The campaign I am putting together [or was - it has been on hold for about a year now] was going to use bits from the Everway RPG system as well as bits from your Matrix Games. For each Nation, Significant Personality [High Priest, Emperor, War Marshal, etc] or other Power Group [Secret Society, Cult, Guild, etc] I was attempting to determine the entities' Fate, Virtue, Fault, Past, Present and Future as per the Everway game. I used the the Everway Tarot cards to determine these attributes [The "Usurper" card counting as "War" regardless of orientation when drawn]. I then assigned each entity three goals based on the local power situation, history or whatever as determined by the campaign background. The concept was that each turn the principal "players" [ie. Kings, Emperors, etc] would make broad arguments. Other entities could only make arguments if these higher arguments impinged in someway [however slight] upon their area of influence. And then they could only argue based on their goals or in response to these influences. But *that* is as far as I've gone. I have not actually tried it, nor is my campaign world fully developed. :( I'm interested to see how your solo adaption of the Matrix Game compares to mine. CHRIS ENGLE'S REPLY Solo Matrix Games work well. Let me start off by saying that. Much of the early work on all my games has been done in solo games. Recently I've gotten together a clearer matrix for how to do games but I'm still working on the world running version (mainly it is not done yet because quite frankly it does not have the market prospects of a spy or mystery game). So on this point I'm still experimenting. Here is the method I use at the moment. I create a cast of characters (mind you a character can be a person, a group, a country, a planet, etc it doesn't matter). Each character is described by a card that includes a name, some vital stats like age, wealth, power and a brief description of the character's personality or groups character. I then decide what type of game I want to run. It may seem strange, but the argument method alone it NOT a viable game. When players can do anything, they have no idea what to do. The type of game defines what steps must happen for the story to be told. For instance in a political game, groups vie for control of political offices and vital resources. This provides a magnet to give players a frame of reference. Another factor of political games is handling the functions of government. This means solving problems. One can of course let trouble slide, but it will eventually lead to revolution! Once I know the story I start making arguments. I make one argument for each side. I try to make an argument that best pushes forward their agenda. Then I rule on the argument's strengths, which are inconsistent and which trigger conflicts. Then I just roll dice and see what happens. I really don't care who "wins" since I win regardless. Or if I want to be biased I can be. Really that is all there is to my method. Back to Table of Contents -- Matrix Gamer #2 To Matrix Gamer List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 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