"You have an Idea. It is new. No one understands it. Say it again and again until someone asks you why you are saying the obvious." Matrix Games are not just made by one person. At this time at least 4 other people have made them. Interesting is shown by others. Yet this is not an easy thing to do. There axe no articles to tell one how to do it. There are only the examples of the games run and written up. This article is an attempt to show how I make matrix games. I hope it is helpful to those who want to try their hand at it. The basic "rules" of matrix games are easy. They have been presented in EGG and other Journals many times. Each players makes an argument about what he wants to happen. It includes an action, a result, and 3 reasons. The reasons come from the matrix of that particular game. The result Is added to the matrix, thus making the matrix open to growth and change as the game progresses. Players can make counter-arguments that bounce off one another's arguments, which either limit or alter the first argument. Dice are rolled and the winning arguments happen. Many of the players notice that the "rules" of matrix games are really not "rules" at all. They do not limit what the players can do, nor do they tell the players what they should do. In fact these rules are just procedures to resolve which argument wins. I've used several different procedures to do this, ranging from, the referee decides who wins, to unanimous agreement amongst the players, to several die rolling methods. There is no perfect way, so unless you are real Interesting in unrewarding work (or rather work to which the pay off is slow in coming), I recommend using the die rolling system for resolutions presented many times in EGG. The creativity in making a Matrix Game is in making the matrix. This is what tells the players what they are going to do, and suggests to them how to do it. The new MG maker soon discovers that this is a difficult task. What needs to be it a matrix? How large can a matrix get before it is too cumbersome? These are just a few of the questions that come to mind. One useful idea about what is in a matrix does come from the rules. The results of matrix arguments become part of the matrix. It is possible to imagine that ALL the matrix elements at one point resulted from arguments. Since arguments cover the ACTIONs of life, it stands to reason results from events long past could be vital in what I do now. For example ... When I was 3 years old ... Action: I have a bad dream. Result: I am afraid. Reasons: 1. It is dark, 2. I am alone, 3. It is cold Which effects me when I was 20 ... Action: I want to ask the beautiful woman for a date. Result: I look like an idiot when I ask her and she says no. Reasons: 1. == FEAR ==, 2. I am not graceful, 3. She already has a date. That must have been one nasty dream when I was 3! But really it wasn't. All it did was introduce an idea that one can use in justifying ones actions. There are no "good" or "bad" matrix elements, only elements that get used in good or bad ways. (Sounds like the argument about guns.) The more universal an element is the better it tends to work. So an element like, FEAR, is very useful since it can be applied so broadly. A word like fear is just one word that brings to mind a whole category of words that describe all kinds of experiences. Elements that describe such things as, EMOTIONS, MOTIVATIONS and PREJUDICES, tell a lot more about why people do things than the price of tea in china. Human factors quite often define a conflict much more than the technical capabilities of the weapons. Motivations and prejudices also tend to say a lot more about the "feel" of a period than how hard a sword hits. Technical limits are not unimportant since they usually define how time and space work In a given game. Technical limits define how fast a fencer can advance across the table. They also say how many turns it takes for the army to march from Cairo to Khartom. Technical limits include such things as, MOVEMENT, COMBAT, TERRAIN, WEATHER, SUPPLY, EFFECTS OF LOSES, etc. Matrix Games in a way, function on at least two levels of play. Players must consider where their men are placed, Just like In most other games. One must also consider how the men are doing on a matrix level (ie do they have any elements added to them that make them unreliable in an argument). On a further level, certain matrix elements feed back into the physical game by placing limits on the movement and combat capabilities of a unit. An MG can be used as a game over a mainstream combat game. This means that players could run a campaign in which the battles are fought out using WRG ancients rules, where the campaign was run by an MG. Certain matrix elements if applied as a result to ,certain units would have a set effect on that units abilities as described In the combat game. The effects can be either good or bad depending on how the result is defined. The effect of using an MG as a game above the combat game is that it adds in the possibility that putting off combat is sometimes useful since it can lead to increased strength. This can also goad some players into battle since waiting will only let the enemy get stronger. The question of scale is of primary importance in