I am haveing some problems with my gaming group, nothing major just slight problems here or there. One aspect I find my players not entirely understanding is the power of fate points and what they can do. One example is from my game last night. My acolytes are investigating some criminal organizations in an underhive to try and find out if some dark mechanicus are using said organizations to funnel money to fund their endevors. Flash forward a bit they are being eaten alive by hive spiders about the size of a cat. One of them gets an idea and says that he will charge the largest group of spiders pull the pins on two of his frag grenades and drop them at his feet. Basically your typical heroic sacrifice, I say if he can pass a willpower test why not. So after a few rolls over half the spiders are dead and the explosions cooked off a third grenade he still had on him; amazingly I roll poorly and he survives, he is out cold but alive. He asks if that act justifies him gaining a fate point I say yes; sadly he rolls poorly on the effects the spiders poison do and winds up burning a fate point to stay alive.

The issue is that he and a few others assumed they were going to die and re-roll new characters, I was almost certain they would not as they all at the time had 2 or more fate points ( a few now only have one but whatever). The point to all this is that the people in my gaming group are used to games that are less forgiving to deaths and I can't help get the feeling they are starting to feel like perhaps combat is to easy or something. Now this is not the first time the group has survived some amazing circumstances with little to no fate point loss. I am the best gm ever I can't roll higher than a 3 on damage. As a result I am constantly having to explain to them that they survived not because I am super nice but because of lucky rolls on their part. Am I going to have to just make an insanly hard encounter kill 3 or 4 of them to prove the game isn't a cake walk. I don't want to do this but I don;t know what to do. Their feelings of the game being easy could also be my fault I am new to gming and so my first few encounters were kind of easy. Has anyone else had this problem and if so what did you do.

Well, I think it is simple

At the beginning of the next three sessions, start wit the following sermon

"and please keep in mind: Dead is not re-roll of the pc in the system. You just burn a Fate Point. "

Re-read the uses of SPENDING a Fate point to them as well. After at the third time, they will sing along & the problem is solved.

Also, remember that the whole idea of fate points just keeps you alive, it doesn't mean you just miracolously recover out of nothing.

If you lost an arm, you will be the one armed guy, and maybe even loose more physical traits. The example of dying of poison, maybe he looses toughness as his body is much more frail afterwards, or maybe strength... or maybe even all physical stats.

My Sister of Battle met a daeomonhost in an epic one against one, where I ended up burning fate for that last strike after my arm was blown off. And that last strike felled it. Of course, when I got back, I was rewarded and hailed, but much much weaker and had lost so much (As well as being more corrupted out of the situation). Make a backside to the medallion

... and like my GM just told me after seeing this post. Don't forget insanity points and corruption. What does it matter that you are alive when you go insane or even become the very enemy you fight?

Oh, I have my fair share of House Rules for such occasions...

* If a pc tries a heroic sacrfice he succeeds....at in least the sacrificing part...strapping explosives to your chest is cool when you go jihad on your enemy but it shoud kill you (power armour might be the exception), if there is no reason to survive such as running into an ammo dump with two primed grenades...

YOU ARE DEAD....

pc: But I still have 2 fate points...

GM: Sorry, I warned you it would kill you beyond any doubt and fate points wouldn't save you..

pc: But....

GM: No.

Other PC: When we get out of here we'll give you a nice funeral

GM: Nice idea, I'll prepare a speech, does you character have a will?

PC: Hmmm..... good point, yes he has .....and some family who might want to say something...

GM: Okay...I'll start preparing...now first you'll have to survive this encounter...

Point is that death is not a bad thing but fatepoints should not save you from obvious suicide or allow you to outlive heroic sacrfices...though you might allow pc's to spend fate points while doing such action to do things he normally couldn't and thus promote drama...

Example:
The pc's are pinned down by machine gun fire and their cover is slowly but surely being shot apart.
PC, could I run across the field shooting my Lasgun and grenade the machine gun nest?
GM: That would kill you, covering that distance would cost you 3 rounds and your wounds are already pretty down
PC: Don't care, it is more important my fellow acolytes survive, my character would gladly sacrifce his life in their name
GM: Do you have any fate points lef?
PC: Yes
GM: You can burn those if you go ahead, describe the scene, what happens, how does your character react to the rounds riddling his body while he crosses the field?
PC:

Gaius grits his teeth, holding his trusty lasgun in one hand while in the other he holds the jury rigged cord which would trigger his grenades, as he runs across the field his body grows numb and cold, blood flows from his lips as he is riddled with rounds and just when it seems he won't make it he sees a golden light beckoning to come stand at his side.
The last few meters to the nest all the pain goes away, a smile appears on his face and the last thing his friends see of him is him diving into the nest just before it explodes.

GM: Secretly rolls behind his screen: The machine gun nest explodes in a fiery ball of dirt and fire, the gun stops firing but your friend is dead, but without his sacrifice all of you would have been dead....

Hmm, I like that idea, let them burn the fate points ahead of time but allow their heroic sacrifice to have a much higher chance of sucess.

Though if they do such a thing keep the drama a first and the game mechanics second.

If the character would need to jump a 4 meter gap to get to the place of heroic sacrifice, describe it but ignore the mechanics...
If he would get hit by a machine gun, he'll survive long enough to do what needs to do, than drops dead, or speaks a few words and dies.

Though do keep in mind reality, bend in not break it.
Jumping a 20 meter gap, no, 10 meters is pushing it already