Engle Matrix Game Rules ca.

2003
Matrix Games have been around since 1988 and have gone through many versions. Some people learn best my reading, others do better with pictures. In 2003 I made a cartoon version of the rules. These rules appeared at the beginning of a book which included several scenarios and maps. If you dont have such a book Im afraid you will have to make up your own game before you can play. Here is how to do that: Make a cast of twenty characters (write a one paragraph description of each character), get a location map, write a one page description of the situation (This is read at the start of the game to help players imagine what is about to happen.) Lastly write a short story opener. This scenario opener presents an interesting twist that the players will explore during play. Add in one six-sided die per player and figures or tokens to show where the characters are on the map and youre ready to play. Hamster Press = Engle Matrix Games 7251 West State Road 46 Ellettsville, Indiana 47429 hamster@io.com http://www.io.com/~hamster

Appendix One How to play an Engle Matrix Game

One player is the referee. This player hosts the game. The Scenario book includes maps or you can make your own. Some people use miniature figures to represent characters on the map. The referee introduces the players to the game. Try reading the first section of each game to the players. It will help set the mood.

The best way to learn to play an Engle Matrix Game is to play one. Since you are reading and not playing, the next best thing is to see one run in a cartoon. The following is a generic game.
Referee

Scenario Book

Six Sided Dice

Map It was a dark and stormy night when the horror story started.
It took Johnnie three swings of the ax to cut off his right hand

Next the referee reads the scenario information to the players. This is a starting point to the story the players will tell.

The scenario gives the players some background information to give them some ideas that they can use to tell the story. It is just a starting point. The players make up what happens next.

The players pick a character to champion.

I pick Johnnie. I am the doctor.

Im Johnnies Evil Uncle Dick.

The players read their characters description to one another to introduce themselves. This should give everyone a few more ideas about what might happen.

YOU ARE NOW READY TO PLAY!

Each turn starts with a free move. Move your character anywhere you want to on the map.
Im following Johnnie.

Hey I dont want to be followed.

Then you will need to hide or put on a disguise because right now people can move anywhere they like and follow whoever they want.

Matrix Games are not about movement. That is why you can move so freely. Decide where you want your character to be and move them there. Then get on with the story.

Now to make things happen. Players do this by making up an argument about what occurs next.

If this were any other game, you were your character, this was the situation and you could do whatever your wanted, what would you want to have happen first? Cool! I can do anything? I discover Johnnie and do first aid.

Some people believe that making it up as you go along is cheating. It isnt, its creativity!

As the players make their arguments the referee decides what the player needs to roll on a six sided die for it to happen.

Roll this
Really Strong Pretty Strong Okay Pretty Weak Really Weak Stupid

2,3,4,5,6 3,4,5,6 4,5,6 5,6 6 7

Very Strong Strong Average Weak Very Weak Impossible

Doing first aid sounds really strong. Roll anything but a one for it to happen. But wait! We all roll at the same time.

It is the players responsibility to remember what their argument is and how strong it is. They might want to write them down.
A two! That is part of anything but a one so it happens!!!

The players roll for their own arguments at the same time.

Successful arguments are added to the world Matrix.

Note: Matrix Games have used this term since 1988. It did not come from the movies.

You now know 90% of the rules. Each turn people move and make up what they want to have happen next. Bit by bit the story unfolds. The players make it happen, not the referee.

So what can a player make happen with an argument?

Make a second move. Make plans or preparations. Make up clues. Arrest people. Hold trials. Conduct a man hunt. Make up false leads. Recruit other characters (so you can move them). Hide or put on a disguise (a defense barrier). Make arguments secretly (only the referee knows them). Set up guards and alarms (more defense barriers) Tail characters. High speed chases. Pin scandal on someone (a negative status). Make someone sick (a negative status). Try to steal treasures/secrets/people/etc. Learn what other players secret arguments are. Recruit secret agents. Make friends with characters. Make up or learn what defenses stand between you and your goals. Set off on missions/quests/etc. (e.g. cross their defenses). Make opposing characters do stupid things. Strengthen your characters (a positive status). Weaken your opponents (a negative status). Plan the steps of a plot. Learn about or make up other characters insidious plots. Stop plots. Help plots succeed. Move up the social ladder. Maintain your social status. Get even. Get revenge. Start fights. Hold elections. Cause/make up, political/economic/natural disasters (trouble). Raise armies/mobs/etc. Move from one map to another. Riot/fight battles/conduct sieges/propaganda campaigns. Make people surrender. Gain political offices or jobs. Solve political problems. Make up new characters. Steal away other peoples followers. Or anything else you can think of.

