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<blockquote data-quote="3catcircus" data-source="post: 1513422" data-attributes="member: 16077">Part of DMing is, I think, getting over the guilt that you can feel at possibly killing someone's character through either a tough encounter, or playing the monsters or NPCs as harsh as possible - since most DMs start as players, we feel some empathy there.Once I got over that my DMing improved - primarily because I was willing to play the monsters and NPCs as intelligently as they would be if they were a PC.&nbsp; Why would I end cannon fodder waves of kobolds down a bottleneck corridor to the party when I can have them ambush the party in said bottleneck, utilizing crossfire from slings or crossbows while others form a spear Phalanx set against the PCs charge?&nbsp; In the former, the party is like &quot;ho-hum, *another* band of stupid lemming-kobolds.&quot;&nbsp; While in the latter, they may say &quot;Wow - they are really defending their lair and fighting as hard as they can - what is so important that they are fighting this hard?&nbsp; Is there some relic they've got, or trying to avoid us uncovering a plot?&quot;I look at it the same way as a player looks at his tactical options in combat - when can he flank, is it smart to try and charge, this enemy would best be hit from afar with arrows or magic...</blockquote>

[QUOTE="3catcircus, post: 1513422, member: 16077"] Part of DMing is, I think, getting over the guilt that you can feel at possibly killing someone's character through either a tough encounter, or playing the monsters or NPCs as harsh as possible - since most DMs start as players, we feel some empathy there. Once I got over that my DMing improved - primarily because I was willing to play the monsters and NPCs as intelligently as they would be if they were a PC. Why would I end cannon fodder waves of kobolds down a bottleneck corridor to the party when I can have them ambush the party in said bottleneck, utilizing crossfire from slings or crossbows while others form a spear Phalanx set against the PCs charge? In the former, the party is like "ho-hum, *another* band of stupid lemming-kobolds." While in the latter, they may say "Wow - they are really defending their lair and fighting as hard as they can - what is so important that they are fighting this hard? Is there some relic they've got, or trying to avoid us uncovering a plot?" I look at it the same way as a player looks at his tactical options in combat - when can he flank, is it smart to try and charge, this enemy would best be hit from afar with arrows or magic... [/QUOTE]

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