1001 DMing mistakes. [Archive] - Wizards Community

1001 DMing mistakes. [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Voldar_Mecorthio
07-02-06, 03:44 PM We've all done it. We've givin +5 vorpal longswords to level 3 PCs. We've put liches against 5th level PCs. We've created poisens that have a DC of 50. Here's the place to share your mistakes! Anything overly deadly, overpowered, or just plain stupid that you've ever regreted doing at the D&D table should be shared for the enjoyment of the public right here!
Board_Rider
07-02-06, 03:56 PM 1. Tried to have the players play "my story" without regards to their input.
2. Read the wrong monster statistics and put a far too powerful monster against the PCs.
CryoSilver
07-02-06, 04:27 PM 3: Expected online players to show up more than once for my game
wonlee76
07-02-06, 04:31 PM 4: Forget monster immunities and resistances thus making the monsters much easier to kill as a result of the mistake. (Hold Monster on Dragons + Coup De Grace forgetting SR check and dragon immuninty to paralysis is one really bad example on my part).
JamesDruidDM
07-02-06, 05:11 PM 5:...gave a fighter Pc at level 5 a throwing vorpal longsword...and now I dont do random rolls....
Lucan_Desmond
07-02-06, 05:14 PM 6: Gave a level 3 party a fully loaded Helm of Brilliance (it detonated too! no more random treasue rolls...)
Insanit
07-02-06, 05:17 PM 7. two words: briliant energy
8. assasins that death attack monks that ask them quetions
zae
07-02-06, 05:27 PM 9. Saying "Uh, okay!" instead of "Probably, just let me have a look at the book it's in so I can understand it." <--only relevant in online games where I don't know and trust the players.

10. Placing powerful things in the world, expecting players of arrogant characters to choose an option that isn't "I attack it." <-- once again, in normal, tabletop groups, not relevant
Steidas
07-02-06, 05:32 PM 11. Introducing my girlfriend to the game. She screwed the campaing big time. We didn't last much anyway :)
Jacilla
07-02-06, 05:34 PM Saying, "ok, if no one else will DM I'll give it a shot .... " 20 years later here I am ... still DMing. : )
DraconsNighthawk
07-02-06, 06:08 PM Saying, "ok, if no one else will DM I'll give it a shot .... " 20 years later here I am ... still DMing. : )

Hows that a bad thing?

13: Giving each of the 7 pc's weapons that gained a enhancment bonuses equal to their level, that they could change at will, at level 1 up to epics. Ever had a +1 flaming, holy, icy, thundering, acidic, sonic weapons by 8th level characterS? Ouch.
bansheeman
07-02-06, 06:28 PM 14. Naming every guy in the town jack
15.Naming every girl in the town jill.

Hey i had no names, im not an improv guy.
agent of gurney
07-02-06, 06:35 PM 16. giving out teleportation scrolls like silver peices

17. letting my players build all their cohorts and followers after taking Leadership feats
Generic Fighter
07-02-06, 07:06 PM 18. Using the 3.0 Reincarnation table! That thing was :censored: BROKEN. My parties Half-Orc Barbarian, Unglar, became "Unglar, Brown Bear Barbarian of Campaign Unbalancing" in the middle of "The Speaker of Dreams" and NOTHING was tough enough for the party for the rest of the adventure! During this time, Unglar's player coined the phrase "I hit it. It's Dead." For obvious reasons that Campaign self-Destructed shortly there after.

Generic Fighter:fight!:
The_Apathetic_Despot
07-02-06, 07:15 PM 19: Watching Advent Children while waiting for the players to show up. No gaming took place that session. Not a mistake, a triumph.
tharivol266
07-02-06, 08:43 PM 20) playing at the player's house, way tooo many distractions that you cant control. at my last session i regestered at the library so when i call in advance we get free use of a private room for basically however long we want. its a sweet deal.
GMforPowergamers
07-02-06, 08:47 PM 21) letting a good friend "Try this pristage class I found online"
22)Leting a PC stack armour (it was my first 3.0 game and the argument made cence)
23) Putting Gummy beary juice in my game as a JOKE. (It double a human, or a mostly human's streanth score for 1 min. the 1/2 dragon human fighter/Dragoon from online [that gave str bonus every level] drank it at 18th level, picke up and body slamed a trasquie.)

