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 don’t have
such a book I’m 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 you’re 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 The best way to learn to play an
Engle Matrix Game is to play one.
One Since you are reading and not
How to play playing, the next best thing is to
see one run in a cartoon.
an Engle The following is a generic game.
Matrix
Game Referee

One player is the

referee. This player
hosts the game.
The Scenario book
includes maps or you Scenario
can make your own. Book
Some people use
miniature figures to
represent characters
Six Sided Map
on the map.
Dice

The referee It was a

introduces the dark and
players to the game. stormy night
Try reading the first when the
section of each game horror story
to the players. It will started.
help set the mood.
It took Johnnie
three swings of
the ax to cut
Next the referee off his right
reads the scenario hand…
information to the
players. This is a The scenario gives the players some
starting point to background information to give them some
the story the ideas that they can use to tell the story. It is
just a starting point. The players make up
players will tell. what happens next.
 The I pick Johnnie. The players read their
character’s
players I am the doctor.
description to one
pick a another to introduce
character themselves. This
to should give everyone a
I’m Johnnie’s
few more ideas about
champion. Evil Uncle
Dick. what might happen.

YOU
ARE Each turn starts with a free move. Move your
NOW character anywhere you want to on the map.
READY I’m following Johnnie.
Matrix Games are not
TO
about movement. That
PLAY! is why you can move so
freely. Decide where
Hey I don’t want to be followed. you want your
character to be and
move them there. Then
Then you will need to hide or put on a disguise get on with the story.
because right now people can move anywhere
they like and follow whoever they want.

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 discover Johnnie and do

first aid.
I can do
anything?
Some people believe
that making it up as
you go along is
cheating. It isn’t, it’s
creativity!
As the players make Roll this
their arguments the
referee decides Really Strong Very Strong
what the player
2,3,4,5,6
needs to roll on a
Pretty Strong
six sided die for it 3,4,5,6
Strong
to happen.
Okay Average
4,5,6
Pretty Weak 5,6 Weak

Really Weak 6 Very Weak

Stupid Impossible
7
Doing first aid sounds It is the player’s responsibility to
really strong. Roll
remember what their argument is
anything but a one for it
to happen. But wait! We and how strong it is. They might
all roll at the same time. want to write them down.

The A two! That is part of Successful

“anything but a one” so
players it happens!!!
arguments are
roll for added to the
their own world “Matrix”.
arguments Note: Matrix
Games have used
at the this term since
same 1988. It did not
come from the
time. 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 player’s 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 character’s 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 people’s 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 Johnnie’s
doing?”
Spy “Uncle Dick recruits the butler to help him
keep an eye on “things.”
Quest “Johnnie finds an old map in the attic.
A treasure map!”
Horror “Johnnies severed hand lives still.
It slowly crawls off into the dark.”
Politics “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.)”
Military “The Sheriff calls in National Guard troops to
hunt Johnnie down.”

The map with each game The sidebar says we need to look for
has a sidebar on the back clues. Forget that! We know Johnnie is
with a list of the plot guilty, we just need to find him!
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: Decide what the players
need to roll for their arguments to happen.
As the game Just as the players “make up” their
is being arguments, the referee “makes up” their
played the strength.
referee has
five tasks.
Task Two: The referee decides
which arguments are in competition with
one another.

I think Johnnie
bleeds to death. It is possible
for several
No he doesn’t! arguments to
He had a tourniquet. be strung
together in
one big dice
Well obviously these can rolling
not both happen. We will
contest.
settle it by a dice rolling
competition.

I rolled a 1.
The players I roll Rolling continues until only
I’m out.
roll for a 6. Oops! one argument remains. If all
their own I’m still I guess this the arguments roll out then
arguments means Johnnie start a new dice rolling
in. is bleeding to
just like competition, with all the
death.
before. arguments back.

Only one argument can win a competition. Referees

If two arguments agree but are in sometimes worry that
competition with a third and the third rolls they will miss
out, then the contest keeps on going. It is spotting competition
possible that the remaining two between arguments.
Don’t worry, the
arguments will roll out in the same turn players will catch
which would give the competing argument them! It’s in their
another chance to happen. 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.

That’s trouble. Johnnie will get to make a
trouble argument to say why he doesn’t die.