making a matrix game. So far, tactical, strategic, political, and heroic storytelling MGs have been made. At first glance the matrixes seem to share many elements (after all emotions, motivations, and prejudices work on all levels of human life). This is true, but the differences make all the difference. For Instance, in a tactical level game, each characters wounds might be Important. Single combat might be looked at in a blow by blow method. This obviously won't work on a strategic level. Games that attempt to do multiple levels tend not to work for the same reasons mainstream games fall apart when extended beyond their capabilities. They move too slowly due to the friction of the rules. Boredom sets in and the players must contend with the static of having to separate out what information is important to one level of play and what is not. Another factor which tends to cause problems when gaming multiple levels of play is the speed with which events take place. For example, in a strategic game, a battle may be resolved by a single argument. A political game may settle the result of a whole campaign in a single argument. Heroic level games tend to cut across levels of play easily. This seems to work because they are NOT meant to be realistic. If King Arthur fights a battle with the Fairie Queen that takes 3 arguments to resolve, so be It. At the same time, arguments at the Round Table may play vital importance in winning a war. Or Gawain and Percival may defeat a whole army without the Kings presence. Be prepared though to encounter problems if your game does not have a clear level of play. Players are allowed, and indeed encouraged~ to add new elements to the matrix. This is part of the fun of playing. on a political level new elements make new arguments possible and suggest that old arguments are now weak. On strategic and tactical levels the new elements may need more definition than that since they are effecting the world of time and space in addition to the world of Ideas. One idea that struck me more than a year ago is that the combat rules of a mainstream game could be presented in a matrix. This alone would not be useful to play. What could be interesting is that by the rules being part of the matrix they are subject to change by players arguments just like the rest of the matrix is! So a campaign game using WRG rules may turn into a game about changing the rules of play. A player may invent a "more powerful horse" which makes his cavalry tougher -- as defined by the rules. A fantasy RPG could be altered to make a certain spell more or less powerful. The possibilities of change are limitless. The arguments only structure it. If a game continues for any length of time, many new elements will have been added to the matrix. Many of them may boll down to the same basic idea. When this is the case, it is helpful for a referee to step in and reduce the new elements to a single element that acts as a category heading for all of them. Reducing matrixes down to essential elements is vital since there. does seem to be an outside limit on how big a matrix can get before it becomes unuseable. I find that with more than 200 elements most people can not find what they need fast enough to not get bored with play. It is possible to exceed the 200 element limit by spreading the paperwork of remembering elements out to the players. Players may take on the role of a certain country or character, and keep track of the elements added to that characters personal matrix. By assigning players in this way, each person ends up with a clear history of their character and can see directly how the matrix game effected their person. The matrix can be stored In a number of ways. I now use cards to store my matricies since they tend to be easy to carry and store. In addition card matrixes are more easily changed since obsolete elements cane be removed without a trace. Matrixes stored in tables are better for play by mail games and for people who do not have the space available to lay out a deck of cards. I recommend cards sense index cards are work so well at doing this and are so widely available. All in all matrix games can be used to run all kinds of situations. Miniatures campaigns are an excellent use. I also use one to run the political campaign the backs up my latest RPG campaign. Not only do political events get settled by argument but the players do much of their character development by arguments as well. Political and Heroic level games are perhaps the best suited for matrix games. What ever you chose though. I hope that some of the ideas here are of use. This article rambles horribly but then again so does much of my thinking about the subject. I've put off writing on it for just that reason. The simple fact is that I don't know exactly how to go about making an MG. I do a lot of experimentation and by a process of trial and error come up with a matrix I can accept. Try it out. It is easy to make a simple matrix and it is by making mistakes that one learns how to make a better one. Back to Experimental Games Group # 9 Table of Contents Back to Experimental Games Group List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1990 by Chris Engle This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com