As if a game-start isn’t enough, here’s some light reading material to get you in the mood…

I’m sure it’s all stuff you’ve heard before, but read it anyways!

Results - If you ever don’t get results from me, or think for any reason I’m not able to reach you, you can check up on the game at the website. I will post every turn there as soon as it’s out, so you can always know for sure if you’re just out of the loop. Not getting an email from me is never an excuse for missing a turn! The game results will always be available in 3 forms:
<![if !supportLists]>· <![endif]>An email, from me to you.
<![if !supportLists]>· <![endif]>The game page, www.diplomaticcorp.com?game=dc303.
<![if !supportLists]>· <![endif]>The website forum.

Press - I highly encourage press! It often adds a whole nother level of fun to the games… It can be sent to me, and will be posted anonymously with the results of the turn. It can be directly from your own civilization, or even allegedly from others… anything is fair game.

How will the deadlines work?
I like to run about 1 week per turn. Major phases (spring or fall) will be about 5 days, with the following retreat or build about 2 days. I tend to run a very tight ship! Don’t expect to get reminders from me. Because my games tend to stay on schedule, you can expect results will come out when I say they will… If you don’t have moves in by the deadline (or after the deadline but before the time I start to adjudicate) you’ll just get an NMR. You can submit moves (or revisions) after the deadline if I have not started to run the turn yet.

How will I handle NMRs?
If you’ve either played in one of my games or read my house rules (www.sims-family.net/dip/houserules.htm) you’d already know! Expect results to come out relatively close to the deadline, come rain or shine. Any NMR in the first year will be cause for immediately replacing you – I don’t allow them in the first year and insist on prelims then. After that, it’s just an NMR and they will play out however they do. Units will hold, etc. Given the players in this game I don’t expect NMRs will be a problem at all.

You just said “prelims” – what are those?
Prelims are short for preliminary orders. They’re what you send in before your real orders. You turn them in right away after you get results from me (like- now), before you even know for sure what you want to do. Then throughout the course of the week you can change them as often as you like. When I run the results, I’ll use the latest single set you’ve sent me (ignoring earlier emails). The reason to go to this effort is so that when you get called out on last minute travel, get stuck in meetings, stay out w friends, or your dog eats your computer, you already have at least something turned in. That is almost always better than units just holding.

What if I’m going to be away?
No problem! Just let me know in advance of the turn in question and I’ll be happy to set future deadlines accordingly. However, I will rarely, for any reason, extend a turn currently in play. That is, once a deadline has been set, “I need more time to hear from a player” will be met with a bellowing evil laugh and incredibly witty and well thought out editorial about how deadlines are not extended mid-turn. Part of the fun of the game is time management - so if you can write me to request more time, you can write your best shot at some orders.

I think that’s about it for now – if you have any questions feel free to shout them out…
-mike