What have you done??? (Misread/Understood Rule or misheard a comment whilst playing an RPG?)

[burbles]

I was reading a now closed thread and came across the following comment.

Hopes, dreams? Memories? Discussions about suppositions?

Unfortunately I read it as "Hopes, dreams? Memories? Discussions about suppositories?

It reminded me of the time I was trying out a % system and completely stuffed the base roll reading it was 'roll over x' rather than 'roll under x' and wondered why no one as hitting anything!

What's your favourite "ooops" moment?

 

[Bunch]

Aa kids reading the PHB we thought you rolled the hit dice listed in the row each level vs that was the total HD you had at a level. Needless to say our 5th level warrior could dispatch a 7th level warrior in a module with ease. Really why were folks afraid of dragons? Honestly the Gods themselves seemed a little underwhelming.

 

[ffilz]

Aa kids reading the PHB we thought you rolled the hit dice listed in the row each level vs that was the total HD you had at a level. Needless to say our 5th level warrior could dispatch a 7th level warrior in a module with ease. Really why were folks afraid of dragons? Honestly the Gods themselves seemed a little underwhelming.

At one point with OD&D I thought the hit dice were the damage done. I'm not sure why I thought that because that wasn't how I interpreted Holmes which is what we started with....

 

[Bunch]

At one point with OD&D I thought the hit dice were the damage done. I'm not sure why I thought that because that wasn't how I interpreted Holmes which is what we started with....

Oh that's a good one! It does make sense from the name I suppose.

 

[Fenris-77]

I had some real cognitive dissonance reading about Goblin Mooks once. It made more sense once I realized it was Goblin Monks. I had the same issue with the difference between Hebrew giants and Homebrew giants.

 

[Picaroon Jack]

The first time I heard THACO:

 

[E-Rocker]

In Savage Worlds, I would often forget that Extras can be Shaken, and I would skip them straight to Incapacitated as soon as they took any damage. Not a rule that I mis-read, just one that I would forget to apply correctly.

 

[Fenris-77]

In Savage Worlds, I would often forget that Extras can be Shaken, and I would skip them straight to Incapacitated as soon as they took any damage. Not a rule that I mis-read, just one that I would forget to apply correctly.

I feel like those two conditions should have been Shaken and Stirred.

 

[Bunch]

I feel like those two conditions should have been Shaken and Stirred.

I believe they changed it to those conditions in their espionage setting...

 

[Fenris-77]

I believe they changed it to those conditions in their espionage setting...

I had a really intense desire to bang out some OSR espionage rules myself right after I posted.

 

[Bourbonjack]

In a recent game, when replying to a successful identification check by the party Wizard I typed out "Strippers of Spider Climbing" instead of "Slippers of Spider Climbing". Hilarity ensued.

 

[Bunch]

In a recent game, when replying to a successful identification check by the party Wizard I typed out "Strippers of Spider Climbing"

I think I saw that show in Tijuana. It was amazing!

 

[Fenris-77]

Someone should be writing these down. I want to throw some Goblin Mooks equipped with Strippers of Spider Climb at my party.

 

[Bourbonjack]

I think I saw that show in Tijuana. It was amazing!

Lol. I clearly paid the price for that typo in good natured mockery.

HOWEVER, I did point out that any particular Strippers of Spider Climbing would be 50% chance of "sexy 80's dancer Keith Parkinson drow" or 50% chance of "creepy alien-esque PF1e driders". So there players. Take your chances!

 

[Fenris-77]

Driders are fine until you get to the tearaway pants part of the show. That's normally where I slip out for a smoke and grab another beer. By the time I'm back the water nymphs are on.

 

[Fenris-77]

STRIPPERS OF SPIDER CLIMB

 

[Baulderstone]

At one point with OD&D I thought the hit dice were the damage done. I'm not sure why I thought that because that wasn't how I interpreted Holmes which is what we started with....

I made a similar mistake the first time I played Car Wars. The weapon table listed the damage as the number of D6s you were supposed to roll, but I thought it was the actual damage done. My first game of Car Wars took a very long time.

 

[TJS]

My first exposure to AD&D was actually through a pirated copy of the Pool of Radiance computer game.

I had no manual and I noticed that when I put armour on the characters their AC went down. I assumed that "AC" meant "action" and therefore concluded that it was very bad thing (presumably this determined their chances to hit) and that all the characters were better off in light armour.

 

[Trippy]

While still at school, when nobody could actually afford RPG books, our ability to make up rules on the fly was quite legendary in our group. I do recall our confusion over AD&D levels of magic that were not the same thing as standard levels (ie. my 9th Level Magic -User couldn’t actually cast every 9th Level spell) which caused some arguments at the time.

 

[Bunch]

While still at school, when nobody could actually afford RPG books, our ability to make up rules on the fly was quite legendary in our group. I do recall our confusion over AD&D levels of magic that were not the same thing as standard levels (ie. my 9th Level Magic -User couldn’t actually cast every 9th Level spell) which caused some arguments at the time.

All good arguments are legendary as kids.

 

[Fenris-77]

All good arguments are legendary as kids.

Anything that happens under the age of 16 is legendary by default. The lack of pre frontal lobe development is what it is

 

[Bourbonjack]

So here’s another one -

I started playing AD&D circa 1986. The movie Krull had come out a few years earlier. I think you might see where this is going....

Everyone in my first group had seen Krull and we immediately assumed the weapon listed for this glaive


was instead this glaive

so all of our characters carried around “glaives” as throwing weapons There were several combats against goblins where I clearly remember my ranger throwing many “glaives”

Someone’s older brother eventually laughed at us and told us how we were being stupid, so that ended the era of throwing “glaives”.

 

[The Butcher]

Are you kidding? Took me literal years to correctly use SW combat. For a long time I thought you could only become Wounded if you were Shaken and forgot about Wounds on damage Raises.

I feel like those two conditions should have been Shaken and Stirred.

Obligatory thread detail on page one: shaken Martinis are a travesty. But then the Martini is a terribly overrated cocktail in any case. (I do have a grudging respect for dirty Martinis).

So here’s another one -

I started playing AD&D circa 1986. The movie Krull had come out a few years earlier. I think you might see where this is going....

Everyone in my first group had seen Krull and we immediately assumed the weapon listed for this glaive

View attachment 23765
was instead this glaive
View attachment 23766
so all of our characters carried around “glaives” as throwing weapons There were several combats against goblins where I clearly remember my ranger throwing many “glaives”

Someone’s older brother eventually laughed at us and told us how we were being stupid, so that ended the era of throwing “glaives”.

One reason to love Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea is that they enshrined the Krull “glaive” in their weapons list.

 

[Villein]

My first time using Pendragon's Winter Phase, I thought horse survival was rolled a d6 rather than a d20. The result was an equine massacre I retconned a few years in when I learned the truth.