"You are there" Matrix Games place the players in the role of minor chararcters in interesting events. They are not in a position to change the course of history (as in classical Matrix Games or role play games). Instead the players are there to experience the event and try to survive it.
"You are there" can take players into a haunted house, on board the SS Titanic, to a battle field, inside Nazi Germany or even into outer space. Interested? Then see how it is done.
YOU ARE THERE MATRIX GAMES - HOW TO DO IT
"You are there" games begin when the players chose a character who is about the be present at an interesting or historical event. The referee fills the players in of what is going on and what they are in for. The players may work together like a role play game party or go it alone.
Each turn each player gets to make one argument to cause unexpected things to happen. This is how people tell stories and prepare for trouble. This is done exactly the same as in the classical Matrix Game. The only difference is scale. Generally arguments are restricted to what an individual would do rather than a God's eye view of the world.
After the players have made their regular argument, the referee makes up some kind of trouble that the players must overcome (or suffer from). The players get a free argument to cope with the trouble. If they fail then the trouble hangs around as a "negative status". The referee picks trouble that leads the players through a story. So "You are there" referees are much more powerful than classical Matrix Game referees.
If a player fails to deal with trouble in one turn, he can use his regular argument to solve it. It is no fun having to waste an argument doing chores but the cost of leaving trouble undealt with tends to weaken all future arguments. So players have to keep their fences mended.
"YOU ARE THERE" GAMES AND ROLE PLAYING
"You are there" games are much closer to role play games than the Classical Matrix Game is. As with role play game masters, "You are there" referee have a lot of power to make things happen. So the referee not the players is in charge of the story. (In classical Matrix Games, the players not the referee really control the game).
The referee begins the game with an idea of what trouble he wants to make the characters face this turn. As with any role play game, this trouble must tell a story. The players have their parts in the story but are not the big cheese. The referee has that power since he gives out information/plot twists with every piece of trouble that comes up.
I love basing the players next piece of trouble on their solution to the last trouble. In this way players get the benifits (and more often) the penalties of their actions. So player think twice before burning down their own house!
EDUCATION, TRAINING AND ACADEMIC MATRIX GAMES
I have used, what I used to call, trouble based Matrix Games as a psychotherapy tool for ten years. The player are patients, referred to counseling for various reasons. I want them to learn how their decisions get them into trouble. One way to do this is to play "Lets get Bob in trouble!" I present them with a piece of trouble that fits the topic (drinking, drugging, anger, depression, etc). The players then get to make up ways to make the situation worse! Players love doing this - it is easy to do. And, sneaky me, have just gotten them to identify their most likely relapse risk. Then one can go back to arguing to get Bob out of trouble!
Trouble Matrix Games work because they work with people's resistance to talking about themselves. The player is talking bout Bob - not themselves. It is easy and fun to get Bob into trouble (never mind that there is no Bob and that everything the players is saying they are also hearing!) And only after causing trouble does one look at solution. Diving into fixing a problem too soon usually leads to resistance. The simulation game helps slip out of that.
I will write more on these kinds of games later.
Back to Table of Contents -- Matrix Gamer #16
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