Theme as lodestone

Any

Yesterday I mentioned theme as lodestone, and in some ways the idea of “theme” in a roleplaying game is ludicrous. If the players can do anything how can you enforce a theme?

And frankly, the discussion of theme is so confused in English classes and writing books throughout the English-speaking world that it's totally understandable if someone says, “Man versus Nature? What does that mean? ‘Love makes you do stupid things’? What noise is this?”

Okay. Here are thoughts from an unsuccessful author and game writer.

Most statements of themes given in English classes are banal and trite statements. If they summarized the novel or story, there wouldn't be a reason to write the novel or story. So in that sense, &lquo;theme” is a pile of crap. I strongly suspect that theme is of little use as a post mortem thing. Nobody has ever finished a novel and said, “Wow. What a great statement of ‘Man versus the world!’”

However, I think that it's undeniable that well-crafted fiction has a mood. That mood can be supported by the setting, by the characters, and by the events.

• A story that takes place in Edge City is very different from a story that takes place Utopia Village, British Columbia.
• A story where all the men are crap to the female protagonist is different from a story where some of the men are helping the female protagonist.
• A story that starts with a bus jumping the sidewalk and killing the protagonist's spouse is different from a story that begins with the first evidence of a years-long plan.

(In a sense this part of the trend in fiction of piling on small details. It does require an educated audience, but that's a discussion for a different day.)

I think that “lodestone” or “shibboleth” is perhaps a better metaphor but I think of it as the wall of a handball court. (Why, I dunno; I don't even play handball.) You're a writer; you have a billion ideas. You throw ideas at the wall of theme and the ones that bounce back in the right direction are the ones you take.

In this sense, “theme” is a creative tool, not an analytic tool. Your statement of theme might be as focused as “Bob is an abusive dad and his kids can’t escape” or as broad as “Men are crap.” It's a sieve; it's a measuring stick (ldquo;You must be this tall to sack the city”).

By picking a theme or mood early in the creation of a story or adventure, you can discard ideas that don't fit. By calling it something separate than setting or character, we also make it larger and more influential.

I hope that helps in using theme. I'll expand this later, but now it's time to go to work.