From: Jon Bumgardner ... Hello again. The weekend Days 0 Gaming are over and I'm damn tired. But I wanted to get my impressions of how the Matrix Game 1066 went. I had four players and myself (Jon Bumgardner/Harald Hardrada, Jeff Massey/William, Thomas Arnolt/Odo, Craig Petillo/Tostig, Jonathan Keepers/King Harold and Edwin.) Through the luck of the draw, I ended up with the English. After stumbling around I got Jeff, Tom, Jon and Craig to grasp the card matrix, action-result-reasons. Then the seriousness broke down and Tom/Odo the Bishop sang and danced his way from Normandy to Canterbury, only to be ambushed by the King Harold (me). While William sailed to the rescue, Jon and Craig, laid waste to East Anglia. The Game had gone 4 turns and I and Edwin looked to be crushed between the Normans and Vikings. When dinner was declared and the game put on hold ... alas not to be picked back up. I was so eager to run this game that I was painting then basing the figures right up till we started the game. Thanks, I haven't been this excited about any game in a while. I usually plod along painting basing and almost never running any games. My friend Jon Bumgardner was amazed and aghast that I actually ran a game. Now I can hardly wait to run the next one. I'm getting and painting the figures for the Zulu scenario (ESCI Brits and Zulus with Airfix Confederate Cav for mounted Brits) with some colonial friends of mine (including the infamous Pat R Wilson of Cordite and Steel). Though Pat feels that the Matrix would open it self up to abuse by "rules lawyers". I do not share that worry but would look out for that kind of play. I've been looking for two sets of simple rules I wrote last summer after War Con 92. They are based on the sillier aspects of the 1991 Gulf War, that make the Italians of WWII look tough. If and when I find them, I'll rewrite them and send them to you. I'll let you know how my next Matrix Game goes. [The trickiest part of any MG is teaching the new players how to play. People just don't think about "making up" what happens next. It sounds like Tom picked it up right away. It is just amazing how powerful a person can be how plays the politics right. Odo could have won the war without even fighting if he makes the right arguments. Another thing you'll notice after playing a few games. You can replay the same scenario again and again and It will never be the same. I ran the 1812 Russian game 6 times last year. Each run was unique. Where the battles occur is up to the players. The stakes they are fighting over. And especially the after effect of battles won or lost is always different. I've wondered sometimes how variable it could be. When I was first play testing they MG system I now use I player a game with a consummate rules lawyer. The game was about the quest for the Holy Grail, so magic and miracles were present and expected. Garner (the rules lawyer) decided to put the game to the test. He argued that Merlin learned great magic. it passed. So he went further. Merlin harnessed all the powers of Earth and sky. It passed. He argued that Merlin destroyed all the forces of evil! It passed. meanwhile those of us who were searching for the grall began to notice that Garner was not playing the same game we were. obviously Garner wanted to play the ultimate power game. That was fine, the rest of us wanted to find the grail. Then Garner argued that Merlin became so powerful that he challenged GOD!!! He did so, and won. So of course he took the next step and argued that he was God!!!!!!!! The rest of us were getting close to finding the Grail so the game was nearly over. That's when I decided to join Garner in his game. "Garner is another avatar of Vishnu." In other words, Garner only thought he was in charge, he is actually living out the divine plan of creation and destruction that is Hindu mythology. In the God game power doesn't mean a whole lot. I don't think Garner understood what I was getting at, but he enjoyed becoming a "god" while the other players enjoyed finding the Grail and pretending to be chivalrous knights. I guess Garner never read "Guttel, Esher, Bach" about Genies (and Meta Genies, and Meta Meta Genies, and Meta Meta Meta Genies, etc ab Infinitum). In other words if you want to play a game you can play the game. If you want to practice meta physics do that. MGs let players do this. The referee on the other hand is there to prevent the power tripper from ruining the game for everyone else. Garner didn't both anyone else in his mind game so I let him be. But if he tried to screw up the other people's fun I would have vetoed his arguments. Vishnu after all is the sleeping God, he does not bother with the world. Power gamers and rules lawyers tend to see themselves in conflict with the rules or with the referee. They want to impose their will onto the rules or another person so that they win. They feel good when they crush their opponent. They tend to have a low threshhold tolerance for frustration and defeat. I know a lot of people like this. They are hard people to be around. It is hard to not fight with them. But they generally back down when clear reasonable limits are set on them. Especially when limits are set early on. I don't know any set of "rules" that are perfect at controlling such people. Maybe Tic Tac Toe ... but I am well know for cheating at that game ... You're point obviously hit a nerve in me. I'll need to think about this some more. This directly feeds into what I am doing in my series on morale.] Back to Experimental Games Group # 23 Table of Contents Back to Experimental Games Group List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1993 by Chris Engle This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. 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