New: Engle Matrix Games (free, closed-ended, email, human, fantasy, modern, historical, wargame, rpg)

From: donotreply@pbm.com (PBM List Autoposter)

Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2007 07:13:01 +0000

Name:		Engle Matrix Games
Costs:		free
Email:		MatrixGame2 zat yahoogroups.com
Frequency:		One or two turns a week
URL:		http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/MatrixGame2/
Type:		mystery, horror, spy, wargame
Last-Update:		2007Apr10
Keywords: free, closed-ended, email, human, fantasy, modern, historical,
wargame, rpg

Description:

Engle Matrix Games are a way of running a play by email game. We've done
them on the MatrixGame2 yahoo group for many years. We've done murder
mysteries, horror, spy thrillers, wargames, political campaigns, comedies,
fantasy adventure, crime games and much more.

Here is how they work. A referee puts out a call for players on the list
which includes a short description of the scenario/game world, what the
game is about and a short cast of characters (between 6-10). Players pick
characters to champion which helps them know what they want to accomplish
in the game.

Players take turns making things happen. A player sends in an email to the
list saying what they want to have happen next. This "argument" for future
events is not automatic. The referee decides how likely it is to happen.
This sets a roll. (Can't miss-roll 6-1's in a row to fail, really strong
roll 2-6 to happen, pretty strong roll 3-6 to happen, okay roll 4-6 to
happen, pretty weak roll 5-6 to happen, really weak roll 6 to happen,
impossible roll 6-6's in a row to happen.) Referees generally start off
ruling all arguments okay or pretty strong and then branch out as they
become comfortable with their judgement. The referee rolls and then
reports back to the list the results. Players can jump in with
counter-arguments to say "what really happens." The referee rules on these
arguments strengths as well. This is resolved by a dice rolling
competition between arguments. The referee rolls for each argument in the
competition. If they roll the to happen target number the argument stays
alive. If they miss the roll the argument drops out of future rolls.
Rolling continues until only one argument remains or all roll out.

The referee can trigger secondary rounds of arguments to resolve trouble,
conflict, trials and to speed up the game.

The rules are VERY simple but allow players to navigate the most complex
situations. For instance in murder mysteries players make up the clues. No
one knows who did the crime at the beginning of the game. The guilty party
is dsicovered during play. Or in wargames unexpected events can happen
without needed tons of rules to cover them.

Right now (4-07) we are playing a Jack the Ripper story game and a
Waterloo wargame using these rules.

Chris Engle
Hamster Press = Engle Matrix Games

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