It is cheap but in most other games (such as risk) people will eaves drop anyway. The only difference is that in Diplomacy it's allowed.

there's not much diplomacy in risk.

When I play F2F with my friends, we designate certain rooms that are 'diplomacy' rooms - i.e. for discussion between players. Most discussion takes place in these rooms, and it's generally quite hard to eavesdrop from outside them, especially when you've got limited time to talk!

We've always allowed it, but its not hard to avoid - just walk away from them! If they keep up, use it to spread misinformation
Also, we tend to play via this site anyway to save the trouble of setting up the board, sort out adjudication and stop flying dutchmen. Thus we have all day to talk to oneanother, meaning its not hard to find a time away from others!

well, maybe something like, if u r caught, u have to go away

No no no.... this is what makes Diplomacy fun! What first attracted me to the game was that during the diplomacy times... anything goes. We had a game where someone stole orders and replaced them and the other person never noticed.

I once lied about the positions of the pieces on the board while were in another room, watched my ally write out orders accordingly, and turned them in for him while he went to the bathroom. It was a huge benefit to me but boy was he angry.

Trilateral meetings, meetings of four people, intentionally being loud (as figle said), going off into rooms with someone who is actually an enemy, but making everyone think you are friends (including the enemy) just by the fact that you are having a meeting. Using go betweens or "spies" that you trust, and that your enemies also trust, to hang around the planning of their moves and come back and report them to you. (This one is risky because you need a real tool to be sure the info is right).

And last but not least, reading somebody else's orders and changing your own after both were supposed to have been turned in while everyone else is distracted by their argument about adjudication.

It's loads of fun to play this way... the paranoia level rises like 500%

Hear hear! F2F is so much more frantic than online play, and there are so many more mediums for communication. I once took a friend's cell and texted their ally a false plan and took complete tactical advantage of it. =)

There is a problem initially, when I'm trying to introduce players to it, because people don't know the board very well, so a lot of the negotiating is done within view of the board for easy reference, and it often leads to a lot of pointing and gesturing, and definite eavesdropping.

It's always allowed, but it's easy to prevent. However, in F2F Diplomacy I've found that it's difficult to hide the fact that certain powers are speaking with each other, and since most of the time the talks are about working together (and since usually at least one side keeps up his end of the deal), it's hard to keep plans completely under wraps even if you can be fairly certain the details of your agreements weren't leaked.

hmm...i think next time i play F2F ill try playing with eavesdropping allowed

Chrispminis, just print out a few copies of the gameboard from this site or another picture to have as a handy reference.

yeah i always played with game printouts they actually came with the board (that must be newer copies)

but you're right at least someone always seems to stay by the big board.

its usually the people no one wants to talk to, and these people often make an impromptu alliance-of-necessity amongst themselves. Very fun indeed, f2f

cd Italy: You didn't mean to post from that account did you. When you finish your current games please email me and I'll close the account. 1 account per person

Well spotted figle. I think that may have surprised a few people if Civil Disorder Italy got Italy first up!

FTF is great fun, and it's a shame I don't play more of it. I need to find 6 other londoners for a game...

Well in the rulebooks it explicitly says that players may endeavour to eavesdrop. You can tell them to piss off, you can go somewhere more private, but if someone overheard your negotiations you can't sue him for damages.

yea, the version i have comes with a ton of maps. very nice, you can draw plans on it and it has all the abbreviations for writing down orders.