What's the worst thing you've ever done as a GM?
Aelwyn:
True confessions time: what's the worst thing you've ever done as a GM?
I'll start.
I was running a Morrow Project campaign. Characters were paramilitary mercenaries cryogenically frozen and awakened after a nuclear war to rebuild society. I invited my players to come up with six books to store in their lockers that would preserve culture for after the war. One of my players chose the Foxfire series, which describe the culture of southern Appalachia, including descriptions of how to slaughter a hog, make soap, preserve vegetables, and find edible wild plants.
Now, I'm thinking, he's trying to game the system, in choosing books that will be useful for wilderness survival rather than preserving what's best of our culture. So I told him that rats ate the books. No dice roll, just me as GM/God deciding you don't get to do this. I gave you the opportunity; I can take it away.
Here's the thing: The guy was playing a paramilitary heading into what was probably going to be a stone-age culture. It was far MORE in character--and better for society as well--for him to bring the Foxfire books than the complete works of Shakespeare, which is what I wanted him to bring. But I was afraid that he would get too much of an edge by bringing those books. Maybe I was even being a little lazy, in that I didn't want to buy and read the Foxfire series to make sure I knew as much as he did about wilderness survival. And I hate to admit it, but part of me was pissed off because I realized he was smarter than me--that he had made a better choice than the one I assumed he would make.
So Lance, if you're out there somewhere, I'm sorry I made rats eat your Foxfire books.
Callan S.:
Quote
Now, I'm thinking, he's trying to game the system,
Not to mention your gaming the system in thinking that way yourself. You can't fight 'gaming the system' without becoming that which your fighting.
The only thing I can think of for myself is where with one group I read about three paragraphs of setting prior to gaming, simply to establish atmosphere (I'd read another group had done it and enjoyed, so I wasn't without precedent), though granted everyone knew the setting. Also in that game after the session the guy who was never afraid to let his opinions be known said I didn't ask him what he wanted to do during the game and he didn't get to do much because of me not asking him.
I'm sure there must be something else I've done as GM that's worse and for some reason I'm not remembering...
Locke:
my three biggest problems are this:
1. not being prepared with NPC names or initiative cards or other basic things
2. rushing through the end of an adventure and not giving the players much closure
3. not giving enough worldly detail to describe the environment the players are in
LostSoul:
We're playing Star Wars d6. I'm the DM. I'm new to the city, only there for a year. I'm playing with a group of friends who grew up together and have been playing games for years. We hang out outside of gaming, going to bars, movies, parties, the typical early-twenties things. We've played for six or seven months; everyone is into the game - the guy who's not too into gaming who decided to play a bounty hunter (if you've played Star Wars d6, you know what I mean) wrote up a backstory for his character, unprompted, introducing a lost love.
The PCs have been struggling to reclaim a planet taken by the Empire and a rogue Dark Jedi. Life has been hard, many difficult choices have been made. They've struggled hard and they've gained the support of the Rebellion. A fleet is poised to take back their planet.
I decide to blow up the planet in a planned fit of DM fiat, and there was nothing the players could do about it.
We took about two-three months off, playing some other games under other DMs and doing other things. Once I realized the damage I had wrought and apologized (not easy for a 23 year-old), we got back into it. It ended well, but it could have been better.
Lesson learned!
Callan S.:
Taking it that D6 has some 'golden rule', then 'only the GM remains' as Filip Luszczyk would put it. The real lesson to learn would be to stop using systems that grant a GM such absolute latitude, rather than socially slapping him over the wrist when he actually has the temerity to use the system as written. Wrong lesson learned, in a pretty objective sense.
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