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Message: <blockquote data-quote="McBard" data-source="post: 1417391" data-attributes="member: 14934">Many interesting points...Stevelabny, First, I ran both the same modules early on with our gaming group for many of the same reasons as you.  I think it's a very good idea to use WoTC modules as test ground, because they are generally balanced (challenge-wise and treasure-wise), and I think do make a pretty good representation of the core game.  So, I agree here.Second, I gotta say your description of the encounters leading up to the fortress (and the following battle around the rope-bridge) sounded pretty cool to me! I'd like to know the following details:  did your players clap or cheer or high-five it when, say, they downed that last orc (of the group of four)?; did they give out a whoop when the cleric nearly fell off the bridge but managed through the Luck reroll to make it?  That is to say:  did they seem to have fun?  Sure, I might have taken it a little more stealthily as a player, but it seems to me like your players stepped up and dealt with the "world of pain" they opened for themselves.  If they generally had a good, exciting time (which can <include> dismay, e.g. "oops, shouldn't have opened up that secret door...") then everyone playing the game did their job.Third, you handled the death of the Druid perfectly.  In fact, I think you gained the players' respect for it, and they'll know that paper and pencil D&D isn't a video game where you can "reboot" to prevent deaths.  Congratulations to you for this decision, and do not waiver from this approach.Fourthly, the moment you agreed to be the DM, you have to remember that you have agreed to let the players be the characters.  That is:  let them make all the "bone-headed" choices they want to.  Sure, perhaps YOU would have approached the fortress with more stealth and diplomacy, but YOU aren't a player. Fifthly, I have to respectfully and strongly disagree with an above poster who suggested that you provide some "intelligent sword" to the party as a way of dropping hints, etc.  Never, ever do this.  You would be stripping the players of part of the fun of playing the characters: muddling through by yourselves, winning the battles yourselves, figuring out the puzzles yourselves, and (yes) sometimes dying yourselves.  If an adventure you have in front of you seems too hard for your PCs, then soften a few encounters (2 Orcs rather than 4) instead of giving your players some magic item, or providing them with a powerful NPC friend to win their battles.In short:  the way you ran the session was fine.  Let that druid player roll up whatever he wants, and let your group learn their own "mistakes" (and you, yourself, be open to the fact that some of these "mistakes" aren't "mistakes" at all--just different styles of play).Suggestion for how you run the party's next approach to the fortress:  have Ulfe the Ogre standing guard on the front ledge with 2 or 3 Orcs!  Look, the PCs have alerted the entire complex, and waxed quite a few of their warriors.  The orcs are pissed, now, and alert to another attack.  As the DM, it makes perfect sense to have Ulfe standing guard, AND what better a hint for your players to perhaps NOW look for a more stealthy approach inside...?<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> Remember, however, that if even then they decide on a frontal assault, let the dice fall where they may...Good gaming</blockquote>

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