Any one who would cut his hand off

Johnnie
The player running cauterizes
would think nothing of doing this
the effected so roll anything but a one.
his wound
character gets to with a slab
make a free trouble of metal
heated in a
argument to save fire.
their person.

Referee hint: Players

like getting a chance
to save themselves.

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 referee decides if
arguments cause a conflict.

The Sheriff Johnnie is a very important

and his men character so it would be too
have fast to have him captured by a
Johnnie single die roll. The referee can
hold up in a
declare it a conflict which
barn. They
go in to
means that the first argument
arrest him. just started the fight. A
Guns a second conflict round will
blazing! determine how it turns out. The Okay the
referee Sheriff and
decides who is in Johnnie are in
the fight the fight. Uncle
(assigning Dick will argue
uncontrolled for the Sheriff.
characters to Who has the
various players) advantage? The
and which man with the
character is in the guns or the
strongest psycho killer? I
position. The think guns are
player running this better than
character has the adrenaline.
The player advantage.
with the We burst
advantage into the
barn and The referee decides what the player needs
gets the open up
first shot on
to roll and the player rolls immediately. If
at saying Johnnie. the roll succeeds the conflict is over. It is
how the He goes dangerous to pick fights with people
down stronger than you. They might just win
fight turns hard.
out. before you get your first swing in!

If the stronger player fails their

roll, the referee decides who
Sure you come
argues next. If that fails then in guns a
the next player in the fight blazing and gun
goes. Once everyone has had a Johnnie down
chance and failed, the strongest but his hand is
player gets a second chance. still crawling
This keeps up until someone’s away,
argument succeeds. unharmed!
 Player Hint: Don’t just describe the fight. Say how you win it
and what happens to the loser. If you don’t 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.

Task Five: The referee The story has

been following
helps move the story along to a Johnnie, Uncle
conclusion. As the game is played, Dick and the
two or three story lines begin to Sheriff, and a
little about
emerge. Once this happens the the Doctor.
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 Wow, that was out of left field. This is the first I’ve
comes in heard of her. I think that is pretty weak. Roll a five or
town for a six for it to happen.
visit.
Referee Hint: If you don’t 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
As Johnnie lays No, no, no, as the Sheriff happen, but
When the game dying he looks up gets rid of Johnnie, Uncle the Doctor
reaches a climax Okay, Johnnie at the Sheriff and Dick ducks into the woods sees it,
the referee can is dead but his says “It will be to collect the hand. He there will
suspend regular hand is crawling back…” there will pets it and puts it back in be a sequel
play and ask all away. I want be a sequel to its box. It did its job well. to this
the players to everyone to this movie! movie!
make competing make an
arguments about argument
what happens. telling what
This is very happens next.
dramatic and We will do a
ends the game dice rolling
with a big dice competition.
rolling contest.
 Once the climax is Players can
resolved, give the
players a few add a lot of
more arguments fun to the
to wrap up any
remaining loose game by doing
ends. This brings the following
the game to a
solid conclusion. things.

Talk to one another while Lets you

playing. Crack jokes, and me
gossip, form teams, plan join
forces.
strategies. Talking is
fun.

So tell me
about your
No I wasn’t. Do mini role play sessions
It was horrible! You’d better
childhood My Uncle was stop saying where you act like you are
Johnnie. that or else!
sooooo mean. your character. Don’t 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 The scene opens in a dark room. A man is setting by the

suspense by fire. You can’t see who it is. He is reading a book. The
not telling title comes into focus. It is the Book of Necromancy!

everything all
at once. It is
what is not
told that
creates
tension.
 Use Cheesy movie tricks. Flashbacks, slow
motion, close ups, kung fu action moves
described in arguments makes a game feel
more cinematic.

Don’t limit your The Sheriff’s

deputies are
arguments to what not certain it is
a good idea to
your character work to closely
does. You are with Uncle
Dick. They’ve
telling a story. It heard stories
about him. They
is okay to say what went to school
the other side’s with Johnnie
and he was okay
guys do as well. then.

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
Johnnies ghost appears before the Doctor and
not.
tells him everything that happened.

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
Any player can be a referee.
It is not hard. The players
turn, others weaker. It is okay to
make up arguments. The
referee makes up what their
make this up. You may not control the
strengths are.
game but you are the editor.

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!