On the flip-side, the one-life scenario is a bit draconian. It is a game, after all, not real life. If your PC dies by some unforseen mishap or bad dice roll, and there’s no hope of bringing him back, the player that invested so much in that character will have a bitter taste for a long time.

I would advocate for the middle ground. Death must have consequences. But ressurection should not be impossible. I like the suggestions offered in this post, and I propose another– set a real-world penalty for death. One example might be a real-world minimum amount of time before the player can ressurect their character. For example, if your group meets once per week and the PC dies half-way through one session, their session has ended for that day, and they cannot attempt a resurrection until the next session. Or, set some other real-world consequence– the player of the character who dies has to bring the food and drinks the next time. I realize that penalties and rewards outside the game world will likely rub many hardcore gamers the wrong way, but these types of things will help check the player’s actions, and prevent the “well, what the heck, if I die, our cleric will just ressurect me” syndrome. Of course, if role-play dictates a seemingly rash action, consequences be damned, then so be it! But, in such a case, the player would be willing to accept the real-world penalty should the game world throw him a curveball.

Though the dicussion of each premise wasn’t exhaustive I’m glad that the article genereated some thoughts on the issue even if it wasn’t difinitive. One of the best things about story telling is that in each situation where the state of affairs is contrary to what’s expected you have a chance to tell a compelling tale… As is the case in heroes who are born to die, fighting for what is right against the odds, ala the 2nd World War.
.-= Bauxtehude´s last blog ..Shattered Sea Talks #1 – The Wilden =-.

The other consideration on the DM’s side is lethality vs. resurrection. In almost all cases, deliberately high lethality isn’t conducive to a good campaign: no matter how common or rare resurrection is; high lethality cheapens death and stifles character development. Players who must continually create new characters will avoid becoming invested in them at all; PCs that are being constantly ressurected break the believability of the experience.

If you are going to limit or remove resurrection — death needs to be something that is carefully used as a plot element to make the game better. It’s threat always looms, but if PCs are dropping every other combat — it’s going to get tiresome, the “impact” of the funeral and last rites becomes meaningless, and players stop becoming emotionally and intellectually invested in their characters and start making mindless killing machines again.

Even so, I love the way you extrapolated ideas from one aspect of the world to shape several aspects of a campaign. This is great thinking.