Keeping you players alive for dummies

[fsbof]

Howdy,

my group and I are going to plunge into GURPS as complete greenhorns soon.

We're playing a western style scenario with some supernatural horror tropes on the low key.

Therefore my players may pick some supernatural abilities if they choose to, but again, those are suppossed on be on the low key, too. They might play lightning fast gunslingers, mysticists with a connection to the spirit realm and so forth, however they won't grow magic armor, won't become supernaturally tough and won't have access to magic healing.

They'll encounter the usual, worldly threaths in such a world, but also supernatural ones like a rampaging wendigo from native folklore or an unregistered midnight express from hell. The latter ones will be rare, but still.

So: how do I keep them alive? :D

From what I get so far, GURPS tends to be quite deadly and all in all, we like it that way. Still, that also begs the question about player survivalability.

Tipps I've already read up on are:

-Don't have your hostile NPCs do targeted attacks, at least not to the face, skull or vitals.

-Keep most NPCs at moderate skill levels.

-Encourage your players to tackle problems smartly, not gunz blazzzing.

-Be generous with starting XP.

-Go with "Survivable Guns" (not a fan of that one tbh)

-Give players some reroll ressource, like Shadowrun's Edge