I'm in, and I approve joining :)

Glad this is finally going underway :)

I am in

Totally in

Just sent an email to David...

keep 'em coming, maybe we can stay at the HUGE game and not need to reduce powers? Oh, and I do know he plans on introducing several Pirate powers with special rules for them, even if they don't work, it should add to the fun factor?

The game looks a bit confusing, not really. You have wing units that simply act like fleets but can not conquer territory (I think he is removing the space restriction for further ease). We have nukes that blow things up, paid for by passing on a build or trading another players passed build. And then the end game voting based on how many voting centers you own, simply look at the chart and bingo...easy.

That's it for the differences. Nobody will get "lost" in the rules. My only "warning" is to not ignore the voting aspect and if you keep that in mind, this maight even be a fun aspect to the game...certainly a different aspect anyways, even if you don't care for it, it's nice to try different ideas?

Any and all are welcome, I think at least half are from vdip and a late push could make it well OVER half so JOIN! Send David an email, it's that easy to join.

Hey guys - I'm the GM of the game. Please make sure you email me if you're interested. I may not see posts here. Thanks!

david.m.sullivan.1 (AT) gmail.com

I have an idea we host a WWIV version 6.2 on this site with a low bet that we pause and use that to host the game from for the purpose of communications within the game.

It's not a bad idea but I do have some concerns. The first is that the country names would be different. It could easily get confusing for someone trying to communicate to China in the game, look at the WWIV map and see a couple of China's.

The second issue I see is trying to remind 25 "other site" players to log into vdip on a regular basis. It's not part of their habit yet and may cause those of you who do frequent this site to get frustrated. I don't mean any disrespect to this site, I play here from time to time. It's just that the volume of players who don't use this site outweigh those who do by a significant margin - at least at the moment.

I won't be able to play, but I would be fascinated by how this game progresses. Any chance you could post a link here to the game-map as the seasons progress?

Definitely, I can put some regular updates here for those interested in watching.

I was just talking to David (emailing I should say?) about the game. He should have at least 40 players but this will require some redraws and with redraws comes unforeseen "problems". Nothing major mind you but if we can get to that 50 player level, hot-damn, the game gets crazy then!

If you are reading this and have any inkling to join, PLEASE write him.

Here's the situation, you will almost certainly be given a smaller power. The goal of a small player is to work your ass off trying to simply survive and grow in the early game. This can be a lot of fun as you tread carefully around the neighboring small powers, mid sized powers and the big boys as well. You need to position yourself as everyone's best friend. Chances are very good that you will be eliminated EARLY. If you do get eliminated early, then it wasn't a lot of time wasted and it was fun while it lasted. If you do manage to grow, that is a special reward all it's own and you get into the next stage of the game discussing politics with many other players.

If you did not look at the map, the game will only be won by a coalition of three powers. No solo's are possible. The big powers can band together to use their power and might to continue to beat down the little players but wait... if three big players get together, they need a crap-load of votes to win, that and you can pretty well guess few if any will vote for such a brute force to win! The big guys want to find a smaller power (or two) to help make the victory easier to gain and by bringing along a smaller power, it isn't so brutish and they may gain a few more votes as well. No doubt you will also see three small powers join together that require FEW votes to win and some players on the ropes will no doubt vote for this trio just to thumb their nose at the bigger powers! Oh but wait again, if this trio fails they may get annihilated by a barrage of nukes!? (it does get WILD) All the powers are working multiple angles and a lot of hatred rears its ugly head. Myself, I think the vote aspect of the game is more fun than the rest of the game and this is what makes the small powers control more than they may think by games end. Yes, the small guys are screwed early on, but if they survive, they can be rewarded in a big way. I never bothered keeping records but I think just about every game had at least one small power included in the winning trio.

Just bumping the thread. We're very close to getting started, just trying to fill up the board with a few more bodies.

This PBEM variant is extremely exciting and offers great practice in developing alliances and global negotiations. Big power
/small power is not as intimidating as its been made out to be (above). Also with weekly turns there is plenty of time to handle negotiations. Win or lose this may be the best game you participate in all year.

as pointed out the big/small is not always intimidating. The big powers are small outside their home areas and want/NEED help from smaller guys! The big boys simply can not go it alone or even gang up (they can certainly TRY but it has never worked to date) on the little guys. Yes, some little guys who do not play ball with a larger power may very likely find himself wiped out, THAT part is intimidating but it is part of understanding your situation and knowing you can actually win if you bring your alliance something to the table and small guys are always part of every win. I never kept records but most winning alliances contained 1 large, 1 medium and 1 small sized power so every player starts with a very real chance to win despite their seemingly minor status.

scared to try something new?
...wussie

Are we beginning soon or are we still waiting for more people to fill up?

