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The Carolina Amateur Diplomats began as a local Charlotte-area
Diplomacy club in 1984. A group of friends at Independence High School played Risk on a regular basis, but tired of the luck
element of the game. One of the original CADs, Frank Tate, remembered some game his father had taught him called Diplomacy.
After ransacking the Tate house to look for it, to no avail, David Hood and Michael Lowrey went in half-and-half on a stars
and anchors set of Diplomacy from a local game store.
For more than two years after that, a group of about 40 gamers
in all played Diplomacy in Charlotte and at UNC-Chapel Hill on about a weekly basis. CAD stats cat Michael Lowrey devised
a scoring system and kept records of over 100 games played during that time. CADs gained tremendous experience and face-to-face
acumen during this period, and in 1986 discovered the wider hobby.
After attending Dipcon 1986 at Marycon in Fredricksburg,
VA, the CADs began Dixiecon and focused much of their efforts in preparing for and putting on this tournament. CADs also
won Dipcon in 1987 (Madison, WI) and in 1988 (San Antonio, TX) to begin to make themselves known on the national scene.
With
the hosting of Dipcon/World Dipcon in its first North American appearance in 1990, the CADs became well-known throughout the
Diplomacy world. Several CADs published their own play-by-mail zines, and participated in both PBM and tournament games in
large numbers. CADs won other tournaments in the east, from Baltimore to Charlottesville to Columbus. Although most of the
original CADs have moved away from either gaming or the state, Dixiecon stands as a seemingly-permanent testiment to the early
days of FTF focus for Diplomacy in North Carolina.
If you play Diplomacy and you live in the Carolinas somewhere, you
too can be a Carolina Amateur Diplomat! There is no form, fee or frippery in becoming a CAD. You should just email David
Hood at gamerhood@charter.net to get hooked in for announcements and pickup game formation.
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