TL;DR at bottom. I'm relatively new to the whole tabletop RPG scene, so new that I haven't even played a single session with anyone. However, despite this, I already have ambitions to run a homebrew game that uses the Call of Cthulhu system. My issue however is my lack of knowledge in the system itself. To provide context, I love horror, and thought it would be cool to run my own world ( that is similar to Silent Hill <- Important ). I figured Call of Cthulhu would be the best for this because it focuses on horror, and using realistic weaponry. The issue I'm running into is what seems to be the gist of Call of Cthulhu's system itself. I find that monsters and opponents are VERY dangerous, like, if you don't run or hide you are bound to get easily hurt or go insane. For any normal game, that's fine. I love the brutal reality of it. For my homebrew however? Well, I still want it to be difficult for the player, but not "Oh you decided to fight the monster? One of you is going to have their arm clawed to pieces." Like Silent Hill, I want an emphasis on "You can fight, and you probably will win, but it is preferable to run or hide." If they decide to fight, then by all means they should be able to get out with nothing more than a moderate wound. Again, like Silent Hill in a sense. What do I do to mitigate this? Of course in the beginning the characters may suffer to even the most common of monsters, and certain monsters would be very dangerous throughout the entirety, to the point where you have almost no option BUT to run, but again, just a little less harsh. This also applies to sanity. Ya some monsters should cause loss of sanity, and even normal monsters, but I would want the sanity loss to be lower, with some monsters not causing sanity loss if the players have encountered them enough. (And again, some substantially more difficult monsters being truly sanity-draining) Trail of Cthulhu seems like an option. From what I got, they simplify the combat (don't know if that means easier) and makes sanity a little more tactful. Would it also be possible to just alter how Call of Cthulhu's difficulty works and just make monsters easier with lower saves needed for Sanity? Let me know what you think I should do! Any advice is helpful! TL;DR : I'm homebrewing my own Silent Hill-like world through the Call of Cthulhu system. But Call of Cthulhu is a bit harsh on combat and sanity. How do I lessen the threat to where encounters don't always result in imminent severe danger or losses of sanity from each monster, but where running and hiding is still preferable? Would Trail of Cthulhu help with this, or is there a better option? Thank you for reading!