:eek:
CrazyCrash
07-02-06, 11:55 PM I can beat you all I let my younger brother play and he is a spas. But he spreads it to everyone. In no more than five minutes he had pillows flying every witch way, video games going, and a ping-pong tournament. He brought soda and every candy on the earth. Ten minutes and everyone’s on a sugar high. One of my good friends is not allowed sugar at home and damn it I found out why. And the worst part he doesn’t listen to any rules, cries if he dies, and wants a new character every five minutes. And they have to be sound stupid monster. I can’t band him, he just runs to my parents and cries until they force me to allow him to play. I can’t get away from. Because of him we haven’t got anything down in months. No one wants to come anymore. How do I get him away? He’s 12.
DraconsNighthawk
07-03-06, 12:48 AM I can beat you all I let my younger brother play and he is a spas. But he spreads it to everyone. In no more than five minutes he had pillows flying every witch way, video games going, and a ping-pong tournament. He brought soda and every candy on the earth. Ten minutes and everyone’s on a sugar high. One of my good friends is not allowed sugar at home and damn it I found out why. And the worst part he doesn’t listen to any rules, cries if he dies, and wants a new character every five minutes. And they have to be sound stupid monster. I can’t band him, he just runs to my parents and cries until they force me to allow him to play. I can’t get away from. Because of him we haven’t got anything down in months. No one wants to come anymore. How do I get him away? He’s 12.

Depends on how what you love more, your brother or DnD? :cool: *picks up shotgun* for fifty bucks, he won't be annoying anymore ever again...
bekeleven
07-03-06, 12:55 AM I can beat you all I let my younger brother play and he is a spas. But he spreads it to everyone. In no more than five minutes he had pillows flying every witch way, video games going, and a ping-pong tournament. He brought soda and every candy on the earth. Ten minutes and everyone’s on a sugar high. One of my good friends is not allowed sugar at home and damn it I found out why. And the worst part he doesn’t listen to any rules, cries if he dies, and wants a new character every five minutes. And they have to be sound stupid monster. I can’t band him, he just runs to my parents and cries until they force me to allow him to play. I can’t get away from. Because of him we haven’t got anything down in months. No one wants to come anymore. How do I get him away? He’s 12.
Find out when he's busy. Like, really busy.

Plan accordingly.
TheMeanOne
07-03-06, 12:55 AM 25) Assumed I could realistically roleplay an NPC storytelling bard with an 18Cha . . . not so much.
sneak_Blast
07-03-06, 12:56 AM Explain what he does to your parents. I'm sure they will listen if you can show them you are being serious and not telling them in the middle of some fight.
Ralvuimego
07-03-06, 03:09 AM 26) Trying to make a chamber of trials. (Accursed 15 by 15 square sliding wall maze took nearly two game sessions to get out of, and it was all "The path that was ahead of you slides closed, while the walls at the sides slide open, revealing hallways on either side" Ugh... Not doing that again.)

27) Allowing the party barbarian (Bbn 1) a single swing on the BBEG (wiz 3) before the wizard casts darkness and spider-climbs to the cieling to start picking people off. You guessed it, he got one-shotted.
Shadowmagyk
07-03-06, 03:24 AM 28. DMing the session while really sick, and it only got worse the more that I ran the game. At the end of the session, I was so sick that I bungled the encounter with an Aranea that was supposed to give them some information. Instead, the party killed it in a sneak attack.

I did have a reprieve, though. There was a Druid in the party, so I told him OoC that he would know that this Aranea could not have taken a Grove of Druids, so it all came together, in the end.
boredgremlin
07-03-06, 04:10 AM giving players a "big red button". I have done this a few times, each time expecting something better :confused: . Its allways a botton or lever or object they odviusly should not touch or die. Inevitably someone, pushes it, pulls it, smashes it, or whatever and dies or kills others.

Once it was a negative energy demon egg. The fighter hit it, it cracked and did some negative energy damage to everyone in the room. I made it very clear that a pale ugly green light was leaking out of the cracks and where it touched people it left thier skin bruised, cracked open, and bleeding. I expect the party to take the egg to a sage they know. But no, the palidan decides it must be uber evil and smashes with the whole party still in the room..... the negative energy nearly killed the whole party, and it did kill some of them. It had been a hard adventure.

Everytime no matter how odviosly they shouldnt do it, some idiot touches the "red button". Then they all look at me like its my fault someone got killed or badly hurt....
Yak of Darkness
07-03-06, 05:07 AM Letting my players get me talking after midnight. Nothing good happens when I do any talking other than, "You see X in the room," or "Enemy A attacks for X damage." And even those aren't too safe.

"In the chest, you find a +1 heavy mace."

"We can tell it's +1?"

"Er . . . yes . . . it has a tag on it." :tantrum:

"Make a DC 22 Fortitude save against his poison."

"Okay . . ." *rolls* "I made it."

"Wait! How do you kno--oh. Damn." :banghead:

"So how many hit points did that mohrg we killed have, anyway?"

"234."

"Damn, that's a lot. And what about the quell that got away?"

"106."

"Yes! I knew we could get him to tell us!"

