V_K
Arcane
The problem with Stygian combat, I think, is that the systems are there but they are underutilized. Like, there are actually three damage types - physical, mental (sanity) and supernatural. But most of the characters can only do physical, and occultists can do supernatural. Which makes sense - it's not like humans can drive eldritch abominations mad. Maybe the damage types are more important for playing defensive? Like, you can't deal them to the enemies, but you have to be able to defend against them? That would also make sense both in the setting - since humans can only hope to survive an encounter with cosmic horrors, not go on the offensive - and mechanically, given the "progressive escape" system. But the problem here is - what kind of defensive abilities do you get exactly? I can think of two spells, one against physical damage, the other against conditions. That's it. And then there's the question of difficulty - personally, every time I had the progressive escape tiles open, there was no point to use if because I could finish off the remaining enemies within one round.
There's a skeleton of a good horror-themed combat in there, but to make it work they need to introduce more defensive abilities - of various kinds - and make enemies harder to kill.
There's a skeleton of a good horror-themed combat in there, but to make it work they need to introduce more defensive abilities - of various kinds - and make enemies harder to kill.