.
DIPLOMACY VARIANTS
. ONLINE RESOURCES FREQUENTLY ACCESSED RESOURCES:
SECTION PAGES
FAQ lists    Diplomacy Maps      Diplomacy Variants    Mapping Software    Strategy Articles

General Resources
Player Reference Sources
Judge PBEM Resources
Diplomacy Player Communities
Diplomacy Hobby Organizations 
Diplomacy Zines on the Web
Non-English Diplomacy Pages
Other Diplomacy Pages
 
Quick Reference Page
(All resources on one page)

These pages contain rules, maps, articles and general web pages for over 170 Diplomacy variants.

Quick navigation

[ Numbers and Letters A - C | Letters D - H | Letters I - P | Letters R - Z ]

[ 1 | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M |
N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z ]

Random Diplomacy (Kevin Ames)
This variant can be played with any map and can be combined with other variants. Standard rules apply with the exception of the initial game setup. Supply centers are randomly distributed throughout the map and are randomly assigned to powers. During the game, a player can build units in any supply center which that power owns.

Range War (Colin Bruce)
This eight-player variant takes place on a new map. The players represent seven ranches and a band of outlaws. The game uses modified rules in which the two types of units are gangs and herds (of cattle), and more than half of the supply centers are herds which are not stationary but can move around each turn.
  • Rules (at the variantbank.org variant archive)
  • Maps: [ gif ]

Rather Silly Diplomacy 2 1/2 (Jeremy Maiden and Peter Sullivan)
A varaint which includes the standard Diplomacy rules, plus a couple of new characters/units (The Borg, Llamas, Female Armies, Dirty Old Men Armies, Gay Fleets and more). A bit silly, but you probably gathered that much from the variant name.
  • Rules (at the variantbank.org variant archive)
  • Maps: Any

Renaissance Diplomacy (Earle Ratcliffe and Michael Cuffaro)
This 7-player variant is played on the standard map. No new rules other than new great powers and a passable Switzerland.

Replay (Alexander K. Woo)
This variant is intended to be played with no-press games. The idea is that a first turn is used to communicate with other players, and turns are replayed to allow for an actual movement phase.

Republic (Der Garvey)
This 5 player variant takes place on a map of Ireland, and is representative of a variety of conflicts that have taken place in Ireland. The game uses a number of modifications of the standard rules, including supply points, bridges, rivers, and a few others.
  • Rules (at the variantbank.org variant archive)
  • Maps: [ gif ]

Rise of Rome I and II (Stephen Agar)
Rise of Rome I and II are variants for five and seven players respectively that take place during the period of the Roman Republic from the third to the second century B.C. using a new map. The game uses modified rules, which include special units and sacking of supply centers.

River Diplomacy (Dennis Brennan)
This game uses the standard map and rules, except for the addition of two rivers, the Rhine and the Danube. These rivers are navigable by fleets, effectively allowing them to make what would in the standard game be inland moves and attacks.
  • Rules (at the variantbank.org variant archive)
  • Maps: Standard map modified as described in the rules

Romans (James Millington, Robert Schone and Lynsey Smith)
A five-player variant that uses the standard Diplomacy rules but with a new map which is symmetrical. This variant was based on the Five Italies variant and is very similar. The rules and map for Romans are not available but they are available for Chromatic which is completely identical to Romans except that all the map locations have been renamed.
(See Chromatic.)

Root Z (Phil Creed, Tom Hyer, and Mark Nelson)
A seven-player variant that takes place on a map that consists of two standard maps connected along a cut through each map to create a spiral. Each player controls two powers. Slightly-modified standard Diplomacy rules apply.

Royale
(See Diplomacy Royale.)

Sahara (Kyalo Brooks)
This seven-player variant uses the standard map and takes place in a future affected by global warming. Consequently, as the game progresses water locations become land provinces, supply centers become less hospitable and revert to regular spaces, regular spaces become more hospitable and become supply centers, and certain spaces become impassable.

