Looking for feedback on permadeath in RPG

[Fitz]

Or make it more valuable when you progress your character further than normal. "Oh, man. I don't want my character to die. I've come so far with him."

[asf]

add ironman mode then make the player die instantly from something impossible to predict

high tier game design

[logincrash]

add ironman mode then make the player die instantly from something impossible to predict

high tier game design

Make the player character have a heart attack at random points, like in that one GTA San Andreas mod.

[TKVNC]

The best approach is to treat losing as a mechanic, such as Kenshi, or you end up with paranoia save scum gameplay.

[rusty_shackleford]

Not a fan of permadeath, but permanence itself is good because it makes your choices matter more by being unable to roll them back if you didn't like the outcome. The Dork Souls games are probably the most popular example of this, souls-likes tend to not have many choices that matter so they are less so an example of this. MMOs are another example despite not typically viewed this way, but choices tend to be permanent unless a specific feature has a way to roll it back e.g., many MMOs have 'respec'.

The original developers of Rogue have referred to this as 'consequence persistence'
Rogue panel - Glenn Wichman, Michael Toy \u0026 Ken Arnold

When people talk about permadeath, they talk about us three being mean. 'Oh, they wanted to make it extra hard, so they threw in permadeath.' … permadeath is an example of 'consequence persistence.' … Do I read this scroll, do I drink this potion? I don't know. It might be good. It might be bad. If I can save the game and then drink the potion and—oh, it's bad-then I restore the game and I don't drink the potion. That entire game mechanic just completely goes away. So that was a whole reason why once you have taken an action and a consequence has happened, there's no way to go back and undo it.
…
The good stuff is just as permanent as the bad stuff.