Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Ranger314 04-23-06, 04:51 PM	Let's face it-we've all made mistakes, be it poor traps, weird NPCs, letting players exploit things, or just a general mistake. Now is a good time to share these things for a few laughs: 1. I forgot where the players were in the dungeon (looked away from my map), and told them they were in the final chamber through the next door. They ended up skipping most of the dungeon because of that :( . 2. I'm a relatively new DM, so when I was copying some monster stats from the MM, I realized I had written down the stats for a Hippogriff instead of a Hobgoblin :embarrass . Let's just say this was one heck of a Hobgoblin boss! (Party of 3 1st level).
Nor'Morgwae 04-23-06, 05:04 PM	3) The party was up against a group of Wraiths, in a forest, at night. The wraiths were hiding for a while and then coming out of nowhere, making an attack and coming out of nowhere again. Hard enough of and encounter on it's own but to top it off I forgot about the saving throw to resist the ability damage. Turned into a TPK.
stargate525 04-23-06, 05:12 PM	I once acidentally gave my character a weapon that did 1d20 damage....
Crystal Monk 04-23-06, 06:10 PM	5: "so, do you step into the telep-- I mean, alcove?" didn't happen to me, but I've heard the story. oops? 6: allowing not one, but two people to play Kender my very first time DMing.
TheChilliGod 04-23-06, 06:27 PM	7: Me: So, there's a faint figure out just above the horizon, it's getting larger at it flies towards you. Players: I want to make a spot check to notice any distinguishing features. Me: Yeah, as it gets closer, you can make out some shape of wings or fans; the color of the creature turns from silhouetted shadow to a sort of brown-ish color. Players: I ready my ranged weapon. I got no clue what this is, but it might want to fight. Me: Okay, as it gets closer, you notice someone or something on it's back. Players: A rider, it has to be. But what's he riding? Me: And as it gets ever-closer, the dragon d--D'OH! :banghead: 8: I didn't know that, when you add a template to a creature with a fractional CR, the CR increases by that much as an integer (I thought the CR first increased in stages along the fractions, from 1/3 to 1/2 and so on.) This caused a group of 10 Ti-Khana lizards (Thinking they were CR 1/3 each, when they're really CR 2 each) to almost TPK a 4th lvl party. I could also talk about the many, many mistakes I've recorded from my own DM's, but that would be wrong.
Ajentis 04-23-06, 06:48 PM	9) equipped a boss to the brim with goodies to fight a party and give them a run for their money only to have him die to the "instant kill" rule. (I allow it both ways)
Steel Cobra 04-23-06, 07:31 PM	2 come right to my head as I read this. Well it was very early iun DMing and well read on. 10. I gave the rogue (who stole things) a ring that would teleport him to anywhere he had been to before, even out of his vision, and behind walls, instant cast, and unlimited uses per day. 11. Once the PCs killed the spider king (a boss I set up) the wanted to sell him. So I sold him for 1 million GP which would make it 50,000 GP each, a level 7 party by the way. Yeah, I got TONS more, but those can wait for another day.
DaMullet 04-23-06, 08:22 PM	Let's see... I allowed a Kender... I allowed a cleric of a god not only not in the PHB, but homebrew... I gave the party 10000 gp at level one (in diamonds)... Lots a things... This puts the count at 14... Next is 15.
sneak_Blast 04-23-06, 08:59 PM	15. As a newb DM, I ad-libbed more than half of my campaign. I'll leave the rest to your imagination.
scottfavre 04-23-06, 09:09 PM	16) In the first campaign I DMed, I set up this caravan that the party was supposed to follow to find the headquarters of the evil guys. It was heavily guarded and should have been WAY out of the party's reach. Alas, I forgot to give any of the caravan guards ranged weapons. A while later (after a wolf running around hamstringing all of the guard's horse's and a crazy dwarf starting a forest fire), I had to quickly roll up some treasure, as the caravan was no more.
darokinblade 04-23-06, 10:07 PM	17) The party assaults a major temple of evil ness, which ive added some movable stasis chambers that the evilies place kidnapped commoners in, and transfer to another localvia airship, to be brainwashed into being evil (a quality of the chambers). Well, the party kills the boss, takes the airship they use for transporting the chambers, and 32!! of the chambers themselves. After selling all of them (I had previously created an NPC who could buy or sell anythign given enough time... made them quest for it but it was no use) they each had over 2million gold each (9th level spell, constant effect, x32... you do the math on the DM magic item value chart) with access to anything they could find (Again, my NPC). Needless to say, i couldnt make something strong enough to kill them. And oh how i tried.
gregg0rz 04-23-06, 10:08 PM	Number 18 !! How odd .... I just finished my session about half an hour ago. My party is SWIMMING in gold and treasure, i wanted a quick money sink to skim a bit of their gold reserves off the top. The party is being tasked by a 17th level cleric who can cast true resurrection and charges about 8000 gp per shot. Answer to my money issues ... symbol of death. Well, i didnt catch the 150 hp limit and actually attempted to slay about 170 hp of the party. So off to the players manual eveyone goes. If you DMs are looking for an improved version of "Symbol - Death - Permanent" that doesnt have the 150 hp / 10 minute restriction, i present you a new spell " greggorz's teh aw3ome 1337 symbol of death" - we all had a good laugh, and i took 16000 gp from them.
aaron2hot 04-23-06, 10:40 PM	my pc killed a dragon in hishorde andi gave out random treasure and a half orc got a portable black hole which he filled to the brim with platinum 20000ish i think at level 7 him and his 6 comrades llooted the cave and none knew of his bag so he filled it then split wat they could fit in pockets so that half orc is still alive andvery rich and now level 9 havent made it to newere were he can spend it
monkeyintux 04-24-06, 01:34 AM	my pc killed a dragon in hishorde andi gave out random treasure and a half orc got a portable black hole which he filled to the brim with platinum 20000ish i think at level 7 him and his 6 comrades llooted the cave and none knew of his bag so he filled it then split wat they could fit in pockets so that half orc is still alive andvery rich and now level 9 havent made it to newere were he can spend it Ow, my brain hurts after reading that. :doh:
StruckingFuggle 04-24-06, 02:15 AM	#20 ... .... ... I gave my PCs a Rod of Wonder.
