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A Thematic Game is a Tabletop Game driven by a strong theme, which its rules and mechanics aim to depict. More often than not, the game will create a dramatic story as you play it. The story will probably revolve around fighting or good-versus-evil conflicts, with common choices of genre being Science Fiction and Fantasy.
Mechanically, these games often features direct player-to-player conflict, a chance of Player Elimination, dice rolling, and plastic miniatures.
Subtypes include Ameritrash Games, Narrative Board Games and Adventure Board Games.
Compare Tabletop RPG for another type of tabletop game focused on narrative. Contrast Wargaming, which has a focus on simulation.
Examples
- Betrayal at House on the Hill has you play out a horror story.
- The Captain Is Dead has you play the surviving crew of your favorite Science Fiction show, after the ship has been badly damaged and the captain is dead.
- Munchkin is a comedy game whose theme parodies the Role-Playing Game genre.
- While Villainous (Ravensburger) has quite a few strategic elements, its appeal relies heavily on recreating events from the stories where its villains appear. Maths: BoardGameGeek is inconsistent about categorizing this one. I believe Thematic is right, as the game would lose most of its appeal if you stripped away the theme.
