Greeting from Moscow
(or Niagara Falls!) 
Good Luck all!
 
-Pete
 




From: Jerome Payne [mailto:jerome777(at)ymail.com]

Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2012
8:44 AM

To: john.robillard(at)telia.com;
chaosonejoe(at)yahoo.com; nephilli99(at)hotmail.com; mrh(at)panix.com; Pete Marinaro; tfletch33(at)yahoo.com;
matthew_barnes(at)brown.edu

Cc: me here; Blitz Messageboard

Subject: dc422 formal game start
and proper welcome!

 












 






Now then everybody,


 


Thanks for bearing with me whilst I went and took
that pesky exam (I passed - woot!)


 


OK so here's your proper game start and welcome
email, detailing how I'll be running your Blitz Round 2 game.


 


I'm Jerome, your friendly GM for your second
round of the Blitz. For those of you that haven't met me before, I've
been on the DC website for around a year now (where I'm one of the site
mods), and an active Dip player for years before that, so I'm excited
to see so many faces I don't recognize. I'm 34 years old, live in Peterborough UK,
and spend most of each day thinking about Dip (that is, when I'm not
teaching adults at a London
college...!)


 


I'm sure we have a fun time ahead of us, and I'll do
my best to keep us moving toward the finish line. This is your
tournament, held every year at the world's greatest website -
diplomaticcorp.com - and I really hope you enjoy it.  To those of
you that I've not met before, then welcome. To those I have, sorry
about the stabs! (Not really).




I did email out your Power assignments and details of your opponents
earlier, but here they are again for completeness:


 





ID


Country


Name


Email


Location




bunwarpgazoo


France


John Robillard


john.robillard(at)telia.com


Härnösand, SE




chaosonejoe


Italy


Joe Babinsack


chaosonejoe(at)yahoo.com


Butler,
PA, US




Nigs


Austria


Nigel Phillips


nephilli99(at)hotmail.com


Leeds,
UK




offdisc


Turkey


Mike Hoffman


mrh(at)panix.com


Denver,
CO, US




Pete


Russia


Pete Marinaro


PMarinaro(at)KOMAutomation.com


Lancaster,
NY, US




tfletch33


England


Thomas Fletcher


tfletch33(at)yahoo.com


 




TheFinalCountdown


Germany


Matt Barnes


matthew_barnes(at)brown.edu


Boston,
MA, US





 


 OK, so now for some admin-type stuff about how
your game will run.


 


Deadlines - Spring
deadlines on Mondays, Summer retreats on Tuesdays, Autumn (Fall)
deadline on Thursdays, and Retreats/Winter COMBINED on Fridays. Unless
I specifically say otherwise, all deadlines are at 20:00GMT . We've
got a multinational group of players, so I strongly advise you to
figure out what time 20:00GMT is in your own neck of the woods. Also,
although I will do my best to try to remember to send out deadline
reminders to you guys, it is ultimately YOUR
responsibility to turn in moves regardless of whether a reminder is set
out.



Orders(at)diplomaticcorp.com - This little
email address is your best friend. ANY time you send moves/builds/retreats/revisions/etc
to me, you should also be sending it to that address as well. The
reason being, if I am unable to adjucate after being attacked by rabid
were-hamsters, one of the tournament directors will adjucate using the
orders you sent to this address. Also, if I have no record of your
moves for some reason, and you just *know* you sent them in, this
address will be your last and best defence to avoid the dreaded NMR.


 


Retreats - In
situations where there is only one province to which a unit might
legally retreat, I will auto-retreat to that space. The relevant player
will, however, still have the opportunity to order a disband for that
unit instead (i.e. 'retreat off-the-board or OTB'. In situations where
there is only one retreat to be made, and that retreat is an
auto-retreat, then I will skip the retreat deadline for that turn (I
have a life too you know! [OY! Stop sniggering at the back!!!]).
Notwithstanding this, the relevant player still will have 24 hours from
the adjudication to inform me of his intention to retreat OTB in
preference to my auto-retreat. In addition, for summer retreats in
situations where two or more players must retreat, once I receive
a full set of retreat orders from all affected players then I shall
reserve the right to adjudicate the retreats early (i.e. before the
stated deadline). Please bear in mind that autumn retreats and winter
adjustments have the same (Friday) deadline. It is possible to make
builds/disbands conditional upon other players' retreats - but not vice
versa.


 


Subject bar - Since
I'm GM'ing several games at once (4 at present, though it will be 5 if
Sims can sneak another one onto me (arsechips)), you MUST include the dc game code, the
season, your Power name and the version number of your moves in the
subject bar of your emails to me.


 



For instance:




'dc422 Spring 02 England
moves v1'


 




If
you fail to put this information into the subject bar then it is quite
possible that I will miss your email - and this risks readjudications
etc, much to everybody's annoyance! Also remember the 24hour cutoff
rule (below).






Prelims - Prelims
are your second best friends. I'd suggest turning them in immediately
after receiving the adjucation. You can always change them, but you
never know when something will come up and you will be unable to turn
in moves. I even accept Contingency plans (especially for retreats and
builds). So feel to even send those in advance too, just in case!



Rule
questions - I have no particular rules to
use with my games, therefore we'll be following the dc house rules
found at the dc site:


 




http://www.diplomaticcorp.com/info.php?type=houserules


 




When unclear, or when deemed
necessary in my sole opinion, my judgement supercedes the rulebook.
During Blitz games, DC houserules generally take precedence as well,
and blitz rules trump everything. For example, there are NO
replacements in the Blitz. If you drop out, your country will NMR every
turn, but you can start playing again at any time until your last
piece/center is eliminated/captured. If you have any questions about
how I will treat any specific issue, just ask. This is also a good time
to repeat the 24 hour cutoff. If you have a
complaint or issue with an adjucation, you have 24 hours to report it
to me. If you don't, the "wrong" adjucation stands.



Press and
proper play - This game is black press,
which means you can submit comments for inclusion in the adjucation
from you, purporting to be from another player or country, or
anonymously. However, no one may at any time, in press, private
communication with other players, or for any other reason, impersonate
me or the tournament directors. Doing so is grounds for immediate
explusion from the game.



Ok, enough will all the rules. Let's get this show on the road! Our
first deadline is MONDAY, 9 APRIL at 20:00 GMT





Feel free to share you strategy and goals with me. I can't comment on
them for obvious reasons, but it helps me feel a bit more a part of the
game to see things from a player's perspective in addition to the
bird's eye view GM's are often left with. I'd love to know what's
happening as the game progresses.



OK so over to you!




Jerome