Senevri 04-24-06, 02:40 AM	#21. Allowed Frenzied Berserker PC #22. Constantly forgetting _reach_ on monsters which have it. #23. Allowed a cleric to *poof* an undead with more HD than the cleric.
Darkwolf_childe 04-24-06, 02:44 AM	Yeah, I've made the cardinal mistake of underestimating my players' resourcefulness a few times myself. #21. I put the hugely powerful, soon-to-be-tyrant-of-the-world (not to mention intended ongoing nemesis of the PCs) in a bad position. He was on the ship the PC's owned, in front of their ballista, in a surprise round; and he was a mage. "Oh really? I fire the ballista at that *****. :gah: A crit! How much damage does that do? :devil: " Followed by a whole lot of whoops and sniggering. Can we say catastrophic damage? :bigeyes: Always watch your surroundings! :surrender #22. Let's just say it all hinged on that one little initiative roll...and the gods were not kind to me. :censored:
Brastan 04-24-06, 03:23 AM	#26 brain and mouth not in sink: Me (as DM): "You may have trouble breathing past a thousand feet." Players: :rolleye2: #27 keep out of reach of players: Reintroducing a villain (that had been "killed" in an earlier adventure) during a non-combat street encounter. This was unfortunately within melee range of a player with no scruples. She was killed, again. Oops, that was my bad. :rolleyes:
Tikael 04-24-06, 05:19 AM	#28 I had a villan who was specialized in disarming and tripping. I was hoping to make the battle a little tougher since the PCs were only using melee weapons. I forgot that i had given the fighter an item that could cast defenestrating sphere. The NPC was next to a cliff... and failed that fortitude save.
belthazzar1113 04-24-06, 05:32 AM	the most classic blunder that was repeated ad nasium and has become a reoccuring joke in my games... "wait a minute, whats yorrak doing?" Old yorrak was a great NPC that the PCs fought against and then managed to turn into an ally. He bonded with the assasin of the group and pledged a life debt to him. However Old yorrak wasn't exactly the most proactive of people and wouoldn't do anything unless someone told him to... and he really didn't like the psion in the group. so the assasin would always answer that question with "oh yeah.... HEY YORRAK! DO SOMETHING!" "are you sure?" "yes!" to which yorrak would prompty call a lightning bolt down which each and ever time happened to catch the psion in its AOE... got alot of monsters... but that psion learned to hate yorrak. so our two running jokes are now "hey, wait a minute, whats yorrak doing?" and "DO SOMETHING!" being followed with "DUCK AND COVER!"
Weaponbreaker 04-24-06, 05:48 AM	30. allowing a player to block the damae from a vicious wepaon with stone skin......nothing a frost giant with sunder didn't eventually fix...but it still took me six months to get rid of that damned weapon
Nomad16 04-24-06, 07:02 AM	31) In my first game DMing i let my party stack all bonuses. Huge ACs and great spellups. OOOPS
DIESCUMDIE 04-24-06, 07:25 AM	32) Thought I should provide the pc's with some motivation... So I had both their characters parents tortured and killed in front of them. They were playing themselves at the time (d20 modern) Perhaps a little OTT. When they got back to the mainland they couldn't help but notice they where on the news as a parent killing homosexual love couple. I am reformed now though I promise. 32) Had the pc's forced to work for the evil Big Boss. Who kept them in line by various methods- including peeing on them. 33) Had an npc refer to one of the characters as a strange monkey thing. But now I have learned my lesson and don't mock the players characters :blush:
locksley92 04-24-06, 09:01 AM	I don't know if this counts but: 34. I have a bad head for rules (what made me a DM I have no clue) but for some reason during one session, one of my PCs contradicted me like a hundred times and was right nearly the whole time... 35. I let the party accidentily get ahold of an artifact from a vendor. "Wow, that was easy" 36. I left the final bosses stats sitting in the middle of the table when I got up to get something to drink. You can connect the dots.
Ajentis 04-24-06, 12:52 PM	37) Had a party with a 10th level dwarf and an elf cleric. The dwarf always picked on the elf so i thought i'd stop the feud and make him realise the elf is there to help (he figured that his hit points were so high that he would never need him). I had him walk into a trap of Harm (there was no saving throw) It dropped him down to 3 hit points. The elf hit him with his mace.
