As life would have it, I would end up running the homebrew with two different groups at around the same time. Session 1 was fascinating to experience in both how both groups responded to the game as well as their general disposition. With the Brits, there was a surprising amount of suspicion of their benefactors and daring when it came to interacting with people they should have been careful with. With the South Africans, there was wholehearted belief in their benefactors and firm resolve not to get themselves killed within the first session.
Then came the second session which I've just run with the Brits. (South Africans are only playing again next week). I managed to get them to where I wanted to go - with some paddling and bullshitting and they entered an extensive cave system... and one of them died. The creatures they fought weren't exactly scary. Maybe the problem was just that they didn't play it cautiously enough. Or maybe it was just bad luck.
The lad got struck with a spell, got rot grubs thrown on him and hit zero hit points before anyone could get to him, which with the rot grubs means that he became dinner.
While the party took it in stride and started speculating one what character he should draw up next, I did come to the sinking realisation that I had not planned for character death and don't know how I will be introducing this new character to the group.
I had figured there would be some time before I would have to worry about it. Silly me.