In Matrix Games the rules do not get in the way of your doing whatever you want to.

Matrix Games allow you to tell a story. Good stories always have a plot. Different story genres use different plot elements. To tell that kind of story use those plot elements in your arguments.

Plot
Murder mystery The doctor discovers the game warden dead, murdered by and ax. Could it be Johnnies doing? Uncle Dick recruits the butler to help him keep an eye on things. Johnnie finds an old map in the attic. A treasure map! Johnnies severed hand lives still. It slowly crawls off into the dark. Uncle Dick has a secret meeting with the Sheriff. (The referee receives a secret note telling him that Dick forms and alliance with the Sheriff.) The Sheriff calls in National Guard troops to hunt Johnnie down. The sidebar says we need to look for clues. Forget that! We know Johnnie is guilty, we just need to find him! Spy Quest Horror Politics

Military

The map with each game has a sidebar on the back with a list of the plot elements you might use in that game. Mind you, the players can do anything they like. The rules are just suggestions. Mixing and matching plots is perfectly okay.

Task One:
As the game is being played the referee has five tasks.

Decide what the players need to roll for their arguments to happen. Just as the players make up their arguments, the referee makes up their strength.

The referee decides which arguments are in competition with one another.

Task Two:

I think Johnnie bleeds to death. No he doesnt! He had a tourniquet.

Well obviously these can not both happen. We will settle it by a dice rolling competition.

It is possible for several arguments to be strung together in one big dice rolling contest.

The players roll for their own arguments just like before.

I roll a 6. Im still in.

I rolled a 1. Im out. Oops! I guess this means Johnnie is bleeding to death.

Rolling continues until only one argument remains. If all the arguments roll out then start a new dice rolling competition, with all the arguments back.

Only one argument can win a competition. If two arguments agree but are in competition with a third and the third rolls out, then the contest keeps on going. It is possible that the remaining two arguments will roll out in the same turn which would give the competing argument another chance to happen.

Referees sometimes worry that they will miss spotting competition between arguments. Dont worry, the players will catch them! Its in their interest to do so.

Task Three:

The referee decides if an argument causes another player trouble. Trouble can be anything that hurts or weakens a character.

Hum...Johnnie is bleeding to death. Thats trouble. Johnnie will get to make a trouble argument to say why he doesnt die. The player running the effected character gets to make a free trouble argument to save their person. Referee hint: Players like getting a chance to save themselves.
Johnnie cauterizes his wound with a slab of metal heated in a fire. Any one who would cut his hand off would think nothing of doing this so roll anything but a one.

The referee rules on the argument and the player rolls immediately. If they succeed then they dodge the trouble. If their argument fails then they get a negative status suggested by the trouble. In this case Johnnie would be dead but since this seems to be a horror game, death might not be the end!
The Referee looks at the statuses pinned to characters to decide how strong arguments are. For instance: If a player argues that a sick and wounded character fights off a hundred soldiers when cornered, that would be really weak or even stupid unless the character also had a status like mythic strength. There are no hard and fast rules on how to do this. Just listen to you gut.

Task Four: The

The Sheriff and his men have Johnnie hold up in a barn. They go in to arrest him. Guns a blazing!

referee decides if

arguments cause a conflict.

Johnnie is a very important character so it would be too fast to have him captured by a single die roll. The referee can declare it a conflict which means that the first argument just started the fight. A second conflict round will determine how it turns out.

The player with the advantage gets the first shot at saying how the fight turns out.

We burst into the barn and open up on Johnnie. He goes down hard.

The referee decides who is in the fight (assigning uncontrolled characters to various players) and which character is in the strongest position. The player running this character has the advantage.

Okay the Sheriff and Johnnie are in the fight. Uncle Dick will argue for the Sheriff. Who has the advantage? The man with the guns or the psycho killer? I think guns are better than adrenaline.