Cthulhu-LQ 04-24-06, 03:21 PM	This is a whole game made of mistakes, with my friend as DM. He had done some other games, always with the same kind of problems (he just doesnt learn), but this one was the worse one by far. The setting is Dragonlance after the war of the lance. I was playing a kender, somehow related to Tass, and decided that Tass had introduced me to a young bronze dragon Palantas, and this dragon was a friend of mine (which may not have been the dragon's opinion about me). This was at character creation, and the DM agreed to this. I never thought the dragon would take active part in the game, to me it was meant only for comic relief when we would go in the city. So we have a mission, we must go in a dungeon on this island. We went to Palantas on the way to the island, so obviously I go see my dragon friend and ask him if he wants to come and have fun with us. Any normal DM would have had the dragon say NO. But not this one. So the dragon came with us, making any random encounters on the way meaningless. In the dungeon, there is a big treasure with a sword in the rock, with a warning saying "DO NOT REMOVE THE SWORD". So obviously I grab the sword. The DM, being kinda munchkin and never intending us to keep this sword anyway, made it way too powerful (+5, incredibly intelligent, lawful good, and a long list of other powers). So as I grab it Hydras come to life, the dragon kills them with no challenge, then very strong elves appear out of nowhere and ask for the sword. I manage to hide and get away, and the dragon polymorphs and gets away too. So there I am, a level 3 kender with a munchkin sword that would have made me a paladin (the kender being LG), with a bronze dragon mount, and my friends with not a single magic item. The game ended there.
Cthulhu-LQ 04-24-06, 03:28 PM	In another game with that same DM. The setting was Concil of wyrms (a world ruled by dragons). There were no roads drawn on the map (from the boxed set), so there were no roads at all in the game. Oh yeah, and in that same game, we were hired to "clean up" around a village. We were being paid (I dont remember how much) for each creature we killed, provided we bring proof we killed them. So we go out, and the DM puts us against.. well I dont remember the name, but it's a creature made up of a a bunch of body parts from different creatures. So we kill it, chop it's different parts and come back to the village asking to be paid for the 50 monsters we just killed.
Dragondm6 04-24-06, 05:17 PM	40. I can't remember the name of the published quest we were doing for version 3.0, but there was a portal that needed to be sealed through channeling. After the PC's realized they needed to channel the portal shut, they picked up the Defender's of the Faith book on pg. 16 and read aloud: "In the middle of the once-sacred temple of Pelor, where the altar stood, a column of hellfire now rises from the floor and through the dome above...... Jozan standing over the corpse of an osyluth...... such a portal might require a turning check result good enough to turn a 10-HD undead, or higher, depending on the strength of the connection." What the player read aloud, was EXACTLY ALMOST WORD FOR WORD, what I had described to the players from the published quest. And now they knew exactly what they needed to roll to shut down the portal. Thanks alot D&D for letting the players know exactly what to expect next. :D P.S. Don't use a published quest as an example in a guidebook to characters next time.
speeblefreak 04-24-06, 08:05 PM	41. Due to a misunderstanding of monster HD in the 3.0 basic game, I set my 1st-level party up against a gelatinous cube with 208 hp. 42. They pwned it. 43. Three words: Rod of Wonder. 44. I gave a PC a dagger that could kill anything but housed a balrog. It got loose. These two were from another DM. 45. "So what do you do with the moon--the elven blade? :banghead: " 46. The party was negotiating with a wizard. The DM got up to go to the bathroom and left the FRCS book on the table. It happened to be open to Semmemon. Now here's the thing. Nobody made the logic jump. We all just noticed that the book happened to be open to Semmemon. DM gets back: AAAH! Quit looking at the book, you cheaters! Us: :confused: DM: Now you know who you were talking to! Me: We were talking to Semmemon? DM: I left the book open and you didn't realize that? Us: No. DM: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:
DraconsNighthawk 04-24-06, 09:02 PM	47: Letting not one, not two, but all six of my players having weapons that could add enhancment + special abilities at will up to their level. So at tenth level they'd have +5 holy, frost, flame swords, etc.
Last City 04-24-06, 09:48 PM	48: We played from 10pm till like 3am in the morning... i was a lil giddy then & weren't myself. The PCs were fighting a 8 headed phyro-hydra (the last boss fight). Thinking that the battle was the end of our session i decided to go along with it. The Hydra had the cleave feat & killed the rogue in the party with its breath weapon & i made a dumb call after that: "Cleaving breath". :eek: Till this day it is still the butt of the joke in our gaming group.... "cleaving breath"... :embarrass
Dullblade 04-24-06, 09:52 PM	In early times, not recognizing that monsters will work together and sound travels. I allowed a party to proceed room by room through the G1-3 Giant series with nobody coming to see what the battle sounds were all about just around the corner... I'm much more deadly now....
Jason_Vorhees 13 04-24-06, 11:19 PM	50.DM: Then, the giant worm skeleton emerges. PC: The giant worm skeleton? DM: Yes......ohhhhhhhhhhhhh ^that didn't actually happen to me, but I'm sure I've done worse
Cthulhu-LQ 04-25-06, 02:04 PM	51. I told that cute girl I run a Dungeons & Dragons game
tharivol266 04-25-06, 06:48 PM	51. I told that cute girl I run a Dungeons & Dragons game 52. not telling that cute girl i run a dnd game. yes it was actually that way once. :( 53. my first game i thought that wizards could cast each spell they knew a number of times equal to their spells per day.
Delfedd 04-25-06, 08:18 PM	this one was second edition... in my first game 53 thinking that the level of the spellcaster equaled the spell level he could cast.
True Archon 04-25-06, 10:38 PM	54. Different DM, but I was a spectator to this mishap: New DM, first day, 1st-level characters, and the introduction of a Deck of Many Things. Needless to say, The Void and The Donjon were drawn by two out of the three players present (I was the third and I stayed the hell away from that deck!). Being a 1st-level character, I sure didn't have the resources, or the money, to save my two comrades. Game ended, new DM never DM'd again. 55. My personal screw up: I let the players roll for their stats. Everyone wound up with either super-characters, or wimps, and they all wanted to keep their rolls. Very bad combination of too easy encounters, and character deaths.
