New "clone" of Chill soon?

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Yeti Spaghetti

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From this recent interview with Bill Barsh of Pacesetter Games and Simulations (not connected to the Pacesetter Ltd. brand owned by Goblinoid Games), it sounds like there are plans for another version of Chill in the tradition of Cryptworld, only with less replication of the original Pacesetter rules for Chill. Barsh suggests that it is scheduled to be unveiled next year.

I don't agree with all of his opinions, but I think he hits at something that is key for the popularity of Gothic/non-cosmic horror gaming. OSR clones are clearly only going to go so far in building a game that has wide appeal. Even though Cryptworld has been well-received, it still suffers from the "That looks cool and I have it but I've never played it" curse. However, I just don't think that at this stage, with all the other horror games on the market, trying to do a version of Chill with "5e appeal" is going to make much of a difference in terms of audience and popularity. I think this has more to do with Cryptworld being somewhat dated now, and with Chill 3e being pretty much dead, and Barsh is looking to take over the market for old school horror gaming (as limited as it is).

Maybe they are going for wide appeal, and I wish them luck. The art (not just the style, but the amount) and the amount of support they're able to give the game will be key.
 
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From this recent interview with Bill Barsh of Pacesetter Games and Simulations (not connected to the Pacesetter Ltd. brand owned by Goblinoid Games), it sounds like there are plans for another version of Chill in the tradition of Cryptworld, only with less replication of the original Pacesetter rules for Chill. Barsh suggests that it is scheduled to be unveiled next year.

I don't agree with all of his opinions, but I think he hits at something that is key for the popularity of Gothic/non-cosmic horror gaming. OSR clones are clearly only going to go so far in building a game that has wide appeal. Even though Cryptworld has been well-received, it still suffers from the "That looks cool and I have it but I've never played it" curse. However, I just don't think that at this stage, with all the other horror games on the market, trying to do a version of Chill with "5e appeal" is going to make much of a difference in terms of audience and popularity. I think this has more to do with Cryptworld being somewhat dated now, and with Chill 3e being pretty much dead, and Barsh is looking to take over the market for old school horror gaming (as limited as it is).

Maybe they are going for wide appeal, and I wish them luck. The art (not just the style, but the amount) and the amount of support they're able to give the game will be key.

Do you mean they plan to make it a 5e game:shock:?
 
I'm not sure if he went that far. But it sounds like he wants to do a gothic horror game in that style while retaining some of the crunchiness of the Chill 1e system.
I honestly struggle to imagine what "gothic horror in 5e style" would look like (and can't listen to the podcast here), though:thumbsup:.
Bottomline, I might be interested in a non-cosmic horror RPG, if it's got a system that works for me. But since I haven't played Chill in any edition, it's hard to say whether I'd like what he has in mind.

I guess we're going to see. If it uses 5e or a clone, though...well, it's not the first game with interesting premise that I'm passing for rules I dislike:shade:.
 
Well, Chill 1e/Cryptworld uses an action table with varying degrees of success on certain rolls. Others rolls are just pass/fail checks. If I had to guess, maybe they want to not use a table at all for combat, but have the table only related to investigation? Honestly I don't know either how to bring "super crunchy" and "super easy" mechanics together in the way they're suggesting.
 
A slight pedant note:
A clone generally is as I understand it a duplicate of the mechanics (to a fairly decent degree, and exact isn't needed but very close). So creating a horror game inspired by Chill is very different than Cryptworld's clone of Chill. Now if for example, it's a clone of D&D, then sure it's still a clone, just not a clone of Chill. It's a clone of X version of D&D, that has a horror setting.
 
A slight pedant note:
A clone generally is as I understand it a duplicate of the mechanics (to a fairly decent degree, and exact isn't needed but very close). So creating a horror game inspired by Chill is very different than Cryptworld's clone of Chill. Now if for example, it's a clone of D&D, then sure it's still a clone, just not a clone of Chill. It's a clone of X version of D&D, that has a horror setting.


Yeah, but when Dan PRoctor bought the Action Table mechanics, he didn't get the Chill IP, which may be what they're trying to port to a more marketable system. I can understand their reasoning.

