INTRO: I came up with this variant when I was bored one day and started a thread in the forums on a whim. Soon, several players expressed interests and ideas were thrown out for rules. Now we have a game going and it's taken shape quite well. I'd like to thank the 7 volunteers for jumping into the game fearlessly. As players, they are breaking new new ground in the Diplomacy world, as this variant is neither about a novel map, nor about special build rules, alliance rules or experiments about crowding. This variant is about taking standard Diplomacy as we know it, and drop-kicking it into game theory territory. With the introduction of random events in the game, each and every move you make will now have new implications for players in the future, depending on whether their country remains the same or not. After the first game-year, they will effectively be making bets with each set of moves you enter. Every turn, they will be asking themselves - "will the countries change? If so, how will my moves now affect me next phase?" Like in poker, betting in this variant is based partly on the hand you draw (i.e., your random country assignment), but also your skill, and how you are able to swing the odds in your favor through signaling, bluffing and other means.
GAME PARAMETERS: Full Press, Non-Anon, 5
bet, WTA.
GAME RULES
The Musical Chairs variant uses the standard Diplomacy Board with all standard rules applying. However, after Fall 1901, each Spring Retreats and Fall Builds phase may see the players' countries being reassigned. These random events shall continue at the same frequency according to the rules outlined below.
1. Players are assigned countries randomly to begin with.
2. The game will be non-anonymous so as to allow players to maintain alliances across switches, or at least identify each other.
3. I will be the gamesmaster. As gamesmaster, I will flip a coin after every Spring retreat and every Fall builds phase to determine if there will be a reshuffle in country assignments. The coin flips will begin starting Fall 1901 (until then all countries will stay the same). I have determined that a pre-decided schedule of reshuffles makes changes predictable, and we therefore run into problems of players hurting their positions right before the switch, or not expanding in a normal fashion, or not playing towards the game objective, which is to reach 18 centers. This way, the changes are unpredictable, and may or may not happen depending on the coin-flip. The way the coin flip works is immaterial, but for consistency, I will go with heads: reshuffle and tails: status quo.
4. At the end of every coin flip, I will post the results on global chat. If there is a reshuffle, I will reassign players to different countries and post the reassignments both on global chat, and also on the game thread for all who are interested in following the game(s).
In the event of a reshuffle, I shall assign countries in the following manner:
1. I shall write the name of each country on two separate slips of paper. There will, therefore, be 14 slips of paper.
2. I shall first fold, then throw the slips of paper in the same black fedora hat each time, and vigorously shake the hat until I am satisfied that I am completely unsure as to which slip is where in the hat.
3. I shall pull two slips of paper out at a time from the hat. I shall then open the slips sequentially.
4. The reassignment shall be [slip that I open first]---->[slip that I open second]. For example, [France]--->[Austria] means that the player who is currently France will become Austria in the reshuffle. If the two slips read the same country, then there will be no change for that player until the next reshuffle.
I have extended the length of each phase to 3 days so as to give players adequate time to enter into complex treaties and also to get grips on their new positions after reshuffles. It is not necessary (but perfectly OK) to take advantage of the full 3 days in the initial phases when there will be no reshuffles.
COMMUNICATION - No communication between players is permitted outside the game. All communication must be carried out within the game's chat tabs.
----------
THREAD RULES: Please feel free to follow the game and discuss the game rules, and any suggestions you may have in terms of modifying them for a second test version. I hope that nobody will discuss too much the specifics of the game, and I certainly hope the players won't post any game specifics on here. I'd like the thread to be more about anything general that people observe about the game and the variant rules. For instance, one player wrote back to me saying that "the game is more about making friends. Strengthening ones own position rather than ones' country's position." This is a general observation about the variant that doesn't really pinpoint any particular moves in the game.