Running Out of the Abyss, Should my players be aware of the chase?

[MustacheManny]

There are specific chase rules as the players are being followed by the drow through the underdark. It uses a number that can increase or decrease by performing certain actions. For example traveling at a fast pace for a day reduces the number while stopping to deal with an encounter increases it by one (typically). I can see some pros and cons of each approach. On one hand it adds a sense of urgency to see that the drow are on their tail, just a few caverns behind them. On the other hand, I don't want to encourage them to just run through everything and try to ignore every encounter just to lower that number. Any thoughts?

[Mr Adventurer]

Why not, if they don't want to fight?

Running away is a time-honoured D&D tradition.

[Avonar]

There are specific chase rules as the players are being followed by the drow through the underdark. It uses a number that can increase or decrease by performing certain actions. For example traveling at a fast pace for a day reduces the number while stopping to deal with an encounter increases it by one (typically). I can see some pros and cons of each approach. On one hand it adds a sense of urgency to see that the drow are on their tail, just a few caverns behind them. On the other hand, I don't want to encourage them to just run through everything and try to ignore every encounter just to lower that number. Any thoughts?

Do they know they're being followed? Then let them run, sure. If they decide that escaping is their goal right now, running might be the best way to do that. If they try running from other encounters where it's not as justified, then punish them for it.

Also:

From what I remember, the drow at the beginning are WAY too much for an early level party. We took them on at level 10 and it was a hard fight. If you make them fight, you're likely to make them die, let them decide their fate.

[SunderedWorldDM]

Honestly, the adventure already needs a lot of bookkeeping, what with all those NPCs, and I found it a better system to not track the chase as far as the book goes, but to assume that after the PC's escape, Velkynvelve was in so much chaos they couldn't afford to track the PCs until they were well on their way to the first settlement, which is when Velkynvelve's ties in House Mizzrym (or whichever, names don't stick in my head) started to send out assassins to gather info and hunt the PCs down. Thus, you get the best of all the worlds: very little bookkeeping, level-appropriate encounters with Mizzrym assassins and informants, and the PCs feeling like they're still being hunted by a very insidious threat. But that's just how I did it!