Settings and Locations as Entities with Problems.

Matrix Spiel, and Matrix Spiel Solo, takes some of the things that are normally passive background elements of a game and makes them active entities. This can be anything from the weather, a specific location building, or the entire setting itself. Here is an example, using some mid journey art I had kicking around as a prompt. 

In Matrix Spiel, and Matrix Spiel Solo an entity attempts an action to solve its problems. To start a game you need at least one entity with one problem. From there, the act of that entity attempting to solve its problems will create new entities and new problems  these new entities and problems will then generate their own entities and problems, so on and so forth (a process I sometimes refer to as "fractal automation")! 

For an example I will start with a setting entity, then conduct a couple of actions to see what other entities I get. You can use any resolution system you want with Matrix Spiel (and Solo) to determine whether an action is successful or not. 

• A successful action creates at least one new entity with at least one problem, and/or gives an existing entity at least one new problem.
• An unsuccessful action creates a new problem for the entity attempting it.

Also - check out the following:  

• https://mraston.itch.io/matrix-spiel 
• https://mraston.itch.io/matrix-spiel-solo

Basic template used: 

Entity Type/category.
Entity Name and title/class/profession/etc.
Single sentence description outlining the entity’s essence.
Problem List:

• (PROBLEM that exists for ENTITY ) because (REASON/s).
• (PROBLEM that exists for ENTITY ) because (REASON/s).
• etc..

Setting.
Red Star, A galaxy wide intergalactic empire.  
A bio militaristic empire rules over a vast collection of planets inhabited by humans and aliens. 
Problem List:

• There is conflict in the empire because of a loose coalition of rebellious humans and aliens 
• There is chaos in the empire because city sized monsters created by the empires genetic experimentations terrorize it. 

Turn 1: 

Action: The empire attempts to crush the rebellion. Result: Failure, Catastrophic negative outcome to attempter and allies. New problem for Empire: The empire has lost control of several planets to the rebellion because of a number of military disasters.  

Turn 2: 

Action: The empire attempts to recapture planets it lost to the rebellion. Result: Success, Desired outcome is just barely achieved. New Entity Created!  

Planet.
Tallow 1, rebellious planet recently recaptured by the Red Star empire. 
A planet of blue lakes, yellow grasslands and grey mountains. Home to many humans and aliens who rebel against the Red Star Empire 
Problem List:

• The populace of Tallow 1 have recently lost their freedom because of Red Star Occupation. 
• The planet is very dangerous because city sized monsters created by the empires genetic experimentations terrorize it. 

Turn 3: 

Action: Again, the empire attempts to crush the rebellion. Result: Failure, Catastrophic negative outcome to attempter. New problem for Empire: Their is disorder on some core Red Star empire planets because the rebellion has sympathizers. 

Action: The population of Tallow 1 attempts to fight back against Red Star empire occupation. Result: Failure, An immediately dangerous negative outcome. New problem for Tallow 1: The red star empire has increased its military presence on the planet because of recent, unsuccessful, rebellious uprisings.

Turn 4: 

Action: The empire attempts to cleanse its core planets of rebellion sympathizers. Result: Success, Desired outcome is just barely achieved. New Entity Created!   

Group.
The Red Cape Inquisition, secret military police. 
Elite order keepers of the Red Sun Empire. Wear red armour and cape and wield long plasma rifles and swords. Focused on the cleansing of rebellion. 
Problem List:

• The inquisition is shamed because the rebellion still exists. 

Action: The rebellious population of Tallow 1 attempts to form an underground network of freedom to weaken the imperial military control of the planet. Result: Failure, A potentially dangerous negative outcome. New problem for Tallow 1: The rebellion movement is disarray because the red star empire recently killed all of its leaders when it uncovered its underground network. 

Turn 5: 

Action: The Red Cape Inquisition attempts to travel to Tallow 1 to eradicate any rebellious elements there . Result: Success, Desired outcome is confidently achieved. New Entity Created!  

Group.
The Tallow 1 Coalition, anti red sun empire rebellion military rebellion. 
An underground alliance of humans and aliens opposed to the red sun empires military rule over Tallow 1. 
Problem List:

• The Tallow 1 Coalition is in danger because the Red Cape Inquisition has arrived on Tallow 1. 

And I will stop there because that seems to about sum up the Mid Journey image! 