1E Chill used a percentile-based Action Table system. 2E ditched the Action Table, IIRC, but used an otherwise similar percentile system with the same attributes. I only skimmed 3E, but I seem to remember at least a superficial resemblance to 2E. Like, you could see the progression from one iteration to the next.
 
Do you mean they plan to make it a 5e game:shock:?
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Yeah, but when Dan PRoctor bought the Action Table mechanics, he didn't get the Chill IP, which may be what they're trying to port to a more marketable system. I can understand their reasoning.

Barsh doesn't own Chill, though. I assume he'll call his game something similar.

I understand trying to come up with a more palatable mechanic than Cryptworld's cloned system, but I wish Barsh would focus on old school modules in the original Pacesetter Chill tradition. He seems to do the old-style D&D modules well, and if he can bring that same touch to gothic horror gaming, I think those will be a hit. To me, it would be an improvement on what Goblinoid has done. Yes, they've written plenty of adventures, but none of them are in the tradition (separately published, lots of information, pregens) of Chill 1e.
 
Barsh doesn't own Chill, though. I assume he'll call his game something similar.

I understand trying to come up with a more palatable mechanic than Cryptworld's cloned system, but I wish Barsh would focus on old school modules in the original Pacesetter Chill tradition. He seems to do the old-style D&D modules well, and if he can bring that same touch to gothic horror gaming, I think those will be a hit. To me, it would be an improvement on what Goblinoid has done. Yes, they've written plenty of adventures, but none of them are in the tradition (separately published, lots of information, pregens) of Chill 1e.
So please tell me, how good are Chill adventures?
 
I've only run one so far, "Village of Twilight." It had a lot of travel and investigation, more combat toward the end of the adventure. I actually like the slower paced stuff but I think the players got bored somewhat. I had to chop some material out because it was just too much even for me. But I'd rather suffer from an abundance of places to go and things for the players to see and encounter than to not have enough. So, from what I can tell so far they have a lot of play value. The Cryptworld adventures are stripped down versions of these modules. I think if Barsh could pull off something between a 1e module and a shorter Cryptworld one that's more playable today, that would be best.
 
I've only run one so far, "Village of Twilight." It had a lot of travel and investigation, more combat toward the end of the adventure. I actually like the slower paced stuff but I think the players got bored somewhat. I had to chop some material out because it was just too much even for me. But I'd rather suffer from an abundance of places to go and things for the players to see and encounter than to not have enough. So, from what I can tell so far they have a lot of play value. The Cryptworld adventures are stripped down versions of these modules. I think if Barsh could pull off something between a 1e module and a shorter Cryptworld one that's more playable today, that would be best.
You're almost persuading me to look into Chill 1e. Are you the Pub's Raleel Raleel / AsenRG AsenRG of Chill:devil:?
 
Chill 1e is well worth looking into. Cryptworld is a fine clone, it just doesn't have the Chill IP. I can't speak for anyone else, but the Action Table System is part of the appeal for me. It's a unique take on universal tables, amd tbh it's no more cumbersome than, say, DC Heroes. Rotworld is a similarly Action Table derived modern zombies game that manages to be complete in <70 pages. What's not to love?
 
Chill 1e is well worth looking into. Cryptworld is a fine clone, it just doesn't have the Chill IP. I can't speak for anyone else, but the Action Table System is part of the appeal for me. It's a unique take on universal tables, amd tbh it's no more cumbersome than, say, DC Heroes. Rotworld is a similarly Action Table derived modern zombies game that manages to be complete in <70 pages. What's not to love?
Sounds really cool to me! But then I like action tables since I first encountered* them...they actually make the game more immersive to me, because things can suddenly go wrong in ways neither the GM nor the players envisioned.
Which matches my RL experiences pretty closely:shade:.
Games with varying amounts of "action tables" I've liked include, apart from Tal and Unisystem, FASERIP, FU, and - hidden in among the diceroll effects - Mongoose Traveller 1e and Sanguine's house system.

