Bite the Hand vs Call of Cthulhu
Compare Bite the Hand and Call of Cthulhu side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Bite the Hand | Call of Cthulhu | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Cyberpunk, Scifi, Horror | Horror, Modern |
| Tags | Character Building, Deadly, Fast-Paced, Gritty, Hackable, Fear & Stress Mechanics, Resource Management, Theater of the Mind | Investigation, Fear & Stress Mechanics, Mystery, Deadly, Corruption, Skill-Based, Atmospheric, One-Shot Friendly, Character-Driven, Narrative |
| Core Mechanic | Roll d100 under a relevant stat or save. Equal or higher makes a check fail or succeed with a consequence, while an equal-or-higher save fails and incurs harm. Doubles trigger critical results based on success or failure. Advantage or Disadvantage rolls twice and keeps the better or worse result; uncomplicated actions usually work without a roll. | 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 | d100 | d100 |
| Complexity | Medium | Medium |
| Accessibility | Medium | High |
| Runnability | Medium | Very High |
| License | Proprietary | Chaosium Fan Material Policy |
| Third-Party Publishing | Not yet researched | Commercial publishing allowed — Community content program |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Cost | $ | $$ |
| Publisher | Spellbook Gaming LLC | Chaosium |
| Year | 2026 | 2014 |
| Languages | English | English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, Chinese |
| Best For | Groups seeking lethal cyberpunk missions about vulnerable rebels, with room for hacking, social maneuvering, and direct action. | 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 | Tiered cybernetics raise Minimum Stress as they expand a character's capabilities, linking augmentation directly to emotional resilience. Completing a mission against a corporation, harming law enforcement, corporate assets, or government officials, and every $2,000 of debt each raise Heat; after a day of noticeable crime, a secret d20 roll at or under the highest-Heat character's score produces a Heat consequence. Uncomplicated attacks hit automatically, reserving checks for dangerous complications and keeping firefights moving. | 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 | Random stats and unequal starting loadouts deliberately create uneven characters. Wounds and failed Death saves can remove characters abruptly. Several procedures rely on Warden judgment: hacking, social checks, cover, and carrying capacity. | 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. |