DIPCON XI

By Rod Walker

From Diplomacy World #20

(Transcribed by Marvelous Melinda Holley)

While new rules adopted at DipCon X in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, the annual Diplomacy Convention (DipCon) must be rotated through three regions of North America:  East, Central and West.  The Eleventh DipCon was to be held in the western region, and so wound up being held in conjunction with GLASC-II (Greater Los Angeles Simulations Convention) in the suburb of Northridge.

There is always a problem with Cons in the west in that they are very sparsely attended by people who aren�t local.  This year was no exception.  We had only two persons from the eastern region, Bob Lipton of New York and Andy Cook of Virginia.  We had only two from the central region, Walt Buchanan of Indiana and Jack Powers of Ohio.  (Well, Walt�s son Bill was with him, so I guess that makes 3.)  There were a few from Arizona, Nevada and northern California.  And that was it, gore fans; everybody else was from no further away than San Diego, 125 miles.

Now I�ll admit that some of the blame for this falls on the Con�s administration.  There was very little advance publicity, and it was much too late.  The information that did get out was quite good � concise and exactly what was needed.  But, alas, many people had made other plans long before.

This failing was complicated by things not the management�s fault.  The Con�s dates had to be changed; severe flooding in the area caused all events on the campus they used to be moved up a week.  Furthermore, Origina/MichiCon in Detroit was only two weeks later, and probably drew off a good many people who might otherwise have come west.

The Convention itself was not bad at all.  It seemed well attended and well organized.  George Phillies, Russell Fox and others of the staff whom I met were entirely friendly and as helpful as possible.  On the other hand, the Diplomacy tournament left much to be desired.  The Con was not able to provide personnel to act as Assistant Gamesmasters, nor were they able to obtain timers or Diplomacy sets.  Russell Fox had to leave for Chicago Friday night, so � guess who had to run the tournament almost single-handed?

Fortunately, things went pretty smoothly.  For one thing, Walt Buchanan and Bob Lipson allowed themselves to be commandeered as assistants, and I can�t thank them enough for their help.  Secondly, the players themselves were enormously cooperative and understanding.  I want to thank them all: the wonderful 70 people who were in the tournament, who stood around while I got things set up, who lent their Diplomacy sets, who acted as timers and assistant GMs for the various tables.  Without their active help, the tournament would have been absolute chaos.

The Tournament operated under the scoring rules I proposed last issue.  49 players showed up for Rounds I and II (although not the same 49 in each round), so we had seven boards.  There were three boards in Round III.  The final standings after all rounds show the top seven (all home towns in California unless otherwise noted):

Place                            Points                       Name & Home

1                                  68                             David Lagerson, Canoga Park

2                                  62                             Jim Bumpas, Los Altos

3                                  53.5                          Doug Beyerlein, Menlo Park

4                                  51                             Michael Foster, Quartz Hill

5                                  42.5                          Mike Udell, Granada Hills

6                                  28                             Tom Mirti, Los Angeles

7 (tie)                           22                             Vic Carpenter, Gilbert AZ

7 (tie)                           22                             Davd Kadlecek, Crockett

GLASC offered a trophy for first place and prizes for the first three places.  In addition, Bob Lipton offered a subscription to his MIXU-MAXU GAZETTE which went to the 4^th place player.

Saturday night saw three events.  There was a panel and audience discussion on the future of the Diplomacy hobby.  The panelists were Doug Beyerlein, Walt Buchanan, Bob Lipson and myself.  We ranged over a broad spectrum of topics, including the growth of the hobby, the neglect by the hobby of face-to-face players, the decline in creativity (particularly literary creativity) in the hobby, the role of DIPLOMACY WORLD, and so on.  Many excellent ideas and comments came from the panel and from members of the audience.

This was followed by the General Meeting of the International Diplomacy Association.  This is the traditional focal point of DipCon.  All Diplomacy players at the Con are encouraged to attend this event since it is less an actual business meeting and more a �town meeting�.  This time it was ably chaired by IDA President Bob Hartwig.  He and other IDA officers provided information on what the IDA is doing and received a good deal of advice and commentary from those present.

At the conclusion of the IDA meeting, all those present voted to convent the DipCon Site Selection Committee, and asked Bob Hartwig to continue as Chairman.  The Committee, by its current charter passed in 1977, consists of any Diplomacy player at the current Convention who wishes to attend the meeting.  It selects the site for the next DipCon, which under the charter must be in the Eastern Region next year.  The Committee voted to hold the next DipCon in conjunction with the Origins convention if possible, and as Origins �79 has now been set for Philadelphia, that�s where DipCon goes.

On the whole, the DipCon was a success, if it had its rough spots.  I for one am looking forward to a particularly good Con next year back east.