Review of The Matrix

"I know what you're thinking, 'cause right now I'm thinking the same thing. Actually, I've been thinkin' it ever since I got here: Why oh why didn't I take the BLUE pill?"

MetalMan's Review of "The Matrix" by M. Lynes

What is the Matrix?:
The Matrix is an attempt to create a roleplaying game in the world of the movie of the same name. It uses a modified version of the West End Games Star Wars Role-Playing Game, Revised and Expanded Edition. A conversion document is also provided on the website for adapting it to the new D6 Legends system. Since this is using a once-commercially-available system, this review is mainly going to focus on the changes made to it.

The Premise:
Players assume the role of freedom fighters from Zion in an attempt to liberate humanity from the control of the machines who have enslaved mankind through the use of the Matrix to pacify and delude the world. As if you didn't know this already...

What Ya Get:
The Matrix is available as both HTML and PDF. I am using the Adobe Acrobat (PDF) version for the purposes of this review. It weighs in at thirty-five pages. You will need to have the Adobe Acrobat reader software installed on your computer or another program capable of displaying the PDF format.

Cost:
None. Nothing. Free. Dev/Nul.

Appearance:
No big points for appearance. The PDF format is not taken advantage of as it looks like a straight HTML to PDF dump was done. Still the information is presentable if a bit unremarkable. I did not notice any glaring typographical errors but there were several sections in the text that were basically just redundant information that was repeated almost vertatim from its previous occurance. Cut and paste can be your friend but, when you only have thirty-five pages of material, it becomes very hard to not notice.

"What you know you can't explain, but you feel it. You've felt it your entire life, that there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad."

The Game:
As before, If you're familiar with WEG's Star Wars or any of its other D6 System products, The Matrix is not going to be much of a learning curve for you. Character creation is unchanged with the exception of the addition of Chi, Neural, Matrix Abilities, and Flash Skills. Chi points can only be spent in the Matrix and effectively double your attribute and/or skill roll totals when you spend one. If you think of it as "supercharged karma" for Shadowrun, you're not too far off. Neurals is your characters ability to transcend their physical limits while in the Matrix. Each player gains 1D to split between Quickness, Awareness, and Endurance traits. Again, this is only used in the Matrix. Matrix Abilities take the place of Force Points and essentially work the same way but with Matrix-esque "feats" such as Sense Code and Predictive Modeling. Flash skills are skills that can be "downloaded" to your character by an Operator. Flash skill(s) are equal in ability to the number of Knowledge Die that you have.

Templates are presented for a Resuscitated Hacker, Resuscitated Bodyguard, Resuscitated Seer, Freeborn Operator, Hovership Crewman, and Freeborn Soldier. Nothing here really stands out although they are only templates and, as such, seem to do a decent job of covering the various archetypes that were in the film.

The combat section really only adds in a few rules to cover automatic weapons such as "spraying" and firing a weapon in each hand. I know autofire wasn't covered in Star Wars, but firing "Woo Style" may have been (my mind is a bit cloudy and I may be wrong on both accounts as I can't find my copy of Star Wars at the moment.

The equipment section lists weapons generically (i.e. "machine pistol") this is okay but some people may want more realism. This is addressed somewhat by an appendix at the back of the rules called "The Gun Shop" in which various weapons and damage by caliber are detailed. This should give anyone enough information, if their favorite gun isn't listed, to extrapolate the game stats for it. The section continues with stats for Jump Chairs and three robots (Sentinels, Nurses, and Spiders). It wraps up with the game stats on a typical hovership. No information is given on standard vehicles that might be encountered in the Matrix such as a car or an airplane. You'll need to make up stats for these or find a WEG product that does detail them if you players get into vehicular combat inside the Matrix.

The last section of the rules is called "The Machines" and is the best part of the rules. It gives information about the topography of the Matrix, which is a part of a larger neural net called Leviathan, as well as local access nodes. Farms, Nurseries, Robot Factories, and Satellites & Space Stations are also detailed in a lesser extent but enough so that you can gleen some setting information and ideas from them. The Matrix is covered more fully here as well in that it describes how the Matrix operates and how these operating rules can be taken advantage of by hackers. Game stats are given for a typical Agent as well as a few of their "human" allies. This section seems to be the best developed and I'm hoping that some of the other sections are due for this treatment as well although I'm not sure how much that is possible considering the use of a commercial set of mechanics.

Overall Impression:
Its an interesting idea although I'm not sure how much gaming could be derived from the setting. This could potentially be allievated somewhat by the sequel which should be hitting theaters in the next year. (those virii guys look really cool!) As it stands now, its a good implementation of a game system to match a movie. If this is your thing, The Matrix deserves your attention. Otherwise, however, your use of this material is probably going to be very limited.

MetalMan signing off.