For those who run Superhero games: have any of your PCs ever died?
Did they stay dead?
How did it go down and do you generally feel that "death is on the table" in your Supers games?
How commonly are your villains killers? Have your PCs ever killed a villain?
Have the villains killed a loved one or a side-kick?
1:Depends on the system but in most dead is dead unless theres something that can revive a character. Which tends to be a no. In SMT though character death was a joke. But the PCs and NPCs tend to avoid it. Just in case. Or because it tends to hurt. lots. But yes have lost superhero characters.
What system is SMT?
I've had pretty strong reactions to introducing highly lethal enemies. "The Devourer" is the only villain who is clearly a killer in Simple Superheroes #0, he lifedrains and usually kills normal people with a touch. In my "Capital City" campaign when he was introduced, and fled through a crowd of people at a Fair, killing more than a couple while the heroes pursued him. This lead to the only moment I recall having where a hero, had an enemy basically helpless and said, "I kill him" and the rest of the heroes stood back or nodded.
That did have some interesting roleplaying impacts in future sessions.
In my "New Carthage" campaign, when the heroes encountered The Devourer, it was more of the classic one hero declaring that he must be killed and the others stopping him at the last moment. Memorable events.
I've used the spend 7 strainpoints to "Avoid Death in Classic comic-book style" rule* a few times for villains over the years and across campaigns and one-shots. Usually this hasn't been because a player was particularly intending to kill there opponent, but it's a cool thing to use. Your punch brings Thunderfist down to -6 lifepoints? "When you hit him, it knocks him through the next building, which collapses on him. But when the rescue crews search the building his body is never found."
*A key part of the rule is they
get away, and people think they must have died, or at least think they could have died.
I've had a player use it at least once in a one-shot.
In my Chalice City campaign I had some heroes decide not to go back inside a burning Church to rescue a couple blood cultists. They had already rescued some innocent bystanders and fought the cultists. They just waited to see if the cultists would make it out. They didn't.