*I'm not sure in which game, but odds are it was either Unisystem or Talislanta. I got into those two at a roughly similar time period, or rather, it looks similar ~15 years later:grin:!
 
I like the Chill 1e/Cryptworld action table too. But I think it's something that is only ever going to have niche appeal. I ended up having to add an API script to my Roll20 campaign to handle the table rolls, because they were just taking too much game time (it's a text-only game, so I assume if we were using voice or were face to face, things would go more quickly with table determinations). But even with macro buttons doing everything automatically, it has been hard recruiting players.

I can only assume that Goblinoid is done with Cryptworld, which is a shame because it's a great property with great legacy appeal and value.
 
I got myself the Chill 2e Qickstart off Drivethru (Good Fences Make Good Neighbours), and am liking it so far. Might consider Chill 2e as well, if I run it as a one-shot and it goes well...:smile:

Overall, a really simple system (all of 6 skills!), which actually reminds me of CoC7e with the pre-calculated Critical-Special-Simple Success-Fail-Botch. I like it how it keeps things simple, too, and like that one of the example characters who fits on half a page, has 80% skill in Forensics...but only 25% in the rest of criminology.
OTOH, I'm not completely sold on the use of tokens.

Can't find 1e, though - at least not legally, which I'm restraining myself to. So how many differences are there between 1e and 2e:wink:?
 
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I think you meant that you bought Chill 3e. The Mayfair edition (2e) didn't use tokens and was more similar to the "crunchier" Chill 1e, although it didn't have an action table.

I honestly don't know much about 3e because I don't have it, and don't plan to get it. But for its time (late 80s, early 90s) the Mayfair edition was considered darker and a more "serious" approach to gothic horror than the original Pacesetter game. I don't agree that the Pacesetter game is campy or was even meant to be, but that's how some interpreted it then and continue to. So they went self-consciously darker with the Mayfair edition, but ironically it used art that was very abstract and in some cases more cartoonish than anything the previous edition had.

My teenage brain at the time liked it, but while the game had plenty of supplements to support it, Mayfair decided to cancel it. I'm still not sure if that was because of limited sales or if they just decided to abandon the property, or both. But obviously without any serious competition after that, CoC sort of took the dominant position and gothic/non-cosmic horror gaming was seemingly forgotten for awhile.
 
I think you meant that you bought Chill 3e.
Ahem, no, I "bought" just the (free) QS "Good Fences Make Good Neighbours":smile:.
If this is for 3e, I've been mistaken...but I'm not down lots of money, so it's all fine:wink:!


The Mayfair edition (2e) didn't use tokens and was more similar to the "crunchier" Chill 1e, although it didn't have an action table.
OK, definitely 3e, then.

I honestly don't know much about 3e because I don't have it, and don't plan to get it. But for its time (late 80s, early 90s) the Mayfair edition was considered darker and a more "serious" approach to gothic horror than the original Pacesetter game. I don't agree that the Pacesetter game is campy or was even meant to be, but that's how some interpreted it then and continue to. So they went self-consciously darker with the Mayfair edition, but ironically it used art that was very abstract and in some cases more cartoonish than anything the previous edition had.
Well...art isn't an issue in my book. So maybe I should get the 2e, which is still on Drivethru. Or maybe Cryptworld.
How does the crunch compare between 1e, 2e and Cryptworld? I get it that the latter is short, but then it has little in the way of setting, according to a review I read...:thumbsup:

My teenage brain at the time liked it, but while the game had plenty of supplements to support it, Mayfair decided to cancel it. I'm still not sure if that was because of limited sales or if they just decided to abandon the property, or both. But obviously without any serious competition after that, CoC sort of took the dominant position and gothic/non-cosmic horror gaming was seemingly forgotten for awhile.
...how so? Vampire and the whole of WoD are at least meant to be Gothic Horror, right - and at some point they dwarfed CoC by a lot:shock:? Though you can ask Doc Sammy Doc Sammy whether they succeeded - I have my own opinion, but it's basically a lot like his, with less "Goths suck*" mixed in (I prefer the more nuanced "some Goths suck just fine, others just suck, and there are probably yet others":tongue:).
And then we get into smaller titles like Witchcraft, Unknown Armies 1 & 2 and so on... a lot of them are from the 90ies IIRC.