Dark Stryke 04-25-06, 10:50 PM	56. The party was fighting a wyrmling red dragon and a suspicious lackey in full plate. Me: Okay, it's the Dragon's turn, and he turns to the cleric and says "Attack them you fool!" Player: What Cleric? Me: The Cleric right... crap. Another Player: That dude in the plate is a cleric! Get him! Ruined the difficulty of the encounter, as the cleric was far, far too dead to heal the dragon. The party would probably have ignored him until he started lobbing death on their heads if I hadn't said anything.
Nitan 04-25-06, 10:51 PM	57. Thinking BAB added to damage too.
ElanaYama 04-25-06, 10:56 PM	58. a easy mistake I had only DMed once before so I decided it would to be best to run a modual out of a book. it started out well, the players were having fun and they were new so they couldnt take advantage of my noobness. About an hour into it I realized that I had been reading all of the book to the players not just what they were supposed to hear. When the players realized what I had done they banned me from DMing for a while.
Jimobofo 04-26-06, 03:43 AM	I'm not sure if this counts, but I thought it was bad that I just never saw it coming. I wanted to give the players some sort of hidden background and I guess a goal of sorts that would be at the back of their minds everytime they played. For one of them, I had him be in a dream sequence with some underground temple with a bridge leading to it. He did his thing and started exploring the rest of the underground tunnels, which is what I wanted him to do. I wanted to "kill" him to end the dream, so I sent this Monstrous Colossal Centipede after him. Somehow he managed to spot it while it was still crawling around on the ceiling and he managed to give himself a head start in running. I wanted him dead so the centipede gave chase. I never expected him to run across the bridge though....nor did it ever occur to me to make this bridge strong enough to support a colossal creature.
babysamurai 04-26-06, 05:35 AM	-Giving visual descriptions with colours to PC's using darkvision. -Not assigning the Dodge feat bonus for creatures that have the feat.
Yue Ryong 04-26-06, 09:18 AM	63. Playing BESM d20 in standard DnD setting. 64. Letting swarms get sneak attack on each creature. 65. Having a DMPC. 66. Not kicking the resident moron out of our group.
Pegasos989 04-26-06, 10:40 AM	My first DMing ever had all of the fllowing. let's just count it all as a big mistake that the world should have never seen. -I let evil characters in my first DMing -I let those characters have level adjustment -I let them take self created races with level adjustment ( Now that I think of it, a human with +4 to STR and +4 to DEX, darkvision and 50 feet of movement SHOULD have more than LA +1...) -I DMed the said campaign tired at 3 am -...13 hours straight -I didn't say "no" when players said "let's rob the temple of Hextor!" -I should have put worse then CR 1 traps there -Some of which should have been magical -Also locks with better quality than simple should have existed -I should realize "I am doing stuff wrong" earlier than 2 rooms before the treasure chamber -If I do realize this at that point, I should NOT compensate it by putting level 20 cleric sleep in that last room -Also if I DO do that, he should wake up instead of rogue just slitting his throat -Also, I must NEVER again think of temple loots when not having slept in 30hours straight -If I do, I should remember that you sells tuff for half the price -And that most shops wouldn't buy that expensive stuff Afterall I had 3 evil characters with ECL of 5 each (One should be higher cause of LA is so wrong...), each having bought +5 weapons, +5 rings of protection etc. stuff worth of like 250k... Needless to say that the game ended there. I did learn a lot of "what not to do"s from that game tho. Did I top everybody else? Next is 82
dengarbountyhunter 04-26-06, 06:31 PM	Simply forgot to make the enemies attack! (that was my first DMing experience... the players didn't notice until I said that the fight was too easy :eek: )
Ajentis 04-26-06, 09:13 PM	My first DMing ever had all of the fllowing. let's just count it all as a big mistake that the world should have never seen. -I let evil characters in my first DMing -I let those characters have level adjustment -I let them take self created races with level adjustment ( Now that I think of it, a human with +4 to STR and +4 to DEX, darkvision and 50 feet of movement SHOULD have more than LA +1...) -I DMed the said campaign tired at 3 am -...13 hours straight -I didn't say "no" when players said "let's rob the temple of Hextor!" -I should have put worse then CR 1 traps there -Some of which should have been magical -Also locks with better quality than simple should have existed -I should realize "I am doing stuff wrong" earlier than 2 rooms before the treasure chamber -If I do realize this at that point, I should NOT compensate it by putting level 20 cleric sleep in that last room -Also if I DO do that, he should wake up instead of rogue just slitting his throat -Also, I must NEVER again think of temple loots when not having slept in 30hours straight -If I do, I should remember that you sells tuff for half the price -And that most shops wouldn't buy that expensive stuff Afterall I had 3 evil characters with ECL of 5 each (One should be higher cause of LA is so wrong...), each having bought +5 weapons, +5 rings of protection etc. stuff worth of like 250k... Needless to say that the game ended there. I did learn a lot of "what not to do"s from that game tho. Did I top everybody else? Next is 82 OMG you most certainly win. I smiled at the level 20 cleric part and burst out laughing at the throat being slit
shadowfox628 04-26-06, 09:32 PM	84. Two words: Rogue's Rapier. I got into a ten minute arguement with a PC over if it surpassed the Monk's 20/+1 Damage Resistance (V.3, for those who don't know)... I finally concluded that it did surpass, and, so, the Monk/Drunken Master died (Coup de Grace). However, I did get to have a fun escape sequence... It was in a brewary (ale+alchemist arrows= burn!).
