Post/Author/DateTime	Post
sfubear 08-12-05, 02:03 PM	this is really just the dumb things you have done as a DM or have noticed that your DM has done in the past MY biggest all time stupidest thing ever was a rolling system that my friend and I came up with for one of his games, and for his it work but for mine it was a a big mistake. the rolling system worked like this you roll a standard 4d6 and drop the lowest, however if you roll anything of the same number they stack and count as a roll of that number, for example if you roll two 4s the you have rolled one die and gotten an 8 and then get to reroll one of those dice(as the other dice was the one that "rolled the 8") or if you rolled all 4s the you rolled a 12 and got to reroll the other three dice and so on and so on..... well a long story short one in my friend's game were we used it it made average characters with one or two good scores I'm talking 20 to 24 starting and the rest would be your normal 10 to 16 kind of scores, it made the game interesting and fun, but when I used it (at the time with two players) they had like 30s and 24s or 26s in like everything, I even remember that one of my friends was mad because he got a "crappy 18" for one of his, well needless to say that they just ran around stomping everything and crushing stuff, so I was like screw this I will throw something they can't beat at then, so I threw a fire giant at them (at level 1) and got the worst rolls ever and they stomped it with about half hp when done, so I had to scrap the hole game and start over, ever since then we always joke about it, but on my part it was really dumb and poorly thought out. Does anyone else have something out there that you have done and it turned out to be a big dumb mistake?
meshon 08-12-05, 02:44 PM	Making really spicy chili for everyone before the game.
shaan888 08-12-05, 03:06 PM	making the mayor bald with tatooes all over his head :eek: :confused:
Karelzarath 08-12-05, 03:56 PM	Two biggest DM mistakes ever: 1) Deck of Many Things (campaign death in a box) 2) Tarrasque (just lame)
Cathon 08-12-05, 07:41 PM	making the mayor bald with tatooes all over his head :eek: :confused: Minsc is the mayor? I think Boo might be the better choice out of the two of them...
Arrowhen 08-12-05, 08:22 PM	Two biggest DM mistakes ever: 1) Deck of Many Things (campaign death in a box) 2) Tarrasque (just lame) Hear, hear.
Gnome_Dragon_Disciple 08-12-05, 08:27 PM	Using a prebuilt NPC. You'd be surprised how easy it is to kill Artemis Entirei(sp?) if you use him as printed in the FRCS... It's pretty sad that a sixth level character not only shot him with poison arrows... but actually bluffed him to think it was accidental and to hold still so that the character could get a BETTER shot at "the bug on his shoulder" while the evil cleric takes a look at his wounds (bestowing a curse on Constitution).
Unca_Laguna 08-12-05, 10:58 PM	as a DM, my worst falure (if not outright mistake) was to let Danny Ball play a rouge. he ALWAYS plays a rouge named annick dalriada. in WoW, he plays a rouge. in our old D&D group (he's the only player left from that group) he played a rouge. I was THIS close to getting him to play a palidan or ranger but I messed it up.
imperialjunkie 08-12-05, 11:08 PM	Letting any of my characters play a rouge. The colors are just never right. Never matches with the lipstick at all. Players just need to stay away from rouges in D&D. ;) Seriously, I'm fairly new to DMing and in my first longterm campaign. My only noticeable mistakes have been missing AoO. I think my players can live with that.
SilverSabre25 08-12-05, 11:41 PM	I too am fairly new to DMing and I'd say that my biggest mistake so far is not preparing enough for my first session. It was a mess and it was horrible. Luckily, none of my players held it against me and things improved from there. A second mistake was when I didn't think to call one of my players on a few bits of blatant cheating. Firstly was when she pulled out the MM during a session to read up on, and then correct me about, a monster they were fighting. Second was when I discovered that her 36-point buy was actually 38.
WCH 08-12-05, 11:44 PM	Skimming over the rules on Level Adjustment, and subsequently allowing a Satyr Bard 1 as a lvl 3 character. None of us could figure out why he was so powerful, because those 6 hitdice had clearly been factored into the LA. :D
thom2075 08-13-05, 03:32 AM	Too many house rules. My first 3rd edition campaign was going for as realistic an ehtical dilemma/political intrigue as I could manage, so I chucked the black and white alignment. Then I started changing everything to make it more "real" and before I knew it, I was doing advanced physics and engineering problems on inertia, momentum, etc while I was designing traps and writing Audubon level accounts on the ecology and environment of the kobolds in the cave. Plus it was LOW magic with 'average Joe' characters. It was like the Sims of D&D. Too much realism in a fantasy game is a big drag. These days I let my players make super heroes, because they like playing that way. I just make the opposition powerful enough to keep up the challenge. I guess I'm saying my biggest DMing mistake EVER was forgetting to have fun, and more importantly, not making sure my players were having fun.