Sail Ho! ("Tarzan")
A 4-power "map variant" which uses standard Diplomacy rules but a new map, having quite a bit of water and three islands.

Scorched Earth (John Morgan)
This variant can be played on a variety of maps. In this variant, a unit can abandon a supply center and destroy the SC as it leaves, allowing the unit to survive an additional year but preventing an opponent from getting that supply center. Other than that, standard Diplomacy rules apply.

Seeing is Believing (Eric Brosius)
This variant can be played on a variety of maps. In this variant, only final positions are revealed to players but the actual moves ordered are not. So, for example, a power who is attacked is oblivious to that fact if the attack fails. Standard Diplomacy rules apply.

Seismic Diplomacy (Pierre Lavaurs)
In this variant, players can order one Seismic Event per season. Seismic events change the topology of the map by modifying connectivity between provinces (such as disconnecting the border between Ukr and Gal, making Rum and War adjacent). With time, the map can change significantly, bringing various provinces closer together or farther away from each other than on the original map.
  • Rules (at the variantbank.org variant archive)
  • Maps: Any

Sengoku (Benjamin Hester)
This eight-player variant takes place starting in 1570 on a map of Japan. Standard rules apply with minor changes regarding geographic locations and victory conditions.

SFRJ Diplomacy (Aleksandar Bradaric, Milos Eric, Marko Herman)
SFRJ recreates fall of Yugoslav federation in 1990s. Great powers are ex-member states of Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY or SFRJ) - Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia, Montenegro and Macedonia. Each power starts with one army in it's capital city. Building is allowed in any vacant SC.

Shell-Shock Diplomacy (Stephen Agar)
This variant can be played on a variety of maps. The variant brings the concept of troop morale into the game of Diplomacy. Morale points are allocated to each unit based on what units do and what happens to them on a given turn, and a unit's morale determines how they play in the following turn.
  • Rules (at the variantbank.org variant archive)
  • Maps: Any

Shift Variants (Shift-left, Shift-right, and Shift-Around) (Josh Smith)
Three similar variants in which each power's units start out in a different power's home supply centers. Powers must reach and retake their own home supply centers before they can start building new units. The variants use the standard map and rules.

Song of the Night (Lew Pulsipher)
This variant takes place during the era of expansion in the world of Elric of Melnibone, a book by Michael Moorcock. Starting positions are provided to allow play with anything from two to seven players. The game includes many new rules (including three types of units, other pieces, spell-casting, and more) leading to a relatively complex variant, though not all the new rules need necessarily be used.
  • Rules (at the variantbank.org variant archive)
  • Maps: [ gif ]

South America (Erlend Janbu)
This variant (version 3.2 for 4 players, version 5.1 for 5 players) takes place in Modern South America, not based on any particular conflict. Standard Diplomacy rules apply.

South American Supremacy (Benjamin Hester)
This eight-player variant takes place starting in 1835 on a map of South America. Standard rules apply with minor changes regarding geographic locations and a few navigable rivers.

South_East_Asia_3 (Andrew Reddaway)
This seven-power variant takes place on a map that covers South-east Asia from Burma to Papua New Guinea and from southern China to central Australia. The historical premise of the game is that instability broke out in South-east Asia in 1997, leading to a grab for resources.

Spy Diplomacy (Jim Burgess)
This variant can be played with a variety of maps. With this variant, players only see the adjudications for their own units and "see" their own section of the map. The game includes an additional type of unit called a spy, which can move and report status of the province it resides in and adjacent provinces. Standard Diplomacy rules apply, plus rules that concern the spies.
  • Rules (at the Gentle Art of Making Enemies zine)
  • Maps: Any

Stab! (Andy Evans)
This variant can be played with a variety of maps. The standard Diplomacy rules apply with the exception that unit types for initial builds are not specified. In this variant results of moves are not reported to players except under certain circumstances (such as failed moves, dislodgements, orders which are necessary to justify a failed move or dislodgement, etc.). Since knowledge about orders is limited, so is knowledge about locations of other powers' units.
  • Rules (at the variantbank.org variant archive)
  • Maps: Any