The GM has been trying to find a few more players. He had hoped to send out assignments by last Thursday, but is still finalizing the roster. If you've ever wanted to launch a nuke at seine in a Dip game, here's your chance!

I personally am super excited for this game. I encourage you all to test your mettle and get involved if you aren't already. From what I've seen of Redscape so far, they're a quality bunch of Dip players. We could all use to learn something by playing Dip in a different format (PBEM and with a human GM), and reap the benefits of getting to know each other as humans instead of just vdip screennames!

@drano: I don't see the big difference between "just" vdip screen names and "human" (?) e-mail adresses...

Other than that, I agree.

The difference steephie, is when you play PBEM, there tends to be a more human element to it. People will talk about random things, such as school, work, the superbowl, really, anything. Not to mention that many email addresses allow people to put pictures up on a profile, so at least you can see they're a person. Too often on the internet, we forget the other player is a person. I feel it's a large cause of animosity on the internet. Even just seeing the person's picture, or hearing about their weekend makes a HUGE difference. And really, I don't see overly much of that happening here on vdip. It's all about the game. No human element.

For example: How many people on vdip can you say you know much of anything about? Their field of work, family, what they like, etc?

I am not the GM but as Ruff mentioned, he has a line on another player or two and each time we get another to join, that's awesome but does require more changes to the map. So the two both work at delaying us just a tad! But if we can get another player or three, then it's worth one days delay? Sign up NOW!
I was talking to the GM and he had wanted to start over the weekend, not sure if I had any effect but I asked him to hold off and start Monday so it COULD be starting any second? So if interested do sign up just as fast as you can.

As far as PBEM, it certainly is a bit different but nothing substantially different. Instead of clicking on buttons for your orders, you type them out in an email to the game master. Instead of clicking on player links, you email the players. You can do the entire game via email and will hardly notice a difference aside from maybe getting to know others a bit more.

And if you chose to do so, you can visit the Redscape website (no need to do so!) and you can check that games forum. There you will be able to access the maps. a link to the rules, rules alterations and if you want, you can post public messages (and even include pictures if you like). It's not a big difference from here at all. Not better, not worse, just slightly different, nothing that will be unfamiliar to any thinking of joining the game!

Very interested but don't have the time at the moment :( anyway I can follow the map?

Tom, I'm not sure how it's possible that you could misunderstand/misconsturue every single thing I say. My post here the other day was to encourage players to flush out the GMs' current player roster so that it fits witht he map that he has ready to go. I asked the GM if he wanted me to mention this before posting. Nothing in my efforts was intended to add more players beyond what his current map would handle, and certainly not to delay the game at all. So please stop attributing any efforts on my part to delaying the game or forcing a redraw of the map. I do not adovocate either. The only reason this thread is still running is because the GM still needs a player or two to complete the game roster. Thus, the thread bump. Please stay on topic!

Spartan, you can follow the map by visiting the Redscape forums, which can be periodically linked here to update turns (they are weekly, 5 days for moves with 1 day for retreats/one day for builds). You could also ask a player in the game to forward an email version of the adjudication.

Here is the GM's email address once again:

david.m.sullivan.1 (AT) gmail.com

"Not to mention that many email addresses allow people to put pictures up on a profile, so at least you can see they're a person."
I feel bad for using the same screenname already, never mind, hope I can cover it by being more open with my real life I guess. First PBEM game I'm playing too.
Sure no worries take your time to find the last few players, just wanted to know if everything was alright :)

There you go again Randy the world does not revolve around YOU now does it? I did speak about what I myself discussed with David and I relayed what he told me, please "stay on topic" yourself and speak of what you KNOW and not of what you think you know!

You misinterpreted what was said
I was referring to the games GM, not YOU
"I am not the GM but as Ruff mentioned, he..." he being the games GM
You always jump to conclusions and assume the worst now don't you? Why would I talk about how YOU have a line on more people when we have not talked?
and what part of
"I was talking to the GM and he had wanted to start over the weekend..."
do you fail to understand, why do you assume it all has to do with YOU?