New to The Fantasy Trip. Got questions.

[agentJ]

Full disclosure, I am coming from D&D. Yes, I played B/X, AD&D, 2nd, 3rd, 3.5, Pathfinder, and 5e. I have also DM'd in each of those. I am not here to cause problems. I just find Melee fun and am wondering what I should get to use it as a rpg. How well does it work as a rpg? I could not find videos of play example. I enjoy watching play to get an idea how things work and what is possible. With no examples to watch, typing questions on this forum seemed like a good way to get my questions answered.

I have tried Melee and while it is fun it seems characters die often and fast. I imagine the same thing happens in Wizard?

How does the RPG work? If characters die so easily? It would seem to me that one way to have your character survive would be to avoid combat. Does that mean there are reaction charts that get used if you try to talk to someone? What about a beast? You can't talk to a bear, wolf, or snake? It does not appear that running is a good option so what other options are there?

Are there other ways to survive? Are the adventures in dungeons? Wilderness? Castles? Is it similar to DM'ing D&D? Is there a GM guide? Does it have game play examples? For combat, roleplay, and exploration? Or is it different? Where is the Monster Manual?

What I am getting at is I just don't see how characters would survive and advance. If they do advance and survive, what is an appropriate time to "retire" the character?

Thank you for all responses. I look forward to learning about a "new" game.