diff --git a/settings/rust-to-dust/README.md b/settings/rust-to-dust/README.md
index f33f74f..ee87911 100644
--- a/settings/rust-to-dust/README.md
+++ b/settings/rust-to-dust/README.md
@@ -21,3 +21,5 @@ empire.
   surface.
 - [Language Design](./language-design.md): ontology, register, and renderer
   pressure for the first language project.
+- [Gameplay Notes](./gameplay.md): interactive delivery constraints and ending
+  shape.
diff --git a/settings/rust-to-dust/gameplay.md b/settings/rust-to-dust/gameplay.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..09f341a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/settings/rust-to-dust/gameplay.md
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+# Gameplay Notes
+
+Rust to Dust can use spectacle, combat, and resistance fantasy, but its ending
+should not fake seriousness with a ceremonial single-button prompt.
+
+If a scene is fundamentally cinematic, let it be a cutscene. Bad interactivity
+is worse than no interactivity because it asks the player to perform meaning
+without giving them agency. "Press a key to solemnly acknowledge theme" is not a
+system. It is UI wearing a little funeral hat and hoping nobody notices.
+
+## Ending Delivery
+
+The pub ending beat can remain a scene:
+
+- the alien TV is still beautiful and seductive
+- the room is no longer organized around it
+- the father is present but not central
+- his son is there, changed but choosing
+- someone turns the TV down because another person is about to sing
+
+That does not need a button prompt.
+
+## If The Ending Is Playable
+
+If the ending becomes gameplay, it should use sustained verbs and systems that
+have already earned their meaning.
+
+Possible playable shapes:
+
+- participating in the distributed commons over a full sequence
+- helping move practices, songs, tools, archives, and skills through a local
+  network
+- making tradeoffs that preserve relationships rather than trophies
+- coordinating care, memory, repair, and mutual aid under pressure
+- choosing how to keep something alive without making Dad central again
+
+The gameplay should express local alignment, cooperation, and durable practice.
+It should not reduce the thesis to a quicktime event, a single symbolic prompt,
+or a final checklist of ideology chores.
+
diff --git a/settings/rust-to-dust/story.md b/settings/rust-to-dust/story.md
index 75c13ec..fba227b 100644
--- a/settings/rust-to-dust/story.md
+++ b/settings/rust-to-dust/story.md
@@ -112,3 +112,6 @@ father is present but not central. His son is there too, not purified of alien
 influence, but choosing consciously what to carry forward.
 
 Someone turns the TV down because another person is about to sing.
+
+This beat does not need a button prompt. If it cannot be delivered as real
+gameplay with sustained agency, it should stay cinematic.