It's more like CoC is the only horror game that retained a more or less stable popularity, and expanded in new markets, IMO. But that's more due to Chaosium than to the source material:grin:! It's the source material that made Vampire as popular as it was, after all.

But it's not like people had forgotten personal horror. Arguably, if I run Delta Green, it's going to be that, and not cosmic horror. I've never found cosmic horror really interesting...which is why I approach CoC as that as well.
"There's a monster in the catacombs" or "this cult is sacrificing humans to unknown powers" works for either kind of horror, too:shade:.
 
I can't speak to the 2nd or 3rd, but the 1st edition uses a single table for most everything. However, the table is read in different ways, depending on what's being done. Amd has to be referred to more than once for some actions. Like I said earlier, I'd put it around DC Heroes for the clunkiness of the table.

Besides that, it's old-skool in that each skill (and there are many) has its own type and
scale of effect. So, no unified results there.

Overall, I wouldn't say it's super crunchy. You can print/email or even buy extra, full-page copies of the Action Table for your players.
 
1e and Cryptworld are pretty much identical in terms of mechanics. 2e used more of a pass/fail system as I recall, although I think it did use tables for some determinations. It's been 30 years since I've played it, so I can't recall exactly! Forgive me.

In terms of gothic horror declining in the 90s, yes Vampire did its thing. I was referring more to the "here are vampires and zombies, go kill them" type of game. I'm sure there were some attempts at that kind of monster mash gaming after the fall of Mayfair's Chill, but I haven't heard of too many prominent ones.
 
1e and Cryptworld are pretty much identical in terms of mechanics.
So I should get CryptWorld, then? I can live with a different setting, but you got me interested in the system...:grin:
And of course, adventures can be converted. If I can convert cyberpunk to fantasy on the fly, I can convert between two horror games (especially ones with close mechnanics:tongue:)!

Also, you mentioned CW was far more streamlined in its adventures, compared to Chill 1e's modules. How are the we modules?

The 3e module I just read has some nice, evocative stuff, but is kinda light on content. It also gives you some info even on a botch, following the GUMSHOE logic - but you get more info and less red herrings on better-than-botch results.

2e used more of a pass/fail system as I recall, although I think it did use tables for some determinations. It's been 30 years since I've played it, so I can't recall exactly! Forgive me.
There's nothing to forgive. We're just bantering about game mechanics:thumbsup:!
And yes, the reviews of 2e said "using pass-fail, but a table for some rolls" (and one reviewer even recommended sticking to the pass-fail until you learn the system, which left me almost dumbfounded...I mean, the kind of players that can't get that sometimes actions have unintended consequences would probably fare very poorly in an investigative game).

In terms of gothic horror declining in the 90s, yes Vampire did its thing. I was referring more to the "here are vampires and zombies, go kill them" type of game. I'm sure there were some attempts at that kind of monster mash gaming after the fall of Mayfair's Chill, but I haven't heard of too many prominent ones.
Ah, OK...it's true, monster hunting isn't the strong suite of WoD. Granted, there is Hunter, but it's probably the least played of the bunch...

I can't speak to the 2nd or 3rd, but the 1st edition uses a single table for most everything. However, the table is read in different ways, depending on what's being done. Amd has to be referred to more than once for some actions. Like I said earlier, I'd put it around DC Heroes for the clunkiness of the table.
My kind of game.
Does Cryptworld use the same table, if you've tried that?

Besides that, it's old-skool in that each skill (and there are many) has its own type and scale of effect. So, no unified results there.
That, I can live with...

Overall, I wouldn't say it's super crunchy. You can print/email or even buy extra, full-page copies of the Action Table for your players.
Works for me. Except it seems you can't get 1e legally any more...:shade:
Sadly he died last year. But I think Cryptworld missed an opportunity by not having him do more art for the game. I can only assume his 2010s price was much higher than his 1980s price.
Well, at least the fans would know not to expect the same artist if a new clone comes around:gunslinger:!
 
