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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Oofta" data-source="post: 7163087" data-attributes="member: 6801845">Whenever I start getting the feeling that "oh crap, these guys are setting themselves up to die" I start asking for appropriate skill checks, typically investigation or survival.  I then let them know something like ... "you know these ruins are infested with kobolds and that if there is a fight you will likely have to fight your way back through the masses".  The characters may realize the danger they are walking into even if the players do not.But I'm not even sure this qualifies for that because I have a couple of questions.  Why did the kobolds not come out of their rooms when the group was walking down the hall?  How did the kobolds left behind know the group had reached the final room?  If an alarm was set off in the final room, why wasn't an alarm set off before?You may (or may not) be falling into the trap of "the adventurers didn't resolve the issue the way I expected them to so they fail".  Too often when I come up with scenarios I'm thinking "the way to solve this puzzle is to do X then Y".  In your case, you may have been thinking "the characters will need to kill all the kobolds on the way in, and then set up a distraction...".  Don't assume the players will follow your plan, or that they will be or need to be tactically brilliant.So how do I avoid that?  By thinking like a kobold.  They've obviously infested this dungeon.  They have an important ritual going on, one they are likely to suspect pesky adventurers will try to interrupt.  So they'd set up at least minimal watches and be on the lookout for intruders. The weakness in their plan is that they're spread kind of thin.  The patrols can't cover every entrance (there may even be a few ways in they don't know about).  Perhaps the patrols can be avoided, or taken out so quickly they don't have a chance to raise an alarm.  Maybe they set traps that can be avoided.The point is to set up situations where the defenders are taking reasonable precautions, but precautions that are not insurmountable.Then you also have to avoid the temptation to cheat.  How did the kobolds left behind know about the invaders?  How did they construct a barrier without being heard?Last but not least, sometimes the adventurers lose.  Let your players know you did not plan this, and give them the choice to be captured or create new characters.  Just don't expect them to conquer your dungeon in exactly the way you had planned for them.</blockquote>

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