The_EvilDungeon_Master 08-13-05, 03:33 AM	Minsc is the mayor? I think Boo might be the better choice out of the two of them... Minsc will lead with Blade and Boot! Boo will take care of the details. Biggest DM mistake so far: Putting in the "If you didn't do damage you don't get EXP" system. Oh god, the nightmares... :nonono:
thom2075 08-13-05, 03:37 AM	Oh, and I used to think EL was just a pain in the behind way to figure out XP and I had the damndest time not killing my characters off (a pack of goblins on worgs against 2nd level characters). Then I re-read, realized EL was a balancing tool, not an XP calculator, and things have been peachy (I play all the monsters to the hilt, though, so if they're supposed to be crafty and the player's get sloppy characters die). My player's groan in dread whenever they have to deal with kobolds =) *EDIT* I used a naughty word without thinking about it.
Lord Ian Stark 08-13-05, 04:04 AM	I met a few DM's over the years that there biggest mistake was sitting in the DM chair. ;)
Vaalingrade Ashland 08-13-05, 04:28 AM	Playing a dragon correctly with a group of players I didn't know. I'll just say this: Apprently, most people don't even know a dragon even has a wing buffet and they certainly don't know thier fly speed. Mage: Holy crap, all this wind! What spell is this?! Fighter: I don't know -- look at how fast it is! Its got to have some levels or somthing!
Herald of Jupiter 08-13-05, 04:57 AM	Allowing two players in my group who knew every rule exactly as it was in the book, who every time I changed a rule, they would go in a monologue of an hour stating that I was wrong. I'm the DM! I can't be wrong ;) Also, yes, taking up DMing would be a mistake, but one I very much enjoy :D
Disturbed1 08-13-05, 10:52 AM	biggest mistake? probably alowing psionics in the game:P example: the party is travelling along a road. up ahead, we see a group of goblins and a couple ogres(needed something bigger to lead the goblins:P). the telepath uses Dominate to take control fo the ogres. Anohter player goes up and engages in coversaton with them for a bit. Then the telepath looses one, has the one still under Dominate attack the other. They then convince the goblins and the other gores that he has been 'inflicted with the fever' in which the plane of chaos steals your mind ro seomthign like that. Sop the goblins adn teh other gore kill it and now tehy are travelling with us on the same damn road:P however, they kinda got us ina bit of trouble, as they were a radiing party on their way to a city where we wound up, and theyn wont let us in yet cause we are traveling with them:P i am the dm, but i say 'we' cause i do have a dmpc in the game right now. lookin for a good place to dump him though. hard to assign exp for myself:P
MasterRookie 08-13-05, 01:55 PM	Well I gave a holy avenger to a level 5 Paladin. I almost killed my cousin's level 1 character when he was alone facing three dire rats and a druid. Losing my DMG pitting my level 5 party against a giant squid
Garrinol 08-13-05, 02:23 PM	In Iron Kingdoms: Letting a character reinforce his greatcoat to get dmg resistance 8/bludgeoning, instead of 5, may not seem like much but it's almost impossible to hurt him now.
nyysjan 08-13-05, 02:56 PM	Using a prebuilt NPC. You'd be surprised how easy it is to kill Artemis Entirei(sp?) if you use him as printed in the FRCS... It's pretty sad that a sixth level character not only shot him with poison arrows... but actually bluffed him to think it was accidental and to hold still so that the character could get a BETTER shot at "the bug on his shoulder" while the evil cleric takes a look at his wounds (bestowing a curse on Constitution). :heehee
Callista 08-13-05, 03:03 PM	Underestimating what a 20-foot-deep pit trap will do to a 1st-level fighter (she died). Playing a young green dragon too stupid and having it try to run only when it had only 3 HP left (it also died). Using too many Undead and giving one of my players the willies (in a bad way--she's phobic). Allowing a 4th-level player to have a +2 weapon (oops!). Using too many gnomes and nearly getting beaten up for it.