To summarise: 

Setting.
Red Star, A galaxy wide intergalactic empire.  
A bio militaristic empire rules over a vast collection of planets inhabited by humans and aliens. 
Problem List:

• Their is disorder on some core Red Star empire planets because the rebellion has sympathizers. 
• The empire has lost control of several planets to the rebellion because of a number of military disasters.  
• There is conflict in the empire because of a loose coalition of rebellious humans and aliens 
• There is chaos in the empire because city sized monsters created by the empires genetic experimentations terrorize it. 

Planet.
Tallow 1, rebellious planet recently recaptured by the Red Star empire. 
A planet of blue lakes, yellow grasslands and grey mountains. Home to many humans and aliens who rebel against the Red Star Empire 
Problem List:

• The rebellion movement is disarray because the red star empire recently killed all of its leaders when it uncovered its underground network. 
• The populace of Tallow 1 have recently lost their freedom because of Red Star Occupation. 
• The planet is very dangerous because city sized monsters created by the empires genetic experimentations terrorize it. 

Group.
The Red Cape Inquisition, secret military police. 
Elite order keepers of the Red Sun Empire. Wear red armour and cape and wield long plasma rifles and swords. Focused on the cleansing of rebellion. Recently arrived at Tallow 1. 
Problem List:

• The inquisition is shamed because the rebellion still exists. 

Group.
The Tallow 1 Coalition, anti red sun empire rebellion military rebellion. 
An underground alliance of humans and aliens opposed to the red sun empires military rule over Tallow 1. 
Problem List:

• The Tallow 1 Coalition is in danger because the Red Cape Inquisition has arrived on Tallow 1. 

I would be remiss to not include that tower monster in the image as an entity so: 

Titanic Abomination.
The Tallow 1 Bio Beast, 
A city sized escape biological horror that plods earth shakingly across the surface of Tallow 1.  
Problem List:

• The tallow 1 Bio Beast is enormously hungry because it cannot stop growing. 
• The Tallow 1 Bio Beast cannot stop growing because its experimental genetic coding is defective.

If you were playing with players, you wouldn't want to have every entity acting every turn (thus its good to consider only a few key entities as "active", but having a list of important entities would help the referee always know what the world was going to attempt next, and that should feel natural and organic for the other players in the game. 

Lost on Furnace Street! An example solo game of Matrix Spiel Solo!

I recently put out a little PDF summarizing some recent experiments with matrix and solo style gaming: 

https://mraston.itch.io/matrix-spiel-solo

To celebrate, here is an example of "Matrix Spiel Solo" game! 

Some initial notes: 

• https://scryfall.com/random was used to generate random entities, when needed. 

• A link to the card that “generated” the entity will be included in their entity profile. 

• The “Automated Kontext Spiel” result for each attempted action is recorded in the “attempted action log” to show what results lead to what in the “Events of the game”.

• “Kontext rolls” was used for things like random reactions 

The events of the game!

• The day: Chandra, disturbed and uneasy from her dreams of burning the city, wandered her city looking for a dream interpreter. She does not have much experience with such a profession and became lost around nightfall in an unfamiliar and dangerous section of her city. 

• Sunset: Chandra tried to work out what part of the city she was in as the sun set. Unfortunately, this caused her to wander even deeper into the section of the city that was most dangerous at night.  

• Early evening: Chandra peered at the dark street she had wandered to. It was a dark, muddy, and abandoned street lined with old, shuttered and crumbling workshop buildings.  (New entities created - Furnace Street and Wild Ruby Golems).

• A few minutes in the early evening: Chandra, stumbling around in the increasingly dark street, tried to find a landmark to orientate herself within the city. Unfortunately, she was unable to make out the city skyline nor see any landmarks within the gloom of Furnace Street. 
• As Chandra stumbled down furnace street, she heard a skittering and smelt ozone. She caught sight of a red, twinkling creature, about the size of a dog, peering at her from a ruined workshop balcony. (Konext roll - A glimmer of positivity twinkles through the situation.) Chandra thought the creature may be able to help her orient herself, so decided to enter the ruined workshop and parlay with the thing. The Ruby Golem did not immediately consider Chandra a threat. 
• Around Chandra and the Ruby Golem, Furnace Street seethed with rage at its ongoing destruction and desertion brought on by the wild ruby golems but was unable to do anything about it.  

• A few minutes in the early evening: Chandra strode into the abandoned, ruined workshop - entering through the open and empty door frame. (New entity created - Rag’s Alchemical).  
• Seeing Chandra entering the potion factory, the Ruby Golem and its kin hid. They skittered into the various refuse piles filling the building. 
• Chandra heard a large and crumbling boom as something in one of the buildings of Furnace street fell apart.   

