Damn 
Hey, Shibb. If you get a group together and GM I’ll advise and backstop you.
How’s that?
I’ve got 4 emails, everyone who is interested should contact me. And in this case please include your SD nickname and your level of experince. Standard practice has been to treat an email contact as the official volunteering move since people tend to post to threads and then disappear or forget.
I think everyone who is interested should email me, if we have enough players stepping up to get two games going I’ll group the second set and pass it off to Dave or Shibb, and I’ll get in and play along there.
I hope no one gives up thinking that there are no more slots, if you’re interested contact me and I’ll make sure you get into either the first newbie game or a second game.
I’m not going to do a straight first-come, first-serve policy here, I’ll group complete rookies into one game and those of you with one or more games experince in another if we get a second one going.
So far the confirmed are as follows.
Lockz (played once)
Mastema (rookie)
Mystery Emailer #1 (rookie)
Mystery Emailer #2 (unknown experince level)
If you’re one of the mystery emailers, shoot me another message and let me know who you are and where we stand from an experience standpoint. I’m going to give it a few days before I start grouping players in hopes that all comers are able to see the thread.
Dave & Shibb, does it work for you if I organize the players and pass you a second lot with my name included? I’ll let you guys decide who wants first crack at the GM title.
Oh. Heh. I’m Johnny_Diplomat. I thought it would be obvious.
Gotcha, the name on the email profile was something different, I didn’t check the email address. FYI, Mystery Emailer #2 is Johnny Bravo and is a rookie.
Omni, that would work fine for me. If the second game crowd is more experienced I could GM with JC and/or Dave as guides, and you could be a player in that one if it works out that way.
Email sent to Omni … never played before, but want to learn.
Shibb, that was actually what I ideally hoping would happen. One newbie game, and a second game with slightly more experince for me to play in and making it a little easier for you to GM if you were inclined.
I had offered to GM in flood’s thread, and that still goes, but if you want to GM one Shibb, that would be fine too.
GMing isn’t really that hard, once you have pulled out all your hair from the late and disappearing orders.
Omni, I just emailed you for the 2nd game.
I’m already ahead on that count. 
Count me in for one of the games as well.
I can’t email you at the moment, but consider this an “official” entry.
I’ll call myself intermediate.
Trigonal Planar, email me when you can at the linked address, please.
Here’s an update on the contestants:
Likely Game #1 roster
Mastema (rookie)
Johnny Bravo (rookie)
Erika (rookie)
Mystery Emailer #1 (rookie)
Flood (rookie)
Likely Game #2 roster
Lockz (played once)
Scuba_Ben (played a couple times)
Lemur866 (played 3 times)
Royal Nonesuch (played in -GRY)
Trigonal Planar (intermediate)
Omniscient (yours truly, played enough)
Still trying to figure out who Mystery Mailer #1 is. These line ups aren’t concrete yet, and if I am unable to get into touch with someone when I start assigning countries they might need to be replaced, so please email me if you’re interested regardless.
Trigonal Planar, email me when you can at the linked address, please.
Here’s an update on the contestants:
Likely Game #1 roster
Mastema (rookie)
Johnny Bravo (rookie)
Erika (rookie)
Mystery Emailer #1 (rookie)
Flood (rookie)
Likely Game #2 roster
Lockz (played once)
Scuba_Ben (played a couple times)
Lemur866 (played 3 times)
Royal Nonesuch (played in -GRY)
Trigonal Planar (intermediate)
Omniscient (yours truly, played enough)
Still trying to figure out who Mystery Mailer #1 is. These line ups aren’t concrete yet, and if I am unable to get into touch with someone when I start assigning countries they might need to be replaced, so please email me if you’re interested regardless.
Oh, my e-mail doesn’t seem to have arrived
I’m not Mystery Mailer #1, so I guess I’ll have to try again. Darn my laptop and its screwed-up net access.
When is this game likely to start?
I’d be happy to play in Game#2 as well, although I certainly wouldn’t be any sort of challenge.
Just another update, I’ve gotten two more messages from interested players.
Whack-a-Mole (barely not a rookie)
Einmon (rookie)
Still looking for an identity for mystery mailer #1. This gets us to 7 players for the newbie game assuming that our secret player speaks up before too long. I’m still taking interested parties, so please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Mastema, I’m planning on leaving the invite out there until at least tomorrow, probably Saturday. Then I’m going to get in touch with everyone for confirmation and country preferences with hopes of having the roster lined up by Monday. I’m not going to rush things, but if everything moves quickly thats the earliest it’ll start.
Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that I was getting impatient, I’m just trying to plan my weekend.
Another piece of information that will assuage your concerns:
After countries are assigned, you are normally given a pretty decent amount of time to do your initial diplomacy, eg, email the other countries and work out what you’ll do and with whom. This might be a week, give or take, for example, in a normal game. So I think you’ll be fine doing whatever you want this weekend. The weather is supposed to be beautiful this weekend, so I’d suggest the pool or a Reds game (are they still in town?) or something.