About The Diplomatic Pouch

Welcome to another exciting issue of the Zine. I'm especially proud of this issue for a number of reasons. Looking back, it's been three years since the last Spring Retreat issue (S1999R). Even more amazing is the fact that the S2002R issue comes only four weeks after the S2002M issue. After checking with Manus and the Zine logs -- this is the first time two issues have been published in one month!

Does this mean the S2002R issue will be short on reading material? Absolutely not! In fact, this issue is packed with more articles than the previous! Did I mention, that's two issues in the same month? You can expect to see this same level of commitment for many more seasons to come. Keep those notes and articles coming in because the Zine is back!!!

Real Life

So, who is this new editor guy anyway? Edward Hawthorne, who? Is he a Brit?  A Canadian?  European?  Australian?  American? Perhaps this is better left unanswered but clues abound throughout this issue. Future issues may reveal a definitive answer, aye?

What can I share with you now? Well, like so many others, I'm just an average player looking for new openings, interesting variants, tournament news, and great articles. A friend pointed me towards The Pouch and diplomed me to join a game on the judges. I joined my first pbem game in 1999 (or was it '98?) and instantly became hooked. A few weeks later, I joined a variant and later a local Diplomacy Club in its infancy stage.

Although I had corresponded with Manus several times in the past, I didn't have the privilege of meeting him face-to-face until this year. (I still have his knife handle sticking out of my back. People tell me the initials, "M.H." are carved in the handle but I can't turn my head enough to see them.) While we didn't discuss the Zine, I had let Manus know I was interested in helping out with The Pouch. You could say I diplomed Manus through a proxy, Matt Shields. Not bad, aye? Still, there's no reason to celebrate because I'm left wondering, who really got diplomed?

Many thanks to the Pouch readers, DP Council and Manus, for the overwhelming support of my new assignment. The positive comments are greatly appreciated.

Announcements

Historically speaking, changes at The Pouch seem to occur most frequently during the Winter and Spring phases. This Spring was no different. Manus formally (and painfully) stepped aside to name a new permanent editor to the Zine. Only a few weeks after the S2002M issue was released, an old DP Council member was reaffirmed while a new member was added.

Jim Burgess (burgess@TheWorld.com) has been part of the Council for quite some time, assisting Stephen Agar with the Postal section and doing the TAP pages before that. Stephen has since taken on other initiatives for the hobby (some time ago) while Jim has quietly and faithfully worked behind the scenes at The Pouch and now maintains the Postal section all by his lonesome.

In addition, Jim-Bob is of course Chairman of the Hobby Awards Committee. In fact, the 2002 Hobby Awards Ballot is officially posted! You may recall, our very own Manus has one of the Hobby Awards -- the 1996 Don Miller Award -- to his credit, as he detailed back in the W1996A issue. Please take a moment to review this year's canidates and cast your vote.

Millis Miller (millis@diplom.org) has been appointed by Manus as "Handler of incoming mail and maintainer of all interactive parts of The Pouch which includes the game queues, the hobby registry, the judge registration page, the FTF clubs and informal gatherings listings, etc."

Trust me, this man has been busy. The Games Queue has been modified to include another variant, Broadcast only, as well as updates to the latest active judges (special thanks to Greg Greenman for assisting). In addition, 1900 has been added to the USTV judge. Millis also contributed an article, "What is njudge?" to the current Zine issue. And if that's not enough, he's sorted and routed over 150 emails in the Pouch mailbox! All of this in just a few weeks. Does this guy sleep?

What's New on The Zine?

In a single word, layout. It's subtle but there has been a change. The horizontal lines are crisp and the margin space in each article has been increased while justified lines of text are the rule, not the exception. This essentially adds more whitespace to each page making the author's work more appealing and easier to read. The drawback is slightly longer-looking articles or possibly another sheet of paper if you're printing.

Compare for yourself and you'll agree with Manus that the change is a good one.

S2002R Overview:

Congratulations to the 2002 World Champion, Rob Stephenson. As promised in the last issue, many people have worked hard to deliver several WDC articles for your reading pleasure. Look for the keyword "WDC2002" in the article's short description on the S2002R front page. Additional tournament articles (not just WDC) will be featured in future issues.

Please don't confuse Rob with Morgan Gurley (as if anyone would). Morgan diplomed against hoards of backstabbers at this year's DixieCon, to earn the title, "North American Champion!" Other tournament results are featured in Matt Shields' Box Scores.

What else is featured in this issue? Just about everything under the Hasbro box. There are continued R/T (and anti-R/T) discussions in the Pouch Deposits, another manifesto, an article on the play of a power in a variant, some stumping for a variant, words on the design of a variant, book reviews, an article on judge evolution, one on the evolution of the North American Grand Prix, some points of etiquette, the lowdown on some important stalemate lines, an ultimate survival saga, and much, much more.

And of course, with Manus having taken Zine editing off his plate, he seems to have replaced it with writing (as he hoped and promised -- or should that be "threatened?" -- he would), because Sherlock Holmes pays two more visits to the Calhamer Club this issue with hints for last issue's mystery and a new puzzle for Dr. Watson, based on the premise of a false starting game.

Speaking of starting, I'll get out of your way and let you do just that.
 

Enjoy The Pouch,
-Edward Hawthorne-
Zine Editor
(edward@diplom.org)