• A few minutes in the early evening: Chandra began exploring the abandoned alchemical laboratory but stepped into a puddle of some vile black goo. The goo bubbled and Chandra felt a wave of sickness and exhaustion spread through her from the necromantic goo.
• The wild ruby golems watched Chandra as she stumbled in the dark. They grew concerned and divided as to her intentions. 
• The building shuddered slightly and Chandra was sprinkled with masonry dust. 
• Around Chandra, the abandoned laboratory wailed. The untold undead spirits that had worked in the laboratory were not content with inaction and called out to the long gone head brewer necromancer - summoning the ghost of his being  (New entity created - Eidol). 

• A few minutes in the early evening: Chandra summoned a flame from her hand and burnt the necromantic goo from her boot. The feeling of unease instantly disappeared. 
• A group of the more wary and aggressive Wild Ruby Golems decide that Chandra has explored enough of their territory and they will kill her. 
• From the street came another boom as the stone and masonry  of a near destroyed workshop fell into a rubbly heap.
• Eidol, the spirit of the head brewer necromancer, wandered the ruin of his old workshop and found no one to converse with. He decided to summon some companions. 

• A few minutes in the early evening: Chandra summoned a flame with her hand and held it aloft in search of the ruby golems. As soon as the light filled the abandoned potion brewery she saw a group the red, jewel, creatures charging at her. 
• While some of the ruby golems decided to kill Chandra, the group was not unanimous and as they charged towards Chandra conflict erupted among them - the ruby golems began fighting one another on the filthy, dusty laboratory floor. 
• From the street came another boom as the stone and masonry  of a near destroyed workshop fell into a rubbly heap.
• Eidol, the spirit of the head brewer necromancer, used his powers to summon a group of green, warm ectoplasmic ghosts. Hopefully talkative undead he could converse with (Somewhere deep in the abandoned building - away from Chandra and the ruby golems). 

• A few minutes in the early evening: Chandra approached the group of ruby golems in a neutral, friendly manner. She was shocked to see them begin physically fighting amongst one another, chunks and slivers of ruby flying into the dark, dank air. A single ruby golem removed itself from the melee though, and approached her (New entity created - Red the Friendly Ruby Golem).  
• The two opposing, pro and anti chandra, groups of  ruby golems began to fight with one another on the laboratory floor. Neither group managed to win the brawl. 
• From the street, a pause in the general booming decay of the architecture - instead heavy foot metallic falls - a city reclamation giant had arrived to remove nuisances and repair damages! (New entity created - Bronze City Reclamation Giant).  
• Eidol opens his ghostly, spirit mouth to speak, but finds his recently summoned warm ghosts have fled before him! 
• The warm ghosts, bored from just looking at Eidol, flee to the lower levels of the abandoned laboratory - attracted by the noise of the quarreling ruby golems! 

I paused and posted the game here because other wise the post would get too long!

I thought it was an interesting point though.

We now have a "party" of "two adventurers" (Chandra and Red) who have the surrounding dangers of an angry mob of ruby golems, some bored and mischievous ghosts, a sad spirit, and a giant city reclamation golem.

I shall continue playing to find out what happens next (sans the very in depth logging of everything that happens for public consumption which is a bit of a drag).

Attempted action log: 

• Chandra: Find someone to speak to who can explain her burning dreams - Failure, A potentially dangerous negative outcome.   

• Chandra: Try and orientate herself and work out what section of the city she is in - Failure, A potentially dangerous negative outcome.   

• Chandra: Take in her immediate surroundings - Success, Desired outcome is just barely achieved.

• Chandra:  Try and orientate herself and work out what section of the city she is in - Failure, An embarrassing minor set back.

• Wild Ruby Golems: Investigate the newcomer to the street to see if they are a golem slaver - Failure, A potentially dangerous negative outcome.

• Furnace Street: Collapse a piece of masonry on the destructive ruby golems - Failure, An embarrassing minor set back.

• Chandra: Enter the abandoned workshop - Success, Desired outcome is confidently achieved.

• Wildy Ruby Golems: Hide from Chandra so they can observe her actions - Success, Desired outcome is confidently achieved.

• Furnace Street: Summon some sort of defense against these wild ruby golems - Failure, A potentially dangerous negative outcome.

• Chandra: Find the ruby golem - Failure, A potentially dangerous negative outcome.

• Wildy Ruby Golems: Monitor Chandra and discover her intent - Failure, A potentially dangerous negative outcome.

• Furnace Street: Summon some sort of defense against these wild ruby golems - Failure, An embarrassing minor set back.

• Rag’s Alchemical: Recall the head brewer necromancer to the laboratory -  Success, Desired outcome is just barely, and temporarily, achieved.