Star Trek Diplomacy Stephen Agar
An 8-player variant that takes place on a map that changes with time and contains a wormhole. Other than the changing map, the rules are close to standard.
  • Rules (at the variantbank.org variant archive)
  • Maps: [ gif ]

Stonehenge Diplomacy II (Michael Lee)
This is a ten-player variant that takes place on a map that includes what is now the United Kingdom, and the surrounding coastal regions from Scandinavia down to France. Slightly modified standard rules apply, with modifications governing the movement into and out of Island provinces.
  • Rules (at the variantbank.org variant archive)
  • Maps: [ gif ]

Survive Diplomacy (Brendan McClure)
This variant can be played with a variety of maps. In this variant, the players vote out another player every two years, using their number of SCs as their number of votes. A voted out player NMRs the rest of the game. The master is required to add up the votes and submit orders for the NMRing players.

Taskdip (Andreas Kueck)
This variant can be played with seven or fewer players. Standard Diplomacy Rules apply, with additional rules that assign "tasks" to each of the powers. The victory conditions are modified to include fulfilment of a task as one way of winning.

Touch (Andy Schwarz)
This variant can be played with a variety of maps. The variant concerns communications between players, and otherwise the standard Diplomacy rules apply. Players are allowed to communicate privately only with players that they are adjacent to on the map. Otherwise, communication takes the form of brief public or broadcast press, published simultaneously for all players and which all players can read.

Troubleshooter (Der Garvey)
An economic variant that can be combined with other variants. In addition to the great powers, other players play "businessmen" who trade in currencies belonging to each of the powers. The businessmen try to maximize their holdings as currency exchange rates fluctuate based on changes in SC counts for the powers.
  • Rules (at the variantbank.org variant archive)
  • Maps: Any

The Twentieth Century (Michael Roberts)
This thirteen-player variant takes place on a map of the entire world around the 1930s. Standard Diplomacy rules apply, with a few minor modifications concerning the map.

Twilight Zone Diplomacy (Peter Berlin)
As implied by the name, this is an odd one. The seven players each design their own map subject to a set of restrictions (same number of provinces and province names as the standard map, as well as others). Pieces move as usual, although they may legitimately order any move allowed on any player's map, provided that player's map is correctly specified. Examples in the rules illustrate this somewhat confusing concept.

U-boat Diplomacy (Barry Evans)
This variant can be used with any map, and adds the concept of u-boats (submarines) to the game of Diplomacy. Standard rules apply, with modifications regarding the u-boat units. U-boats are visible when they occupy coastal provinces or when they are involved with a conflict with another unit. They can also fire torpedos.
  • Rules (at the variantbank.org variant archive)
  • Maps: Any

UN Diplomacy
A variant played on the normal map where UN (semi-neutral) units can be used through "Security Council" voting. The rules are currently only available in German.

V8 (Clay Snyder)
This is an eight-player variant for the standard map, with new supply centers introduced (in Bohemia, Livonia, Ireland, Iceland, and North Africa), removed (Portugal is no longer an SC), and changed in ownership (St. Petersburg is owned by the new power, Scandinavia).

Vain Rats II (Richard Sharp, Keith Loveys and Des Langford)
This variant can be played with a variety of maps. Each player is given two special abilities that affect play in different ways. Examples include "Extra Petrol" which allows one unit each season to move an extra space, and "King" which allows one unit each season to be designated as having double strength. Aside from these abilities, standard Diplomacy rules apply.
  • Rules (at the Box Frenzy zine)
  • Maps: Any

Vain Star (Andy Bate, Ned Eccles, Graeme Foster, Des Langford, Bruce Maclean, and Tom Walker)
This variant can be combined with other variants. The rules define twelve special powers, such as "Evil Eye," "Pirate," and "Teleport". Each player can use each of the special powers once during the game; only one power can be used per season by a player.
  • Rules (at the variantbank.org variant archive)
  • Maps: Any

Versailles (Martin Kennedy)
A seven-player variant set in 1929, in which each player plays a major power as well as a minor power. The interplay between the major and minor powers adds a new dimension to the dynamics of the game.

