[jltsiren]

Deadly combat was popular in most RPGs in the late 80s and early 90s. Even experienced characters could easily die from bad luck or poor judgment, and if wounds didn't kill them, infections might. The focus was more on role-playing (and a kind of realism), and combat was not supposed to be something you enter casually.

As far I remember, the problematic role was always the Netrunner, not the Solo. While the Solo was just your standard warrior, the Netrunner played their own subgame while everyone else was waiting.