Not that into lethal systems, mostly because I don't like creating characters that can die on a whim instead of as an intentional part of the narrative. And yet I play a lot of roguelikes? Go figure
Maybe my problem is less the dying and more the lack of input and forethought. I'll die fighting an eldritch monster and then my shade will haunt the survivors, begging them to run, but all it amounts to is giving them a vague sense of uneasiness? Okay sure I'm down for that. Do I need to roll
Relatedly: writers who toss a coin to see whether a character lives or dies. I'm sure it's fun as an exercise but yikes. I suppose in the moment before the coin/die/wheel of misfortune finds its mark you'll catch yourself thinking of what you want the result to be, but by and large I think you need a little intentionality in writing and that applies to collaborative storytelling too
(Yeah I'm the guy who persists in referring to every tabletop session as a collaborative story. Yeah, even the meat grinder dungeon gauntlets. Yeah, even the gladiatorial arena one-shots. It's a curse and no spell will remove it)1
Shout out to Georgia who would always DM in a light, almost Saturday morning cartoon manner, except for her set pieces where she'd make it explicit that the gloves were off and death was imminent. It meant people had a little forewarning and could story prep for if their characters did indeed fail to make it out alive. I've done that myself a few times now and with the right table it works a treat but ultimately I think my preference is for scenarios (or systems, sometimes it's baked-in) where defeat isn't necessarily death, and to have a willingness to give players some say on how and when they die
A common response to that sentiment is "but what if the players don't want to die??" and like... okay? Some tables will take that stance and I don't think it's a problem. The party are the viewpoint characters and what do you know, sometimes stories about heroes and their adventures don't kill off the main cast.2
But in my experience, when the offer is made, you might be surprised by who takes you up on it. Even little things like Human the Fighters who agree to go down, well, Human the Fighting because they think this moment is suitably dramatic or even a fitting end to their narrative arc, whatever that might have involved. Oh, and they sure as hell get a Plot Powerup to ease things along. Discworld rules are in effect and the Narrativium levels go off the charts so make sure the fight doesn't have exactly million-to-one odds otherwise they'll survive after all
I was about to type "ironically, players whose PCs had been part of long continuous campaigns were more likely to agree to a death" but with the slightest bit of thought I realise that's not really ironic at all. You might get attached to a PC but that comes from starting to think of the numbers and verbs on your character sheet as a character and part and parcel of that is considering who they are and how they fit into the world and the story. Maybe they ride off into the sunset, maybe they retire, maybe they become a significant PC in the next campaign... or maybe they die saving the world, and a cult, sorry no, a full-blown religion arises inspired by their sacrifice.3
Prompted campaign idea: everyone dies regularly but it doesn't stick. Absurd science-fantasy and everyone has a reason for their (psuedo) immortality as their next incarnation will often be very different. Straight-up resurrection through nanites and/or psionics. Artificial lifeforms that lose one chassis and just build another. Symbionts who can be plucked free of a corpse and plugged into an eager new host. A very strange lady who appears to be quite literally indestructible, but sometimes it takes a while to retrieve her when a planet blows up
Evolved campaign idea: everyone is a Culture Mind, or at least Mind-esque, playing in both the galaxy proper and innumerable nested simulations of said galaxy. And the PCs you lose? All those deaths are just part of war games and tournaments and plans for the real thing. Except maybe they're not, and the humans you simulate are a part of you, and things start getting a bit existential even for millennia-old genius intelligences as dreadful, unexplainable things start happening in what you had thought was the real world
And they say... no, the fighter will not die, even if every logic circuit in their immense cores is screaming that it has to happen
-
This is why nobody will play chess with me. They just don't understand that it's the pawn's time to shine
-
Which isn't necessarily better. The first use of "a fate worse than death" came from a GM, who was probably laughing at the time
-
I really need to tell this story soon. I tweeted it repeatedly and I should chost it too