Asilo vs Call of Cthulhu
Compare Asilo and Call of Cthulhu side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Asilo | Call of Cthulhu | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Horror | Horror, Modern |
| Tags | Atmospheric, Character-Driven, Deadly, Fear & Stress Mechanics, Improvisation, One-Shot Friendly, Random Tables, Roleplay-Heavy, Rules-Light, Strong GM Support | Investigation, Fear & Stress Mechanics, Mystery, Deadly, Corruption, Skill-Based, Atmospheric, One-Shot Friendly, Character-Driven, Narrative |
| Core Mechanic | When an action warrants it, a Patient rolls a d6 and succeeds by equaling or exceeding the difficulty the Caretaker sets. Traumatic events add a d6 result to the Sanity Clock, and completed stress sectors reveal new Behaviors. | Roll d100 equal to or below a skill or characteristic. Hard and Extreme tests use half and one-fifth of that rating. Bonus and penalty dice select a better or worse tens digit. Eligible failed skill rolls can be pushed by taking further action, risking a harsher consequence. |
| Dice | d6 | d100 |
| Complexity | Low | Medium |
| Availability | Paid | Free quickstart |
| Runnability | 4 of 5 book tools | 5 of 5 book tools |
| License | Proprietary | Chaosium Fan Material Policy |
| Third-Party Publishing | No verified route found | Commercial publishing allowed — Community content program |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | Newborn Games | Chaosium |
| Year | 2025 | 2014 |
| Languages | English, Portuguese | English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, Chinese |
| Best For | Groups prepared to establish firm safety boundaries before a one-shot clinical-horror descent driven by character-specific stress. It suits Caretakers who want prewritten scenarios and prompts for tailoring Asilo to a table's chosen limits. | Groups who want clue-driven horror with ordinary investigators and lasting consequences. Suits focused mysteries and campaigns where survival matters more than defeating every threat. |
| Highlights | Stress Rolls fill each Sanity Clock until new Behaviors alter how that Patient is played. Goals and discovered Secrets can remove or add Stress Dots, making personal history affect whether a Patient deteriorates. Destroying a signed Liability Waiver sacrifices one Patient to clear another's Behavior, turning a physical table ritual into a final rescue. | Pushing a failed roll offers another chance at the goal with a more serious consequence if it fails. Learning Mythos lore reduces maximum Sanity, tying useful knowledge to lasting vulnerability. An Idea roll gets a stalled investigation moving again, with failure putting investigators into danger. |
| Considerations | The game centers clinical abuse, trauma, and other extreme material, requiring explicit group boundaries and active comfort tools. Each Patient's stress mitigations become Manias after three uses, making the downward pressure difficult to reverse. Asilo is designed for individual sessions, so it does not provide campaign advancement for recurring Patients. | A major wound can leave an investigator dying, making direct confrontation dangerous. Bouts of madness temporarily place investigator actions under Keeper control. Foot and vehicle chases track relative speed and movement actions, adding a separate procedure to pursuit scenes. |