sdragon1984 04-26-06, 10:55 PM	from a non-d20 game (diceless, actually..... interesting mechanics that way): (player looking for information on the latest drug to hit the streets, so he can put an end to it) me: "ok, you walk up to the high school and you see two groups of students, one obviously has taken the drug" (note: the lead was the students that hadnt taken the drug) player: "i question the druggies" druggy: "hey man, no way im gonna tell you, you might narc me out man" player: "i question another druggy" me: "he gives the same response" *continues to last druggy* me: "he gives the same response as everybody else" *thinks: now will he question the right leads?* player: "ok, so i rough him up a bit" me: "the..... umm...... *looks at adventure*...... uh, the cops come and tell you to put him down" player: "well, i let them know im on their side and continue to rough the guy up a bit" (five minutes later) me: "uhh.......... the SWAT team decides to reload their weapons with explosive rounds...." *notices the pregenerated character has a defense strong enough to withstand anything weaker then hand granades* yea..... simply because i didnt think of changing the leads from the ones i already had to the ones he was questioning.
Bhairavi 04-27-06, 02:42 AM	Oh, my, I've made so many . . . 86) Letting experienced players write up characters without supervison 87) Letting my spellchecker substitute the world 'plutonium' for 'platinium', not catching it, and then reading it outloud as part of a treasure horde 88) A friend who was DMing once gave a character in a DnD game a lightsaber . . . 89) Another friend while DMing: Failing to give one of the PCs an opportunity NOT to sleep with the werewolf 90) Another friend: Permitting excessive and gratuitious use of fireballs . . . 91) Me: Allowing a PC to be reincarnated . . . as a satyr 92) Me: Encouraging the PCs to hitch a ride with the pirates, resulting in TPK 93) Another friend this time: Throwing the party into a world-spanning, high-power plot at level 1, at not telling them that this was no standard dungeon crawl 94) Same friend: Allowing one of those players to have lots of uber abilites because they were the chosen one 95) Same friend: Allowing aforesaid player to have lots of very destructive powers, but not giving them very good aim . . . TPK from friendly fire I'm sure I could come up with more, but it's late here
TheOneWhoWanders 04-27-06, 05:54 AM	96. A long drawn out battle where the party of four were battling a Demon in its lair just after it had created a portal to somewhere else. They caused the place to collapse after defeating the beast. Spot checked showed the door that had a few pieces of the ceiling coming down, or the glimmering portal made by the Demon...They choose the Demon door and now I have an entirely different adventure on my hands. :weep:
Sphyre 04-27-06, 07:38 AM	I have only made two mistakes as a DM that weren't recoverable (forgetting to add 1 to an attack or something is negligable) 97) I let a powergamer play in my game. This guy just played purely to be on a power/ego trip. He tried to kill allies merely because he perceived them as "more powerful than him." 98) I had a D&D group of 9 players. Took a hell of a long time. Smaller groups are really better.
Kukamunga 04-27-06, 08:22 AM	99) my second group that i ever DMed... lol it was interesting... back in 2E .... i gave out experiance in full to the character who made the final blow... it wasnt untill one of the more experianced players piped up and said.. uhh you know that we should all share the XP.. that i started doing that :p 100) Forgot the fast healing for a hydra 101) Gave a level 4 character the sun blade... 102) Gave a level 1 Paladin a long sword (backstory item mind you.. but still a mistake) standard damage but against evil +2d6
Rivelstraz 04-27-06, 08:49 AM	These are some from the 2nd edition. I was a bit newbie as a DM and I only had the player handbook, nothing else, so I had to create almost everything: 103) Considering a warrior with 2 HP at level 1 was fine (since you had to roll your HP and you needed a very high constitution score to get additional HP). He was one-shot over and over. 104) If a player died, he'd start at level 1, no matter what level his partners had. 105) Since I had no DM guide or similar, magical items power, price and currency was all up to me. You wouldn't believe how greatly equipped a party of 5 characters would be. 106) Giving the BBEG a throwing shield that had a chance to insta-behead enemies. Three failed reflex saves and I got a 3/4 TPK. Now, these are from a friend who's actually DMing. He's been DMing for 3-4 years, and he's still not good at it. I won't include the railroading or similar DM mistakes... 107) He included the SG-1 (the group of the Stargate show) in a game. I'm glad I missed that game, but the players teleported somehow and they found the SG-1. O'Neill and the Elves, just hilarious. 108) He totally mistaken how CR worked. He thought that CR:8 meant that 8 level 1 characters could fight it. After a TPK he realized, and we still joke about 20 peasants beating the Torrasque... 109) Misplacing characters. Since our party split last game, he was confused, so the chat went like "So all of you're here and [5 mins of game], wait, Jose, you're not here, you're there" "But I asked and you said I was here, with the rest" "Ok, then you are" [3 mins later he realizes Jose had to be somewhere else] "Jose, you're in X now" Warping monk? :) 110) This one is very old. I was DMing LOTR and AD&D and he DM'ed a AD&D game. A thief backstabbed one of the players and the DM said "650 damage". After a few seconds we bursted laughing (except him) because we realized he had mixed LOTR and AD&D attack and damage. He had rolled a d%, added his attack and multiplied to get the backstab damage. Ahh...old times. 111) I said I wouldn't mention railroading, but I can't avoid it. If you try to go some other way, you'll get discriminated. Your turns will last a few seconds, while you can be waiting 45-50 mins to play. Why do I keep playing with him? Because he's my friend, and I DM so much that creating a character to play is enough fun for me.