Void (Mario Huys)
This variant is played by 36 players, each of whom starts with a single unit positioned in one of the non-supply center spaces on the standard map which are adjacent to two or more supply center spaces. The game begins in Fall of 1900, and all supply centers are initially unowned.

Vote (Steve Doubleday)
This variant is designed for a large number of players, divided into seven teams with a captain, each representing one of the great powers. The rules are written for a specific group of players but can easily be adapted to any group. Units are ordered based on the result of a voting system.

Wall of Ice (David E. Cohen)
Wall of Ice is a Diplomacy variant played on an (initially) standard map. Ice spreads from the north, making the seas impassable and destroying supply centres. By 1911 there are only two supply centres left. The occupant (if any) of these supply centres in winter 1911 is the winner; or if they have occupants from different nations, these nations share a two-way draw.

War in Bosnia (Stephen Agar)
A seven-player variant played with no fleets, that takes place in the 1990s on a new map. The game uses modifed rules that include modern-day concepts such as air strikes, UN hostages, UN safe areas, and an arms embargo.
  • Rules (at the variantbank.org variant archive)
  • Maps: [ gif ]

War in North America (Will Nesbitt)
This six-player variant is a semi-historical variant that takes place in North Americal in 1861. Standard rules apply with a few minor modifications.

War in the Americas (Macario Reyes) Links temporarily down while Diplored web site changes ISP
This ten-player variant takes place on a map of the Americas (North, Central and South America). Standard rules apply except that powers can build on any supply center they own.

War of Europe
This variant is played on the standard map. Players are allowed to conduct negotiations before the initial builds. Neutral supply centers are garrisoned with units. Each turn, players may submit orders for neutral units, which will follow the most popular order if there is one.

Woolworth II-D (Glenn Overby and Fred C. Davis, Jr.)
A five-player variant in which each player controls two powers, one of which is known to everyone and a second which is not. The game uses a modified standard map that includes several new provinces. Standard Diplomacy rules apply.

World Diplomacy (David Caldwell)
A 31-player variant that takes place on a map of the entire world which is "spherical" (i.e. it has no ends). Standard Diplomacy rules apply, plus a few rules concerning movement through special territories and waterways on the map.

World Diplomacy (David Norman)
A 17-player variant that takes place on a globe (i.e. the map of the world is "spherical" and has no ends). Standard Diplomacy rules apply.

World War I Diplomacy (John Boardman)
A two-player variant that that takes place on the standard map, based in the period of World War I. The game uses slightly modified standard rules.

Wraparound (James Millington and Robert Schone)
A seven-player variant that takes place on a standard-like map but which is topologically altered so that it has no ends. The Northern and Southern ends of the map are connected, as are the Eastern and Western ends, and a few other minor modifications are made. Standard Diplomacy rules apply.

Young Kingdoms II (Stephen Agar, Kedge Neuman and Rob Nott)
The Young Kingdom variants take place in the world of Elric of Melnibone, a book by Michael Moorcock, using new maps. Young Kingdoms II is a seven-player variant which uses modified rules that include a couple of new types of units and special locations.

Youngstown (Rod Walker, and others for later versions)
A ten-player variant that takes place on an extended map that covers Northern Africa and Asia in addition to Europe. Standard Diplomacy rules apply, plus special rules that describe "Off Board Boxes" that connect the Eastern and Western ends of the maps, meaning that you can move West from the Atlantic to reach the Far East, and vice-versa.

Zeus IV (Chris Northcott)
This variant starts in 1939 and takes place on a modified map that covers a larger area than the standard map. Standard Diplomacy rules apply.
  • Rules (at the variantbank.org variant archive)
  • Maps: [ gif ]
Back to top