#DiplomacyByX AAR 7/12/25
Lessons from Braunstein's Origins
Introduction
I have written this blog primarily from the point of view of a Braunstein referee. However, the #BROmerican Tournament is supposed to test a player’s ability at writing AAR’s and to help them grow from their playing experiences. Unfortunately, the last time I played D&D as a player was when Chanticleer was still around (!!!), my ongoing family campaign is on indefinite suspension, and my work and family schedule prohibits me from jumping into most open games run by Bros. I was able to use #Piratestein for my qualifier entry, and unfortunately the well of games is running dry!
Fortunately, there IS a game I have been playing for a few months now: #DiplomacyByX, put on by Alchemic Raker as referee. I was lucky to be one of the first to show interest in the project when Alchemic Raker floated the idea of running the board game on X and secured my position. I was familiar with the game’s premise and had dabbled in online play, but while it seemed like a cool idea when I was much younger to have to negotiate with other players (it’s obvious to see the inspiration for Braunstein), it never help my interest and I always flaked. I knew that I had to play this game differently if I wanted it to be worth my time playing. I was going to treat #DiplomacyByX as the Braunstein it needs to be.
Diplomacy’s main mechanic that causes the game to work is that there are no tactics or strategies: Armies that fail to have a numerical advantage in a fight will be bounced back. Invasions that meet equal forces in defense will deadlock and stall out, meaning you are stuck. You cannot win Diplomacy by playing alone. You NEED to have the support of other players in order to get the other hand. The idea is that you balance their support while also making sure you are always in a position to outgain them, possibly by backstabbing them and turning on former allies when they don’t expect it (it’s obvious to see the inspiration for Braunstein).
In full disclosure, #DiplomacyByX is not yet concluded, but the board is mostly settled. It could finish tomorrow, or it could last another 3 weeks (God forbid). But on the whole, the vast majority of the action has concluded, and the game has revealed the power of role playing. Diplomacy is a board game, not a role playing game, however you assume the roles of a country. Diplomacy is at its core not a very good game. It is boring, incredibly easy to lose interest in, and overly simplistic. It may be cool to play in person with your friends, but you are always limited by what you can do in the game. 100% of the game’s activity is “move meeple across map.” So how do you fix Diplomacy? You fix it by turning it into the role playing game it was always meant to be.
Taking the Throne
When the game began, I was given the French nation to command in the year 1901. I knew that my first action, taken from my experience with Braunstein, was to create a faction leader. I took this opportunity to turn back the clock on the French Revolution once and for all, and I started to study the deep esoteric history of the French Third Republic. I decided to end Republicanism under a Bourbon restoration, elevating this man to the French throne. A post was made to X with the tag #DiplomacyByX, as encouraged by Alchemic Raker.
The Importance of the Hashtag
Many people have spoken about the excitement around the legendary #BrOSR crossover event #BROvenloft. Countless people were exposed to Bro ideas by seeing people post about these games on Twitter. It was about generating excitement and energy, as the energy fueled interest and activity. This created a POSITIVE FEEDBACK LOOP as the game benefits from harnessing the UNLIMITED FREE ENERGY OF THE INTERNET. #DiplomacyByX was the way to follow the events of our game. I used it myself to see what my adversaries were up to. One of the coolest moments of the game for me was knowing that OTHER PEOPLE were looking up our hashtags to follow our game.
Thus, Charles de Bourbon became the King of France. Immediately I sent a missive out to my fellow monarchs, encouraging them to throw off the yokes of democracy. England suggested a tripartite alliance between France, England, and Germany, however I demanded that the alliance could only take place if everyone shed their constitutional monarchies in exchange for absolutism.
I succeeded, and an alliance was forged until 1904. England, France, and Germany decided to divide up the neutral territories around themselves, and I was free to move into Spain, Belgium, and be poised to go into Italy, the only nation to not end their constitutional monarchy.
Goals
Important to every good Braunstein are faction goals. I decided that my goals in #DiplomacyByX would be to end Republicanism in Europe, reestablish the Papal States by capturing Rome, and unite all lands once held by the House of Bourbon. During the course of the game I picked up another goal: Mend the schism between the Latin and Eastern churches. Late term goals consisted primarily of retaking Constantinople and a crusade for Jerusalem. In Diplomacy, you ACTUALLY win by capturing 18 supply centers, which is roughly more than half the map. While I wanted to win the game, I gave myself this personal set of goals in order to stay engaged.
Things went according to plan up until I stalled out in Italy. I did not have the manpower from coordinating with another faction, as England had not yet arrived in the Mediterranean Sea, and Austria instead of being the other half of my pincer attack, decided to invade Germany.
Germany had at the same time attacked Russia. This led to the dissolution of our alliance, as England came to Russia’s aid due to familial ties between the English and Russian royal families.
Real World Impact
Around this point in the game, something odd began to happen. The conversations and actions we were having and doing in the game started to bleed into real life. #DiplomacyByX started to predict the future, including the death of Pope Francis.
I tried to push through a Christmas Armistice and get every nation to do a HOLD order for every unit. Only Italy and myself participated, to my national disgrace and eventual ruin
While my armies were engaging in a peace mission, England’s fleets moved into one of my supply centers. I was at this point incredibly overleveraged and out of position to respond to England. While I COULD have negotiated a peaceful return of the supply center in about two years, instead I decided to be absolutely stark raving angry about it.
I became to furious that I decided to put an additional order into my submission for Alchemic Raker: I am going to try to assassinate the King of England. He took it 100% seriously. This is the post that followed.
Off the Rails Roleplaying
I was not expecting this when I sent the order! I successfully killed King George of England, but my involvement in the plot was revealed. Alchemic Raker apologized if this would have negative consequences on my game. In Diplomacy, it wouldn’t, because this should have no effect on the game. However, in #DiplomacyByX, this is the entire game. Relations between France and England collapsed immediately and open hostilities began between us.
