Chill (role-playing game)

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Chill
Chill Logo (3rd Edition)
Designer(s)	Lou Prosperi, Dave Webb, R. Hyrum Savage, John Wick, Jess Heinig
Publisher(s)	Pacesetter, Mayfair Games, OtherWorld Creations
Publication date	1984 (Pacesetter Ltd), 1994 (Mayfair Games), 2006 (OtherWorld Creations)
Genre(s)	Horror
System	Percentile based (d100)

Chill is a role-playing game that captures the feel of 20th-century horror films. Players take on the role of Envoys, members of a secret organization known as S.A.V.E. that tracks down and eliminates evil in the world. The overall flavour of the game is reflected in movies such as John Carpenter's Vampires, the Hammer Horror films and The Omen.

The game was originally produced by a company called Pacesetter. That company ceased operations, and its products, including its Chill backstock are still available from the company 54'40º Orphyte.

After Pacesetter went under, Chill was bought by Mayfair Games. At Mayfair, the game was published until the executives of the company decided to no longer publish RPGs and instead focus on board games.

The game was most recently purchased by OtherWorld Creations, although it has not yet been re-printed. A series of financial problems plaguing the young company forced it to announce, on August 30th, 2004, the cessation of all publishing efforts except for Chill, which, it says, will be released in 2006.

A variety of individual modules (adventure packs) were released by Chill's first two publishers. One example is UnDead & Buried, published by Mayfair Games.

Chill and some modules were translated into Swedish and published under the name Chock between 1985 and 1987 by Target Games.

[edit] S.A.V.E.

Chill cover, Pacesetter Edition

Chill cover, Mayfair Edition

In Chill, S.A.V.E. (Societas Argenti Viae Eternitata, or, The Eternal Society of the Silver Way) is a secret society that is dedicated to protecting innocents from the creatures of the Unknown. Agents of SAVE are called Envoys. Though spread worldwide, SAVE can offer little support to its envoys, beyond pointing them at the Unknown and providing the occasional bit of additional research material. However, with the turn of the century this is beginning to change as SAVE has regrouped and reformed, ready to once again bring the fight to the Unknown.

SAVE is an acronym, the meaning of which differs according to what time period of SAVE you are examining. Originally, SAVE stood for the Societas Albae Viae Eternitata (The Eternal Society of the White Way). In the 1980's, this was modified to the Societas Argenti Viae Eternitata (The Eternal Society of the Silver Way), ostensibly to avoid charges of racism.

SAVE began in 1844 with a single man: Professor Charles O’Boylan. Living in Dublin, Ireland, O’Boylan was fascinated with the possibilities of the brain. Not content to experiment with “occult mumbo jumbo,” he was convinced that there was a scientific explanation for psychic phenomenon, and he set his mind to finding it. What he found instead was something entirely different.

O’Boylan had experimented with his own seemingly supernatural powers of perception to a small degree, but he insisted on making his experiments “things of Pure Science,” and so, for almost a year, he carried out objective studies on psychic phenomenon.

No one is really sure of the outcome of these studies, because at the end of the year, O’Boylan destroyed all of his notes and abandoned his studies. “I have found a new and more worthy cause to champion,” he wrote in his new journal. “And my Enemy will regret showing His face to me.”

The “Enemy” O’Boylan wrote about was a seemingly intelligent and malevolent force he dubbed “the Unknown.” He wrote:

It is from this Source of Darkness that all Evil flows. It is not from Here, but from There, that dark place where mine eyes peered, my magical eyes that made me so proud… So vain.

O’Boylan recruited two other men – Henry Boulton and Richard Arthur (Lord Strange) – to create a secret society devoted to fighting this Enemy. O’Boylan dubbed the organization “SAVE,” or Societas Albae Viae Eternitata (the Eternal Society of the White Way). O’Boylan’s scientific knowledge coupled with Lord Strange’s understandings of the occult and Henry Boulton’s skills at gentlemanly combat formed a perfect circle to study and do battle with the Unknown. The year was 1844.