What was your biggest screw-up as a GM?

[Hawkfu]

Please forgive the vulgarity...

I had an adventure with super agent types investigating an assassination plot at an opera house (it was based on a movie - title escapes me right now). By the time we were ready to go I was really tired from a double shift at work, but I thought it would be okay. I slammed a few sodas and we started. Well, I was definitely punch drunk and getting loopy, when they asked the name of the opera. Somehow I had forgot to name it when I wrote up my notes. Thinking quick, with my tired and caffeine laden brain, feeling loopy, I said "It's the famous Italian tragedy 'Fellatio on a Cat'", thinking this would just get a quick laugh and we could move on. Well, no. It got a *huge* laugh, and whenever we tried to proceed one of the players would crack up, which triggered another and so on. They started to work the title into all of their character's dialog setting each other into more fits of laughter. I finally just apologized for killing the story and went to bed.

I keep *very* detailed notes now.

wlg

[SoulCatcher78]

Please forgive the vulgarity...

I had an adventure with super agent types investigating an assassination plot at an opera house (it was based on a movie - title escapes me right now). By the time we were ready to go I was really tired from a double shift at work, but I thought it would be okay. I slammed a few sodas and we started. Well, I was definitely punch drunk and getting loopy, when they asked the name of the opera. Somehow I had forgot to name it when I wrote up my notes. Thinking quick, with my tired and caffeine laden brain, feeling loopy, I said "It's the famous Italian tragedy 'Fellatio on a Cat'", thinking this would just get a quick laugh and we could move on. Well, no. It got a *huge* laugh, and whenever we tried to proceed one of the players would crack up, which triggered another and so on. They started to work the title into all of their character's dialog setting each other into more fits of laughter. I finally just apologized for killing the story and went to bed.

I keep *very* detailed notes now.

wlg

That would explain all that high pitched screamy singing you find during an opera.  Finally it all makes sense!

[jimthegray]

well in the 1st game I ran of cyberpunk, I accedenly wiped the party in the 1st 10 minutes

[skegmonkey]

Well my worst mistake was in a system that we designed ourselves about 10 years ago it was in a Swords and Sorcery style but as we wanted a little unpredictability in our magic system instead of D10 to decide a result we used playing cards, 1-10 was a measure of success and face cards delivered different critical. However we decided to use Joker as a wild card in this instance the Referee would decide the result.

Well we were a long way into a campaign where our heroes were simple villagers tracking raiders who had either taken their wives and daughters as slaves, ruined their livelihoods or killed family.

The party were giving chase across the sea when i devised an attack on their ship engineered by the raiders, who had hired a mercenary to track them. i had hoped this would be a serious test to see how far my players had come and so had made this mercenary and his team very tough. However after about only 5 rounds of combat several critical on the players part and many fumbles on mine most of my guys were mortally wounded which i hate to say annoyed me. One of the PCs had received a bad wound but as they had a healer i was not worried. The healer though pulled the joker and i decided that it would be fun to give them a little exercise and ruled that a surge of power meant everyone on the ship was fully healed including the bad guys.

Guess what all of a sudden my guys couldn't miss and instead of an encounter i had intended to last 30 mins it went for the whole session of 3 hours we lost there players of a 6 man party and came within a whisker of losing the whole battle and so the entire party. I felt terrible and to compound it i said to the priest player "and so the Gods demonstrate the unpredictability of magic"

I will say that the players all said at the conclusion of the scenario that the 3 hour battle was the most thrilling experience they had role-played. I just felt bad for nearly killing a whole party and 3 very well developed players over a matter of wounded pride.

[SoulCatcher78]

Well my worst mistake was in a system that we designed ourselves about 10 years ago it was in a Swords and Sorcery style but as we wanted a little unpredictability in our magic system instead of D10 to decide a result we used playing cards, 1-10 was a measure of success and face cards delivered different critical. However we decided to use Joker as a wild card in this instance the Referee would decide the result.

Well we were a long way into a campaign where our heroes were simple villagers tracking raiders who had either taken their wives and daughters as slaves, ruined their livelihoods or killed family.

The party were giving chase across the sea when i devised an attack on their ship devised by the raiders, who had hired a mercenary to track them. i had hoped this would be a serious test to see how far my players had come and so had made this mercenary and his team very tough. However after about only 5 rounds of combat several critical on the players part and many fumbles on mine most of my guys were mortally wounded which i hate to say annoyed me. One of the PCs had received a bad wound but as they had a healer i was not worried. The healer though pulled the joker though and i decided that it would be fun to give them a little exercise and ruled that a surge of power meant everyone on the ship was fully healed including the bad guys.

Guess what all of a sudden my guys couldn't miss and instead of an encounter i had intended to last 30 mins it went for the whole session of 3 hours we lost there players of a 6 man party and came within a whisker of losing the whole battle and so the entire party. I felt terrible and to compound it i said to the priest player "and so the Gods demonstrate the unpredictability of magic"

I will say that the players all said at the conclusion of the scenario that the 3 hour battle was the most thrilling experience they had role-played. I just felt bad for nearly killing a whole party and 3 very well developed players over a matter of wounded pride.

But it's one of those scenarios that lives on in infamy...or better put, one of those "you won't believe this but..." stories.

[Paynesgrey]

Biggest P&P screwup? 

Adapting a critical hit table without modifying it to avoid screwing over the storyline.  Improv is where the best fun lies, but when the squishy caster fop lucks out and kills your Big Bad Mojo Demon End Boss with one super-well placed +2 dart through the eye, well, that kind of makes for a short night.  I had allowed the players to see the charts, so I couldn't even pretend that the little twit hadn't killed the boss.

Boss drops dead.  Well.  There you have it.  Anyone wanna watch a movie?

[Blaze]

LOL -- that is when you pull out the demon's Mommy!  Didn't anyone ever tell you that?

[jtaylor]

Ha, so the entire reason behind Grendel's mother was Beowulf got a lucky die roll? No wonder I didn't do well on that test...

[Blaze]

Well, Yeah!  Grendel's Mother was the first example we have of the now time honored sequel.

Grendel II -- Yo Momma soon by a bard near you.

[Paynesgrey]

LOL -- that is when you pull out the demon's Mommy!  Didn't anyone ever tell you that?

Ah, that was the other part of the screwup.  Not having contingencies for when players demonstrate their usual talent for screwing things up from Hell to breakfast.

Since then, I learned to have a Stack of Unpleasantness and Prepositioned Nastiness from which I could pull out something nasty to keep things interesting and educational.  

[Ebenezar McCoy]

 I haven't made any glaringly huge mistakes. Nothing that merits being told- Rather, I have made millions of small screws ups. With a previous GM of mine he made large mistakes, but was meticulous to a point and to that point there were no mistakes. I don't know which I dislike more, tons of tiny mistakes or just immense debacles.

[cybrgrl]

screwing things up from Hell to breakfast.

Ooo, I like that phrase!  Now I want eggs and bacon.

cybrgrl

[Raphael]

Ooo, I like that phrase!  Now I want eggs and bacon.

cybrgrl

Can I just have the bacon?

[Wyrdrune]

... switching from dnd3 to dnd4.

[admiralducksauce]

Introducing an Army officer with an off-the-cuff name, a Colonel... Sander...(oh shit oh shit I can save this! think brain think!)...son.

Colonel Sanderson.  The session was done for as soon as that name leapt past my lips.  Certainly not my biggest screwup, but the one that comes most easily to mind right now.