• Chandra: Burn the necromantic goo off their boot - Success, Desired outcome is just barely, and temporarily, achieved.

• Wildy Ruby Golems: Resolve whether ruby is a threat or not - Failure, A potentially dangerous negative outcome.

• Furnace Street: Summon some force that will help the building stay whole - Failure, A potentially dangerous negative outcome. 

• Eidol: Search for someone to talk to in the building - Failure, A potentially dangerous negative outcome.

• Chandra: Explore the ruin, looking for ruby golems with a summoned flame for help - Success, Desired outcome is confidently achieved.

• Wildy Ruby Golems: Attack and kill Chandra - Failure, An embarrassing minor set back.

• Furnace Street: Summon something to stop the decay of the architecture  - Failure, A potentially dangerous negative outcome.

• Eidol: Summon talkative undead - Success, Desired outcome is confidently achieved.

• Chandra: Ask the ruby golems for help and directions - Success, Desired outcome is just barely, and temporarily, achieved.

• Wildy Ruby Golems: One group of ruby golems will attempt to kill or otherwise subdue the other  - Failure, A potentially dangerous negative outcome.

• Furnace Street: Summon something to stop the decay of the architecture  - Success, Desired outcome is achieved with overwhelming and long lasting benefit to attempter and allies.

• Eidol: Have an interesting conversation with the ghosts he has summoned - Failure, A potentially dangerous negative outcome.

• Warm Ghosts: Flee Eidol - Success, Desired outcome is just barely, and temporarily, achieved.

Entities:

Character. 

https://scryfall.com/card/ori/136/chandras-fury 

Chandra, pyromancer and warrior.    

A female warrior, skilled with fire magic who exists in a city of domes and towers. 

Details from play: Is seemingly quite clumsy and has a terrible sense of direction.    

Problem List: 

• Chandra is feeling sick and exhausted because she stepped into necromantic goo. 

• Chandra is lost because she has wandered into an unfamiliar and dangerous section of her city. 

• Chandra is uneasy because she keeps having dreams of her burning her city to the ground. 

• (PROBLEM  that exists for ENTITY ) because (REASON/s).

Character. 

https://scryfall.com/card/fmb1/6/eidolon-of-rhetoric

Eidol, ghost of the remembered brewer necromancer. 

A purple, toga wearing ghost. Fond of discussion.

Problem List: 

• Is angry and alone because hey found no one to talk to after searching the abandoned workshop. 

• Lonely because they have no one to talk to. 

• (PROBLEM  that exists for ENTITY ) because (REASON/s).

Character. 

Red the Friendly Ruby Golem. 

A ruby golem from the abandoned necromantic potion laboratory, willing to help Chandra. 

Problem List: 

• Is hated by some of his peers because he sought out Chandra. 

Character 

https://scryfall.com/card/prm/62475/triumph-of-ferocity

Bronze City Reclamation Giant. 

An 10 foot golem of bronze, created for the reason of city architectural order and maintenance. 

Problem List: 

• The city is disordered and in chaos because furnace street is falling apart.  

Group. 

https://scryfall.com/card/exo/84/furnace-brood

Wild ruby golems. 

Small golems made of precious stone and used in engineering. These ruby golems have escaped bondage and have turned to destructive chaos. 

Problem List: 

• Two groups of golems are fight and injuring one another because they are in a brawl. 

• One group of golems wants to kill chandra because they fear she is a threat. 

• There is unrest among the ruby golems because they can’t agree whether Chandra is a threat or not. 

• Must find out if Chandra is a threat because she is exploring their workshop ruin home. 

• Fear capture because they have escaped slavery and don’t want to return to it. 

• (PROBLEM  that exists for ENTITY ) because (REASON/s).

Group.

https://scryfall.com/card/m15/219/hot-soup

Hot ectoplasmic green ghosts

Summoned by the spirit of the brewer necromancer Eidol for purposes of curing his boredom. 

Problem List: 

• Are instantly bored by Eidols dry conversation because they would prefer to be causing chaos. 

• Like causing chaos because they are restless spirits.  

Place. 

https://scryfall.com/card/exo/84/furnace-brood

Furnace street - abandoned workshop buildings.   

A dark, muddy, and abandoned street lined with old, shuttered and crumbling workshop buildings.

Problem List: 

• Is falling apart automatically because of the extensive damage wrought by the wild ruby golems. 

• One of the streets factories has collapsed because of the vandalism of the wild ruby golems. 

• Can’t expunge the wild ruby golems because it currently has no way of removing them. 

