Good ol' Uncle Figgy

I rediscovered an old set of articles on general roleplaying advice, and I was amused when I got to Chapter 2.

Now, in this chapter Uncle Figgy describes the two gaming extremes: "The Monty Haul" and "You're All Gonna Die". The first involves ridiculous rewards for trivial challenges, the second sends the hapless players through vicious challenges for nearly nothing.

And finally, the quote that makes me post:
"It is common in the average YAGD game for at least one player character to be killed during each gaming session. Often, the PCs face overwhelming odds and come out on top just to face a deadly trap placed there only to wipe them out. I played in one game in which the GM happily twisted rules and created fiendish traps that existed for no other purpose than to murder the PCs."

Twisting Rules? Fiendish traps? Overcoming overwhelming odds only to find you've been on the wrong mission the whole time? 1 PC death per session? Bah. How about 30?

Player character death is entertaining. Don't be a bitter beaver, Ben.