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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Reynard" data-source="post: 2430317" data-attributes="member: 467">This is imperative.  Hints and warnings can often seem like enticements and promises.  Remember that you serve as the the senses of the characters and sometimes that includes common sense.  If the party stumbles across the remains of the previous victims of the BBEG, don't say "The victims seem as though they were torn to shreds before they could react."  That is a spooky warning that will ultimately be unheeded.  Say, "You can tell by the quality of the remaining gear that these guys were high level."Yeah, it is metagaming, but this is a game.  Miscommunication or unheard "clever" warnings can very quickly lead to messy situations.  If you have a TPK because your players didn't get it, they might very well blame you for not warning them, even though you thought you did.  It can even get personal, or seem personal, depedning on your players' general attitudes about such things.Note that I am only talking about the sort of encounter that wolf70 is describing.  If you want spookiness and apprehension, but ultimately know that a "fair fight" awaits the party, by all means drop 'fluff' hints and warnings.  Then, a TPK is the result of either bad rolls -- which suck, but happen, and players should know well enough to cut their losses when luck abandons them -- or poor planning/tactics -- which they deserve.</blockquote>