Can’t Rip put out a video recently about random encounters with fellow Italian CaoticoPigro. In it, CaoticoPigro recommends the legendary quantum ogre that Seth Skorkowsky discussed a couple of years ago.

What’s a Quantum Ogre?

A quantum ogre is a case in which the players make a decision about which way to go in a dungeon, and game master presents them with a pre-determined encounter (maybe an ogre, but maybe a trap, puzzle, secret, etc.) that they would get no matter what decision they made. Some argue that this robs players of their agency, railroading them down the GM’s path with the lie that they get to make decisions that matter. CaoticoPigro even calls his style “the Theater of Lies”.

Seth defended quantum ogres in ways that I personally think are disingenuous, suggesting that there may be a difference in the battlefields where the heroes meet the ogre, and therefore their agency is preserved. But of course, if the circumstances are different, it’s not a quantum ogre. The point of the term is that the players’ choice doesn’t matter, because the GM presents the same circumstances no matter what, not just the same monster.

As you can tell, I don’t like quantum ogres. But Seth makes a good point as well. He asks what’s difference between planning an ogre encounter whether the heroes take passage A or passage B and randomly rolling an ogre encounter? Let’s say a random encounter is due in the next room and the players haven’t quite made up their mind which way to go, so you’re technically determine it will be an ogre before the players make their choice. Well, in that case, I’d say it’s not a quantum ogre specifically because the GM didn’t make the decision that the heroes would meet an ogre down either passage. The dice decided it was time for an encounter, and the dice decided it would be an ogre.

Player Agency & Indistinguishable Choices

Seth and Caotico both argue that, since the players don’t know what’s down each passage, it doesn’t matter if you rob them of agency. But this brings up a larger issue: if the players don’t have any inkling what’s down passage A versus passage B, they don’t have much agency in the first place. This is common in dungeons with a random or nonsensical layout, and it’s something to be careful of—and usually avoid.

Look for ways you can give the heroes a hint about what’s down either passage. It’s okay for it to sometimes be a toss-up, but other times it should be hinted at what’s to be found (either in terms of monster encounters or types of room) down one passage or even both. If they’re looking at a wide corridor vs a narrow one, thinking, “The great hall is probably this way; miscellaneous small ones are are probably what’s down the other way,” is a valid choice for the players.

An ogre in a dungeon can seem pretty innocuous—it’s easy to imagine a dungeon full of ogres—but imagine the worst case scenario: the GM decides that, no matter what course of action the heroes take to avoid it, the evil tyrant will destroy their stronghold to set up the big finale of the campaign. Here again, the players have no idea what consequences their actions will bring, so what’s the harm in saying, “these are the consequences (no matter what)”? That should pretty obviously be a huge cheat that makes the players’ actions meaningless. And cheating is cheating whether or not the other side ever learns about it.

Simple Improvement

A simple improvement to player agency is to allow heroes to hear or smell something down the corridor or even just have a “hunch” or “gut feeling” about what’s down one hallway versus another. The hunch is good for any situation where the choices are clear but the differences are not. This is a very common trope in movies and television to keep the heroes moving in the right direction despite not having any real evidence to go on. You might use the Die of Fate to help.

1. No, you have a bad hunch and are incorrect despite being pretty sure.
2. No idea.
3. Maybe: you can’t tell. Try again when something changes; maybe is now “sort of”.
4. Sort of: you have a vague idea of the difference between the choices.
5. Yes, you have a good idea of the difference.
6. Yes, you have a good idea and are pretty sure of it.

Only one character can try this per situation (which is why it’s not a wisdom check or something), maybe the cleric, druid, ranger, or halfling, who can be said to have a bit of divine insight, natural insight or luck.

Never Say Never

This is not to say that you should never use a quantum ogre. There’s only so much time to prep an adventure, and sometimes it really enhances the developing narrative to have a certain clue or other encounter fall at a certain point. But you should strive to be a neutral referee in your adventures, not the auteur of an epic story. The whole point of a role-playing game is that player choice matters and a story emerges out of those choices and their consequences.

So, while it’s okay to sometimes pre-plan an event and to have some situations in which the players must choose between equally unknown things, it’s crucial to plan times when the players are presented with very clearly different choices and, most of the time, ones in which the consequences are clearly different also.

Here’s where things like dilemmas come in to add drama. Make players choose between two things that aren’t equal either in their value, risk, consequences, or emotional meaning for their characters. These are the antithesis of the quantum ogre.