It's a little early as I need to finalize some of the chunky bits and get some of the basic setting information out of my head.

However, I was wondering how most people go about finding play testers for your systems that aren't part of your regular group. Or if you bothered...

I think it would be valuable to have the feedback of a GM that wasn't the game designer :)

-Obnomauk

In general I tend to favor systems where combat is lethal. Meaning one or two blows from a sword can kill a character or average monster. But finding that balance where the PC's aren't dieing on a regular basis nor is combat taking four hours to complete proves difficult.

I wonder what the preference is for everyone:

as I see it there are a few options to increase survivability

1) decrease damage done
2) increase Life Force
3) use passive and active resistance to lower damage to characters.

Just looking for thoughts on the subject.

-Obnomauk