EvilSqueegee 04-27-06, 09:42 AM	112) Allowing more than one PC, with the option of playing either at the beginning of each session, per person. 113) Being drunk while DMing. *Player shows up at the house. I'm drunk.* Player: Okay, I want to play my rogue today! This infiltration mission sounds like it'll be good for him. Me: Okay... jhusht don't shteal the party'sh shtuffsh again. They didn't like that... heh. *Time passes, player (who's main character is a cleric) gets into combat.* Player: I cast Heal. Me: Okay. Player: I hit this guy in the back with my dagger. He's flanked, I get sneak attack, right? Me: Uhm... oh, right. Yesh. Ya do. *Party bursts out laughing and I don't find out why untill after the game is over and I'm sober again.*
Wargamer 04-27-06, 09:51 AM	114) Included Players at the gaming table. ;)
ressurrector 04-27-06, 01:30 PM	115) Back in 2.0, the DM was a bit hazy on how bonus spells from a high ability score worked. He let the cleric out with 18 wisdom, and thus being able to cast multiple 4th level spells/day, at level 1.
sdragon1984 04-27-06, 11:17 PM	114) Included Players at the gaming table. ;) i dont think anybody can come up with a bigger mistake then that one..... well no, the DMing drunk, when combined with that one.......
High Octane 04-28-06, 04:29 AM	115. Allowing a couple to play. 116. Whose relationship ended badly. 117. During my campaign (not AT the session, but needless to say, it nearly broke the group up and we were down a player) 118. Getting way into character. Was running the circle of stones module and the book said the character was emotional, so I was FOCUSED on this speech that I read. Near the end I look up and my players are dancing a la "Peanut butter Jelly Time" I ask what the hell they are doing and they say they "Dude we've been dancing for like 4 minutes." ADD at its best. 119. Allowing a 1st edition fanboy to play in my recently converted (from 1st edition to 3.5). He got told off, not by me, but by one of the players. Thank God. 120. Thinking for a second that I'm smarter than my players and dumbing down the challenges accordingly. (You should never be able to outsmart the collective minds of 3-6 other people. If they are that collectively stupid, you shouldnt be gaming with them.)
Last City 04-28-06, 04:46 AM	121. My player corrected me: "Dude I said "book of exalted Deeds"! Not book of Erotic Deeds!" * that would be an interesting new book. :D
Wargamer 04-28-06, 04:52 AM	122. Whilst running an "on the fly" game, rolling up treasure for Monsters, generating Magic Weapons, then forgetting that maybe the Goblin Warlord could use that +2 Keen Battleaxe I just gave him...
Doom_Linnorm 04-28-06, 08:40 AM	123: Homebrewn character class wich resembles a gestalt rogue/sorceror picks a fight with a dire bear.(He's level 5) He uses gas form to fly ontop of the bear, where he becomes solid and stabs it in the head, I award him 20 bonus damage for each attack, (2 of them). If that wasn't bad enough he crits both his attacks wich are charged with lightning bolt spells, I allowed the crits to also effect the spelldamage. He kills the advanced 234 hp direbear in one turn by dealing 376 damage. After that.... NO MORE CRITTING BOTH PHYSICAL AND SPELLDAMAGE ON ONE ATTACK!!! and ofcourse NO MORE AWARDED BONUS DAMAGE OVER 5dmg!! 124: Let level 3 character draw from the deck of many things. (Homebrewn rule: ignore maximum exp gain limit to prevent multiple level up rules was currently still in effect.) He draws the lots-o-exp card. Note that I'm a firm believer in "Trial and error." (BIG ERRORS)
Tanivor 04-30-06, 04:45 PM	:bump: :bump: :bump:
Damior 04-30-06, 05:42 PM	my friend accidentally gave us each a full level 3 treasure when we were level 2, so the party fighter ended up with full plate and the rest of us got about 1000 GP each He also let the dead barbarian spontaneously come back to life for no reason other than the player was too lazy to make a new character
speeblefreak 04-30-06, 08:51 PM	Letting everyone in the party be CN. Except the paladin. One of the CNs is a half-orc bbn and another is a binder. *wince* Fireworks waiting to happen.
beat_takeshi 05-01-06, 06:03 AM	Used homebrew rules Considered the rules just guidelines Result, some players become mere spectators and some go on ego trips that completely dominate the game.
BeerMan5000 05-01-06, 08:17 AM	128)Another DM did this: Let a player keep equipment and xp gained in another DM's game sight unseen. He jumped 8 levels in one weekend and had over a million GP in gold where as the rest of the players were still 5th level and had 2,000 gp between them.
Awakened_Gelatinus_Cube 05-22-06, 04:55 PM	my friend accidentally gave us each a full level 3 treasure when we were level 2, so the party fighter ended up with full plate and the rest of us got about 1000 GP each He also let the dead barbarian spontaneously come back to life for no reason other than the player was too lazy to make a new character First off, the campaine was geared towards higher money. How esle could you slay a juvinile black dragon at level three? That full plate saved your butt. And why should I punish the enter party if after you knew he was grappling a mimic, you still pushed it down a forty foot pit. Second, in your game, you let the party get themselves kicked off the boat and drift without food or water for a week without any saves of any kind, and then kicked the entire party out of a majer plot city. Then you made everyone make a diplomicy check when ever they said ANYTHING. A great success that was :clap:
Mr_Hackman 05-22-06, 08:46 PM	129) I have a bad habit of doing the following (repeatedly): *Party finds scroll, but don't cast identify, or even try to figure out what it is DM (Me):So how many scrolls of (insert spell name here) Party: (random unspecified number) DM: What? But you just got one off that (Monster name) back there! Party: :D DM: :banghead: 130) First time DMing, I thought the XP reward for defeating a monster didn't get divided among the party. EG the XP reward for beating a kobold is X. so that's X for the theif, X for the cleric, . . .