At this time, the game was coalescing around three powers: England, Russia, and Austria. We had three central parties, however, who could make a play when working together: France, Italy, and Germany. I had made peace with Italy after they were the only country to engage in the Christmas Armistice. This three way alliance was the perfect time to reveal the next stage in the roleplay: The New Holy Roman Empire.
The idea was a meme coalition where we can agree on who will make decisions for all countries each year. I began as the first New Holy Roman Emperor, and we were going to make a play to recapture Spain from England by using Italy’s navy. Unfortunately, it was here that I learned that the King of Italy’s army was absolutely incompetent and could not provide any support due to MULTIPLE TURNS OF BUNGLED ORDERS. England was unaffected, and the New Holy Roman Empire would be dissolved as fast as it had formed. I started to see the writing on the wall. While I had largely accomplished my personal goals, it was obvious that I was not going to win #DiplomacyByX. So why am I even playing the game? What else can be done?
After a bit more chatter between myself and England, this happened.
England (stylized as King Haakon of Norway) accepted my duel. We decided to use Boot Hill 2e to resolve it, and we would do so on the timeline. We took turns making posts corresponding to each turn of Boot Hill combat. Charles of France quickly took some hits, making me question my decision to duel in the first place. However, a couple of lucky rolls my way led to a much closer and dramatic fight. Unfortunately, Emperor Charles was shot dead by King Haakon in the streets of Paris, as our armies stood off unable to move in. I had shot out Haakon’s eye, but he recovered. I had a huge lingering question. Now what?
Subsystems in Games
AD&D is a game full of minigames. Over the course of play, action will be broken up as you are taken through a series of rolls to determine things like gem size and value, dungeon contents, terrain mapping, etc. Even something like psionics is a subsystem that makes the game more interesting, even if not everyone ends up getting to use it. King George’s assassination and Charles’ death in the duel both occurred in a space outside of the Diplomacy board. They had no measurable effect on the game. No army was forced to move or was destroyed because of these moments. Simultaneously, these moments changed how I PLAYED the game and how my opponents did, as well. When you are designing a game, keep in mind that minigames and subsystems can be fun little distractions when times get slower.
The next set of circumstances was brought before me. While we celebrated the “election” of Pope St. Pius X in game, that was entirely just a date that came and went. What happens when we further destroy the timeline?
So much for the New Holy Roman Empire. This was in direct opposition to my goals of providing a safe haven for the Papacy. It was clear what had to be done. Italy must fall. I had patched relations with England already, and we formed our own coalition. Haakon after his duel actually converted England (and Norway) to Catholicism, so we began to work together to defeat Italy. Austria’s election of an anti-pope solidified the direction for the next roleplay.
I decided to launch what would be known as the Braunstein Conclave, or more colloquially as #Popestein.
This was to be a game-within-a-game. Again, the outcome would have no mechanical effect on the game. Every leader would be invited to send their “Cardinals” to the Conclave. We gave each player one vote for every territory (not supply center) they had most recently controlled. Russia and England had by far the most electors, but a 2/3rds majority would be needed.
Players could arrive as representing the Catholic Cardinals of their lands, or in the case of Russia they could represent an ecumenical mission. After several rounds of inconclusive voting with candidates rising and falling, on the final day a simple majority would be enough to win. It was at this time that I was able to negotiate that my own Cardinal candidate would win the election and become Pope Pius XI.
The main result of the Braunstein Conclave was a cooperation between Russia, England, and France to mend the schism. I had a long private negotiation where it was worked out what terms would be needed to become one united church again.
(I have no idea what happened here, I was simply told this happened. I believe it was an Austrian plot to end the Conclave so he could keep his anti-pope.)
After the resolution of the Braunstein Conclave, I had one final score to settle.
The Italian must pay for his crime.
With England’s help and Austria’s opportunism, I was able to march my army into Rome and then Naples, restoring the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies to Bourbon rule once again, and providing true freedom for the Pope.
I had one final card up my sleeve.
I held off on concluding the Ecumenical Council of Paris because I wanted to use it as the means by which we end the game. In Diplomacy, you can agree to a draw with other nations to end the game early. Now that there are no more Protestant nations (Germany also converted), the Ottoman Empire has fallen, and the schism has been mended, we have accomplished religious tranquility in Europe. Now would be the time to bring peace to Europe’s fighting men. England and Russia were comparable large power on either side of Europe. Germany was down to one supply center. France was back to where it began. Austria was quickly losing ground to Russia.
The fact of the matter was that two sides would inevitably become deadlocked: England vs Russia. While the game is still going on, NOBODY WILL REACH 18 SUPPLY CENTERS. By far the most satisfying end to the game will be through a collective draw, knowing that there is unity with the results of the Council of Paris being made public.
Takeaways
Here are some rapid fire takeaways
Diplomacy by itself is NOT a fun game to play
In a play-by-post game you need to thread the needle in giving people time to stew over ideas and negotiate, but you can NOT let the game get stale. 1 week per turn is the MAXIMUM I would recommend.
Subsystems and games-within-the-game have a place in any role playing game. They keep things fresh and let people play their best.
Meme energy is real. Posting online about your games with your friends is only going to make people interested in your games and make you more engaged. We need to do that more often.
Role playing is key. Diplomacy BECAME A FUN GAME when I opened the door for role play to be the primary vehicle for the game. I am proud to say that I led the way in #DiplomacyByX by encouraging others to role play as hard as I was. Understand your character and their role. Come up with a list of goals. Align your actions to your goals. Play incredible games.
This is a good report. It covers all the major events of the game as i recall it. Probably could have talked about Germany more.