D&D 5E Wandering Monsters: Campaign Themes

[I'm A Banana]

If the first adventure is the Village of Hommlet, the pcs then move to the Secret of Bone Hill, follow up by heading to investigate the Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh, go off to oppose the Red Hand of Doom and eventually make an Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, there might be a theme that emerges eventually, but equally likely, the 'theme' starts as "explore our new pcs' motivations in a small town", moves to "clear out a few adventure sites", then switches to "save the valley" and finally moves on to "find out what the heck is up with these weird monsters". And there's no dominant theme there, only themes for small bits of the campaign. I don't think the 'world tour' theme applies if the pcs don't actually spend a great deal of their time touring the world; if the tour, so to speak, is incidental to their adventures- they move on from town A because they get bored, from city B because of a misunderstanding with the law, stay at stronghold C for years, then move on again- then I don't think it would count. I guess the way I see it is the difference between Gulliver's Travels or Around the World in 40 Days, where the focus is the travel, and Star Wars, where there is a lot of travel, but the focus is definitely elsewhere.

See, I think what you're describing is a Theme of "Adventurers solving problems." Kind of a dungeon-of-the-week flavor, or a loose, episodic structure (with the potential to dive into longer arcs when necessary).

Which is why when you say this:

While I agree that "world tour" can be a theme, I disagree that it is in many cases, especially if the pcs drive the direction of the game. I think you need to intend for it to be the theme, or at least that the tour has to become a major focus of the game, for it to count as the campaign's theme (or a theme of the campaign, anyhow).

I'm not sure that I agree. A theme as Wyatt seems to be using the term is just a description of the kind of game you're running, the kind of characters you're playing, the kind of threats they're tackling. "A bunch of do-gooders slay some menacing monsters" is as much a theme as "Save the World."

 

[DEFCON 1]

Let us also not forget that the concept of a "campaign theme" is also just a good thought experiment for potential DMs to help get their minds around what exactly they want to do in their game. As we've seen in many DMG sections in past books... oftentimes they seem to be "Well duh!" articles for experience dungeon masters. But much of the DMG is meant to help players who aren't experienced. So the concept of selecting an overarching identity of what your game is going to be about is a way of narrowing your focus and really making you think whether some ideas you have should be used in your game, and other ideas shouldn't.

These of course aren't hard and fast rules, but they do help the neophyte DM find a direction for their game and follow it. If a DM decides their game is going to be about 'Gods vs. Demons' and yet they find an awesome endgame module about a war with an ancient dragon... the idea that they can look at that module through the prism of their theme (and thus decide whether or not it truly is the kind of adventure they want to have for the end of their campaign) is a good one. Likewise... if a DM has been running a game where the party goes from place to place to place to solve various village's issues (and this is a game that the entire group has been enjoying)... plopping in a scenario where the group is going to sent to a single place and can't leave for a huge swathe of levels... might not be the kind of idea that will assist the progression or enjoyment of the game when reflected against the game's theme.

The entire game of Dungeons & Dragons can be about anything. How, why or what you are playing can be as wide-open as you can think of. And if that seems way too daunting... too many choices causing paralysis... having a theme to narrow your focus for many DMs can only be seen as a good thing. And making sure the DMG points out that is what many players and writers already do, makes it okay to do so as well.

 

[delericho]

Let us also not forget that the concept of a "campaign theme" is also just a good thought experiment for potential DMs to help get their minds around what exactly they want to do in their game.

Yep, good point.

 

[jrowland]

I read the article before any comments were up and thought to myself "ok, boilerplate DMG stuff" and promptly forgot about it. Now I read this thread at enworld and the comments at WotC and all I can think of is "People are over-analyzing everything!"

I've always started with a theme, then comes the campaign outline (fitting to the theme), then comes the adventures themselves (in small blocks: 3 levels or so).

Now, I simplify my themes even further than the article did, but it amounts to the same thing.

My themes are things like "Dragons", "Betrayal", or "Corruption". Part of the fun for me is designing a campaign based around a theme like "Corruption" as well as the adventures. Physical Corruption, Mental Corruption, Environmental Corruption, Political Corruption, etc can all be used.

The article would have been better if he limited themes to a single word. Its that generic.

 

[dd.stevenson]

Most themes I've seen developed by others, or developed myself, have been aesthetic. "My campaign is about steampunk and eternal winter." "My campaign is about dinosaurs and humans and the beginnings of time." "My campaign is about scorched deserts and genies and flying carpets and minarets and viziers with long twirable mustaches."