scout989 08-13-05, 03:11 PM	My GF started a solo campaign recently for me- her first time DMing. Imagine my surprise when, as the first major treasure, I get handed a +1 Brilliant Energy Vorpal longsword (but she changed it so that the BE enchantment still let it hurt undead)- all this at first level. When I explained to her that this magic item was undoubtedly worth over 200k gold, she said "Well, you're by yourself, so I thought you could use the help. Besides, all that stuff sounded cool." So I'm now a fourth level druid, wandering around with something in the area of 260000 gold worth of magic items :eek:
JabberWocky 08-13-05, 03:17 PM	My biggest mistake as a DM, I think, was saying that the players could play anything they wanted within the basic limits I set. Little did I know that you just can't trust people not to play a half-ogre/half-dragon barbarian in a level 6 game.
RogerWilco 08-13-05, 03:33 PM	- Using Fatigue (from the 2nd edition Combat&Tactics) (you can move HDsize before you need to rest, it realy sucked for rogues and mages, esp. for small characters who had only 6 vs. 12 movement) (I played a rogue halfling) :( - Awarding XP based on damage dealt - Using overly complicated rules options. (see again Combat&Tactics)
Rogue DM 08-13-05, 06:29 PM	1) Not applying level adjustment (Giod, the minitaur owned at first level.) 2) I messed up the pricing rules by pricing each seperate ability as it was added to the weapon (rather than the price of a +2 sword to a +3 sword, I charged for another +1 ability). This led to two weapon fighters weilding weapons with lots of elemental damage.
TellisM 08-13-05, 07:00 PM	:( I think I may have the flat out worst mistake. I've been a DM for nine years now. People say I'm a good, fair DM, but I wasn't always one. We all remember way back when we first started DMing and all the stupid things we allowed/disallowed (I hope.) Well, here goes mine: In my first year, all I was the Player's Handbook. We didn't have the money to buy any of the books, which included the DMG, but my friend told me this game could be played with just the PHB, and a list of magical items from the DMG he wrote down for me. One of my players was a warrior named Conan (-_- /sigh) who found an empty treasure cave. The dragon who owned it was off killing the warrior's home town, but hey! That's not gonna stop him from getting some treasure, right? So I look for items to give him and figure a cool one would be this "Ring of Wishes" on the sheet. He gets it and says "I get to wish for anything?" I told him "I guess so. That's what Nathan wrote down." So he wishes to become a god. I'm sure you're all laughing now, but he assured me the straightest face I have ever seen that he wanted to do so for story reasons, and would never abuse his power. I figured even just a Demi God couldn't hurt, so I let him become Conan the demi-god. :( So ya, that's my biggest mistake. But oddly enough I don't regret it TOO much. We did have fun, as he became more and more evil, and the other PCs banded together to kill him. Oh well : )
shadowfox628 08-13-05, 07:38 PM	1) Allowing a PC to make his own side-quest 2) Allowing the PC's to loot EVERYTHING off of their now dead encounters 3) Allowing a PC to get his hands on a +4 Orc Double Axe 4) Allowing the same PC to get +2 Scale Armor, raising his AC to 21 (Notice: He's the ONLY one that could afford to take hits) 5) Allowing PC's to ignore Two Weapon Fighting rules 6) Making Epic-Level characters 7) Making a complicated story line 8) Allowing a PC to buy all Level 1, 2, 3, and 4 Wizard spells 9) Making a DMPC
DorsetDas 08-13-05, 07:43 PM	Easy trying to second gues the party, they never do what I think they should, how they should or even when they should now I just sit there and try and watch which way they run and react to them! It's great fun. lol
FlameLover 08-13-05, 08:41 PM	A few session after my first I was getting really annoyed with a guy who wasn't taking it seriously (like eating the slime of a gelatinous cube) and he was making everyone else silly (like eating keys) so I decided when he reached for a sword on a pedastal he'd be teleported to the Nine Hells. He was level 2...
Laranis Callirr 08-13-05, 10:06 PM	Railroading too much, and letting a player take Spellfire, with a party that already had a wizard and a sorcerer.
TheErsatzFacsimileOfMe 08-13-05, 10:20 PM	Biggest DM mistake so far: Putting in the "If you didn't do damage you don't get EXP" system. Oh god, the nightmares... :nonono: That's just begging to have them slaughter all the cows, ducks, chickens, dogs, cats, commoners and beggars in town. "Whaaaat? I did damage..." :rolleyes: