12 minutes ago, Archlyte said:

Even though I'm for the Death side of the argument, I agree largely with what you are saying and I think it falls under GM prerogative. I too have seen the effects of overly-cautious PCs, and it can be a bummer. Faced with that you can either get players to be ok with death, or remove death from the recipe. I think that an ignominious demise or an incidental demise is not gonna happen to a Han Solo (in the original movies) but it happened to Dak and Biggs. I sometimes have PCs who are very big Hero types and other times they are more like galactic denizens trying to realize a hoped-for destiny. Death by dice for PCs is a definite tonal decision as you said.

You don't just get to choose between being Captain Solo or Captain Antilles; you can play your character, make smart (or dumb) choices, and then roll some dice to see what happens. That's how you find out how your story will turn out and whether you will be remembered like Captain Solo or (relatively) forgotten like Captain Antilles.

Even when the despairs are dropping like snowflakes, a creative GM can make character death a player choice.

GM: "So, you rolled some despairs."

Player: "Yes."

GM: "As you come to the edge of the platform, you feel the slippery metal panels under your feet allowing you to slide over the edge. Failing Athletics checks with several despairs kinda slurps."

Player: "Character death as I drop several hundred meters down and hit the street level?"

GM: "No! Player choice. One despair means you don't stop in time, so a fall is initiated. The next despair... Your choice. Either use your hands to hold on to that precious lightsaber, or hold on to one of the side antennae and don't splatter your Neimoidian parts all over the floor level."

Player: "But what about that last despair?"

GM: "Crack goed the lightsaber. If you ever get down safely, you might want to start searching for the pieces and rebuild it."

21 hours ago, HappyDaze said:

You don't just get to choose between being Captain Solo or Captain Antilles; you can play your character, make smart (or dumb) choices, and then roll some dice to see what happens. That's how you find out how your story will turn out and whether you will be remembered like Captain Solo or (relatively) forgotten like Captain Antilles.

Well I agree with your way of doing it but I was trying to be big tent and allow for play styles of people who are wanting to play the big story heroes versus the game heroes (who actually face death). But if I am taking a position it is that characters are exposed to possible death as soon as play begins.

I don't believe in the No-lose scenario

I combine "by the book" rules with common sense and a little bit of a sadistic flair.

If you take a death crit, you die. If you get sucked into the vacuum of space or fall deep into the ocean with no means of escape, you dead. If your ship is blown up and you're in it, ded.

If you charge directly into a den of wampas without your party, you're gonna get torn to bits.

There's always time to rethink a course of action but once the dice roll, that is out of my hands.

That said, this is star wars. I encourage insane, death-defying actions, because that's how players feel heroic when they succeed. However, the difficulty of those rolls and the consequences are appropriate for a "death-defying" action.