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Message: <blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 7197987" data-attributes="member: 97077">Setting expectations are important for both new players and old ones starting a new campaign in my view. The better the DM sets expectations prior to the game, the more smoothly things tend to go.As for low-level play, I don't mind it at all either as DM or player. My experience has been that, despite their fragility, character death is still pretty rare. What's more, if you're playing at a reasonable clip, you're probably 3rd level by the end of the first or second session, so this window of vulnerability is quite short indeed. The campaign before my current one started at 1st level and my next one will, too.After seeing a lot of actual play reports, I rewrote the opening scene of LMoP such that the goblins don't attack the PCs. Instead, they try to steal mining equipment (shovels, picks, etc.) from the wagon the PCs are guarding and flee back to the goblin cave with their ill-gotten gains. This changes the stakes from "life or death" to "possibly fail delivery quest and not get paid" but does not in my experience change the level of interest and excitement. As well, it foreshadows the goblins' interest in mining ("Why didn't they take food or other items?") and, if the goblins get away with any goods, makes for a much stronger hook to follow them to the goblin cave.</blockquote>