The Return of Chill, A Horror RPG Classic

[Karloff]

The Return of Chill, A Horror RPG Classic

What does it take to revive a classic roleplaying game? A lot less than it takes to raise a zombie from the dead.

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[Callate]

I own a copy of the second edition of Chill that I picked up used, though I've never had a chance to run or play it. It struck me in perusing it, however, that there seemed to be a lot of monsters that were going to chew the players up and spit them out unless or until they discovered the specific means by which they might be defeated. This seemed likely to lead to a very specific plot arc for a lot of sessions, one many players would likely find frustrating: humbling defeat/sudden insight from research or a conveniently arriving third party/hard-won victory (maybe, with enough luck).

Horror is a hard genre to run effectively, particularly with people who are used to more heroic styles of RPG. I wonder if the parties behind the third edition have come up with ways of preventing the above plot pattern from becoming dominant. The glee with which McFarland talks about the lycanthropes overcoming PCs is a little disheartening in that regard.

 

[Mikeybb]

I own a copy of the second edition of Chill that I picked up used, though I've never had a chance to run or play it. It struck me in perusing it, however, that there seemed to be a lot of monsters that were going to chew the players up and spit them out unless or until they discovered the specific means by which they might be defeated. This seemed likely to lead to a very specific plot arc for a lot of sessions, one many players would likely find frustrating: humbling defeat/sudden insight from research or a conveniently arriving third party/hard-won victory (maybe, with enough luck).

Horror is a hard genre to run effectively, particularly with people who are used to more heroic styles of RPG. I wonder if the parties behind the third edition have come up with ways of preventing the above plot pattern from becoming dominant. The glee with which McFarland talks about the lycanthropes overcoming PCs is a little disheartening in that regard.

You're right about it being tricky to run.

The mood you set has to be just right but even if you get that spot on, the players have to be in the right mood too or it risks turning into pastiche/comedy.

I played chill once myself.
Very good but with a focus on investigation, at least in the way the gm ran it for us.