Playing Ravenloft with Complete Newbies

[SkiBird]

Calls to mind a saying from my youth.

There are old pilots adventurers, and there are bold pilots adventurers. But there are no old, bold pilots adventurers.

A healthy dose of 'be careful out there' is always a good thing.

[alhoon]

Well, they are playing investigators, but the players have learned from reading a lot of books and watching a lot of movies. So, they heed the warnings.

NPC: "The last person to read that tome went completely mad..."
PC: "Okay. I'm not reading that tome then."

NPC: "You want to know about Camille Dilisnya? Be careful of what you drink from now on. People who delve into that topic...suddenly become allergic to wine."
PC: "Okay. Nevermind. I don't think I'll be delving into that topic anymore."

They have a reasonable life expectancy. Although people that heed the warnings don't mess with archmages creating bizarre machines.