thread: 2005-05-03 : Creating Theme
On 2005-05-04, GB Steve wrote:
I'm sure that theme awareness makes a GM's job easier but there are other some rather thorny issues that are glossed over:
- if the theme is implicit to the players, they might not be taking the same direction as the GM. You might say, "Well then, make the theme explicit" but that isn't always popular and might throw up more divisions than it heals (e.g. explicit themes can be seen as 'spoilers').
- there isn't generally just one theme in a game. The beauty of different characters (and players) is that a common situation will likely throw up several different and possibly competing themes. Can the game support them all? If not, which theme do you go with?
- if dice are theme spoilers and players like dice, then how is this issue to be resolved?
- even in vanilla fantasy there are common themes, such as what to do with the good orc or should good characters kill (in other words, themes are already there). Even when the theme is explicitly something else, how do you keep the focus on that rather than being sidetracked into one of the many implicit themes? And in any case, should you even try? In other words, are all themes equally worthy of exploration? And if not, what makes one theme better than another.
I'm not saying your analysis is unhelpful. It's a good starting point but it doesn't really get to grips with anything contentious.