So I should get CryptWorld, then? I can live with a different setting, but you got me interested in the system...:grin:
And of course, adventures can be converted. If I can convert cyberpunk to fantasy on the fly, I can convert between two horror games (especially ones with close mechnanics:tongue:)!

Also, you mentioned CW was far more streamlined in its adventures, compared to Chill 1e's modules. How are the we modules?

The 3e module I just read has some nice, evocative stuff, but is kinda light on content. It also gives you some info even on a botch, following the GUMSHOE logic - but you get more info and less red herrings on better-than-botch results.


There's nothing to forgive. We're just bantering about game mechanics:thumbsup:!
And yes, the reviews of 2e said "using pass-fail, but a table for some rolls" (and one reviewer even recommended sticking to the pass-fail until you learn the system, which left me almost dumbfounded...I mean, the kind of players that can't get that sometimes actions have unintended consequences would probably fare very poorly in an investigative game).


Ah, OK...it's true, monster hunting isn't the strong suite of WoD. Granted, there is Hunter, but it's probably the least played of the bunch...


My kind of game.
Does Cryptworld use the same table, if you've tried that?


That, I can live with...


Works for me. Except it seems you can't get 1e legally any more...:shade:

Well, at least the fans would know not to expect the same artist if a new clone comes around:gunslinger:!
Cryptworld uses the exact same (totally badass) Action Table. Dan Proctor bought the rights to the mechanic. He bought the mechanics AND IP to the old Timemaster RPG, which also uses the Action Table. His company also puts out Rotworld (zombies) and Majus ("Magic Noir") using the system.
 
So I should get CryptWorld, then? I can live with a different setting, but you got me interested in the system...:grin:
And of course, adventures can be converted. If I can convert cyberpunk to fantasy on the fly, I can convert between two horror games (especially ones with close mechnanics:tongue:)!

Also, you mentioned CW was far more streamlined in its adventures, compared to Chill 1e's modules. How are the we modules?

The 3e module I just read has some nice, evocative stuff, but is kinda light on content. It also gives you some info even on a botch, following the GUMSHOE logic - but you get more info and less red herrings on better-than-botch results.

I'm super-biased, as you know, but if you want a generic, modern monster hunting game with throwback mechanics, then yes get Cryptworld. :smile:

I would say that the Cryptworld adventures are on average about 1/2 of the game play of the Chill 1e modules. There's less text (less "read this to the players" stuff), but again that's kind of more utilitarian for my type of gameplay, as much as I like dense, old school modules. They published a book of five adventures titled Burial Plots. There is also a monster supplement with an adventure, there's an adventure in the core rulebook, and there are 5 "mini-modules" titled Creepy Comic Conversions. But any of the 1e modules are very compatible with CW, only with minor changes to certain skills (and to paranormal talents, if you use them--CW makes them optional, whereas in Chill 1e they are a given).

The Mayfair 2e adventures can also be used with minimal conversion, but I haven't done that yet. But they published some fun stuff. (I recall a "Beast of Exmoor" adventure in their Lycanthropes supplement.)
 
I'm super-biased, as you know, but if you want a generic, modern monster hunting game with throwback mechanics, then yes get Cryptworld. :smile:
You were running CryptWorld, right?
Nonetheless, I trust your judgement on the mechanics has not been impacted:thumbsup:.
I would say that the Cryptworld adventures are on average about 1/2 of the game play of the Chill 1e modules.
I should try and get a hold on a couple of those, especially since you say they can be substituted...

There's less text (less "read this to the players" stuff), but again that's kind of more utilitarian for my type of gameplay, as much as I like dense, old school modules.
How so? IME, "read this to the players" is a work saving addition if you're running things online, and I get it that you're running it over R20?

They published a book of five adventures titled Burial Plots. There is also a monster supplement with an adventure, there's an adventure in the core rulebook, and there are 5 "mini-modules" titled Creepy Comic Conversions. But any of the 1e modules are very compatible with CW, only with minor changes to certain skills (and to paranormal talents, if you use them--CW makes them optional, whereas in Chill 1e they are a given).