• Is slowly being pulled apart because, mischievous and destructive, wild ruby golems inhabit its ruins. 

Place. 

https://scryfall.com/card/dis/51/ragamuffyn

Rag’s Alchemical - Necromantic potion laboratory. 

Abandoned and in disrepair, the laboratory used to brew chemicals of death and undeath through the use of zombie and skeletal workers. 

Problem List: 

• Operations have ceased because the head brewer necromancer has long ago abandoned the laboratory. 

Notes on the process: 

• I Liked starting the game with a single entity, and pulling a card to do so. This does a lot of the initial worldbuilding for you. 

• Outlining clear and reasoned problems is very important as it makes the process of “what does each entity attempt to do right now” flow very easily. 

• The game can slow down a little bit sometimes when you have to stop and think of logical problems. 

• Fiddling around with the setup of the document is maybe somewhat annoying. I have found in solo games in the past what really slows down play is cross referencing what entities are in play, and what has happened in the game . Ensuring you record these things properly also seems to bog down the game a bit so it's a bit of a battle to ensure brevity while maintaining comprehend-ability. 

• Working out a good system for logging events that have happened alongside what attempted actions caused those events was a bit fiddly - maybe less fiddly if I wasn't trying to gear the document towards public consumption. 

• Things really started to pick up and feeling chaotic and complicated around turn 4 (when furnace street and the ruby golem entities were created). 

• Getting into the mindset of some abstract entities is fun and animistic. For example, what does an abandoned and ruined street see as its problems? What can the street do about that? A fun way of thinking about running a dungeon and also a good way to think about what random encounters an area should have. 

• I shall continue the game, but without as much methodic loggings of rolls, attempted actions, etc - and just focus on problems and events.

How to use Paint.net for online gaming!

 I use paint.net a lot for the games I run online (When runing KriegHamemer for example: http://lizardmandiaries.blogspot.com/search/label/Krieghammer ). Here is a little tutorial for those that might be afraid of image editing software because it is actually very simple, easy, fun and also useful for games! I hope you find the guide helpful! 

• Download Paint.net from: https://www.getpaint.net/
• Install it, etc. 
• Start playing a game, realize you need a map, or image. Open Paint.net.
• Start a new image. I don't know much about image sizes and resolutions, and just always put the resolution at 300 pixels/inch 
• Now the fun starts! 

• The above image is for "layers". Layers are very important and useful. Things down the bottom of the layer list appear behind things above them on the layer list. Something at the bottom of the list would be the background of the image. 
• Decide what background you need! Lets go for "Lava Field". To a google image search for a lava field, find an image you like, then right click it and copy the image, then go back to paint.net and control-v or paste the image! 

• Depending on the size of the image, Paint.net might ask you if you want to add the image as a new layer. You want to always do this! 
• Now we want to add a new layer regardless, to put some stuff onto this lava field! 

• Click the button circled in red in the image above, to add a new layer. 
• Find an image of something you want to put in the lava field. I am going to google "Games Workshop Monster" in google image search to find something. 
• When you find something, copy and paste it as above, into your new layer. 

• Now we want to get rid of all that awful white space that ruins our image! 

• Click the button circled in red above, this is the magic wand tool. It selects everything of the same colour on a layer. 
• Make sure you are on the layer with the image with the colour you want to get rid of then click it with the magic wand tool. It is now selected. Press Delete to get rid of that colour ! 

• Fiddling around with the "tolerance", circled in red above, can help pick up more/less of the colour you want to remove. 
• Holding SHIFT and clicking with the magic wand selects ALL of the colour selected in the layer. 
• I use the "oil painting" effect in, the Effects > Artistic menu to quickly sort of...smooth out disparate images so they kind of look like they are in the same universe. You have apply this to each layer. 

• You can use the Hue/Saturation options in "Adjustments" menu to quickly change the colour of something, make it more lurid/stand out more/less. It only applies to the current layer you are on. 

• You select things on a layer with the tool circled in red. And then you can move them around/resize them with the tool highlighted yellow (in the image above). Hold SHIFT when resizing things to make them keep the same dimensions! 

• Add as many things to your image with new layers as you like! 

• Double click the red circled section in the image above to rename a layer. Very useful for when you lots of layers! 
• Arrange and create image as you need! 

• When you are feeling daring start mucking around with blurs and such things! 

• Before I forget! Use the "Snipping tool" (on windows) to quickly take little snippets of images that are on your screen, and then use CONTROL-C and CONTROL-V to copy and paste it where ever you need it (Discord for example!).