I have been testing myself (little advantages of solo games) the Join My Merry Band and, so far, works well. I managed to finish a whole dungeon with no casualties and a treasure of 86 gold, a magic weapon and a magic armour. 

My adbenturers were a Fighter, a Cleric, a Rogue and a Squire. They did pretty well: the Rogue survival skills proved essential with all the traps I triggered in my wandering in the darkness. The Cleric was useful too as we found a few skeletons which are more than a match for those without the Holy tag.

In retrospective, I think I need to make the game a bit harder. There are few monsters and not particularly tough so a well rested group can face them easily. There's a fine line between the interesting and the frustrating so I will have to be careful.