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<blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 7209108" data-attributes="member: 20323">Ah, so it sounds like you have several fellow players who are hack-n-slash types? And, if my hunch is right, they are coming from a background of video gaming where &quot;kill stealing&quot; is apparently a &quot;thing&quot;? I would investigate further: is it just habit from bloodthirsty video gaming? do they believe that the only way to gain experience points is killing monsters? If they're under that misconception, it would be good to get really clear about how XP/levels are earned in the DM's game. If I was DMing a combat for a group with that kind of player composition, I would more carefully craft a really deadly combat (and by &quot;deadly&quot; I mean throw out any encounter creation guidelines in the DMG and just make it overwhelming) that strongly encourages outside-the-box thinking. For example, I'd have many many waves of lower-hit point enemies that would just keep coming. There would be a clearly defined objective or two to the combat besides &quot;slay all monsters.&quot; In fact, &quot;slay all monsters&quot; would be the WORST strategy and would likely lead to a couple PC deaths at least. The objective instead would be something related to the story, for example, extracting a diplomat with key intelligence from a besieged castle (who is technically an ally but their own motives create complications) OR capturing an enemy alive (see the last episode of Game of Thrones). And then I'd include lots of terrain that can be exploited by clever play – portcullises that can be dropped to stem flow of enemies, secret passages to avoid an ambush or launch a counter ambush, crenellated courtyards which serve as sniping perch for archers, etc. And I'd be very liberal with player actions shoving/pushing enemies off the edge of things.What this does is gives the slayer-types the opportunity to indulge in wanton dramatic combat, but by keeping the threat constantly increasing strongly encourages better strategizing, and eventually leads to prioritizing the mission over &quot;kill count&quot; or whatever (which IME is what draws out creative outside-the-box thinking). And it also gives actor types (like you, I'm guessing) opportunities to interact with lots of NPCs.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Quickleaf, post: 7209108, member: 20323"] Ah, so it sounds like you have several fellow players who are hack-n-slash types? And, if my hunch is right, they are coming from a background of video gaming where "kill stealing" is apparently a "thing"? I would investigate further: is it just habit from bloodthirsty video gaming? do they believe that the only way to gain experience points is killing monsters? If they're under that misconception, it would be good to get really clear about how XP/levels are earned in the DM's game. If I was DMing a combat for a group with that kind of player composition, I would more carefully craft a really deadly combat (and by "deadly" I mean throw out any encounter creation guidelines in the DMG and just make it overwhelming) that strongly encourages outside-the-box thinking. For example, I'd have many many waves of lower-hit point enemies that would just keep coming. There would be a clearly defined objective or two to the combat besides "slay all monsters." In fact, "slay all monsters" would be the WORST strategy and would likely lead to a couple PC deaths at least. The objective instead would be something related to the story, for example, extracting a diplomat with key intelligence from a besieged castle (who is technically an ally but their own motives create complications) OR capturing an enemy alive (see the last episode of Game of Thrones). And then I'd include lots of terrain that can be exploited by clever play – portcullises that can be dropped to stem flow of enemies, secret passages to avoid an ambush or launch a counter ambush, crenellated courtyards which serve as sniping perch for archers, etc. And I'd be very liberal with player actions shoving/pushing enemies off the edge of things. What this does is gives the slayer-types the opportunity to indulge in wanton dramatic combat, but by keeping the threat constantly increasing strongly encourages better strategizing, and eventually leads to prioritizing the mission over "kill count" or whatever (which IME is what draws out creative outside-the-box thinking). And it also gives actor types (like you, I'm guessing) opportunities to interact with lots of NPCs. [/QUOTE]

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