"No . . . I mean . . . it's got . . . er . . . ****!" :headexplo

*rolls* "I got a 23 on my Search check."

"You don't find the crossbow trap on the door."

"Er . . . okay, I'm gonna roll Disable Device now."

"Sonofa . . . argh!" :surrender
xlivid
07-03-06, 05:17 AM 29. railroading
30. no variation in enemies (generic enemy #1 & generic enemy #2 (etc))
baitmask
07-03-06, 08:04 AM perhaps my biggest, if only gaming related mistake as the DM: Thinking my gaming group would survive the race to 20 without an arcane caster in the party.

i've had to nerf badguys to the point where i just ad hock xp and send the party moving along like nothing bad has ever happened.

the players now cry about how long combat rounds are, average of 30 minutes for 5 players and a dm, because the group is 10-12th level, and all of them have 3-4 hasted attacks, sneak dice, elemental dice, crit dice, and misc dice from just the weapons.

the only answer i ever give them nowadays when they ask why combat takes so long is this: "It's not my fault the wizard joined the airforce."
towerwrath
07-03-06, 08:40 AM my biggest mistake was trying to dm my second session ever. I knew nothing about the game, had no books, I didn't even have dice. However it turned out well our regular DM gave me a crash course in DMing before everyone showed up and three note cards whith the stats for the creatures he wanted us to fight. I drew the map, came up with the story. Six hours lator I was hooked that was the day I truly realized I was a geek and a gaming addict to boot.
thaylok
07-03-06, 01:14 PM My list, although, not all at the same time.

Allowing Character Flaws
Allowing Warlocks
Allowing non-standard races (with level adjustment of +1)
Assuming Players wouldn't metagame
Assuming (hack-and-slash)Players would figure out the puzzle, or even try
General_Ridley
07-03-06, 01:25 PM giving deadly artifact that would eventually awaken a demon lord of CR 30 to players at 5th level, hoping they'd quest to destroy it.

goofing up oin my understanding of giving out XP, so they leveled to level 5 but still had equipment of level 2.

Not smiting cleric of Heironeus who was acting more like a cleric of Malcanthet (Queen of the Succubi)
rostos
07-03-06, 02:18 PM ° sloppy reading of monster statblocks. Resulted in an handle animal check for an aberration, attacking with inferior attack styles et cetera
° careless descriptions, like when you want to keep the identity of an opponent somewhat unknown to your players and giving description like `the barbarian` instead of `the guy in leather armor´
UndeadMouse
07-03-06, 07:26 PM sometimes forgetting to add str damage to attacks.
also, certain feats (power attack, combat expertise, and manyshot to name a few) seem to always elude my vision, causing problems with both players and monsters.
KaintukeeBob
07-03-06, 08:18 PM I'm running a 2-person campaign, partly as an exercise in masochism...errr, my roleplaying ability.

Basically, the only player controls a single character (a bard), and I run the rest of the party. It typically ends up that she makes most of the party's decisions, though she's a good RPer, and her character defers to the others when it's appropriate. (I make ability rolls to see what plans they will suggest/vote for).

That is mistake 1. I'm running 4 distinct personalities, and have spent 15 minutes talking to myself before. Makes me seem skitzo.

Mistake 2, same game: random urban encounter: a potent sorceror died recently, and his rival (also a sorceror) used some political trickery to get the estate...the estate full of magical items. He had a firesale, after choosing the items he most wanted.

He sold everything for 100gp...but you could only get 1 item, and you chose randomly (items were numbered, pulled from a bag). It went pretty well, with the party getting things like 'Helm of Comprehend Languages' and '+1 rapier'. For level 3 characters, that's fine. I eliminated all wands/scrolls/potions, but allowed some of the weakest rods, plus one. I decided to put the rod of wonder as '00' on the rod table. If a character rolled a rod on the random magical item table I had (~12% chance), they had exactly a 1% chance to get it. I figured that if anyone got that lucky, they could have it. Who could get THAT lucky?

She did. It's nearly killed her 3 times, and she has turned permanantly blue.
Jacilla
07-03-06, 09:57 PM Originally Posted by Jacilla
Saying, "ok, if no one else will DM I'll give it a shot .... " 20 years later here I am ... still DMing. : )
Hows that a bad thing?

