1. General
1.1 Except as mentioned below the 1971 Diplomacy Rulebook will be used (subsequent rulebooks are the same in all material respects – just often less clearly written).
1.2 Deception of the GM is never allowed and in particular it is not acceptable to forge orders from another player. All players must be open and honest in their dealings with the GM.
1.3 The GM's decision is final on any interpretation of the rules of Diplomacy, these House Rules or any eventuality not covered by the two documents combined. Where the GM has discretion under these House Rules, his decision will be final and accepted in good grace by all players.
2. Starting a Game
2.1 Players should apply to me (Stephen Agar) if they wish to play a game of Diplomacy. Preference lists for countries will be used if supplied, but final allocation of countries is entirely at the GM’s discretion.
2.2 The GM must be aware of the real identity and postal address of all players. It is not necessary for a player to play under their real name - using a false name is permitted provided that the GM is aware of the true identity of the player concerned.
2.3 Obviously, a player cannot play more than one Power in any given game.
2.4 If a player changes his email address he should inform the GM and the other players immediately
3. Game System and Orders
3.1 The game will usually be played on a two season game year. Thus Spring orders should contain retreats (which may be conditional on that season's moves) for vulnerable units, in the absence of which any dislodged unit will be disbanded. Autumn orders should include conditional retreats and conditional builds/removals. The conditional builds may be conditional on the previous season's moves or retreats. This is really not as difficult as it sounds. Trust me.
3.2 If two or more players attempt to retreat to the same space they will stand each other off and both units will be removed from play, though a player may indicate which unit is to have priority if both units are his.
3.3 If a player fails to submit build orders in an Autumn move then no builds will be made even if due.
3.4 Unless there is a clear instruction to the contrary "Remove A(Par)" means "remove the army that was in Paris before this season, but may not be now." - though if there was no Army in Par at the beginning of the move, but there is at the end of the move, then that A(Par) will be removed instead.
3.5 If a player fails to submit removal orders in an Autumn move (or the country is in Anarchy) then the GM will disband units which are not in supply centres as necessary. The distance of any such unit from the nearest home sc will be calculated and the furthest unit removed. In the event of a tie units in sea spaces are removed first, then units outside the home country. In the event of a tie, fleets are removed before armies and if all else fails disbands are made alphabetically. Thus, England would remove F(HEL) and F(SKA) before A(Pic), but A(Pic) would go before F(ENG) or F(NTH). A(Bel) and F(Hol) would not be removed.
3.6 Orders should be clear. However, the GM will accept any orders that are unambiguous, however badly written.
3.7 It would greatly assist if orders for different games were sent in different emails or on different sheets of paper. Ideally, each set of orders should state player's name, game, country, year and season.
3.8 Implied orders will be accepted, for example "A(Mun) S A(Ruh)-Bur" is a valid order to both units, however, a contrary explicit order (E.g. A(Ruh)-Bel, A(Mun) S A(Ruh)-Bur;) will override an implied order, the unit is not considered to be ordered twice. Thus in this instance A(Ruh)-Bel would be a valid order while A(Mun) S A(Ruh)-Bur would be a misorder.
3.9 A misordered unit purporting to move cannot be supported in place.
3.10 Orders should be submitted in good time for the deadline set in the most recent issue of the zine. It is a good idea to send a set of provisional orders upon receipt of the game report.
3.11 Late orders will usually not be accepted, but the GM reserves the right to accept late orders in exceptional circumstances at his discretion. Therefore you should not assume that it is safe to reveal your plans after the deadline. Wait for the adjudication!
4. No Moves Received
4.1 Failure to submit orders by the deadline will result in an NMR (“No Moves Received”)
4.2 The effect of two successive NMR's means that the offending country will be placed in Anarchy.
4.3 When a country goes into Anarchy the GM will apply the “Return Home” rule which means that he will remove all the units belonging to that country from the board and replace them with an army in every unoccupied centre belonging to that country. From that point onward those units will stand unordered, but may be supported by other players.
4.4 The GM will not start a game with a NMR even if it means holding the game over and finding a new player.
5. Abbreviations
5.1 In game reports provinces will be abbreviated to the first three letters of their names, capitals for sea spaces, lower case for land spaces.
