IMO, an important thing to remember about the "dying during character
generation" is that it's not just there as flavor.  Rather, the survival
roll is there as a potential check to everyone staying in the service(s)
until they muster out as highly-skilled, wealthy Generals and Admirals
with knighthoods - "super" and/or high-level characters, in the terms of
this game.  It turns the process into gambling, essentially:  do you
cash out now to keep what you've won, or keep rolling and hope you don't
get snake eyes?

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Kelly St. Clair
xxxxxx@efn.org