Sometimes when playing a game, you make bad decisions because you simply don’t know the situation you’re going into. The decisions could be about the wrong gear, the wrong spells, or anything else that is vital to your tactical approach. To be fair, it’s not your fault as a player. It’s not the GM’s job to reveal the whole plot to the players so they can make the best choices for their characters.
It takes a good player to roll with that. It takes an experienced player to turn their uniformed decisions into something that they can use. Many players will attempt to use everything in their arsenal at any opportunity, sometimes successfully, most of the time not. Usually this is a problem of over-specialization and the adventure taking a turn that the character’s specialty isn’t as useful or needed, and that can lead to problems.
Role playing is a two-way street. The player needs to be able to change and adapt while still playing his or her character. However, the GM needs to be able to give the player that opportunity to do that. Sometimes players will try too hard to use what they have in their character’s tool kit, and that can hamper game play, slow things down, and take the fun out of the game for other players.
Once that happens, it can be tough to reign in a player and get things back on track. It takes a good player to realize that the situation needs to be turned around. It takes a good GM to give them opportunities, maybe even going as far as pointing out situations or crafting situations in the adventure to make sure the character is useful, even with the wrong tool kit and that the player is having fun.
Gaming is supposed to be fun. It’s why we game, it’s why we write, it’s why we wrack our brains with plots and puzzles! It is important to make sure that everyone has fun!