I like to play too?
Archmage_Vall
07-03-06, 10:37 PM My biggest mistake was assuming my players wouldn't go out of their way to completely munchkin-ize their characters. I had a party of 5 level 7s fighting groups of 6 ECL 10 vampires. The vampires had a couple extra abilities I game them to beef them up so they'd have a chance. The PCs still sent them back to their coffins in about 2 rounds, with barely a scratch. So, next session, "Oh guess what, the really old vampires who've been in torpor for the last several millenia are starting to wake up..."
Dowjin
07-03-06, 10:52 PM 46(ish): Assuming players will catch on that 'fireball' is the favorite trap of almost anything they run across.
47: Ammending the above problem out of frustration... Right when they do.
48: Allowed tiny modifiers that seemed to make sense, stacking rights.
49: Giving the party Rogue, Boots of Speed.
50: Deciding that adding higher level explosives for alchemy was a good idea.
51: Deciding that the max-ranked Craft (alchemy) party member using number fifty was smart enough to let the party run first.
52: Trusting party to run from number fifty one.
Sikyanakotik
07-04-06, 01:22 AM 53?: DMing for a group of 15-year-olds. Enough said. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v402/Sikyanakotik/mooglesad.png

For the record, they were the only people who wanted to join my game at the LGS, and I was working on my M.Sc. at the time.
Crash01234567890
07-04-06, 02:00 AM 54. Assuming most of my players had memory spans that were slightly better than that of a dead cat.

55. Assuming my group would try to figure out simple riddels.

56. DMing for a group that wants to play a realistic game.

57. Running Living Greyhawk after saying, I don't think the intro level mods will be that hard (2/3rds of my intro mods have been tpks)

58. Letting a player play that not only did not know the rules in the beginning but never tried to gain an understanding beyond what a second grader could.

59. DMing D&D 3.5, now my friends won't play anything else because they "don't want to learn a new system"

60. Using the dice from my new pound of dice without inspecting them. The BBEG and all his minions didn't have a stat at 1st level over 15 (17 for racial +2s) because one of the D6s I was using only went from 1-3 twice. Likewise the BBEG's bastard sword never dealt more than 5+str damage in the first battle because I just happened to get a D10 that only went from 1-5 twice. Then in the final Level 20 battle against the dragon, the dragon didn't hit crap because again I had a bad die that was a D20 that evidently only went from 1-10 twice. I have really bad luck.
Hariman
07-04-06, 02:59 AM 57. Running Living Greyhawk after saying, I don't think the intro level mods will be that hard (2/3rds of my intro mods have been tpks)

Are you a Keolander too? Because I know that the Keoland Intro Mods can be vicious.

61: No save ceiling drop. Need I say more?

62: Failing to check my ego at the door.

63: Not realizing that the guy I originally learned from was such a bad powergamer/twink/railroader that I hadn't really played D&D, I'd only played "DM's interactive story". And thus copied him when I started to DM. Thank god he moved away.

64: Did I mention the no save ceiling drop incident?

65: Trying to DM with less than two years of being a player beforehand.

66: Not knowing the rules (Or at least checking them thoroughly before play) when I was DMing, and playing D&D with a guy that didn't know the 3.5 rules thoroughly.
Crash01234567890
07-04-06, 11:01 AM Nope, I'm in the Yeomanry(can't remember spelling)
Phyrrus
07-04-06, 01:40 PM My newbie DM mistake from a while back.

67. Misinterpreted "Driders cast spells as 5th level Sorcerers" (or however it actually is, I forget) as "Driders cast 5th level Sorcerer spells"
My players didn't like me that day :p
Sathery
08-03-06, 04:35 AM 68. Losing one of my triplet "famed" crit die. From then on, the other two have rolled consistant 15 or lower, crit missing three times in a row. Poo.

69. Giving a Robe of Useful Items to level 2-3 PCs.

70. Teleport Arcane Scroll.
Razieliffied
08-03-06, 05:30 AM Saying, "ok, if no one else will DM I'll give it a shot .... " 20 years later here I am ... still DMing. : )

Four years for me, though it's probably the single best thing that's happened in my roleplaying history.
Morrowner
08-03-06, 05:49 AM Creating creatures that will stack up accurately CR are broken, like Trolls with Warrior levels and NPC wealth, Elite Max Diced Swarmshifter Boneclaws, and on and on. Not knowing the party's limits/capabilities/being deliberately over-the-top is my biggest flaw.
Tormsskull
08-03-06, 09:26 AM 72(?). Allowing a player to bring in a psionic character when I was not familiar with the rules.

73. Not writing down unimportant peoples names (I want to talk to Fred. Who's Fred? Duh, the baker?)

74. Getting attached to "my" npcs.

75. Allowing a nerfed cleric (from 2nd addition) the ability to grow 4 extra arms, thus granting 6 attacks in one round. It was with a nunchuck, so it wasn't too powerful, but sometimes it got crazy.

76. Forgetting that a roll of 1 on a save CAN happen in a "party will obviously lose" fight.

77. Having lots of NPCs end up being bad. My players trust no one now :P

78. Manipulating the players to fight each other (they didn't have too, but they both listened to the same NPC who was feeding them lines of BS).