5.2 Exceptions are:
GoB = Gulf of Bothnia
GoL = Gulf of Lyons
Lvn = Livonia
Lpl = Liverpool
MAO = Mid Atlantic Ocean
NAf = North Africa
NAO = North Atlantic Ocean
NTH = North Sea
Nwy = Norway
NWG = Norwegian Sea
TYS = Tyrrhenian Sea
5.3 Other abbreviations used in game reports are:
NMR = No Moves
Received
NRO = No Retreat Ordered
NPRO = No Possible Retreat Ordered
MS = Mutually Supports
Std. = Stands
A(Kie)-Hol
= Failed Move
A(Kie)-Bur
= Illegal or Impossible Move or non-existent unit.
* = Retreating Unit
6. Errors
6.1 In the rare instance of an error creeping into an adjudication the error should be brought to the GM's attention immediately. Do not assume that someone else will do this.
6.2 Any errors carried over for more than one season will stand, however bizarre.
6.3 Obvious errors (e.g. failing to underline a failed move) should not delay the game and players should submit orders on the basis that the moves printed were correct.
7. Skullduggery
7.1 Impersonation of the GM is not allowed. This is a departure from the traditional rule in postal Diplomacy games. However, given the ease with which the technologically competent can forge emails (and the difficulty of detection by those less well versed in the skill of reading email headers) this rule has been altered to take account of the realities of the situation.
7.2 On the other hand, it would be a shame to outlaw all skullduggery, therefore impersonation of another player is allowed, other than in dealings with the GM.
7.3 Forwarding an email from one player to another player is allowed (though some may think it bad manners!). Of course, recipients of such emails will be aware that the contents of forwarded emails are easily altered.
7.4 A player may “cc” or “bcc” another player in on any emails he sends, including communications with the GM.
7.5 Players must accept that Diplomacy is a game in which behaviour normally deemed unethical in civilized society is permitted. Therefore they should not be offended if others attempt any manner of scams or confidence tricks not prohibited by these House Rules in order to gain an advantage.
8. Game Endings
8.1 A game may be ended at any time on any terms proposed by any player or the GM by a unanimous vote of the players.
8.2 Normally, if a endgame is proposed NMRs will be taken as assent; forgetting to vote, but submitting orders will be taken to be dissent.
8.3 At his discretion the GM may declare that abstention will be taken as assent on a first vote, so read endgame proposals carefully.
8.4 The GM retains a discretion not to end the game in accordance with an endgame proposal if more than half of the non-NMRing players have made no mention of the endgame proposal in their orders. This is to prevent absurd results.
8.5 The identity of the player proposing the endgame will not be revealed, nor how individual players voted.
8.6 The rules of Diplomacy state that “Draws include all survivors”. However, players may agree an endgame result where surviving players are not ranked equally on the basis that all players are agreeing that if the game had continued it would have resulted in some of the extant players being eliminated.
9. Proxies
9.1 A player may sign over control of one or more units to another player at any time and indefinitely, provided that the player so doing continues to receive the zine. In the event that the player giving the proxy stops receiving the zine then the proxy immediately ceases to have effect.
9.2 Such an arrangement may be cancelled at any time, without notice, by the player concerned.
10. Press
10.1 Press releases for publication alongside the game are welcome and may be conditional on that season's moves.
10.2 The GM will have a reserved dateline that may not be used by the players. The reserved dateline for Stephen Agar is “Versailles”.
10.3 The names of the seven capitals (Vie, Lon, Par, Ber, Rom, StP, Con) or the seven Powers followed by "(Govt.)" are reserved for the players concerned and are thus guaranteed to be genuine.
11. Maps
11.1 Regular Diplomacy games in the zine will usually have maps with the game reports, however they do not form part of the adjudication. The GM will have no sympathy with anyone who misorders on the basis of an error in a map, if the game report was correct.
12 Anything Else
The GM reserves the right to extend these House Rules to cover situations not covered by the House Rules as they currently stand as he thinks fit.
23 October 2008