D&D 5E Lost Mine first encounter alternate outcome

[halfling rogue]

Spoilery

I'll be DMing my first ever game this upcoming weekend and running Lost Mine. After reading here and elsewhere about the possible lethality of the first encounter, I've been considering what to do if the initial encounter looks like it might be a TPK.

The Lost Mine adventure recommends that if the party is defeated that the goblins shouldn't kill the whole party but rather leave them all unconscious and loot them. It is recommended that the party then should travel to Phadalin to heal up, etc.

My thought was if the goblins defeat the whole group, rather than a TPK or following the adventure's advice, I thought it would be interesting if they bound and blindfolded the unconscious party (they did it with Sildar Halwinter right?) and drug them to the cave hideout. A few thoughts spring from this: 1) they could all wake up, bound in the hideout (alongside Sildar) or 2) they/some could wake up as they are being dragged/carried along the trail to the hideout. Both options have lots of potential fun but I'm wondering how to pull it off.

For instance, when they recover, how many hit points will/should they have? How should the process of regaining consciousness even play out? Rolls? Just tell them? Basically just thinking through how I could make a fun scenario to escape their bonds and regain their weapons, etc. I may not even have the chance to go through this scenario, but I wanted it sitting there in the background so I could go all out during the first battle. As the outcome of the first encounter it sounds better than TPK and the suggested alternative in the adventure. Thoughts?

 

[Gilladian]

After running the scenario myself, the first encounter seemed pretty straightforward to me. It was once they got into the cave that things got dicier. Even though they had a L4 druid with them at that point (not during the first encounter), who scouted around and spotted the bugbear, that battle was TOUGH. They started with the three goblins in the pool cave, then the others in the bugbear cave joined in during the 2nd and 3rd rounds. THIS is when I thought a capture scenario was likely to occur; and yes, having them get bound and thrown into the "eating cave" with Sildar is what I would have done.

I'd have had them all wake up after a "long rest". Give them half hp and restored HD. No armor or weapons - those would probably be divvied up between the goblins and the unusable stuff in the bugbear's treasure pile. No full spell recovery, either; let them decide if they want to take time to rest longer before attempting escape (with the likelihood that one of them will get eaten in the meantime!), or try without much in the way of resources.

I'd probably give the spellcasters ONE recovered spell slot each. But I'd also make sure there were plenty of resources available - logs or branches for the fire that can be used as improvised weapons, maybe a chance to use a goblin as a hostage, etc... and of course the goblins' own armor and weapons if they can kill them.

 

[jrowland]

Thoughts?

I'd just let it happen without rolls. From a player's perspective you've already played the DM soft glove by turning the TPK into a capture. But more importantly, to get them back in the action, you'll have to contrive a little more. I'd choose the a PC that has either a spell or an ability to break free. Have that PC wake up with 1 hp, listening to the goblins argue over what to do: some want to put the PCs in the cart, others want to just kill the PCs, others still want to just leave them and the cart, etc. The chosen PC should have a reasonable chance to cast a spell or break free (say he wasn't tied well, DC 5 Dex check to get free, failure means a DC 5 Deception check to "play dead, etc) Further, that particular PC is in the shade of the cart and the horse licking him is what woke him. The Goblins are on the other side of the cart, dragging the last PC to it. This sets up the PC to
a) Get free
b) Hide in/under/behind cart
c) Free another PC/Revive PC (medicine Check- dc 5, they would revive at 1 hp after an hour anyway, and its almost been a hour, eg)
d) Free horse to cause distraction
etc. in any order of course.

I'd avoid the wake up in the hideout option. Probably too hard for 1st level PCs in a new system and 1 hp each