The basic idea was that on top of all the regular plot stuff each character needed to acquire an 'escape route' before the end of the event or the character died. 'Escape Routes' would be fixed elements in the form of Maps and Cars and things of that nature, so each player needs to make sure they have a way of getting out alive. 

Question is: Is that too hardcore?

I was thinking it would be reasonably easy to acquire the 'escape routes' but not too easy (not a formality) and I wasn't sure whether it was too hardcore to include one less escape route than the number of players (for the sake of PvP friction). Thoughts?

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"Stick around!"
-Governor of California throwing a hunting knife into a man's chest

I was thinking about something similar for a one off zombie game that I may run at some point, with any players that escape via an escape route, then becoming part of the zombie crew (Although thier surviving charcters would be available to play in any subsequent sequels, but beefed up a bit)

Horror games should be full of fatality, if they aren't they would just loose the "horror" and that fear factor is what IMHO makes the genre different than other generic LRP. You have to have that risk or they just might not care enough about what they are doing.

Maybe, the escape routes could be dependant upon how they perform in game, like the car route might depend on if they can find the keys stashed in an obscure/dangerous location (hidden in the pockets of a corpse) or may require a few other items too, in addition to the keys. Dummy items could be used as well to confuse matters (When they find the keys, there might be 4 sets of similar keys, but only one is the right set)

All in all, its a great idea, and loads of interesting hooks could be ripped straight out of films, TV and books. A good excuse to watch tons of Horror movies I think!!

^{There is no way you can disprove to me that all reality we percieve, was concieved in the mind of a plastic troll. Now hand me my pills.}

As for "in general" - I believe it's a tradition in some one-shot freeforms. Apparently there's a classic Titanic freeform where after the players fail to stop the ship sinking (because the scenario's set up to be nigh-on impossible to stop a catastrophe - if you don't hit an iceberg or get sabotaged by Germans, the Mummy's curse will get you), the major focus is getting on to a lifeboat. If anyone owns a copy of the book "Nexus live roleplaying" (it's a freeform scenario in a book), the author's foreword mentions something about the lengths people went to in order to survive. Also, in a "Casablanca" style game, competition for the last plane home might be important, but then again some characters might not want to leave.

No, you probably don't remember my character from the events I've been to.

After saying goodbye to sanity, you throw it off the edge and watch it tumble into the fierce furnace below... The Volcano rumbles, and then the Volcano God himself suddenly manifests in front of you. In response to your offering he curses you with a sarcastic god queue pass.

It will be a major focus of the event and so must be designed to fit with the atmosphere and game mechanics of the rest of the event. For example, a rather abstract "gather a correct combination of props" would fit with a skill based objective-orientated game but isn't going to fit well with a generally freeform character driven roleplay.

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You gotta burn to grow!