Friday, July 17, 2020

Best of the Web - OSR Logo, Resurrecting the Quantum Ogre

Some time ago there was a brew-ha-ha about the original creator of the OSR logo deciding didn't like some of the folks using the logo. Then MSJX created A New OSR Logo free of any restrictions. I guess I missed this when it came out so I thought I'd ad it here so i can find it again.

Hack & Slash has a really good article called On Resurrecting the Quantum Ogre and Having Him Over for Tea, especially on giving players the info they need instead of playing that game of waiting for them to ask the perfect question. The article goes into the Quantum Ogre idea a bit. Its part of a series and maybe I don't entirely understand the Quantum Ogre but seems a bit of a purity test of sorts. The idea is overly broad and I demands things of a GMs that wouldn't even be known to the players. Yes you shouldn't remove player agency, and you shouldn't be a jerk , but that is no excuse for adding a bunch of extra unnecessary work which is what it sounds like in many of the examples I've read. For example two trails, players can pick one or the other, or they could go off-road. The GM has a new ogre mini and wants to use it. They might have the ogre in the toll house on one trail, and use the ogre at a bridge on other, and that filthy ogre might be bathing in the river if they go off the trail. Maybe that's three Ogres, maybe its one. Maybe the Ogre is in one spot on the outbound journey but he's in all three places on the way back to make sure that mini gets used. I'm not sure there is a whole lot of value to a GM creating unique encounters for each and every option as long as they are willing to adapt to players plans when they come across the encounter.

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