79. Allowing a certain player to keep track of their own HPs.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Voldar_Mecorthio 07-02-06, 03:44 PM	We've all done it. We've givin +5 vorpal longswords to level 3 PCs. We've put liches against 5th level PCs. We've created poisens that have a DC of 50. Here's the place to share your mistakes! Anything overly deadly, overpowered, or just plain stupid that you've ever regreted doing at the D&D table should be shared for the enjoyment of the public right here!
Board_Rider 07-02-06, 03:56 PM	1. Tried to have the players play "my story" without regards to their input. 2. Read the wrong monster statistics and put a far too powerful monster against the PCs.
CryoSilver 07-02-06, 04:27 PM	3: Expected online players to show up more than once for my game
wonlee76 07-02-06, 04:31 PM	4: Forget monster immunities and resistances thus making the monsters much easier to kill as a result of the mistake. (Hold Monster on Dragons + Coup De Grace forgetting SR check and dragon immuninty to paralysis is one really bad example on my part).
JamesDruidDM 07-02-06, 05:11 PM	5:...gave a fighter Pc at level 5 a throwing vorpal longsword...and now I dont do random rolls....
Lucan_Desmond 07-02-06, 05:14 PM	6: Gave a level 3 party a fully loaded Helm of Brilliance (it detonated too! no more random treasue rolls...)
Insanit 07-02-06, 05:17 PM	7. two words: briliant energy 8. assasins that death attack monks that ask them quetions
zae 07-02-06, 05:27 PM	9. Saying "Uh, okay!" instead of "Probably, just let me have a look at the book it's in so I can understand it." <--only relevant in online games where I don't know and trust the players. 10. Placing powerful things in the world, expecting players of arrogant characters to choose an option that isn't "I attack it." <-- once again, in normal, tabletop groups, not relevant
Steidas 07-02-06, 05:32 PM	11. Introducing my girlfriend to the game. She screwed the campaing big time. We didn't last much anyway :)
Jacilla 07-02-06, 05:34 PM	Saying, "ok, if no one else will DM I'll give it a shot .... " 20 years later here I am ... still DMing. : )
DraconsNighthawk 07-02-06, 06:08 PM	Saying, "ok, if no one else will DM I'll give it a shot .... " 20 years later here I am ... still DMing. : ) Hows that a bad thing? 13: Giving each of the 7 pc's weapons that gained a enhancment bonuses equal to their level, that they could change at will, at level 1 up to epics. Ever had a +1 flaming, holy, icy, thundering, acidic, sonic weapons by 8th level characterS? Ouch.
bansheeman 07-02-06, 06:28 PM	14. Naming every guy in the town jack 15.Naming every girl in the town jill. Hey i had no names, im not an improv guy.
agent of gurney 07-02-06, 06:35 PM	16. giving out teleportation scrolls like silver peices 17. letting my players build all their cohorts and followers after taking Leadership feats
Generic Fighter 07-02-06, 07:06 PM	18. Using the 3.0 Reincarnation table! That thing was :censored: BROKEN. My parties Half-Orc Barbarian, Unglar, became "Unglar, Brown Bear Barbarian of Campaign Unbalancing" in the middle of "The Speaker of Dreams" and NOTHING was tough enough for the party for the rest of the adventure! During this time, Unglar's player coined the phrase "I hit it. It's Dead." For obvious reasons that Campaign self-Destructed shortly there after. Generic Fighter:fight!:
The_Apathetic_Despot 07-02-06, 07:15 PM	19: Watching Advent Children while waiting for the players to show up. No gaming took place that session. Not a mistake, a triumph.
tharivol266 07-02-06, 08:43 PM	20) playing at the player's house, way tooo many distractions that you cant control. at my last session i regestered at the library so when i call in advance we get free use of a private room for basically however long we want. its a sweet deal.
GMforPowergamers 07-02-06, 08:47 PM	21) letting a good friend "Try this pristage class I found online" 22)Leting a PC stack armour (it was my first 3.0 game and the argument made cence) 23) Putting Gummy beary juice in my game as a JOKE. (It double a human, or a mostly human's streanth score for 1 min. the 1/2 dragon human fighter/Dragoon from online [that gave str bonus every level] drank it at 18th level, picke up and body slamed a trasquie.) :eek:
CrazyCrash 07-02-06, 11:55 PM	I can beat you all I let my younger brother play and he is a spas. But he spreads it to everyone. In no more than five minutes he had pillows flying every witch way, video games going, and a ping-pong tournament. He brought soda and every candy on the earth. Ten minutes and everyone’s on a sugar high. One of my good friends is not allowed sugar at home and damn it I found out why. And the worst part he doesn’t listen to any rules, cries if he dies, and wants a new character every five minutes. And they have to be sound stupid monster. I can’t band him, he just runs to my parents and cries until they force me to allow him to play. I can’t get away from. Because of him we haven’t got anything down in months. No one wants to come anymore. How do I get him away? He’s 12.