The referee decides what the player needs to roll and the player rolls immediately. If the roll succeeds the conflict is over. It is dangerous to pick fights with people stronger than you. They might just win before you get your first swing in!

If the stronger player fails their roll, the referee decides who argues next. If that fails then the next player in the fight goes. Once everyone has had a chance and failed, the strongest player gets a second chance. This keeps up until someones argument succeeds.

Sure you come in guns a blazing and gun Johnnie down but his hand is still crawling away, unharmed!

Player Hint: Dont just describe the fight. Say how you win it
and what happens to the loser. If you dont win it then the fight keeps on going.

Referee Hint: Not all fights need to be resolved with a conflict

round. If a fight does not seem important to the story then let the first argument settle it. Use conflict rounds to add drama to the game by highlighting key issues.

The referee helps move the story along to a conclusion. As the game is played, two or three story lines begin to emerge. Once this happens the referee moves the game along by focusing play in on these story lines. Do this by ruling arguments that advance these lines strong and off topic arguments weak and eventually stupid.
Aunt Mame comes in town for a visit.

Task Five:

The story has been following Johnnie, Uncle Dick and the Sheriff, and a little about the Doctor.

Wow, that was out of left field. This is the first Ive heard of her. I think that is pretty weak. Roll a five or six for it to happen.

Referee Hint: If you dont narrow the story down then it will never end. That is realistic, life is like that, but it does not make for good stories. As Aristotle said, stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end.
Yes that does happen, but the Doctor sees it, there will be a sequel to this movie!

When the game reaches a climax the referee can suspend regular play and ask all the players to make competing arguments about what happens. This is very dramatic and ends the game with a big dice rolling contest.

Okay, Johnnie is dead but his hand is crawling away. I want everyone to make an argument telling what happens next. We will do a dice rolling competition.

As Johnnie lays dying he looks up at the Sheriff and says It will be back there will be a sequel to this movie!

No, no, no, as the Sheriff gets rid of Johnnie, Uncle Dick ducks into the woods to collect the hand. He pets it and puts it back in its box. It did its job well.

Once the climax is resolved, give the players a few more arguments to wrap up any remaining loose ends. This brings the game to a solid conclusion.
Talk to one another while playing. Crack jokes, gossip, form teams, plan strategies. Talking is fun.
So tell me about your childhood Johnnie. It was horrible! My Uncle was sooooo mean. No I wasnt. Youd better stop saying that or else!

Players can add a lot of fun to the game by doing the following things.
Lets you and me join forces.

Do mini role play sessions where you act like you are your character. Dont worry if your characters are not at the same place on the map. Role playing is fun. You do not need a game master to do it!

Create suspense by not telling everything all at once. It is what is not told that creates tension.

The scene opens in a dark room. A man is setting by the fire. You cant see who it is. He is reading a book. The title comes into focus. It is the Book of Necromancy!

Use Cheesy movie tricks. Flashbacks, slow motion, close ups, kung fu action moves described in arguments makes a game feel more cinematic. Dont limit your arguments to what your character does. You are telling a story. It is okay to say what the other sides guys do as well.
The Sheriffs deputies are not certain it is a good idea to work to closely with Uncle Dick. Theyve heard stories about him. They went to school with Johnnie and he was okay then.

Johnnies ghost appears before the Doctor and tells him everything that happened.

Keep on playing even if your character dies. You can never be put out of a Matrix Game. You keep making arguments whither you have a character or not.

Invite other players to join in for a turn or two when they walk by. Matrix Games can easily feed new people. Games are not even ruined if some of the players leave early. People can jump in and out of a game at will. No other game is like this.

Referee Hint: It is a good idea

to start the game off ruling arguments strong until a few story lines emerge. Then rule divergent arguments weaker and weaker. Some arguments can get stronger each turn, others weaker. It is okay to make this up. You may not control the game but you are the editor.

Any player can be a referee. It is not hard. The players make up arguments. The referee makes up what their strengths are.

If the referee wants to make an argument they pick another player to be their referee.

A game takes between two and three hours to play. Anywhere between two and twelve people can play. You can play them sitting around a table or while driving on a trip. All you need are a few dice and an imagination.

The rules to Matrix Games are simple but with them you can unlock your creative spirit as never before. Fun is good! Never let the rules stand in your way!