2004 in-game regret

[Barendd Nobeard]

I'd take back a suicidal charge which really screwed up my character. And the subsequent decision (in character) to Reincarnate instead of Raise Dead. A bad year for poor Barendd Nobeard (the character, not me)--he is no longer a dwarf, but has survived gnome-dom [shudder] to reincarate (a second time) as a half-elf (would have [shudder]ed but it's better than gnome).

 

[Green_Dragon_Studio]

I've got one player regred: Allowing the elf to use an orc made reincarnation potion on Hamnyr, the fastest dwarf in 4 countries (Barbarian/Thief).

I can't even remeber how he had died. It was such a tramatic death that I must have forced myself to forget. But the point was, Hamnyr was dead.

He almost didn't come back after the elf poured the potion down his throught. He hated orcs more so then the average dwarf. His parents were killed by orcs. They were the only dwarves Hamnyr had ever really known. His father took Hamnyr and his mother from Dwarvern culture when Hamnyr was barely able to walk.

but Hermes persuaded him to return.

Guess what I rolled on the reincarnation table......... Orc!
(Bad elf karma I tell you)

After that, he became suicidal, set off every trap in that dungeon, and yet made every reflex save. He also had a grudge against Hermes.

The DM gave Hamnyr a chance to change back. Hermes sent Hamnyr a vision of a vial filled with green liquid. This sign from the gods was his means of escaping his torment.

He found the vial after the party vanquished a greater mummy, a powerful, beefed up wraith, and one other powerful undead creature.

Hamnyr scoped it up, and drank down the contents.

and quickly spitted out the acid and the ring that was sitting at the bottom of the vial. Only a lucky fort save prevented instant death.

After that, he was never the same dwarf, even though he now retains his previous form. Last I saw of him, he was racing as far across the realms as possible, trying to find a way to beat Hermes in a race.

A fitting end I suppose for Hamnyr, the fastest dwarf in 40 counties, but he had to retire from the campaign, he just couldn't trust an elf ever again. I loved that dwarf.

 

[DonAdam]

regrets

As a player, I'd have to go with trying to fight off 40 or so armed guards when our SG team was surrounded. They had swords and bows, we had guns, I figured we'd be alright...

As a DM, I turned my campaign into a "plane-hopping" campaign (using the locations in BOEM3 as different planes) for the last stretch. It just finished a few weeks ago at 7 semesters old. Plane-hopping was the easiest way for me to give each player one highlight moment in the home stretch, but it was too jarring to have to introduce a new setting and dilemma every session or two. The campaign overall was great, but the last two semesters (in which we only got to play about 1 semester's worth) were definitely subpar.

 

[Piratecat]

I had one game that I really wasn't happy with. The information that was really important to have reached the PCs. . . didn't. One player said something stupid in character and messed up their character concept. And something I thought would be sort of magical and fun just turned out to be silly.

Ah, well. Live and learn.

 

[leporidae]

Biggest Bloopers of 2004

As a GM: describing a word puzzle as an acrostic when I meant anagram - and then not immediately correcting the mistake. The players thought something extra mysterious was going on and much time was wasted.

As a Player: A major slaadi lord had retreated to some sort of force bubble to regenerate, we couldn't hurt it and it couldn't hurt us. My fighter goaded the NPC cleric into casting a Blade Barrier directly underneath it. Many frog in a blender jokes were made, but the Slaadi waited until it was fully regenerated, dropped into the center of the blade barrier (taking a great deal of damage, but not enough to kill it). Then, safe and regenerating behind the blade barrier it lethally imploded both the NPC cleric and my character's brother (a PC).

Fortunately the sorcerer still had a stone wall spell and ungodly will save up her sleeve, so she was able to shield the rest of the party and trade spells until the slaadi went down.

 

[Ghostwind]

As a DM, not being able to get together with my epic group to play more. With our schedules, four times a year is a challenge.

As a player, not sleeping with the vampire necromancer when I had the chance....

What? She's cute...

 

[Arkham]

I was reminded of my biggest 2004 in-game regret as a GM.

I was running a Fantasy Hero game in a conan-esque swords and sorcery world. The PCs were a bunch of rogues and cutthroats in the conan style, hyper-skilled and deadly. I had this plot idea as a side-line where their band of raiders travels through a land cursed by plague. But the plague was magical in nature and turned all the young girls into these nasty little cannibals who have consumed everyone else in the village before the PCs get there. Now the PCs wander through this eerily quiet village and there are a number of very cool city-of-lost-children moments, until the PCs are in a meadow surrounded by the hungry cannibal girls.

And that is where my planning stopped. It was a great moment.
And then the PCs fought back. ( Like I should have expected they would )
And little girl heads, arms, and body parts go flying as the characters hack their way through the opposition.
And what could have been an eerie cool session turns into the strangest RPG version of a Troma film ever.

But I did learn a lesson. Be very, very, very careful when mixing genres.

 

[Waylander the Slayer]

As a player: hmmm..Did not play last year , so no regrets.

As a DM: Real life bringing a 3 year campaign to an abrupt halt (moving away, mostly) and not being able to wrap up all the ongoing plots/ loosing touch with the silent minority (which i later discovered was because they were not having fun even though they never provided feedback when i specifially asked for feedback).

 

[Kae'Yoss]

As a player? Forgetting to SET MY FRICKIN' DODGE BONUS!!!

As a dm? Underestimating the deadliness of four con-damaging breath weapons at once.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

One player said something stupid in character and messed up their character concept.

Wait a second... Was that me?

If that was me, then put that down as my player regret.


Wulf