I don’t usually discuss RPG reports here, but I ran a session today that was a little different. It was using the Engel Matrix system, rules available here. The Engel Matrix system is fascinating, but only arguably even counts as an RPG–it truly is the group storytelling system that other games claim to be.

In my experience today, the game’s major strength is that every player has a large degree of control over what happens and there’s very little downtime. It’s three hours of constant activity for everyone. The weakness is that because every player is narrating “what happens,” but sometimes those things just don’t end up occurring, it’s easy to get confused as to what actually has happened and what hasn’t. We all got lost at points.

For your amusement, the game setup information for my session, the jumping off point my players used, is given below the cut.

The Eleventh Bell

The Time
The very near future

The Mood
Arguments will be judged for likelihood based on movie pacing and realism, not real-world realism. For instance, any argument that will destroy the world in the first “15 minutes” of on-screen time is going to be weak, no matter how reasonable it seems. Likewise, jumping onto a helicopter is going to almost always work, even if it’s actually a difficult feat.

The Scenario
Dr. Travis Fitzgerald, a researcher at Columbia University, has just stumbled on a deadly discovery–a cheap, easy-to-create weapon with the destructive power of a hydrogen bomb. He has considered keeping it secret entirely, but he considers the idea too easy to come across, and the resulting danger too great. Someone must be told so the world can be made prepared. But who?

The Device
Three significant technologies are required. None are particularly expensive or hard to get.

1. Heavy water–that is, water made with deuterium instead of ordinary hydrogen. Its properties are almost identical except that it is, as the name implies, slightly heavier. A drinking glassful costs $50, and enough for a weapon costs around $500. Heavy water is not radioactive or otherwise dangerous on its own.

2. An ultrasound machine and its associated instruments. An adequate device costs around $10000, accessories not included.

3. Something Else, to be decided by argument during the game. The properties of this third technology or component may play a large part in the outcome. This could be a technology, an object, a material, a precise measurement, or something else. Advocates for characters wanting to unleash destruction upon the world will want this to be readily available. Advocates for characters wanting to curb this power will want this to be rare, controllable, unwieldy, noticeable, dangerous, to come at a cost, or otherwise difficult to use.

The Characters
A la The West Wing, the offices that exist in this game are the same as in the real world, but the office-holders themselves are fictional.

Choose one character to advocate for in the story. You will have a strong degree of control over this character’s actions. In addition, you can control and direct secondary characters, as many as you can get away with. Arguments will be more likely to succeed if they concern characters in the sphere of influence of your advocacy character. For instance, the U.S. director of Intelligence will make stronger arguments concerning a U.S. secret agent than, say, the Pope.

In addition to the characters listed, you may advocate for any head of state, powerful executive, religious leader, or leader of a powerful (or hoping to become powerful) organization.

Dr. Travis Fitzgerald
The first human to uncover the secret of the doomsday weapon. Like any researcher, he is intelligent and dedicated, but what about him let him see what others had overlooked, or been unable to penetrate? How is the secret released, and whom does he release it to? Or is it stolen? Does the doctor himself play an integral role in trying for find a solution to the world crisis that looms? Or is he silenced before his ideas can be spread any further?

Dr. Cynthia Williams-Fitzgerald
A brilliant researcher in her own right and confidant to Travis. Certainly her support and ideas have helped Travis to his discovery. Will she be able to help her husband and partner safely through this crisis? Or will she be one of the first casualties?

U.S. Secretary of Defense Joshua Kappel
This retired general never oversaw military action, but earned great renown for his management, logistical, and administrative skills. No-one else in the world has greater control over a more powerful military machine.
Will conflict prove him to be as brilliant in action as he is in a boardroom? Or will he be incompetent or even corrupt, beholden to a powerful and shadowy “friend” who placed him in the lofty position he holds?

U.K. Intelligence Director Janet Bollings
An administrative genius with over 25 years of experience as a spy and later spymaster, she has turned the British intelligence agencies into the world’s finest through sheer competence and strength of will. Nobody will know better than her underlings who might gain access to the secret device. But she knows all too well that loyalty is never absolute. Who among her best agents and closest friends is waiting only for the right price to betray Queen and country?

Chinese Premier Zhao Fai
She manages the domestic and economic affairs of a sixth of the world’s population. Surely such power can be turned into something great for the China and its people! Can she convince her country’s civilian leadership and its army that such a great power can be used to power an engine of creation rather than destruction?

Iranian Prime Minister Mahyar Solaimani
Solaimani came to power as a moderate leader but feels tremendous pressure on him: too long, his countrymen feel, has Iran been looked down upon by the decadent West. If he gained the destructive power of this weapon, would he keep it in reserve or use it against one of his many rivals? What would he give to gain it? Or perhaps one of his enemies gains control of the secret; would they attack his nation or usurp his control?

Pope Clement XV
A relatively young pope, consecrated promising a new era of liberalism for the Church. But how will he react when the lives of a billion of the faithful are in mortal peril? What resources, overt and secret, is the Holy Father able to martial?

Rev. Joseph Hawkins
A popular and charismatic evangelical minister. He has been preaching the End of Days for years; and it appears that end may actually be at hand. Does he dare to try to wield God’s fire himself? Does he possess the ear, and heart of another world leader?