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<blockquote data-quote="Rel" data-source="post: 3749407" data-attributes="member: 99">I've had this problem and I think of it as an &quot;advertising&quot; problem.&nbsp; The players look at the encounter and it seems to be a fairly typical &quot;cave with stuff in it&quot; that they need to kill.&nbsp; And they are motivated to do so with good plot hooks (good job on that part by the way).&nbsp; So they start attacking the Dolgrims who are totally CR appropriate for them and then get lured into the slippery slope of the rest of the &quot;dungeon&quot; which has them fighting a nearly endless supply of increasingly difficult critters.&nbsp; This is not what was advertised.If you want to advertise an encounter that can't be overcome by raw violence then you need to show them up front that that's going to be nearly impossible.&nbsp; Don't have the front door guarded by weenie creatures.&nbsp; Bring out the Ogres and badasses right away.&nbsp; Make the PC's see that running away and looking for another way inside is going to be a better answer.HOWEVER, this is going to work better with some groups than with others.&nbsp; As with most GMing, it's a matter of &quot;know your players&quot;.&nbsp; I'm extremely big on the Player Types put forward by Robin Laws (recommended reading:&nbsp; The first part of the DMGII or Robin Laws' Robin's Laws of Good Gamemastering).&nbsp; If your group is composed of a Buttkickers and Powergamers, they are going to want to bash in the door and kill some bad guys.&nbsp; It's just what's fun for them.&nbsp; If you've got some Tactician's in the group then they will probably see that the front door isn't happening and look for alternative routes.&nbsp; Your Storyteller and Method Actor types could go either way depending on how you arrange your plot hooks.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Rel, post: 3749407, member: 99"] I've had this problem and I think of it as an "advertising" problem. The players look at the encounter and it seems to be a fairly typical "cave with stuff in it" that they need to kill. And they are motivated to do so with good plot hooks (good job on that part by the way). So they start attacking the Dolgrims who are totally CR appropriate for them and then get lured into the slippery slope of the rest of the "dungeon" which has them fighting a nearly endless supply of increasingly difficult critters. This is not what was advertised. If you want to advertise an encounter that can't be overcome by raw violence then you need to show them up front that that's going to be nearly impossible. Don't have the front door guarded by weenie creatures. Bring out the Ogres and badasses right away. Make the PC's see that running away and looking for another way inside is going to be a better answer. HOWEVER, this is going to work better with some groups than with others. As with most GMing, it's a matter of "know your players". I'm extremely big on the Player Types put forward by Robin Laws (recommended reading: The first part of the DMGII or Robin Laws' Robin's Laws of Good Gamemastering). If your group is composed of a Buttkickers and Powergamers, they are going to want to bash in the door and kill some bad guys. It's just what's fun for them. If you've got some Tactician's in the group then they will probably see that the front door isn't happening and look for alternative routes. Your Storyteller and Method Actor types could go either way depending on how you arrange your plot hooks. [/QUOTE]

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