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Message: <blockquote data-quote="billd91" data-source="post: 4830914" data-attributes="member: 3400">For what it's worth, I believe there is a distinct, objective shared reality - but our understanding of it is constantly filtered and interpreted by subjective instruments. The whole idea that "reality is subjective" smacks to me of bumper-sticker philosophy that means nothing significant. I'd be more comfortable with "reality is put through a subjective wringer".  But our perceptions of and interactions with the world around us are different from establishing the reality of a game world. Canonical works (which is to say works published as official or canonical by the owners of the IP or accepted as canonical), if they present the facts of a campaign world, establish the objective reality of the campaign world. Because the campaign world is a construct, it can do so. This contrasts with establishing the facts and objective reality of our own reality because our own reality is not constructed in the same way by an author (there is no overall authority). Our reality is built up over a ridiculous number of years chronicled by spotty records, historians with axes to grind, and so many subjective takes on it that our best records do little more than help us to infer what that objective reality really is.The authoritative facts of a campaign world help the DM and players to establish the various subjective takes on the campaign that they will encounter as PCs interacting with NPCs. In that sense, some kind of canon is very useful because it lets you know what sources to consult. The problem with RPG setting canon is that it tends to get pretty detailed after supplement after supplement gets published.</blockquote>

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