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Message: <blockquote data-quote="S'mon" data-source="post: 6268695" data-attributes="member: 463">Re the article, I think discussion of themes 'in a literary sense' in D&D is a good idea. But I don't trust Wyatt not to do more harm than good. Maybe getting a more accomplished writer and someone with a more successful track record as a GM would be better. For instance, his Greenbriar Chasm failed because he had way too much nailed down in advance of play. Themes initially should be more like vague ideas at the back of the GM's mind. They only concretise in play, in response to player input. And they are not the same as mission goals/campaign goals. One big failing of Greenbriar Chasm was that he built it around goals that were far too extended - vast amounts of precursor material before the players could 'get to the fun' <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt="(:" title="Smile    (:"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname="(:" />p). It's similar with the pre-plotted campaign concepts in the 4e DMG2, and also an issue with the horribly drawn-out 4e HPE adventure series. Campaign goals are answers to "What do we do?" But campaign themes should always be questions, not answers. Goals are best kept immediate and achievable within a limited number of sessions' play, probably a few months of real time is the most that's desirable. Themes can run through an entire campaign, reflecting on it and being reflected by it. Like a river they are both changing and constant, a silvery thread. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /></blockquote>

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