DraconsNighthawk 07-03-06, 12:48 AM	I can beat you all I let my younger brother play and he is a spas. But he spreads it to everyone. In no more than five minutes he had pillows flying every witch way, video games going, and a ping-pong tournament. He brought soda and every candy on the earth. Ten minutes and everyone’s on a sugar high. One of my good friends is not allowed sugar at home and damn it I found out why. And the worst part he doesn’t listen to any rules, cries if he dies, and wants a new character every five minutes. And they have to be sound stupid monster. I can’t band him, he just runs to my parents and cries until they force me to allow him to play. I can’t get away from. Because of him we haven’t got anything down in months. No one wants to come anymore. How do I get him away? He’s 12. Depends on how what you love more, your brother or DnD? :cool: picks up shotgun for fifty bucks, he won't be annoying anymore ever again...
bekeleven 07-03-06, 12:55 AM	I can beat you all I let my younger brother play and he is a spas. But he spreads it to everyone. In no more than five minutes he had pillows flying every witch way, video games going, and a ping-pong tournament. He brought soda and every candy on the earth. Ten minutes and everyone’s on a sugar high. One of my good friends is not allowed sugar at home and damn it I found out why. And the worst part he doesn’t listen to any rules, cries if he dies, and wants a new character every five minutes. And they have to be sound stupid monster. I can’t band him, he just runs to my parents and cries until they force me to allow him to play. I can’t get away from. Because of him we haven’t got anything down in months. No one wants to come anymore. How do I get him away? He’s 12. Find out when he's busy. Like, really busy. Plan accordingly.
TheMeanOne 07-03-06, 12:55 AM	25) Assumed I could realistically roleplay an NPC storytelling bard with an 18Cha . . . not so much.
sneak_Blast 07-03-06, 12:56 AM	Explain what he does to your parents. I'm sure they will listen if you can show them you are being serious and not telling them in the middle of some fight.
Ralvuimego 07-03-06, 03:09 AM	26) Trying to make a chamber of trials. (Accursed 15 by 15 square sliding wall maze took nearly two game sessions to get out of, and it was all "The path that was ahead of you slides closed, while the walls at the sides slide open, revealing hallways on either side" Ugh... Not doing that again.) 27) Allowing the party barbarian (Bbn 1) a single swing on the BBEG (wiz 3) before the wizard casts darkness and spider-climbs to the cieling to start picking people off. You guessed it, he got one-shotted.
Shadowmagyk 07-03-06, 03:24 AM	28. DMing the session while really sick, and it only got worse the more that I ran the game. At the end of the session, I was so sick that I bungled the encounter with an Aranea that was supposed to give them some information. Instead, the party killed it in a sneak attack. I did have a reprieve, though. There was a Druid in the party, so I told him OoC that he would know that this Aranea could not have taken a Grove of Druids, so it all came together, in the end.
boredgremlin 07-03-06, 04:10 AM	giving players a "big red button". I have done this a few times, each time expecting something better :confused: . Its allways a botton or lever or object they odviusly should not touch or die. Inevitably someone, pushes it, pulls it, smashes it, or whatever and dies or kills others. Once it was a negative energy demon egg. The fighter hit it, it cracked and did some negative energy damage to everyone in the room. I made it very clear that a pale ugly green light was leaking out of the cracks and where it touched people it left thier skin bruised, cracked open, and bleeding. I expect the party to take the egg to a sage they know. But no, the palidan decides it must be uber evil and smashes with the whole party still in the room..... the negative energy nearly killed the whole party, and it did kill some of them. It had been a hard adventure. Everytime no matter how odviosly they shouldnt do it, some idiot touches the "red button". Then they all look at me like its my fault someone got killed or badly hurt....
Yak of Darkness 07-03-06, 05:07 AM	Letting my players get me talking after midnight. Nothing good happens when I do any talking other than, "You see X in the room," or "Enemy A attacks for X damage." And even those aren't too safe. "In the chest, you find a +1 heavy mace." "We can tell it's +1?" "Er . . . yes . . . it has a tag on it." :tantrum: "Make a DC 22 Fortitude save against his poison." "Okay . . ." rolls "I made it." "Wait! How do you kno--oh. Damn." :banghead: "So how many hit points did that mohrg we killed have, anyway?" "234." "Damn, that's a lot. And what about the quell that got away?" "106." "Yes! I knew we could get him to tell us!" "No . . . I mean . . . it's got . . . er . . . ***!" :headexplo rolls* "I got a 23 on my Search check." "You don't find the crossbow trap on the door." "Er . . . okay, I'm gonna roll Disable Device now." "Sonofa . . . argh!" :surrender