The Mayfair 2e adventures can also be used with minimal conversion, but I haven't done that yet. But they published some fun stuff. (I recall a "Beast of Exmoor" adventure in their Lycanthropes supplement.)
I guess I should give this game a serious look. I've got Delta Green and In Dark Alleys for cosmic horror, AMFBE for zombies, UA2&3 and Hoodoo Blues for personal horror, so maybe with adding Cryptworld for gothic, I'd be completely set for horror:thumbsup:!
 
So please tell me, how good are Chill adventures?

I had most of the adventures for first edition, and when they were good they were good, and when they weren’t they weren’t. Deathwatch on the Bayou was a collection of two adventures, both railroady. The first one was great, the second boiled down to “Make saves every night until you figure out the mystery or die.”

Death on Tour was a mixed bag. Fun in a campy way, but also introduced a new power for NPCs that was kind of ignored/forgotten when it came to the epilogue. It could be argued that that and another incident were part of 80s/90s writers often leaning into characters dismissing the supernatural, no matter how blatant. It also had a creature that someone had to die for it to die, and the author really leaned into a PC dying and, ugh, if an NPC has to die instead I guess it could happen.

Elvira’s adventure collection was a mix of great to bad. I recall the dream monster and haunted room adventures being great, an evil gun (not possessed, it was made evil) having some overpowered mooks and the author not thinking about transporting guns across countries, and the vampire scenario just being a TPK waiting to happen.

Actually, the vampire scenario reminds ne of a recurrent flaw in Chill scenario oh s. Either PCs were to have taken the ability to have prophetic dreams (which they’d have to decipher) or they’d have to stumble onto how to put monsters down by dumb luck.

That’s off the top of my head, at any rate.
 
You were running CryptWorld, right?
Nonetheless, I trust your judgement on the mechanics has not been impacted:thumbsup:.

I should try and get a hold on a couple of those, especially since you say they can be substituted...


How so? IME, "read this to the players" is a work saving addition if you're running things online, and I get it that you're running it over R20?


I guess I should give this game a serious look. I've got Delta Green and In Dark Alleys for cosmic horror, AMFBE for zombies, UA2&3 and Hoodoo Blues for personal horror, so maybe with adding Cryptworld for gothic, I'd be completely set for horror:thumbsup:!
I recently picked up The Unexplained, a FUDGE based game centered around TV-style ghost/cryptid/UFO hunters. I've retooled the fluff to use it for an X-Files "monster of the week" type of game.
 
How so? IME, "read this to the players" is a work saving addition if you're running things online, and I get it that you're running it over R20?

The CW adventures are utilitarian in the sense that you can move things along more quickly than the Chill 1e modules. Again, I love both approaches, but the CW ones just seem to work better for me in an online format. Yes, I've been doing my best to learn how to GM after 30 years away, and I've been running CW at Roll20 for about 4 months now.

Still planning on doing that golem adventure that you helped me write. :smile:

Elvira’s adventure collection was a mix of great to bad. I recall the dream monster and haunted room adventures being great, an evil gun (not possessed, it was made evil) having some overpowered mooks and the author not thinking about transporting guns across countries, and the vampire scenario just being a TPK waiting to happen.

I'm thinking of doing the haunted hotel room one around Halloween time. It sounds like the best from the Evenings of Terror book, although I kind of had my eye on the vampire village too. What do you mean by it being TPK?

I have Death on Tour but it just seems so 80s to me (a rock group of vampires) that it won't fit my modern-day campaign very well. I'll probably do Blood Moon Rising next time I do a 1e module, but I'll only run the last third of it (the investigation for the werewolf/loup garou in Wisconsin). I would also like to run either Thutmose's Night or Highland Terror, if the campaign ends up going that long. I'm surprised I've made it 4 months, actually, although I have to confess that I'm forcing my wife to play. So I'm always guaranteed at least one at the table. :smile:
 
The CW adventures are utilitarian in the sense that you can move things along more quickly than the Chill 1e modules. Again, I love both approaches, but the CW ones just seem to work better for me in an online format. Yes, I've been doing my best to learn how to GM after 30 years away, and I've been running CW at Roll20 for about 4 months now.

