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I rarely make mistakes, but some of the ones I have made were doosies.
For example, in the game my story hour covers, I misread a certain couple monsters(whose names won't be revealed on the off-chance that someone here is reading it) as summoning 1dx of creature A AND 1dx of creature B AND 2dx of creature C.
Those ANDs were supposed to be ORs... just a tiny, one-word misread that killed two characters...
Edit: killed two characters, not their players.
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Mistakes in the encounter? Sometimes I forget entire plot points!
"Damn, If I had remembered this item in the treasure, the PCs would have gotten the clue!"
"Damn, I forget the scene with the Giant Guard!"
"Wait, wasn't this supposed to happen earlier?"
Of course, there also tons of minor stuff, too. "Oops, he should have taken ongoing damage this round." "Damn, this monster has Fast Healing 10, and I forgot to improve its hp the past 3 rounds!"
A comedy of errors, though sometimes I feel it is a tragedy of errors. "If I hadn't done this mistake, the adventure/encounter would have worked far better!"
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Even though I voted "Comedy of errors" the truth is that, even though I make a lot of mistakes during a session, I give the impression I meant it all along. With a bit of practice and an air of confidence your players will rarely know the difference (and they won't care when they do).
I make a couple mistakes each session that the players catch, which mostly involve misremembering seldom used rules. I make plenty of other mistakes based on the way I planned to run the adventure, but unless I give them away with my "oh crap" face, the players never really pick up on those.
__________________ There's no sense crying over every mistake. You just keep on trying till you run out of cake. -- GLaDOS
As a DM I never make mistakes and always make mistakes.
I always tell the story that needs telling, but interpreting the player expectations at 100% flawlessness is impossible in both the story and working around/with the rules.
Rarely does a part of a D&D game go without mistakes, that are in part the DMs fault. To err is human.....
I make tons. I sometimes forget a monster's main schtick; I often forget special defenses or immunities. I almost never allow a do-over for either me or the players when such a thing happens. We just roll with it and learn for next round or next combat.
How often do I make mistakes that matter? Very rarely.
What he said. When I get caught, I generally see if I can turn my goof into a feature. "Good question. Why DID that troll forget to regenerate? Makes you wonder, huh?" And just like that, I have an adventure with a wizard magically sucking the regeneration out of trolls so that he can live forever.
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I make tons. I sometimes forget a monster's main schtick; I often forget special defenses or immunities. I almost never allow a do-over for either me or the players when such a thing happens. We just roll with it and learn for next round or next combat.
A classic quote from one of the other players in my current group, when he was DMing a particularly ugly encounter with a very nasty critter and was re-scanning its MM entry:
I voted "rarely" but after thinking about it a bit more it is probably more like "sometimes". Most of my mistakes are forgetting an attack that a monster had or something like that. For example, about 6 sessions ago the party fought Wererats. I totally forgot to try and bite the PC's to give them lycanthropy! Not really an "error" as such but close enough.
Forgetting DR, SR or Resistance X is another common thing for me to forget. In almost all cases it is in favour of the PC's so it's no big deal. If I made a mistake that resulted in a PC dying I would definitely be retconning the game to fix it (as much as I hate retconning).
Olaf the Stout
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Currently running my group through the Shackled City Adventure Path
Although it may seem contrary to my post in the thread, "Do you know you're a bad GM", I will happily admit to making mistakes all the time. At least once a session, though I have been known to go two or three with not but a couple of minor errors. I've also bundled things quite splendidly on a number of occasions.
Actually I embrace my mistakes - I just love'em! I've gotten some of my best and most creative ideas from my forgetting a rule or creating a minor plot inconsistency. My players never know if I planned it or not!
GM: "And so with no where else to turn, the last Wizard of Zozrath teleports from the chamber in a flash of..."
Player 1: "What?! You said the Wizards of Zozrath can't teleport. It's against their code or something."
Player 2: "I have it here in my notes from our 5th session months ago. The arcane spirit of Zozrath refuses to allow his followers to learn the magic of Teleportation because it defies his personal code of honor."
GM: <Shifts his eyes from player to player and then leans back in his chair and smiles> "So the Wizards of Zozrath don't 'port. But this one did."
Players: <Angry> Yeah! <Inquisitive> "Yeeaahh." <Stunned and excited> "Yeah! Oh man...that guy was a fake. There's still one left out there somewhere!"
I went with "comedy of errors" because I probably make at least several of what you call mistakes every session--but I don't think "comedy of errors" is really a good characterization.
RPG rules form a structure designed to create a certain experience. As long as that experience is created to everyone's satisfaction, who cares if every i was dotted and t crossed to perfection? The rules are a means to an end, not the end itself.
As others have said, they usually do not matter, they usually affect me more than the players (forgetting to regen the troll, dropping continued spell damage, missing special attacks, etc.), and the tend to increase throughout the night as my players volunteer to get me another cold one more often.
Meee niether. Eye am alllways korrekt in effrything I doo.
More seriously, I voted at least once a game. Whether it be forgetting regeneration, missing situational powers (that goblin could have done another 1d6 damage!) or lacking in description.
Helpfully, my players are clear that it's their problem if I miss something they were supposed to remember...
__________________ DM of Adventure Path Story Hour (now in Thunderspire Labyrinth!): Ryam Plays Dice - updated 8th June 09 (campaign on indefinite hiatus).
Player in Swordlands Story Hour: Interview with a Fey - updated 15th June 09. News just in - this campaign may be restarting in the near future! Watch this space!
I also have the singular honour of being Rouseketeer #20.
Where's the option for "The DM cannot make mistakes?"
It's all fiction, stories can evolve different ways, thus, there are no mistakes. Even continuity errors can be fixed when you look for alternative explanations.
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