Here's a strange one (Wizardry 4):
Wizardry 4, when an enemy kills you by casting MAKANITO early in a combat round, but you (the player) fail to notice it. Then, the rest of the round plays out normally, and it looks like you're doing well with your summoned monsters doing some nice damage to the enemies. Then, at the end of the round, you are unexpectedly hit with the game over screen.
There are lots of other ways to die as well. For instance, as hinted in the manual, there's the effect of getting the amulet without putting on a certain item as well. You could burn up in the flames of hell. You can teleport into rock (but fortunately, unlike in other classic Wizardry, you can reload when that happens). And finally...
You can be executed by Hawkslayer, but not before he orders sushi, eats the sushi, falls asleep fighting you, has tea and brushes his teeth, and fills out a form for you to be sacrificed, and there's nothing you can do about it. (Well, there is of course *something* you can do, but answering that would spoil one of the game's puzzles.)
