I am almost starting the game. I will send messages
to this list as soon as I do stuff.
Before I start, though, I want to discuss some issues.
(a) of course, as I will be GM, I will be the absolute dictator
of the game, and I have even the right to terminate it without
notifying the players. But such extreme measures usually
aren't necessary :-)
(b) I think that, as a Brin-l game, we should roleplay Brin
characters. I will put some caveats in the game notice that
all stuff is David Brin's copyright, etc. But I would like to
assign each power to one Uplift Race, on a preliminary
basis [I chose this assignment due to first-letter mnemonics]:
T (Turkey) = Tandu
G (Germany) = Gubru
E (England) = Earthlings
R (Russia) = Soro [because of the _R_ O:-)]
F (France) = Jophur [because of the _F_ sound]
I (Italy) = Thennanin
A (Austria) = any other race
(c) Deadlines. I have the power to extend deadlines, and I
have the power to avoid phase processing in certain days.
I think 3 days between turns is a good pace.
(d) Number of players. It seems that there are more players
than the canonical number of 7. There's a variant for 11 players
[Crowded], and I can switch between variants. I guess I
will create it as a 7-player variant [because I suspect that many
players-to-be will be too scared to use the judge - I, myself,
postponed playing with the judge for a long time!], but if there
are more players, I might create a second game.
(e) Stabbing. This game is based on deceit and treachery,
so I will ensure that each player *roleplays* his character.
It's one thing being stabbed by Alberto your friend that never
lied to you; it's an entirely different thing being stabbed by
The Priest-Stack of Polkjhy. There's an ideal way to handle
this: it's called the *gunboat* system. Each player sends
diplomacy to the other *country*, and the judge hides all
identification. For example, if George is playing Germany,
and he wants to send a message to Al [playing Austria],
Al will receive something like: "Message from Germany to
Austria in game 'brinl1'". George is free to write anything in
his message, but I beg each one to try to hide his/her true
identity. These identities are revealed at the end of the
game [by default] - but I may even change this, if the game
becomes too nasty and name-calling <evil grin>
(f) Observers are welcome, too.
Alberto Monteiro