Trill_the_Ranger 05-23-06, 12:20 AM	130: Allowing palladins and any alignment 131: Forgetting a character had wings when i made a fewground obstacles XD
Zendu 05-23-06, 04:00 AM	132: Massivly over-prepared several times, ending up with an in depth campeign not getting done while my party has a farting contest in the inn (sigh) 133: Tried to play by post...several times 134: Help up sessions while i argue some pointless rule (usually a purposfully to strict one) instead of just saying rule 0 and plowing ahead. 123: Homebrewn character class wich resembles a gestalt rogue/sorceror picks a fight with a dire bear.(He's level 5) He uses gas form to fly ontop of the bear, where he becomes solid and stabs it in the head, I award him 20 bonus damage for each attack, (2 of them). If that wasn't bad enough he crits both his attacks wich are charged with lightning bolt spells, I allowed the crits to also effect the spelldamage. He kills the advanced 234 hp direbear in one turn by dealing 376 damage. After that.... NO MORE CRITTING BOTH PHYSICAL AND SPELLDAMAGE ON ONE ATTACK!!! and ofcourse NO MORE AWARDED BONUS DAMAGE OVER 5dmg!! Are you insane? Why are you awarding bonus damage at all?!
Redginald 05-23-06, 06:59 AM	135. Constantly Forgetting Spell Resistance 136. The party was defending a gatehouse where there was a 40 foot area of see invisibility. But during the session we forgot about the see invisibility, so when the party war weaver cast fly and greater invisibility through his tapestry and I even forgot about the dragon's blindsense, the encounter was way too easy. ( i still killed one PC in my surprise round :p )
Alynn 05-23-06, 08:00 AM	137: Misreading DR... and upsetting the level 1 sorc when the magic missiles just bounce off the skeleton (*bonk me*) 138: Putting a helpful goblin NPC being tortured in a basement, thinking that the PC's would really help him out... when they have been fighting waves and waves of goblins up to this point (oh they released him, but instead of having a helpful 3rd level rogue that knows the entire complex's ins and outs, they had an annoying POW they kept tied up)
Granpa_Weatherwax 05-23-06, 11:10 AM	139: dm described an ioun stone as a dull grey rock. the only experienced player present at the time (me) says "oh thats worthless" the party mage or rogue tosses my char the rock because my char collected rocks. After i get the stone the dm looks down at his note and says "oops" and then gives the stone a shape and colour of the ioun stone that gives a deflection bonus to AC. I immediately place the stone by my head. :D normally my character wouldn't have a clue what it was but because the dm screwed up the description he allowed the metagaming. :rolleyes: the rogue immediately tries to steal the stone, and when that doesn't work tries to say, "I didn't actually ever give him the stone!" :weep: :weep:
hyperwerewolf 05-25-06, 02:53 PM	140. Giving a pc the change to play a evil char with a very powerfull class created by myself (the Chaos Palladin). It had lay on claws (this those damage instead of heals) and two unholy redeemers (evil holy avengers). He killed a greatworm gold dragon by himself while being level 8. I also gave him the levels he would get for the xp. I'm sorry for any bad spelling I'm just a dutchman :D .
Damior 05-25-06, 05:15 PM	First off, the campaine was geared towards higher money. How esle could you slay a juvinile black dragon at level three? That full plate saved your butt. And why should I punish the enter party if after you knew he was grappling a mimic, you still pushed it down a forty foot pit. Second, in your game, you let the party get themselves kicked off the boat and drift without food or water for a week without any saves of any kind, and then kicked the entire party out of a majer plot city. Then you made everyone make a diplomicy check when ever they said ANYTHING. A great success that was :clap: Eep! dont hurt me oh mighty DM sir. Ok, maybe I was a bit harsh. I'll not make fun of your DMing if you dont make fun of mine. PS. yo mispelled campaign
Elwyn_Sylveran 05-30-06, 11:36 AM	PS. yo mispelled campaign you mispelled "you"
SilentOne 05-30-06, 11:58 AM	you mispelled "you" Ah, the irony. As for my own... 141. Letting people play recharge magic spellcasters (party of four) with access to almost any spell. Wow, I'm never doing this again (still fun, just near impossible to challenge these people without CR). 142. Letting players shop for magic items. Too much trouble figuring out costs, availability, too much time away from the game, and too much abuse available with a custom selection of utility items. 143. Vampires. 'nuff said (for those to which this is not 'nuff said, their weaknesses make them much too easy against an experienced party for their CR. Especially if the vampire in question is not a normal vampire, but rather a savage vampire from Libris Mortis. Can't even dominate...) That's it for now, I might think of more later.
chitzk0i 05-30-06, 12:23 PM	144. A guy I know sent his players into an alternate material plane with no magic (remarkably similar to Dark Sun). Says he, "It's not my fault none of them played psionic characters!" There's a wizard in the party. (We managed to convince him to make it a caster level check, but he jacked up the DC). 145. The abovementioned DM recently gave his players in excess of a hundred thousand gold at level nine. Then told them they had to stop a barbarian invasion.
