I've been thinking a lot about trying to run D&D 5e in a more old-school style, where encounter balance is tossed out the window, healing is reduced, and the game is just a lot more dangerous. I've been playing a lot of old-school style games over the last six months and one of the biggest differences between old-school games and games like 5e isn't just the lethality, it's the sense that failure is a real possibility. I feel like the biggest hurdle to overcome is not the mechanical adjustments that would need to be made to the system, but rather the mindset of the players. 5e has taught players that, when presented with a hostile situation, they're supposed to engage in combat. And they are supposed to win as long as they use their powers at the right times. But in an old-school style game, when PCs are presented with hostile enemies, they know that if they engage in combat, there's a very real chance that some of them may not make it out of the fight alive...