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What are your biggest GM regrets?
(thelemmy.club)
That things rarely go according to plan is part of running an RPG. The players will surprise you, and often this is entirely fine - in fact, it might result in a more memorable experience and a better game.
But sometimes, things go off the rail in a bad way - and you, as a GM, did not see it coming until it was too late, resulting in disaster and a non-fun experience for all concerned.
And contemplating some of my past mistakes, I am curious about your biggest GMing regrets. What went wrong, and what would you have done differently if you had the opportunity for a do-over?
Very first time playing an RPG. None of my friends had either, but I was the most motivated so got the GM chair.
We were playing Call of Cthulhu, the classic scenario The Haunting, which came in the sourcebook.At one point a character got hit by a poultergeist-ed bed, failed a dex check, and was knocked out a second story window. The dice said he lost well over his hit points on the fall. I panicked and retconned it to make him survive. I regret doing that, because it took out any threat and tension the rest of the scenario had, in what was supposed to be a horror game.
It was partially made up by that character much later activity deciding to look over his shoulder while fleeing a cultist ritual, failing a sanity check when seeing a mask of Nyarlethotep himself, and permanently losing his mind.
Admittedly I have not GMed a lot, been a player more often, but I still regret NOT killing a PC.
I've only ran one session of one game of Cyberpunk, and I also pulled punches more than I should have.