How to avoid killing your player characters as GM

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Varyon

It's more than dungeon crawls that can heavily feature existential combat (that is, combat where the purpose is to eliminate OpFor, and where OpFor is trying to do the same to you). Indeed, particularly considering this is the kind of combat that tends to crop up in action films and video games, many players go into a game expecting that to be the way combat is handled. Doing things differently - duels to first blood, foes fleeing (or surrendering) as soon as it appears they may be losing, it being more beneficial to capture - or even just drive off - foes than kill them, etc - is certainly a valid playstyle, and I expect is favored by groups who are markedly more interested in playing a role than playing a combat simulator, but many players don't expect that mode of play. Fortunately, the campaign prospecti (prospectuses?) you've mentioned supplying in the past probably help avoid players being surprised when that's the mode of play.

Well, okay, I was using "dungeon crawls" as synecdoche for fighting to the death as a play style.

As for prospectuses, here's an example entry from my 2020 prospectus:

_____ Demobbed. Streetlevel supers. GURPS. Source material: Astro City, JSA: The Liberty File, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Planetary, Top Ten: The Forty-Niners, Wild Cards, The Defenders (Netflix series).
It’s 1945, and the boys (and girls) with special powers are coming home from the war. How will they fit into civilian life in a world at peace? Player characters will be streetlevel supers—not necessarily “superheroes,” but generally inclined to obey the law, protect the innocent, and help the helpless. The focus of play will be partly on the usual superheroic combat and partly on inventing a role for people with strange powers and abilities. There won’t be a generic category of “superpowers”; rather, many different types of special abilities will be available, from ancient mystical rituals to superscientific inventions. Combat will be realistic and death will be possible, as will legal consequences for going too far with your abilities.
You may enjoy this campaign if you like streetlevel superheroes or pulp adventurers; a post-World War II setting appeals to you.