Brazilian themes

The importance of the theme

Sometimes the hardcore board game players ignores the importance of the theme to casual and rookie ones. In forums like BGG it’s common to find topics about “which is the best work placement implementation?” or “the ten essential deck building games”. On the other hand, theme topics are a little bit unpopular.    

Mechanics are the fundamental core of board games. But you can’t ignore the importance of the theme: new players don’t understand terms like “dice rolling”, “grid movement” or “action points”, but if you invite your non-players friends to try a “game where we need to kill zombies and complete missions” they associate the idea with movies, TV series and create some expectations about the next game night.  

Theme categories

When I think about board games I like to divide the themes in two fundamental categories: fiction and nonfiction games. It’s a simplification, because it is very easy to find games that mix fiction with real world facts, but this division is a good start point for an interesting debate. 

Fiction themed games can be based in books, movies or any kind of narrative. Dune Imperium, Marvel Champions and Lord of The Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth are good examples of preexisting fictional universes adapted to board games. 

Another option is a game with an entire fictional universe like Root, Eclipse or Gloomhaven. Maybe the game lore is so deep and has plenty of characters and places that can be compared to great works of fiction like Blade Runner or The Chronicles of Narnia.

Non fiction themed games try to simulate or show real situations to the players. In this category games based on historical events or characters are very common like Virtu, London and all Axis & Allies series. The history happens in some place and this information is relevant in historical games like El Grande and Orléans (the two games take place in the Medieval times, but the difference between France and Spain in this time is fundamental to set the objective of the player).   

Games that portray professions or activities like Agricola or Wingspan are also good examples of non fiction themed games with more subtle connections with historical moments.  

Brazilian history as a theme

The great number of games launched every year is a challenge for every game designer or studio. It’s hard to catch the players attention and a good game needs to impress the audience to survive in a very competitive market.

And the theme is a good way to stand out from the crowd.

A good example to prove my point is Brazil: Imperial, a well succeeded Brazilian game launched in 2021. If you analyse the core mechanics of Brazil: Imperial you find a mix of mechanics very popular in euro and 4x games. A good and funny combination, but not a real turning point in the history of board games.

The success of Brazil: Imperial is linked to the excellent art of the game. Based on historical paintings of the 19th century, the game is beautiful and catches the audience with vivid colors, exotic places and photographic art.

The game art was important to show the place where the story was made. For non-Brazilians the history of the country is a great mystery. The idea of a royal court in the tropics, the existence of a confederation formed by former African slaves, a gold rush in the middle of the forest, the foundation of multicultural and multiethnic cities and the struggles against foreign invaders make Brazilian history almost as fantastic as a fictional tale.

All countries have good and bad moments in their histories, but in Brazil the events were extreme and unique. Brazilian history is plenty of events that are both frightening and incredible: bold soldiers, fascinating adventures and audacious heroes share the story with violence, destruction of nature and the outrageous practice of slavery.

Brazil: Imperial is not an educational game about Brazilian history. However It has a lot of information about places, personalities and events that  arouses curiosity about the theme and gets the player to search more about Brazil and of course about Brazilian games.