Thank you, guys! The topic has come out on top (though Eero points out that it will take months until he gets around to it). He's also started to work on his own primer to challenge-based D&D (a la Matt Finch's
Quick Primer for Old School Gaming or
Philotomy's Musings). The working title is "Muster: A Friendly Primer to Challenging Dungeoneering”.
I'm interested in the topic of high lethality specifically because after playing and running traditional railroaded games for two decades (with nary a PC death), I embarked on a personal quest to become a 'killer DM' - and get my players on board - in 2012. I blogged about it, too, starting with
My Trinity of Old School Gaming.
I had to train myself out of the habit of fudging or rigging the game so all PCs survive, the adventure proceeds as planned, and there's a happy ending. I heartily recommend
shock therapy.
Letting the dice fall where they may and focusing on running the world is probably old news to you grognards, but it's deeply changed my approach to gaming. The main benefit for me is that I'm as excited as the players to see how it all turns out - will they prevail or will we have another TPK? =)
My players have adapted but it hasn't - and sometimes still isn't - easy, as losing a character usually sucks when it happens and provides a benefit only over the long term. I'm eagerly looking forward to Eero's and your observations.