One Thing (out-of-universe)

One Thing is a concept explicitly mentioned in the Rules of the Greater Game. It has no formal definition, but Game Managers may decide to reject a move on the basis that it violates One Thing. What constitutes One Thing or more than One Thing is more of an art than a science.

Trivia

• The concept of "One Thing" originates with the Great Game, and the Greater Game is basically a spin-off of the Great Game.

• The Rules of the Great Game has more elaboration on what "One Thing" means, while the Rules of the Greater Game leaves this more open-ended.

• When discussing Move 24, several players gave their opinions on One Thing.

• Dominick said that "if we are too stringent with what we call One Thing, the game will go frustratingly slow, but if we are too lenient, then this game will become more of a collage of short stories than a collaborative worldbuilding exercise. In my opinion, it is on both the players and the GM to find that perfect balance that we vaguely call "One Thing". Since it is common for the players to try to squeeze as much as possible into One Thing as they can... it is on the Game Manager to reel the players in."
• Sabiki said that "the way we've been interpreting the "one thing" rule is more of a "don't give too many, too disconnected details", don't open too many doors at once, nor close too many doors at once. I've seen the GMs in both games being specially strict with one thing when it comes to closing doors, specially in the more systematic and close-ended project that a conlang is–unlike in a worldbuilding project, where more information only leads to more corners to explore, in conlanging a field covered is a closed field, and there's only so much detail you can go into in every field. Basically, "one thing" as I've been interpreting it, goes more along the way of not painting too many crossed road signs, or road under construction signs."

• Each person has a different philosophy on One Thing. Trafalgar has explicitly stated "I tend to take an expansive view of One Thing", but other people may have a more narrow interpretation. In practice, this means that the interpretation of One Thing depends on who is the Game Manager at the time.