People are beginning to develop their own Matrix Games. A good thing!
And I am pleased to see that they are all growing out of the Classical
Rules (freely available on the Hamster Press web page
Why is it good that we are all starting at the same place? Well, it
gives us a common language for one. Gamers love to change things and
otherwise mutate rules but without a common starting point our efforts
don't work together well. We would end up going off in different
directions rather than having a mutual project.
So what is this common ground?
The Classical Matrix Game rules are fully developed so that new players
do not have to be dedicated rules writer to be able to play. They are
written with the average "Dull Twelve Year Old" as the target audience
and as mentioned above they are free on the web.
I, Chris Engle, give permission for any one to use Matrix Games in
non-commercial games. If you want to do a commercial game I offer the MG
rules for a 5% royalty. So everyone can get writing if they wish.
Or why not write your own Matrix Game? It's easy to do. The foundation is
laid. All that is left to do is build on it!
1. Players make arguments about what they want to have happen next.
2. Arguments are supported by reasons.
3. The game world is described by a "Matrix" of information – which
other games call scenario information.
4. Successful arguments alter, take away or add to the "Matrix".
5. A referee decides how "strong" (ie likely to happen) each argument is.
6. Some situations are resolved by extra rounds of arguments each turn
(trouble and conflict).
7. Players are telling a story with their arguments. ANY story can be
told.
8. Players can be playing very different "Games" within a single Matrix
Game.
Back to Table of Contents -- Matrix Gamer #21
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