It's unfortunate that much of fantasy fiction, videogames, and even a lot of pre-written adventures totally undermine this common-sense approach by slapping these "omen of doom"-type things all over entirely doable encounters, and presenting them almost as an incitement to adventure.When you hear rumors of a dragon circling a particular forest, or when sailors tell you that ships never return from a particular island, or when the guards remark that you "don't look strong enough" to handle whatever is inside The Howling Spire...those are called "hints" and you should listen to them.
It really does. I had to explain several times that "this ain't Skyrim" when they were rolling up characters, and I've written it a couple of times in the handouts and stuff. But I bet I'll still get angry emails after the first few games, about how monsters don't "belong in the game" unless the party can beat them.I suppose that might result in a certain period of... adjustment... when you work with new players!
This. I do the same thing. Including having thrown in an Alhoon this campaign!I'm that DM who doesn't prep properly because I kept procastinating, but manages to nonetheless convince the players that the entirely winging-it course I've sent them on is some sort of in-depth ultra-detailed deal I spent days on. They still think some stuff I made up on the spot involving a tower in a forest and alhoon was part of an elaborate subplot.
I think this says it all
In my games, if they find out at level 10, I figured it out when they were like level 8.I'm that DM that has the PCs meet the BBEG in the first session but they dont know it until they reach level 10+.