A Playtest of Trials of the Mad Mage

Two weeks ago, I wrote a post intended to introduce new players to D&D.  Last week, I posted a short introductory dungeon called Trials of the Mad Mage.  This week, as the final part of this bizarre triptych, I will post an account of the time that I ran this adventure for a group of new players.  Did it function as I had hoped? Did it get them excited about their characters and about the game? To find out ...read on.

I should note that the adventuring party consisted more than the four characters set out in the adventure as you see it on my blog: the fighter/ranger, the rogue, the sorcerer, and the cleric.  There were instead:

The cleric - Idissa Halga.  The cleric was played by my girlfriend, who had played in several other D&D campaigns but had never played a cleric.  She decided to go for a North African theme, and really enjoyed playing a cleric.
The rogue - Rrrrr.  A 12-year-old thief from the ice-fisher people of the north, and worshiper of the squirrel-god of thieves.  She was basically a magpie, hoarder of shiny things.
The sorceress - Angaia.  She said she pictured her character as sort of a pyromaniac, so I gave her predominantly fire spells.
The fighter/ranger - Dover Madbury.  He was open to anything and wanted to play whatever character I made for him.  He decided that his favoured enemy should be dragons without knowing that there was a dragon in this dungeon.
The ranger - Wulfric Nettlebrook.  A swashbuckling adventuresome ranger who fights the good fight against oppression and tyranny.
The bard - Bob the Bard.  He decided that he wanted to be the most painfully boring bard ever, so I gave him a selection of spells including sleep and oppressive boredom.
The barbarian - Suomi.  An elderly barbarian who could still kick ass despite her advanced age.