Is this your first M.T. Black adventure? I recommend "House of the Midnight Violet" for another project. It's one of my personal favorite adventures. (Also "The Clockwork Queen," which was co-written by Black.)
When my players killed the white dragon in Dragon of Icespire Peak, I used this supplement to determine what they could get and what to do with it:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/276213/hamund-s-harvesting-handbook-a-complete-guide-to-harvesting-and-crafting-in-d-d-5e
The group has already played Lost Mine of Phandelver (I forgot to mention that in my original post). I think they'd like a longer campaign ideally, though.
I think it's fine if you get player buy-in. Just like playing earlier editions, some people would love the thrill of deadliness and others would respond by becoming paranoid in an un-fun way about potential character loss. Neither approach is wrong. Just find out which one applies to your group...
For one of my tables, I've run Tyranny of Dragons, Curse of Strahd, and (currently) Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus. Both ToD and DiA are quite cult-heavy--in fact, the opening chapters of DiA have no less than three different cults operating against each other. It would be nice if the next...
In order to have enough data to accept it as a prevailing trend, I'd need to hear from more than just one person plus friend group's sample. After all, how do I know you're just not unusually touchy about anything that smacks of authority, and tend to attract friends with similar views? Maybe...
For whatever anecdotal information is worth, that hasn't been my experience.
Even in PbtA games, they'd have to be an option on your character sheet. You can't just declare that you have them out of the blue.