Quote Originally Posted by Anonymouswizard View Post
What if I admit I'm quantum ogreing? I have previously called a ten minute break to rework my plot because I've for nothing else prepared (before that I used to use plot armour, now I just give important NPCs backups and successors). I might not run the exact same encounter, but I need a reason for you to run across the scenario start (I'm a believer in providing PCs with a plot hook then giving no guidance).

I also run quantum settings. Generally there is a city (or potentially an interstellar federation/commonwealth/empire), some NPCs, and a whole lot of uncollapsed waveform. Is there a wizard's guild? If it improves the plot. Do orcs exist? Does the king have a son? This are all up in the air until a player asks or answers the question. Sometimes this is worked out in session zero, sometimes a question isn't asked until the penultimate session.
Your latter paragraph is pretty far removed from what the usual complaint about "Quantum Ogres" is about. Again, if you ask me, a better name would be "Inevitable Ogre", as the key issue is that there will be an ogre no matter what.

By contrast, your "quantum setting" talks about details which haven't even been decided yet, so can't be inevitable. Your examples are closer to randomly generating the setting, than the Inevitable Ogre.

You can do random and improvized setting building in ways that reduces or removes player agency, but in other respects it's pretty much on the opposite end of the spectrum from the Inevitable Ogre.