Hi.  I am new here, so I thought I would give a little introduction.  I have been a DM for about a year.  The game is held at a gaming shop in Kenner.  I'm still kinda new at this and looking for any pointers or tips.  My current problem is trying to come up with obstacles that are challenging but not overpowered.  My group consists of 9 PC's averaging 5th level.  I think I will start posting a log of the game soon.

Welcome to the forums nightsonsmt.

Welcome, nightsonsmt. Running a game for a large party adds some unique challenges. What game are you running? (DnD I assume, but 3.0? 3.5? 4.0?) What style? (hack'n'slash? Heavy on the Role-playing?) any specific world?

I'm not sure I'm a good GM, but I do have 20 years or so experience running and playing various flavors of DnD. In my longest running game, many combats would end with 2 of 3 PC's in negative HP, but no one dead. So I guess I was good at keeping the threat level high without forcing them to constantly create new PC's. With more info about your game, I might be able to give some pointers.

Welcome to the board.

If you want tips on how to put the Fear of God in your PC’s I’ve got one word for you:  Maimings.   

The next time the group battles some large beast (bear size or bigger) instead of having generic attacks, have something specific like “The displacer beast attacks your left leg” or “The creature goes for your sword hand”.  I don’t care about point damage.  A creature like that makes a successful attack on a character’s limb and that character may find himself picking his nose with a stump.  I’m telling you, once characters start loosing limbs they approach the game in a whole knew fashion.  As a malicious GM I must admit it’s satisfying when a party runs in raving terror from an encounter every now and then.  The key is giving the characters long lasting consequences that don’t kill them.  This has the added benefit that the group may need to go on a side quest to find a magic user, magic item, or ingredients for a magic potion that will get the poor character his limb back.  In one past game a foolish mercenary lost her leg in a shootout and had to haggle with the rest of the party to go on a quest that would get her a replacement.  In the meantime she had to hobble around on a peg leg.  The best part was, as the GM I didn’t have to do a thing about getting the party to go on the quest.  I just sat back and watched the poor player barter everything she had to get the rest of the group to go on the mission.