poor player would find some obscure place that technically makes wine but is not REALLY known for it eg my home state in Australia, Queensland, has some wineries but a wine connoisseur would generally scoff at it as a place worth owning.
30. The CEO - The player is the head of a global corporation interested in becoming a monopoly in its chosen field - choose a good storyline and throw in a little to target real life locations (whether they have SCs or not) for a particular resource/business activity. This could be oil like the Shell suggestion, but could be any resource based on real life resource location, eg Uranium, Gold or for that matter any hubs of business/commerce activities eg financial centres (desperate to capture NYC, London, Zurich, Tokyo, Hong Kong - couldn't care less about the rest of the map), movie making (obsessed to get LA and Bombay, other areas... What's the point?) Basically whatever your CEO is desperate to develop a monopoly of.
31. The Schizophrenic - Must alternate between lying and telling the truth with every message.
32. Bitter Lose / Ugly Winner - Spends his time ranting when he gets screwed or boasting when he manages to do better.



I'd prefer if personalities stayed the same throughout the game, also.

Ditto, don't want to change to a random personality, as I feel I might not be able to play my character out if this happened at the "halfway point," and if later, feel the game concept might have worn itself out by then -- regardless of an identity change. Finally, I still wouldn't want a random personality.

Yeah, let's not change personalities. And for what it's worth, I sent Battalion 5 selections and will play any of the 5. I just purchased my first priority as discussed. All 5 work fine in PP games, but the other 4 work best in full press.

Placed, not purxhased. Odd typo.

Screw it. I can't type on a phone. Arthritic thumbs.

Ok, so clearly we'll stick with personalities all the way through which is cool.

G-Man - if you supply a list of 5 you're happy to play in preferential order, Battalion should take your preferences into consideration. Randomness of determining who you play I think has been discounted in previous conversations.

I've sent Battalion my 5 too.