by Paul G
It takes very little to realize that the gameplay and theme work quite nicely together.You use Power to do stuff.
Some things give you Power.
Without some insane, BAD complications, and by that I mean entirely changing the game into being an exact Ascension clone, instead of an elegant one-resource system... It's impossible to do what you want.
You use Power to do stuff.
Stuff gives you Power.
Anything in between not being 100% thematic is entirely okay. The theme happens before and during the first and after and during the second. Between is a black void filled with "necessary for the game to work".
No one complains that training between two people in Settlers is done even without a road, or that Trolls can make babies with Imps in Dungeon Lords.