Selective Thematic Abstraction

I had an amazing time at Tabletop Network '22. I came away with new ways of looking at design topics and several ideas for upcoming posts. This post expands on a point made by the group I was in during the conference. 

Tabletop board games require abstraction. Even simulations must choose what it is that they simulate. However, what you choose to abstract informs the story that your game tells. 

When learning to design lighting for the stage, designers are taught that the way to make something look brighter is to remove lights, not add them. When every light is on, nothing is emphasized. By turning some lights off, areas can be spotlighted to draw the audience's attention. The non-obvious result is that turning lights off can make a stage appear brighter. 

Abstraction works the same way when it comes to thematic expression in board games. If you want to tell a certain story or provide a certain experience within your theme, what you abstract is as important as what you simulate. Too many details often result in a cluttered experience where no clear story emerges. Whereas selective abstraction allows for your intended thematic experience to shine. 

An easy way to understand this concept is to compare two similar games: The Grizzled and The Coldest Night. Both are small, cooperative card games. Both involve playing a card from your hand on your turn to a shared tableau. Both have negative effect cards that can accumulate in front of a player. But the experience evoked by each is very different. 

The Grizzled leans into the importance of camaraderie between soldiers in WWI. The cards played into the shared tableau are less important thematically than helping your squad get what they need to stay alive. The well-being of your squad is the thematic goal of the game and succeeding in missions takes a back seat to that goal. The Grizzled accomplishes this by abstracting the fighting aspect of the theme away almost entirely and simulating the mental trauma caused by warfare. This design choice creates a play experience where the predominate emotion is empathy for the other people around the table. 

The Coldest Night, by contrast, has a stronger focus on the environmental setting of the game. In the game, players are trying to keep a fire burning all night by feeding it fuel scavenged from an abandoned house. The health of your group is still important, but it takes a back seat to the primary goal of keeping the fire burning. Unlike The Grizzled, The Coldest Night is set in a single location on a single night. The theme plays with a universal human fear of getting caught in the cold. Thematically, hope is centered around the fire, not fellow players. 

Neither game is more correct for what it chose to abstract vs. simulate. The Grizzled has more heads up gameplay as players discuss who they need to help. The Coldest Night is more heads down as players agonize over how to play out their hands. The Grizzled can pack a stronger emotional punch because the theme emphasizes relationships. However, it can also force players to make unthematic plays in order to win the game. By focusing on a simpler experience, The Coldest Night provides a stronger simulation. 

Importantly, neither game tries to emphasize both an environmental simulation and an emotional one. We don't know where we are in France in The Grizzled or why we are stuck with the other players in The Coldest Night. Those details aren't only unnecessary; they would detract from the clean experiences the games currently provide. 

Designers often interpret 'integrate theme and mechanics' to mean 'theme everything.' This is a good place to start. However if certain thematic details get in the way of the intended experience, you can streamline your thematic elements to better fit your vision. 

ShippBoard Games is a board game design blog that updates most Mondays.