In which we revisit the Quantum Ogre.

 My attempted wanderings into the "open game" world has been, to say the least, wonderful and

productive.  I currently have a big story arc (which was NOT there at the outset) that the players asked for.  I have a secondary arc that loosely ties into the big arc to provide an occasional diversion.  And EVERY session provides the opportunity to drop plot hooks which may or may not tie in to either of those arcs.  

Short digression.  About a year ago the party had completed a long commute.  Two sessions of travel along a major trade route.  Four random encounter checks every day.  Natural disasters.  Medical emergencies.  Goblins.  And dozens of caravan wagons.  At the conclusion of the trip one of the PC's observed "it was kinda fun I guess but there were no plot hooks."  Another member of the party pointed out "we walked by dozens of people every day.  Every ONE of them likely had a plot hook of some type.  I didn't pursue them because I wanted to get here but there was no reason for you NOT to."  And that was the end of the discussion.  

 Justin Alexander has popularized the concept of the Three Clue Rule.  Essentially you make a rule available three different ways (or places) to ensure that it's found.  No one refers to them as Quantum Clues.  But aren't they?  Then there's Schrodinger's Troglodyte.  Before the players interact with the adventure everything planned by the DM is not fixed. It is only after the players interact with the adventure does anything become real and so fixed.

So, if the players explored 15 rooms of a 20-room dungeon, skipped the boss troglodyte room, leave and never return, then for now, only those 15 rooms are real. Dare I suggest that only the things the PCs interacted in those 15 rooms are the Chekhov’s Guns (from the story POV) and everything else including the boss troglodyte might as well not exits (from the story POV). At best those things the PCs missed exist in a Schrödinger’s Cat-like state of not quite existing.

And so it is with plot hooks.  If one applies the TCR only to those clues needed to advance the story then all other facets of DM prep are Schrodinger's Troglodyte.  Let's say I prep three potential encounters for my party:  placating a green dragon, fetching some phase spider spindles and guarding a grove from a cyclops and his buddies.  In keeping with the TCR I have multiple ways to set the hook.  Weavers.  Crazy old hermits.  Local lords.  Caravans.    If I plant one and they take it so be it.  They need to be couched as maybes and possibilities.  If they ignore it I can pocket it, file it away and throw it in front of them again in a month.  Because they're in Schrodinger's box with his cat and his troglodyte, both real and unreal.

So while the general view of the Quantum Ogre is that it's a bad thing, robbing players of their agency, I'm thinking Schrodinger's Troglodyte is a GOOD thing because it renders the players agency irrelevant while maintaining it?  That's CAN'T be right, but it SEEMS right.  Ideas?

 

 

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