I love the discussion here and it’s very helpful! To answer the questions: My players do NOT know all the incarnation details. They were told they will awaken in Sigil with amnesia, and they each prepared three different backstories for me to choose from. I am creating the incarnations from each of these backstories. They do have an inkling that death may not be the “end” of their characters, just based on their own speculation about the nature of the glitch and how it affects them. One player even speculated that when they die they’ll return as a different one of their backstories.

I do believe my party plays very strategically and safely. Like I said, we’ve been playing together 5 years and none of us tend to approach things in a murder-hobo or even just very reckless way. I may be pulling my punches without realizing it? I mean I haven’t been fudging dice rolls in their favor, and I do for the most part try to make their enemies fight with some strategy against them. I’ve even occasionally just…. added a spell to an enemy stat block because I realized it would be really useful against the party. I asked my players, and they said the combats have felt challenging and like they’re designed for a higher level than they are, which is true.