obrysii 05-30-06, 12:27 PM	146. You say, "Oh sure, you can play an insectile thri'kreen." 147. You grant the PCs +16 weapons and then send them after a CR 40 monster at ECL 20.
chitzk0i 05-30-06, 12:36 PM	Also, why is the Rod of Wonder so bad?
d3f4ult 05-30-06, 01:21 PM	148. My campaign was a gladitorial event of sorts where different parties from different lands come to fight for an ultimate prize. My players went on a betting spree. They made bets... on themselves to LOSE and did not turn up for the match. Needless to say they earned more money than the Ultimate Prize itself...
sdragon1984 06-01-06, 01:16 PM	not my own mistake, but.............. 149. dm: the iscription says that if you open the tomb, a ghost will come out, bury you alive, and take your place in the party. oh yea, and its at the expense of the health of the world. but if you leave the tomb alone, everything will go fine, according to the inscription. me: well then, i turn around and tell the party to leave the tomb completely alone. dm: it was a bluff. you all get trapped in the room, never to make it out alive. the end. me: :eek:
Conshey 06-02-06, 03:19 PM	150: Well this is my mistake and continues to be one of the things that I consider my weak point. Letting a Raptoran Warmage play in a campaign where the party is against a swarm of smaller CR creatures. The only problem was I forgot about the Spontaneous Casting and Metamagic Feats rule. The ****ing Warmage flew over the mass swarms and Sudden Maximized, Sudden Empowered, and Sudden Widened his Cone of Cold as a Standard action, and then converted the Damage to deal both electric and cold damaged. The Spiked Chain weilding Half-orc Fighter never stood a chance to hit anything. By the way, Psionics rule, Magic gestures Conshey
olshanski_home 06-02-06, 03:22 PM	151) Purchasing anything other than the DMG, PHB, and MM 152) Allowing into your game anything other than the DMG, PHB, and MM
Malakai_Demonos 06-02-06, 04:08 PM	153. During my very first DM session, I gave my players the paragon template, for free, and made them half-celestials or half-dragons. Needless to say, that campaign didn't last long. 154. I rarely prepare anything, I do it all of the top of my head. During one session I thought it would be cool if they found something under a church, I made that thing vampire. I then said that the symbols of death were made up of smaller symbols of death. Ideals usually don't sound as cool after you actually think about them for a second.
DMaster42 06-02-06, 09:23 PM	155) Allowing a player to create his own version of the Kender with favored class wizard.
Tichrimo 06-02-06, 10:04 PM	156. Forgetting the third dimension when pitting the party (notably lacking in ranged weapons) against a beholder... outdoors... 157. Allowing a PC with a ring of three wishes to wish for a billion gold pieces. 158. Coming up with the stroke of genius two weeks later to make that a "billion gold pieces"... of sand...
Tichrimo 06-02-06, 10:07 PM	159. (And I've just been informed) attempting to discuss anything D&D related with my wife... :)
ressurrector 06-02-06, 10:35 PM	151) Purchasing anything other than the DMG, PHB, and MM 152) Allowing into your game anything other than the DMG, PHB, and MM That's YOUR opinion 160) Letting a friend play a warforged dedicated to "squashing fleshies"
Gryllmyre 06-02-06, 10:46 PM	161) "Ok, so you cone of cold the three salamanders in the room with you, but... does it hit the illusion in the hallway" ... *bonk self* 162) "Sure, your dwarf can tumble in full plate, his speed isn't decreased by heavy armor..." 163) I always forget the unhallow effects in a room, too busy dealing with all the other effects. 164) Allowing PC's to rest peacefully because I didn't have a enemy hunt and retaliation detail prepared.
Garlogic 06-03-06, 12:05 AM	It was the early 80's I was barely a teenager so forgive me. 165) Had a +16 unbreakable spear as treasure. 166) The party found an armor tree. Its exactly what you think, there was a tree full of armor. All of it was different colors and each would either be very powerful or cursed. 1 player was Sir Lavender, we all like to get under his skin, was annoying. He was a good friend but great to tease. He, of course, picked the purple armor which turned him into a frog. He was quickly stepped on. 167) Allowing inter-player assassination. 1 sneaky player liked to tease the above player by using his assassination skill. It created bad blood, but I thought it was funny so I allowed it, more than once.
Timlagor 06-03-06, 01:01 AM	161) 162) "Sure, your dwarf can tumble in full plate, his speed isn't decreased by heavy armor..." The correct ruling. On the subject of allowing books you shouldn't allow more than you are comfortable with but PHB/DMG/MM only leads to the CoDzilla effect.
Awakened_Gelatinus_Cube 06-04-06, 10:39 AM	I spent all day preparing a tree top dungeon, completely forgeting the party druid could summon an air elemental and ride it. He didn't have to worry about the rest of the part because when the player isn't there, I say the charater isn't there. The only other present character was a paladan who wouldn't take of his armor to climb up. I tried to tell the druid the elemental wasn't strong enough to lift him. Blast! Augmented Summoning! :headexplo He gets to the final boss and desides that he can't solo it. (He probably could. It's sad. I know.)
HeartbreakerHabberdasher 06-05-06, 10:02 AM	169: Compleatly underestimating the cost of a deck of illusions (50gp) 170: Forgetting to keep damage done to a boss during a fight 171: Making people too arrogant for even the Grey Elf of the party 172: Forgetting the name of a commoner that they saved