xlivid 07-03-06, 05:17 AM	29. railroading 30. no variation in enemies (generic enemy #1 & generic enemy #2 (etc))
baitmask 07-03-06, 08:04 AM	perhaps my biggest, if only gaming related mistake as the DM: Thinking my gaming group would survive the race to 20 without an arcane caster in the party. i've had to nerf badguys to the point where i just ad hock xp and send the party moving along like nothing bad has ever happened. the players now cry about how long combat rounds are, average of 30 minutes for 5 players and a dm, because the group is 10-12th level, and all of them have 3-4 hasted attacks, sneak dice, elemental dice, crit dice, and misc dice from just the weapons. the only answer i ever give them nowadays when they ask why combat takes so long is this: "It's not my fault the wizard joined the airforce."
towerwrath 07-03-06, 08:40 AM	my biggest mistake was trying to dm my second session ever. I knew nothing about the game, had no books, I didn't even have dice. However it turned out well our regular DM gave me a crash course in DMing before everyone showed up and three note cards whith the stats for the creatures he wanted us to fight. I drew the map, came up with the story. Six hours lator I was hooked that was the day I truly realized I was a geek and a gaming addict to boot.
thaylok 07-03-06, 01:14 PM	My list, although, not all at the same time. Allowing Character Flaws Allowing Warlocks Allowing non-standard races (with level adjustment of +1) Assuming Players wouldn't metagame Assuming (hack-and-slash)Players would figure out the puzzle, or even try
General_Ridley 07-03-06, 01:25 PM	giving deadly artifact that would eventually awaken a demon lord of CR 30 to players at 5th level, hoping they'd quest to destroy it. goofing up oin my understanding of giving out XP, so they leveled to level 5 but still had equipment of level 2. Not smiting cleric of Heironeus who was acting more like a cleric of Malcanthet (Queen of the Succubi)
rostos 07-03-06, 02:18 PM	° sloppy reading of monster statblocks. Resulted in an handle animal check for an aberration, attacking with inferior attack styles et cetera ° careless descriptions, like when you want to keep the identity of an opponent somewhat unknown to your players and giving description like `the barbarian` instead of `the guy in leather armor´
UndeadMouse 07-03-06, 07:26 PM	sometimes forgetting to add str damage to attacks. also, certain feats (power attack, combat expertise, and manyshot to name a few) seem to always elude my vision, causing problems with both players and monsters.
KaintukeeBob 07-03-06, 08:18 PM	I'm running a 2-person campaign, partly as an exercise in masochism...errr, my roleplaying ability. Basically, the only player controls a single character (a bard), and I run the rest of the party. It typically ends up that she makes most of the party's decisions, though she's a good RPer, and her character defers to the others when it's appropriate. (I make ability rolls to see what plans they will suggest/vote for). That is mistake 1. I'm running 4 distinct personalities, and have spent 15 minutes talking to myself before. Makes me seem skitzo. Mistake 2, same game: random urban encounter: a potent sorceror died recently, and his rival (also a sorceror) used some political trickery to get the estate...the estate full of magical items. He had a firesale, after choosing the items he most wanted. He sold everything for 100gp...but you could only get 1 item, and you chose randomly (items were numbered, pulled from a bag). It went pretty well, with the party getting things like 'Helm of Comprehend Languages' and '+1 rapier'. For level 3 characters, that's fine. I eliminated all wands/scrolls/potions, but allowed some of the weakest rods, plus one. I decided to put the rod of wonder as '00' on the rod table. If a character rolled a rod on the random magical item table I had (~12% chance), they had exactly a 1% chance to get it. I figured that if anyone got that lucky, they could have it. Who could get THAT lucky? She did. It's nearly killed her 3 times, and she has turned permanantly blue.
Jacilla 07-03-06, 09:57 PM	Originally Posted by Jacilla Saying, "ok, if no one else will DM I'll give it a shot .... " 20 years later here I am ... still DMing. : ) Hows that a bad thing? I like to play too?
Archmage_Vall 07-03-06, 10:37 PM	My biggest mistake was assuming my players wouldn't go out of their way to completely munchkin-ize their characters. I had a party of 5 level 7s fighting groups of 6 ECL 10 vampires. The vampires had a couple extra abilities I game them to beef them up so they'd have a chance. The PCs still sent them back to their coffins in about 2 rounds, with barely a scratch. So, next session, "Oh guess what, the really old vampires who've been in torpor for the last several millenia are starting to wake up..."
