But there needs to be something more than just random guessing. Player needs to feel that outcome is not just random, but with benefit of hindsight player needs to feel that it makes some sense. Like if player chooses to be the hero who goes save someone even when we are told there is no time, then it should have consequences. Player has knowingly taken a risk, so they understand why it would have consequences. Player would not know if it happens, or what happens, but they can understand why it would happen.
This reminds me of Rogue Trader.
At the end of Act 1 there's a decision to make:
You have to blow up a planet to stop cultists from bringing in the Warp and causing horrendously bad outcomes.
For a "Hero" option, you have the capability to spend some time picking up people to save them from the destruction of the planet. You get told, repeatedly, that there is not enough time to do this and you NEED to just blow the planet up as soon as possible.
If you do save these people, the result is you didn't have enough time. The planet gets taken by the Warp which causes your entire crew to be afflicted with insanity. This not only debuffs every party member, but also causes your crew to go on random killing sprees and start to become cultists and bringing in the Warp on your ship. Creating lasting issues due to the "Heroic" decision to try and save a few more lives, at the cost of dooming the thousands that make up your crew.
Of course, it's not always particularly good options in that game as it's 40k and standard 40k is "Every option is bad and causes ridiculous amounts of pain and suffering" but they do have some instances of "Heroic" options backfiring in some way as well as some "Heartless" options that are the most positive ones, with some consistency in how these play out (Probably in part because of that standard 40k Grimdark).
