Am I too generous?

Y'know, after watching that "how to grimdark your games" I wonder if my mechanics are too generous. I'd never really given it much thought before, but I'd mostly "grimdarked" my game by what happens in game and how I present stuff rather than having the kind of harsh rules that Call of Cthulhu or Warhammer FRP is noted for, for instance. Now, granted—although I did say "D&D rules, Call of Cthulhu play experience" for some time, but I've also purposefully moved to a more swashbuckling action paradigm in the rules, to give that kind of Brendan Frasier The Mummy kind of experience rather than that kind of survival horror experience. 

I actually think that I'm going to take some time to modify the game rules again. This isn't a major revision. I'm at version 2.5.0 right now, but it's not just fixing typos either; I think I'll bump it to 2.6. I'm planning on getting rid of the legacy weapon, armor and shield proficiencies, because those are kinda dumb and I just included them because it didn't occur to me to not do so until recently. I'll also maybe modify the default rules for hit point generation and a few other things, but the major change will be the addition in a few parts of a paragraph marked by bold headings called DARK•HERITAGE HARDCORE MODE where I offer different alternatives to the default rules. I think the Hardcore mode will offer options in just a few places:

1) First, in ability score generation. Regular mode allows you to roll four ability scores and toss the worst one, as well as assign them as you please. Hardcore mode will be roll them in order and take what you get.

2) Hit points; instead of STR score +10 and then add an additional +2 for each character level (excluding level 1), it'll just be your STR score +1 per level. Even in the default, I think I'm going to change that +10 to +5... I want a much flatter hp progression, so I need more at the beginning and much slower progression than D&D offers, but I'm starting to feel more and more like it's too generous even in the default with +10. 

3) Death and dying. You die at 0 hit points. Even in default, you get one chance to make a death save, not indefinate chances (assuming you pass them).

4) Starting budget. Hardcore mode characters will get just 3d6 gp to outfit themselves, and honestly, that's not even all that hardcore. I think the budget might be too generous for default too; 3d6 x 5 + 20 is probably better than 3d6 x 5 + 120. That gives an average starting equipment buying budget of about 175 or so (I didn't actually do the math in my head just now; just swagged it.) With that kind of budget, most starting characters can have all the equipment that they'll ever need, or at least most of it, before they even start play. That's not such a bad idea, given the action movie vibe that I want to go for here, but it removes there being any challenge about finding gear that you want. I'll tone it down for the default too.

5) Heroism points. Hardcore mode, you start each session with 0 heroism points, and can only get them by earning them in play through the session. In default mode, rather than starting with three and still earning them through play, you'll only get 1 per session plus whatever you earn. 

These aren't big changes, but I think that they'll offer a significant difference between the default and hardcore experience. The default with still have that more Brendan Frasier The Mummy type of horror going on, while the hardcore mode will be more like the true Call of Cthulhu in D&D experience.

While the jargon sounds a bit like upping the difficulty level on a computer game, it's not actually about changing how difficult the game is (although I imagine Hardcore Mode will have a significantly higher number of player deaths.) It's really more about changing the tone and the mood of the experience than it is about just upping the difficulty. Again; you don't actually try to "win" a role-playing game. You just play it and the experience itself is the reward, mostly.