maybe there can be made a variant here with that map, than we can try...
if someone is good in making those maps and things and issue the moves on the computer someone can do that and we can make a forum-game of it...

please reply someone, if you people have a reason why this is impossible or something tell me...

I know a lot of diplomacy players who should play risk instead...

i think it is worth it to buy the actual board game and play by the variants that they have which allow for fewer than 7 people; also, i have played with the original board and fewer people while making certain areas off limits.

It's kind of like trying to make cookies in a cupcake tin. Sure, you can do it, but it's not at all recommended and will probably be disappointing on some level or another.

ok, i just wanted to know or it is possible but still with fun...
i'm still thinking about it because there are made other maps, also here, and what is teh difference if you try to get it on a risk-board??
does someone knows that??

You can certainly try to do it. But whether or not it would be worth playing depends on the balance. The Risk board is presumably balanced for the Risk rules and may not be well balanced for Diplomacy.

But a large part of that will depend on where you choose to put the starting countries, how many centers they each start with, and which territories will be supply centers and which willl not.

You might also want to check here: http://www.variantbank.org/
and here: http://diplom.org/Online/variants.html
to see if they already have what you are looking for.

Also note that balance doesn't necessarily mean that everyone is on equal footing. You could have one super power and a bunch of smaller powers and diplomacy will take care of balancing that out.

I think balance has more to do with whether it is too easy to stop anyone from winning or alternatively whether it is impossible to stop anyone once they reach a certain critical mass. Balance would be the possibility of soloing if the others mess up, but the possibility of stopping the solo by not messing up.

Check out the variant bank that Alderian mentioned. It's probably easier and more enjoyable to use an established and play-tested variant than to design a new one. It can be very tricky to design a balanced and playable variant.

If you are looking for a variant for fewer people, I would recommend Ancient Med for 5 players, or Sail-Ho for 4 players. You can find maps of those online and print those out to play on. Or you can just redraw those maps on several sheets of paper or cardboard. You can also improvise with the game pieces from Risk for the pieces.

If you really want to make a variant based on the risk board, you would need to introduce fleets in order for it to be proper diplomacy. That would also mean cutting up the oceans into sea territories. Based on what you were saying about the game getting stuck, it seems like you were implying that you would not use fleets/sea territories and only have the continents connected by the lines drawn on the Risk board. To do it properly, I think you should ignore those lines altogether (or only use them as borders between seas) and try to come up with some way to partition the oceans. There is a lot of work to be done with converting a Risk board into a diplomacy variant, even if you keep all of the land territories the same with the existing borders. You have to choose SCs, choose starting positions for powers, and the divide the oceans into sea territories. It could be quite difficult to make all these decisions and end up with a balanced playable game.

@HellAlt -RFLMAO !

ok, i will try sail-ho, and what is the best choice dor a 3-player map??

and with some sea-territory's and random placement, would that be better??
i'm trying it now...

I dunno how well-balanced it would be. I can tell you from my limited mapmaking experience that you'd need to be careful in your work... no room for haphazard design.

I loved playing RISK! with my friends in HS. If you play with standard rules, but incorporate a lot of diplomacy between turns, it can be very fun. In fact, I can only play RISK! with a certain group of friends, because I tend to get too intense and make people cry. :)

It you want it to be more Dip like, this is what I suggest. Play with normal rules, but have everyone move at the same time, like dip. Countries under attack must first defend and then can attack if they have units to. Not too complicates and after a few adjustments, it could be a lot of fun.

that is a good suggestion!!
thanks!!

@abge, what if 2 countries with 2 units each attack each other... what will we the order of resolution?

Well, you could do one of two things. Battles could still be determined by dice, or in that particular case, it would be a stand-off and nothing would happen.

Hmmm. My first reaction was hell no, different games. But I see one way you could think about it, still working it out so bear with me...

Eliminate dice and submit moves simultaneously, with diplomacy in between rounds. Only build after every other round, and build in the same way as normal Risk (except maybe only in predesignated build centers behind the front lines?).

Combat is resolved as in Diplomacy with regards to relative strength - as in you need one more "army's worth" of strength to take a territory (i.e. if I have 4 units in a territory, you need at least 8 units to dislodge), and if an "army" is forced to retreat it loses, oh I don't know, half of it's strength in the process? Any units ordered to attack cannot be counted in the defense of their territory unless they are attacking the territory from which the attack on their territory is launched... I see this potentially working out, with different "armies" having strength relative to the number of "units" (divisions?) stacked within... thoughts?

Ooooh what if you added two more seasons to take relative size of the world map into consideration, especially in regards to troop mobilization? I.E. Spring you can both attack and move troops, Summer you can move troops but not attack, Fall you can both attack and move troops, Winter you can move but not attack, and build at the end of the Winter... Or perhaps some other configuration like Spring and Summer both attack and move, Fall move only, Winter build only no moves at all? Interesting...

i would like to ask everybody to try hold the language simple, not everybody is english or good in english... i don't want to use a translator every time people use a difficult word :)
ok for so far :
turns: at the same time
seasons: 4 is the best i think, in the winter no moves or attacks and in the fall no attacks, but this is my opinion...
fleets: i don't know or this is forgotten or just to bad to call but maybe there has to stand a fleet on a line to move over the line...
dice: not needed, maybe for who is who...
placement (at the beginning): random at the moment, if someone can find a good scenario for a standard start say it...(no matter how many players, but 3 or 4 is most important to me...)
builds: every territory that is yours or only in SCs, i think only in SCs (your own of course...) is the best...

i know i forget 1 but no idea what... if someone knows...
and i've got a question too: when is something an attack??
if you only attack when you move to someone else his army you can move to enemy SCs, i think this should be a variant, that you can't move into enemy SCs in fall normally...

now we only need to have the starting situation (or if it is random how many SCs and armies you can have...) and the way to win and maybe the limit of armies, maybe that should be 10 or something...
and for the people who don't have diplomacy and don't know where to get SCs from: there are enough things you can use, i think i will go for villages from settlers from catan :)

if i forget something say...

now i know what i forgot: the amount of troops you can make, i think you can set 1 unit on every center you have...
and maybe the neutrals the same, it would make them strong but otherwise they are just too weak...

someone ideas??