I've run a lot of Savage Worlds and find it good & challenging for players as written. With my group of 2 players, I give them lots of extras & allies to help out. They take most of the damage & death, so risk is always present but heroes rarely die these days. I find the threat of it in a game is more important than it actually visiting the player characters regularly.
I have also played a good bit of Realms of Cthulhu (RoC). I think we're using the "death spiral" rules in which bennies cannot be used to offset damage. The practical result is that our heroes are very focused on offense. Lots of fighting & shooting skills & edges. I took Luck & Great Luck because I like to spend bennies to affect the story, but almost all my advances have been spent on combat abilities. I don't think it is really true to the Call of Cthulhu (CoC) style of play, but I never really enjoyed CoC that much -- too much focus on humanity being basically powerless and doomed to insanity & death. I prefer a pulpy game, and I like that RoC has those options.
I have also played a good bit of Realms of Cthulhu (RoC). I think we're using the "death spiral" rules in which bennies cannot be used to offset damage. The practical result is that our heroes are very focused on offense. Lots of fighting & shooting skills & edges. I took Luck & Great Luck because I like to spend bennies to affect the story, but almost all my advances have been spent on combat abilities. I don't think it is really true to the Call of Cthulhu (CoC) style of play, but I never really enjoyed CoC that much -- too much focus on humanity being basically powerless and doomed to insanity & death. I prefer a pulpy game, and I like that RoC has those options.
