@Lyxen
I do not think I can get behind the idea that a stage magician is
deceiving their audience. And indeed, your reply to me with respect to that analogy includes references to the audience playing along,
being in on the trick even when they have no idea how it works and/or are allowing themselves to be fooled. On my view, the
intent to deceive is the difference between a stage magician and a con artist. (Apropos of that, it's no coincidence that many stage magicians have also been heavily involved in efforts to debunk or expose con artists.)
Getting back to TTRPG gaming, this is why, when I refer to terms of art used to describe GM misbehaviour (railroading or what-have-you), I prefer to drill down to GM intent and player buy-in. If all is going well, the GM's intent is not to deceive, but to facilitate a satisfying gameplay experience, just like the stage magician's intent is to deliver an entertaining performance.
@Helpful NPC Thom
In my estimation, "fair" is just as much a buzzword as "fun" - perhaps moreso, since at least "the game is fun for everyone at the table" can be a stand-in for "each participant's gameplay preferences have been at least adequately satisfied by a given instance of gameplay", whereas "fairness", insofar as it rests on how the GM configures challenges, is in many ways part of the illusion that is being weaved in gameplay.
What is more, in principle, everyone is in favour of satisfying their own gameplay preferences (I would hope!), and most folk are also in favour of the other people at their table satisfying
their own gameplay preferences (to the extent that everyone's preferences are sufficiently compatible), but oftentimes players (in particular) don't want a
fair game: they want to enact a power fantasy, or live out an immersive scenario, or what-have-you, where the situation is manifestly
unfair - whether tilted towards the player characters or against them.
All that is to say that fairness (however it is meant to be taken to mean)
can be a goal of for a GM, but it is hardly a sole or even primary goal.