Still planning on doing that golem adventure that you helped me write. :smile:
Cool! Let me know how it went, once you run it:smile:!

I have Death on Tour but it just seems so 80s to me (a rock group of vampires) that it won't fit my modern-day campaign very well.
Eh, why not? Rock groups still go on tours...and some rockstars seem suspiciously youthful:wink:.


I'll probably do Blood Moon Rising next time I do a 1e module, but I'll only run the last third of it (the investigation for the werewolf/loup garou in Wisconsin). I would also like to run either Thutmose's Night or Highland Terror, if the campaign ends up going that long. I'm surprised I've made it 4 months, actually, although I have to confess that I'm forcing my wife to play. So I'm always guaranteed at least one at the table. :smile:
Speaking from experience, an understanding wife that likes gaming is a boon for every Referee...in and out of game:thumbsup:.

I had most of the adventures for first edition, and when they were good they were good, and when they weren’t they weren’t.
Well, part of the reason I wasn't doing any adventures for like ages, was that I'd mostly read the latter kind...so it's not just Chill/CryptWorld.


Actually, the vampire scenario reminds ne of a recurrent flaw in Chill scenario oh s. Either PCs were to have taken the ability to have prophetic dreams (which they’d have to decipher) or they’d have to stumble onto how to put monsters down by dumb luck.
Funny...the adventure I read last night (for Chill 3e) had the PCs potentially stumbling on notes of a relative of a victim of the same monster, which contains hints...from her "weird dreams":shade:!
I guess veteran players would have picked up on it faster:tongue:?

But it also has at least two other ways to encounter the same info (and a hint or two elsewhere, but rather obscure ones), or a substitute way to destroy the monster. Granted, it's not as good as the main approach, but I think I should give it credit, here!

That said, "weird dreams" would be a great ability for Delta Green. Except they would cost you sanity twice, once in the dream, and once for encountering the thing IRL:devil:!
 
The CW adventures are utilitarian in the sense that you can move things along more quickly than the Chill 1e modules. Again, I love both approaches, but the CW ones just seem to work better for me in an online format. Yes, I've been doing my best to learn how to GM after 30 years away, and I've been running CW at Roll20 for about 4 months now.

Still planning on doing that golem adventure that you helped me write. :smile:



I'm thinking of doing the haunted hotel room one around Halloween time. It sounds like the best from the Evenings of Terror book, although I kind of had my eye on the vampire village too. What do you mean by it being TPK?

I have Death on Tour but it just seems so 80s to me (a rock group of vampires) that it won't fit my modern-day campaign very well. I'll probably do Blood Moon Rising next time I do a 1e module, but I'll only run the last third of it (the investigation for the werewolf/loup garou in Wisconsin). I would also like to run either Thutmose's Night or Highland Terror, if the campaign ends up going that long. I'm surprised I've made it 4 months, actually, although I have to confess that I'm forcing my wife to play. So I'm always guaranteed at least one at the table. :smile:

The power level of the vampires, and the sheer number of them, led to total party kills, in my experience.

I’m curious about Blood Moon Rising, as it was one of the few scenarios I never found, unlike Thutmose’s Night and “Meow Power.”

Now I’m a little sad I sold my collection before going to college.
 
I could maybe help you out with the module if you want to message me.

Yeah I figured that an adventure featuring a vampire village would be pretty dang hard, seeing how tough they are to kill in Chill/Cryptworld. But then again, you need a C result (called shot) to hit zombies in the head and kill them. The 5 zombies in Village of Twilight took my players an hour and a half (of game time) to defeat. And that was with my API script doing all the action table rolls automatically!

So I guess I better read through that Elvira one carefully before I use it.

By the way, if you check out the Pacesetter MeWe group, you'll find links to old Chill adventures that were never officially published by Pacesetter but can be used for a campaign. One that I found and shared there was published in an old Polyhedron Magazine issue in the late 80s.
 
