Chill (role-playing game)

Chill
Designer(s) Gali Sanchez, Garry Spiegle, Mark Acres, Louis J. Prosperi, David Ladyman, Jeff R. Leason, Matthew McFarland
Publisher(s) Pacesetter Ltd, Mayfair Games, Growling Door Games
Publication date 1984 (Pacesetter Ltd), 1990 (Mayfair Games), 2015 (Growling Door Games)
Genre(s) Horror
System(s) Percentile based (d100)
Chill cover, Pacesetter Edition
Chill cover, Mayfair Edition

Chill is a role-playing game that captures the feel of 20th-century horror films.[1] Players take on the role of envoys,[2] members of a secret organization known as S.A.V.E. that tracks down and eliminates evil in the world.

Setting

Chill is a horror role-playing game inspired by Shelley, Stoker, and Poe, where usual foes are vampires, werewolves, mummies, ghosts, goblins, and ghouls.[3] Players take on the role of envoys,[2] members of a secret organization known as S.A.V.E. that tracks down and eliminates evil in the world.


Editions

The game was originally produced by a company called Pacesetter Ltd.[1] Once Pacesetter ceased operations in 1986, Chill was bought in 1990 by Mayfair Games. At Mayfair, the game was published until 1993, when the executives of the company decided to no longer publish RPGs and instead focus on board games. Mayfair Games still keeps the second edition of the game available in PDF format.

A total of 23 official modules (adventure packs and rules companions) were released by Chill's publishers between 1984 and 1993. Chill and some modules were translated into Swedish and published under the name Chock between 1985 and 1987 by Target Games.

Several years ago a third edition was announced by Other World Creations[4] but never was released.

At the end of 2012, Mayfair Games Inc. sold all intellectual property rights pertaining to CHILL to a Canadian couple named Martin Caron and Renée Dion.

In June 2014, Growling Door Games announced the acquisition of the license to publish a new edition of Chill with plans to release the book in August 2015.[5]

Reception

Receiving 7 out of 10, the game received a mixed review in issue 61 of White Dwarf magazine. The gameplay was felt to be fairly slow and lacking in scares; furthermore, Chill's significance was lessened as Call of Cthulhu had already paved the way for horror-based role-playing games.[6]

S.A.V.E.

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.[7] Agents of SAVE are called envoys.[1] The symbol of S.A.V.E. is the Indalo.[1]

Products

Numerous products were published for the first two editions of Chill.

Pacesetter edition

Game tools

Sourcebooks and scenarios

Mayfair edition

Game tools

Sourcebooks and scenarios

Fiction

Chill board game

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Chill (Review)". RPGnet. 2002. Retrieved 2007-10-06.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Epperson, Jerry (October 1984). "Horribly Simple to Learn". Dragon Magazine IX (5 (#90)): 62–63. ISSN 0279-6848.
  3. ↑ RPG Archive: Chill
  4. ↑ Other World Creations News
  5. ↑ PRESS RELEASE: GROWLING DOOR GAMES TO PUBLISH NEW EDITION OF CHILL
  6. ↑ McLellan, Angus (January 1985). "Open Box: Dungeon Modules". White Dwarf (review) (Games Workshop) (61): 9–10. ISSN 0265-8712.
  7. ↑ Melton, Gordon (1994). The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead (1st ed.). Detroit, MI: Visible Ink Press. p. 852. ISBN 0-8103-2295-1.

External links