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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mannahnin" data-source="post: 9065534" data-attributes="member: 7026594">Gygax here is saying it's ok to fudge occasionally.  His first advice is to let the death stand; it will even out in the end.  His middle advice is that it's within your authority to make an exception if you really think it's necessary and in the best interest of the table, but that it's best to still levy a lasting penalty in trade for your mercy.  And he closes by saying no mercy if the PC did something dumb or incompetent (even out of ignorance, is the implication; newbies gotta learn!). As period documentation in fanzines show us, and books like The Elusive Shift make more accessible, there were two major strands of players going back at least as early as 1975.  Wargamers and sci-fi/fantasy fiction fans.  And the latter crew were more focused on making it story-focused.  But even the wargamers had some of that and were inspired by the fantasy fiction.  Gygax proudly touts that in the very first 1974 rules.  And those rules included the "sweep" rule for Fighters getting 1 attack per level against enemies of 1HD or less.The rules were more lethal by default and required more house ruling if you wanted a less-lethal game.  Some did, and some didn't.  The MIT megadungeons were famously lethal in the 1970s, while on the opposite coast CalTech's Dungeons & Beavers version saw dungeons 100+ levels deep and PCs advancing to levels just as high.  Over time the actual game rules have incorporated more and more death mitigation rules other than just Raise Dead and Wishes.Loving your posts in this thread.  Great insights.My groups didn't always have Raise Dead available.  At different times we had new PCs start at 1st (though not often) or one level lower than the current lowest living PC.</blockquote>

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