Quantum Ogres and the Eight Steps

Opponents of the dreaded "quantum ogre" argue that players lose agency if you move encounters to whatever path players choose. Breaking down encounters into the separate components of the eight steps from Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master – secrets, locations, NPCs, monsters, and treasure avoids moving entire pre-defined encounters from one spot to another and instead lets you build contextually relevant encounters based on the choices of the characters, the situation in the world, and what's fun for the table. What Is a Quantum Ogre? If you're not familiar with the concept of the quantum ogre, here's the original blog post with the term as best as I can find, and a rebuttal article for the concept. The quantum ogre defines a situation where the GM build an encounter and, no matter what path the characters choose, the characters face that encounter. Some GMs argue moving encounters this way takes away meaningful choices for the characters. No matter what path the characters choose,…