Writing Matrix Game scenarios is easy! Why? Well...largely due to the way Matrix Games work. Role Play Games require extensive information that covers all possible action. Miniatures Campaigns require rules to cover arcane things like "supply" and "logistics". Matrix Games do not require this level of detail. Instead of providing all covering rules, Matrix Game scenarios are only there to help show the "matrix" of this game. The players connect the dots so the writer doesn't have to! That being said. Writing a scenario is still not something everyone can do. One has to be able to spot a good story and be able to suggest that to players in only a few lines. It is kind of like writing poetry or Zen painting. Not necessarily a wide held skill. But I suspect more people have it than not and that in the near future the web will have an ever expanding supply of good basic scenarios! PICKING A GOOD STORY Picking a good story is like being a writer creating a plot for a novel. There are a few basic plots that get done again and again. While I feel that Matrix Games can do any story type that can be outlined, the present rules specifically cover the following plots. Military Campaigns Politics Murder Mysteries Spy Intrigues Mysterious Encounters Quests and Plots Revenge "You are there…" MILITARY CAMPAIGNS: Include the standard military campaign game used to generate miniatures battles to more difficult to run games like guerilla wars, revolutions, riots and terrorist campaigns. POLITICS: This is about the struggle between groups for political control. It is usually part of military games and can come into play in other stories as well. MURDER MYSTERIES: The players pick one character out of a mystery to champion. No one knows who did the crime. Players make up clues with their arguments. Eventually the clues point to one character. That character's player then tries to save the suspect while all the others chase him down! It all ends in a trial – that the players do in the game!!! SPY INTRIGUE: Players control characters who organize spy rings or act as spy catchers. It is a game of cat and mouse to see who will end up with the secrets at the end of the game. MYSTERIOUS ENCOUNTERS: The players learn about something weird and unexpected. What caused it? This could be a horror, science fiction or fantasy game in which the players find out what is going on and if it is a plot – do they want to help it along or try to stop it? QUESTS AND PLOTS: On the other side of mysterious encounters is someone who has something they want to do. It could be a plot or a quest. They players plan for success and when they think they are ready they try to carry out the action. If someone notices their preparations along the way then the game can be both a mysterious encounter and a plot game at the same time! REVENGE: Like politics, revenge can factor into many different kinds of story. It is all about making the other guy fail NO MATTER WHAT THE COST!!! YOU ARE THERE: These are games that put you, the player, at a famous moment in history. You take on the role of a minor character. You are not there to change history (though that could happen). Instead you are there to see how you will survive the trouble of that particular moment in history. So how do you get off the sinking Titanic? Or survive the Bloody Trenches of World War One? Any of these story types should work to make a good game. In addition to this many people have done "Alternative History" games. I do not have rules specifically for this because I think that the topic is too broad. I've notice that such games. Like USSA and THE INFERNAL ENGINE fall into one of the above story lines – as they are brought up by players arguments. Right now in THE INFERNAL ENGINE Dr Frankenstein and Igor are searching for a Martian Time Traveler out to destroy Earth's computer abilities! So by all means do world creation games but be mindful that they do not suggest what players are suppose to do. Players like to be told what to do! WRITING A TEASER Once you have picked out a good story you will need to do a brief overview of it, no longer than a page. This is what is posted to attract players to the game. It tells a little about the situation at hand and suggest a little about what kind of story it is. My rule of thumb about such things is that it should be something that would sound good if read out loud to players in a convention hall. So if you would be embarrassed to say it out loud with and audience then don't write it!!! I find this keeps teasers short and clean. Which I think is a good thing (no need to add to the bad taste of some sites on the net!) With teaser in hand you are ready to write the rest of the scenario. CHARACTERS, TREASURES, AND MAPS The plot of a scenario tells what needs to happen. Characters, treasures and maps tell who is doing that action, what is being vied for and where the action takes place. They are the anchors for the story. A story needs somewhere between ten to twenty characters. Each player starts the game controlling one character. As the game is played, arguments allow players to take control over other characters (or steal control of characters away from other players). And since these are Matrix Games, players can make up new characters as the game is being played! Each character is described by a short description (I put these onto cards for face to face games. PBEM games usually put this information in the initial scenario write up. Some games may have characters commanding groups of people. This is shown in an order of battle – as in any wargame. Murder mystery and spy games will not need such information. So how to write a brief character description? Well I like two different ways. My favorite is to write a sample dialogue of the person that shows their personality. For example… Amanda Killer: "Come here big boy. Have you got what it takes to be a man? Let's find out…" Clearly Amanda is not a nice girl! The other way I like to use is to write a third person description of the person. For example… Noah Life: This man is the essence of nerd! He has never had a date in his life let alone anything else! But there is something about him. Maybe he is a hero after all. So Noah is like Clark Kent/Superman. Not much on the surface but maybe more than meets the eye. There is no one way to write a character description. Do it anyway you like. But keep it short! To be able to include information in a mental matrix people have to actually read what is there. People will read short humorous descriptions. Long ones go unread and ignored. Treasures are the things that the players are trying to control in the game. It helps to make these very clear right from the start since they act as magnets that help guide action in stories. Treasures are also described by short descriptions. In many games this can be skipped if the treasures are self evident – such as in a military campaign where land is key or political offices in political games. But I don't recommend thinking that everything is obvious. One thing I have learned in writing is that if I think it is obvious, it isn't! And finally maps. Stories need a stage to happen on. A map, with all its locations, is an excellent way to add to the matrix of the game. Think how much an old map sparks the imagination! But maps are not the only way to do it. Players can also do game with a list of locations in a given place. Using location cards or lists can be helpful because it narrows the players down to just the most vital areas. Since players love to go off in odd directions this is sometimes needed. Once all these items are written the new referee is ready to run the game! SPREADING THE WORD ABOUT YOUR SCENARIO After doing all this work, you will want people to know. So they can play. There are many ways to go about doing this. The easiest way is to run your game for your local game group or convention. This is the only way to go for the many face to face gamers out there. For my money this is still the best way to go – but then again I love refereeing games. If you want more people to play your game then consider running it as a PBEM. This will be described more fully in the next article. If insanity is beginning to set in (but hasn't fully taken hold) you will want to publish your idea on a web page. This is a wonderfully cheap way to get your idea out there. Interested people can get it and your garage will remain free from box after box of unsellable games! For not for profit ventures like this I make available my rules for free. Neither of us make any money off it and the hobby is helped out. Once insanity has irrevocably set in you will want to print your game. The mildly insane will do as needed print runs at the local copy shop. Printing on demand is expensive per unit but one only prints as the need is there. The totally insane will do small print runs (a thousand or so). Lower cost per unit but then you have to sell the things. There may eventually be a market for such games but it isn't there now (I speak from experience! And write this from my padded cell.) But if you want to do this – namely sell for profit – I will let you use my rules for a 5% royalty on a project by project, print run by print run basis. Just get in touch with me and we will make a deal. (Unless you want to do something that is sick or depraved in which I don't want to be associated with it!) WRITING YOUR OWN MATRIX GAME RULES I want to encourage people to write alternate Matrix Game rules. There are more ways to do these games than the way I do them! But if you are doing games for profit, do not violate my copyright! Your game should look substantially different from my game. I know this can be done if you work at it. But be prepared to spend several years working on it! I hope that people find the basic rules I've done to be easiest. I've certainly worked long enough making them that way! So If you don't want to reinvent the wheel – talk to me about licensing my rules. It allow you to get to the vital work of scenario writing and running games! This is where the action is now. Back to Table of Contents -- Matrix Gamer #15 To Matrix Gamer List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2000 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