Ideas are the root of creation.

–Ernest Dimnet

One of the things I’ve incorporated into my current Dungeons & Dragons game is the use of a campaign theme.  A theme is the underlying motif played out across the various aspects of the campaign.  The theme itself can manifest in a variety of different ways.  It can appear in story-lines and plot arcs, NPC personalities and motivations, and of course PC backgrounds and sub-plots.  The proper use and application of a well-developed theme can really tie your campaign together and give the story a very “epic” feel regardless of power level.

Choosing a Theme

Selecting a theme for your campaign usually comes about in one of two ways, either as a conscious decision on your part or as a byproduct of the campaign itself.  As I began designing my current campaign I didn’t have any sort of underlying theme in mind.  However after laying out the first couple of levels as well as the primary and secondary plot arcs, a theme began to emerge.  After noticing that my main NPC’s as well as the primary plot arc all shared a certain thematic element I began building upon it as a theme. 

One of the things I like to do is select two concepts that form opposite sides of the same thematic coin.  For example, in Dark Legacy (my campaign) the theme that became apparent was one of corruption, but at the same time it is also the story of redemption. 

Good themes share a few common elements:

• They form the “core ethos” of the campaign.
• They touch upon the campaign’s morals and ethics.
• They can be portrayed in a variety of ways.
• Every player, as well as each character, can relate to the theme and interact with it.

A great starting point is the Seven Deadly Sins or the Seven Heavenly Virtues.  The sins include pride, envy, gluttony, lust, anger, greed, and sloth.  The virtues are faith, hope, charity, fortitude, justice, temperance, and prudence.  There are hundreds of other great theme ideas as well.  Here are a few off the top of my head; solitude, courage, loss, honor, duty, corruption, regret, diligence, love, guilt, vanity, sorrow, and redemption.

There are dozens, if not hundreds of other theme ideas as well.  Choosing one, or an opposing pair, can give you great inspiration for everything in you campaign.  Next we’ll take a look at putting themes to work.

Incorporating a Theme

There are numerous ways to work your theme into the campaign.  In fact there are so many it would be next to impossible to list them all here.  So with that in mind I’ll show you a few ways using a sample theme.  In this case we’ll use the theme greed / generosity.  Here are a few ways you might work this theme into your campaign:

• The primary antagonist of one of the adventures is the ghost of an evil dwarf.  He remains fettered to the world in order to protect his hoard of ill-gotten gains.
• One of the heroes’ patrons is a wealthy aristocrat / noble.  He employs the heroes on a semi-regular basis to find and recover the treasures he collects (covets).  Eventually he is killed by a rival collector. 
• Much of the campaign is set in a region that contains the ruins of an ancient kingdom.  Throughout the campaign bits of history are revealed telling the story of an empire that was extremely wealthy but always desired more.  Eventually their reach exceeded their grasp and the kingdom fell into ruin. 
• The ruins from the aforementioned kingdom contain numerous vaults, opulent palaces, fantastic estates, gaudy temples, as well as other ostentatious signs of wealth and power.  Conversely there are no ruined orphanages, homeless shelters, or any other signs of a once-generous kingdom.
• One of the PC’s was once a cleric of an evil god of greed such as Tiamat.   When that life eventually caught up to him he was locked away in prison.  A kindly priest who visited the prison eventually helped him see the error of his ways and converted him to the worship of a good deity.  As the campaign begins years of being locked away have left the PC a first level cleric who hopefully won’t ever relapse. 

When using a theme a few points should be kept in mind:

• The theme should be allowed to subtly infuse the campaign, don’t use it too overtly.
• The theme isn’t a straightjacket.  Don’t feel compelled to force every story and adventure to be part of the theme.  As the campaign progresses you’ll discover that your players will find the theme in the things that occur regardless of whether you intended it or not.
• When you can look for opportunities to show the players both sides of your thematic coin.  Allow them to find out back story, history, and the chance to see cause and effect.  This helps build a sense of how the theme has shaped their world.  

PC’s and the Theme

Currently I’m working on expanding my campaign theme into the characters lives’ more directly.  To accomplish this I am using a concept that I call Fate & Destiny.  Within the context of the campaign theme (corruption / redemption) each character will evolve to either succumb to fate or embrace destiny.  A character’s fate is the potential to be pulled down into the negative aspect of the campaign theme, that being corruption.  The character’s destiny however, is the potential to overcome fate and embrace the positive aspect of the theme, redemption. 

I want each player in the campaign to tell me what their character’s fate and destiny are, or could be.  Using this information I’ll be able to custom tailor much of the campaign plotline to help tell the story of each character’s heroes’ journey.  This not only makes my job a bit easier as DM but really builds player involvement in the campaign.  It also creates an atmosphere where each player feels as though they are important to the story and tied in a meaningful way to the events of the campaign.  

[Author’s Note: Just a quick apology to my regular readers.  I’ve been very sick the past couple of weeks and only now am I beginning to feel well enough to write.  Hopefully that’s the last of that this winter!]