Fourth Redux

So now that I know more about how to help the players make decent characters that won't have trouble with easy difficulty challenges, I decided to run some more Fourth Edition Dungeons and Dragons. Same thing as before, just with different characters. The only thing I'll be changing is the loot and the difficulty of the combats.

Note: By the time this is being read we're already a few weeks ahead of this. Hopefully if I ever stop being sick I'll have some time to keep up on this. Every character was built with 2d6+6 stats with a minimum of one 18 (to be given to their primary stat). The 2d6+6 is something I've been doing for months now, and the mandatory 18 is something that I wanted after the last game and someone had a 14 prime stat.
The party stood atop a balcony, floating in midair with only one conceivable way to go: down. They didn't know each other or even how they all ended up here together. After brief glances about they all decided to leap into the waterfall, one at a time. First the Dwarven Fighter, then the Wizard. The cleric was nervous, but soon enough jumped as well. Finally the rogue took to the plunge.
This was a short session because we used most of the time to finalize characters, and explain some of the rules and mechanics of how this game works. This event was originally built to explain skill challenges, how they work, what the penalties are and generally get a feel for the characters.
Once they landed in the river, a little worse for wear, the team took five minutes to introduce themselves. At this point, wanting to share how they got there, I referred the players to the prelude. The rest of the evening was spent discussing what exactly this meant, who the man was and how he got there. The prevailing theory is that he's either an extremely powerful wizard, or some sort of deity. Various times it was noted that the room was comforting, and that seemed to put the rogue on edge, ever weary of traps and tricks. Could they trust this person? Everyone was anxious about getting to meet him again.



As a note, because I want to run this to be as close to the previous run as possible, I'll be excluding certain things offered before. Namely creating a region to explore in the game at some point. The letters home event will also be more limited in scope as well. Instead of free, limitless help and aid it will more than likely be a small favor or clue (if the players choose to use it this time). Some other events might play out a bit differently too.