What Makes a Game Thematic?

by D. N.

I finally decided to update my profile with a summary of my gaming preferences, and got to thinking about whether I would be justified in saying I like thematic games. This lead me to thinking about theme more generally, and about what it means to say a game is thematic.

As far as I can tell a game can be considered thematic for different reasons.

Thematic Rules

A game can be thematic if its rules and mechanics make it a good model of the setting the game takes place in. In this kind of game, the rules fit together well and are largely driven by the setting. Once you've played the game and know the rules well, they will make sense. Mage Knight Board Game is an example of a game with thematic rules and mechanics. For example, at night time it's harder to cross a forest, but it easier to cross desert; when you enter a dungeon you start playing by night rules and you can't bring many followers with you; you can spot the defenders of a city/keep/tower during the day, but not at night; and so on. You still have to stretch your imagination to give a thematic explanation for the different card offers, but on the whole, there are lots of little touches that seem to suggest the mechanics were largely driven by the setting of the game.

Something to be said about thematic rules is that they are more noticeable if not implemented than if they are implemented well. For example, it's obvious that in Agricola you have many rules that don't make thematic sense:

* To do well in the game, you have to do it all, raise animals, grow vegetables and wheat, grow your house, etc. If you only have a sheep farm, or a wheat farm, you won't achieve a good score at the end.
* You can't take actions that other players have taken on the same turn.
* The order in which different resources and available actions appear is arbitrary from a thematic viewpoint. Why can you only grow vegetables or raise boar at the end of the game, for example?
* It takes one person to produce offspring.
* And so on, I don't mean to diss Agricola here since it's a great game all around, but you get the idea.

Of course, these rules make good sense from the point of view of balancing the game and making the mechanics work to deliver a fun and strategic experience, hence why you see this kind of thing in many of today's euro games.

On the other hand, thematic rules may at first sight seem arbitrary or adding too many exceptions, since they they may affect gameplay only subtly. It takes time and a specific type of gamer who cares about this to recognize and appreciate them.

Thematic Outcomes

A game can be labeled thematic if the situations and outcomes it generates evoke its setting well. A good example here is Twilight Struggle, which does several things well: it creates a feeling of constant tension and forces you to do lots of damage control, which is very appropriate to its Cold War setting; the ways games can unfold in terms of what regions and countries are controlled by which super power, while by no means pre-determined, often recreates actual power balance during the Cold War compellingly. My first game of TS ended with East Germany being flipped to US control, which both my opponent and I thought was really cool. As an aside, while the main mechanic of the game of putting influence counters is perhaps a bit too abstract to be considered thematic, some of the other game mechanics such as the military ops and defcon tracks are clearly well thought out and very thematic.

Thematic Narrative

A game can be thematic in that it simply evokes its setting well. That is, when creating a narrative in your head about the events in the game, you end up thinking in terms of world elements rather than game mechanics. I've yet to play a game that does this really well, but I am hoping that Magic Realm might be what I am looking for.

LotR LCG goes some way towards having a good thematic narrative, by having the Quest deck, which tells you the story of the adventure broad terms. It focuses your mind on a particular story, but leaves plenty of blanks for your mind to fill. I think this mechanic can be a hit and miss however, and is very well developed in some quests, but not in others.

Similarly, some quests are very creative in how the Encounter deck is made to invoke particular elements of the adventure through Objective cards or novel mechanics -- for example, the search for clues in Hunt for Gollum, the search for athelas in Journey to Rhosgobel, or the clue mechanic in Dungeons Deep and Caverns Dim.

Thematic = A Well Developed Theme?

I've been distinguishing between theme and setting, with theme being the implementation of a game's setting and/or what you do in the game. As far as I can tell there are many players who use the word theme to actually mean setting. As in fantasy, or Lord of the Rings, farming, or something similar. I don't want to argue about semantics or redefine a commonly used term, so I am perfectly fine with using theme in this sense as long as it's clear from the context. I do think however, that many players have some combination of all of the above (and more) in mind when they talk about theme, so it's useful to look into some of the nuances.

Other Elements and Fluff

IMO, theme has little to do with having nice art, a license for a book or movie, or a cool fantasy/space/whatever setting. I recently played both LotR DBG and DC Comics DBG, and they are good examples of why this is the case. Good art, a nice setting and, well, fluff can certainly help, but are not central. For example, the quotes from LotR in many of the cards in LotR LCG add to the value of the game but I would put them in the "nice touch", rather than the "game defining" category.

Conclusion

My preference for thematic games has more to do with the rules, outcomes and narrative than the setting itself. That being said, I would love to play a game with mechanics similar to those of MKBG or LotR LCG set into Gene Wolfe's New Sun world, or Terry Pratchett's Discworld.

What makes a game thematic for you? Do you find the categories above useful, and would you add to them?

Here's how I would fill the following thematic table for the games mentioned. How would you fill it?


Mage Knight Board Game
LotR LCG
Magic Realm*
Twilight Struggle
Agricola
LotR DBG
DC Comics DBGRules
Yes
No
Yes
Weak No
No
No
NoOutcomes
Yes
Weak Yes
Yes
Strong Yes
No
No
NoNarrative
No
Weak Yes
Yes
No
No
No
NoFluff
Yes
Yes
No
Weak Yes
Weak Yes
Yes
YesOverall
Weak Yes
Yes
Strong Yes
Weak Yes
No
No
No

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