Greetings and welcome to the wonderful world of postal Diplomacy or "Dipdom" as some of us call it. The job of this Web Site is to introduce you to the hobby and provide you with the basic information you need to get started. It is not intended to compete with the thriving Internet Diplomacy community, but rather to serve as a gateway between the "e-mail" and "snail mail" hobbies. As most of you who are reading this are probably familiar with the e-mail hobby, I will point my efforts on these pages to providing an overview of the postal hobby.
Dipdom is a unique coalition of amateur publications known as "zines"" (short for "magazine"). Zines range in price from 50 cents to a dollar with a few going over the one dollar mark. These prices (called subscription fees) are usually payable in 10-12 issue amounts. Generally these zines are published every month or two. It's always advisable to request a sample first, usually for a stamp or two, to see if that zine is your cup of tea before jumping in head first.
The Avalon Hill version of Diplomacy is not the only one played in the hobby. There are a multitude of games based on the Regular Diplomacy rules, but having either some new rules, a new map or any combination therof. These are called variants and many are quite popular. These are for people who like to experiment with different games while retaining the general rules and the diplomatic mindset; that is, a multi-player arena of diplomatic chicanery.
Since John Boardman founded the PBM (Play By Mail) hobby back in 1963, there has been a need for Hobby Services. Services are just that - services provided by individuals, similar to yourself, for the benefit of other hobbyists.
As well as variants, postal Diplomacy zines run all kinds of other games. These are nearly endless, but there is usually a great deal of interest in railroad games (Railway Rivals, 1830, etc) and sports games (Baseball Rotisserie leagues, United Soccer leagues, etc). If you look, you might find other games which are being run postally which may interest you.
The Canadian Diplomacy Organization maintains Kanuck Game Openings, a listing of all game openings in Canadian zines. Should you wish to join a game, simply write to the publisher and ask for a sample of his zine (a few stamps or a SASE is considered good form). Once you see if you like the zine, send in some sub money and whatever gamefee is required. It is suggested that you get samples of a number of zines so that you have a basis for comparison.