I just ran the Chill 3e system with the quickstart. The tokens were utterly pointless, and the characters triumphed.
 
Bumping this because I've been reading Cryptworld lately. I even hauled out my Chill 1e set to compare.

I had been trying to think of what to run with it. One idea which struck me was using the final story from Cat's Eye as inspiration. Instead of the little troll trying to steal breath, there's a gremlin lurking in the house the PC has just moved into. Electronic and mechanical devices just keep on failing and becoming more and more deadly until the little bugger is found and eliminated.

The other idea I mused about was something Yeti Spaghetti Yeti Spaghetti had been posting about back in January. Using Chill/Cryptworld to run the Ravenloft setting.
 
I considered using Cryptworld for an X-Files type of game, but ended up using FUDGE instead. I'd still like to play or more likely, run, Rotworld.
 
I had been trying to think of what to run with it. One idea which struck me was using the final story from Cat's Eye as inspiration. Instead of the little troll trying to steal breath, there's a gremlin lurking in the house the PC has just moved into. Electronic and mechanical devices just keep on failing and becoming more and more deadly until the little bugger is found and eliminated.
This description has me thinking of the Peter Weller movie 'Of Unknown Origin'... about a guy's obsession with a giant rat lurking in his house.
 
Bumping this because I've been reading Cryptworld lately. I even hauled out my Chill 1e set to compare.

I had been trying to think of what to run with it. One idea which struck me was using the final story from Cat's Eye as inspiration. Instead of the little troll trying to steal breath, there's a gremlin lurking in the house the PC has just moved into. Electronic and mechanical devices just keep on failing and becoming more and more deadly until the little bugger is found and eliminated.

The other idea I mused about was something Yeti Spaghetti Yeti Spaghetti had been posting about back in January. Using Chill/Cryptworld to run the Ravenloft setting.

Great adventure idea, Gabriel! The nice thing about Cryptworld and short, movie-inspired adventures like that is that the system is so generic that you can pretty much apply it to anything. Cryptworld contributor Chris Halliday has a great blog where he furthers what Snider did with the original rulebook and Monsters Macabre, offering stats on all sorts of monsters from films, literature and folklore: https://argentgames.wordpress.com/welcome/blog/

Adapting Ravenloft 2e adventures is still high on my list, but I haven't done it yet. I think after another season of my modern-day/X-Files campaign, I will do something more along those lines. (Myself and a few players experimented with a medieval Cryptworld setting over the winter, and it ran pretty smoothly, so I'll probably just go with that idea, that the PCs are members of a late medieval monastery who engage in supernatural investigations.) I'll probably start with one of the shorter adventures from books like Book of Crypts, and eventually run something longer like Howls in the Night.

In fact, if anyone wants to run Chill/Cryptworld or Rotworld online and would like to use the API script I've been using at Roll20 for the Pacesetter Action Table, let me know. Makes things so much easier for online play.
 
Great adventure idea, Gabriel! The nice thing about Cryptworld and short, movie-inspired adventures like that is that the system is so generic that you can pretty much apply it to anything. Cryptworld contributor Chris Halliday has a great blog where he furthers what Snider did with the original rulebook and Monsters Macabre, offering stats on all sorts of monsters from films, literature and folklore: https://argentgames.wordpress.com/welcome/blog/

Adapting Ravenloft 2e adventures is still high on my list, but I haven't done it yet. I think after another season of my modern-day/X-Files campaign, I will do something more along those lines. (Myself and a few players experimented with a medieval Cryptworld setting over the winter, and it ran pretty smoothly, so I'll probably just go with that idea, that the PCs are members of a late medieval monastery who engage in supernatural investigations.) I'll probably start with one of the shorter adventures from books like Book of Crypts, and eventually run something longer like Howls in the Night.

In fact, if anyone wants to run Chill/Cryptworld or Rotworld online and would like to use the API script I've been using at Roll20 for the Pacesetter Action Table, let me know. Makes things so much easier for online play.

P.S. And you wouldn't necessarily need a pro account to use the script. I can always add someone to my game
 
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