On Objectivity in Game Design
Earlier tonight (11/22/25) there was a discussion in valor stealer Farmer Gadda 's discord about this post from the Dododecahedron , specifically this passage: "Players cannot experience discovery, overcome objective challenges, or make truly meaningful choices without concrete, immutable fiction." Serket of Fluorite Guillotine took a bit of umbrage at the idea that this was the only way for players to have meaningful choices. After all, there are other methods of discovery: figuring out whether a check will succeed, being surprised by storytelling choices you or other people suggest, discovering that one of your players based her character and the other tortured combat dolls on fucking Umamusume. The discussion turned, as most internet discussions do, with folks quibbling over definitions and stuff, and it finally clicked for me why I've never really been able to get into OSR stuff; namely, differing definitions of ...
