Besides playing Diplomacy itself, perhaps you could have a look at Crisis (reader’s reviews in the Christmas CRASH at your newsagent’s soon, but not soon enough I’m sure) by M.A.G. — it’s a similar game design. Anybody out there with anything to add?
BK

All I can say about Troll’s Bottom is that just about everybody I know who has tried the game has enjoyed it.

Anyway, Francis, to answer your question: yes, Troll’s Bottom is a wise choice if you are looking for a simple game to play which isn’t overpriced.

But there’s no need to start with a simple game! You’ll soon get used to the system no matter how difficult the game is. If you can afford it, it could be worth trying one of the more established and involved games to start in the hobby.
BK

Now then, Frankie, you have a number of options available to you. As you live in a country which sadly does not spawn many PBM companies (in fact, I don’t know of any) all markets are equally convenient to you. You could play any British or American game without any problem other than the time delay with the post.

But this needn’t be a problem — most British companies run international variants of their games which use long deadlines of perhaps up to three weeks (your air-mail letter took seven days to reach Ludlow from New Zealand).

I suggest you buy a copy of Flagship from Chameleon Games, Australia, which should help you. You could always play an Australian game — Flagship has details of several companies.
BK

Thank you, Paul. As far as running a PBM game is concerned, I only know what I have found out through chatting with gamers who have (or do) run games. Basically, if a good system is devised, things can hardly go wrong. Even KJC Games was in a similar situation to your own once!

Things to bear in mind are:

There’s a lot of responsibility in running a PBM game; it could go on for years. That’s one turn every two weeks, say, for each player. Are you certain you can cope with this? As you are still at school, you must consider (though I hate to sound like an old teacher) your exams. Maybe you should start small, with something easier to cope with while you learn about running a game, by running a game just for people at your school.

Ask around; see how many people would be interested in playing. All you need charge is perhaps £1 or £2 for the whole game (as long as it isn’t too long) — that shouldn’t put people off, and remember that if the game is just run in the school there’s no need for a PO Box or postage costs!

Anyway, find out how many people would be interested in playing your game. Once you know this figure you can sit down and figure out a game scenario to fit all the players. Create a simple but effective game using simply the BBC B and a printer (if you have access to disk drives and know how to use them to store retrievable data for the computer there’s no harm in using it...), something easy to write and fun to play. Your computer’s memory is limited, so don’t go overboard with details!

Graphics are not really very important in many games, but then again if you can create something simple, effective and useful on a turnsheet then by all means do so. Since you already play a few games, you’ll know how to produce the turnsheet. Work out how long your game is to run. If it’s just for your fellow students, there should be no difficulty in getting turns in — perhaps weekly deadlines could be set to speed the game along. Maybe run the game from the start of the autumn term through to the end of the spring term — that gives at least 25 turns, which should be ample for a fast moving game.

One more practical point to think about; the order forms. Once more, I’d go for the easy option. Take the order cards for It’s A Crime! as an example: they’re easy to read and fill out. All you enter is the player number and the codes for the player’s turn, and the computer does the rest. You could also set up a posting point in the school’s computer room, and let everyone know where it is.

Anyway Paul, that’s my suggestion. It’s not quite play-by-mail, but then there’s no bother with handling cheques and postal orders, posting disks or making expensive phone calls. And just think of the possible pleasures! There’s plenty of time to start a war during the lunch hour...
BK