Dowjin 07-03-06, 10:52 PM	46(ish): Assuming players will catch on that 'fireball' is the favorite trap of almost anything they run across. 47: Ammending the above problem out of frustration... Right when they do. 48: Allowed tiny modifiers that seemed to make sense, stacking rights. 49: Giving the party Rogue, Boots of Speed. 50: Deciding that adding higher level explosives for alchemy was a good idea. 51: Deciding that the max-ranked Craft (alchemy) party member using number fifty was smart enough to let the party run first. 52: Trusting party to run from number fifty one.
Sikyanakotik 07-04-06, 01:22 AM	53?: DMing for a group of 15-year-olds. Enough said. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v402/Sikyanakotik/mooglesad.png For the record, they were the only people who wanted to join my game at the LGS, and I was working on my M.Sc. at the time.
Crash01234567890 07-04-06, 02:00 AM	54. Assuming most of my players had memory spans that were slightly better than that of a dead cat. 55. Assuming my group would try to figure out simple riddels. 56. DMing for a group that wants to play a realistic game. 57. Running Living Greyhawk after saying, I don't think the intro level mods will be that hard (2/3rds of my intro mods have been tpks) 58. Letting a player play that not only did not know the rules in the beginning but never tried to gain an understanding beyond what a second grader could. 59. DMing D&D 3.5, now my friends won't play anything else because they "don't want to learn a new system" 60. Using the dice from my new pound of dice without inspecting them. The BBEG and all his minions didn't have a stat at 1st level over 15 (17 for racial +2s) because one of the D6s I was using only went from 1-3 twice. Likewise the BBEG's bastard sword never dealt more than 5+str damage in the first battle because I just happened to get a D10 that only went from 1-5 twice. Then in the final Level 20 battle against the dragon, the dragon didn't hit crap because again I had a bad die that was a D20 that evidently only went from 1-10 twice. I have really bad luck.
Hariman 07-04-06, 02:59 AM	57. Running Living Greyhawk after saying, I don't think the intro level mods will be that hard (2/3rds of my intro mods have been tpks) Are you a Keolander too? Because I know that the Keoland Intro Mods can be vicious. 61: No save ceiling drop. Need I say more? 62: Failing to check my ego at the door. 63: Not realizing that the guy I originally learned from was such a bad powergamer/twink/railroader that I hadn't really played D&D, I'd only played "DM's interactive story". And thus copied him when I started to DM. Thank god he moved away. 64: Did I mention the no save ceiling drop incident? 65: Trying to DM with less than two years of being a player beforehand. 66: Not knowing the rules (Or at least checking them thoroughly before play) when I was DMing, and playing D&D with a guy that didn't know the 3.5 rules thoroughly.
Crash01234567890 07-04-06, 11:01 AM	Nope, I'm in the Yeomanry(can't remember spelling)
Phyrrus 07-04-06, 01:40 PM	My newbie DM mistake from a while back. 67. Misinterpreted "Driders cast spells as 5th level Sorcerers" (or however it actually is, I forget) as "Driders cast 5th level Sorcerer spells" My players didn't like me that day :p
Sathery 08-03-06, 04:35 AM	68. Losing one of my triplet "famed" crit die. From then on, the other two have rolled consistant 15 or lower, crit missing three times in a row. Poo. 69. Giving a Robe of Useful Items to level 2-3 PCs. 70. Teleport Arcane Scroll.
Razieliffied 08-03-06, 05:30 AM	Saying, "ok, if no one else will DM I'll give it a shot .... " 20 years later here I am ... still DMing. : ) Four years for me, though it's probably the single best thing that's happened in my roleplaying history.
Morrowner 08-03-06, 05:49 AM	Creating creatures that will stack up accurately CR are broken, like Trolls with Warrior levels and NPC wealth, Elite Max Diced Swarmshifter Boneclaws, and on and on. Not knowing the party's limits/capabilities/being deliberately over-the-top is my biggest flaw.
Tormsskull 08-03-06, 09:26 AM	72(?). Allowing a player to bring in a psionic character when I was not familiar with the rules. 73. Not writing down unimportant peoples names (I want to talk to Fred. Who's Fred? Duh, the baker?) 74. Getting attached to "my" npcs. 75. Allowing a nerfed cleric (from 2nd addition) the ability to grow 4 extra arms, thus granting 6 attacks in one round. It was with a nunchuck, so it wasn't too powerful, but sometimes it got crazy. 76. Forgetting that a roll of 1 on a save CAN happen in a "party will obviously lose" fight. 77. Having lots of NPCs end up being bad. My players trust no one now :P 78. Manipulating the players to fight each other (they didn't have too, but they both listened to the same NPC who was feeding them lines of BS). 79. Allowing a certain player to keep track of their own HPs.