I really love seeing different perspectives on the concept of true character death between role play sites. The first site I was big into was primarily combat based role play, but no one could die. That got silly fast. The second was far more politically driven, sure we were all at war, but it wasn't as if we could do much about it ourselves, two or three of the admins at a time would play Gods and throw NPC armies at one another while the normal characters just tried to keep their little slice of the pie out of things, form alliances with one another for mutual protection, or get involved with one of the dominant sides if they were feeling bold. Even though there was little actual combat within the context of the role players ourselves (the world was at war, but most PCs weren't involved as soldiers on either side) people's characters died constantly. Wrong place at the wrong time? The city of Eastmarch was devoured by the Destroyer, along with everyone in it. Wrong side? The N'havi Fhart'i declare martial law over Stros M'kai, and all non believers are burned at the stake. Brutal, constant death, for no more reason than being the wrong religion at the wrong time, or in a city which happens to be demolished overnight by unstoppable demon armies. But it made things incredibly tense, very urgent. Any day you might not wake up, err, your character might not wake up, anyway. Was actually quite fun, gave a certain weight to your every decision, your every chosen path. Myself, I think it's better to decide for yourself as a GM. Tell your players what to expect from the get go, this is a combat oriented role play, or this is supposed to be a light comedy/romance with hints of action, not Kill Bill. If players don't like it, they won't sign up, and no one's going to be complaining about not being able to kill someone or, conversely, everyone constantly killing everyone.